The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

ON-THE-SET REVIEWS A page that will help you pick that movie you want to see By BARBARA BARRY IF we hadn't seen Louie B. Mayer steaming down the Boulevard, we'd be convinced that the business had moved to Florida, after all, production is that low this month! DIAMOND JIM • UNIVERSAL THOSE who knew "Diamond Jim" Brady in his hey-day, declare that Edward Arnold, who plays the title role, might be a reincarnation of the jewelencrusted playboy of the Gay Nineties, so striking is the resemblance! Make-up plays an important part in the startling illusion, and Arnold, with jowls pushed out by high, confining collars, is not exactly comfortable. Although he admitted that he is enjoying this role more than any other he has played. For obvious reasons, Parker Morell's classic novel is not being filmed, verbatim, but we've a bonafide hunch that you're going to enjoy Director Eddie Sutherland's interpretation of the story a whole lot. "To make money, you gotta look like money." That is Brady's creed, and by that creed he lives, from the day he borrowed twenty dollars from a friend in order to rent a silk hat, cut-away coat, striped trousers and diamonds from a pawnbroker, to the day he died, personally owning all that and much more. In a southern railroad town, Brady falls in love with Jean Arthur, daughter of wealthy and respected parents. It is the one real love of his life but, before he can promote his honest intentions, Jean's papa and mama have talked her into an engagement with a local blue-blood. And that is Brady's cue for a heart-broken exit (girls not having an ounce of gumption in those days! ) All through his glamorous career, "Diamond Jim" treasures the memory of his one love and, while suffering a synthetic emotion for Lillian Russell (Binnie Barnes), he meets up with a gal who so closely resembles his original romance that he goes completely haywire and asks her to marry him! So Brady is in love with Jean, and Binnie nurses a terrific yen for Cesar Romero. But when Jim and Binnie find that Jean and Cesar are doing a bit of hectic handholding, on the side, Jim offers Binnie a cool million if she'll marry him, r-r-r-right now! Recognizing the broken heart at the bottom of the wood-pile, Binnie gently refuses to take the long trek down the aisle, million or no million. And Jim, because the doctor has said, "Ah, ah — mustn't touch!", orders two dozen oysters and a tureen of mulligatawney, and proceeds to eat himself out of the picture! Between shots, Director Sutherland ordered ice cream cones all around and then proceeded to tell us of the joke he had pulled on Binnie that morning. Binnie is very near-sighted. So much so that many of her dearest friends thought she was deliberately snubbing them before DIAMOND JIM Universal A character study of Diamond Jim Brady, interesting for Edward Arnold's performance and the atmosphere of New York in the Nineties. TOP HAT RKO Neither better nor worse than most musicals, this holds up well for lovers of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and their gay, captivating dancing. m J % FRONT PAGE WOMAN Warners George Brent and Bette Davis are rival newspaper reporters. Of course they're in love. Good if you like newspaper pictures. PAGE MISS GLORY Warners Marion Davies as a small town ugly duckling who comes to the big city and wins a beauty contest. Old hokum, but amusing. RffiHSS ACCENT ON YOUTH Paramount From the stage play. Herbert Marshall and Sylvia Sidney as lovers who will suit sophisticates and romantics equally well. MEN WITHOUT NAMES Paramount "G-Men" started something. Fred MacMurray and Madge Evans in a gunfire thriller you'll like if you liked "G-Men." they found out about her affliction. They had been looking over some strips of film, cut from the rushes, and as Binnie held each strip close before her eyes, Eddie suddenly got the rare idea! Looking around, he picked up a narrow strip of galvanized tin and very nonchalantly handed it to the intrigued Binnie. "Here's a shot that ought to be the highlight of the entire picture," he said innocently. Binnie held it up to the light. "M-mm-m," she murmured, "that is — well, I mean . . ." and while she held it closer and closer, Eddie and the entire crew went into hysterics! Binnie's a grand scout, though, and laughed as hard as anyone when she finally found out she'd been trying to be polite about looking through a piece of tin. Eddie recounts an interesting incident in connection with his direction of the "Diamond Jim" epic. At the age of thirteen, Eddie stood in the Grand Central Station, in New York, waiting for the train that would return him to the Hudson River Military Academy. A heavy-set gentleman approached him and said: "Pardon me, son, but aren't you Al Sutherland's kid?" When Eddie admitted the charge, the h.s.g. chuckled: "I thought so! Why, I'd know Al's boy anywhere. Next time you see your dad, tell him that Jim Brady said 'Hello!'" TOP HAT RKO T HIS isn't story, but we've mystery had less trouble figuring out who killed cock robin than unraveling the romantic complications in this singee-dancee opus, by Alexander Farago and Aladar Laszlo. In the first place, Ginger Rogers falls for Fred Astaire when he lulls her to sleep with a sand dance (a soft routine with sand on the floor). Through a series of complications, Ginger is led to believe that Fred is the husband of a good friend of hers, who is really married to Edward Everett Horton, producer of the show in which Fred does his stuff, terpsichorially speaking. So, in a fit of pique, Ginger ups and marries Erik Rhodes and, when they go to retire, Astaire keeps them awake by inducing Horton to tap dance until Rhodes is so annoyed that he leaves his bride to dash upstairs and inquire what the ding-ding. Or something. (Please turn to page 59) BEST BETS DIAMOND JIM, with Edward Arnold and Binnie Barnes. TOP HAT, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. PAGE MISS GLORY, with Marion Davies and Dick Powell. THE ARIZONIAN, with Richard Dix and Margot Grahame. ESCAPADE, with William Powell and Virginia Bruce. ACCENT ON YOUTH, with Sylvia Sidney and Herbert Marshall. The New Movie Magazine, August, 1935 35