Motion Picture News (Jan-Mar 1929)

F e b r u a r v 1 !) 2 9 369 Sins of the Fathers Yon Can Visit Them on Your Audiences (Reviewed by Freddie Schader) T^ ROM waiter to saloon keeper, to boot* legger, then a Federal convict and back to waiter again is the story of Emil Jannings in his latest. But it is a picture that both you and your audiences will like, for"" «ven though the German star goes through the usual series of grief stricken moments a la "The Way of All Flesh" he does manage to come under the wire at the finish for a happy ending. At least as happy as any ending can be that brings about the blindness of an only son. But it is grippingly told in picture form due to the masterful performance of the star and the admirable direction of Ludwig Berger. In addition to Jannings there are two really remarkable performances in the picture. Ruth Chatterton and Barry Norton are responsible for them. Miss Chatterton is going to be a surprise to a great many of her friends. Jannings has the role of a German emigrant who is a waiter and later develops into a beer stube proprietor in a German section of the town. He is making a good living up to the time prohibition comes along and then on the advice of his bartender they start bootlegging, running stuff in from the boats and finally opening a bottling plant of their own. His first wife has died, he has married a vamp who in reality is the bartender's sweetie, and she is the cause of his turning his daughter out of doors. His son, who is his pride and joy is away at college, while the father is amassing wealth by selling booze, and as the Government tightens the ring on alky, the partner starts using wood alcohol which results in poisoning hundreds all over the city, the boot's own boy on his first night home after graduating, also falling a victim to the stuff and going blind. At that stage of the game the cops break into the plant and the source of the poison is discovered with the result that the old man is sent to the Federal pen, while the wife and the ex-bartender sweetie flee with the bankroll. The blind boy is taken in hand by his sister and her husband who has developed into a successful business man. When the old man is released from jail he returns to waiting tables and gets a job in a summer amusement park where his family walk in on him and a reconciliation is effected. There is lots of action, sex and a moral in the picture. It's a great argument against drinking the bottled poison that is being sold these days. Drawing Power: Jannings' by all means and the fact that he is in a picture with a happy ending. Don't forget Ruth Chatterton because of her stage record and Barry Norton who was "Mother's Boy" in "What Price Glory," and the lead in ■"Mother Knows Best." Produced and distributed by ParamountFamous-Lasky. Length, 7,761 feet. Running time, an hour and twenty-eight minutes. Released, Dec. 29, 1928. Story by Norman Burnstine. Adapted by E. Lloyd Sheldon. Directed by Ludwig Berger. THE CAST Wilhelm Spengler Emil Jannings Gretta Ruth Chatterton Tom Spengler Barry Norton Mary Spengler Jean Arthur Otto Jack Luden Mother Spengler ZaSu Pitts Gus Matthew Betz Redskin Bang! And Another Redskin Bit the Dust (Reviewed by Freddie Schader) ^~\N the same battlefield at the corner of ^^ 44th Street and Broadway where he met defeat as an Indian in "The Vanishing American" a couple of years ago, Richard Dix again comes a cropper in "Redskin." He hasn't had a real picture since he made "Knockout Reilly" in the Eastern studios, and now after almost two years of duds to top it by this one, is almost too much. If it wasn't for the fact that they have some groat Technicolor shots in "Redskin" they could leave it on the shelf for all the good that it is going to do at the box office. It opened last week at the Criterion for a run at $2 top. If it manages to stay four weeks it will be a wonder. As far as story goes, it is just the same old tale all over again. An Indian youth, son of a chief, is torn from his people and compelled to go to the white man's school. Then after he has finished school he is neither white nor an Indian. But in the school he has met an Indian maid. They grow up together and although she is of a tribe that is opposed to his own he loves her, and in the end he manages to marry her for the happy ending, but not before he manages to discover oil, in the kind of soil where there never was any oil before. Then he turns out to be the champ of champs as a marathon runner for he beats a Ford in a cross country race to file his claim in the land office. The