Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 125 "This is definitely a gangster film with harrowing scenes no child should see and unwholesome crime situations which are offensive to most adults." Nat Soc of New England Women Fox W Coast Bui S 12 '36 "The story is well directed with many subtle touches, and the suspense is carefully sustained. The acting all round is very good. Suitability: adults & adolescents." + Mo Film Bui pl55 S 30 '36 "There are some of the faults which usually accompany melodrama, and while this is a satisfactory program picture, it has no great merit. Adolescents, 12-16: yes; children. 8-12: too tense." h Motion Pict R p8 O '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Adults." Christian Science Monitor O '36 "A sturdily constructed programmer that strikes the entertainment bell due to literate scripting, compact direction and the uniformly competent work of the acting talent. Not a pretentious offering, but a thoroughly diverting one. . . A father-and-son sub-plot is handled with restraint, never toddles toward the treacle morass, uses understatement effectively in presenting an underager's woes as he views his dad contemplating a second wife." Herb Sterne + Script pll S 26 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "[It is] moderately entertaining. The love interest is developed along routine lines, general production supervision brings out nothing strikingly strong, and the scenes with the boy with one exception possess no real strength. However, the picture has enough human interest and homespun appeal to gain fair or better support from family trade." -j Variety pl3 N 18 '36 STUDENT ROMANCE. British international O 10 '36 Cast: Grete Natzler. Patric Knowles. W. H. Berry. Carol Goodner Director: Otto Kanturek An operetta produced in England. It is based on the Continental operetta I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg. "This new study of life in the German university features not a student prince but a visiting princess. She meets a penniless composer, who happens to be also a student, and promptly falls in love with him. to the refrain of half a dozen melodies." (N Y Sun) Newspaper and Magazine Revieivs "There has been little tampering with operetta conventions in 'The Student Romance.' . . The unhurried exposition is given considerable color and movement by the Alt Heidelberg settings and the excursions into song are pleasant. . . If this sort of thing is to your liking, you will find it one of the better shows of its kind. . . Altogether, 'The Student Romance' is an effective enough reworking of familiar devices." Howard Barnes N Y Herald Tribune pl4 O 12 *36 "[It] is an English concoction based on a Viennese piece. The humor is a good deal more English music hall comedy than Viennese, with heavy puns serving as substitute for wit. The score is generous and melodious, marred by tinny recording. The general atmosphere is festive, foolish and reeking with theatrical romance. . . The picture, for all its airs and graces, cannot stack up with even the secondgrade musicals turned out here." Eileen Creelman h N Y Sun pl4 O 12 '36 "It re-exhumes the tinkling bones of a theme we thought had been safely lowered to rest in the family vault of 'Student Prince', 'In Old Heidelberg' and their many descendants. . . The excursion is not too dull, the score not too undistinguished, the romance not too depressing, the comedy not too silly. Call it just a pleasant but unimportant repetition of an old, old story which has been served with equally pleasant unimportance by its cast." F. S. Nugent h N Y Times p23 O 12 '36 "The film is somewhat in the vein of 'The Student Prince' and probably would have resulted in another feather in the British film producers' caps if they had been able to turn the trick. But I am bound, regretfully, to testify that their experiment in Viennese operetta is not altogether satisfactory. The plot is slow and heavy, the humor is commonplace and the singing nothing on which to bestow bouquets. . . Although it does not call for a severe spanking, it is among the least interesting of the current screen entertainments." William Boehnel h N Y World-Telegram p25 O 13 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "[It has] inadequate regard for costuming accuracy, a hackneyed plot about a student who loves a princess, some British accents which ruin the picture for most domestic spectators. However, the old German student, folk songs which run through the picture, the new ones written specially, are very tuneful; Grete Natzlar is beautiful; technique is fair. . . This is pleasant entertainment for class audiences in metropolitan areas." Phila Exhibitor p53 N 15 '36 "Operetta, 'I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg,' presented filmization problems that obviously weren't hurdled. Original opus had one good song, a lot of colorful costumes and some boygirl combinations that subsequently seem pretty amateurish. On the screen the good song isn't too well recorded, while the camera and scenic departments muffed the colorful end. Picture furthermore is draggy throughout. Doubtful seller for the general route. Some houses, with class trade as a specialty, might make the grade after a heavy haul, but results on the whole seem doubtful." 1 Variety p23 O 21 '36 SWING TIME. RKO lOOmin S 4 '36 Cast: Fred Astaire. Ginger Rogers. Victor Moore. Helen Broderick. Eric Blore Director: George Stevens Dance director: Hermes Pan Music <£. lyrics: Jerome Kern. Dorothy Fields Music director: Nathaniel Shilkret See issue of September 28, 1936 for other reviews of this film Audience Suitability Ratings "A light, frothy story which never strives to do more than entertain. Family." Am Legion Auxiliary "Truly delightful entertainment except for the story, the basis of which is gambling presented in such a manner that the picture can be recommended only for adults." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Family." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Excellent. Mature -family." DAR "This is absolutely top notch film entertainment. Family." Nat Soc of New England Women + + Exceptionally Good; +Good; H Fair; -f Mediocre; Poor; Exceptionally Poor