Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1936)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 133 "This raucous comedy makes funny screen entertainment in spite of a lack of spontaneity and overstraining for comedy effects. Adults." ~\ Nat Council of Jewish Women O 28 '36 "Objectionable in part." Nat Legion of Decency N 19 '36 "A: fairly good farce; Y: doubtful; C: no." Parents' M p46 Ja '37 "Adults & young people." Sel Motion Pict pll D 1 '36 "Family. Outstanding." + + Wkly Guide N 14 '36 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Erwin Trowbridge comes to life ... in the person of Frank McHugh. He is the harmless little fellow of 'Three Men on a Horse,' from which play Alex Yokel made a fortune and the chances are that the Warner Brothers will amass even a greater profit from their investment in the film version. Those who are devotees of horse racing will write down this picture as a 'must.' and others, after hearing of some of the incidental happenings, will probably want to see Erwin themselves." Mordaunt Hall + Boston Transcript p4 N 14 '36 "Neither as rowdy nor as funny as the stage play. [It is] a noisy film farce. Adults." h Christian Science Monitor pl3 N 21 '36 " 'Three Men on a Horse' is a failure, which goes to show that the best of [directors] can slip. . . The characters shout at one another throughout the entire length of the picture, and not for more than ten seconds at a stretch is the screen silent. . . The main weakness of the picture is fundamental. The story premise is interesting and fraught with great comedy possibilities, but none of its possibilities is realized. . . Now that Mervyn has got this picture out of his system, we confidently can look forward to his giving us something more worthy of his established ability." — Hollywood Spec p8 O 24 '36 "It is fast and amusing. . . Here, we're sure, is a farce that will arouse your laughter. We like Frank McHugh as the timid Erwin; the three small-time bettors are briskly done by Sam Levene, Allen Jenkins, and Teddy Hart; there is a swell barkeep by Edgar Kennedy; and Joan Blondell does the very much repressed (in the screen version) ex-Follies sweetie of one of the dopesters." (3% stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p43 D 12 '36 "Although 'Three Men on a Horse' carries on on the Fulton Theater stage in its ninetysixth week, there is little reason to suppose that the Strand Theater screen will be vacated by the same racetrack comedy before the new year, for the film version of the play is every bit as sprightly as the original. In fact, it differs from the drama very little. . . The picture is spiced with those same wise-cracking lines which have kept New Yorkers so constantly entertained on the stage. . . Perhaps because Sam Levene and Teddy Hart, who were the original Patsy and Frankie on Broadway, lend such authority to the performance, the comedy retains much of its original stimulation, yet the entire cast falls into the hilarious stride, resulting in smooth and expert rowdiness. Frank McHugh is excellent as Erwin, greeting-card poet and psychic." Marguerite 4 _j_ N Y Herald Tribune p24 N 26 '36 "Little need be said except that it is just as funny as the stage original still running at the Fulton Theater. That really should be enough. . . Frank McHugh is the gifted Oiwin, a part into which he steps with such ease that it is evident Mr. McHugh deserves more recognition than his studio was formerly wont to accord him. Miss Blondell, in a smaller role than usual, is also much funnier than usual, a fact which both she and her employers might profitably note." Eileen Creelman + NY Sun p30 N 27 '36 "[It] has been converted into an acceptably ribald film farce. . . [It] makes for an evening, or afternoon, of hilarious and extremely improbable entertainment." B. R. C. + + N Y Times p39 N 26 '36 "The screen version is every bit as hilarious as the play from which it stems. . . McHugh plays this fabulous hero for all he is worth. . . Frankly, I despair to describe 'Three Men On a Horse' in wordy detail. My job is only to advise you to hop over to the Strand and see it for yourself and enjoy to the full its merry, cock-eyed, good natured fun and the work of a fine cast." William Boehnel + + N Y World-Telegram p39 N 27 '36 " 'Three Men on a Horse' is an exact and careful picture of the play, and very funny. Frank McHugh's Oiwin and Joan Blondell' s Mabel are both of Nobel Prize calibre, if the Nobel Prize is some day to be given cinema performers. . . [It is] possibly not quite respectable, but certainly never a dull film." John Mosher + New Yorker pl31 D 5 '36 "In this laugh -forlaugh and almost wordfor-word transcription of the Broadway hit, Frank McHugh comes into his comic own as a writer of greeting-card verses. . . Teddy Hart and Sam Levene, whom Mervyn LeRoy — producer and director of the film — snatched from the Broadway production, come close to trotting off with the picture." + News-Wk p20 N 28 '36 "Some of the funniest vernacular that was ever written is spoken in violent and highstrung volume. Frank McHugh, as Erwin, seems to be walking in his sleep, which is just what Erwin would do in the situation that befalls him. . . Anyone with the slightest appreciation for artful idiom will find it all happily recorded in this screen version. 'Three Men on a Horse' is still a safe bet/' + Stage plS D "36 "Skillfully directed by Mervyn LeRoy, adorned with two members of the original stage cast (Teddy Hart and Sam Levene), 'Three Men on a Horse' is more than just a very funny picture. It has the authentic lilt and shuffle of that Broadway half-world whose deflated, hardpacked mirth had had no equal interpretation since the late Ring Lardner." + Time p42 N 30 '36 Trade Paper Reviews "Uproarious as a stage play, this emerges as only mildly amusing screen fare, chiefly because of lengthy running time, lack of action, a too-close adherence to the original in background and setting, and a script that is entirely too wordy. The robust, racy lines of the legitimate production could not be used in the screen version, making the whole affair a rather wishy-washy transcription of a play that was characterized by outspoken heartiness. Family." h Box Office p63 O 17 '36 "[It] is a riot of fun and laughter for young and old. . . It kept capacity houses at the Strand, in continuous fits of laugher. The cast, while not filled with exceptional box-office names, is perfectly suited for this production. . . [It] presents the exhibitor with dozens of ways for exploitation, almost any of which will sell the picture. . . Sell the public on the picture as one of the biggest laughs in months." + Canadian Moving Pict Digest p6 N 28 "We can't see how it can miss wherever folks want to laugh. All the comedy of the stage version has been preserved, and some more added via new scenes. Frank McHugh does a grand job as Erwin. . . The pressbook on this production emphasizes the laugh angle, and if you play it up that way it can't miss at your box-office, for it is one of the naturals when it comes to the heavy guffaws." + Film Daily p9 N 13 '36 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; J Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor