Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1937)

April 24, 193 7 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 43 (.Continued from page 38) action and he discovers evidence. "Kalkas" lures "Jim" to his office, planning the same fate for him that he has dealt out to others. In a wild, fist flying climax, "Kalkas" is a victim of his own plot. An unusually interesting picture, it is a good demonstration of the anxioms that virtue triumphs and crime does not pay. No attempt is made at creating an atmosphere of mystery, yet the solution is not made patently obvious in advance. Previewed in the Alexander theatre, Glendale. The audience, which had been watching "Swing High, Swing Low," found in the added attraction a contrast that caused it to pay strict attention. Several times it broke into applause. — G. M. Produced and distributed by Paramount. Directed by Robert Florey. Assistant director, John Burch. Screen play by Doris Anderson. Based on a story by Tiffany Thayer. Film editor, Harvey Johnston. Art directors, Hans Dreier and Robert Odell. Photographed by Harry Fischbeck. Sound, Harry Mills and Louis Mesenkop. Interior decorations by A. E. Freudeman. Musical direction by Boris Morros. Song, "Hate to Talk About Myself," music by Ralph Rainger and Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Leo Robin. "I'm Feelin' High," music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Ralph Freed. P. C. A. Certificate No. 3152. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 75 minutes. Release date, April 23, 1937. Adult audience classification. CAST Dixie Claire Trevor Jim Lloyd Nolan Steve Kalkas Akim Tamiroff Eddie Larry Crabbe Jackie Nolan Helen Burgess George Kramer Porter Hall J. G. Temple Harvey Stephens Mr. Parker Barlowe Borland Strohm Pumell Pratt Joe Colin Tapley Charlie Paul Fix Big Edna Cecil Cunningham Ed Murkil Robert Gleckler Taxi driver Nick Lukats Nurse Fay Holden Cora Evelyn Brent Kimiko (International Film Bureau) Japanese Drama The news of Japan's endeavors in developing domestic production and, recently, in influencing foreign producers in their choice and handling of material, has been of a character to lend trade interest to this or any demonstration of the Japanese technique. It is interesting generally, too, as the first feature imported from Japan and exhibited in the United States. Novel seems to be the word for it, and novelty the exploitation angle if any. From the trade point of view, it is to be noted that the production technique of the Japanese is not among the things Hollywood need worry about. The direction is amateurish, the continuity is jerky, the acting is self-conscious, the recording is irregular and the photography, generally fair, implies a fondness for but no notable understanding of trick-angle effects. The story, although told with modesty and restraint, is not one that the Production Code Administration would relish. From the point of view of the paying public, the unfamiliarity of setting, players, treatment and presentation may serve as compensation for time and money spent. English titles translate the dialogue. The title character is a young woman whose father has been separated from her poet mother for fifteen years and living in the country with another woman. As the daughter approaches matrimony she determines to effect a reconciliation and goes to bring her father home. She finds that he is impoverished instead of wealthy as supposed and that his woman companion and their daughter have been supporting him and sending monthly remittances to his family without his knowledge. Nevertheless she brings him back to her mother and he stays long enough to complete necessary negotiations for the daughter's marriage. During his stay it becomes evident to the daughter that her mother's artistic preoccupation and personal extravagance were responsible for her father's SHORT PRODUCT PLAYING BROADWAY Week of April 17 CAPITOL Servant of the People MGM Ski Skill MGM CRITERION In the Arena Gaumont British Ebb Tide Gaumont British Pageant of the Sun God. . . Gaumont British MUSIC HALL March of Time, No. 9 RKO Radio PARAMOUNT Chicken a la King Paramount Big Shots of Baseball Al Bondy RIALTO Organ Grinder's Swing .... Paramount Bar-Rac's Night Out MGM RIVOLI The Worm Turns United Artists ROXY Mickey's Rival United Artists A Day with the Dionne Ouintuplets RKO Radio Scrambled Legs Columbia STRAND She Was an Acrobat's Daughter Vitaphone Cradle of Civilization Vitaphone desertion of the family, and she sends him back to the other woman. Reviewed at the Filmarte theatre, New York, where the film is having its American premiere. Present at an afternoon performance were a number of Japanese who, perhaps characteristically, gave no audible manifestation of opinion pro or con. The Occidental majority of the audience was equally undemonstrative . W. R. W. Produced by Photographic Chemical Laboratory. Distributed by International Film Bureau. Directed by Mikio Naruse. Based on the novel, "Two Wives," by Minoru Nakano. Photography by Hiroshi