Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

142 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE— Continued however, detracts only minutely from the general merit of the film." Katharine Best + Stage p88 Mr '37 "Within its tighter limits 'You Only Live Once' has a signature of realism no less stark and confident than the famed ['Public Enemy']. . . Proving that cinematic realism is an international language, Director Fritz Lang, an Austrian, gets an extraordinary authenticity of color into his quick episodic treatment. . . 'You Only Live Once' sets a pace which 1937 cops&-robbers sagas may find hard to beat." + Time p56 Ja 11 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "Walter Wanger has succeeded in endowing this production with such dramatic intensity and emotional turmoil that it will become one of the year's most talked of films. The picture has a poignant, tragic air and although basically a romance, it is also a merciless document against certain police practices. The picture will have a universal audience appeal." + Box Office p23 F 6 '37 "Reminiscent of Sylvia Sidney's 'Mary Burns, Fugitive', 'You Only Live Once' possesses the same qualities of her former success with the added elements of Henry Fonda's support and Fritz Lang's direction. Total these and you have smash box-office. An auspicious start for Walter Wanger as a producer for United Artists release." + Film Daily p8 Ja 27 '37 "It is somber and harrowing but makes a powerful and continuous demand on the sympathies all the way to the tragic ending. To those who enjoy having their emotions wracked with the sufferings of a man in the toils of a merciless fate the picture will have deeply moving appeal, and this characteristic is exploited to the utmost in an admirably sustained production, giving it strong box office value." -f Hollywood Reporter p3 Ja 23 '37 H Motion Pict Daily pl3 Ja 22 '37 "There are many improbabilities in this; at times picture drags, despite Fritz 'Fury' Lang, but the prison outbreak, the shootings, the desperate intensity of Fonda's acting, the situation in which two hunted lovers face, finally meet, death — these are strong exploitation, human interest angles." Phila Exhibitor p43 F 1 '37 "Fritz Lang has followed up his 'Fury' with another wallop. . . Added to the combination of good direction, strong scripting and an arresting production, there is strength in the Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda combination. . . Narrative is full of stark and bitter moments, but these bite no more deeply than deftly wrought scenes of tenderness. Though Lang plies the caustic liberally the film derives its strongest appeal from the romantic sequences." + Variety pl4 F 3 '37 "Bolstered with the names of Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda and having other box office assets, this tragic melodrama of crime-hounded lives fails to reach highest entertainment levels because of uneven production but should give good account of itself on the better programs. It reaches fine moments and arresting scenes but has monotonous stretches and slow progression. It is at times appropriately hard and fierce in its dramatic verities and again soft to the edge of being maudlin." H Variety (Hollywood) p3 Ja 23 '37 YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW. Gaumont British 82min Mr 1 '37 Cast: Wallace Ford. John Mills. Anna Lee Director: Raoul Walsh Filmed in England and there called O. H. M. S. "Wally Ford, an American wanted for murder in the States, joins the British army accidentally. From a petty thief, a braggart, he changes into someone almost upright, but still a braggart. A brief encounter with his girl from the States nearly sets him back but he weathers it. When the battalion sails for China service, he is with them." (Phila Exhibitor) Audience Suitability Ratings "Adults." Nat Legion of Decency Mr 18 '37 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Thoroughly entertaining and well-made story. . . A colorful plot, thrilling and spectacular fighting, Army detail, bright dialogue, sound direction and a splendid performance by Wallace Ford, make it well worth seeing." + Film Wkly p34 Mr 6 '37 "Climax is a brisk battle with a bandit army, at the end of which Bert gets the girl, Jimmy the medals, the audience boredom." Time p36 Mr 15 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "This British production directed by Raoul Walsh has plenty of excitement and red-blooded action interspersed with neat comedy that makes a well-balanced entertainment for the action fans." + Film Daily plO F 25 '37 "GB has something good. This picture is down to earth, a rowdy, human show that should do well in all but strictly family houses. It is adult in nature; that might be a slight handicap. The class, grind, adult action theatres should do well with it. The production is expensive, capable; the cast is appealing, authentic, palatable to Americans." + Phila Exhibitor p32 Mr 1 '37 -f + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -J Fair; f Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor