Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

34 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST DON'T TELL THE WIFE— Continued mine selling scheme is honest, employs a respected small town newspaper man, Guy Kibbee, as front for the enterprise. Complications arise when Kibbee uses the mails to help sell the stock and the federal authorities step in. In the end it is found that the mine is really a valuable piece of property and Kibbee succeeds in outwitting the crooked gang. Audience Suitability Ratings "There are many amusing situations, the acting is good and the picture is well directed. Family." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Fair entertainment. Mature." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Mediocre. Questionable ethics. Dull. Adults." DAR "Amusingly developed and entertaining, nevertheless, the ethics of this film cannot be too closely scrutinized. Adults." Nat Soc of New England Women "Mature." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui F 6 '37 "Though fast paced and well cast, this farfetched comedy fails to be very amusing despite its happy ending and the best efforts of the able cast, wmich surely deserve better material. Adults." — Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) Ja 25 '37 "Fair entertainment. Adults." -| Nat Council of Jewish Women Ja 27 '37 "General patronage." Nat Legion of Decency F 11 '37 "A: fair; Y: possible; C: doubtful." Parents' M p46 Ap '37 "Adults." Sel Motion Pict p6 Mr 1 '37 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Good-natured, impossible farce whose stock situations are well bolstered by the. presence of veteran comedians. Family." -) Christian Science Monitor pl5 F 27 '37 "Guy Kibbee and Una Merkel deserve much better working conditions than those under which they are compelled to function in 'Don't Tell the Wife' . . . but it would be inhumane to suggest that there is any player alive who doesn't. . . In short, it's the picture you invariably w^alk in on when you go to see the other one on a double bill." B. R. C. — NY Times pl5 F 19 '37 "[It] misuses the talents of Guy Kibbee, Una, Merkel and Lynne Overman in another tawTdrily told narrative. . . [They] appear to have a fairly good idea of the predicament in which RKO has placed them and do what they can to make the best of it. But they have the worst of it." G. R. — NY World-Telegram pl9 F 23 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "When a cast of seasoned troupers is handed a script to its liking, the resultant screen fare is bound to be excellently done. This wTas the case with 'Don't Tell the Wife.' . . It is lifted far above the commonplace by the performances of Lynne Overman and Una Merkel. Family." + Box Office p25 Ja 30 '37 "Good crisp comedy, bordering often on satire, is generously spread through this feature, making it bright popular entertainment, which will have strongest appeal with average adult audiences." + Film Daily p4 F 20 '37 "This is a better-than-average comedy of crookdom, the game in this case being the gold mine stock-selling racket. The yarn is sheer fairy-tale and its plot is not new, but it serves as a handle for a goodly bunch of gags that will keep audiences tittering for the full hour. With Guy Kibbee heading the cast in a fat comedy character role and Una Merkel as chief support, it will prove the strong end of many dual bills." + Hollywood Reporter p3 Ja 20 '37 + Motion Pict Daily p6 Ja 21 '37 "Estimate: entertaining program." + Phila Exhibitor p39 F 1 '37 "Just another impression from the rubber stamp of the fake stock selling story, but briskly written, well dialogued and played smartly under keen direction. Not strength enough for much solo work, but it will satisfy once they're inside. . . With a better story, the same amount of acting and writing ability it would have gone places." -1 Variety pl5 F 24 '37 "This is farce comedy designed to please all classes of audiences, young or old, anywhere. . . Christy Cabanne has directed the film with a finesse that keeps the characters human at all times and draws a consistent flow of laughter from the audience. . . While Guy Kibbee gives a flawless characterization, the acting is dominated by extraordinarily fine performances by Lynne Overman and Una Merkel." -f Variety (Hollywood) p3 Ja 20 '37 DREAMING LIPS. United artists 93min Cast: Elisabeth Bergner. Raymond Massey. Romney Brent Director: Paul Czinner Based on the play, Melo, by Henri Bernstein. Filmed in England. This is an English version of a German film, Der Traumende Mund, in which Miss Bergner appeared several years ago. It is the study of the young wife of an orchestra conductor who falls desperately in love with his best friend. Unable to choose between her husband who loves her devotedly and her impetuous lover, she commits suicide. Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "There are some striking moments, especially towards the end; but the slowness of the development does not bring out the best in the fundamentally powerful story. Bergner has some impressive scenes, but occasionally overplays. The film as a wThole is deeply sincere though rather ponderous entertainment." H Film Wkly p31 F 6 '37 "[It is made by] a corps of foreign experts. . . Of all the importations the script is the least happy. . . This is a triangle drama of the most desperate sort, unrelieved by any sign of common sense among the characters. Miss Bergner keeps her dangerously elfin charm down to a minimum, and when she forgets it acts brilliantly indeed. . . Talents and technique are thrown away on this story." H New Statesman & Nation p203 F 6 '37 "The theatre is packed with ecstatic women who squeal with admiration as Miss Bergner's mechanical sure-fire performance proceeds. . . The story, of course, is neat and plausible, the acting refined, the photography expensive; it is a shapely piece of sentiment. But there is nothing to remember wmen the night's over: it is not the Constant Nymph but the constant corpse on the cobbles w-hich has imaginative truth." Graham Greene Spec p312 ,F 19 '37 Trade Paper Reviexos "As an emotional tour-de-force . . . [it] is a triumph for Elisabeth Bergner, who creates with supreme artistry and unfaltering depth of understanding a hauntingly vivid study. . . -} + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; [-Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor