Picturegoer (Jan-Jun 1938)

PICTUREGOER Weekly May 14, 1938 Lionel Collier's lFilm Reviews Radio. John Boles Bob Densmore Jack Oakie Ham Hamilton Ida Lupino Marietta M argot Graham e Marcia Trent Erik Rhodes Spadissino 'FIGHT FOR YOUR LADY " U" certificate. Romantic farce. Runs 65 minutes. Gordon Jones Mike Scanlon Paul Guilfoyle Jimmy Trask Billy Gilbert Boros Georges Renavent Joros Maude Eburne Nadya Charles Judels Felix Janos Directed by Ben Stoloff. Screen play by Ernest Pagano, Harry SegaU and Harold Kuseli. When Jack Oakie is given a chance, he can be really funny. He gets that chance here as a sort of wise-cracking Sancho Panza to a love-lorn Don Quixote, who before he met his lady had desired nothing more than death. He very nearly gets his wish, too, for the aforesaid lady's lover had already fought duels with forty-three other suitors and neatly despatched them. It was only due to Oakie's native wit, that the hero, played in ironic vein by John Boles, manages to escape. It is all quite good fun and provides an entertaining burlesque of the usual romance. Ida Lupino, complete with mock foreign accent, is fair as the lady, while Margot Grahame scores as the hero's fiancee, whose jilting of her drives her to despair. Erik Rhodes does well as the unconquerable duellist. The action, by the way, takes place in a very synthetic Budapest. Paramount. American. " U " certificate . Romantic seafaring melodrama. Runs 99 minutes. Oscar Homolka Captain Thorbecke Francis Farmer Faith Wishart Ray Milland Robert Herrick Lloyd Nolan Attwater Barry Fitzgerald Huish Charles Judels Port Doctor Charles Stevens Uncle Ned David Torrence Tapena Tom Lina Basquette Attwater's Servant Harry Fields Taniera Directed by James Hogan from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Previewed November 13, 1937. Story freely based on the film appeared in our issue of December 4, 1VH7. The main feature of this workmanlike adaptation of Stevenson's novel is Oscar Homolka's characterisation of a discredited sea captain who sails on a small-pox infested ship, to an uncharted island, where he is killed by a contraband pearl fisher who suffers from religious mania. He gives a vivid impression of the man whose once strong sense of honour has been weakened by drink and misfortune. His companions in the venture are another beachcomber, indifferently played by Ray Milland, the daughter of the ship's captain who had died of smallpox, acted with sincerity and restraint by Frances Farmer, and a scrofulous cockney, oadly over-stated by Barry Fitzgerald. As the mad pearl fisher who tries to kidnap the girl, Lloyd Nolan is menacing enough, even if he is not quite in keeping with the role. South Seas setting and shipboard scenes are excellent and the typhoon provides an actionful thrill. ♦•RHYTHM IN THE CLOUDS British Lion. American. " U" certificate. Romantic radio comedy. Patricia Ellis Judy Walker Warren Hull Bob McKay William Newell Clyde Richard Carle Boswell Zeffie Tilbury Duchess Charles Judels... David Carlyle.... Joyce Compton.... Suzanne Kaaren. Esther Howard. Runs 63 minutes. Luigl Phil Hale Amy Lou Dorothy Day Mrs. Madigan Ed Parker Baxter Directed by John H. Auer from a original story by George Mence and Ray Bond. While quite conventional in design, this story of an impecunious songwriter who, posing as the niece of a famous composer, and using his name, gets her work accepted, has been put over well with tuneful orchestration and bright dialogue. The radio station background, too, is ingeniously introduced. Patricia Ellis has both sex appeal and histrionic ability and makes a stroi appeal as the fraudulent lady who eventually finds romance and not tb jail her dupe had planned for her. Warren Hull is sound as a lyric writ< who falls in love with her, and David Carlyle is well in contrast as the vindic tive victim of the hoax. M.-O.-M. American. Mm-vaLoy Mimi Swift Franchot Tone Jimmy Kilmatin Rosalind Russell Elizabeth Kent Walter Pidgeon Alan Wythe Rita Johnson Florence Nana Bryant Meg Swift ••MAN PROOF certificate. Society comedy-d Runs 74 I Ruth Hussey Ja Leonard Penn John Miljan Tommy Gau William Stack Minster Oscar O'Shea Gus Dan Toby Fight announcer Directed by Richard Thorpe. Is love real or a delusion ? That is the theme of this very talkative corned which becomes highly artificial and unconvincing before it comes to conclusion that love can be real. Myrna Loy, still suffering from a tendency to excessive immobility, is at her best as a jilted lady who decides to win back her lost fiance\ but disillusioned about him, by his wife. She ends up by marrying a typical screen journalist, engagingly played Franchot Tone, who gets the most out of a none too fat part. Walter Pidgeon is good as the faithless lover and Rosalind Russell adequa as his wife. The trouble is that there is far too great a similarity betw her and Myrna Loy for them to be cast together, and when Nana Bryart as the heroine's mother, starts speaking with the same intonation, it beconu somewhat monotonous. (Continued on page 30)