Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

144 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST TIMES SQUARE PLAYBOY— Continued Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "As a stage play the incident of the friend who interferes with a marriage for good but mistaken motives was too thin to make a satisfactory full-length entertainment and it still is a short portion." — Christian Science Monitor pl5 Je 13 '36 "To those who are fond of a photographic reproduction of good stage technique, this will provide enjoyment. . . [It] is the sort of film that bores me exceedingly. Not for a score of seconds during the entire unreeling does the stream of chatter cease. . . Leaving the theatre where it was previewed.. I heard several spectators voice their disapproval of the enormous amount of dialogue, as a result of which, I gather, the offering had not pleased them. The cinema is an art form that should be ninetenths pictorial. Incessant talking in it is out of place." Allan Ilersholt Hollywood Spec p31 Ap 11 '36 "The new photoplay suffers in the main because it is too reverent an adaptation of the parent work. For how else explain the static quality of 'Times Square Playboy,' a noisy comedy which manages to be alternately amusing and dull. . . Most of the time the camera is focused on the bickering Lockharts, whose constant babbling becomes a bit boring." T. M. P. 1 N Y Times pll My 2 '36 "Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not — and that's the best that can be said of 'Times Square Playboy.' . . U/nfortunately, either the director or the adapter, or both, thought it wasn't funny enough. So they occasionally stress their lines and characterizations to the point of burlesque. These excesses are more injurious than helpful, but the film still manages to remain reasonably entertaining." William Boehnel -\ NY World-Telegram p25 My 5 *36 Trade Paper Reviews "Snappy farce comedy of the in-one-doorand-out-the-other type, aided by bright dialogue which keeps the laughter going. Family." + Box Office p27 Mr 21 '36 "It is interesting in the Mr. & Mrs. angle, by the Lockharts, and we predict this couple will be good in other clean, homely pictures which will appeal to the tired family who want to go for complete relaxation, and see how the other half of the world are supposed to live!" L. S. Xiemeyer Canadian Moving Pict Digest p7 Mr 28 '36 "This is an entertaining comedy that will do best in the neighborhoods. Gene Lockhart, as the man who breaks up an engagement and then tries his darndest to patch it up, practically carries the picture. He is excellent." -f Film Curb p7 Mr 21 '36 "Excellent comedy good for all audiences. [It] boosts Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as a comedy team." + Film Daily pll My 1 '36 "The show moves fast and builds its situations so that the element of surprise occupies an unusual importance. While there are fairly good names to use for primary interest stimulating purposes, a campaign that sells the story of the whole show and what it means for those who like fast and furious fun should be productive of best results." 4 Motion Pict Herald o40 Mr 21 '36 "[It] makes a weak bid as double bill material. Neither care nor time was spent on 'Times Square Playboy.' The material, as evidenced by what's come to the screen, suggests that it offered little to begin with, no matter who was placed in the cast and who directed." — Variety pl9 My 6 '36 TOO MANY PARENTS. Mr 20 '36 71min Paramount Players: George Ernest. Frances Farmer. Lester Matthews. Porter Hall Director: Robert F. McGowan See issue of March 30, 1936 for other reviews of this film Audience Suitability Ratings "A: fairly good; Y and C: good." Christian Century p583 Ap 15 '36 "Good." DAR "Family." E Coast Preview Committee. "A rather weak plot but the acting of the boys is excellent. Family & junior matinee." Nat Bd of R Fox W Coast Bui Ap 4 '36 "Family — mature." Am Legion Auxiliary "Family." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers ■ "Some feel we should have more such pictures— that it is good for everyone to be so entertained and subtly chastised: others feel it [is] sentimental — that the children [are] put up against adult reactions rather than childish emotions, which makes their acting stilted and unnatural. Family." Nat Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Entertaining for any audience and thoughtprovoking for adults." Nat Soc of New England Women "Family." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women + Fox W Coast Bui My 2 '36 "An appealingly interesting picture, based on a well developed human interest story, heart warming in its naturalness." -f Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) Ap 15 '36 "Family." Jt Estimates Ap 15 '36 "Family & junior matinees." Nat Council of Jewish Women Ap 22 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency Mr 15 '36 "The effect of military school life upon young boys, especially those sent away to provide greater freedom to their parents, is sympathetically presented." S. M. Mullen Scholastic p28 My 2 '36 "A highlv creditable production. Family." + Sel Motion Pict Ap '36 "Juvenile." Wkly Guide Mr 21 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "I have a deep and painfully-earned distrust of all child pictures; they either make me downright ill, or just plain mad. Depends on whether they are impossible, or good enough to be merely bad. This one sent me away sincerely touched and thoughtful. A shower of encomiums at the feet of Robert McGowan. . . The cast is perfect. There is not one outof-character portrayal, and that, in a production entirely about children, is something my brief experience has never encompassed until now." Paul Jacobs -f Hollywood Spec pl3 Mr 28 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; [-Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor