Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1936)

62 MOTION PICTURE HERALD February 8, 1936 story having to do with the misadventures of a hen-pecked jewelry salesman whose client turns out to be an attractive young woman and, unknown to him, an old friend of his wife's. Action takes place chiefly in a swanky hotel and consists of narrow escapes from wife and house detective accomplished with much slamming of doors, bumping into waiters carrying loaded trays and so on. The short has ample body to warrant combination with almost any type of feature picture. — Running time, 18^> minutes. Wild Wings (Vitaphone) Interesting The island Laysan, 800 miles northwest of Honolulu in the Pacific Ocean, and one of the few remaining natural bird sanctuaries, is the subject of this novelty reel. Shearwaters, boobies, albatross, flightless rail, love tern, Hawaiian tern, frigate birds and the remaining members of the Laysan teal species are shown in countless thousands, and some of the scenes are truly remarkable, such as the mating dance of the huge albatross. Running time, 11 minutes. Carnival Time (Universal) Excellent Jean Sargent, Jack Fulton, Sue Hastings' Marionettes, the Washboard Serenaders and other radio and vaudeville acts are presented on the ballyhoo stage of a carnival sideshow as a build-up to a Hawaiian dancer to be seen on the inside. The talent is effectively introduced by a leather-lunged barker whose cross-fire with a comedian in the crowd is smart, swift and funny. Combining straight entertainment with comedy, at the expense of neither, the subject is adequate to take the place of two on a tight program. — Running time, 19 minutes. Screen Snapshots No. 6 ( Columbia) Standard Fan-fare On a par in every respect with the consistently sustained average of these fan-satisfying subjects, this edition opens with brief glimpses of Ken Maynard and other stars at home, then attends the grand opening of Max Factor's new cosmetic salon, where stars of all rank, size and condition of employment come to extend felicitations and sign the "among those present" register. This takes up a major portion of the picture but manages to bring in a great number of personalities handily. — Running time, 10 J/2 minutes. The Alaska Sweepstakes (Universal) Satisfying Oswald the Rabbit and his heavy-pawed mastiff run a bad last in an Alaskan sledge-race until, when every conceivable mishap has thwarted them, they are rolled into a snowball that gathers volume and velocity as it rolls downhill to the finish line where it cracks up and releases Oswald, the winner. The tempo is nicely gauged and the animation smooth, the idea just silly enough to get the correct reaction—Running Time, 8 minutes. The Bird Stuffer ( Columbia ) Ordinary Cartoon Departing in no important particular from tried and found standard cartoon comedy material, the efforts of Krazy Kat, taxidermist, to stuff a fish so that it will look like a bird terminate for no very good reason in an abrupt and not especially funny finish. There's a dream sequence preceding the finish in which animals Krazy has stuffed come to life and chase him about menacingly. — Running time, 7 minutes. SHORT PRODUCT PLAYING BROADWAY Week of February 1 ASTOR Polynesian Follies Principal Queen of Hearts Principal CAPITOL Run, Sheep, Run MGM CENTER The Feminine Invasion Columbia Pirate Party on Catalina Isle. MGM MUSIC HALL Skits V Sketches Universal Winged Pageantry RKO Radio PARAMOUNT Finer Points Paramount Movie Milestones, No. 2 ... Paramount Betty Boop and the Little King Paramount RIALTO Idol of Millions Noel RIVOLI Cock of the Walk United Artists Italian Riviera Twentieth-Century-Fox ROXY Dizzy Divers Paramount I Don't Remember Columbia STRAND Off the Record Vitaphone Nutville Vitaphone Flowers for Madame Vitaphone Dr. Bluebird ( Columbia) Excellent With comedy held to a minimum in keeping with a gentle theme, this superbly paced short witnesses a colony of bluebirds turning out in winged acorn shells, self-propelled leaves, etc., to brighten the day of a juvenile shut-in whose friend has gone fishing. Transporting sunshine to his chamber, the birds effect a miraculous cure of his ailment and send him on his way. The lyrics of incidental music are especially good. An excellent subject for juvenile entertainment.— Running time, 8^4 minutes. Double Or Nothing ( Vitaphone) Very Good This is a very good miniature musical comedy with a cast composed of Phil Harris of radio fame, Leah Ray, Harry Tyler, Vicki Joyce and Johnny Boyle. The story centers around the close resemblance and friendship between Harris and the heavyweight champion, and the practical jokes they play on each other. The reel winds up with a very funny sequence in which Harris is kidnaped by Miss Ray, after falling in love with her while posing as the champion, only to find out it was merely a joke on the fighter's part to get even with the band leader. Running time, 21 minutes. You Can Be Had (Universal) Entertaining Borrowing manner and voice of Mae West, Zasu Pitts and others, well trained monkeys enact an old fashioned melodrama in the approved new fashioned manner. The animals are admirably controlled, the dubbing adroitly done, and action is remarkably smooth considering the difficulties inherent in this type of production. The short rates high among its kind. — Running time, IS minutes. March of Time In 4,500 Houses on First Anniversary Since the introduction a year ago, in February, of the March of Time on the screen the theatres using the new form of pictorial journalism have grown from 400 to 4,500. Ten editions have been produced, with worldwide distribution through RKO. For more than a year before the first public release, the three March of Time editors, Roy E. Larsen, John S. Martin and Louis de Rochemont, experimented with their film. Subjects were made and discarded, hundreds of scripts were written and four complete experimental reels were tried out, unannounced. With the third issue the picture really came into its own. In the year March of Time has turned its cameras on man) parts of the world. Its German episode in the second issue came out ten days before Hitler renounced the Versailles treaty and rearmed Germany. The trans-Pacific episode of the third issue coincided with the first flight of the Pacific clipper ship. The Army episode of the summer came as the country's greatest peacetime maneuvers opened. While some foreign episodes, notably those based on Russia and Palestine, bore a certain resemblance to travelogues, they contained enough of a story to give them significance. Other foreign subjects went more deeply and directly into political and economic problems, as in the episodes concerning Germany, Japan, Manchukuo, Ethiopia and France, but selection has been made from almost every field of life. Most of the pictures are taken by March of Time's own camera crews. Abroad, March of Time has sent Julien Bryan to Russia, Japan, Manchukuo and China. In Palestine, Charles Herbert filmed the pictures used in the subject based on that country. March of Time photographers have been at work in France, Ethiopia and other countries. They obtained exclusive pictures of two of the most difficult men in the world to photograph, old Sir Basil Zaharoff and Anatole Francois Joseph Diebler, hereditary executioner of France. Special foreign editions are now prepared in French and Spanish and an English edition is made up for countries of the Empire. New Theatres in Houston Get Editorial Accolade Concerning the new theatres that have opened or are about to be opened in Houston, Texas, the Houston Chronicle, on its editorial page said that "Theatrical history has been written, and is being written, in Houston over this year end. The opening of a beautiful new movie house on North Main Street, by the Interstate interests, with the same group soon to open even more elaborate houses on Westheimer Road and on Telephone Road, marks noteworthy progress in the bringing of first class screen theatres to our outlying residential sections. The result should be more movie patronage, and more convenience and comfort for the residents of the sections now to be served."