Movie mirror. (1932)

MAN OF THE WORLD ( Paramount ) A beauti¬ fully photographed picture, well acted but with little action. William Powell wins sympathy in the difficult r61e of a man who runs a vile blackmailing sheet, and falls in love with the daughter of a man he has been trying to victimize. Carole Lombard plays opposite Powell. The ending is not entirely satisfactory. ☆ MEET THE WIFE ( Columbia ) For those who like riotious bedroom farces. Laura La Plante has two husbands and doesn't know it. She discovers that her first husband is still alive and is to be her guest, and trouble begins. Lew Cody and Harry Myers are the two husbands. ☆ MEN CALL IT LOVE ( M-G-M) A sophisticated story of modern married life with more talk than action. Adolphe Menjou is way ahead of the rest of the cast as a philanderer who turns out to be very chivalrous when he discovers that tire wife he loves still loves her erring husband. Leila Hyams is good ☆ kV MILLIONAIRE, THE (Warners) One of George Arliss’s most popular pictures, and no wonder! His acting is flawless, and the story’s as modern as to* morrow's newspaper. It's a picture that the whole family can see and enjoy. George Arliss is grand as a retired millionaire who simply can't keep away from work, and who manages his daughter's love affair in the most delightful way imaginable. The supporting cast is very good, too. ☆ MOTHER’S MILLIONS (Liberty -Universal) Notable only for May Robson’s acting, which will give you your money's worth in entertainment. She's simply splendid as a sort of Hetty Green who hides the kindest heart in the world under her rough exterior. May Robson's acting redeems a story which is as old as the hills and dialogue which is as feeble as the last leaf on a tree. That woman is a wonder, and will make you enjoy the picture in spite of all its faults. ☆ MURDER BY THE CLOCK ( Paramount ) A wealthy old woman is strangled in her own home after she disinherits her idiot son. Murder follows murder. The atmosphere of terror is skilfully maintained. Lilyan Tashman isn’t well cast, however. Irving Pichel as the idiot gives a horribly compelling per¬ formance. Top-notch thriller. You'll get the shivers. ☆ MY PAST (Warners) This comes from the novel, "Ex-Mistress.” In its adaptation to the screen it loses a lot. Bebe Daniels plays the ex-mistress of Lewis Stone, but later falls in love with Ben Lyon. Lewis Stone gives the best performance. ☆ NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET (M-G-M) Leslie Howard and Conchita Montenegro give fine performances in a trite South Sea Island story of the white boy who goes native. The photography is good, the picture fair. ■it V' NEWLY RICH (Paramount) Amusing satire on Hollywood child stars and fond mamas, which turns into tense melodrama at the end. Grand perform¬ ances by Mitzi Green, Jackie Searl, Bruce Line, and Edna May Oliver. This is a good picture, which could have been great if it weren't really two separate pictures — one a child story and the other a satire on Hollywood. ☆ NIGHT ANGEL, THE (Paramount) Weak story made still more unreal by setting it in Czecho¬ slovakia. Nancy Carroll’s performance is good at times, until she overacts. The good points of the picture are excellent photography and a fine perform¬ ance by Alison Skipworth. Even Fredric March can’t bring conviction to the story, which is all about a vice crusader who falls in love with a girl whose mother he had prosecuted. ☆ NIGHT NURSE (Warners) You’ll love Barbara Stanwyck as a night nurse who pits her wits against a physician and a chauffeur who are deliberately starv¬ ing two children to death. Ben Lyon is simply de¬ lightful as a friendly bootlegger. Clark Gable is forced to play a conventional and unbelievable villain. ☆ PARTY HUSBAND (First National) Dorothy Mackaill and James Rennie in a commonplace story 102 of modern marriage. A young couple plan to allow each other a great deal of freedom, but it doesn’t work out. The girl’s mother saves the marriage from going to pieces. ☆ ^ PHANTOM OF PARIS, THE (M-G-M) Formerly titled "Cheri-Bibi.”John Gilbert’s best talking picture. He acts as well as he did in “Gentleman's Fate” and he has a better story. His voice is good. So is his make-up. He makes his comeback not as a great lover, but as a splendid actor. Cheri-Bibi is a magician accused of the murder of the father of the girl he loves. To escape the death penalty, he has his features remolded by a surgeon and assumes the identity of another man. See this and be convinced that John Gilbert has made good in talkies. ☆ ^ PRODIGAL, THE (M-G-M) Lawrence Tibbett not only sings beautifully but has learned to act. The story’s a charming music-drama about the black sheep of a Southern family who is redeemed through love. There’s a nice performance by Esther Ralston. You’li wish, though, that Tibbett was given more songs, for the music is only incidental. ☆ /V PUBLIC ENEMY, THE (Warners) Along with “Little Caesar” one of the most powerful gangster pictures ever produced. You’ll gasp at its realism. It shows a bunch of gangsters as the rats they actually are, from their childhood days to the ultimate reckoning. James Cagney gives a wonderfully authentic performance. And the nightmare ending is something you’ll never forget. ☆ QUICK MILLIONS (Fox) A fair gangster picture with trick photography. Spencer Tracy gives a good performance as a truck driver who decides to earn quick millions with the help of a machine gun. Sally Eilers and Marguerite Churchill are also in the cast. ☆ REBOUND (RKO-Pathi) For those who like sophistication and witty dialogue. It will probably be better liked in the big cities than in the small towns. It’s smart; it’s flip; it’s something of a tour de force. But because of its very smartness, it presents Ina Claire and the rest of the cast as people you may or may not like. At any rate, Ina Claire’s acting is splendid as a modern young woman who has trouble in making her heart behave/ ☆ SECRET CALL, THE (Paramount) A fairly good picture notable chiefly for the dgbut of Peggy Shannon. During most of the picture she’s just another attractive young woman. In one or two tense dramatic scenes she shows that she can be sensationally good. The story’s not so much of a muchness — about a girl whose father has been framed as a grafter and who swears vengeance upon the political boss who framed him. But she’s in love with his son (Richard Arlen). Will love or hate conquer? ☆ ^ SECRET SIX, THE (M-G-M) The secret six are not a bunch of gangsters, as you might imagine. They’re the men who are leagued against the gang¬ sters. This has a great cast, with Wallace Beery, Clark Gable, and Lewis Stone turning in highpowered performances, in unusual r61es. Wallace Beery plays a yellow killer, Clark Gable a newspaper reporter, and Lewis Stone a crooked lawyer. Marjorie Rambeau, Johnny Mack Brown and Jean Harlow also help make this an exciting picture. ☆ ^ SEED (Universal) You’ll be deeply touched by this story of a woman who loses her husband to an¬ other woman, and brings up her children by herself, until the day when her husband returns to see them and offers them opportunities she cannot give them. The whole cast is splendid. Lois Wilson as the deserted mother gives the most poignant performance of all. John Boles acts with pleasant ease. The child actors are grand and will make you smile through your tears. Women especially will love this. ☆ SHERLOCK HOLMES’ FATAL HOUR (Twickenham) This is a British production which is extremely well acted by Arthur Wontner in the title r61e. It’s the story of his encounter with his most dangerous enemy. Col. Moriarity, in an empty house. A fairly good picture, though a little old-fashioned. X ^ SHIPMATES (M-G-M) Robert Montgomery is delightful as a gob who pretends to be a rich oil man in order to make a hit with a lovely young girl, played by Dorothy Jordan. As she’s the admiral's daughter, she soon finds him out. You’ll like the romance and humor of this, but some of the dialogue misses fire. ☆ SIX CYLINDER LOVE (Fox) Fair to middling farce about a couple of newlyweds who can’t live within their means. It's a remake of an old picture with new lines to pep it up. Spencer Tracy, Sidney Fox, Una Merkel and Edward Everett Horton are the farceurs. ☆ I SKIPPY (Paramount) Don’t imagine for a moment that only the kids will enjoy this. It’s a great picture for adults, too, and will give them plenty of food for thought. Oh, it's a grand picture that’ll keep you between tears and laughter all the way through. Jackie Cooper is perfect as Skippy, and though Robert Coogan hasn’t such finished technique, you’ll be moved and touched by his very naturalness. ☆ V/ SMART MONEY (Warners) Edward G. Robin¬ son gives a perfectly grand performance in this story of a small town gambler who becomes a big shot and is ruined by his weakness for blondes. Robinson’s performance is as good as it was in “Little Caesar” and the story’s within a shade of being as highpowered. You’ll like James Cagney, too, in a minor role. ☆ K' SMILING LIEUTENANT, THE (Paramount) Sophisticated, brilliant, somewhat reminiscent of “The Love Parade,” though naughtier. Chevalier gives his best performance since “The Love Parade” as a dashing lieutenant whom two women love. Claudette Colbert gives a very touching performanceBut it’s Miriam Hopkins over whom you’ll rave! ^ ES * ! ☆ SON OF INDIA (M-G-M) This isn’t the right kind of r6le for Ramon Navarro. Though he looks the part of a bronzed son of India, the character he has to play is too naive to be really romantic. The settings are beautiful, the story fantastic. It’s all about an Indian merchant prince who renounces the white girl he loves to repay a debt of gratitude to her brother. Madge Evans, once a child star, comes back as sweet as ever. The picture’s a feast for the eye. That’s all we can give it. ☆ I r' H ✓ SOU AWM AN,’ THE'( M-G-M) A good audience picture, with Warner Baxter as the Englishman who marries an American Indian girl, and thus cuts him¬ self off forever from his own people. With very few lines to speak, Lupe Velez gives one of the best per¬ formances of her career. She’ll make you cry. ☆ STEPPING OUT (M-G-M) Frothy, hilarious farce, with Charlotte Greenwood and Reginald Denny contributing to the fun. You’ll enjoy the situation when a couple of wives return unexpectedly to find that their husbands have been taking advan¬ tage of their absence to go out with a couple of girl friends. ☆ V'V' STRANGERS MAY KISS (M-G-M) A triumph for Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery. In her wonderful dramatic acting Norma surpasses everything she’s done previously. She plays a young woman who loses the man she loves after she has given herself to him. Ursula Pariott’s story has been changed to allow a happy ending. The picture’s a lot like “The Divorcee.” ☆ SUBWAY EXPRESS (Columbia) Fairish mys¬ tery melodrama about a murder that takes place on a subway train. If you know anything about the New York subway system, you’ll notice mistakes in details. The story’s exciting at times, and Jack Holt does good work as the police inspector who solves the mystery. ☆ SVENGALI (Warners) The strange, bewitching story of Trilby given a beautiful and haunting setting. Barrymore is superb as Svengali, who makes Trilby give up everything in the world, including the man she loves, so that he may exploit her lovely voice. Marian Marsh has a graceful, unawakened sort of beauty, and her performance has the same sort of promise of future fulfillment.