Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

84 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST LOVE IN EXILE — Continued "This sounds like a drawing room comedy. In reality it winds up as punchy melodrama that picks up speed. Estimate: pleasing program." H Phila Exhibitor p49 N 15 '36 "Helen Vinson ... is sweet and charming, but not over-convincing in a role that calls for more poise and sophistication. Clive Brook plays the exile in an effortless, nonchalant way, with humorous interludes. Supporting company is excellent, and all in character, with no jarring note in either casting or direction." Variety pl5 My 27 '36 LOVE LETTERS OF A STAR. Universal 55min N 8 '36 Cast: Henry Hunter. Polly Rowles. C. Henry Gordon. Ralph Forbes Directors: Lewis R. Foster. Milton Carruth Based on a short story The Case of the Constant God by Rufus King. A mystery story based on the theft for blackmail of indiscreet letters written by a school girl to a matinee idol. Audience Suitability Ratings "A good cast, but a depressing picture, with some comedy relief furnished by the police photographer. Adults." Am Legion Auxiliary "The blackmail plot is not new, but the speed of events and the convincing manner in which they are developed, make a mystery drama as it should be — tense, uncertain as to outcome and wholly adequate as to thrills. Adults." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "An interesting and smoothly developed murder mystery, the title of which is a misnomer. . . The story develops in a logical and fascinating manner with much credit due the director and a very capable cast. Mature." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "[It is] a trite blackmail mystery. Mediocre. Adults." DAR "Natural acting, good comedy relief, apt dialogue and dramatic suspense make this a superior mystery film. Adults & young people." Nat Soc of New England Women "Although the clues are well concealed, the vital issues appear lacking. Fairly entertaining for the mature." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui O 31 '36 "Mature audience. Production values satisfactory, suspense well sustained, timely comedy, and the work of a well directed cast give this picture its entertainment value." -4 Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) O 17 '36 "Audiences will be surprised to find a detective story hiding under a misleading title. . . The result is a. somewhat confused but interesting melodrama. Adolescents, 12-16: mature; children, 8-12: no." -| Motion Pict R p7 N '36 "[It is] an involved, clumsily directed murder mystery. . . Ralph Forbes and C. Henry Gordon give good performances in an otherwise mediocre picture. Adults." — + Nat Council of Jewish Women O 21 '36 "Objection: revenge, suicide and murder. Obiectionable in part." Nat Legion of Decency O 29 '36 "A: fair; Y: possible; C: unsuitable." Parents' M p46 Ja '37 Adults." Sel Motion Pict N 1 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "The title is a flagrant attempt to cash in on all that front page publicity which recently pilloried an actress uncircumspect enough to keep a diary. It's irrelevant too, for it covers not a servant-girls' -delight expose but a mystery story. . . A just fair chiller, it goes through the routine devices that have long served to entertain shriek-in-the-night addicts. The denouement is jumbled, fails to account for many of the red herrings which have been lavishly sprinkled across the spectator's path." Herb Sterne H Script pl5 N 14 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "This 'guess who?' yarn is neither good nor bad, but somewhere between the two. Built on an illogical premise, the mystery element follows through satisfactorily, though light on comedy relief and on top acting talent. Family." -| Box Office p31 O 31 '36 "The yarn is filled with lots of twists and surprises, and will satisfy the thrill fans. . . The directors Lewis Foster and Milton Carruth have sustained a tense atmosphere throughout." + Film Daily pl7 D 1 '36 "A smoothly unfolded murder mystery that, without stepping far off the beaten track, has enough ingenuity and production class to recommend it even to the epicures in the art of clue-spotting. Without pretense of box office appeal, except a title that is something of a misnomer, inasmuch as the letters are those of a schoolgirl and not of a star, it will serve unusually well as a dual support number." -f Hollywood Reporter p3 O 21 '36 — Motion Pict Daily p3 O 22 '36 "Program mystery murder drama, short on names, but with new faces which may mean something later, 'Love Letters of a Star,' is routine fare that will serve on twin bills or in lesser situations." -| Phila Exhibitor p36 N 1 '36 " 'Love Letters of a Star' has no one in its lineup who means box office but picture is competently produced murder mystery that should please if not attract customers. It is good family entertainment. . . With a brace of directors and a trio of adaptors, a total of five hands were joined in writing and directing 'Love Letters.' In both departments, the combined talents of the five men have brought forth a finished product that is notable for its production superiority over the average, run-of-the-mill murder mysteries." + Variety p38 D 2 *36 "Obviously seeking to traffic on recent exposures of amorous antics in the news, 'Love Letters of a Star' is actually a minor murder mystery. Picture makes no production claims except an hour's diversion and levels off as a relaxer on duals in the subsequents. . . Mechanics of the unfoldment of motive and killing modus are timeworn, and behavior of detectives and family involved in the crime is not convincing in some of the crucial scenes." h Variety (Hollywood) p3 O 21 '36 LOVE ON THE RUN. MGM 80min D 4 '36 Cast: Joan Crawford. Clark Gable, Franchot Tone. Reginald Owen. Mona Barrie. Ivan Lebedeff Director: W. S. Van Dyke Based on a serial story Beauty on the Beat by Alan Green and Julian Brodie. "Gable and Tone are a couple of New York newspapermen in London. Gable gets the assignment of the wedding of reporter-hating heiress Miss Crawford to Count Ivan Lebedeff; Tone draws the proposed altitude flight of Baron Reginald Owen and Baroness Mona Barrie. When Miss Crawford jilts her impecunious title, Gable grabs her, pushes Tone, Owen and Miss Barrie into a closet and steals the plane." Hollywood Reporter + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; + — Fair; — + Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor