Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 51 cultivated audiences and sturdy box office calibre. . . Boyer and Dietrich are seen at their best. Boyer is most impressive and convincing-. . . Dietrich plays with restraint and, thanks to direction, gives the most persuasively human and least theatric performance of her career. . . Tilly Losch provides the most colorful and arresting scene in the picture when she dances the abandoned temptation to Boyer in the desert inn. The dance is the most erotic and at the same time fascinatingly artistic thing of this kind the screen has seen." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 O 31 '36 GAY DESPERADO. United artists 85min O 2 '36 Cast: Nino Martini. Ida Lupino. Leo Carrillo. Harold Huber. Mischa Auer. James Blakeley Director: Rouben Mamoulian Music: George Posford. Miguel Sandoval Music director: Richard Day "A comedy about Mexican bandits and the effect of American gangster films on their professional technique." Wkly Guide Audience Suitability Ratings "A & Y: very good; C: unless too exciting." Christian Century pl510 N 11 '36 "Absolutely unique is this farce, poking fun at gangster films, American slang, and studio tricks. Family, but mature for children. Excellent." DAR + + Fox W Coast Bui O 17 '36 "This [is] an entertaining film, which is further enhanced by the fine singing of Nino Martini. Mature." Am Legion Auxiliary "Conceived and acted in a mood of irresistible gayety, directed with imagination and a keen sense of humor with every player in the cast entering thoroughly into the spirit of the production, 'The Gay Desperado' is perfect entertainment. . . Even though it becomes a little wild and rowdy at times, it is so delightfully funny and so unusual in its fun, it could not harm anyone. Outstanding. Family." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Delightful light comedy, with the beautiful singing of Nino Martini and subtly ironic touches, make this an unusually fine production. . . Mamoulian's direction is superb. Family." E Coast Preview Committee Fox W Coast Bui N 14 '36 "[It is] a delightfully satirical farce. . . The cast is exceptionally well chosen, each one giving pertinent characterizations. The work of Rouben Mamoulian, the director is most adroit and unusually effective. A rarely pleasing and most entertaining picture. Family-mature." + Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) N 2 '36 "Roystering burlesque and subtle satire, mingled with grand opera music and lyrical photography, bring about one of the most amusing and intriguing films of the year." S. M. Mullen + Motion Pict & Family p6 O 15 '36 "A merry musical farce, loaded with laughs and fine music, altogether delightful. . . The background of desert and mountain scenery is beautifully photographed, Martini's Mexican songs are a treat, Carrillo is perfect in his part, the whole thing is most entertaining. Adolescents, 12-16: yes; children, 8-12: too exciting." + Motion Pict R p6 O '36 "Excellent direction, delightful humor, a slight but amusing story and the beautiful voice of Nino Martini make of this musical comedy good entertainment. The entire cast is outstandingly fine. Leo Carrillo never was better than in his portrayal of the music-loving bandit. Family & junior matinees." + Nat Council of Jewish Women N 3 '36 "Nino Martini's superb singing highlights this tastefully artistic production." + Nat Legion of Decency O 8 '36 "A, Y & C: good." Parents' M p32 D '36 "Family." Sel Motion Pict plO N 1 '36 "Pleasant and amusing, with many hilarious minor incidents. Family." + Wkly Guide O 3 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Very gay, very full of music and not very desperate is Nino Martini's latest. . . Besides Mr. Martini's singing, which is pleasant and plentiful, the film contains a good deal of amusing burlesque on Hollywood's cherished heroes, the gangsters. Family." + Christian Science Monitor pl5 O 17 '36 " 'The Gay Desperado' is a desperately gay satirization of the machine-gun technique of American gangster films. . . Some highly amusing and frequently hilarious results come from the broad burlesquing of the Hollywood version of blood-and-thunder lawlessness. . . Nino Martini is in splendid voice as he emulates a laughing, dashing, singing senor. . . Mr. Martini, after some previous Hollywood mishaps, now gives a strong proof that a Metropolitan Opera star can be a good screen comic both lyrical and laughable. . . In his singing of Verdi's 'Celeste Aida' the real height of 'The Gay Desperado' is reached." J. P. Cunningham + Commonweal p617 O 23 '36 "Good, clean fun and music of rich artistic quality are blended into fascinating entertainment by one of the finest demonstrations of intelligent direction ever given a picture." + + Hollywood Spec pll O 10 '36 "A Mexican bandit melodrama with a sense of humor. . . The results, as you may guess, frequently are hilarious." (3 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p56 N 14 *36 "The gifted Mr. Rouben Mamoulian has made this film . . . with the obvious intention of striking a gay, Lubitsch note, and keeping it gay. Perhaps because that intention is obvious his film succeeds at any rate in being a jolly film. And jollity is enough in this instance, the acting throughout being better than the script. . . We can place this Mamoulian picture right up at the top of the nearly first class in its melodious-movie kind. Mexican music would give any such picture a good start; but here the singing of Nino Martini is pleasing and plentiful, and the guitar-playing of the Trovadores Chinacos could only be bettered if there were more of it. . . [Mischa Auer offers a] superb and superbly comic portrait of the Mexican Indian. He appears in a part which, for him, is an easy one; but we don't know who else could have played it." + + New Statesman & Nation p773 N 14 '36 "Amusing musical comedy, notable chiefly for Mamoulian's clever avoidance of the trite conventions of the theme. . . Mamoulian works well the banalities to disguise. Nevertheless the proceedings, despite modern accretions, possess a musical-comedy staginess of prewar vintage. Mischa Auer and Harold Huber are excellent. Film estimate: You're doing all right." + New Theatre p34 N '36 "The vexing problem of what to do with an opera star on the screen is triumphantly solved in 'The Gay Desperado.' Here is a formula for the musical photoplay that brings melody, comedy and dramatic excitement into harmonious union. It gives ample scope for Nino Martini's enchanting voice and engaging presence while inspiring a rich and hilarious burlesque that could stand very well by itself as entertainment." Howard Barnes + NY Herald Tribune pl8 O 9 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -{ Fair; [-Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor