Motion Picture Reviews (1935)

Motion Picture Reviews Five tertaining film were it shortened by judicious cutting. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Excellent Excellent THE BEST MAN WINS » » Edmund Lowe, Jack Holt, Bela Lugosi, Florence Rice, J. Farrel MacDonald. From a story by Ben Kihn; adapted by Ethel Hill and Bruce Manning. Direction by Erie Kenton. Columbia. This story concerns the friendship of two divers, one of whom rescues the other from death. The rescued man subsequently becomes a harbor policeman and the rescuer a gambler who sells his services to an illicit diving gang. Then ensues a series of exciting incidents in which the officer of the law is torn between his duty to his job and memory of his obligation. It is interesting for its diving scenes. As a picture it is not very good and not very bad and if we were allotting stars to films it would hardly rate one of any color. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No value No •w BABBITT » » Guy Kibbe, Aline MacMahon. From the novel by Sinclair Lewis. Screen play by Mary McCall; adapted by Tom Reed and Niven Busch. Direction by William Keighley. First National-Warner Bros. Audiences will react to this film as many readers did to the book, for there were people who disliked Babbitt because he was so obvious an example of an average small town bore. Yet he was important to his family and possibly to his community: a real estate dealer, a member of the lodge, of the church, the golf club and the local “Booster’s” club, etc. He was dull socially and not astute enough in business to avoid becoming innocently involved in a crooked deal. The picture is an adequate adaptation of the novel and Guy Kibbe is an adequate Babbitt, with whom and at whom we may laugh complacently. His wife is an understanding woman who always believes in him; his children represent the coming generation of the 1920 period, and they make up a typical “Main Street” family whose few self-sufficient interests entertain in a quiet homey way. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 If it interests Little interest ▼ BORDERTOWN » » Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Eugene Palette, Margaret Lindsay. From a story by Robert Lord. Direction by Archie Mayo. Warner Bros. “Bordertown” is the locale where Johnny Ramirez, played by Paul Muni, spends most of his adult life, but the title fails to suggest the meaning of the story portrayed. It is the soul struggle of a Mexican half-caste who as an idealist has sacrificed and struggled to become a lawyer only to find that he is inadequately trained to combat the power which money and influence seem to have in a court of justice. In his bitterness he goes back to his vulgar environment to get, in any way, what he now believes is the most important thing in life. The story is strong and forceful and it is magnificently acted and well directed. Without reflecting on the law it shows the injustice of its execution, and to an adult the character development is logical and dramatic and the denouement interesting although somewhat weak by comparison with the rest of the film. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Mature. Too sordid in No some sequences •w CARNIVAL » » Lee Tracy, Sally Eilers, Jimmy Durante, Florence Rice, John R. Walters. Direction by Walter Lang. Columbia. Although “Carnival” is handicapped by a plot which lacks spontaneity and by secondrate ethics it is not devoid of entertainment value. It revolves about an irresistable baby who, to the indignation of social service workers, is reared by his father, the proprietor of a puppet show, and his two assistants in the gay environment of a street carnival. The film maintains a human interest quality and has some amusing lines and situations. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Questionable No •w CRIME WITHOUT PASSION » » Claude Rains, Margo, Whitney Bourne, Stanley Ridges. Written, produced and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Paramount. One seldom sees a more bitterly ironical picture than this, or a more brilliant actor than Claude Rains in the part of Lee Gentry. In the beginning of the story he is a shrewd, successful criminal lawyer. Unscrupulous and wily in manufacturing evidence to exonerate his guilty clients he has never lost a case. His passion for outwitting justice and his necessity for successive violent love affairs make up his life. In the end, caught in a net of circumstantial evidence and believing himself in danger of conviction for a crime he has unintentionally committed, he loses his nerve at a critical moment and makes an irrevocable blunder. Margo, the Mexican dancer, is magnificent in the role of his cast off paramour, tortured almost to insanity by