writer evidently forgot that whites cannot prospect on reservations. But a little thing like that is overlooked in pictures. Drawing Power: The scenic beauties of Utah in natural colors is about all that there is that you can offer your public. Produced and distributed by ParamountFamous-Lasky. Silent length, 7,402 feet; Sound, 7,643 'feet. Released, Feb. 9, 1929. Story and adaptation by Elizabeth Pickett. Directed by Victor Schertzinger. THE CAST Wing Foot Richard Dix Corn Blossom Gladys Belmont Judy Jane Novak John Walton Larry Steers Navajo Jim Tully Marshall Chahi Bernard Siegel Chief Notani George Rigas Yina Augustine Lopez Pueblo Jim Noble Johnson Commissioner Joseph W. Girard Barrett Jack Duane Anderson Andrew J. Callahan Wing Foot (Age 9) Philip Anderson Corn Blossom (Age 6) Loraine Rivero Pueblo Jim (Age IS) George Walker Watch It Click THE other day, at the RCA projection room. Educational showed two dialogue comedies — "The Eligible Mr. Bangs" and "The Bride's Relations." The first is a smart society comedy with excellent lines, giving Edward Everett Horton, in particular, a chance to shine. It should go well. The other, "The Bride's Relations," produced by Mack Sennett, is a knockout. The best talking short we have seen. Shown in a cold projection room, it "got" the reviewers, and brought plenty of laughs. Watch it click in the theatres. A "natural," if there ever was one. The Pagan A Keystone with a South Sea Setting (Reviewed by Jerry Hoffman) tf reply to adverse criticism on this latest Ramon Novarro vehicle, M-G-M undoubtedly point to the number of laughs they clocked at the preview where it was revised. In this instance, it was the Westlake Theatre, Los Angeles. All of which is well and good if they intend to make a combined Longdon-Chaplin-Laurel-Hardy out of the screen's most romantic figures. With ' ' Scaramouche ' ' and ' ' Ben Hur, ' ' M-G-M had an opportunity to build one of the best box-office attractions in the industry in Ramon Novarro. They had exploited Novarro as what he is off the screen. A dreamer, with lofty thoughts, beautiful ideals, and at the same time one of the few individuals in his end of the profession with an unusual amount of common sense. Readers of such publicity don't want to see their dreamer of beautiful things playing slapstick. There was an opportunity for an exceptionally fine story worthy of Novarro in "The Pagan." Evidently W. S. Van Dyke, who gave us "White Shadows of the South Seas," couldn't repeat, and seemed to be at a loss in handling this story. Undoubtedly "The Pagan" will be greatly enhanced by sound, as this preview was in silent form. There are certain sequences which call for singing by Novarro, who is reputed to have a beautiful voice. In fairness to Novarro, it must be said that he gives a splendid performance as the halfcaste Polynesian who wants neither money nor land, nor anything material, but just to be let alone and be happy. Little Dorothy Janis shows great possibility for future dramatic roles despite the evidently poor direction she has been given and the occasional spots of poor photography. The girl is sweet to look at and displays more than average ability. Donald Crisp and Renee Adoree almost succeed in running off with all acting honors, mainly because their roles have more meat than the juvenile and ingenue characters. Drawing Power: The equation of Novarro's name will undoubtedly pull people in. There is also plenty of entertainment even if it is slapstick comedy. Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Silent footage, 7,000 feet, approximately. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke. Story by John Russell. Scenario by Dorothy Farnum. THE CAST Henry Shoesmith, Jr Ramon Novarro Madge Renee Adoree Tito Dorothy Janis Joranson Donald Crisp "Wooden Money" (Pathe— One Reel) THIS is a very humorous Aesop Film Fable comic, that has been cleverly animated. The cartoonist pens Milt Mouse and his sweetie riding through one part of Fableville, while old man Alfalfa in another section of town is having considerable trouble with his household. Al's abode is overrun with mischievous mice, and a gang of cats just about make life unbearable for him. He decides to sell the place, and two brothers buy it. Al runs away with the bag they have given him supposed to contain money. Opening the bag miles away, the farmer discovers it full of mice. He jumps into the lake, comes through the faucet in his own kitchen, and with the endless string of mice still trailing him, chases the two brothers over the hill.-GEORGE J. REDDY.