Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 95 "[It] is a decidedly powerful picture from the popular, technical and artistic standpoints alike. Despite its unusual length, it is unusually entertaining and traces with fidelity and conviction the woeful persecution of its heroic leading character, Jean Valjean. . . This is one of the standout films from French studios. American audiences, appreciating topflight screen fare, will revel in the production, which is fully comprehensible because of the 'flash-in' titles in English." + Film Daily pll O 29 '36 + Motion Pict Daily p8 O 29 '36 "This picture represents Gallic cinematographic production at its best, with Harry Baur, as the harassed Jean Valjean, contributing a performance that is tops. . . From knowledge gained from the American version, exhibitors can easily appreciate this production, although they must bear in mind foreign language and production technique is not always compatible with mass attendance. Production, acting, camera work are fine. Estimate: for foreign, art houses." Phila Exhibitor p37 N 1 '36 "Of the seven filmizations attempted at various times of Hugo's gigantic novel this production is by all odds the most faithful, longest, and meritorious. . . In acting, direction, and over-all conception it generally deserves its self-coronation as a French film classic. From the U. S. point of view, however, and specifically from a box office angle, the long-winded importation is hemmed in by circumstances. It comes only a little more than a year behind 20th's 'Les Miserables,' the March-Laughton starrer, which was enough 'Les Miserables' for most patrons for a couple of years to come. . . But it will be a critics' picture in the bigger places, sure-fire for rave notices." + Variety p!8 N 4 '36 MISSING GIRLS. Chesterfield 66min S 10 '36 Cast: Roger Pryor. Sidney Blackmer. Noel Madison. Muriel Evans Director: Phil Rosen "A newspaper reporter is sentenced to a thirty-day term for refusing to disclose the source of information for his serial, 'Missing Girls.' While in prison he gets the 'low down' on the hide-out of notorious gangsters." Nat Legion of Decency Audience Suitability Ratings "An interesting story of the power of the press. General patronage." + Nat Legion of Decency S 24 '36 "A: very good; Y: possible; C: no." Parents' M p46 Ja '37 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Adults." Christian Science Monitor pl5 O 17 '36 "George Batcheller, president of Chesterfield Pictures and producer of 'Missing Girls,' seems to know how to go about getting a picture that will rate high in entertainment qualities. He allows the writer who conceives the story to see that it gets on the screen just as he conceived it. . . The result is that in 'Missing Girls' we have the most expertly told story I can remember having seen. If it were a big picture, turned out by one of the major producers, with a cast of imposing names and shown in the biggest houses, it is possible it might have marked the dawning of an era distinguished for the fidelity with which the conceptions of authors reached the public." + Hollywood Spec p8 S 26 '36 "Another melodrama of the missing-girl racket, but a little better, a little more authentically detailed." (2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p36 N 7 '36 "While 'Missing Girls' . . . adds little or nothing to the sum total of our knowledge about what becomes of girls who leave unhappy homes to seek fortunes in New York, it is a well-presented restatement of the author's thesis that rackets and politics are bedfellows in Gotham. . . From a newspaper man's viewpoint, there is less to carp about in Roger Pryor' s screen reporter characterization than there has been in similar representations by better known players." J. T. M. -| NY Times p25 O 5 '36 " 'Missing Girls' is a rather feeble combination of love, expose and murder, done in an artificial and transparent manner under a spicy title." William Boehnel — NY World-Telegram pl7 O 5 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Just another newspaper-racketeer yarn, again following the usual formula. . . What with the unoriginal plot and spotty performances by Roger Pryor. Noel Madison, and Sidney Blackmer, strong exploitation will be necessary to make this film pay at the box-office. Family." — Box Office pl9 S 26 '36 "[It is a] rambling gangster melodrama, poorly written and fails to register necessary punch." — Film Daily p4 O 7 '36 "This crime melodrama written by Martin Mooney starts out promisingly. . . Then it goes off on another track and winds up with a conventional raid on a crook hide-out. In spite of its wanderings among surplus plot elements, however, it is better than average crime entertainment. It is well above independent par in its making and will be serviceable fodder on the lesser dual levels." + Hollywood Reporter p4 S 15 '36 -| Motion Pict Daily p7 O '36 "Chesterfield-Invincible's first for 1936-37 is a credit to the company. 'Missing Girls' looms as a well-made independent picture with definite saleable angles. . . Directed by Phil Rosen, well photographed, this deserves attention." + Phila Exhibitor p34 O 1 '36 "Old school racketeer thriller with a generous handout of kidnapped girls, wise-cracking reporters and a final ambush with plenty of gunfire. Arrives pretty late to mean much. No names for marquee pull." — Variety pl5 O 7 '36 "Chesterfield has a racketeer yarn in 'Missing Girls' that is fast-moving and interest-holding throughout. Film plunges right into story and never drags. . . However, with no big draw names and a general theme that has nothing startling about it, getting customers to the box-office for this one should be no cinch. Title may help." -| Variety (Hollywood) p3 S 15 '36 MORE THAN A SECRETARY. Columbia SOmin D 21 '36 Cast: Jean Arthur. George Brent. Lionel Stander. Ruth Donnelly. Reginald Denny Director: Alfred E. Green Based on a short story Safari in Manhattan by Matt Taylor. "George Brent is the seriousminded editor of Body and Brain and he practices all the funny fads he preaches. In consequence the magazine is sinking steadily from its own weight. Jean Arthur is co-partner with Ruth Donnelly in a secretarial school that supplies the irascible editor with unsatisfactory secretaries. So Jean herself slips into the job and the tables are turned. She becomes associate editor and in George's absence adds the popular note that turns the magazine into a success." (Hollywood Reporter) + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -j Fair; ] Mediocre; Poor; Exceptionally Poor