Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

The Shadow Stage (Continued from page 53) ALWAYS GOODBYE— 20th Century-Fox OST women will go for this sentimen1 picture which accents heavily Mother bve and sacrifice — a remake of one in hich Clive Brook and Ann Harding >peared in 1924, titled "Gallant Lady." lis time it's Barbara Stanwyck who's dlant in the role of a girl whose fiance killed on the eve of her wedding. She is his baby, gives the child up for loption, goes to work in a gown shop . a model. When her work takes her Paris, she finds her child again in the ire of a rich foster parent. Her mother ve awakens. In the end she must loose between Herbert Marshall, the >ctor who saved her from despair, and n Hunter, the man who adopted her ;tle son. Barbara Stanwyck manages to make ;r mental sufferings quite believable; iesar Romero is swell as the French iid amorous count; Binnie Barnes is ike a fresh breeze in a small role. John ussell, the child, steals the show enrely. MY BILL-Warners HERE is little enough story here. Kay irancis, widowed mother of four chiliren, finds she has let her love for them lause her to spend all her money. Then h comes the husband's sister to take all !ie children except the youngest, Dickie foore. He befriends a rich old lady, tie dies, leaves him a fortune, and back iome the rest of the children. That (irector John Farrow and his cast, Vorking together, have made sympaaetic entertainment from this is a small inema miracle. Bonita Granville, Anita Louise, Bobby iordan and Helena Phillips Evans (who i magnificent in her role) — all form ;ood background for the nice performince of Miss Francis. ROMANCE OF THE LIMBERLOST— Monogram lUNCERITY and simplicity give fresh :harm to this unpretentious little Gene Stratton-Porter story of "poor white rash" in 1905. Jean Parker stars — deservedly— as the idealistic young iwamp-girl whose aunt forces her into i brutal marriage, although she loves Sric Linden. There's particularly fine work from Marjorie Main as the aunt, Hollis Jewell as a pathetic farm slave, and Betty Blythe, the silent picture queen. LADIES IN DISTRESS-Republic IMAGINE Alison Skipworth as Mayor of a racketeer-ridden city! Imagine Polly Moran as her sister-secretary. And then, finally, imagine what happens to the racketeers. There's much hair-pulling, with plenty of credit going to Robert Livingston, as the town's former bad boy who aids the two lady politicians in their round-up of social enemies. Virginia Grey is very pretty as the girl in this roundelay of good fun. SPEED TO BURN-20th Century-Fox IF you're up to another race-track picture, definitely in the C class and not outstanding in any particular, catch this on a Screeno night. Marvin Stephens plays the jockey whose pet animal is sold to the mounted police; Mike Whalen is a cop and Lynn Bari struggles along as the innocent foil of a bunch of crooks, chieftained by Sidney Blackmer. Oh, yes, surprise. The horse wins. WIVES UNDER SUSPICION-Universal VfHEN hardhearted District Attorney Warren William discovers in his own home an exact parallel of a situation that has driven Ralph Morgan to murder, he softens considerably and even begins to understand human nature. Gail Patrick is splendid as William's wife. Constance Moore and William Lundigan add some slight freshness to the play and Cecil Cunningham, as William's secretary, can always be counted on for a chuckle. But it's pretty stodgy material for a movie. MERIDIAN 7— 1212— 20th Century-Fox WITH the catchy title taken from the New York telephone number of the information office that gives the correct time, this first in a series dealing with a New York reporter, and featuring Michael Whalen and Gloria Stuart, gets off to a flying start. Whalen, with the aid of Miss Stuart and Cameraman Chick Chandler, succeeds in proving innocent a young man accused of murder by the police. It's average but interesting entertainment; and, after all, Mr. Zanuck's Jones Family series is keeping the studio coffers full. PASSPORT HUSBAND-20th Century-Fox STUART ERWIN plays his usual bewildered self as the husband of Joan Woodbury, tempestuous Latin dancer, who marries him to escape deportation and imprisonment. Harold Huber is the gang leader who engineers the marriage, then attempts, with the help of Edward S. Brophy, to annihilate Erwin and win Miss Woodbury for himself. If you enjoy comedy and suspense, well seasoned with slapstick, you'll find this one to your liking. FAST COMPANY-M-G-M HEREWITH a weak imitation of a ThinMannish murder mystery, with Melvyn Douglas, an authority on rare books, and his fun-loving wife, Florence Rice, tracing down the murderer of a fence for stolen first editions. Claire Dodd looks too lovely to be roaming among musty volumes. Do you join Hollywood fans in their protest against the utter waste of Douglas in such trivial nonsense? CITY STREETS-Columbia A LITTLE laugh, a little tear, are the ingredients of this hokum -laden story of a crippled orphan (Edith Fellows) who is befriended by the local grocer. Leo Carrillo impoverishes himself to help Edith get an operation to regain use of her legs, is rewarded when Edith rises from her wheel chair and totters to his sickbed — the picture's a little sick, too. YOUR HOPE OF HOLLYWOOD By Marjorie Hillis LL'o von nave 'iC/io/ il C okps / The author of "Live Alone and Like It" gives you some fancy facts and figures on your chances in the movies October PHOTOPLAY Freshness is the special charm of Old Golds. too! Biunie Barnes has the fresh beauty so often found in her native Britain. After London stage successes with Chariot's Revue, Noel Coward's "Cavalcade", etc., movie roles under Alexander Korda's direction led to a Hollywood contract in 1934. (See her in the Samuel Goldwyn production, "Marco Polo".) The most priceless, and the most perishable charm a star — or a cigarette — can have, is freshness. No effort, no expense, is too great to guard it . . . for if it fades, down goes "box office appeal". Hollywood spends fabulous sums to prolong the freshness of its stars. ( )ld Gold spends a fortune to protect — for you — the freshness of its prize crop tobaccos. Just as too much exposure coarsens beauty, so dryness, dampness and dust rob fine tobaccos of smoothness and flavor. To give you Old Golds at the very peak of appealing freshness, every Old Gold package is doublesealed, in two jackets of the finest moisture-proof Cellophane. Have you ever experienced the flavor thrill of a cigarette fresh off the factory line? Open a pack of Double-Mellow Old Golds anywhere, and discover exactly how much that factory-freshness, in prize crop tobaccos, adds to your smoking pleasure! TUNE IN on Old Gold's Hollywood Screenscoops, Tues. and Thurs. nights, Columbia Network, Coast-to-Coast. Copr.. 1938, by P. Lorillard Co., Inc. Every pack wrapped in 2 j ackets of Cellophane ; the OUTER jacket opens from the BOTTOM. SEPTEMBER, 1938 85