Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 53 Audience Suitability Ratings "In making his writing debut before the bourgeoisie which is the solid support of motion pictures, the much-publicized Clifford Odets has managed to set aside his proletarian urges long enough to give us an exciting and unbelievable melodrama. . . Whether or not he has streamlined his lugubrious philosophy for just this once, Mr. Odets has put wheels on his soap box and takes us for a thoroughly entertaining spin. . . Akim Tamiroff, as the menace, is suitably terrifying. As a matter of fact, the latter' s violent antics place the film in the adult bracket. Children would find little sense in it anyway." T. J. Fitzmorris + America p576 S 19 '36 "Excellent. Weakness; romantic dereliction of hero is inconsistent with his implied character. Mature." DAR Fox W Coast Bui S 12 '36 "Excellent direction and supporting cast make this a most absorbing picture for adults and young people." Am Legion Auxiliary "A heavy, brutal picture with swift dramatic action. Adults: interesting; 14-18: tense; 8-14: no." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Mature." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Masterly direction and outstanding characterizations in difficult roles are combined in an exceptionally fine production. Adults & young people." E Coast Preview Committee "The story is not without discrepancies and inconsistencies but it is permeated by a sinister and dramatic atmosphere which maintains suspense to the very end. Its view of war and intrigue-wracked China is convincing and finished characterizations add to the interest of a stirring film. Mature." Nat Soc of New England Women "An excellent cast, efficiently handled, with convincingly good photography, have made good adult entertainment." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women "Exciting, well photographed melodrama with good local color and a tremendous climax. Its weaknesses are trite dialogue and a plot that depends for its situations on the stupidity of a hero for continually exposing himself to obvious dangers. The picture contains too much brutality for young audiences but will probablv be popular with adults." Women's Univ Club, Los Angeles Fox W Coast Bui S 26 '36 "The breathless quality of eloquent silences, the superb photography, and the vividly descriptive musical score heighten our enjoyment of this skillfully produced picture, which is so forcefully directed. Adults & young people." + Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) S 16 '36 "Mature." Jt Estimates S 15 '36 "The part of the action relating directly to Yang is the best: the casual, pointless manner of his death is properly stressed. The character is well portrayed by Akim Tamiroff, but perhaps the best performance of all comes from J. M. Kerrigan as a thoroughly slimy rascal. . . A film with several strong points but as many weak ones. The idea of menace is excellently brought out in the deliberate opening, and the suspense of the closing passages is very real; but, in between, the general slowness of tempo becomes too often merely mannered and heavy, while what had seemed at first to have the potentialities of profound drama is enfeebled by a hackneyed central plot. . . Suitability: adults & adolescents. The suggestions of torture and violent death towards the close make the film unsuitable for the sensitive." -| Mo Film Bui pl72 O '36 "Good. Adults & young adults." + Motion Pict Guide D '36 "To the callous adult this picture will furnish tense, melodramatic entertainment. The photography is unusual and excellent, symbolic of the theme. Gripping, suspenseful direction of an unusually well chosen cast and an appropriate musical background bring technical perfection to the entire production. Adults." + Nat Council of Jewish Women S 9 '36 "A: exciting melodrama; Y: too brutal for many; C: no." Parents' M p42 N '36 "Here is as exciting a screen play as may be seen. . . Supported by an excellent cast, it captured my interest and has my praise. . . Some of [Odets' s] views have been transplanted from the stage to the silver screen. Hollywood, in constant fear of educating its audience with too heavy a dose, has diluted the liberal views with Hollywoodish dramatics. . . 'The General Died at Dawn' has a novelty which most pictures lack. With this pinch of 'social aspect' and a fist-full of good, exciting drama, the film is above the ordinary." + Scholastic p32 O 3 '36 "Mature." Sel Motion Pict p5 O 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Akim Tamiroff' s General Yang and the photography are especially commendable among the many qualities, both personal and material, in which the producers invested lavishly for realism. . . Mr. Odets strengthens his reputation for strict adherence to fact and utter disregard for where his barbs fall, taking the whole of Mr. Booth's manuscript, with its frequent antiquities of construction, and giving it vitality with dialog shadings. . . This [is a] gripping drama of intrigue, romance and adventure in that part of modern China which is full of dangerous surprises." J. P. Cunningham -f Commonweal p504 S 25 '36 "An attempt to recapture the glamorous mystery and punch of 'Shanghai Express.' Unfortunately, this is the Shanghai Local. . . All this sounds exciting. But it falters. For one thing, Director Milestone gets too absorbed in his lesser characters, and he is too concerned with catching pictorial beauty, too intent upon his stylized technique. Also, Scenarist Odets, for all his crisp staccato dialogue, goes in a bit thick for moralizing about the underdog." (2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p36 O 10 '36 "Whatever you and I may think of Gary Cooper as an actor . . . we do have to admit that he somehow has an affinity for good pictures. His 'Mr. Deeds' was excellent, and 'The General Died at Dawn' is a humdinger Chinee shiverdrammer. . . This adds up to about two and a half pictures, which is a fairly correct appraisal of 'The General Died at Dawn.' The end is preposterous, but we'll skip that. Not for children." Don Herold + -| Life p30 N '36 "[It has] a wide field of intrigue. Clifford Odets, who wrote the scenario, has therefore not been trenchbound; and the result of his collaboration with the camera is a superior film, continuously interesting and often quite genuinely terrible. He has, however, made a number of minor mistakes; as when he puts into the wry mouth of his American hero pious words that do not belong there, and as when he lets his love story lapse into the commonplace." Mark "Van Doren + Nation p374 S 26 '36 "Gary Cooper has become an American ideal. . . [He] is marked for fame and the narrow path of deadening rectitude. 'The General Died at Dawn' is melodrama, a descendant of 'Shanghai Express,' well acted, well directed and, except for some high-flown love, very satisfactory. But Mr. Cooper has become so noble as to be disquieting." + New Statesman & Nation p588 O 17 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; H Fair; 1 Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor