Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1936)

EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT — 20th CenturyFox. — Engaging little picture of everyday problems of the average family. Jed Prouty, Spring Byington and talented cast. First of a series entitled "Our American Family." (April.) FARMER IN THE DELL— RKORadio.— Highly diverting film of an Iowa bucolic. Fred Stone, perplexed by the twist of fate which makes him a movie star. Esther Dale marvelous as his wife; Jean Parker and Frank Albertson nice as sweethearts. Moroni Olsen steals scenes. (May.) F-MAN — Paramount. — A weak story but mildly amusing, about a soda jerker. Jack Haley, with aspirations to be a G-Man. Practical jokers make him an F-Man, but he turns the tables neatly with the help of Adrienne Marden. (May.) • FOLLOW THE FLEET — RKO-Radio.— Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' amazing dance routines with a nautical background; Irving Berlin's music; a new comer to the screen, Harriet Hilliard. whose singing will thrill you. A bit. (April.) GARDEN MURDER CASE, THE — M-G-M.— A fairly interesting study of murder by hypnotism with little resemblance to S. S. Van Dine's thriller. Edmund Lowe is satisfactory as Philo Vance; H. B. Warner a convincing heavy, and Virginia Bruce lovely looking. (April.) GENTLE JULIA — 20th Century-Fox. — Booth Tarkington's charming small town tale with Jane Withers playing cupid for Tom Brown in his courtship of Aunt Julia (Marsha Hunt), who falls for city slicker George Meeker. Tom Brown rivals the best Withers' performance to date. (May.) GIVE US THIS NIGHT — Paramount. — The glorious voices of Gladys Swarthout and Jan Kiepura lift a somewhat mediocre story. Jan plays a singing fisherman in love with a diva. Alan Mowbray is grand as a comic tenor (May.) HERE COMES TROUBLE — 20th-Century-Fox. — Paul Kelly's fine talents wasted in an incredibly dull story of thievery with Mona Barrie acting the siren. Skip it. (April.) HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CANDLES, THE— Republic. — Phillips Holmes, Mae Clarke, Irving Pichel and Rosita Moreno do well enough in a mildly interesting film based on Meredith Nicholson's story of the international spy system. (May.) *I MARRIED A DOCTOR— Warners.— A powerful and poignant new version of Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street." Josephine Hutchinson admirable as the city girl who marries a small town doctor (Pat O'Brien) and is rebuffed by her neighbors. Ray Mayer almost steals the show. (June) • IT HAD TO HAPPEN — 20th Century-Fox. — You'll like smooth George Raft and Rosalind Russell in this big city success story of an immigrant who smashes his way to political power. Good cast includes Leo Carrillo, Arline Judge and Alan Dinehart. (April.) JAILBREAK — Warners. — Exciting melodrama of escape and murder within the walls of a famous "big house." Craig Reynolds is the reporter who solves everything and Dick Purcell and June Travis supply interest too. (June) KING OF THE PECOS— Republic— A stereotyped Western with the usual honest cattlemen gypped out of their water rights. Law and order triumph with John Wayne's help. Cy Kendall splendid as the head thief. (June) KLONDIKE ANNIE — Paramount.— Mae West, rather offensively mixing sex with religion, turns evangelist in a clumsy tale of the Klondike gold rush. Victor McLaglen wallows harmlessly. You'll yawn. (April.) LAUGHING IRISH EYES— Republic— Plenty of shamrocks and brogues in this tale of a fight promoter who backs a blacksmith, who prefers to sing. Evalyn Knapp and Ray Walker persuade him to fight and, of course, win. Phil Regan's singing is nice, and Walter C Kelly is excellent. (May.) LAW IN HER HANDS— First National.