Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 113 spells box-office success for all exhibitors. It has universal audience appeal." + Film Daily p25 S 16 '36 "This picture in color raises the artistic status of the screen by several degrees. _ It will be acclaimed the most beautiful motion Picture ever filmed, and for that and several other sound reasons it will be a world-wide box office success. The famous romance of early California becomes in this visualization a poetic tragedv of deeply moving appeal and markedly unlike 'any conventional picture type -j Hollywood Reporter p3 S 12 36 + Motion Pict Daily p6 S 14 '36 "Estimate: good." + Phila Exhibitor p35 S 15 '36 "Colored photography, by Technicolor and other processes, despite the steady improvements being made, is no longer such novelty as to attract attention and business on its own. Therefore it needs help in the way of scenario. 'Ramona,' as background for this latest color effort, is not much help. . . The next step in the development of colored photography, it would seem, would be a fitting story for its presentment." + — Variety pl5 O 14 '36 "[It] comes to the screen in its gorgeous Technicolor trappings as entertainment of high order, rich in romantic charm, moving emotional appeal and finest artistry. . . Approached with infinite care and taste, supported at every turn by sound craftsmanship and pictorial beauty and unerringly keyed to genuine heart interest in playing and direction, with enough aggregate name weight to have marquee allure, 'Ramona' may stand sturdily alone for any audience." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 S 12 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "This justifies the additional expenditures made to lift it out of the formula Western class. It is good entertainment and can hold its own in any situation in the market for which it is intended, particularly as it possesses exploitation possibilities not to be found in the usual action film. Family." + Box Office p27 O 24 '36 "Taking a page from history, E. B. Derr has produced a picture that is one of the better outdoor dramas. Its historical significance makes it highly interesting, and its forceful dramatic qualities hold one throughout. Besides that it has enough fighting, gun-play and hard riding to please the action fans, and it also has a nice bit of comedy." + Film Daily p7 O 10 '36 "[It] keeps lively step with [the] first [in the series], 'The Glory Trail,' and passes it on several counts. These carefully prepared transcripts from frontier records, though made on a limited budget and containing all the ingredients dear to the action fans, earn a higher rating. They will score profitably in the secondary duals where a combination of action and factual value will count." + Hollywood Reporter p3 O 6 '36 + Motion Pict Daily pl3 O 9 "Hitting for the houses that crave action pictures, E. B. Derr has in 'Rebellion' a picture with the fortunate combination of a good story, plenty of action and a topnotch cast. It will fill the bill and please audiences. . . Action pictures such as 'Rebellion' will do much to give the theatres which bill them a share of the prosperity which the deluxe houses are now enjoying." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 O 6 '36 RANGER COURAGE. Columbia 58min O 30 '36 Cast: Bob Allen. Martha Tibbetts Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet A western melodrama. Audience Suitability Ratings "A trite plot and uninspired acting and direction. Some exceptionally fine riding and beautiful outdoor photography serve as a support for an otherwise mediocre production. Family." E Coast Preview Committee Fox W Coast Bui N 7 '36 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency N 5 '36 "Family." Sel Motion Pict pl2 X 1 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Second Bob Allen Western, this continues in the style set by the first. . . Fast moving, this will please the open air addicts." + Phila Exhibitor p49 N 15 '36 REBELLION. Crescent 60min O 27 '36 Cast: Tom Keene. Rita Cansino. Duncan Renaldo Director: Lynn Shores This is the second in a series of historyWesterns starring Tom Keene. " 'Rebellion' dramatizes a chapter in early California's history (1850) between the time of its American occupation and its becoming a state, when lawless bands of Americans were seizing the haciendas of the Spanish settlers in defiance of the terms of the Guadelupe-Hidalgo treaty and Washington was too far away to protect them." (Hollywood Reporter) REMBRANDT. London films-United artists 84min D 4 '36 Cast: Charles Laughton. Elsa Lanchester. Gertrude Lawrence. John Bryning Director: Alexander Korda Dialogue film produced in England. "An idealized film biography of the life of the famous painter. Story begins at the height of Rembrandt's fame, during his lifetime, and carries on to his solitary, poverty-stricken old age." (Variety) Audience Suitability Ratings "Objectionable in part. Objection: Questionable dialogue and promiscuous love affairs." Nat Legion of Decency D 10 '36 "[It] often rises to unusual importance. Beautifully photographed and acted, and done with a surprisingly light touch that at the same time does not make light of its subject. Suggested for schools and libraries. Mature. Outstanding." + + Wkly Guide D 5 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "One of those lavish and highly polished productions to which we have become accustomed from Alexander Korda. Charles Laughton is not always convincing but the extensive cast is more than satisfactory. Adults & young people." Christian Science Monitor pl9 D 5 '36 "Mr. Laughton fills out the sagged fabric of his part — hardly any other actor could — with something very like inspiration. Like Rembrandt's painting, his performance improves with the passage of time. The insufferable arrogance of the early scenes changes somehow to a very genial and moving maturity. Miss Elsa Lanchester did Hendrijke Stoffels well, though a little archly. . . Miss Gertrude Lawrence was as out of place in seventeenth-century Amsterdam as you would expect. The settings are well designed but overworked. The tragedy of such pasteboard is that it can be 4 + Exceptionally Good: Good; -\ Fair; \ Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor