Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 37 a vivid emotional study of one form of modern medicine." Eileen Creelman + NY Sun p26 Ja 13 '37 "[It is] one of the most unusual, absorbing and provocative pictures to come our way in years. . . It is so seldom that the cinema casts aside its romantic cliches for its proper mantle as an individual art form that this Swiss picture catches us with our guard down and our critical vocabulary rusted. Ordinary superlatives would be ridiculous, comparisons are impossible and that invidious epithet 'unique* would not do justice to the occasion. . . We can recall no picture: — except, possibly 'The Informer'— which has been able to restrict itself to the exploration of a human mind in travail and work those journeyings into a mature and intensely interesting drama." F. S. Nugent + + N Y Times p20 Ja 13 '37 "[It] is as thrilling and exciting as any popular motion picture that has ever come out of Hollywood. . . It has been written with such a high degree of intelligence, and it is performed with such unerring excellence, that it immediately emerges as a work apart from the ordinary run of cinematic offerings." William Boehnel + NY World-Telegram pl9 Ja 13 '37 "It has many points of interest, not for the usual pleasure-seeker, perhaps, the persistent 'escapist' set, but for the serious, those not quite well, people who can't sleep nights, people who have a charge account at Bellevue, clinic loafers and analyst disciples. The schizophrenic will love it. I found it a very sane and plausible study in dementia myself, especially those parts of it which presume to trace the mental workings of a man made temporarily insane." John Mosher + New Yorker p77 Ja 9 '37 "Another foreign importation . . . addressed to the art theatres and discerning audiences. An absorbing and sane study of insanity, the film is brilliantly acted, with a score that accents the aberrations of a distorted mind." + News-Wk p31 Ja 23 '37 " 'The Eternal Mask' has for its theme a study in psycho-analysis; and I hope that the public will not immediately fight shy of it on that account. . . All this doesn't sound very cheerful and, in truth, it isn't; but the wild images created in the doctor's mind are ably contrasted with the actual facts, and the cinematic effects are so excellent that it is impossible not to be interested. Anything which makes one think in the cinema should be encouraged." Mark Forrest + Sat R p704 My 30 '36 "Psychologists will probably consider this a forward step in the introduction of psychoanalysis to the normal mind. The normal mind will find it an interesting photographic experiment, not much else." -\ Stage pl6 F '37 "In it, outlined with scope, clarity and impact attainable in no medium except the cinema, the psychiatric case history of a young Swiss physician becomes one of the season's most exciting melodramas. . . It was hailed by critics as the ablest cinema study of mental aberration since 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.' " + + Time p45 Ja 25 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "A Swiss-made picture with a far wider audience appeal than the usual foreign-language film, this tells a highly dramatic story, is technically superb and has a uniformly excellent cast. Adults." + Box Office p23 F 6 '37 "A very unusual subject, but holding fine entertainment qualities. . . Beautifully done, and stands alone in a new field of thoughtprojection on the screen." + Film Daily p6 Ja 12 '37 + Motion Pict Daily plO Ja 12 '37 "Good photography, sound, direction, camera work are to be found in this engrossing if morbid story. This will make swell fare for German, art houses." + Phila Exhibitor p65 Ja 15 '37 "[It] has something distinctly worthwhile to offer exhibitors of arties, to say the least. . . It may not be a quick or immediate success, but no operator of an arty can possibly be ashamed of it. It is, at the very least, a prestige film. And it is likely to get strong enough critical reaction to make it also a box office winner. . . This isn't done as well as it might be; the acting in the latter dream sequences is much too objective. But it is different from run-of-the-mill plots and is well enough handled, with sufficient imagination employed, to make it distinctly interesting." H Variety pl4 Ja 20 '37 EVERYBODY DANCE. Gaumont British 67min F 15 '37 Cast: Cicely Courtneidge. Ernest Truex. Janet Johnson * Director: Charles Reisner Music: Mack Gordon. Harry Revel Filmed in England. "A comedy of two American youngsters who go to England to live with their Aunt Kate, a lady pretending to run a farm while really running a nightclub." (Wkly Guide) Audience Suitability Ratings "[It is] rather a halting sort of comedy. . . The production is generally sketchy and the musical portion of it completely undistinguished. Since its atmosphere of sophistication is at times disedifying, the picture can hardly be considered suitable for children." T. J. Fitzmorris r America p504 F 27 '37 "The story is amusing but it is not told very well. The cabaret does not justify its supposed success and much more might have been made of the farm scenes. When Cicely Courtneidge is exchanging backchat with her dresser; when again Ernest Truex, as a mixture of lion and mouse, is neatly steering his way between comedy and farce, everybody will enjoy the film, but there are times when the interest flags and weakness of construction is apparent. Suitability: adults & adolescents." N. H. -j Mo Film Bui pl69 O '36 "Adults." Nat Legion of Decency F 18 '37 "A happy combination of English and American talent. Family." + Wkly Guide F 13 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "Chartered as a starring vehicle for Cicely Courtneidge, this exuberantly high-spirited comedy quickly cuts adrift into the shallows of slapstick and loses its sense of direction. Out of the welter of knock-about antics which submerge the real talents of Miss Courtneidge, Ernest Truex emerges as the standout of the production with a subtly subdued demonstration of perfect comedy timing." H Hollywood Reporter p7 O 22 '36 "With an American name to sell, songs by American writers, an American director, 'Everybody Dance' manages to maintain a pace that should help it with domestic audiences. Estimate: pleasant; best for family." -\ Phila Exhibitor p32 F 15 '37 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -( Fair; 1 Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor