Motion Picture Herald (July-Aug 1935)

52 MOTION PICTURE HERALD August 10, 1935 She Gets Her Man (Universal) Comedy Dyed in the wool farcical foolish nonsense, this picture holds much to intrigue the interest of audiences who like to laugh and don't care much how the laughs are precipitated. It also holds much to engage showmanship-exploitation minds. In essence the picture is a satirical burlesquing of the G-men and gangster type of picture. Played entirely for comedy, with plenty to tickle anybody's risibilities in dialogue, action and situations, there is never a serious moment in it. As such it's a laugh fest moving at a hectic and ridiculous tempo from start to finish. Esmeralda and Elmer run a little country hot dog stand. Innocently involved in an attempted bank robbery, Esmeralda foils the bandits as in a fainting she falls upon buttons that let off tear gas bombs and all sorts of alarms. Her exploit is picked up by wire services and Esmeralda becomes a sort of national hero. Publicity agent Windy, sitting in his office without a client and not much to do, contrives to take over the destinies of the mousy little woman and establishes her. She rounds the country on lecture tours as a super apostle of law and order. Her activities play hob with the business of Flash, racketeer, and he causes his henchmen to kidnap her. With the nation in a fury of excitement, Flash proposes to Esmeralda that, inasmuch as she has been such a thorn in the gangsters' sides, she can make oddles of dough by joining up with them as the brains of the gang. All the mobsters are gathered to meet their new chief. But instead of delivering the talk that Flash prepared for her she reverts to the speech Windy taught her on crime does not pay, with the result that all the thugs tearfully march to the police station to surrender. Crime wiped out, Esmeralda returns to her Elmer and wayside hash house. Sell this with the promise that it will make anybody laugh either at the foolishness of the story, the acting of the principals, or the way in which it is played. Opportunities for unique exploitation are almost unlimited. — McCarthy, Hollywood. Produced and distributed by Universal. Associate producer, David Diamond. Directed by William Nigh. Original story by Aben Kandel and David Diamond. Adaptation and screen play, Aben Kandel. Assistant director, Phil Karlstein. Photographed by Norbert Brodine. Art director, Al D'Agostino. Film editor, Bernard W. Burton. Editorial supervision, Maurice Pivar. Sound supervision, Gilbert Kurland. Musical director, Bakaleinikoff. P. G. A. Certificate No. 1071. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 65 minutes. Release date, August 19, 1935. General audience classification. CAST Esmeralda Zasu Pitts Windy (Richard Wiley) Hugh O'Connell Francine Helen Twelvetrees Elmer Lucien Littlefield Flash Eddie Brophy Spike Warren Hymer Goofy Bert Gordon Chick Ward Bond Bartin Richard Alexander Also King Baggot, Gertrude Astor. Charles Regan, Leo Dillon, George de Norman, Jack Perry. Freddie Welch, Marion Schechter, Sailor Vincent. Johnny Indressino, Phil Bloom, Dave Wingrin, Dntch Hendrian, Jack Silver, D'anny Sullivan, Puggy White, Virginia Grey. The Man on the Flying Trapeze (Paramount) Comedy Here is W. C. Fields' distinctive type of comedy at its best, and the exhibitor need feel no restrictions in promising a rollicking hour of fun. The timing of the laugh-provoking situations has been improved, too, so that while there is an abundance of comedy situations and lines, they are spaced sufficiently to make them available to everyone in the audience. Exploitation of a Fields production concentrates logically upon emphasizing the highlights of his fun-making. He is the star, the en tire firmament, of Fields' pictures. Qther stars there may be — Mary Brian as his sympathizing daughter, is the feminine lead in this film, and Kathleen Howard has considerably more to do as the nagging wife — but the comedy rests almost solely in Fields' own antics. And the highlight of this comedy is his encounter with an ever-increasing host of traffic cops, a situation that piles up laugh after laugh. The title has nothing to do, literally, with the picture. It is not a circus picture. There is no trapeze in it. It is a labeling of Fields' non-stop dizziness and that is all. It's all about Fields' attempt to get to a wrestling match. He's a bookkeeper, with his own unique filing system, which consists of piling one letter upon another with no favoritism— and then trusting to a good memory. Besides his forever-scolding wife, there's a rasping mother-in-law and her shiftless son, and then there's his own daughter. The ne'erdo-well steals his ticket to the wrestling match, but he goes anyway, after getting clear of the office with the good old mother-in-law-died fabrication, which sends wreaths and condolences to a surprised family. On the way to the stadium his troubles begin when he crosses the intersection line at a red light. The cop orders him over to the curb, takes out his book. It's a "no-parking" curb and a motorcycle takes the count as Fields pulls up. It's another cop's bike. That's the beginning of a richly comical situation. Finally, after a puncture and a chase after an escaping wheel, he gets to the door of the stadium, just in time to be bowled over by one of the wrestlers who has been thrown out of the hall by the champion. It's a picture for all the family. — Rovelstad, New York. Produced and distributed by Paramount. Produced by William LeBaron. Directed by Clyde Bruckman. From an original story by Charles Bogle and Sam Hardy, and the screen play by Ray Harris and Sam Hardy. Photographed by Al Gilks. Art directors. Hans Dreier and Earl Hedrick. Film editor, Richard Currier. P.C.A. Certificate No. 945. Running time, 66 minutes. Release date, July 26, 1935. General audience classification. CAST Ambrose Wolfinger W. C. Fields Hope Wolfinger Mary Brian Leona Wolfinger Kathleen Howard Claude Neselrode Grady Sutton Mrs. Neselrode Vera Lewis Mr. Peabody Lucien Littlefield President Malloy Oscar Apfel Adolph Berg Lew Kelly Judge Arthur Aylesworth Willie, the Weasel Tammany Young Legs Garnett Walter Brennan Misliabbob Harry Ekezian Tosoff Torr Johnson T. P. Wallaby David Oyde The Student's Romance (Associated British) Musical Romance German student life in 1725, against the legendary background of Heidelberg, is the basis of this musical. There is very fair story value of the conventional "bohemian" type, many of the song numbers are tuneful, and it will probably go down well enough with audiences to whom a conventional sentimental appeal means more than polish of production. The technique is definitely inferior to that which audiences expect nowadays. The story is that Max Brandt, a student of music at the university, rescues a pretty girl from a drifting punt and falls in love with her. Actually she is the Princess Helene but he does not guess her identity. Max lives with his friend Karl at the inn kept by the pretty Veronika. Out of a mixture of good nature and affection, she pays Max's debts without his knowledge. Helene accompanies her father, the Grand Duke, on a formal visit to the university. Max recognizes the girl whom he secretly loves. He persuades her to preside at a students' "Bierabend." The Grand Duke, learning of his daughter's infatuation, tells her of the scandal stories that Max is living on Veronika's rnoney. Seeking her sweetheart, Helene finds him kissing Veronika, whom he is congratulat ing on her betrothal to Karl. She consents to a marriage of convenience arranged by her father, but when Veronika's engagement to Karl is announced, runs from the Palace and joins Max in a procession of singing students. It must be sold as a romance of student life in the famous German university town. The promise of tuneful numbers is justified. It is a program item and cannot be put forward as anything better. Carol Goodner is the best of the cast. Allan, London. Produced by British International Pictures. Distrbiuted by Associated British Pictures. Directed by Otto Kantureck. Adapted from the Operetta "I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg." Adaptation and Scenario by Clifford Grey, Richard Hutter and Norman Watson. Camera, Bryan Langley. Sound, Albert Ross. Running time 78 minutes. General audience classification. CAST Helene Crete Natzler Ma.x Patrick Knowles Pedell W. H. Berry Veronika Carol Goodner Karl Mackenzie Ward Dcsiree Iris Ashley Mickey Steve Geray Bruno Hugh Dempster The Grand Duke Ivan Samson Karl's Uncle Robery Nainby Wife Norma Varden Sportsman Wallace Lupino Hans & Otto Haver & Lee Every Night at Eight (Paramount-W anger) Comedy Drama Anyway this is looked at, either as an audience entertainment feature or an exploitation vehicle in which showman honestly can sink their teeth, it has all that is required. The title, first, can be made to mean something concrete ; it is one in which alert showman easily can find almost no end of business stimulating stunts, gags and clever catchlines. There are good screen names, in the principal parts, all so cast that their most appealing talents are continually on display. Supporting names are of more than ordinary value, with the inclusion of quite a few widely known specialists such as The Radio Rogues, JTarry Barris, Dillon Ober and his drums and Florence Gill. Production values, in all the picture's phases, accentuate the worth of story and personnel assets. To keep all this moving is a story that everybody can understand and appreciate inasmuch as it has something particular for all classes and ages. It's a story intensely interesting, in which none of the accepted standards have been ignored, and there is romance, drama, comedy, surprise, music, suspense and colorful thrill. Put together in workmanlike fashion, the picture places ordinary human beings, subject to all the human ambitions and shortcomings, into an understandable situation. To get the yarn underway, it makes use of the topical radio broadcast idea, which is lead up to in a natural way._ Dixie, Susan and Daphne are three entertainers, the pride of their employers' entertainment programs. They get so good that they believe what their friends say about them, and then they're fired. Comes the amateur radio tryout. As the Radio Rogues, Barris and Chicken Lady do their stuff, there is a fun packed and liberal insight into just how such programs are produced. One of the girls, Susan, passes out from hunger, and the trio are prevented from appearing, but in the person of Tops Cardona, a good Samaritan who wins the contest, she is fed. Romance between the two is born. Tops, a smart guy in the ways of showmanship, decides to train and teach the girls so that they will be big numbers. Held to rigid discipline, the three musketeers, who have the one for all and all for one complex, get themselves in a dither about Tops' loving Susan. But on standing on their own, they play hookey and go on a swank yachting party. Fearfully, as they return to a night club, they hear the master of ceremonies announcing their number. Almost panic stricken they dash to the studio to become sensations, and very glad that Tops loves Susan. The picture is fast moving, gay and buoyant. Though George Raft is the top name and he