Motion Picture Reviews (1934)

Motion Picture Reviews Five and any shred of honesty, he educates his clients in perjury in order to win one case after another until his racket is terminated by a woman attorney. The idea of reform may be present in this connection, but as the picture stands it seems an unnecessary portrayal of an unscrupulous means of livelihood. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No ■v DESIRABLE » » Jean Muir, George Brent, Veree Teasdale. Direction by Archie L. Mayo. From a story by Mary McCull, Jr. Warner Brothers First National. Granting the dismal fact that some mothers are jealous of their own daughters, most audiences will find this an interesting and not unpleasant treatment of the subject. In this case the mother is an actress who so clings to her youth that she is loath to allow her daughter to grow up. When the daughter unexpectedly comes home from boarding school the mother’s problem becomes acute. Jean Muir as the young girl is unusually appealing in her lack of sophistication and in her self-*effacing desire to please her mother. Her romance with an older man, the mother’s friend, is developed logically without exaggeration or sentimentality, and the plot seems entirely possible. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Mature No interest ■sr THE DRAGON MURDER CASE » » Warren William, Helen Lowell, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Eugene Pallette. Direction by H. Bruce Humberstone. Warner Bros. According to the best procedure in mystery dramas, each member of the cast must be under suspicion by the audience before the culprit is apprehended, and so the tale unfolds. To heighten the suspense there is even the superstition of a green dragon which lurks in the swimming pool of the country estate. The cast is good, and the only objection is to the excessive drinking which some people seem to think a necessary adjunct of repeal. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Not recommended No; morbid ■w ELINOR NORTON » » Claire Trevor, Hugh Williams, Gilbert Roland. From the book “The State vs. Elinor Norton” by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Adaptation by Rose Frank and Phillip Klein. Direction by Hamilton MacFadden. Fox. We have here a most unpleasant melo drama in which a woman is married to a neurotic psycopath for whom the War has completed the mental breakdown. Her own affections are, of course, engaged elsewhere, and the final denouement is as absurd as it is unreal. The picture does not follow Mrs. Rinehart’s story except in characters and locale. Judged by its own merits alone it falls short of being interesting or entertaining. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No; and uninteresting No ENTER MADAME » » Elissa Landi, Cary Grant, Sharon Lynne, Lynne Overman, Frank Albertson. From the stage play adapted by Gladys Lehman and C. Brackett. Vocal music by Nina Koshetz and Richard Bonelli. Direction by Elliott Nugent. Paramount. This is noisy, rather broad comedy in w'hich Elissa Landi, a temperamental opera singer, surrounded by the equally excitable and temperamental members of her household, finds difficulty in holding her conventional American husband. The most amusing lines are given to her manager, whose long experience in handling difficult situations brings forth very apt and laughable remarks. But otherwise it is not as entertaining as it might be. At least one burst of song was spoiled by the impossibility of mentally adapting Nina Koshetz’s voice to Elissa Landi’s personality. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No value No, and no interest •w GREAT EXPECTATIONS » » Henry Hull, Phillips Holmes, Alan Hale, Walter Armitage, Jane Wyatt, Florence Reed, George Breakston, Jackie Searl, Ann Howard, Rafaela Ottiano. From the novel by Charles Dickens. Adaptation by Gladys Linger. Photography by George Robinson. Direction by Stuart Walker. Universal. Here is an unusual picture well worth seeing. Dickens’ characters of a period in English history removed from our experience, appear before us slightly caricatured as in the book, but not too exaggerated to prevent their seeming real and very human. Moreover, for once cause and effect in conduct and character development are definitely portrayed. This is rare enough in motion pictures to cause comment. Pip, the orphan, “raised by hand” by his unsympathetic and harsh elder sister, is forced, partly through fear but also through compassion, to aid an escaping convict. Later this man’s gratitude changes his life, benefitting and embarrassing