Motion Picture Reviews (1938)

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Six MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS deception. The most amusing scene is June at home trying to talk on the telephone to her heau while the family shout suggestions for her side of the conversation. Mickey Rooney adds another feather to his cap as an officious younger brother whose inspirations are more ingenious than happy. As a whole, the film is good family entertainment, but it would be improved in tone without the older brother who plays the races and pawns the silverware which he steals from a friend’s buffet. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Passable HUNTED MEN O O Lloyd Nolan, Mary Carlisle, Lynne Overman, J. Carrol Naish, Delmar Watson, Larry Crabbe, Dorothy Peterson. Screen play by Horace McCoy and William R. Lipman. Based on a play by Albert Duffy and Marian Grant. Direction by Louis King. Paramount. Joe Albany was a racketeer who had murdered a man in cold blood. In escaping from the scene of his crime he met slightly intoxicated Peter Harris, went home with him, posing as a business friend, and was invited to spend the night. This was the beginning of his spiritual regeneration, for Mr. and Mrs. Harris were such kindly souls that they allowed him to remain even after he told them his identity, and their son and daughter both learned to love him. “Hunted Men” is so persuasively told that some movie patrons may even sniffle a little when Joe is shot by the police. Mr. Thomas Edmund Dewey would probably remain dry-eyed, as would other people who are able to retain control of their reasoning powers. Adolescents, 12 to IS Children, 8 to 1 2 No Muddled ethics Most unsuitable © KENTUCKY MOONSHINE O O Ritz Brothers, Tony Martin, Marjorie Weaver, Slim Summerville, John Carradine, Wally Vernon, Berton Churchill. Screen play by Art Arthur and M. M. Musselman. Original story by M. M Musselman and Jack Lait, Jr. Direction by David Butler. 20th Century-Fox. Movie goers who enjoy the exuberant clowning of the Ritz brothers will find bits of hilarious entertainment in this picture. The plot concerns a radio star who conceives the idea of bringing genuine hillbillies from Kentucky to bolster up the weakening popularity of his program. The Ritz brothers, cast as vaudeville actors out of work, pose as a hillbilly family and so thoroughly out-herod Herod that they land the radio contract without competition. Like most pictures starring specialized entertainers, this one has its dull moments and seems too long for what it has to offer, but it reserves its cleverest sequence for the end, and the audience comes away laughing at the absurd take-off of “Snow White.” Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 Entertaining Too noisy and Confusing KIDNAPPED O O Warner Baxter, Freddie Batholomew, Arleen Whelan, C. Aubery Smith, Reginald Owen, John Carradine, Nigel Bruce, Ralph Forbes, Miles Mander. From the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Screen play by Sonya Levien, Eleanor Harris, Ernest Pascal, Edwin Blum. Direction by Louis Silvers. Twentieth Century-Fox. Apparently Stevenson’s great story, “Kidnapped,” offered difficulties in adapting it to motion pictures, since four writers were given the assignment. It has emerged, not the beloved, vigorous tale of masculine adventure which it was, but more of a love story, containing a number of the original plot incidents, but lacking the fascinating flavor of the book. With the background of Scottish revolt against the exorbitant taxes imposed by King George in the year 1751, we find David Balfour an accidental witness of a murder committed by one of Alan Breck’s band of followers. Because David is a Loyalist, Breck forces the boy to go with him. In this escape Breck must also take with him a girl who is the betrothed of James, the killer. They travel through the Highlands and separate to allow David to seek his uncle’s castle, where the old miscreant tries to kill him and finally has him kidnapped on a ship. There he again meets Breck and the girl, and their subsequent adventures are lively and exciting. The fight in the round house and the long flight across the heather which play so important a part in the novel are omitted in the screen version, and this will disappoint those who remember the pictorially descriptive writing of Stevenson. The film is not uninteresting, however, although it is episodic and the romance lacks genuine interest. It is novel in setting and has historical flavor. The cast is good, and excellent bits are given in the performances of Ralph Forbes as Jetmes and Reginald Owen as Captain H oseason. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Exciting and LITTLE MISS THOROUGHBRED O O Ann Sheridan, John Litel, Frank McHugh, Janet Chapman. Original screen play by Albert DeMond and George Bricker. Direction by John Farrow. Warner Bros. Janet Chapman comes into the scene as an appealing wisp of humanity from an orphanage, who slips through an open gate into a world of hustling people and dangerous traffic in search of an imaginary Daddy. She has an individuality quite different from