Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1933)

Have to Complain About the Bad Ones The Best Pictures of the Month THIS DAY AND AGE THE MORNING GLORY THREE-CORNERED MOON TUGBOAT ANNIE THE MAN WHO DARFD RAFTER ROMANCE ANOTHER LANGUAGE HF.R FIRST MATE The Best Performances of the Month Richard Cromwell Charles Bickford Katharine Hepburn Mary Boland in Helen Hayes in John Beal in Marie Dressier Wallace Beery Victor Jory in in This Da\ and A§£ n "This Day and Age" in "The Morning Glory' 'Three-Cornered Moon" "Another Language" Another Language" in "Tugboat Annie" in "Tugboat Annie" The Devil's in Love" Casts of all photoplays reviewed will he found on page 122 i? THE MAN WHO DARED— Fox HERE'S the life story of the late Mayor Cermak of Chicago, from his start as an immigrant coal mine boy to his end at the hand of an assassin, while accompanying President-elect Roosevelt through Miami. And lest you wonder whether this will be entertaining, let us say right away that if you count a gripping portrayal of American life and political ways good entertainment, you'll have plenty here. After Jay Ward has done the boy Jon Novak (Jon is, of course, Cermak), Preston Foster takes over the role, while the film paints the old rough-and-tough, brawling, lusty Chicago of early days, as far back as the great Chicago fire of 1871. From there Preston and Chicago move forward together, with Preston battling his way upward and giving an excellent characterization all the way, as well as an authentic picture of Chicago politics, good and bad. Aiding Preston are Zita Johann, his wife, Leon Waycoff and Irene Biller, his immigrant parents, while Frank Sheridan adds an excellent unsavory politician. The picture owes much of its balance to them. There, then, you have what this film offers, and you can see that its appeal lies, not in dramatic "situations" or emotional appeal, but in its interesting record of an American public career, as these are so often lived. As such. it can be called a fine job, well done. * THREE-CORNERED MOON— Paramount A LAUGH from the first moment to the end. Vague and incompetent mama Mary Boland has invested and lost all the family money; then proceeds to move through what follows in a befuddled state of mind and an ostrichtrimmed negligee. The result should be a tragedy. Instead, it's a laugh riot. The grown children, Claudette Colbert, Wally Ford, Tom Brown and Billy Bakewell go about getting jobs, while Claudette's boy friend (Hardie Albright), a dreamy and poverty-stricken author, moves in with the family. Dr. Stevens (Richard Arlen) also helps out by renting a room in the home and falls in love with Claudette. Thereby making the mix-up worse than ever — and helping you laugh off vour own troubles. And that's something! ^r ANOTHER LANGUAGE— M-G-M TW( ) things lend this remake of a stage success its value. One is the homely, everyday theme — a narrow, opinionated family making life unbearable for a bride brought into it by a husband who's under a dominating mother's thumb. The other is the superb, subtle character drawing achieved by a grand cast, headed by Helen Hayes as the bride. For most, these two advantages will redeem the woefully slow development, up to the wife's final rebellion. Helen, as you would expect, is perfect, while the late Louise Closser Hale does the mother wonderfully. Henry Travers adds one of his delightful helpless fathers, and John Beal is great as the nephew smitten with puppy love. The one slight disappointment might be Bob Montgomery in a slow role. ■ >7