Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

Brief Reviews HAWAII CALLS— RKO-Radio The reedy, sweet voice of small Bobby Breen dominates this saccharine travelogue to the Islands. A San Francisco wharf waif. Bobbie stows away, outwits his police pursuers and aids Warren Hull in foiling a navy spy plot. Sourpuss Ned Sparks is sometimes amusing and you will like " Down Where the Trade Winds Blow." {May) HER JUNGLE LOVE-Paramount Alligators, apes and aviators adventure around in this latest meandering of Dorothy Lamour into the comic strip field. The aviators are Ray Milland and Lynne Overman, the ape belongs to Dorothy, whom they find in a jungle isle in the Pacific. The alligators have fun trying to eat everything in sight. Don't say we didn't warn you. (May) INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT -20th Century-Fox Shanghai, during the air raids, is the breathtaking backdrop for speedy action and sinister intrigue. George Sanders finds himself a pistol target for spies; Dolores Del Rio finally foils the villains. Dick Baldwin and June Lang furnish the secondary romance. (April) ISLAND IN THE SKY-20th Century-Fox A night club atop a skyscraper is the locale for this murder mystery. Michael Whalen, prosecuting attorney, and Gloria Stuart, his fiancee, do the snooping with earnestness and charm. Robert Kellard is the accused youth; Paul Kelly, his convict father. Amusing and well done. (June) • JEZEBEL-Warners Bette Davis' best performance — in one of the best pictures of the year. Beating the gun on "Gone With the Wind," Director William Wyler has moulded a brilliant, shocking story of a Louisiana flirt's consuming passion for one of her Southern kinsmen. The yellow fever epidemic of 1853 is absorbing background. Miss Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent and Richard Cromwell contribute glittering performances. (May) • JOY OF LIVING-RKO-Radio Well dressed, well written, with Jerome Kern's pleasing score, if you like nincompoop comedies, you'll like this. Irene Dunne is a rich actress with a family of leeches who suck her bank balance. Doug Fairbanks, Jr., is a poet with an addiction to beer and a hut in the South Seas. Doug wins! (June) JUDGE HARDY'S CHILDREN-M-G-M Here is Judge Hardy again, this time in Washington with spies in the offing. Cecilia Parker plays the daughter, Lewis Stone the crusty judge; Mickey Rooney (still one of the finest actors in Hollywood) is the adolescent son. Family entertainment. (June) JURY'S SECRET, THE-Universal As you've probably gathered, a courtroom furnishes the background for this mild effort. When juror Kent Taylor refuses to find a prisoner guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence, Fay Wray gets busy, uncovers some monkey business. Nan Grey, Samuel Hinds and Jane Darwell complete the cast. Don't break any blood vessels getting to this. (May) k LIFE DANCES ON (UN CARNET DE BAL A. F. E. Corp. Here is fascinating adult entertainment — a French picture with English subtitles. The splendid cast headed by Harry Baur (remember him in "I Stand Condemned"?) depicts the story of a young widow in her sentimental search for the lost loves of her youth. See it if you can possibly manage. (June) LOVE, HONOR AND BEHAVE-Warners With the exception of Priscilla Lane's enthusiastic portrait of a modern wife's attempts to make a man of her hubby and untie the usual motherin-law knots, this picture is uninspiring. Wayne Morris is the mistaken young spouse, Mona Barrie gives a superior performance. (May) k LOVE IS A HEADACHE-M-G-M No longer forced to be an artificially wrinkled hag, a lovely Gladys George finally comes to light. Playing an actress bitten by the publicity bug, her adoption of Mickey Rooney and Virginia Weidler causes her best friend (Franchot Tone) to become her severest critic. The acting is superfine. (April) • MAD ABOUT MUSIC-Universal Don't think it is mere repetition when we say that Durbin child has done it again — because she has! Her lilting voice carries a tender story of a neglected adolescent placed in a Swiss school by a selfish actress mother. Deanna breaks the cocoon . with the friendly help of Herbert Marshall, and the entire cast including Gail Patrick, Arthur Treacher, Marcia Mae Jones and Bill Frawley is splendid. Fly. (May) MAID'S NIGHT OUT-RKO-Radio Unpretentious but good. You'll enjoy Allan Lane as the millionaire's son who drives a milk truck, Joan Fontaine as the society damsel he thinks is a servant. Complications to their romance are brought about by Joan's dopey mother, Hedda Hopper. There's a fight and a police chase to liven things up. (June) k MERRILY WE LIVE-Hal Roach-M-G-M Another of those mad hatter tea parties the studios have been throwing us these days — this is one of the funnier ones. It has to do with a rich giddy mother (Billie Burke) who likes to befriend tramps, daughter (Connie Bennett) who likes tramping too, Brian Aherne who plays hobo for a day, and Alan Mowbray, the buttlingest butler ever. Better