Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

66 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST MIDNIGHT MADONNA -Continued esting program fare of the better grade, but with her it has possibilities of doing even better. . . Any regular audience should find Emanuel Cohen's production a very pleasing one." + Film Daily p7 Je 8 '37 -4 Motion Pict Daily p4 Je 4 '37 "Completely satisfactory family entertainment is 'Midnight Madonna,' designed primarily to show-case four-year-old Kitty Clancy, promising moppet, making her screen bow. . . [It] is not merely a child's triumph. A capable cast, headed by Warren William, is given plenty to do in developing the sentimental and somewhat ironic drama." + Variety (Hollywood) p3 Je 4 '37 MIDNIGHT TAXI. 20th century-Fox 70min Ap 2 '37 Cast: Brian Donlevy. Frances Drake. Alan Dinehart Director: Eugene Forde "Brian Donlevy is one of the G-men. Disguised as a taxi driver, he gets the lead on the mob. He finally worms his way into the gang. Frances Drake, one of the counterfeiting crowd, becomes enamored of Donlevy, but he is unable to return the affection due to his duplicity." Variety (Hollywood) Audience Suitability Ratings "A: perhaps; Y: good of kind; C: doubtful." Christian Century p567 Ap 28 '37 "Adults." Am Legion Auxiliary "The picture is thrilling and dramatic. Adults." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "Although the picture is well directed and acted and has an Horatio Alger ending, there are too many killings to recommend it for entertainment. Adults." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Mediocre. Adults. Nothing new." DAR "A thrilling melodrama which holds the attention. Interesting night pictures of the sea with the fog rolling in, in which a haunting fog horn accentuates the effect of mystery and suspense. Mature." Nat Soc of New England Women "A great deal of shooting and killing. Negative in value. Mature." S Calif Council of Fed Church Women Fox W Coast Bui Ap 3 '37 "An exciting, crisply dialogued picture in which interest is well sustained. Adults." + Gen Fed of Women's Clubs (W Coast) Mr 19 '37 "Fair. Adults." -j Motion Pict Guide Je '37 "Adolescents, 12-16: no, unsuitable; children, 8-12: no." Motion Pict R p8 My '37 "A fairly interesting picture with a good cast, uneven direction, maintained suspense, and some fine photography. Adults." -\ Nat Council of Jewish Women Mr 24 '37 "Adults." Nat Legion of Decency Ap 8 '37 "A: fair; Y & C: unsuitable." Parents' M p73 Je '37 "The direction is smooth, the acting good and the photography of night scenes and fog adds much to the atmosphere of mystery. Adults & young people." + Sel Motion Pict p9 My 1 '37 "[It is] helped enormously by good writing, direction and acting. Family." Wkly Guide Ap 3 '37 Newspaper and Magazine Reviews "Adults & young people." Christian Science Monitor pl5 My 29 '37 "The erudite gentry who are battling the double-feature film programs might make out quite a case for themselves using such films as 'Midnight Taxi' as horrible examples. [It] is not a bad picture, it is merely one of an ever-growing host of celluloid mediocrities which are coming out of Hollywood. It is a passable, familiar story, with average direction, average acting, and the average quota of thrills and chills as prescribed for film melodramas, Grade-B." -| Cue pl9 Ap 3 '37 "To Hollywood's large and steadilyincreasing army of B-class G-man productions is added 'Midnight Taxi,' a Century offering superior in some respects to many of its predecessors and quite likely to gain approval from the majority of its spectators." Allan Hersholt H Hollywood Spec pl3 Mr 27 '37 "The melodrama has its measure of excitement and suspense, although it moves pretty much on schedule. . . This won't strain your imagination." (2 stars) Beverly Hills Liberty p65 My 15 '37 "There is some pretty good stuff — and some pretty awful stuff — in the feebly concocted little melodrama. . . It is one of those peculiarly maddening films which make the onlooker resent Hollywood's continued determination to turn out Class B films. . . Because of [the cast's] efforts, 'Midnight Taxi' is converted from a total botch into fair-to-middling thriller stuff." William Boehnel H NY World-Telegram pl4 Mr 30 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "Maintaining a consistent pitch of action, this story of federal agents versus counterfeiters will fill the bill nicely on a dual program." + Box Office p65 Ap 3 '37 "One of the best melodramas seen in years. Brian Donlevy is perfectly cast." + Film Daily p6 Ap 5 '37 "A standard G-man vs. Counterfeiters yarn produced with a devoted care worthy of a better cause. Because the story has been pictured with few alterations a hundred times it ranks well down the alphabet, but by reason of good scripting and casting, interesting photography and exceptionally polished and thorough direction, the picture will pass as above-average program fare." -| Hollywood Reporter p3 Mr 13 '37 + Motion Pict Daily p4 Mr 16 '37 "This has a trite story, obvious denouement after the first 10 minutes in projection machine. Estimate: for duals, neighborhoods." H Phila Exhibitor p34 Ap 1 '37 "A 'B' picture ,in the melodrama division which concentrates on action and suspense rather than production excellence, cast and settings, the result being double feature entertainment that provides able support for the No. 1 booking. Off the main stems 'Midnight Taxi' will pull through satisfactorily on a single bill." H Variety pl5 Ap 7 '37 "Yarn is another G-man story. . . However, with a nicely knit story, told in a swift and interesting manner, well cast and ably played, production holds audience interest." H Variety (Hollywood) p3 Mr 13 '37 + + Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; p Mediocre; —Poor; Exceptionally Poor