Picturegoer (Jan-Jun 1938)

PICTUREGOER Weekly Apnl 30, 1938 REVIEWS by Lionel Collier IF you do not go to see The Drum in too captious or critical a vein you will find it very good entertainment. The plot is frankly schoolboy stuff, but it is garnished with excellent technical qualities, outstanding colour effects and sound acting. It has a lot of the unsophistication of the average Western melodrama, but it also has that type of picture's advantage of thrilling situations and stirring spectacle. The story deals with a youthful prince of an independent state on the North West Frontier of India, whose father is killed by his uncle and he himself forced to go into hiding. The new ruler pretends to be friendly with the British, but in reality is stirring up trouble amongst the tribes and planning to massacre the British troops quartered in the city. It is then that the exiled prince manages to repay the kindness he has received from the British Political officer and his wife. He gives the alarm just before the planned massacre takes place, and so saves the lives of his friends. Detail work is of much more importance than the broad outline of the story. For instance, the Indian prince's friendship with a regimental drummer boy has humour and human touches, and this is reflected generally in the interplay of characters. Sabu gives a very good performance as the prince, and Desmond Tester is wholly natural as the cheeky.little drummer boy. Roger Livesey is as good a "pukka sahib" as one could wish, as the political officer, and Raymond Massey is suitably sardonic and overbearing as the wicked uncle. Zoltan Korda, who directed the picture, has dovetailed his actual location shots and studio scenes extremely well. The atmosphere is always convincing as well as being picturesque. The sequences showing the heights of the North West Frontier is one of the finest colour sequences I have seen to date. If you go to the film, take the children — it is for their especial benefit. HER JUNGLE LOVE • Dorothy I,amour returns once more to the jungle in this film, and practises her well-known allure. This picture, in fact, is a sort of sequel to Jungle Princess, and while the story is definitely hokum, the technical and production values are quite high. Camera work is exceedingly good and the colour adds still further glamour to the incredible but exciting romance. Acting does not play a great part in the scheme of things; it is the action that counts, the scenic qualities, and the animal sequences. Dorothy Lamour looks beauteous as the sole inhabitant of a South Pacific Island who, for companions, has a chimpanzee and a tiger cub. She is worshipped by the natives of a neighbouring island who are lead by a maniacal Eurasian. Two pilots for the Indo-Malayan Transport crash on the island whilst looking for a lost 'plane, and are helped by the girl, who turns out to by a white woman, and falls in love with one of them. The adventures they go through include strange religious rites, introducing crocodiles who are kept to eat white men, an aeroplane crash, and to round up with an earthquake which kills the villain and enables the others to escape. It should prove sheer delight to juveniles. THE PURITAN 0 A French prize-winning picture, the scenario of which was written by Liam O' Flaherty. The plot is a simple one. dealing with a man who murders the courtesan he loves, and persuades himself that he did it from motives of religious fanaticism. He is finally forced to confess after his efforts to foist the murder on to the dead woman's protector. The whole thing is strongly dramatic and macabre, with an exceedingly clever psychological approach . Pierre Fresnay gives a brilliantly restrained performance as the Commissioner who traps the murderer, which is in direct contrast to the impassioned fanatical characterisation of the criminal as given by Jean Louis Barrault. Both are excellent. As Molly, a woman of the streets, who is instrumental in getting the criminal to confess, Viviane Romance is very effective. The idea that the locale of the story is Irish is not credible, but it is so handled that incongruities of this kind do not hurt the conviction and the dramatic force of the psychological study. Direction is pictorially expressive and the detail work is exceedingly good, as is the way in which the various characters are brought to life. There is always a sense of impending tragedy, but, though it is sordid in atmosphere, the basic idea is thoroughly interesting and logical in its development. LE ROI S'AMUSE • Running at the Academy, Oxford Street, at the moment is one of the most amusing satires of the year. It bids fair to rival La Kermesse Heroique, which kept that same theatre filled for some months. It deals with the visit of a Ruritanian king with amorous leanings to Paris, where his affaires cause a good deal of fluttering in the political dovecotes. It tilts impartially at Left and Right-Wing politicians, and is full of subtly handled, piquant situations. Raimu takes the acting honours as a wealthy democrat, Bourdier, who cannot resist royalty and who gains political preferment through the fact that the king makes love to his mistress and then to his wife. This latter role is brilliantly played by Gaby Morlay. Eloise Popesco is extremely good as the mistress who was formerly a friend of the king and had been taken by Bourdier from a noble marquis whom he cordially disliked. Andre Lefaur provides a very good contrast as the marquis to the place-hunting Bourdier, but Victor France while amusingly regal is a little heavy at times, as the king. The daring