Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 25 rides in the climax race in London, holding back his mount to let the owners of the stable, now poverty stricken, win the race. Audience Suitability Ratings "Family." Am Legion Auxiliary "It is regrettable that a question of race track ethics makes this dubious entertainment. Adults: fair; family: doubtful; 14-18 and 8-14: no." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Questionable ethics. Good-mature." DAR "A question of racing ethics is involved which lovers of clean sport will regard as inadequately handled. Family." Nat Soc of New England Women "There is a good story which will entertain all who admire a good sport and fine horses. Family." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui Jl 18 '36 "Adults & young people." Jt Estimates Jl 1 '36 "The ending leaves the audience sympathetic but a little doubtful of the ethics involved, a problem which might well offer opportunity for discussion among students evaluating the social value of pictures. Adolescents, 12-16: entertaining; children, 8-12: yes." Motion Pict R Jl '36 "Family." Nat Council of Jewish Women Jl 8 '36 "Exciting and convincing track atmosphere. General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency Jl 30 '36 "A and Y: fast moving race-track comedy; C: entertaining." Parents' M p31 S '36 "Adults & young people." Sel Motion Pict Ag 1 '36 "Simple in plot but invariably interesting. Familyjuvenile. " Wkly Guide S 5 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Mickey Rooney is one of the finest actors appearing on the screen. . . Despite some obvious drawbacks, 'Down the Stretch' is well worth seeing on account of Rooney's contribution to it. The chief weakness of the story is its ending. . . On the whole, Bryan Foy, producer, made a passable job of it." H Hollywood Spec p6 Jl 18 '36 "Formulated to please the family trade, to entice laughter and tears, 'Down the Stretch' achieves its aim due to the talents of young Mickey Rooney and colored Willie Best. . . Mickey is cast in a role that is years too mature for the mite's appearance; it's difficult to be convinced when he smokes and frequents gambling clubs. The kid's sincerity carries him through and his dramatic scenes have punch." Herb Sterne + Script pl2 Jl 25 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Superb comedv furnished by a colored boy, William Best, a race track plot with a decidedly different twist, and the names of Patricia Ellis and Mickey Rooney make this a picture that will please every audience. Family." + Eox Office p31 Jl 18 '36 " 'Down the Stretch' is a formula racing yarn that . . . should please most audiences but is lacking in draw names." H Hollywood Reporter p3 Jl 8 '36 "Here is an interestingly developed race track comedy which unfolds at a swift pace with maximum humor and pathos. It should be adequate in all spots. . . The picture should show profitable results in both first run and neighborhood houses." + Motion Pict Daily p4 Jl 9 '36 "Estimate: for neighborhoods, twin bills." Phila Exhibitor p34 Ag 1 '36 "This is fast-moving comedy-drama backgrounded against the race track that furnishes many thrilling and exciting moments balanced with sufficient pathos and comedy to make it all-round entertainment for any audience. . . Bryan Foy has given the production many lavish settings combined with employment of two large race track settings that should appeal to all lovers of horse racing." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 Jl 8 '36 DOWN UNDER THE SEA. Republic 62min Ag 25 '36 Players: Russell Hardie. Ben Lyon. Ann Rutherford. Irving Pichel. Fritz Leiber Director: Lewis D. Collins "The vigorous story of conflict between the sponge fishers who work from large boats in deep water with divers and the 'hookers' who fish along shore from small boats, is built to the theme of self-sacrifice and centers about the professional careers of two friends who love the same girl." Hollywood Reporter Audience Suitability Ratings "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency Jl 30 '36 "A: sea life melodrama; Y and C: exciting and educational." Parents' M p31 S '36 "Familv." Sel Motion Pict Ag 1 '36 "Suggested for schools and libraries for educational value. Family." Wkly Guide Jl 18 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Principal values are in the unpretentious actualities in the lives of the heritage-steeped inhabitants in the Greek fishing colony of Tarpon Springs, and their thrilling deep-sea divings for sponges off the stormy Florida Keys, where filming was done. All too obvious are the stagings which were forced into this otherwise interesting pictorial record, injected under the mistaken idea that even a threadbare plot of perceptible artificialities is necessary and that theatrical dramatization is essential." J. P. Cunningham H Commonweal p428 Ag 28 '36 "The under-sea shots in the new picture are well worth a visit, but as for the story, a veil could be drawn over certain of its sequences without great loss. Had the picture included less of these plotty doings and more of the diving interludes, it would have been a better production, both from an entertainment and educational point of view." Marguerite Tazelaar h N Y Herald Tribune p9 Ag 10 '36 "The most engaging quality of 'Down Under the Sea,' is its cheerful pretense to authenticity. Its tale might be preposterous, its telling astonishing and its denouement absurd, yet Republic Pictures preserves the demeanor of a man who not only expects to be believed but considered an authority. . . The picture plunges away on a wild-eyed pursuit of villainy, heroism, murder, man-eating sharks and death-bed nobility." F. S. Nugent 1 N Y Times plO Ag 10 '36 "[It is] a meager and unassuming little melodrama. . . If you have nothing better to do, you may enjoy watching [the cast] attempt to make something fresh and thrilling out of commonplace melodrama and farce that make up the film. But I fear that you will hardly be excited by the proceedings." William Boehnel — NY World-Telegram pl2 Ag 10 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; h Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor