Picturegoer (Jan-Jun 1938)

REVIEWS by Lionel Collier SOMERSET MAUGHAM'S story The ]'essel of Wrath which deals with a beachcomber on a Malayan island who eventually marries a missionary, once his pet aversion, has been treated with subtlety by Erich Pommer and provides one of the most entertaining British pictures of the current year. Pommer has not made the mistake of being too subtle nor of neglecting the "belly laughs" for the sake of enforcing the psychology of the characters, although that aspect is always apparent and is singularly effective. The picture opens in an actionful manner with the beachcomber. Ginger Ted, running amok because his remittance is seized to pay his numerous native creditors. During this period he runs foul of the straight-laced missionary, Martha Jones, by enticing one of her grown-up girl pupils to accompany him on a carouse. The sequence in the schoolroom is amusing but is over-prolonged and would benefit by a little pruning. Anyway, the upshot of it all is that the Dutch Controleur of the island who looks on Ginger Ted as a sound drinking companion, has to send him away to another island for three months as a punishment. The boat which is sent to bring him back also carries Martha Jones; it breaks down and she is forced to spend the night on a barren islet with him. Much to her astonishment he respects her and this awakes in her a desire to reform him and also something akin to affection. Incidentally, the island sequence, too, is unduly spun out and here again a little pruning would tighten up the action to the picture's advantage. Back home again, Ginger Ted hits his friend the Controleur for having made innuendoes about his relations with Martha and then he goes off on a drunk. Martha Jones now thoroughly determined to rehabilitate him takes him in hand and finally persuades him to go with her to fight a typhoid outbreak in the interior. During this, her courage inspires respect and finally love in the heart of Ginger Ted and they are married. The ending is one of the best I have seen for some time. The pair go home and take a country inn. Ginger goes teetotal and Martha has her dresses cut just a little bit lower ! The interplay between the two characters is exceedingly cleverly handled and the touch of satire is pointed by the fact that Ginger's father had been a clergyman and Martha's a drunkard. Charles I^aughton gives a natural and restrained comedy study of the beachcomber. He enters into the skin of his part more thoroughly than any other in which I have seen him. Good as he is, however, I would award the greater praise to Elsa I-anchester whose rendering of the missionary is a brilliant piece of characterisation also carried out in a restrained comedy vein. She has some excellent dialogue — indeed the entire script is well dialogued — and she makes every word tell. Her remark on the barren islet on which she and Ginger are marooned : "And only man is vile," with a significant look at her companion, after surveying the beauty of the scenery, is masterly in its comprehensiveness. I found Martha's brother, a clergyman, played by Tyrone Guthrie rather overstated; he gets laughs at the expense of conviction. Robert Newton is extremely good as the controleur. Dolly Mollinger is physically very attractive and also acts well as the native girl whom Ginger Ted takes from the schoolroom while another dusky charmer is also convincingly characterised by Rosita Garcia. The atmosphere is exceedingly good and the camera work and technical qualities worthy of the story and the direction. OF HUMAN HEARTS • While there is a great deal of sincerity and some fine character drawing and acting in this domestic drama it is not wholly successful, partly because it is very drawn out and partly because the concluding sequences are too sentimentalised to carry any conviction. It is the story of a poor preacher in a small Ohio community who never understands his son, and of the sacrifices of his mother to give him enough money to become a doctor. The father dies, the son becomes a famous surgeon during the American Civil War and the mother is neglected. Finally, Abraham Lincoln sends for the son and threatens to courtmartial him if he does not write to his mother every week ! The doctor gets leave of absence and visits his mother for the first time in years. It is these latter sequences which strike an artificial note, which is a pity, because the building up of the characters is both convincing and interesting and the atmosphere generally realistic. Walter Huston is fine as the forthright preacher who recognises his son's failings and treats him in the wrong way, while Beulah Bondi is very sympathetic as the mother. James Stewart turns in another clever study as the son and Gene Reynolds is excellent as the same character as a boy. Clever village character studies are given by Guy Kibbee as a grasping storekeeper, and Charles Coborn as a drunk doctor who inspires the preacher's son to become a surgeon. A slight love interest is pleasingly introduced by Ann Rutherford as the hero's boyhood sweetheart. Scenic qualities are attractive and the Civil War episodes are well staged. W ISE GIRL 9 Another crazy comedy, this time with Miriam Hopkins and Kay Milland in the leads. They make a good team and get the utmost out of the nonsensical but nevertheless entertaining story of an artist in Greenwick Village who has the custody of his dead brother's chil dren, and a girl, the sister of the children's deceased mother who is trying to get possession of them. The expected, of course, happens and the pair fall in love but it takes the girl all her time to force the artist to take seriously to painting and give up the rough Bohemian life he is leading and also to put herself right in his eyes for trying to take the children away from him. It is full of bright situations and the dialogue is piquant and snappy. Both Miriam Hopkins and Ray Milland give first-rate performances and the supporting cast does all that is required of it. YOU'RE A SWEETHEART • Both Alice Faye and George Murphy give good performances in this thin and rather discursive romance with music. It deals with a publicity stunt, in which a young man, Hal Adams, poses as a millionaire and is supposed to buy up all the seats for the first week of a show in which an actress, Betty Bradley, is appearing. ♦This is to stimulate public interest in the production and also to avoid an opening clash with a charity benefit. The inevitable happens. Hal falls for the girl and finally has to confess he is a fake. The plot is interspersed with turns and stage presentations which are quite well done, but as a whole the picture does not hold the interest very firmly. Ken Murray is quite good as a producer, but the humour of Oswald, his stooge, did not strike me as being of a particularly bright variety. Andy Devine scores, however, as a bodyguard provided for the phoney millionaire. Songs are quite tuneful and settings lavish. On the Screen's Now ****STAGE DOOR Radio. American. " A" certificate. Back-staie drama. Runs 01 minutes. Katharine Hepburn Terry Randall Ginger Rogers Jean Maitland Adolphe Menjou Anthony Powell Gail Patrick Linda Shaw Constance Collier .Catharine Luther Andrea Leeds Kave Hamilton Samuel S. Hinds !Henrv Sims Lucille Bai l Judith Canfield Franklin Pangborn Harcourt William Corson Bill Pierre Watkin Richard Carmichael Grady Sutton Butch Frank Reicher.... Stage Director Phyllis Kennedy Hattie Eve Aroen Eve Ann Miller Annie Margaret Early. Mary Lou Jean Rouverol , Dizzv Norma Drury Olga Brent Elizabeth Dunne Mrs. Orcutt Jane Rhodes Ann Braddock Harriet Brandon Madeleine Peggy O'Donnell Susan Directed by Gregory Im Cava. From the play by F dna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. The story of the film by Marjory Williams appeared in our issue of Feb .19, 1938. Previewed January 29, 1938. Certainly one of the most convincing and finely characterised back-stage dramas I have seen on the screen. Most of the action takes place in a theatrical boarding-house where, to keep up their spirits after the daily round of disappointments, the girls indulge in caustic wisecracks and sometimes horseplay. Katharine Hepburn plays the role of Terry Randall, daughter of a wealthy father, who is stage-struck and who determines to make good on her own. Without her knowledge, her father backs a play in which she is to be starred, hoping she will "flop" and give up the idea of a stage career. marcn \y, irjo On the night of the first performance a young girl, who had passionately longed for the part, commits suicide. Terry Randall is almost unable to go on, but finally, inspired by the spirit of the dead girl, she gives a wonderful piece of acting. The acting generally is on a particularly high level. Ginger Rogers is brilliant as a wise-cracking young dancer who shares a room with Terry, while Katharine Hepburn has not been seen to better advantage than as the ambitious and down-to-earth stage aspirant. A great character study is given by Andrea Leeds as the sensitive young girl who commits suicide. She strikes a note of sincere poignancy. Adolphe Menjou, as a philandering producer who puts on the play, backed by the heroine's father, is excellent, as indeed is every member of the boarding-house where a great deal of the action takes place. A picture, this, that you will enjoy and remember. ♦♦♦ARTISTS AND MODELS Paramount. American. " U" certificate Musical extravaganza. Runs 9fi minutes. Jack Benny Mac Brewster Ida Lupino Paula Sewell Richard Arlen Alan Townsend Gail Patrick Cynthia Wentworth Ben Blue Jupiter Pluvius II JudtCanova Toots Cecil Cunningham Stella Hedda Hopper Mrs. Townsend Donald Meek Dr. Zimmer Kathryn Kay Lois Townsend Sandra Storm Model Specialities : The Yacht Club Boys, Martha Ray, Louis Armstrong, Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra, Russell Patterson's " Personettes," Connie Boswell, Judy, Anne and Zeke. World * Leading Artistes : Peter Arno, McClelland Barclay, Arthur William Brown, Rube Goldberg, John LaGatta, Russell Patterson. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Screen play by Walter De Leon and Francis Martin. Previewed October 10, 1937. Jack Benny scores heavily in his first solo starring vehicle, a mad, and at times most merry, mixture of novelty, variety, and romance strung together on a thin thread of story dealing with an advertising agent and his models. Benny, as the near-bankrupt president of an advertising agency, is in great form, gags brilliantly, and acts as a sort of unofficial compere to the show. As his favourite model, Ida Lupino is volatile and effective, and Richard Arlen is sound as Alan, head of a firm, with whom she falls in love. Gail Patrick is dignified as Cynthia , a former society friend of Alan, with whom Jack Benny pairs off. Some excellent crazy comedy comes from Ben Blue and Judy Canova. The spectacular side of the show is noteworthy and, as you can see from the cast list, the variety turns that are introduced are well varied and intriguing. ♦♦EVER SINCE EVE First National. American. "U" certificate. Romantic comedy. Runs 80 minutes. Marion Davies Marge Winton Robert Montgomery Freddy Matthews Frank McHugh "Mabel" DeC raven Patsy Kelly Sadie Day Allen Jenkins Jake Edgall Louise Fazenda Abbie Belldon Barton MacLane Al McCoy Marcia Ralston Camille Lansing Frederick Clark Alonzo Arthur Hoyt , Hotel Manager MaryTreen Employment Clerk Harry HAYDEN.Presidentof the PiirityLeague Pierre Watkin Barton John T. Murray Lowell William Davidson Henderson Directed by Lloyd Bacon. From a story by Margaret Lee and Gene Baker. The old, old story of the typist who blossoms forth into a beauty has been given a slight twist by making her. in this instance, aware (Continued on page 22) 20