Motion Picture Reviews (1938)

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MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Five THE DEVIL S PARTY O O Victor McLaglen, William Gargan, Paul Kelley, Beatrice Roberts, Frank Jenks, John Gallaudet, Samuel S. Hinds, Joseph Downing, Arthur Hoyt. Screen play by Roy Chanslor. Based on the novel "Hell's Kitchen Has a Pantry," by Borden Chase. Direction by Ray McCarey. Universal. If gangster pictures must be, better this one than some others, for it has a constructive social betterment idea. To those who can believe that juvenile delinquency may be eliminated by the provision of more playgrounds, the story carries a message. Opening scenes show a gang of boys in the New York slums, setting fire to a warehouse in order to distract the attention of the police while they commit a petty theft. One of the boys is caught and, refusing to “squeal” on his pals, takes the “rap” for them at reform school. Later he is shown as head of a highly lucrative night club and of a gang of criminals. His former pals have become, respectively, police officers and a Catholic priest. They hold a reunion at the night club (where, of course, the usual feminine entertainer is in evidence), and the others, unaware of their host’s nefarious operations, become implicated in trying to solve a murder which he has engineered. It is a complicated plot, and highly implausible, but none the less absorbing for that. The gangster is finally caught by one of his former pals and dies in the arms of the priest to whom he recently presented a check for the building of a gymnasium for poor children. In the end the priest is shown in charge of a playground where the children are being kept off the streets. The picture gives food for thought for the adult citizen, but is just another lesson in the technique of crime for youth. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No. No & DR. RHYTHM O O Bing Crosby, Mary Carlisle, Beatrice Lillie, Andy Devine, Rufe Davis, Laura Hope Crews, Fred Keating, Sterling Holloway. Based on novel by O. Henry. Screen play by Joe Swerling and Richard Connell. Direction by Frank Tuttle. Paramount. When the fifteenth reunion of a grammar school relay team occurs, there are likely to be complications! The team’s interests are now diversified. One has become a doctor; the others are a policeman, a driver of an ice cream truck, and a keeper of the zoo. The celebration is convivial and proves too much for the policeman who had an assignment to be bodyguard at the home of Mrs. Lorelei Dodge-Blodget (Beatrice Lillie), whose niece is suspected of being in love with a racketeer. The Doctor (Bing Crosby) substitutes for his friend the policeman, thereby becoming involved in hilarious situations. It is all nonsensical and has spots of high comedy to which Miss Lillie, Laura Hope Crews, and Andy Devine contribute. Bing Crosby is pleasing, and several popular song hits are featured. If one enjoys light musical farce, this picture should please. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 Unobjectionable Mature © GOLD DIGGERS IN PARIS O O Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Gloria Dickson, Melville Cooper, Mabel Todd, Fritz Feld, Ed Brophy, Curt Bois. Writers credited with script: Earl Baldwin, Warren Duff, Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Maurice Leo, Ray Enright. Direction by Ray Enright. Musical numbers directed by Busby Berkeley. Warner Bros. Enjoyment of this production is entirely^ matter of taste. We found it noisy and repetitious, with an overabundance of the “Schnicklefritz Band” whose original and cleverly insane performances become tiresome after too many appearances. The story is slight and the dialogue conventional. Hugh Herbert scores in the role of an eccentric and slightly mad Frenchman who comes to America to contact the “American Academy of Ballet” for an appearance at the Paris Exposition. He mistakenly engages the Ballet Club, a troupe of bankrupt entertainers. The fraud is discovered, and the ensuing complications engage the efforts of a temperamental ballet master, a tearful gunman, a talking dog, the bankrupt manager of the club dancers (Rudy Vallee), his lugubrious assistant (Allen Jenkins), his ex-wife (Gloria Dickson), and his newest heart interest (Rosemary Lane). Rudy Vallee does two impersonations: one of Maurice Chevalier which is broadly amusing and makes one wish the original were seen again, and an excellent one of Franklin D. Roosevelt. His singing is pleasing, as usual. The finale lacks brilliancy and originality. It is only elaborate. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Acceptable No value HOLD THAT KISS O O Maureen O'Sullivan, Dennis O'Keefe, Mickey Rooney, George Barbier, Jessie Ralph, Edward S. Brophy, Fay Holden, Frank Albertson, Phillip Terry, Ruth Hussey, Barnett Parker. Original story and screen play by Stanley Rauh. Direction by Edwin L. Marin. M-C-M. Although the title must have come out of the grab-bag, this picture is an unusually pleasing light comedy with a vein of seriousness underneath the surface. Maureen O’Sullivan as June Evans is a stylishly dressed mannequin, and Dennis O’Keefe as Tommy Bradford is a fluent young salesman of world tours. When the two happen to meet at a fashionable wedding, each mistakes the other for one of the smart set, and throughout a budding romance, each tries to keep up the