Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

A< o v c m b e r 8 , 1 ° 3 0 M (i / i o n P i c I u r N , l<> Opinions on Pictures Scarlet Runner & Co. (British International Pictures) Great HIGHLY interesting and very well done, this is a picturization of the various stages in the growth of a scarlet runner. It is one of the cleverest and interesting shorts it has been our good fortune to see. Ingenious handling of the theme makes it an unusual subject. Any audience will get a lot of information and entertainment out of this fine subject. Running time, JS minutes. Audio Review, No. 43 (Pathe) Interesting SOME unusual shuts oi the Rock of Gibraltar and of the life of the Spaniards living at the slope of the British fortress is the opening unit, but the most interesting feature shows the interior of the Chicago Planetarium with its intricate mechanism by which it throws a faithful reproduction of the stars on the globe ceiling. The issue is rounded out by a tour of the mansions of New York millionaires. Worth playing. Running time, 9 minutes. The Electric Ship (Genera! Electric) Fair THIS commercial short takes us on the SS. Virginia, an electrically-driven steamer of the Panama-Pacific line and the largest vessel built in this country, to the West Coast via Havana and the Panama Canal. Routine shots aboard ship and at ports of call are included. It's an advertising plug for the company, and will not excite any one. Running time, 9 minutes. College Capers ( Vitaphone No, 4124) Fair PHOTOGRAPHED in Technicolor, this short has the merit of a fresh idea, but its possibilities have not been developed to the fullest extent. It contrasts the college graduation exercises of two decades ago, when dignity reigned, with a jazzy parody along modern lines, but it is produced with such a pronounced jerkiness that the idea is ruined. Running time, 10 minutes. Charles Hackett ( Vitaphone No. 1143) Bombastic; Lacks Illustion THE famous romance of Romeo and Juliet takes it on the chin in this Vitaphoner. Exactly how old Romeo was may be subject to controversy in so far as actual years may be concerned. Juliet, too, according to Bill Shakespeare, was a very comely wench. And so, when you see a Romeo who obviously reached his majority years ago and a Juliet who sings far better than she looks, it becomes one tough job to keep the illusion that presumes to surround these two renowned lovers. The renditions are very good, and thus the ear is satisfied. But the eye has thrown at it more than it can reasonably absorb. Hackett's operatic bombastty doesn't add to the affair, either. Running time, 9 minutes. The Big Cheese ( Pathe— Aesop Fable) Fair THERE are some laughs in this, but they are few and far between. Most of the action is devoted to a prize fight, with the pugs interpolating esthetic dances, but it's overdone. Verv little thought was devoted to making this. Running time, 8 mini'tes. Short Subjects Go to Blazes ( Universal) Has Lots of Laughs THIS starts out as pretty much of a dud, but gathers momentum as it goes. By the time of the wind-up it registers as a hilarious comedy which will go big with any kind of audience. George Sidney and Charles Murray have an individual style of comedy which gets over nicely. In this, they are entrusted with the care of the fire station while the boys are having a picnic. The inevitable fire finds them taxing their ingenuity in trying to rescue the widow both are k^en for. This can be depended upon for plenty of laughs. Running time, 21 minutes. The Bandmaster (Krazy Knt — Columbia) Great ANOTHER reason why these clever cartoons are so popular. The Kat appears in the title role, going through a series of funny capers which will put this over in grand style on any kind of bill. This cartoon is worth special billing in any kind of theatre. Running time, 9 minutes. Traffic Tangle ( Pathe ) Feeble THE lines supplied to Nat Carr and Dot Farley in this alleged comedy are so putrid that your audiences will groan — if they have any intelligence. And the story is almost as bad. Nat buys a new Ford and the family, consisting of Miss Farley, Spec O'Donnell and George Billings, starts on a camping trip. They tangle up traffic, but a cop, unable to find his "tickets," orders Nat to drive him to his home to get them. Twice on the way there they are stopped by motorcycle cops, neither of whom notices the huge cop sitting beside Nat and gives the latter a ticket. That's too much license and the interest of the audience sags. Don't plug this one. Running time, 20 minutes. The Glory of Spain (Pathe) Average THE photography in this Tom Terriss Vagabond Adventure is so flat that the interest palls. Long shots of Spanish towns that look like the Bronx from afar, close-ups of little girls dancing and a few stereotyped bull fight scenes make up the "adventure." Terriss, however, manages to become excited and romantic in his synchronized spiel. Running time, 10 minutes. Razord In Old Kentucky (RKO) Has Laughs THIS is a burlesque on a Kentucky feud, the town divided into two armed camps, when Nick and Tony arrive to set up a barber shop. They figure they'll be in for heavy dough, due to the prevalence of beards. The dividing line runs right through the barber shop, so the veteran partners are forced to take sides. It has some laughs, particularly the summoning of the clans with the trick automobile horn of the type Eddie Cantor made famous. Running time, 20 minutes. Bird Island of Peru (Talkin,/ Picture Epics) Very Interesting DR. ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY lecturing on Peruvian birds. He photographed the pictures on the Peruvian Oceanographic Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History. It has some fine shots of bird life, and the love-making of two boobies is a treat. Dr. Murphy is an entertaining talker. These travel monologue films are going over well. Running time, 21 minutes. Hot and Bothered (Columbia) Peppy EDDIE BUZZELL as a radio announcer keeps up a rapid-fire spiel as the action flits hither and yon, with some funny antics. Eddie explains what it's all about, although only brief flashes are shown of him before the microphone, and in some episodes, by means of clever dubbing, the characters' voices are carried by Eddie with fairly perfect synchronization of the talk and the lip movements. Eddie's voice becomes tiresome, however. Running time, 10 minutes. The Showman (Radio) Old Stuff A TOBY, the Pup, cartoon filled with the stereotyped singing and dancing acts of beast, fowl, fish, etc. There's one original gag — a goldfish donning a regulation diver's suit to come to the surface and join in the singing. It's got a few laughs in it. Running time, 7 minutes. Jewel of Asia (Columbia — Bray) Stale THIS is the second in the Rambling Reporter travelogue shorts being made by the Bray Studios, but it lacks action and interest. The cameraman roams the city of Bangkok, Siam, depicting scenes shown often before. The synchronized voice is flat. Just another travelogue. Running time, 10 minutes. While the Captain Waits (Paramount ) Mild Attraction ARMIDA, featured player in a number of recent Coast pictures and now a musical comedy star on Broadway, gets the stellar spot in this short, a musical with a nautical background. The setting is aboard an ocean liner and the night that on which the usual concert in the first cabin is to be held. But Armida is back in the steerage singing and dancing for the immigrants. She sings as well as her small and undistinguished voice permits, but dances considerably better. No world-beater. Just a mild attraction. Directed by Ray Cozine. •Running time, 9 minutes. Mariutch (Paramount ) Pretty Good ONE of the series of song cartoons produced by Max Fleischer for Paramount distribution, "Mariutch" has had a number of better predecessors. The song, however, is known up and down the land and is 'way ahead of the cartoon work that accompanies it. In high spots, there is one: when the curtain behind which the violently active hootchy-kootchy dancer doing her stuff goes up and demonstrates the gyrations belong to three acrobats. Running time, 7 minutes.