— Concerning two ex-waitresses, Margaret Lindsay and Glenda Farrell who turn lawyers and get themselves tangled up with racketeers. Fairly amusing. (June) LEATHERNECKS HAVE LANDED, THE — Republic— Plenty of action in this illogical tale of a rambunctious marine. Lew Ayres, who reinstates himself through his heroism for the stars and stripes Isabel Jewell is with him. (April.) • LET'S SING AGAIN— Sol Lesser-Principal Prod. — George Houston's glorious baritone and the delightful singing of a new child star, Bobby Breen, make this sentimental tale of a father's search for his lost son excellent entertainment. The cast is good and the musical production outstanding. You'll like it. (June) • LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY— Selznick International. — A superb production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's story of a New York boy in line for an earldom. Freddie Bartholomew wins new distinction as the little lord, and C. Aubrey Smith top acclaim as the crochety earl. Dolores Costello is lovely as Dearest; Guy Kibbee and Henry Stephenson are excellent, too. Don't miss it. (May.) • LITTLE MISS NOBODY— 20th Century-Fox. — Talented Jane Withers at her best sacrificing love and home for her friend, Betty Jane Hainey, and getting in and out of exciting scrapes doing it. (June) • MODERN TIMES — Charles Chaplin.— United Arlists. — Charlie Chaplin's new opus. Unadulterated comedy served up in the old hilarious Chaplin style. The musical score is excellent, and he sings! See it by all means. (April.) MOONLIGHT MURDER — M-G-M. — A too complicated plot combining opera, murder, and mercy killing. In the cast .ire Leo Carrill Morris, Madge Evans, and J. C. Naish who takes honors as a madman. (May.) MURDER BY AN ARISTOCRAT— Warners — A confused and heavy story mad' w thrills about three murders in a family ruled by Virginia Brissac. Marguerite Churchill real sleuthing nurse. Lyle Talbot is around. (June) MUSS 'EM UP — RKO-Radio.— A mystery tale with a fake kidnaping and a real murder to keep you At the age of sixty-two Fred Stone continues to hand out a good line. He recently celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as an entertainer by buying a ranch in Hollywood where he intends to make his home. Ride 'em. Cowboy! • LOVE ON A BET — RKO-Radio.— Amusing dialogue, unique comedy situations and effortless performances by Helen Broderick, Wendy Barrie. and Gene Raymond, who sets out to win a bet against impossible odds. Grand fun. (April.) • MESSAGE TO GARCIA, A— 20th CenturyFox — A spectacular, somewhat overdrawn story of President McKinley's secret message to Cuban insurgents during the Spanish-American War, with John Boles as the hero, Barbara Stanwyck and Wallace Beery. Superior photography. (May.) • MILKY WAY, THE — Paramount.— Harold Lloyd better than ever in a Caspar Milquetoast characterization, hast story, clever dialogue and swell cast including Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale, Helen Mack. Bill Gargan. Grand fun. (April.) • MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN— Columbia. — An interesting and powerful picture com bining satire with hilarity, Gar) ( oopei superb as the <mall town boy who inherits millions and is tried for insanity when I to give it away. Jean Arthur swell as the srn rid Douglas Dumbrille and Lionel Slander must not be overlooked. Be sure and see it. (June) alternately laughing and guessing. Preston Foster convincing as the detective; Big Boy Williams has fun as his stooge. Margaret Callahan and Florine McKinney are the heart throbs. (April.) • NEXT TIME WE LOVE — Universal. — Ursula Parrot's moving story acted with sincerity and distinction by Margaret Sullavan, and new comer James Stewart as a young married couple torn between love, marriage and personal ambition. Outstanding direction. (April.) • PETTICOAT FEVER — M-G-M. Vou'll have tons of laughs at this g iv. twinkling, nonll tale of an exiled Englishman in Labrador and his reactions to a beautiful woman. Robert Montgomery is deft; Myrna Loy has her cust charm; Reginald Owen is funny, and even the Eskimos are a riot. (May.) • PRISONER OF SHARK IS1 VND Century-Fox. — Warner Baxter superb in a dramatic, gripping, and distingu is Dr. Mudd who is incarcerated for his inno ;n of Abraham Lincoln, (dona Stuart ; tifully cast as his loyal wife. Splendid. ■April.)