go. (May) (Continued from page 6) MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE-20th Century-Fox Our genial Jap detective this time turns his myopic eyes onto a murder in the prize ring, and, after the usual hunt for expert double-crossers, succeeds in bringing the murderer to justice. Maxie Rosenbloom is the comedy; Dick Baldwin and Lynn Bari the S. A. (June) MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME-Monogram The sole reason for seeing this setup soutli of the Mason Dixon is the Hall Johnson Choir of colored singers. There's a to-do over the centennial of the founding of a molasses factory and a domineering matriarch's attempts to run the love life of Evelyn Venable. Molasses from start to finish. (April) * OF HUMAN HEARTS-M-G-M Beautifully directed by Clarence Brown, this gentle, sincere picture is serious cinema at its best. Against a Civil War background, it tells the story of the heroic sacrifices of a poverty-stricken pioneer minister's family to subsidize their son who becomes a famous surgeon. Beulah Bondi, Walter Huston, Jimmy Stewart, the whole cast deserve enormous credit. Don't fail to see this. (April) k PARADISE FOR THREE-M-G-M Frank Morgan, Mary Astor, Edna May Oliver, Florence Rice and Robert Young are the funmakers in this hilarious tale of a wealthy old duck with a roving eye who goes vacationing incognito in the Alps. You'd better see this picture to find out what happens then. The direction is as smart as the dialogue. (April) PENITENTIARY-Columbia Here is a vivid commentary on convict psychology, though you might find it a bit on the somber side. When District Attorney Walter Connolly sends John Howard to jail and later attempts to help him out, he finds Howard prefers to live by a new found prison code. Jean Parker is the love interest. (May) PENROD AND HIS TWIN BROTHER-Warners Again the classic American brat returns to delight the children and amuse their elders. This time, there are two of them, the Mauch Twins who organize as young G-men, tangle with real gangsters. Preposterous and sentimental, but peanuts for small-town audiences. (April) PENROD'S DOUBLE TROUBLE-Warners Give Junior his dime and send him off to the Saturday matinee if this is around. It's the Mauch Twins again playing Junior G-men. A new twist marks the climax of their adventure. Gene and Kathleen Lockhart are Penrod's new parents. (Jane) k PORT OF SEVEN SEAS-M-G-M An appealing and honest picture beautifully directed by James Whale (of "The Road Back"). Maureen O'Sullivan, daughter of a French grocer, has a child by John Beal without benefit of clergy. When he attempts to break up her happiness with Frank Morgan, Beal's father, Wallace Beery, takes charge of the situation. Morgan and Beery have never been better. (June) k RADIO CITY REVELS-RKO-Radio Hollywood has put out another musical and this is it. There is a lot of good music, some nice dancing and no story. Kenny Baker croons. Bob Burns bazookas, Jack Oakie romps airily about, and there's a to-do about an Ozark hillbilly who composes songs in his sleep. Jane Froman and other ether favorites do their stuff. (May) RANGERS ROUNDUP, THE-Stan Laurel Production Another singing troubador of the plains rides into the public eye in this unpretentious but clever Western. Fred Scott, the warbling cowhand, shares honors with pretty Christine Mclntyre. Several good blood and thunder battles interrupt the music at times and Al St. Johns offers a few comical turns. (May) •k REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM-20th Century-Fox Just forget you ever read the original "Rebecca" and enjoy every minute of the tantalizing Temple in the songs and dances with which she enlivens this story of radio broadcasting methods. Randy Scott and Gloria Stuart are a mild romance and Helen Westley is the sardonic owner of Sunnybrook. Shirley is delightful and Bill Robinson can't be sneezed at either. (May) * ROMANCE IN THE DARK-Paramount A sophisticated farce with definite emphasis on the musical side, this is Gladys Swarthout's best picture to date. Playing a maid in opera star John Boles' home, together they concoct a scheme to win the attention of maestro John Barrymore. Boles and Gladys sing several solos and three duets together in superb style. (May) ROSE OF THE RIO GRANDE-Monogram Movita (remember her as Franchot Tone's native love in "Mutiny on the Bounty?") is lovely looking enough to go to see, even though this is a juvenile arrangement about brigandage in Mexico years ago. Antonio Moreno is too kindly to be effective as a villain, but Lina Basquette as a jealous dancer, makes up for it. John Carroll is excellent. (June) SAILING ALONG-GB Jessie Matthews' dancing is as graceful as ever, Roland Young's wit as sly as usual and Jack Whiting's singing of the tuneful music is a joy, but, despite these things, this English yarn about a barge, girl who becomes an actress is not up to the usual Matthews' standards. Maybe it's spring in London or something. (June) * SALLY, IRENE