situations are handled in a masterly manner by Pierre Colombier. and thin ice is skated over with a highly entertaining degree of piquancy. It is quoted as being Europe's wittiest satire, and that is not far from the mark. On the Screens Now •♦♦SUBMARINE D-l Warner. American. " V" certificate. Submarine drama. Runs 9it minutes. Pat O'Brien "Butch" Rogers George Brent ... Lt. -Commander Matthews Wayne Morris "Sock" McGillis Frank McHuch "Lucky" Doris Weston Ann Sawyer Henry O'Neill Admiral Thomas Den nib Moore Arabella Veda Ann Borg Dolly Regis Toomey Tom Callam Broderick Crawford Mike John Ridgley Lieutenant, Junior Grade Owen King Lieutenant, Senior Grade Wally Maher Listener Jerry Fletcher Lt. Mason Directed bv Llo\'d Bacon. From a storv bv Frank Wead. Previewed March 5, 1038. Robust, virile entertainment which, while conventional in tone, carries a strong dramatic punch and is not lacking in characterisation. The submarine depot background is interesting, as is the routine work that helps to form a convincing atmosphere. The thrills are realistic and the plot grips one as a whole. Wayne Morris is excellent as a young sailor who is always at loggerheads with his superior officer, chiefly because they both admire the same girl. He acts easily and naturally, and has many of the qualities which first endeared Gary Cooper to the public. As his friendly rival, Pat O'Brien is stolidly efficient, but he is rather apt to walk through his part. George Brent scores as the commander of a submarine which is sunk during manoeuvres, two of the crew being rescued by means of a deep-sea diving bell, the invention of himself and Pat. There is only a slight love interest, but it is well supplied by Doris Weston. Comedy is introduced by Frank McHugh, who is on top of his form. ♦♦♦YOUNG AND INNOCENT General Film Distributors. British. -A" certificate. Modern comedy drama. Runs 81 minutes Derrick de Marney Robert Tisdall Percy Marmont Colonel Burgovne Edward Rigby Old Will Mary Clare Erica's Aunt John Longden Kent George Ci'rzon Guy Basil Radford r.icle Basil Pamela Carme Christine Clav George Merritt Miller J.H.Roberts Terry Verno H F. MilTHY John Miller Court Constable Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the novel "A Shilling for Candles," by Josephine J-ey. Previewed February 12, 1(>:{8. Storv of the film, by Marjory Williams, appeared in our issue of March 12, 1038. Despite faults in dramatic construction, this picture provides very good entertainment. For the major part of the picture Alfred Hitchcock has excelled himself, but towards the end he lets melodrama supplant the more intimate human and clever detail with which he opened. One of the picture's main features is the pleasant setting of an English countryside. Derrick de Marney scores a personal success. He gives a really brilliant performance as a young man accused of murder who escapes in order to try to find a clue which will clear him of the charge. The clue in question is a raincoat. The police had decided that the woman had been strangled with the belt from one, and they insist that the coat from which it came is his. He is helped in his quest — -unwittingly at first and later wholeheartedly— by Erica, the daughter of the prison governor, who falls in love with him. All this questing is treated in a light vein, and is wholly charming and disarming. Eventually they find the coat, which the young man said had been taken from him, in the possession of a tramp, but the belt is missing. It looks as if the alibi had gone west, but the tramp is persuaded to try to recognise the man who had given the coat to him. After several adventures, including a novelettish one in which the car in which they are travelling nearly crashes down a disused mine shaft, the matter is cleared up by the dead woman's husband making a confession. Nova Pilbeam is natural and sincere as Erica, and makes one wqnder still more at the way in which her talent has been neglected by British studios. c*'THUNDER TRAIL Paramount. American. "U" certificate. Spectacular Western. Runs ">4 minutes. Gilbert Roland Arizona "Dick" Ames Charles Bickford Lee Tate Marsha Hunt Amy Morgan J. Carroll Naish Rafael Lopez James Craig Bob Ames Monte Bu>e Jeff Graves Barlowe Borland Jim Morgan Billy Lee Bob Ames at 8 William Di m an John Ames Gene Reynolds Richard Ames at 14 Directed by Charles Barton. Based on the novel " Arizona Ames," by Zane Grey. A Western well above the average which, besides spectacular sequences, has good characterisation, plenty of action, and quite a good deal of plot ingenuity. Gilbert Roland and james Craig give sound performances as two brothers who are orphaned and brought up by a rancher and a kindly Mexican prospector respectively. When they meet again they unite to round up a band of renegades led by the foster father of one of them. Charles Bickford is excellent as a ruthless dictator of a small town, and Marsha Hunt does all that is required of her as his daughter. J. Carroll Naish gives a humorous yet convincing portrayal of the Mexican. •♦THE LAST GANGSTER M.G.M. American. "A" certificate. Gangster melodrama. Runs 8(1 minutes. Edward G. Robinson Joe Krozac James Stewart Paul North Rose Stradner Talya Krozac Lionel Stander "Curly" Douglas Scott The Boy John Carradine Caspar Sidney Blackmer Editor Grant Mitchell Warden Edward S. Brophy "Fats"Garvey Alan Baxter Acey Kile Frank Conroy Sid Gorman l.oi ise Beavers Gloria Directed bv Edward Ludwig. A uthors— William A . Wellman and Robert Carson. Mainly because of Edward G. Robinson, whose acting is always worth watching, this picture (Contintted on page 26) 24