Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

3$ Motion Picture News November 29 , 1930 Opinions on Pictures Danger Lights {R-K-O-Spoor-Bcrggrcn Natural Vision Process) Spectacular and Significant {Reviewed by S. A. Kane) "[RANGER LIGHTS," as the initial fea■L/ ture-length production made and projected with Spoor-Berggren equipment, provides an excellent illustration of what mechanical and scientific developments can do to improve ordinary motion picture drama. This picture has been photographed on standard as well as 65 mm. film. The standard film version is an ordinary picture with nothing more than excellent sound effects and occasional picturesque shots to distinguish it. On the other hand, the wide film and wide screen version is a startling experience in the possibilities of photographic realism, that makes of common motion picture material a spectacular show. The fact is more impressive when it is remembered that "Danger Lights" was not selected as the one story possibility among many that would best adapt itself to the purposes of the Spoor-Berggren equipment. It was a story going into production at a time when a test of the Spoor process was required, so the Spoor cameras followed the company on location and into the studios, and were placed beside standard cameras, recording the same scenes and action from angles identical to those employed by the standard cameras. The photographic results of the two media are as significant as they are strangers to each other. The story is that of a veteran railroad man, Louis Wolheim, known for his ability on the job and his kindliness to less fortunate railroad men. Wolheim has been the mainstay of Frank Sheridan, who plays a disabled engineer, and the latter's daughter, played by Jean Arthur, whom Wolheim is engaged to marry. Robert Armstrong, a discredited railroad man, is reinstated by Wolheim, and established in his and Sheridan's home. There Armstrong falls in love with Jean Arthur, and the two, afraid to face the father and the benefactor, plan an elopement. Leaving at night, Armstrong's foot is caught in a rail switch, as the Limited approaches. Wolheim, pursuing them, finds them in this predicament. He sacrifices himself to free Armstrong, and the resultant injuries require the attention of a brain specialist to save his life. The nearest specialist is in Chicago. A record run must be made to get him in time. Armstrong volunteers to take the throttle of a special and, with the tracks cleared for it, the run to Chicago is made in some such unprecedented time as 90-odd miles per hour, for the five hours. Wolheim's life is saved, and in a final sacrificial gesture he concedes Armstrong's better claim on the girl and contents himself with pursuing his love for railroading. On standard film this story is told in the ordinary and casual manner suggested by its theme. The natural vision process, adding a partly achieved illusion of a third dimension, a clearer and vastly larger proj ection, and. a panoramic sweep to outdoor sequences never before achieved by motion picture cameras, succeeds in contributing to the production a spectacular realism. This contribution, in turn, gives a dignity and interest to the production that the standard film version does not even suggest. The third dimensional illusion is most noticeable in outdoor shots of a panoramic sweep, in which depth of backgrounds is naturally present. The same illusion in lesser emphasis is present in outdoor sequences of limited visual ranges. As a photographic result it disappears entirejy in indoor shots at close range. Aside from the third dimensional illusion, the picture is distinguished, photographically, by the scenic and realistic shots caught along the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific's rightof-way as the special train bearing the injured railroad man makes its record run to Chicago. Audiences impulsively applauded occasional of these shots at the theatre in which the picture was caught. The Natural Vision version of "Danger Lights" is destined to attract much natural publicity, newspaper comment and word-ofmouth advertising. It was put on cold in Chicago, without any increase in advertising or exploitation over the normal average for a program picture. It opened to average business, built steadily from day to day, and was continuing to build at the opening of its second week, as a result of the attention its spectacular qualities gains it. Some effects and reproduction are excellent, and contribute importantly to the realistic success of the new photographic and projection process. Direction by George B. Seitz is capable. All roles are adequately handled by the same cast noted in the review of the standard • film version of "Danger Lights" in the September 6 issue of Motion Picture News. Comedy relief is afforded with the occasional appearances of Hugh Herbert as a dignified tramp. Length and running time are the same as for the standard film version. Most remarkable is the suggestion carried by this of the photographic possibilities of the process which will undoubtedly result from its further development and with pictures better suited to its spectacular achievements. The limited number of panoramic shots afforded by the script of "Danger Lights" ably demonstrate what the process could achieve under such circumstances. These panoramic shots are unquestionably the most complimentary to the Natural Vision process, yet because of their scarcity and brevity they are not, in themselves, an adequate demonstration of the full possibilities of the new photographic and projection process. Such a picture as "The Big Trail" would have been admirably suited to the SpoorBerggren equipment, and would have provided its almost perfect test. Better-suited vehicles will bring out the system's greatest advantages as it now stands. These will be outdoor pictures. Improvement of the results it produces in indoor shots must, apparently, wait on further scientific improvement of the process. "Danger Lights" was reviewed on standard film in Motion Picture News for September 6. Sin Takes a Holiday (Pathe) Swell Women's Picture (Reviewed by Red Kami) GEAR your campaign for the women with this one. It's built that way and, while the male percentage of your audience will probably find it entertaining, "Sin Takes a Holiday" is very much female stuff. Here you have a smart, sophisticated, and often improbable yarn, wherein Constance Bennett steps out of a drab stenographer's role in the early part of the picture and converts herself into a one-woman fashion show for the rest of the footage. You find her as secretary to Kenneth MacKenna, divorce lawyer whose legal astuteness isn't sufficient to keep him from becoming entwined in an affair with Rita La Roy. Rita, three times married, is preparing to divorce the fourth in the anticipation that MacKenna will marry her. Only he doesn't, makes a deal with Miss Bennett to marry him — one of those inname-only affairs — for one year, after which he figures his episode with Miss La Roy will have sufficiently cooled off to permit continuance of bachelorhood. Constance, who really loves him, consents although the motivitation is something you have to guess at because the story development never makes it totally clear. Immediately after the ceremony she sails for Europe, $5,000 having been settled on her as the price for going through with the procedure. On the boat she meets Basil Rathbone, manabout-town and off to Paris for his annual adventures in love. He makes a violent play for her and showers the types of entertainment upon her which the mob ordinarily associates with the idle rich: a chateau, visits to the races, roulette, winter sports in the Alps, etc. Their joint appearance everywhere eventually leads Rathbone to tell Constance that their entire set believes they are carrying on a love affair, although it is clearly indicated that they are not. He asks her to marry him, but she refuses until she has had opportunity to see MacKenna in New York and to discover if she still loves him. So back to the States they go. MacKenna is dazzled by the change through which Miss Bennett has passed via clothes, beauty parlors and the like. He discovers he loves her, despite the fact that this portion of the story is hardly dramatically and progressively consistent. In order to end the La Roy episode which has been flourishing all this time, MacKenna asks Miss Bennett to carry through the husband-and-wife situation. She consents, succeeds in routing the female menace and finds herself listening to MacKenna's arguments and protestations of undying love. In the meantime, Rathbone gets tired of waiting and departs after leaving word that he is again sailing for Paris to discover something he missed on the last trip. Horace Jackson, who did the adaptation and dialogue, did an extremely good job. His situations and his dialogue are smart and occasionally tinged with the suggestive, all of which this reviewer feels is in keeping with the general type of story although the heads of families may disagree. Miss Bennett does nice work, just that. Her performance, while adequate, never turns as startling as the women of the nation will undoubtedly find her clothes. But then you have her appearance in the enormously successful "Common Clay" to cash in on. Don't forget it. The rest of the cast is very satisfactory, the best work of the troupe being delivered by Basil Rathbone. Snappy, fast-moving shorts adinsable here to maintain the speed of the picture. Produced and distributed by Pathe. From original story by Robert Milton and Dorothy Cairns. Directed by Paul Stein. Adaptation and dialogue by Horace Jackson. Edited by Dan Mandell. Photographed by John Mescall. Length. 7,304 feet. Running time, SI minutes. Release date, November 20. THE CAST Sylvia Constance Bennett Gaylord Stanton Kenneth MacKenna Durant Basil Rathbone Grace Rita LaRoy Richards Louis Bartels Sheridan John Roche Anna Zasu Pitts Miss Munson Kendall Lee Wild Men of Kalihari (Talking Picture Epics) Good Travel Film (Reviczved bv Charles F. Hynes) DR. E. ERNEST CADLE made this interesting film of the bushmen of South Africa while heading the Denver African Expedition. The scenes are described by Dr. Cadle while they unfold. The naked wild men have no habitation, wandering over the desert and its fringes. The race, now nearly extinct, once comprised a large portion of the population of Africa. Talking Picture Epics has adopted a policy with its scientific and travel pictures, guaranteeing their authenticity in every respect. Paul Maschke edited the film, which needs strong short or feature support. Length, 4,490 feet. Running time, 50 minutes. Release date, Nov. 22.