AND MARY-20th CenturyFox Another musical from the Zanuck mold. The slim story revolves around the ambitions of three chorines. You will love Alice Faye's singing, Joan Davis' awkwardness and Marjorie Weaver's charm. You will laugh at Fred Allen's wit, Gregory Ratoff 's accent, Louise Hovick's vamping and Jimmy Durante's nosing. The songs are fun, too. (May) ■k SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER, A-Warners Belonging to the addlepated cycle of pictures started by "Nothing Sacred," a morbid humor is here squeezed from murder. The story concerns the plight of a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) and his low-brow wife (Ruth Donnelly) who try to go straight after Repeal. They fail in a mad, shocking, but outrageously witty way. (April) SPY RING, THE-Universal William Hall is the army hero of this fast melodrama on how to catch an enemy spy with a polo mallet. Jane Wyman aids Hall and Leon Ames and Ben Alexander are tossed an occasional scene. There is a timely entente with current headlines in the subplot. (April) START CHEERING-Columbia Bright as a new penny, this novel collegiate musical tells the story of a movie hero who gives up fame to attend a university. His manager, Walter Connolly, and Joan Perry, the dean's lovely daughter, fight to lure him back to the spotlight. Gertrude Niesen sings some swellish songs. You'll like it. (May) * STOLEN HEAVEN-Paramount A very enjoyable musical crook drama. Olympe Bradna fully justifies the promise of her debut in "Souls at Sea," and Gene Raymond, Lewis Stone, Glenda Farrell and Douglas Dumbrille do well in a yarn of a band of thieves in Middle Europe who hide from the police in the house of a famous pianist. Go and hear your special Liszt and Mozart melodies played beautifully. (June) SWING YOUR LADY-Warners A picture with an idea, even if it disappoints as a musical. Nat Pendleton, as a moron wrestler matched with Amazonian Louise Fazenda, will keep you in stitches; there is some good hillbilly music and a dandy "Big Apple" sequence. Add it up — and you have laughs galore. (April) TELEPHONE OPERATOR-Monogram You'll find this a neat package of entertainment dealing with the inside doings of a metropolitan exchange. Judith Allen and Alice White are the two "hello" girls who risk their lives when the dam breaks. Linesmen Warren Hymer and Grant Withers give Cupid something to work on. Adequate B material. (May) * TEST PILOT-M-G-M Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy and Lionel Barrymore (try and top that combination!) in the most thrilling picture of the month. Gable is a pilot addicted to stunts and the bottle; Myrna is his wife; Spencer, his sacrificial pal. The shrieking whine of the motors will hum in your ears for a long time, but don't even consider missing this. (June) k THERE'S ALWAYS A WOMAN-Columbia Built along the streamlines of "The Thin Man," this is a delightfully digestible dish. Melvyn Douglas, a private detective, and his frau, Joan Blondell, are both hired by opposite sides in a murder case. There are two fine assassinations and a lot of naughty but screamingly funny scenes of married life. Good work! (June) k THREE COMRADES-M-G-M Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone, Robert Youni and Maggie Sullavan have plenty of dramatics ant tragedy to contend with here, but it doesn't fazt any of them. With unusual social implications, the picture tells of three youngsters banded together in business and friendship in a wasted country after the War. Orchids to this one. (June) TRIP TO PARIS, A— 20th Century-Fox All the things that can happen to an average family in Paris including being gypped by a phoney count, happen to the Joneses, and it's all fun. Jed Prouty is Fa, Spring Byington is Ma, and both offer splendid characterizations as usual. (June) WALKING DOWN BROADWAY-20th CenturyFox Be advised not to believe a word of this dismal pseudo-portrait of Broadway. It pictures the careers of six chorus girls, several of whom get liquidated in the vortex! Claire Trevor survives to claim Michael Whalen, but who cares? (May) WOMEN ARE LIKE THAT-Warners Poor Kay Francis certainly got a dirty deal in tins. Unbelievably gauche and tiresome, it attempts to show what gals are like in love and business Kay is the wife of a drunken advertising man (Pat O'Brien) who uses her sex appeal to help his failing business. Maybe we'd better pretend we didn't know about it. (June) * YANK AT OXFORD, A-M-G-M In this picture made in England, Robert Taylor emerges less the dandy, more the male. As the son of a small-town editor (Lionel Barrymore — can he act!) Taylor wins a scholarship, wins and loses Maureen O'Sullivan, takes a beating from his classmates, generally does a fine job. Credits to the entire cast. (April) T)cmt LET THIS HAPPE N IN YOUR HOME IT certainly is disappointing to wake up with a headache or an upset stomach, and find there are no Alka-Seltzer Tablets in the house. 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