The Philadelphia Exhibitor (1935)

THE PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITOR 39 ADVENTURES OF POPEYE. Paramount-Fleischer — Popeye. 10m. The best in a long time, this shows Popeye stepping from Popeye cartoon book to en¬ courage little boy, bested in fight with bully. Popeye shows the boy past adventures, how he beat all jungle animals, how he bested Bluto — a compilation of past exploits, and all due to spinach. Whereupon the little boy eats spinach, returns to the bully and beats him up. Fleischer almost returns to old “Out of Inkwell” tricks by having boy in actual photog¬ raphy, while Popeye is cartoon. EXCELLENT. ALADDIN’S LAMP. Fox-Educational — -Terry Toon. 6m. Adventures in a Oriental Harem, with sinuous beau¬ ties, enraged Sultans, and huge eunuchs, ensue after cat hero rubs lamp he has found. Amusing are genii who appear at rubbing of lamp — Ed Wynn, Bert Lahr, etc. GOOD. FOOTBALL. Fox-Educational — Terry Toon. 6m. Mice and cats engage in gridiron encounter, with the latter using flying wedge to advantage with a steam roller but the mice family win. Like others in this series, this lacks distinction, giving the impression that if more stress were placed on guality than quantity, the result would be better. FAIR. GOLD DIGGERS OF ’49. Vitaphone — Looney Tunes. 7m. Passable cartoon with the hero, Beans, striking gold, winning the girl when her dad orders him to win back the “gold” stolen by the heavy. The “gold” turns out to be a sandwich. Not up to the standard of others in this series, this has a few good moments. FAIR. JUNE BRIDES. Fox-Educational — Terry Toon. 6m. A couple of cats in love become embroiled with the farmer, but wedding finally ensues. FAIR. MAKING STARS. Paramount-Fleischer — Betty Boop. 8m. Betty on stage introduces “stars of tomorrow,” after manner of Major Bowes. The “stars” prove to be babies of assorted talents and comicality. GOOD. Musical HILLBILLY LOVE. Fox-Educational — Song and Comedy Hit. 10m. Two mountaineer families hold a wed¬ ding feast for bride and groom of respective families. They serenade each other with hillbilly songs. Frank Luther sings very well, and songs are tuneful. Others in short are Pappy, Zeke, and Ezra; Frank Luther; Harry Short; the Range Ramblers; the Eight Seren¬ ades. GOOD. WAY OUT WEST. Fox-Educational — Christie. Appearing in slight story with scene laid in western bar-room are Cabin Kids, Norman Cordon, James Fox, the Range Ramblers, the Eight Serenaders. Fea¬ tures are good singing by Cordon, and by the Kids, who are tuneful and amusingly immature. ENTER¬ TAINING. WEE MEN. Vitaphone — Pepper Pot. 10m. Singer’s Midgets are presented as members of a royal king¬ dom. They dance, sing, etc., end up with a stilt number. Family audiences will like this best. FAIR. Color Novelty BOYHOOD. Pizor-Guest. 8m. Here once again, an Edgar A. Guest poem has been taken as a subject for a short that should attract anywhere. Three young¬ sters walk barefooted in country fields, down to the swimming hole. They play games as well. Al Shayne sings a song; Norman Brokenshire narrates. Country as well as city folks. GOOD. Novelty BETTER HOUSING NEWS FLASHES, No. 5. Pathe News. 6m. An Eagle Scout tells of the petty things about the home which might result in serious acci¬ dent, a brief survey of Hollywood homes, the fascina¬ tion of open fireplaces, and backyard playgrounds comprise the items of this FHA plug, which is also an attractive addition to a program. FINE. HAZARDOUS OCCUPATIONS. Fox-Adventures of a Newsreel Cameraman. 10m. Plugging unsung heroes of industry, this shows bridge workers, window wash¬ ers, in New York, on St. Peter’s dome, other spots. With the excellent photograph noted in others of this series, this is an interesting number. INTERESTING. PARAMOUNT PICTORIAL, No. 3. Paramount. 10m. Particularly of interest is the clip showing bird pho¬ tographs taken by Albert M. Bailey, Chicago Museum of Natural History. Included are unsual pictures of hawks, killdeer, piping plover. An exquisite camera Analysis (ED. NOTE: The following sidelights on the first monthly short subjects awards should be interesting to readers. They repre¬ sent various viewpoints taken into considera¬ tion in judging the shorts.) Only 1935-1936 releases reviewed up to but not including this issue were included in the monthly judging. All reviews appear¬ ing on these pages as well as those reviewed next issue will be included in the judging to be decided in December. Weakest division evidenced thus far is that of the two reel comedy. In the musical field some particularly bright entrants were noticed, with a tendency toward experiment. In the two reel novelty department, the Major Bowes shorts started off well but lately have not been so good. Because they brought something new, however, because the first ones were excellent, they deserve praise. The March of Time, still a short though it has been handled as a feature, generally