Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

102 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGES1 ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. Paramount 65min Cast: Jimmy Save Nikita Balieff. Cecelia Loftus. Whitney Bourne. Edwina Armstrong Directors: Ben Hecht. Charles Mac Arthur Produced three years ago and never nationally released. It has been shown in several third run houses until the present engagement at the World Theatre, New York. It tells the pathetic story of a wistful clown and an entrancing Russian princess in the days following the revolution. Newspaper and Magazine Revieivs "It is easy to understand why [it] has been routed around obscure playhouses for the last two years. Reflecting little credit on its cutup author-directors or its company, it is a ponderous burlesque, almost deserving the billing it received at a small Boston playhouse — 'the world's worst picture.' If you are curious to see how completely a lot of talent can be wasted it will repay you to drop in at the World Theater. The film is a virtual compendium of cinematic faults. . . The staging is so disordered that it is actually difficult to follow the action at times. The whole production almost suggests a conspiracy to destroy what few virtues there were in the work, for Lee Garmes, who has shown some skill with a camera in the past, has done a dismal piece of photography." Howard Barnes NY Herald Tribune p23 D 2 '36 "[Since it] brings briefly to the screen that exquisite and adorable clown Jimmy Savo, the occasion itself is bound to be a happy and propitious one. For all the acknowledged shortcomings and strangely prophetic title of 'Once in a Blue Moon,' those who love Savo will welcome it, seeing in the admitted failure of his authors, of his surroundings, of practically everything connected with the film but himself, merely a regrettably crude frame for certain indestructible elements of personal integrity, and for a comic style which, like Chaplin's alone, has in it nothing imitative, vulgar, cheap, smart-aleck, self-glorifying or sickly commercial. . . In an age when the mechanics of production are taken for granted the Messrs. Hecht and MacArthur, in this one film, contrived to suffer an unprecedented breakdown of nearly all their resources, especially of those in the sound-recording department. But still, through the garbled and tarnished brilliance of the talk, the muddled disconnectedness of incident, miraculously shines the lovely, fragile and infinitely touching characterization of Gabbo the Great." B. R. C. N Y Times p35 D 2 '36 "Famed for their wit and prankishness, as well as their ability to construct workable and theatrically effective scripts, the Messrs. Hecht and MacArthur have in 'Once in a Blue Moon' pieced together an incredibly disjointed narrative that reflects little of their skilled artisanship. How much of this is due to cutting it is difficult to say, but the fact remains that the film is pretty much of a botch. Nor has it any point of view — or anything resembling a point of view. . . Moreover, the direction is laborious, the acting is of a kind, that is best forgotten and the sound recording is so inferior that at times it is impossible to hear what the characters are saying. Now and then Mr. Savo manages to project across the screen some of the pathetic charm that has endeared him to lovers of slapstick, but for the most part his efforts are as forced as they are unfunny." William Boehnel NY World-Telegram p33 D 2 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "[It] was shelved for good and sufficient reasons. With the announced arrival of Jimmy Savo in a stage play, the proprietor of the World Theater off Broadway saw a chance to capitalize on the discarded opus, so it is being run on a double bill. We have never seen so many people get up and walk out during the running of a film. In plain words, it's terrible. Jimmy Savo is the only real actor in the cast. He does heroically, carrying on against terrific odds." Film Daily p6 D 3 '36 "In legitimate [theatre] when a turkey is produced the producer calls up Cain's and says please come and cart it away. That's the end of that. In pictures a turkey is sometimes expensive. So, as in the case of this picture a couple of years after it's made it shows up on double feature bills in hideaways to try and get back six or seven cents. And the few exhibitors who'll be kidded into playing this one won't be very happy about it afterward. . . There's no sense kidding about 'Once in a Blue Moon' or mincing language, or being cute about it. It's a bad picture. Jimmy Savo is featured and is very unfunny in what was intended to be a new Chaplin performance. . . He is either the champ tough luck guy in the world or there is just plain something wrong somewhere in spite of his legion of intelligentsia supporters." Variety p!3 D 9 '36 ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF NAPOLEON. Nuovo mondo lOOmin S 13 '36 Cast: Corrado Racca. Pino Locchi. Emilia Varini. Rosa Stradner. Enzo Biliotti Director: Giovacchino Forzano A dialogue film in Italian with English titles made in Italy by a joint collaboration of German and Italian film companies. It was also filmed in German. Also known as Campo di Maggio. It is the story of those one hundred days after Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France to make an attempt to regain his throne. Through the wily machinations of Fouche he is finally defeated at Waterloo, forced to abdicate and exiled to St. Helena. Audience Suitability Ratings "An impressive picture showing striking battle scenes and having expert characterizations. General patronage." + Nat Legion of Decency S 24 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Its adherence to historical fact appears to be accurate. . . The outstanding thing in the picture in the characterization of Napoleon. . . The story is open to a number of interpretations and should not prove a loss of time to the serious picture patron." Marguerite N Y Herald Tribune p23 S 16 '36 "Of all the Italian pictures that have run [at the Cine-Roma,] this current one should prove of most interest to non-Italian audiences. . . The production is a lavish one, from its palace scenes to the debacle at Waterloo. . . The picture, by the way, should be excellent for children studying French history — English subtitles make the action clear. The cast, from Corrado Racca' s Napoleon to Enzo Biliotti' s wily, bowing Fouche, is competent and intelligent. . . This is the most elaborate of the Italian productions and, so far, the best." Eileen Creelman + N Y Sun p28 S 14 '36 "Collaboration of German and Italian film companies, backed by the powers-that-be in Berlin and Rome, has resulted in the production of a historical picture which can stand comparison with the best things in that line ever turned out in Hollywood or anywhere else. From almost every standpoint [it] is impressive; so much so that at times even hardened cinema patrons and despisers of militarism and all its works are likely to be carried away with the enthusiasm of Napoleon's followers." H. T. S. + NY Times p25 S 14 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; H Fail + Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor