Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

72 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST KING OF HOCKEY — Continued "A mildly interesting film, well cast and consistently in the cause of clean sport. Family." Nat Soc of New England Women "With a commonplace, but well portrayed story, the thrilling and fast moving field of hockey carries the audience into a newly featured game of sport. . . The plea for clean sportsmanship is nicely emphasized. Family." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui N 21 '36 "This picture provides good entertainment of an unpretentious nature. Family & junior matinees." -i Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) N 2 '36 "The only redeeming feature of this otherwise trite and mediocre picture, is the demonstration of the skill, power, and brutality necessary for a hockey match on ice. Family." r Nat Council of Jewish Women N 3 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency N 19 '36 "Family." Sel Motion Pict p5 D 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Hockey proves a bewilderingly fast background for a motion picture. There is plenty of it in this Warner production and those with a liking for the speedy winter game will find the picture entertaining even if the other story incidents do not hold their interest. Bryan Foy, Warner's most prolific turner-out of class B features, gives this one a good production, but on the whole it stays strictly within its class and will do no more than serve to give the proper duration to a dual bill program. Its chief weakness is the disagreeable characterization written for the leading role." -1 Hollywood Spec plO N 7 '36 "For those who enjoy going to 'movies,' pour le sport, the film's hockey games in Madison Square Garden, in which opponents beat each other up on skates, should prove diverting." Marguerite Tazelaar + NY Herald Tribune p23 D 3 '36 "This is made in quickie style, and enacted by a group of rather likable players who didn't seem to be working too hard. . . It's about the sort of picture you might expect to find trailing on a double feature program." Eileen Creelman — NY Sun p39 D 3 '36 " 'King of Hockey' is a timely trial flight for a group of the younger Warner players, with exciting sequences of big-league hockey for background." J. T. M. N Y Times p31 D 3 '36 " 'King of Hockey,' [is] a melodrama about this popular sport, which just manages to make the grade as a filler on a double bill. . . [It] is pretty feeble stuff, falling back, as it does, on a hackneyed theme. . . The leading players in this one are Dick Purcell, Anne Nagel and George Stone, but their efforts are about on a par with the story, which, at best, is of an indifferent quality." William Boehnel — NY World-Telegram p33 D 3 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Handicapped by a lack of important names and a weak story, this picture is saved in the last minute of play by some splendid action photography. Family." 1 Box Office p35 N 7 '36 "The hectic game of hockey furnishes the thrills that make this a satisfactory program action picture." + Film Daily p6 N 3 '36 "Ice hockey takes the place of football in this routine sportplay. That was a good idea and it supplies a few exciting moments, for hockey is a fast and furious game and photographs well. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is undistinguished, even for its low-budget class, and will do well to please the youngsters in the secondary neighborhoods." h Hollywood Reporter p3 O 30 '36 1 Motion Pict Daily p3 O 31 '36 "For twin bills, neighborhoods houses, this might interest, but it lacks selling angles, except for the fact that it glorifies hockey instead of some other sport." -I Phila Exhibitor p53 N 15 "36 "Produced ostensibly to fill double-program house needs, this so-called romance of ice hockey will have to depend on second spot in dual setups for its revenue. It hasn't a single name that will brighten the marquee. . . Most interesting moments and the only thing to distinguish 'King of Hockey' from innumerable other pictures are the hockey contest sequences. These are well conceived, nicely staged and captured by the camera. . . Entire story is told on an exaggerated scale. . . Dialog is head and shoulders above the plot construction." H Variety pl2 D 9 '36 "With little to recommend it other than some fast and mighty exciting hockey game shots, 'King of Hockey' will do its best business on the lower part of a dualer. With a cast recruited mostly from the studio contract list and a story which follows a very obvious path from beginning to end, the picture is saved from complete oblivion only through a skillful cutting in of fast moving hockey shots at most frequent intervals." h Variety (Hollywood) p3 O 30 '36 KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED. Principal20th century-Fox 60min S 11 '36 Cast: Robert Kent. Rosalind Keith. Alan Dinehart. Frank McGlynn, Sr. Director: Howard Bretherton See issue of September 28, 1936 for other reviews of this film Audience Suitability Ratings "Beautiful mountain scenes and an adequate cast will entertain the average picture fan in this Zane Grey story. Family." Am Legion Auxiliary "An outdoor drama that does not rise above the mediocre. Family." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Good. Mature-family." DAR "[It is] an average program melodrama. . . Ethically satisfactory. Family." Nat Soc of New England Women "This wholesome picture will prove especially entertaining for the family." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui S 12 '36 "Fair. Family." H Motion Pict Guide D '36 "Like others from the Zane Grey collection, this film is weak dramatically and has a thin plot, but it has fine riding and pictures a wide sweep of very beautiful country. Adolescents, 12-16: yes; children, 8-12: passable." + — Motion Pict R p7 O '36 "A, Y and C: fair." Parents' M p44 N '36 "This better-than-most outdoor drama will prove satisfactory entertainment for the young people. . . The direction is smooth, the photography good, the acting at times somewhat stilted. Family." + Sel Motion Pict p7 O 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "[It is] program melodrama set in the Sierras, where the scenery is grand, the plot's simple and the movie Mountie gets not only his man but his gal. Family." -f Christian Science Monitor O 3 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; H Fair; 1 Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor