Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Mar 1932)

34 MOTION PICTURE HERALD February 13, 1932 [MASSING IN REVIEW The department endeavors to set forth two lines of material of service to the exhibitor — first, a showman's evaluations of the outstanding pictures — second, reviews of information "THE SILENT WITNESS" is another ' mystery picture that ought to click in most spots, deluxe or otherwise. Sell the picture on its merits. Lionel Atwill, a grand actor from the socalled legitimate stage, is the central figure in this unique story that holds the interest right through until it is solved. The title, like most mystery titles, must be capitalized to its greatest possibilities. Don't be afraid to sell that title as strong as you can. It will deliver for you after you entice the customers into your theatre. Make it as mysterious as you can and lay it on thick. A preview will open up many angles of thought in this connection, but lacking that opportunity you must draw upon your imagination and the press book to make up the difference. In "audience value" we doubt whether any class of audience will fail to appreciate the fine entertainment, directing and acting that have been put into this picture. The element of "who really killed the girl" constantly pops up in your mind as the story unreels, but until it is almost finished you probably will be as poor a guesser as we were. Lionel Atwill gives a marvelous performance and will find instant favor in the better class houses and elsewhere he will be accepted as OK also. If, by chance, he has made a stage appearance somewhere close to your city then you can elaborate on that fact, otherwise your selling angle for him is his reputation as one of the finest actors on the stage today ; maybe, with smart show-selling you can make that sufficiently impressive to help your other merchandising angles. Spotted mid-week, backed up with a strong mystery selling campaign, and aided by a little sensible exploitation, you ought to make this one count for above average receipts. V HE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM" is indeed a title to play around with. Just how far you can go depends to a great extent upon the community in which your theatre is located and the class of patronage you draw from. The picture is good fun and carries enough laughs to place it in the class of superior screen fare. The only marquee names you can sell are Ina Claire (if known or liked in your town), Madge Evans, who can be tied to her many MGM pictures, and Joan Blondell of "Blonde Crazy," "Union Depot" and other recent releases. But we have an idea that the most successful selling will be via the title above everything else. It can certainly be built up to big box office proportions by showmen who know how to take a money title and get the most out of it. If the gold-digging slant appeals to your town, sell it that way; if any of the picture's other slants appeal, then take your cue accordingly. But by all means make that title bring them to the box office in large numbers; if you don't, then you have been guilty of neglect somewhere along the line. In "audience value" you will be best able to judge for yourself at the very first show. The howls of laughter that will be almost continuous ought to be the best answer. The risque portions from the stage show (which was considered something of a success here in New York last season) have been handled most delicately and will not offend. Just a case of three good looking girls out for a good time and — fun. While hardly suitable for kids or Sundays it is still an outstanding picture and should bring your receipts up accordingly. But you must understand that even though that title possesses some grand possibilities it is still "just a title" if you fail to back it up with the kind of a show-selling campaign to make them want to see it. So get busy as soon as your dates are set and see what you can do with a darn«l fine picture. V "P RESTIGE" will be found very satisfactory r entertainment regardless of what you think your particular audience likes or dislikes. Don't draw hasty or premature opinions from merely reading of the story or what it is about. It is loaded with fine entertainment plus performances of unusual merit by the important members of the cast. The b.o. appeal will depend on several different slants : first, the marquee strength of the names, and here you have Ann Harding, Melvyn Douglas and Adolphe Menjou; second, the type of merchandising you decide upon for selling an attraction like this in your community ; third, your combining the first two in a campaign worthy of the picture. In "audience value" we predict complete satisfaction. The story is well told; all the old baloney about the jungle and the heat has been