Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

28 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST EARTHWORM TRACTORS — Continued "Family & junior matinees. Joe E. Brown, this time as a salesman of tractors, brings with him many a hearty laugh." + Nat Council of Jewish Women Je 17 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency Jl 2 '36 "A, Y and C: hilarious comedy." Parents' M p69 S '36 "A hilarious Joe E. Brown comedy, filled with absurd situations and breathless laughs for fans of this comedian. Good entertainment for the family & junior matinees." + Sel Motion Pict Jl 1 '36 "Familyjuvenile. " Wkly Guide Jl 11 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews " 'Earthworm Tractors' is Joe E. Brown's best picture to date and if you like the widemouthed star, you'll love his Alexander Botts, high-powered salesman and lover." Laura Elston + Canadian M p30 S '36 Reviewed by J. P. Cunningham Commonweal p307 Jl 17 '36 "It is a hilarious picture and no one who sees it is going to feel he did not get a run for his money." + Hollywood Spec pl2 Je 20 '36 "Given admirable support by Gene Lockhart as a rival salesman, the pretty June Travis, and Carol Hughes, Brown's latest gag-fest should not disappoint his loyal fans. Joe himself is more subdued than usual. . . Although, as we have shouted, there is nothing new in 'Earthworm Tractors,' the picture remains a speedy bit of diversion." (2% stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p24 Jl 25 '36 " 'Earthworm Tractors' is a typical Joe E. Brown vehicle, showing him as the meek, kindhearted country fellow he always is. . . He lends to the performance, of course, his characteristic touch of the clown who laughs while his heart is breaking. The picture is entirely his, although Guy Kibbee, as a crotchety prospect, is excellent." Marguerite Tazelaar N Y Herald Tribune p6 Jl 25 '36 "The title role of 'Earthworm Tractors,' is filled by a huge mechanical monster; with Joe E. Brown at the wheel, it is responsible for an hour of comic havoc. . . 'Earthworm Tractors' is a lot more fun than most of the summer offerings." Eileen Creelman + NY Sun pl3 Jl 27 '36 "Guy Kibbee, as a suffering prospect on whom Joe, the demon tractor salesman, inflicts the endless nightmare of his terroristic demonstrations, holds up his end of the picture superbly, but it is Joe who is still the overloaded coolie of comedy, the staggering, pottery-draped peon of pantomime. . . Joe himself, of course, is better, more important, larger and funnier, than any picture he has yet appeared in, including even 'Elmer the Great.' " B. R. C. + NY Times pl6 Jl 25 '36 "With nothing to go upon except a boisterous personality and a hackneyed idea Joe E. Brown manages by neat work to survive the hour which 'Earthworm Tractors' requires to unreel itself. . . For fully three-quarters of its unreeling 'Earthworm Tractors' stalls for time and sets up the framework for the climax, which is a mad tractor ride up hill and down dale. . . Just when 'Earthworm Tractors' seems to be breathing its last frail life away, the authors and the director stage a furious tractor ride across the countryside. This sudden burst of energy wakes up the film and the audience at the same time and provides about the only real excitement you will find in it. . . 'Earthworm Tractors' is at best a routine comedy." William Boehnel h N Y World-Telegram pl5a Jl 25 '36 "Joe E. Brown . . . does a good job of proving what a funny thing an eight-wheeled, 80 horse power jumbo caterpillar tractor really is. . . Brown's next to last picture for Warner, it ranks with his funniest." + Time p41 Jl 27 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Joe E. Brown in all his hilarious history has never made a picture so uproariously mirthful. The adaptation and direction of the widely-read William Hazlett Upson stories are nothing short of perfect, affording the widemouthed comic an opportunity to ride to a new high in popularity and bring forth a picture that will pack them in any man's theatre and give the customers double their money's worth in laughs. Family." + Box Office p75 Je 27 '36 "It's a riot." L. S. Niemeyer + Canadian Moving Pict Digest plO Jl 4 '36 "Again Joe E. Brown crashes through with a show that is a riot of fun. There is enough of the clowning Brown to satisfy his regular fans and, with a higher type of comedy than usual, a still wider audience should go for it. Loaded with gags, suspense, breath-taking hazardous situations, it has what it takes to make a swell piece of box-office entertainment." + Film Daily p24 Je 16 '36 "Brown drops his buffoonery to play almost straight in a rollicking comedy of situation that will keep all sorts of audiences laughing and yooing for a full seventy minutes. It is Brown's best box-office bet to date and that means money everywhere." + Hollywood Reporter p3 Je 11 '36 "With vigorous hilarity as his keynote, Joe E. Brown here brings Alexander Botts, the famous tractor salesman of William Hazlett Upson's magazine stories to life. . . The picture should add to Brown's following and click generally." + Motion Pict Daily p21 Je 12 '36 "Estimate: good." Phila Exhibitor p68 Jl 1 '36 " 'Earthworm Tractors' is far from a 100% job. Writers of the screenplay evidently amplified too much on Brown's standard character. They ladled the hokem on in gobs, giving everything a broad stroke and even repeating on their situations. Result is mild humor where there could have been strong comedy, in spots appearing to be just another instance where screen writers have substituted their own ideas for another's. For children, the picture is a setup. The hokem is such as to appeal more to the juveniles than to the adults, which is not saying, however, that the grownups will not be at least partially amused." -\ Variety pl4 Jl 29 '36 "This is box office prescription not alone for the confirmed Joe E. Brown fans but for a much wider audience. . . Rich in gags, wellsuited to the comic's standard character, 'Earthworm Tractors' is probably Brown's best from audience standpoint and should fare prosperously." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 Je 11 '36 EASY MONEY. Invincible 70min Je 10 '36 Players: Onslow Stevens. Kay Linaker. Noel Madison. Alan Vincent. Barbara Barondess. Robert Homans Director: Phil Rosen "A story of racketeers who make their money out of insurance companies through fake ac + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -| Fair; 1 Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor