Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 39 Audience Suitability Ratings "A: waste of time; Y & C: no." Christian Century pl438 O 28 '36 "The result is a gruesome film made all the more harrowing by Bruce Cabot's realistic performance as Ruthless Killer No. 1, whom nothing can and nobody seems to wish to stop. Suitability: adults." Mo Film Bui pl50 S 30 '36 "Fair. Adults." H Motion Pict Guide D '36 "Since the question of parole is a timely and vital issue, it is a pity that the story was not made more plausible. . . The melodrama becomes almost farcical. Good acting on the part of the leading characters barely redeems it. Although in the end the wages of sin is death, a discriminating audience will find the play more dramatic than convincing. Adolescents, 12-16: exciting and too melodramatic; children, 8-12: far too lurid." — Motion Pict R S '36 "Mature." Nat Bd of R M S '36 "A and Y: more dramatic than convincing; C: too tense." Parents' M p42 N '36 "A tense drama, vividly acted, which holds the attention and presents a needed and downright message without mincing matters. Mature." + Sel Motion Pict p4 O 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Revieics "As a grim, occasionally humorous treatment of gangsters and gunfire, this comes as a speedily told and smartly enacted bit of roughhouse." (2y2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p51 O 3 "36 " 'Don't Turn 'Em Loose' has warrant for being as an editorial against the lax and sentimentalized activities of parole boards in general, and as such is valid and authentic stuff. It is also exciting melodrama. If one considers it as an essay in creative characterization and construction it is something else again. . . Just what it may be that makes Mr. Cabot attractive to the cash customers of the world's cinema theaters is, unhappily, lost upon this chronicler of dramatic fatuities. What he knows about acting would be scant credit to the Third Citizen of Verona in an amateur charity performance of 'Romeo,' and his personal beauty can scarcely launch ships or fire topless towers. . . 'Don't Turn 'Em Loose' is fairish run-of-the-mine melodrama." Lucius Beebe H NY Herald Tribune pl9 S 24 '36 "It is the parole system which the picture pretends to have under scrutiny, and if you believe there actually is an underlying social purpose behind its excitements then you should be of a mind today to toss all parole boards before a grand jury. . . 'Mr. Cabot's performance is properly icy; Lewis Stone as the father is a dignified and relentless instrument of the gods. . . For the record, it may be listed as a fast-moving, easily told piece of crime fiction, but it leaves the parole system, as such, pretty much as it found it." F. S. Nugent N Y Times p20 S 25 '36 "A bargain in horror films, 'Don't Turn 'Em Loose' not only permits you to ponder over the ills of the parole system and study a psychopathic case, but also wallow in thrills that will keep you on tenterhooks from beginning to end." William Boehnel N Y World-Telegram p24 S 25 '36 "[It is] a slight dissertation, with plenty of gunfire, on the parole problem." John Mosher \ New Yorker p77 O 3 '36 News-Wk p35 O 3 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Strong gangster picture hitting parole system carries suspense and punch for action fans." + Film Daily pll S 24 '36 " 'Don't Turn 'Era Loose' will probably prove disappointing at the box office. . . Stone turns in an even performance. At times Cabot lays on the menace a bit too heavily." — Variety pl7 S 30 '36 DRAEGERMAN COURAGE. Warner-First national 60min O 24 '36 Cast: Jean Muir. Barton MacLane. Henry O'Neill. Robert Barrat. Addison Richards Director: Louis King See issue of September 28, 1936 for other reviews of this film Audience Suitability Ratings "Commendably restrained direction keeps all shots free of the hysterical horror which might easily have marred the entertainment value of this excellently photographed and properly focused story. Adolescents, 12-16: very tense and harrowing; children, 8-12: no, too much realism, story unsuitable." + Motion Pict R p4 S '36 "A and Y: realistic and good; C: too tense." Parents' M p42 N '36 "Mature." Sel Motion Pict p4 O 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews Reviewed by Laura Elston Canadian M p40 D '36 "[It is] played in a clipped, terse manner, and builds to a taut degree of suspense. . . Though the ultimate outcome of the story is seldom in doubt, there is about the whole story a swift undercurrent of danger that gives the picture a gruesomely fascinating air." (3 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p51 O 3 '36 DUSTY ERMINE. Twickenham 75min Cast: Ronald Squire. Jane Baxter. Arthur Macrae. Anthony Bushell Director: Bernard Vorhaus Based on the play of the same title by Neil Grant. Filmed in England. "Plot concerns the return from prison of a skilful forger into the home of his brother, a noted, but briefless, High Court barrister. Young nephew of the ex-convict inherits his talent and joins an international gang in the Alps. Uncle scents the trail and, unwilling that the boy shall follow in his footsteps, tries to save him. When cornered, he takes the blame upon himself and returns to jail." (Variety) Audience Suitability Ratings "The director has imposed a good rhythm both of mood and of tempo. Altogether, this film is good material well handled. Suitability: adults & adolescents." + Mo Film Bui pl47 S 30 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "An amusingly contrived crook thriller, delightfully staged in the Austrian Alps. Handled with originality and a sense of characterization, the production puts across the haziest of incidents with verve and a bid for realism." + Hollywood Reporter p3 S 26 '36 + Motion Pict Daily p5 S 22 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; H Fair; \ Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor