The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

Wandering around in a daze, Charlie gets tangled up with a bunch of gangsters. While they hold him captive, Una indignantly starts divorce proceedings, and feeling that he's "nuthin' but a nuthin','' Charlie forlornly digs up a piece of rope, deciding to end it all. Probably the funniest scene in the whole picture is where the gang leader, Nat Pendleton, catches him trying to commit suicide and generously offers to show him just how it's done. Meekly, Charlie sticks his head in the noose and, with Nat tangled in to the other end of the rope, here come the cops! Over hill and dale, Nat gallops, with the strangling Charlie dragging along behind! And, with the gang finally captured, the meek little bookkeeper gets all the credit for hanging on like a good fellow until the law could catch up with the fleeing Nat! Raoul Walsh directs this story, taken from the play by Edgar Selwyn and William LeBaron. Maybe we're wrong, PRINCESS but jt dogs seem that O'HABA Director David Bur• ton could be just a UNIVERSAL mite easier on the youngsters that are working for him in this Damon Runyon story. Although, goodness knows, four-yearold Jimmy Fay is more than holding up his end of any argument that arises, so . . . maybe we are wrong! After he had been instructed to do so-and-so, little Jimmy ups and did such-and-such, with the result that Mister Burton hit the ceiling in four directions, telling Jimmy off in no uncertain terms. After Burton had finished and was trying to catch his breath, little Jimmy eyed him coolly and said, oh, very deliberately : "Ex-cuse-me!" Just like that! "Has Burton any children of his own?" we asked Chester Morris, star of the piece. "No," Chet shook his head. So — on to the story. Chet, head of a big New York taxicab company, is pretty fond of Jean Parker and she of him until her father, who drives an old-fashioned hack, is killed accidentally in a taxi war. Feeling that Chet is indirectly responsible, Jean goes cold on him, refusing any of his proffered aid toward helping make things easier for her and the three younger children. To bring home a little bit of bacon, Jean steps into her Dad's shoes, driving the hack, and nicely, too, until the old horse gives up the ghost. And you know you can't get any place with a hack sans horsie. Of course, Chet moves heaven and earth to get back in the girl's good graces and, after a series of beau gestes, Jean and Chet climb into the old hack and drive off into the setting sun. Or something. With this OIL FOR THE 0ne not half LAMPS OF CHINA a length • away from WARNERS' the P°st> Jt was almost impossible to get anything definite on this production. However, if it lives up to the precedent established by Alice Tisdale Hobart's book, of the same name, then we're bound to number it among our list of the Ten Best. Pat O'Brien will be seen in the role of the young American college man who constantly sacrifices himself to advance the interests of the American oil company, for which he works, in China. To increase the sale of oil, Pat invents a little lamp that is given free to the Chinese, who, up until now, have been seeing their way around with oldfashioned tapers. It's a great stunt, and the way business picks up is a caution. You'd think Pat would be given a pile of credit, wouldn't you? Well, we're both wrong, because it seems that the more he breaks his nice neck for the company, the less good its does him. Finally, after being put in the dog house for risking his life to quell a fire that has broken out in the vicinity of the tanks, Pat is disgusted enough to drop everything, and the heck with it. But Josephine Hutchinson, his patient and adoring wife, gets behind her man's lagging spirit and encourages him to plug along ... for her and the baby. Mervyn LeRoy cracks the directorial whip. After being sadly STOLEN disappointed in HARMONY "Rumba," we're a • little scared to spot PARAMOUNT definitely this one. But then, our old grandpa always said as how it's always darkest just before dawn. It's a Vera Caspary story about the kidnaping of a prominent orchestra while the B-flat-ers, jug-blower-into-ers, etc., are traveling cross-country in a bus, and is different enough to be interesting. Willing to give George Raft a break, in spite of the fact that he's fresh out of the hoose-gow, Ben Bernie takes the lad into his orchestra. Running across the old gang and realizing that they are out for no good. Raft plays up to the villains, putting up with the mistrust of the whole band and Grace Bradley, because he figures he can do more for his saxophone pals by keeping an eye on the dirty doings. In a position to be smart, George outwits the bandits, driving them smack into the police station and turning them over after an exciting gun battle in which he himself is wounded. They were getting ready to shoot a scene between Raft, Bernie and Grace Bradley. "Go over and get the back of your neck made up," Director Al Werker told the Olde Maestro. "That's about all we'll be seeing of you in this one!" Bernie is a comedian in his own right, and one of the funniest sequences is the situation where the gang has the band in a deserted old farm house, forcing the ensemble, at gun-point, to do their stuff until the lads are plumb exhausted. One of the numbers, "Fagan, Youse Is a Viper," is a stand-out. William Powell is STAR OF doing a little sleuth MIDNIGHT ing again, if you don't • mind. And, recalling RKO tne g°°d °ld days of Philo Vance, you really shouldn't, you know. On the trail of a missing woman, Bill meets up with Ginger Rogers, a society beauty, who, for the thrill of the thing sets out to help him clear up the mystery. Almost on the heels of the guilty man, Powell runs into Russell Hopton, a newspaper man, and just as Hopton is telling what he knows about the missing lady . . . Bang! Bang! . . . there's one less cub to lend money to! It's all very mysterious, with everybody looking guilty, even Powell himself. Inasmuch as this is one of the Arthur Somers Roche stories we must have overlooked, there's no telling (on our part) just how the thing turns out. And, (Please turn to page 62) Iifo cnnmcrll Mirs,> MiBnairy aUjolnimstlaDim cmnnniKDiiniiinKe Ufln© nna(mn°irnaa(g)cB (©IT ttBnceiiir dlananajjIhtlcEir ID. 4* 1VTOT so long ago it seemed as if -* ^ the happy plans were going awry. Jack seemed uneasy, unwilling to go on. Doris was crushed by his coolness. Then a true friend told Doris, "The thing which is troubling Jack is somethingyou can easily correct." Happy ending! It takes a true friend indeed to tell a girl that it is not pleasant to be near her on account of the ugly odor of underarm perspiration. It's so unnecessary to offend in this way . For you can be safe all day, every day, in just half a minute. With Mum! You can use this dainty deodorant cream any time, you know — after dressing, just as well as before. For it's perfectly harmless to clothing. It's soothing to the skin, too. You can shave your underarms and use Mum at once. Remember, too, Mum doesn't prevent perspiration itself — just that unpleasant odor of perspiration which has stood between many a girl and happiness. Make Mum a daily habit and you can be sure your popularity will never be threatened on this score. Bristol-Myers, Inc., 75 West St., N. Y. MUM TAKES THE ODOR OUT OF PERSPIRATION LET MUM HELP IN THIS WAY, TOO. Use Mum on sanitary napkins and enjoy complete peace of mind and freedom from worry about this source of unpleasantness. The Neiv Movie Magazine, May, 1935 61