Motion Picture Reviews (1934)

Four Motion Picture Reviews are laid in Austria in 1838 and the ending comes at a concert for the fund for unemployed musicians in New York at the present time. It is a touchingly beautiful story, and the spirituality of its theme and treatment makes it unusually satisfying entertainment for discriminating audiences. Adolescents, 12 to IS Children, 8 to 12 Interesting but mature No interest THE BIG SHAKEDOWN » » Charles Farrell, Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell. From the story “Cut Rate’’ by Engels and Busch. Direction by John Francis Dillon. Warner Brothers. Racketeers again, this time with a new and even more alarming racket, the practice of counterfeiting labels on trade-marked drugs and replacing important remedies with worthless or deadly imitations. While pointing the moral that racketeers sometimes are sentenced to hard labor, this picture nevertheless features the underworld and its activities and is replete with viciousness. We wonder how long it will be before a diet of sordid crime stories will produce mental indigestion in the movie-going public. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No 'w BOMBAY MAIL » » Shirley Grey, Edmund Lowe, Ralph Forbes, Hedda Hopper. Direction by Edwin L. Marin. Universal. A harmless mystery play. It is slow in tempo, ordinary in treatment and not unusual except in its setting which is the Bombay Mail Express. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Harmless Slow and not in teresting V CHARMING DECEIVER » » Constance Cummings, Frank Lawton. Direction by Monty Banks. English Production. Majestic Pictures. A facile comedy about an attractive modiste who is mistaken for a movie star and a mysterious young man who is always appearing on the scene in different guise. The English cast and foreign settings add to the entertainment value. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Little interest CONVENTION CITY » » Adolphe Menjou, Guy Kibbe, Mary Astor, Frank McHugh. Dick Powell. Direction by Archie Mayo. First National-Warner Bros. After seeing this picture no one will ever again cherish any illusions about how the average salesman spends his time when he attends a convention at Atlantic City. It is crisp, fast, coherent, funny, and directed with amazing facility, but it is also one of the rowdiest productions we have seen. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No CROSBY CASE » » (Formerly Called “SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR”) Onslow Stevens, Wynne Gibson, Alan Dinehart. Direction by Edward Marin. Universal Pictures Corp. When a doctor is murdered the mystery is solved without undue thrills or horrors and the criminals are punished. The picture is fairly entertaining in that it shows the technique of crime detection. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Passable No CROSS COUNTRY CRUISE » » Lew Ayres, June Knight, Alice White, Alan Dinehart. Direction by Edward Buzzell. Universal. judging from advance advertising we are due for another cycle of pictures with themes similar to this one which recounts the adventures of a heterogeneous group of passengers on a transcontinental bus. Among the passengers are a bigamist, a near bigamist, a young woman who is “dead headed” by successive drivers because of her obvious charms, and of course the two young people who fall in love. A murder is committed by one of the group and solved by the ingenuity of the hero. Though the situations and dialogue are what might be expected and many distasteful vulgarities are introduced for comedy, the illusion of traveling in a bus is cleverly created and the character roles are well acted. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Unpleasantly sophisticatec No V EAT ’EM ALIVE » » Direction by Harold Austin. Photographed by JayTurner. Independent Film Distributors. An unusual and starkly realistic portrayal of the struggle for existence of reptilian life on American deserts. Entertainment value is