left out except what is most essential. Characters handle their parts in a fine way and the direction leaves little to be desired. It is sometimes difficult to convey the proper thoughts while writing a review of this sort and here I must stop long enough to point out that while the foregoing may sound too enthusiastic and bordering on the "epic" style, it is far from that. But if passed on to the many men in the field as "just another picture" it would be doing it a great injustice. That is why I want to keep enthusiastic and at the same time be honest enough to say that it is not the greatest picture of the year. But you can make money with it providing you back it up with the same amount of enthusiasm and make it reflect in your advertising and other methods of merchandising. It's worthy of such treatment and can count for some added revenue if you sell it as it should be sold. While there is nothing objectionable for the kids, its jungle and native slants are the only parts that would interest them. So perhaps it would be best to spot it elsewhere than on their best days. OK for Sunday if you want it there badly enough. CHARLES E. LEWIS The Silenf Witness (Fox) Detective Drama Fox offers an adaptation of a play by Jack DeLeon and Jack Celestin, centering about the heartbreaking efforts made by an English gentleman to save his son from the consequence of the murder he thought he had committed by taking upon himself the burden of the guilt after it is proved that his son's name must be brought out. A goodly portion of the footage is devoted to a long court trial, the length of which is cleverly relieved by the injection of humor which found unmistakable favor with a large audience at the New York Roxy. Herbert Mundin plays the cockney cab driver, whose manner and conversation on the witness stand kept the patrons in a state of almost continuous laughter. Lionel Atwill assumes, in excellent style, it was thought, the role of the father, doing perhaps his best dramatic work on the witness stand, when the prosecutor smashes his defensive story and he makes frantic mental effort to salvage his elaborate tale from complete destruction. In chief support are Greta Nissen, attractive and blonde Swedish player, who, as the paramour of the son, is the victim of the murder, of which young Bramwell Fletcher thought himself guilty until the confession of another of Miss Nissen's lovers, in hiding in her apartment, reveals an ex-husband as the murderer. During the course of this confession, retold in the inspector's office at Scotland Yard following the pseudo confession of Atwill, flashbacks re-enact the story he recounts. Able performances were thought to have been given by Weldon Heyburn as the dandified former husband and murderer ; Billy Bevan as the "silent witness" ; Wyndham Standing as the defense attorney and Alan Mowbray as the prosecutor. There is rather a singular absence of the English accent in certain cases, despite the fact that the entire scene is set in London and all the characters meant to be strictly English. This, however, did not noticeably detract from the performances. Produced and distributed by Fox. Directed by Marcel Varnel and R. L. Hough. From the play by Jack De Leon and Jack Celestin. Screen play by Doug-las Doty. Cameraman, Joseph August. Sound, Albert Protzman. Release date, February 7, 1932. Running time, 74 minutes. CAST Sir Austin Howard Lionel Atwill Nora Selmer Greta Nissen Carl Blake Weldon Heyburn Sylvia Pierce Helen Mack Anthony Howard Bramwell Fletcher Lady Howard Mary Forbes Inspector Robbins Montague Shaw Sir John Lawson Wyndham Standing Arthur Drinton, K. C Alan Mowbray Henry Hammer Herbert Mundin Justice Bond Lowden Adams Horace Ward ' Billy Bevan Colonel Grayson Lumsden Hare Clerk of the Court Eric Milton Lady With a Past (RKO Pathe) Drama (Seen in Hollywood) RKO-Pathe's presentation of "Lady With a Past" establishes two milestones in the annals of Hollywood's motion picture history. One is that it is the final picture made under the Charles R. Rogers-Pathe regime, and the other is the fact that Constance Bennett relaxes throughout the production. In doing so she plays a larger hand of moods and mannerisms heretofore kept in the background because in no other film have they been brought to the front. In presenting a new Constance Bennett to the screen equal credit should go to Charles R. Rogers for selecting the proper story, to Edward H. Griffith for his excellent direction, and to Horace Jackson for a screen play that detours from the beaten path of motion picture themes by presenting a problem that every one will understand, as the solution is logically and entertainingly worked out. That problem is centered around a young society debutante suffering from an inferiority complex, but who