Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 107 "There are plenty of heart throbs and suspense, but too little comedy relief. Mature." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Excellent. Mature." DAR "Audiences over 14." Nat Soc of New England Women "[It] makes a strong appeal for strength of character and high ideals — a picture worth seeing and adapted for adults and older children. Family." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui Ag 29 '36 "Interesting and engrossing entertainment. Adults & young people." + Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) Ag 19 '36 "Mary Boland as the mother gives a finished characterization in a tragic role which will surprise those who have come to think of her only as an accomplished comedienne. Mature." Jt Estimates Ag 15 '36 "This is a heart-stirring social drama dominated by the artistry of Mary Boland, who in a serious and dramatic role, rises to new heights and is supported by a fine cast. Family." + Nat Council of Jewish Women Ag 19 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency S 10 '36 "Mature." Sel Motion Pict S 1 '36 "The direction has many individual and excellent features." Wkly Guide Ag 22 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews Christian Science Monitor pl4 S 12 '36 Hollywood Spec pl3 S 12 '36 "[It is] a motion-picture apparently designed to give Mary Boland a chance to be something besides funny. . . Miss Boland is brilliant as the mother and Julie Haydon begins to approximate the acting talent forecast for her two years ago when she made her debut." Lit Digest p24 Ag 22 '36 "This is a heavy-handed business and a strange galley in which to discover Mary Boland, whose late royal surroundings in 'Jubilee' have given way to a fish and chips midst along the San Francisco waterfront. In a word, it doesn't suit her. It is a near Tugboat Annie characterization and is not Miss Boland's dish. . . It isn't a very exciting story and Mis^ Boland's isn't a very exciting part." Lucius Beebe — NY Herald Tribune p6 S 7 '36 "Paramount is scarcely being fair to Mary Boland in asking film audiences to judge her as a dramatic actress in so absurdly contrived a story as 'A Son Comes Home.' . . The obscurely assembled emotional hodge-podge into which she now has been thrust would have put a burden on the virtuose Marie Dressier herself." J. T. M. — NY Times p7 S 5 '36 "Throwing off all the characteristics, as well as the blond hair, that have endeared her to millions in comedy roles, Miss Boland goes through the paces of her first dramatic role with compelling effect. Her performance is restrained and completely realized and it is largely because of her work that a highly melodramatic and saccharine story becomes plausible and entertaining. . . The film has a certain amount of speed, coincidences and tears and a nice melodramatic twang to it. If then, you are not too finicky about your screen entertainment, you should enjoy the way 'A Son Comes Home' is played by Miss Boland and her associates." William Boehnel -1 NY World-Telegram plOa S 5 '36 "In this exciting picture of the San Francisco water front [Mary Boland] returns to a dramatic role and is superb as the chowder-house proprietor whose son comes home as a killer," News-Wk p42 S 12 '36 " 'A Son Comes Home' devotes itself to tearenticing, but if you're one who likes a good cryfest this will certainly give you a chance to sniffle your way Over the Hill to the Poorhouse once again. . . Actress Mary Boland and Author Harry Hervey are both well established in severely specialized fields; Miss Boland is Queen of Comedy and Hervey has made a deserved reputation in the realm of Indo-Chinoiserie. It is earnestly to be hoped that both these talented people will stick to the knitting in which they excel." Herb Sterne Script pll S 12 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Wholesome entertainment of interest to every mother and every mother's son or daughter, this film will pull at the box office." + Box Office p31 Ag 15 '36 "Gripping picture with Mary Boland in a dramatic role should get by nicely." + Film Daily p3 Ag 8 '36 "Thanks to sympathetic and characterful writing, eloquent direction and a deeply-etched character portrayal by Mary Boland, this simple heart story of plain folks of the San Francisco waterfront becomes a work of real distinction. It has universal appeal and will go places at all box offices. . . Mary Boland as the 'Angel of the Waterfront' here delivers her first dramatic role in pictures. It will win her more admirers even than her delightful comedy portrayals, for it has sincerity, emotional power and an unforced simplicity that bites deep." + Hollywood Reporter p3 Ag 5 '36 "A seriously toned character drama, this seems destined to be appreciated by patrons liking and understanding solid, substantial entertainment. . . The plot is powerful and appealing. . . The work of the cast endows the picture with believable realism that held a preview audience in hushed silence." + Motion Pict Daily p4 Ag 6 '36 "Dramatic piece well played, but which lacks name strength, this should find favor with neighborhoods, small towns. Well handled, dramatic, this ought to please, even if short on name strength." H Phila Exhibitor p37 Ag 15 '36 "Mary Boland goes dramatic in this picture. She cannot gain sympathy for her efforts in a story in which she is required to turn her own son over to the law for murder to save the innocent boy she has befriended. . . The patrons will reject the situation. . . It all adds up to wasted effort." — Variety pl7 S 9 '36 " 'A Son Comes Home' is the kind of entertainment the whole family will enjoy. It has speed, punch, drama, love interest and with it all that wholesomeness that has long been cried for." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 Ag 5 '36 (OSONG OF A NATION. Warner 20min Jl 4 '36 Players: Donald Woods. Claire Dodd. Joseph Crehan. Addison Richards Director: Frank McDonald A Broadway Brevity short in Technicolor. It is the story of the writing of The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. Audience Suitability Ratings "If 'Song of a Nation' is really a true account of the personal episodes in Key's life which influenced him to compose the national anthem, + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -| Fai + Mediocre; Poor; Exceptionally Poor