Motion Picture Reviews (1933)

Motion Picture Reviews Five as in most gangster pictures, and although the pair reform at the finish, such glorification of criminals is insidious poison for immature minds. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Most undesirable Bad HEROES FOR SALE » » Richard Barthelmess, Loretta Young, Cordon Westcott, Aline McMahon. Direction by William A. Wellman. Warner Brothers First National. In this tragic film, sorrow and suffering are handed out in undiluted portions. When the hero returns from war and finds everything gone wrong he becomes a narcotic addict, loses his job and eventually meets and suffers almost all the “heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” So much is crowded into the picture that were it not for the sincerity, sympathy and real feeling with which Richard Barthelmess endows his part it would seem too greatly overdrawn. The picture begins as a character study of Tom Holmes, the returned soldier, but becomes a scathing indictment of the treatment of unemployed war veterans. One hopes that is is exaggerated, but in any case the benefit to be derived from showing such a picture is questionable at a time when it is just becoming possible to view the future with a more hopeful spirit. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Terribly depressing No HOLD YOUR MAN » » Jean Harlow, Clark Cable, Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Burgess. Direction by Sam Wood. M-C-M. This romance of an outcast Romeo and his wayward Juliet is a dramatic and moving story of the regenerating power of love. Both Jean Harlow and Clark Gable give sincere and appealing performances — so much so that one wishes the extremely distasteful earlier scenes could be omitted, because they are a misleading preparation for an interesting story. There is great sentimental and emotional appeal (often exaggerated for sensationalism), but on the whole the director shows a real sense of values in handling human situations. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No I LOVED YOU WEDNESDAY » » Warner Baxter, Elissa Landi, Victor Jory. Direction by Henry King and William Cameron Menzies. Fox. This is a very trivial and unoriginal story elaborately produced and given undeserved interest by the attractive cast. A spectacular ballet and some thrilling scenic views of Boulder Dam are momentarily vivid but add nothing to the progress of the plot, and the ethical points involved in the heroine’s love affair with a married man are glossed over by an atmosphere of smart sophistication and deliberate worldliness. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Unsuited No v IT’S GREAT TO BE ALIVE » » Raul Roulien, Gloria Stuart, Edna May Oliver, Herbert Mundin. Direction by Alfred Werker. Fox. Try to imagine what would happen if all men died of a plague and then several years later, when women have given up hope, a man is discovered to have survived. Rhythm and photographic beauty are substituted for dramatic values, and while nothing more than a rollicking farce is intended, the director fails to achieve the possibilities of the script. As might be expected, a vein of vulgarity is included, but it is handled deftly enough to be inoffensive. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Too sophisticated Unsuited •w JENNIE GERHARDT » » Sylvia Sidney, Donald Cook, Mary Astor, Edward Arnold. Direction by Marion Gering. Paramount. The screen adaption of Dreiser’s novel loses nothing of the author's penetrating insight, and faithfully transmits to the audience his conception of the trusting young girl whose life is wrecked by sordid home conditions and her own weakness. Sylvia Sidney gives a beautiful and sympathetic portrayal of the unfortunate heroine. The quaint charm of the old styles and customs of the nineties relieves an otherwise bleak recital of a forlorn existence. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Too mature No LOVE IS LIKE THAT » » Rochelle Hudson, John Warberton. Direction by Richard Thorpe. A Chesterfield production. A young girl falls in love with a rich