Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 107 Audience Suitability Ratings "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency D 17 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "It is a very good picture. . . The production has the De Mille vigor and sweep. He has turned back the pages of the West's picturebook and paused now and then to bring one to life. . . The picture is more than just stirring film entertainment; it is a valuable historical document to make future generations of Americans realize what they owe to a past generation of brave men and loyal women. . . Technically, 'The Plainsman' is outstanding. . . The whole production is a great achievement which would justify Paramount in giving, itself a few pats on the back." -f + Hollywood Spec p9 D 5 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Skilfully directed and acted in every detail, 'The Plainsman' surpasses the previous and excellent Paramount opus of the plains, 'The Texas Rangers.' " + Box Office p21 D 5 '36 "Cecil B. De Mille has drawn the well-known historical characters as such dynamic figures in the settling of the West that one cannot help but be fascinated by them. . . The piece is a stirring one with battle scenes that are terrific. Everywhere the De Mille touch for the spectacular is to be found. It is a big production of the 'Cimmarron', 'Covered Wagon' type and its appeal should be to the same kind of audience, and its box-office returns should therefore be great. Cooper in one of those he-man roles which made him famous and which are tailor-made to his talents is superb." + Film Daily p7 N 24 '36 "Cecil B. De Mille here delivers a superWestern that has had few if any equals in the history of pictures. . . There is not the least doubt that it will take the box offices of the world by storm and roll up a magnificent record. To the magic of the De Mille name is added that of Gary Cooper in a role to which he brings all the best qualities of his recent work and which gives him one splendidly realized opportunity after another. . . All the ingredients of every good Western are present in ample measure and have, of course, been glorified under De Mille' s magic touch. Oddly and wisely he had concentrated on the personal drama so that the mass scenes are kept to an unexpected minimum. Even the Custer massacre is told in a few shatteringlv effective feet." + Hollywood Reporter p3 X 21 '36 " 'The Plainsman' reveals Cecil B. De Mille as the master melodramatist. Less stylized, better balanced, obviously not concerned with upper-case art. attacked simply as the narrative of plains men and women conquering the wilderness with blood and iron, this will probably prove De Mille' s most prosperous picture. A super Western, it exploits a subject not usually linked with the screen tradition of the producer-director. ' ' + Variety (Hollywood) p3 N 21 '36 PLOT THICKENS. RKO 68min D 11 '36 Cast: James Gleason. Zasu Pitts. Owen Davis, Jr. Louise Latimer Director: Ben Holmes This is the third of a series of detective stories, based on the Oscar Piper character created by Stuart Palmer. It is taken from his novel The Case of the Dangling Pearl. "Depicts the complicated events which revolve around the theft of a Cellini metal masterpiece." [Variety (Hollywood)] Audience Suitability Ratings "If you have been following the adventures of Oscar Piper . . . you will welcome this. . . [It is] amusing and sometimes exciting." T. J. Fitzmorris + America p240 D 12 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency X 26 '36 "Adults & young people." Sel Motion Pict pll D 1 '36 "[It is] a pretty good mystery with sustained interest and a fair amount of uncertainty as to the outcome. A good bit of comedy scattered throughout. Family." -| Wkly Guide X 21 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews " 'The Plot Thickens' is better than most murder mystery pictures in the degree in which it avoids running true to form. True, it makes Jim Gleason, the police inspector in charge of the case, dangerously dumb, but keeps him just sane enough to make it reasonable that he and Zasu Pitts, also played for laughs, should solve the mystery and bring the murderer to justice. But I would like to see just one such picture that took crime seriously and did not strive to make us laugh in the face of murder. . . If you can enjoy a little murder now and then in your screen fare, I can recommend 'The Plot Thickens' as a picture that will not waste the time you spend in viewing it. It keeps you puzzled, and that is all you may reasonably ask of a picture of the sort." + Hollywood Spec pl6 X 21 '36 "A Stuart Palmer mystery at the Rialto may be news to lighten the hearts of many this morning. . . The unraveling of the murders (two) is accomplished with customary comic pomp and ceremony, Zasu Pitts, who supplants Miss Oliver in the role of schoolteacher, is not, to this way of thinking, so perfect a lady detective as the original, but she manages to be, as always, a humorous, faintly mournful character, amusing enough. . . What makes it a little more entertaining than many other screen murder-mysteries is the lightness of Mr. Gleason and Miss Pitts, and the unique setting of the story. . . The story is confusing at times, nor does it seem so sprightly as some of the earlier ones in the series." Marguerite Tazelaar -| NY Herald Tribune p20 D 9 '36 "It is a reasonably entertaining baffler, barring our faint wince at the sight of Zasu Pitts trying to fill the saturnine shoes of the Hildegardes of Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick. . . Probably as a concession to Miss Pitt's flutter, the usual acerb exchanges between the Inspector and Hildegarde have been blunted, becoming merely moderate sarcasms which really do not justify Mr. Gleason' s exaggerated recoils. What he needs for flinching purposes is a Miss Oliver or a Miss Broderick who knows how to pour the hot coals on." F. S. Xugent H NY Times p35 D 9 '36 "The finished result is a series of lethal highjinks that has a certain amount of nimble-plot complication and some slick sleuthing but which is singularly lacking in physical action, suspense and excitement. . . How both crimes are solved among the art treasures of the museum results in a rather laborious and clumsily managed denouement that is something of a let down and that weakens an otherwise fair-tomiddling murder item." William Boehnel h N Y World-Telegram p37 D 9 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "There's enough variety in this to please every type of movie-goer — which should result in satisfactory returns at the cashier's window. Family. ' ' + Box Office p29 X 21 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; -4-Good; -\ Fair; (-Mediocre; Poor; Exceptionally Poor