Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

30 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST EDUCATING FATHER — Continued a situation and then conveniently forgotten. In the lesser houses this series will click nicely and probably build up into a money-maker." + Variety p45 Je 24 '36 EVERYMAN'S LAW. Supreme 62min Players: Johnny Mack Brown. Beth Marion. Frank Campeau Director: Albert Ray A western melodrama. Audience Suitability Ratings "[It is] a dragging Western. General patronage. ' ' r Nat Legion of Decency Jl 23 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "This Johnny Mack Brown Western has the ingredients that should make it a very good number in the action houses and those playing outdoor fare. The pace set is a rapid one, there are the fights, shootings, and chases, and although the plot is of the regulation type, it is handled in such a manner as to maintain one's interest throughout." + Film Daily pll Jl 21 '36 Phila Exhibitor p39 Ag 1 '36 "Rip-snorting Texas cowhand drama, this one will keep the family, particularly the children, on the edge of their cushions and will add much to Johnny Mack Brown's prestige through his characterization of the law-abiding cowboy. It's better than average for the money spent, cleverly written and well acted, produced and directed." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 Jl 18 '36 train — scenes which have nothing to do with the killings — that 'Fatal Lady' becomes entrancing film fare. Unfortunately there aren't a great [many] of these lilting interludes." (2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p44 Je 27 '36 " 'Fatal Lady' is one of those 'Music is my Life' pictures, and it is terrible tripe, in spite of the presence therein of several capable ladies and gentleman of the silver screen. . . The murders get to be pretty funny before the evening is over, and the place sounds like a shooting gallery at times. Every line is a speech, and you'd better not stop to think about some of the lines or you'll giggle out of turn. Not for children." Don Herold — Life p30 S '36 "[Miss Ellis] was highly effective on the stage in 'Children of Darkness' and 'The Dybbuk,' but I fear that she is not in her most comfortable mood in the cinema. This, however, is a tribute to her taste, if not to her Thespian skill, for 'Fatal Lady' is hardly the sort of vehicle to appeal to so expert a performer. . . Some of the singing in 'Fatal Lady' is excellent, but it is to be feared that the quality of the plot doesn't quite keep up with it. Such expert performers as Alan Mowbray, Norman Foster and the brilliantly suave John Halliday provide a breath of life to the proceedings, while that handsomely exasperated comic, Edgar Kennedy, brings a note of heroic humor to a minor role." Richard Watts, Jr. 1 N Y Herald Tribune p6 Jl 11 '36 "Some of the unhappiest features of a number of stock movie themes are combined in 'Fatal Lady.' . . As a prima donna's vehicle . . . [the film] is perhaps at its lethal worst. . . It is in the old-fashioned category of vampirism that we must place 'Fatal Lady." B. R. C. — NY Times pll Jl 11 '36 Trade Paper Reviews " 'Fatal Lady' doesn't figure much for the box office. A hodgepodge of entertainment, this film will deliver spotty business at best." h Variety p31 Jl 15 '36 FATAL LADY. Wanger-Paramount 73min My 15 '36 Players: Mary Ellis. Walter Pidgeon. John Halliday. Ruth Donnelly. Norman Foster. Guy Bates Post. Allan Mowbray Director: Edward Ludwig See issue of June 29, 1936 for other reviews of this film Audience Suitability Ratings "A and Y: very good of kind; C: not for them." Christian Century p951 Jl 1 '36 "Mary Ellis's part calls for only a limited portion of her acting ability, although it gives her fine singing opportunities. Suitability: adults & adolescents." Mo Film Bui Je '36 "A and Y: good mystery; C: mature." Parents' M p47 Ag '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews^ "Passable melodrama for adults and the not-too-young." E. C. S. -| Christian Science Monitor pl3 Je 20 '36 "The sleuthing side of 'Fatal Lady' is capably assembled and, as it turns out, logically motivated. . . The source of the film's appeal is not in its deadlier phases. For it is when the picture is showing such beguiling scenes as the opera company's rehearsal on board FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI. See Your troubles are mine THE FIGHT. See Der kampf FINAL HOUR. Columbia 59min Jl 7 '36 Players: Ralph Bellamy. Marguerite Churchill Director: D. Ross Lederman "Ralph Bellamy goes to pieces when his wife gets a divorce, and when a girl, sought by the police, hides in his apartment, he saves her. Later, a wandering drunkard, she sees him in a cafe in which she works, and helps him. The cafe owner, in love with her, aids in putting Bellamy back on his feet." Motion Pict Daily Audience Suitability Ratings "A: hardly; Y: unsuitable: C: no." Christian Century pll75 S 2 '36 "Adults." Nat Legion of Decency Ag 6 '36 "A somewhat routine plot has an exceptionally good opening scene, some exciting moments and a novel trick cleverly used to give punch to the unexpected climax. Adults & young people." H Sel Motion Pict Ag 1 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; -f Good; -\ Fair; [-Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor