Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

August 8, 1936 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 39 SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS This department deals with new product from the point of view of the exhibitor who is to purvey it to his own public They Met in a Taxi ( Columbia ) Comedy There's plenty of the stuff necessary to entertain and amuse audiences of average character in this. Likewise, other than personalities, there's a lot of exploitation possibility with which to sell the entertainment provided. It's not a big picture. It probably won't set any new box office records anywhere, yet if patrons are made sufficiently aware of its quality, it should prove pleasing. With comedy as its keynote, the film is a cleverly contrived combination of fun, light drama, intrigue, mystery, suspense, romance and surprise. Making no pretenses other than to be acceptable average entertainment, the show moves speedily, and though it mainly depends upon dialogue for explanation, there is sufficient action in the various situations to provide an engaging appeal. Mainly the premise follows the idea that when one person gets into trouble, it means trouble for many and consequent amusement for the witnesses. Mannequin Mary Trent gets into trouble when somebody steals a pearl necklace. When, fleeing the crime scene, garbed as a bride, she leaps into taxi driver Jimmy Donlon's cab, she gets him into a peck of trouble. It's worse than ever when, after being convinced the girl is on the level, Jimmy falls in love with her and decides to help her out of the mess. Summoning his pickpocket pal, Fingers, and newspaper reporter buddy Clifton to his aid, they all manage to get into more trouble, all of which is highly comic in character until Mary gets to thinking society pauper Stewart is the villain. For a while the film turns serio-dramatic as Jimmy and Mary take Stewart for a ride and Fingers and Clifton ransack his apartment for evidence. But after Jimmy wallops Stewart into unconsciousness for getting fresh with Mary, the whole menage, with a detective added for good measure, gather in Stewart's lodgings where, in a laugh-packed anticlimax to the romantic fadeout, the loot is recovered dropping from the lining of Stewart's hat. Wisely the producer invested the story with a lot of hokum. A desirable element in any show of this character, it's the angle that gives it a fresh appeal. In that atmosphere, the picture is played with spirited enthusiasm. The work of Chester Morris and Fay Wray is consistently good. They together provide lots of laughs, but the character most likely to have audiences up on chair edges is Lionel Stander, whose dialogue and actions are amusing. Similarly Raymond_ Walburn and other cast members are effective in making the show's amusement really amusing. The teaser significance of the title takes on a further meaning when what happens after the first meeting is understood. That used as the initial showmanship lead, with patrons requested to exercise their own imaginations as to what occurs thereafter, should provoke considerable pre-presentation interest and it can be expected that word-of-mouth advertising will benefit follow-up exploitation. Previewed in the Rits Theatre, Los Angeles. Following the_ seriously toned "The White Angel," the audience succumbed to the gay, airy preview, several timies interrupting its showing with applause, and gave the picture an ovation at the end that seemed to surprise its sponsors. McCarthy, Hollywod. Produced and distributed by Columbia. Producer, Howard J. Green. Directed by Alfred E. Green. Story, Octavus Roy Cohen. Screen play, Howard J. Green. Assistant director, Sam Nelson. Photographed by James Van Trees. Sound engineer, George Cooper. Film editor, Gene Milford. Art director, Stephen Goosson. Musical director, Morris Stoloff. Costumes by Lon Anthony. P. C. A. Certificate No. 2361. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 70 minutes. Release date, September 1, 1936. General audience classification. CAST Jimmy Donlin Chester Morris Mary Trenton pay Wray Ch£ton Raymond Walburn Fingers Lionel Stander Stewart Henry Mollison Andrews Kenneth Harlan Edna Fletcher Ann Merrill Policeman Ward Bond sPecks Frank Melton Grand Jury ( Radio ) Melodrama Municipal corruption, murder and the timidity of grand juries in bringing indictments against known racketeers keynote the theme of this picture, subjects common to many a newspaper's front page. Through this theme is woven a story of the help a newspaper gives in aiding honest citizens to crusade against crime and crooked political machines, but, unfortunately, here the journal is represented by a cub reporter who is more successful as a comedian than a newshound, despite the fact he does get stories, and the plausibility of the situation is shaken quite a bit. However, there is drama enough for those that demand it— in the murder of two innocent persons and the near murder of the two heroes, which one expects as soon as the story begins to unfold. The comedy has been placed in the capable hands of Fred Stone and Owen Davis, Jr. Other cast names include Lois Latimer, Moroni Olsen, who is prominent in the currently released "Mary of Scotland"; Frank M. Thomas, Guinn Williams, Harry Beresford, Russell Hicks, Harry Jans and Billy Gilbert. As the story opens, Stone appears to be active in the city's civic affairs because he umpires the baseball games between the teams of the various municipal departments. His granddaughter, Miss Latimer, is also shown to be in love with an aspiring reporter, Davis. Miss Latimer's father delivers a tirade against the necessity of serving on juries when he is called by the foreman of the city's grand jury, and her grandfather upbraids him for his lack of civic pride. The grand jury is to try Williams, racketeer, for the murder of the son of one of Stone's cronies. The jury acquits the mobster and the dead boy's father takes a shot at Williams in the jury room. Davis, keeping an eye out for the regular reporter covering the court, scores a beat on the story and gets his first recognition from the city editor. By another twist of circumstances, Davis is assigned to get a statement from the prisoner and here Stone helps him by getting to see his former pal where a ^newspaperman could not. Stone further plans to help the youngster, and his granddaughter at the same time, by slipping the prisoner out the rear door of the penitentiary. The gangsters, thinking the murdered boy's father may know too much, kill him as he is walking with Stone and Davis. This sets the two after the murdering ring and throws them into situations the audience seems to expect. In the meantime, to cover up their real activities, the gansters ally themselves with Stone by posing as a committee of righteous citizens bent on seeing justice done. Stone, with the aid of Davis, continues to blunder about seeking clues until he finally stumbles on the crooks' hideout. Coming to meet him, Davis is captured, and in trying to rescue him, Stone also is taken. The gangsters all show themselves to the two prisoners and are about to kill them, when the police break in. Stone becomes the public hero and Davis, the reporter who made good, wins his raise so he can marry the girl of his dreams. All through the action are interspersed bits of comedy by Stone and Davis, with Davis doing his share to amuse the audience by continual brushes with his editor, Charles Wilson. Revieived at the Palace theatre on Broadway, where an audience apparently seeking relief from the heat seemed to be pleased with the moderate fare offered. Baehler, New York. Produced and distributed by Radio. Directed by Albert S. Rogell. Associate producer, Lee Marcus. Screen play by Joseph A. Fields and Philip G. Epstein. Story by James Edward Grant and Thomas Lennon. Photographed by Joseph August. Art director, Van Nest Polglase. Gowns by Edward M. Stevenson. Recorded by George D. Ellis. Edited by Jack Hively. Release date, August 7,1936. Running time, 61 minutes. P. C. A. certificate No. 2,369. General audience classification. CAST Commodore Taylor Fred Stone Steve O'Donnell Owen Davis, Jr. Edith Taylor Louise Latimer Bodyguard Moroni Olsen Tohn Taylor Frank M. Thomas Joe Britt Guinn Williams Charles Evans Harry Beresford Hanify Russell Hicks Sullivan Harry Jans Walters Robert Emmett Keane Chief Brady Robert Middlemass Martha Margaret ArmstrongEditor Charles Wilson Otto Billy Gilbert District Attorney Robert Fiske Barnes Hilly Arnold Whalen Harvey Clark Stroble Thomas E. Jackson Officer Burke Edward Gargan Yours for the Asking (Paramount) Comedy Romance Showmen who like to sell their merchandise will find plenty in this to occupy their attention. A lively, fast moving comedy romance, it possesses the qualities that please average audiences. Well mounted, capably acted, it concentrates on comedy in action, situations and dialogue. Names presented are fairly good for selling purposes, but the story itself seems to be the thing on which to concentrate. George Raft, characteristically, is a suave but hardboiled gambling house operator. Doing business with the ordinary run of folk, he has ambitions to crack the big money folk. Taking a trip to Florida in the winter season, he runs across an impoverished socialite, Dolores Costollo Barrymore, and makes a deal with her whereby they will use her mansion for headquarters and she will serve as a lure to attract the moneyed crowd. At the same time, he gets (Continued on Paftc 42)