hits a high average. Many, such as the Dionne Quintuplets "Going on Two” and the Chic Sale "Perfect Tribute" are of feature selling calibre. Others, too, prove that outside of the comedy field, it is possible to turn out two reels of real entertainment when time is taken. In the single reel department, the out¬ standing bit is still the Disney cartoon superiority over all others. No Disneys re¬ leased thus far can be rated anything but cheers. Improvement is noted from other companies, with more expected since three color process will be now available to all. Celebrity, an independent, has crashed into the charmed circle for really making a bet¬ ter product than most of its neighbors. Vita¬ phone, also high in gag material, shows im¬ provement. Without a competitor. Paramount’s Popu¬ lar Science bids fair to stand high. RKO nature series, "Struggle to Live,” de¬ serves tribute because it represents real effort, with a result that might not be ap¬ preciated by everyone but which is praise¬ worthy nevertheless. Entrance of Robert Benchley, once again, into the novelty field, is a cause for rejoicing. The Voice of Experience, which indicates that what is sale¬ able in a new form on the radio also can be sold on the screen, brought a new idea in single reels. Pete Smith is still tops. The Fitzpatrick color travel reels, released through Metro, are A1 , as are the Western Electric Musical Moods, released through First Division. Criticisms and corrections from readers are invijed. Should anyone feel that any changes should be made or additions be in¬ cluded, this department would like to hear about it. Address the Shorts Subjects De¬ partment Editor. If any recent shorts which may be deemed excellent should not be present here, the ex¬ hibitor is advised to wait to see if next issue will find a review appearing. Shorts are re¬ viewed in exchange, home office projection rooms, theatres, and on the coast. Attempt is made to include all. study of reflections of Canadian Rockies in crystal lakes is given. As next in Song Makers of the Nation serial are Lyricist Tot Seymour and Composer Vee Lawnhurst, who collaborated on “And Then Some,” “Accent on Youth,” “No Other One.” TWO-THIRDS EXCELLENT, ONE-THIRD FAIR. PATHE TOPICS No. 1. RKO — Topics. 11m. Show¬ ing the U. S. Geodetic Survey in action with Dr. Rockwell explaining some of his theories in an idiotic manner, with shots of some beautiful mountains in the Alaskan-Canadian region, this holds to the usual topics standard. The Dr. Rockwell bit stands out. FAIR. SPRING NIGHT. Paramount — Variety. 10m. While the interpretive dancing may be too much, the general novelty and sexiness of this will surprise and please most audiences. Described as a “ballet in picture form" it pantominically shows young lonely girl on spring night, wandering into woods, examining statue of Pan-like masculine figure. She falls asleep, dreams of statue coming to life, of both of them dancing, of the love of the wood creature. GOOD. VOICE OF EXPERIENCE No. 4. Columbia— Voice of Experience. 11m. Not done with technical excellence of former efforts, this has better tale. A murderer awaiting hanging, writes the Voice. He tells piti¬ able tale of his bride lured from him by ignorant, prejudiced parents; how he went to claim her; how the father shot at him; how he shot back and killed both the father and the girl he loved; how he was convicted by a biased jury. The Voice communicates with the Governor — and prisoner’s sentence is com¬ muted to life imprisonment with chance of pardon. GOOD. Sport GENTLEMEN'S SPORTS. RKO-Van Beuren. 11m. Bill Corum in pleasant easy manner supplies con¬ versational thread to hold together passable shots of polo, motor racing, other sports classed as “rich men's hobbies.” Bill explains technique of polo, the ability of those who play billiards, the feeling one gets when riding in a Gar Wood speedboat, etc. GOOD. SPORT ON THE RANGE. Paramount-Rice — Sportlight. 10m. Ted Husing announces with puns and usual folksy manner, describing activities on western ranches — roping steers, elks, corailing horses, crossing streams, etc. Photography is most beautiful. VERY GOOD. HOLD THAT LINE. Fox-Educational — Treasure Chest. 10m. Thornton Fisher, noted cartoonist, speaks on early football days, gives a historical background, later interviewing members of the New York Giants. Notable is the statement and demonstration between collegiate and professional gridiron tactics and rules. Examples of plays are also seen. GOOD. Travel WEST INDIES CRUISE. Fox Movietone-Magic Carpet. 9!/2m. Some competent announcing by Ed Thorgesen, and stunningly beautiful and restful photog¬ raphy of tropical lands and skies stand out. Subject matter, description of way natives work and of ancient fortifications are mere foils to splendid photo stuff. GOOD. EXPERTS . . . in every field of theatre design and maintenance will be found listed on the READY REFERENCE PAGES