Motion Picture Review Digest (Jan-Dec 1937)

44 MOTION PICTURE REVIEW DIGEST 52ND STREET— Continued •Walter W'anger gets this department's medal as the year's most thorough -going cynic. There's no other way to account for his unloading '52nd Street' on a defenseless public. . . Actually it earns only a loud horse laugh from Ww Yorkers and a continuous yawn from most everybody else." — Lit Digest p34 D 4 '37 "[It] traces the history of a New York street from leisured respectability to night-club haunt; but that is no more than a framework for some of the lousiest music-hall turns yet screened. A little fun is extracted from oldtime comics; but after that I dozed until the post-war boom years woke me up with a jazzy bang; and somewhere around 1933 I picked up my hat and went." Peter Gal way New Statesman & Nation p875 N 27 '37 "The new musical film embellishes the history of a thoroughfare with cafe antics, but neither the history nor the specialty acts are particularly entertaining. . . There is not enough first-class hi-de-ho to keep a trite fable lively. Leo Carrillo and ZaSu Pitts' s . . . stock clowning gives the show what little continuous amusement it boasts." Howard Barnes 1 N Y Herald Tribune plO N 15 '37 "There [are] ... a group of entertainers to brighten up an unimportant story. . . '52nd Street' does better when it forgets the Rondell family and concentrates on swing." Eileen Creelman H NY Sun pl8 N 15 '37 "Grover Jones confided in a recent series of magazine articles that all he had when he started writing the script of '52nd Street' was the title, the promise of a score and the assured presence of Sid Silvers, Jack White and Ella Logan. . . After sitting it through we can report that it still has the title, the score and Silvers, White et al. And not much more. Certainly not enough to raise it appreciably from the ruck of fair-to-middling musical shows." F. S. Nugent H NY Times pl5 N 15 '37 "[It is a] clumsy and long-winded film. . . One of the least interesting of the many photoplays that the talented and discriminating Walter Wanger has produced, it traces the street's metamorphosis from a socially select thoroughfare to its present status as the world's most famous swing lane in a lethargic, ponderous and generally unexciting manner. . . [It] has little in it to recommend as entertainment." William Boehnel — NY World-Telegram pl3 N 15 *37 "Walter WTanger must have been dreaming of the Bronx when he worked up his '52nd Street.' " John Mosher New Yorker pll2 N 20 '37 "An undistinguished musical, this sets out to high-light the transition of Manhattan's famous hi-de-highway from 1912 stuffiness to 1937 hot stuff. A plethora of entertainers and a paucity of entertainment spoil its chances." r Newsweek p24 N 29 '37 "Time was when Manhattan's 52nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, was just as stuffy as the picture that bears its name. . . '52nd Street' misses most of the swing, wastes too much time on the old settlers." h Time p52 N 22 '37 Trade Paper Reviews "A variety of stage and night club entertainment, bound together by a loosely-knit screenplay, adds up to a rather vacuous motion picture which can hope for little more than average reception and financial returns. . . Direction is mediocre. Family." — + Boxoffice p25 O 16 '37 "The theme rambles too much, and lacks a clear story interest building to some definite climax. There are no hit songs or dance numbers, sufficiently outstanding to rate this as a strong musical comedy production." 1 Film Daily pS N 17 '37 Motion Pict Daily p3 O 4 '37 " '52nd Street' shapes up as fair entertainment embracing old time, modern variety acts giving picture a certain appeal for old, young alike. Estimate: fair program." -| Phila Exhibitor p30 O 15 '37 "It may have been a good idea . . . but for some reason the conception doesn't come through in the finished picture. Filmgoers are likely to wonder what it is all about, and why. It's that old debbil story again which creates the confusion. . . A programmer for the double bills." h Variety pl3 O 6 '37 "Aura and allure of 52nd Street, New York's lane of niteries, is reflected in a moderately entertaining picture. It has competent representaiton in every department, with some neat performances and a few names that will count but lacks the excitement and distinction to give it more than average program box-office reception." H Variety (Hollywood) p3 O 2 '37 FIGHT FOR YOUR LADY. RKO 67min N 5 '37 Cast: John Boles. Jack Oakie. Ida Lupino. Margot Grahame. Gordon Jones Director: Ben Stoloff Music and lyrics: Harry Akst. Frank Loes ser Music director: Frank Tours Screen writers: Ernest Pagano. Harry Segal. Harold Kusell "When Oakie sensing that Margot Grahame is only after his pal's (John Boles) money, he tells her that Boles is broke and Margot calls off the announced wedding. Disappointed and ready to die, John goes to Budapest with Oakie as his companion. There he learns that he can best accomplish his ends by making love to Ida Lupino, for her jealous husband, Erik Rhodes, is the finest of swordsmen and will doubtless kill him in a duel which is bound to result." (Film Daily) Based on the short story of the same title by Jean Negulesca and Isabel Leighton. Audience Suitability Ratings "It does not matter much if you do not follow the absurd plot, as it has little in the way of amusement. This [is a] fair adult film." T. J. Fitzmorris -{ America p216 D 4 '37 "A & Y: amusing; C: perhaps." Christian Century pl374 N .3 '37 "A swift moving farce that provides merry laughter throughout. Mature. Family." Am Legion Auxiliary "Adults. Possibly family." Calif Cong of Par & Teachers "An ingenious sort of comedy featuring the pleasant singing of John Boles and Ida Lupino and enlivened by the antics of Jack Oakie. Family." Calif Fed of Business & Professional Women's Clubs "Mediocre. Mature." DAR "An amusing comedy with bubbling Jack Oakie and Eric Rhodes in delightfully funny roles. Family." Nat Soc of New England Women •4-+ Exceptionally Good; + Good; -\ Fair; \ Mediocre; — Poor; Exceptionally Poor