Motion Picture Reviews (1933)

Motion Picture Reviews Nine audiences as they do readers of these classics, seems entirely conceivable, because in Herbert Brennon’s production of “Oliver Twist,” William Boyd and Doris Lloyd make Bill and Nancy Sykes believable and real. But the rest of the cast are pretty generally only puppets in a theatre, and Dicky Moore (now camera conscious, alas) is far too healthy and too infantile to satisfy our conception of the “pale, thin, nine-year-old boy” of the novel. It is an interesting experiment but not a successful one. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Passable No interest OUR BETTERS » * Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland. Direction by George Cukor. From the play by W. Somerset Maugham. R.K.O. Not even the occasional glimpses of Mr. Maugham’s satiric wit can relieve the monotony of this picture, composed principally of cynical dialogue based upon the peccadillos of American women who have married British titles. Admitting that its intention is satire there still seems to be little excuse for this unfortunate parade of low moral standards. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Demoralizing No THE PARACHUTE JUMPER > » Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Bette Davis, Leo Carrillo, Frank McHugh. From the story by Rian James. Direction by Alfred E. Green. Warner Bros. This picture is another racketeer story of the worst type, with gangster shootings, the coarsest of humor, the most needlessly offensive situations and with nothing to recommend it but good acting (particularly on the part of Fairbanks), fine flying and parachute jumping. It seems particularly pernicious for youthful audiences because it has all the glamour of excitement and would probably arouse only admiration and possibly imitation. The values are false throughout. Boys would feel only the charm of the hero, his sang froid under danger, his escape of all penalties for wrong doing nor would they blame him for his apparent lack of appreciation of having committed any wrong. The girls would see in the heroine only a very pretty girl, with an engaging Southern accent who got everything she wanted by exerting her “personality.” Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Bad No PAROLE GIRL » » Mae Clarke, Ralph Bellamy, Marie Prevost, Hale Hamilton. Direction by Edward F. Cline. Columbia. A girl caught as an accomplice in an extortion plot swears revenge on the man who will not help her to escape the consequences, but according to a well-known movie formula she ends by falling in love with him. In spite of the fact that the story is full of discrepancies and exaggerations, we fear that the easy morals, the allotment of sympathy to the criminal class and the emphasis on the facility with which one may learn to evade the laws and prosper thereby, make it a dangerous film for general distribution. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Harmful Harmful ■w PRIVATE JONES » * Lee Tracy, Donald Cook. Original story by Richard Schayer. Direction by Russell Mack. Universal Pictures. The legend of the glory of war is “debunked” and the unwilling soldier is made the hero in this more or less flippant but interesting picture. Though humorously treated the underlying idea is serious. It concerns a rebellious, embittered doughboy who is drafted into the army, and we find a sympathy for his point of view and a suggestion for international understanding but no satisfactory substitute for the war attitude. Undoubtedly stimulative it will antagonize or amuse according to the prejudices of the audience and the degree of their liking for Lee Tracy. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Thought provoking Over their heads ▼ RASPUTIN » * John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Diana Wynyard. Direction by Richard Boleslavsky. M-G-M. Any adequate appreciation of this film from the standpoint of historical accuracy demands a greater degree of familiarity with events in Russia than the average person can truthfully claim. However, since so much mystery shrouds the entire period of the Revolution and the persons involved, it is unimportant whether or not this picture is entirely truthful either in background or in characterizations. That it seems so, and that one leaves the theatre with the impression of having lived intimately with the royal family and suffered with them the tragedy of their fallen empire is proof of