Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1939)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD November 4, 1939 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. First Love (Universal) Deanna Durbin Song Film Herewith the Joe Pasternak-Henry Koster way with script and camera accounts again for a graceful, eyeable, earable and altogether entertaining Deanna Durbin song film, as dependable a product, commercially and audiencewise, as the studios of Hollywood achieve. In it the young lady sings four songs, each in its proper place and with the accustomed pertinency to narrative, and the emotions of an adolescent in love are dealt with realistically and with no phony underscoring. It's a solid picture. Miss Durbin graduates from a girls' ^"b'6 Hay*!ngr Deanna Durbin school in the opening sequence and is back x^ r^ake.?*0"'.'. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'.\\\\ ! :^obertP suck in the class room again at the finale after a femes clinton Eugene Paiiette series of experiences in the luxurious home ^a^^:::::::::::::::::::::::;:;:^^^^ Of a fabulously wealthy uncle whose fabu Wilma Van Everette June Storey lously spoiled family make her life miserable ^ikt '. ..\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\°ha Frank" je^'k" while the staff below stairs befriend her. Into this series of events screen playwrights Bruce Manning and Lionel Houser have in "|"f"|Qt ThsV SAdV LlVfi terjected, undisguised and with good-humor / '"•'J/ Live ed modernization, the better parts of "Polly ( Mayer-Burstytl ) anna," "The Ugly Duckling" and quite lit Accusation of War erally "Cinderella." These combine to pro The Qri ind ^ Qf ^ French . mtion duce a singularly refreshing tale. was <TAccuse" and what it accuses is war and ^Robert Stack as the young man with whom all the wars of tomorrow. It is not what com. the young lady falls in love has little screen time, monIy is known as an entertainment picture, nor yet uses it well Helen Parrish is adroitly detest is it a propaganda picture in the accepted sense, able as the jealous cousin and Leatrice Joy re It cries out against the inhumanness of man turning to films to play the sophisticated mother, but hammers at the thesis so constantly as to stakes out a valid claim on a new screen career. weaken the message. A different approach es Eugene Paiiette as the long suppressed million pecially where the screen is concerned, seems aire father who finally takes matters in hand, ;n order when it is considered that for 20 to Char es Coleman as a sympathetic butler and 25 years the public has been subjected inter Kath een Howard as an old maid school teacher mittently to gruesome films on the horrors of who knows all about love and what it does to warfare people turn in three superb performances. ™ . „ . , , Although a rounded and polished production , TJ?e story is well acted by a competent cast, in every department, formal narrative technique £ French patrol is sent out the night before is departed from on several occasions with im h5: Armistice Only two men return, one morpressive result. People talk to their images in tally wounded Before he dies he clasps the mirrors and the images talk back. Dancers in hand. °{.the s?!f survivor, placing him in corna ballroom fade out of the picture without no ™mcation with all the dead of the World tice when their presence ceases to be important. Wan He had assured his fellows that there These and similar uses of the camera and what never would be another war. used to be called trick photography add an im The years from the Armistice are spanned portant touch of unreality to a story never too swiftly and the survivor becomes blind. The seriously pitched. war talk of 1939 arouses him and he is able to In common with her previous pictures, this see again. He calls to the World War dead Durbin vehicle is a fine, clean, wholesome en to arise and protest. As the mutilated dead tertainment item designed for any and all of march again (portrayed by Les Gueules Casthe world's peoples of all ages and both gen sees, the French mutilated veterans of the war) ders. Miss Durbin's singing equals her best and the living are frightened and the survivor of her acting continues to mature. This story is the last patrol is burned to death, somewhat lighter, somewhat more to the comedy Abel Gance wrote and directed the picside, but no less refreshing and effective than ture. her others. The picture is showmanly material Victor Francen heads the cast, which includes in every meaning of the term. Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max, Renee De Previewed at the Pontages theatre, Holly villers, Georges Saillard, Paul Amiot, Rollin, wood, where it evoked honest applause at sev Andre Nox and Walter. eral points and satisfied a mixed audience ut Reviewed in a projection room in New York, terly.— William R. Weaver. —Paul C. Mooney, Jr. Produced and distributed by Universal. Producer, Joe Pasternak. Director, Henry Koster. Screen play, Distributed by Mayer-Burstyn, Inc. A ForresterBruce Manning. Cameraman, Joe Valentine, ASC. Parant Production. Directed by Abel Gance. SeeFilm editor. Bernard Burton. Sound supervisor, Bern nario, Abel Gance. . Dialogue, Steve Passeur. Music, ard B. Brown. Sound recorder, Joe Lapis. Costumer, Henry Verdun. Played by The Symphonic Orchestra Vera West. Art director, Jack Otterson. Unit art of Paris. English titles, Pierre van Paasen. Technical director, Martin O'bzina. Assistant director. Frank assistance, Julian Leigh. Photography, Roger Hubert. Shaw. Unit publicity writer, Ray Hoadley. Running American editing, Harry Glass. PCA Certificate No. time, when seen in Hollywood, 84 minutes. Release 02685. Running time, 73 minutes. Release date, Nodate, Nov. 10, 1939. General audience classification. vember 6, 1939. Adult audience classification. Too Busy to Work (20th Century-Fox) Comedy Now well into its fourth year of consistent popularity, the Jones Family series continues, here, in high gear on a wide open straightaway. This time the regular cast enjoys assistance in the speed, pep and laugh department from the able and agile Joan Davis, who pours into the film a liberal measure of her peculiarly effective slapstick art. The screen play by Robert Ellis, Helen Logan and Stanley Raud opens with the estimable John Jones so busy being Mayor Jones that the Jones drugstore is approaching bankruptcy. By way of showing him what would happen to the household if his wife neglected her housekeeping as he neglects his store, she takes up amateur acting. From there on complications become many and hilarious, the proceedings winding up in an amateur play which works out as they always do but more so. Otto B rower's direction is successful in speed, clarity and point. Produced for Sol Wurtzel by John Stone, it ranks high among the pictures of the series, perhaps highest. Previewed at the Upton theatre, Los Angles, where it had 'em, as the saying is, rolling in the aisles. — W. R. W. Produced and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Executive producer, Sol Wurtzel. Associate produer, John Stone. Directed by Otto Brower. Screen play by Robert Ellis, Helen Logan and Stanley Raud. Photographed by Edward Cronjager. P.C.A. certificate No. 5,687. Release date, November 17, 1939. Running time, when seen in Los Angeles, 65 minutes. General audience classification. CAST John Jones Jed Prouty Mrs. John Jones Spring Byington Jack Jones Ken Howell Roger Jones George Ernest Lucy Jones '. June Carlson Granny Jones Florence Roberts Bobby Jones Billy Mahan Lolly Joan Davis Cracker McGurk Chick Chandler Mrs. Randolph Russell Marjorie Gateson Wilbur Wentworth Andrew Tombes Tommy McGuire Marvin Stephens Gilligan Irving Bacon Betty (Mayor's Secretary) Helen Ericson Raymond Harold Goodwin Charlie Carter Hooper Atchley Hank Fidler Fred Kelsey Springer Chester Clute Jailer George Watts Little Accident (Universal) Baby Sandy's Third Although fitted out with a considerable array of adult names for exploitation use, this third of the Baby Sandy pictures is primarily and completely a background for display of the infant star. Adult roles, handled ably enough, are subordinated to the baby's. Here, it is to be noted, reference to the child is as she and her, stabilizing that detail of identity. Titled for and derived, very remotely, from a stage play that got itself widely discussed in its day as risque, daring, and the like, the film has been produced and directed by Charles Lamont as a largely and unabashedly slapstick comedy, going back to Sennett for much of its