Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1938)

48 MOTION PICTURE HERALD January 8, 1938 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 IN OLD CHICAGO (Twentieth Century-Fox) An Epic [The world premiere of Darryl F. Zanuck' s rrIn Old Chicago" was held Thursday evening at the Astor theatre on Broadway, where the picture is booked for an indefinite run on a two-a-day reserved seat arrangement. Mr. Zanuck and Joseph M. Schenck, chairman of the board of Twentieth Century-Fox, headed a group from Hollywood to the premiere. See page 54.] "In Old Chicago" is a money picture. Its financial possibilities are a matter for the individual exhibitor to decide, for it is an exploitation picture for any kind of showman and an audience picture no matter how diverse the tastes may be. If the matter of name importance is the first consideration, save to state that the leading players and the feaLured support contribute the best performances of their careers to date, the reader is referred to the credits. None of them are strangers. Thematically, "In Old Chicago" tells the Previewed in Mr. Zanuck's private projection warmly human, interesting story of the room in 20th Century-Fox studio where he, O'Leary family. It opens and is anti-climaxed arriving late and dashing out before the last with a note of tragedy. In between it glows fcho ceased reverberating, worked the controls. , I j t j ' It was a press audience, mamly trade paper, to the spirit of intimate domestic comedy, ap but with £ few local ne'WSpapers represented! pealing romance and comedy and as brother guch a group> blase> sated because they comes into conflict with brother it culminates view hundreds of films yearly, applauds and dewith an emotion-stirring exposition of that parts more or iess in a dither, the subject of tried and true old theatrical standby — the their enthusiasm must have been something partriumph of virtue over vice and avarice. This ticularly worthy. What they may say as a family story, rare in the qualities that are matter of doing their jobs, what the producing close to the heart of every family, also is a and distributing organization may pay to say, political story, the forces of corruption, will probably underestimate "In Old Chicago." deceit and double crossing besieged and con Gus McCarthy. quered by the reform element. Produced and distributed by 20th Century -Fox. A In production detail "In Old Chicago" faith Darryl F. Zanuck production. Kenneth Macgowan, fully and authentically reproduces the Chicago associate producer. Directed by Henry King. Screen u y , " , . . j . 1 j play by Lamar Trotti and Sonya Levien. Based on a and people of the generation immediately prece,d st0ry by Niven Busch. Special effects scenes staged ing the month of October, 1871. The propor by Fred Sersen, Ralph Hammeras and Louis J. Write, tion Of the approximately $2,000,00® allocated to Special effects directed by H. Bruce Humberstone , . . , . « . . • Music and lyrics by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel this particular item has not been spent in vain. and Lew Pollack and Sidney D. Mitchell. Robert It has the power to convince audiences that, by Webb, assistant director. Barbara McLean, film illusion, they actually are in "The Patch," ob editor. Louis Silvers, musical director Photographed ' ... ,., ■ r .i by Peverell Marlev. P. C. A. Certificate No. 3639. servers 111 the life experiences Ot the Running timej when seen in Hollywood, HO minutes. "O'Learys," "Belle Fawcetf ?nd Gil Warren. Release date, Jan. 6, 1938. General audience classifi In supplementary detail, the music scaling from cation. "In Old Virginia," the theme song, is the topi CAST cal numbers of the moment, the eye glamour Dion OLe;irv Tyrone Power that accrues to the bustled beauties of the plush Belle Fawcett. . . .-. Alice Faye era, the panoramic conception of the people that Jack O'Leary Don Aineche were the characters of the hub dty of a vast, g-gr ^::::::::::::::::::.:::::.::::Aae rough, uncouth, pioneer empire, should thrill the Gil Warren Brian Donlevy minds of those who like to turn back the pages Ann Colby Phyllis Brooks rX t-imc Bob O'Leary Tom Brown or lime. _ General Phil Sheridan Sidney Blackmer Yet potent as IS the power Ol the story to Senator Colby Berton Churchill play upon the emotions of auditors, the last 15 Gretchen June Storey or 20 minutes of "in oid Chicago" win probably g^-s^::;:::;/;:/;;;;:::::::::::^ S register most impressively upon the minds and Patrick O'Leary J. Anthony Hughes imaginations of those who see it. Other pro Dion O'Leary (as a boy) Gene Reynolds ducers have chosen floods, earthquakes, hurri Bob O'Leary (as a boy) Bobs Watson , i • j j , f , , i . .i -it Jack O Leary (as a boy) Billy Watson canes and kindred natural catastrophes to thrill, Hattie Madame Sultewan probably terrorize, mundane sensibilities. Darryl Beavers Spencer Charters Zanuck chose a fire. It w a fire, Anyone who Body Guard Rondo Hatton , ... j j . . -ii Carrie Donahue llielma Manning has seen a community reduced to ashes will Miss Lou Ruth Gillette believe it. Drunk Eddie Collins Beef King Scotty Mattraw Stuttering Clerk Joe Twerp Booking Agent Charles Lane Lawyer Charles Hummel Wilson Judge > Frank Dae Firs Commissioner Harry Stubbs Ship's Captain Joe King Driver Francis Ford °ffic«S (wtrBo^eTerhy Men in Jack's Office j Rus'seH Hicks86^"^2 Bad Man of Brimstone (MGM) Western Melodrama Maybe you remember the westerns Thomas H. Ince used to make for Triangle, upstanding box office smashes written by C. Gardner Sullivan with William S. Hart doing the shooting, riding and emoting. If you do, you'll recall the long 1 ines that stood in front of the theatre waiting for the doors to open, and the satisfied customers wending their way homeward when the last shot had been fired and a Mack Sennett comedy had chased away the last trace of vicarious suffering. The best thing to be said about "Bad Man of Brimstone" is that it is, in every vital particular, the kind of a picture Thomas H. Ince used to make for William S. Hart. Whether the market for that kind of product is still there may be something of a question, although the box office reports have it that westerns are never out of season, but if it is, if people have not changed more fundamentally than scientists suspect, this is an upstanding article of merchandise for that market. Wallace Beery is the bad man of the title and he's surrounded by a castful of marquee personalities. (See below). He is also, very unfortunately, closely linked in public memory just now with his accidental shooting of himself with a blank cartridge while engaged in making the picture. That would have been a good story to kill but, instead, Mr. Beery was retelling it on the radio himself only last week, all this being pertinent to this report only because it might occur to some showmen as a bright idea to remind the clientele of the matter by way of exploitation. This would be extremely bad for the customers, because it is very hard to credit M'r. Beery with being a really-truly two-gun bandit with this somehow abruptly comic vision of the gentleman shooting himself by mistake popping up between the picture and the spectator. Mr. Beery's name in the picture is "Trigger Bill," and he's a bold, bad man who holds up stage coaches and so on. But his boy comes to town, not knowing "Bill" is his father, and falls in love with a girl, whereupon he decides to stay and reform the community. "Bill" manages to get him off to college for three years, but back he comes, a lawyer and U. S. marshal, to take up where he left off. "Bill" has had to tell two people about his being the boy's father, and so, because of more complications than most pictures try for, he has to kill quite a number to keep the secret. This makes a highly explosive windup which is followed by a nice wedding during which the gendarmes take "Bill" away. A glance back over the foregoing is distressing. There was no intention to toss the picture off (.Continued on page 50)