Suzuki. English titles by Noshiomi Hirata. No. P. C. A. certificate. Release date, April 12. Running time, 73 minutes. Adult audience classification. CAST Kimiko Yamamoto Sachiko Chiba Etsuko Tomoko Itoh Oyuki Yuriko Hanabusa Shunsaku Yamamoto Sadao Maruyama Seiji Heihachiro OOkawa Kimiko's uncle Kamatari Fujiwara Kimiko's aunt Chikako Hosokawa Keichi Kaoru Itoh Shizue Setsuko Horikoshi When Love Is Young (Universal) Comedy Drama Taken from the McCall's Magazine story, "Class Prophecy," this tale of a small town girl who makes good in the big city, and then goes home to find the local hero not quite what he seemed, retains in remarkable degree the quality of the short story form. There is no straining for tremendous effects and the characters work out their destinies in direct and credible continuity. Exploitation emphasizing in some manner this unusual circumstance may be found highly effective in the better class locations. Exploitation of the more orthodox character may be based upon the generous use of radio studios, metropolitan theatres, small town social scenes and the practical art of exploitation itself in the telling of the story. What manner of people are come upon in these places and what they do and how they live and conduct themselves is told with candor, restraint and real istically. The subject matter invites a wide variety of tieups and justifies their use. The story concerns a small-town girl enamored of the local campus hero who dances with her on a bet and bruises her spirit. She goes to New York to study singing and, told she is a failure, is persuaded by a Broadway press agent to participate in a publicity stunt, in return for which he gets her a job singing for setting up exercises on a dawn radio program. She denounces him in the presence of a stage producer who employs him and the press agent, to hold his job, tells the producer she is an actress he has discovered and that her denunciation was staged to impress him. The producer stars her in a show and when she returns to her home town for a holiday her former classmates meet her at the train with welcoming banners. The campus hero pays court, but she, seeing him in new perspective, returns to the city and marries the press agent. Virginia Bruce plays the part of the country girl and sings several numbers. Kent Taylor portrays the press agent without undue distortion and Walter Brennan contributes a character role worth exploitation mention in view of his Academy award. Reviewed at the Roxy theatre, New York, where a Sunday afternoon audience seemed to love it.—W. R. W. Produced and distributed by Universal. Associate producer, Robert Presnell. Directed by Hal Mohr. Screen play by Eve Greene and Joseph Fields from a story by Eleanore Grififn. Film editor, Bernard W. Burton. Special effects by John P. Fulton. Musical director, Charles Previn. Songs by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson. Photographed by Jerome Ash. P. C. A. Certificate No. 2986. Release date, March 28. Running time, 76 minutes. General audience classification. CAST Wanda Werner Virginia Bruce Andy Russell Kent Taylor Uncle Hugo Walter Brennan Hannah Werner Greta Meyer Anton Werner Christian Rub Norman Crocker William Tannen Irene Henry Jean Rogers Orville Kane Sterling Holloway "Dotty" Leonard Nydia Westman "Cudgy" Wallace David Oliver Winthrop Grove Jack Smart Lydia Sykes Laurie Douglas John Dorman Franklin Pangborn The Good Old Soak (MGM) Melodrama For straight showmanship purposes, "The Good Old Soak" provides a group of recognized screen names. Wallace Beery is starred. The active principals are Una Merkel, Ted Healy, Eric Linden, Janet Beecher, Betty Furness, Judith Barrett and Robert McWade. George Sidney, James Bush and Margaret Hamilton have secondary parts. For entertainment, the film combines the most worthy ingredients of character and domestic comedy melodrama. While the production was in work, considerable controversy, forced or legitimate, revolved about its content, but because of intelligent treatment, the radical departure of inserting the word "good" into the original title was hardly necessary. There is nothing in the story, either in dialogue or situation, that would give anyone reason to object to its moral tone. Thus the attraction may be recommended to any kind of patronage, particularly family audiences. Any strayings from the straight and narrow path, as far as the bottle that cheers is concerned, amplifies the story's humor and human interest. The old soak, a lovable but shiftless old rogue, is a sore trial to his family. His highflying son, getting into a jam, steals a block of stock from his mother. A skinflint banker cousin gives the boy only a small percentage of what the stock is worth. The old soak is suspected. Then the old soak becomes a man nobody ever thought he could be. He lands on the skinflint banker with a fury that forces the jittery villain to disgorge his ill-gotten profits when he threatens to expose him as the financial backer of a bootlegging ring. With (Continued on page 46)