Motion Picture Reviews (1938)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS BREAKING THE ICE O O Bobby Breen, Charles Ruggles, Dolores Costello, Irene Dare, Robert Barrat, Dorothy Peterson, John King, Billy Gilbert. Original story by Fritz Falkenstein and N. Brewster Moore. Screen play by Mary C. McCall, Jr., Manuel Seff Bernard Schubert. Direction by Edward F. Cline. Principal ProductionsR. K. O. Bobby Breen beams and warbles his way from a stern Mennonite household into the limelight of an ice-skating rink where he shares honors with a very young and brilliant skater, petite Irene Dare. His adventures begin when he leaves home with a rascally but amusing antique dealer to earn enough money to rescue his widowed mother from her unhappy existence in the household of a narrow, religious brother-in-law. The plot is sketchily developed, and the picture is chiefly for those who enjoy Bobby Breen. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Yes © CAMPUS CONFESSIONS O O "Hank" Luisetti, Betty Gilmore, Eleanore Whitney, William Henry, John Arledge. Original screen play by Lloyd Corrigan and Erwin Gelsey. Direction by George Archainbaud. Paramount. Hank Luisetti, while not the hero, is the chief asset of this picture. A novice in acting, he is the world’s best performer on the basketball floor, and when he raises the score twenty-one points in six minutes to win the game for the home team, there is little or no exaggeration of his amazing skill. The college atmosphere is not authentic but is no worse than that of the usual campus comedy. The picture is bright and chatty, and the transformation of the Freshman misfit into the popular athlete is accomplished so naturally by William Henry that many people will wish him success in other roles. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Probably not much interest DRUMS O O Sabu, Raymond Massey, Roger Livesey, Valerie Hobson. Screen play by Arthur Wimperis, Patrick Kirwin and Hugh Gray. Based on an original story by A. E. W. Mason. Direction by Zoltan Korda. London Films-U. A. “Drums" is a romantic and thrilling tale of life and death at an English outpost in India. Interest is centered in the little Indian boy, Sabu, whose graceful charm should win him many laurels. As youthful Prince Azim, he is a most appealing figure heroically aiding his British friends to overthrow a murderous usurper. International hook-ups, can did cameras, and the uncompromising pens of first-hand-information venders, such as Vincent Sheean, Webb Miller, and Negley Farson, have painted quite a different picture of Anglo-Indian relations, but “Drums” is exceedingly vivid fiction and carries the spectator along at a high pitch of excitement. In one scene the suspense is truly appalling. Color photography greatly enhances the magnificence of scenery and costumes. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Very exciting Too violent and tense © GRAND ILLUSION O O Eric von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay, Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo. Screen play by M. Renoir and Charles Spaak. French and German dialogue, English titles. Direction by Jean Renoir. World Pictures. Art has been defined as “a true exponent of the human spirit.” In the light of this definition, “Grand Illusion” is art in its highest form. It is a motion picture about war which is concerned not with the physical but with the spiritual aspects of war. Searchingly it analyzes the individual reactions towards war and towards one another of various prisoners in a German fortress. Among them are two French officers, Captain de Boeldieu, a sensitive aristocrat who has always hated war, and Marechal, his mechanic, a professional soldier. Von Rauffenstcin, commandant in charge of the prison, is an intellectual with cosmopolitan tastes and an intimate knowledge of France and England. After many months, the prisoners learn to know their guards as human beings and are made sorrowful by the sight of German school boys drilling. Von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu find that were it not for the war they might have been congenial friends, and others find companionship not because of nationality but because of similarity of tastes. Yet all of them try endlessly to escape, to go back to fighting. When at last two of them succeed, they are given shelter by a young German woman on a remote farm. One falls in love with her, promises to return when the war is over, but driven by what he has been taught to believe is his duty, leaves her and goes on to the Swiss border. Thus, war is portrayed as a sort of universal madness impossible to reconcile with human inclinations, too horribly unreasonable ever to be understood by rational minds. The entire cast performs with almost inspired conviction. The picture gives the impression that it is a beautifully photographed record of actual events. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Mature but Too mature worthwhile