Picturegoer (Jan-Jun 1938)

May 21. 1938 PICTUREGOER Weekly Radio. American. ►BREAKFAST FOR TWO "U" certificate. Rimtntic comedy. Runs 67 i Barbara Stanwvck Valentine Kansome Emc Blore Butch Herbert Marshall Jonathan Blair Frank M. Thomas Sam Ransoms Glbnda Farrill Carol Wallace Donald Meik Justice of the Peace Directed bv Alfred SanteU. Screen plav by Charles Kaufman, Paul Yawiti, and Viola Brothers Shore. Story of the film by Marjory Williams appeared in our issue of Januxry 29. 1938. Bright fooling generally, with a good share of knockabout, with the usually dramatic Barbara Stanwyck and the urbanely gentlemanly Herbert Marshall forming a new "'crazy" team. They enter into the spirit of the piece quite well. Actually the outline of the plot is rather a banal affair, dealing with a wealthy girl who reforms the playboy head of a shipping line and saves him from marrying a designing actress. In this she is helped by Eric Blore, who is amusing as the hero's butler. Glenda Farrell gives a very good account of herself as the actress in the case. Dialogue is usually bright and the eternal bickering of the two principals is brightly presented. •SHE LOVED A FIREMAN First Satxonal. American. " V " certificate . Melodrama. Runs 58 minutes Dick Foran Red Tyler Ann Sheridan Margie Shannon Robert Armstrong Smokey Shannon Eddie Acuff Skillet Veda Ann Borc Betty May Beatty Mrs. Michaels Eddie Chandler Callahan Lane Chandler Patton Ted Oliver Lieutenant Grimes Pat Flaherty Duggan Directed by John Far row. Old-fashioned melodrama, in which a bookmaker joins the fire brigade, makes an enemy of his chief, falls in love with his sister, and finally saves him from death, thus ending all enmity and winning the maiden's hand in marriage. Dick Foran and Robert Armstrong, as recruit and fire chief respectively, are well in character, while Ann Sheridan makes the most of the rather shadowy role of th'e heroine. Fire sequences are well done and provide a fair thrill. ♦FEDERAL BULLETS Pat'ie. American. "A" certificate. G. Man melodrama. Runs 67 minutes. Milburn Stone Tommy Matty Fain John Zeffie Tilbury Mrs. Crippen Lyle Moraine Pete Terry Walker Milly Warner Richmond Burke William Harrigan Chief Betty Compson Sue Helen MacKellar Mrs. Thompson Eddie Phillips Durkin Selmer Jackson Harker John Merton Manny Goe Directed by Karl Brown. Suggested by the novel by Major George Fielding Eliot. We have a woman, for a change, as the head of a gang of cut-throats who are run down by an energetic G. Man. It is not strong in plausibility, but has a little originality in its conception. Zeffie Tilbury almost overcomes the artificiality of her part as the woman gang leader, whilst the rest of the cast is adequate. Warner. ►ALCATRAZ ISLAND " certificate. Revenge melodrama. Runs 64 minutes. Ann Sheridan ..Flo Allen John Litel "Gat" Brady Mary Magi ire Ann Brady Gordon Oliver .George Drake Dick Pircell "Harp" Santell Vladimir Sokoloff "The Flying Dutchman" Addison Richards Fred MacClane Ben Weldon "Red" Carroll George E. Stone "Tough Tony" Burke Peggy Bates Miss Tolliver Doris Lloyd Miss Marquand Anderson Lawlor "Whitey" Edwards Charles Trowbridge Warden Jackson Ellen Clancy Sally Carruthers Veda Ann Borg The Red Head Matty Fain "Butch" Edward Keane Crandall Walter Young Federal Judge Ed Stanley U. S. Attorney Lane Chandler Federal Officers.. Directed by William McGanu. Screen play by Crane Wilbur. GRIM and authentic backgrounds to this story of a convict who seeks revenge on another, and frames a murder charge on him in prison, are supplied by America's most feared prison, Alca^raz Island. John Litel is good as the racketeer, who is eventually caught on an income-tax fraud charge and Ben Weldon is sound as the convict who bears a grudge against him. Romance enters through the medium of the racketeer's daughter, played by Mary Maguire, and an attorney, well acted by Gordon Oliver. Ann Sheridan scores as the racketeer's girl friend. The main interest lies in the prison sequences, which are strongly emotional, c *THE BARRIER Paramount. American. "If" certificate. "Outdoors" melodrama. Runs 78 minutes. Leo Carrillo Poleon Do ret Robert Barrat John Gale Jean Parker Necia Andy Clyde "No Creek" Lee James Ellison Lieut. Burrell Addison Richards Runnion Otto Kruger Stark Sara Haden Allan* J. M. Kerrigan Sergeant Thomas Directed by Lesley Selander. Story by Rex Beach. Previewed January 1, 1938. Rex Beach's famous novel, which deals with the love of an American lieutenant, sent to an outpost in Alaska to establish law and order, for the supposedly half-breed daughter of a store-keeper and prospector who had been framed on a murder charge. Except for the scenic qualities, there is little to hold one's interest. It lacks the necessary action of a Western melodrama and is played in such slow tempo that its excessive length seems interminable. Jean Parker, always physically attractive, is suitably ingenuous as the young girl, who turns out not to be a half-breed at all, and so is enabled to marry the lieutenant to the satisfaction of all. Robert Barrat acts naturally as her father, who eventually is a"ble to get even with the man who had framed him, a role played by Otto Kruger as a sort of%ity "slicker" with an ever-present smiling sneer. James Ellison is very stilted as the lieutenant and Leo Carrillo gives one of his remarkably few poor performances as a trapper secretly in love with the heroine. "artier " Nancy O'Neil Norah Applin Eliot Ma k eh am Mr. Tallweather Hal Gordon Bert Bickley Aubrey Mallalieu James Maclntyre Pamela Wood Minnie Hazell ♦EAST OF LUDGATE HILL Twentieth Century-Fox. British. "U" certificate. Financial comedy-drama. Runs 47 i Robert Cochran Derek Holt Vernon Harris Martin Bland Paul Blake Hilary Maclntyre Dorothy Dewhurst Miss Parfitt Charles Hawtrey Edwin Tallweather Annie Esmond Miss Monkton Valentine Dunn Mrs. Bickley Directed by Manning Haynes. Both from a technical and a directorial viewpoint, this comedy-drama shows a good deal of originality. It deals with the reactions of employees to the possible disappointment contingent on the non-appearance of a promised bonus. The characters involved are the chief clerk, Eliott Makeham ; the transfer clerk, Hal Gordon; and Miss Parfitt the secretary, Dorothy Dewhurst All are well characterised. They are depicted as planning what they would do when they received the money and their reactions, when they hear that it may not be forthcoming, are shown in a human manner. Robert Cochran and Nancy O'Neill have little to do, but supply a conventional love interest. The story is neatly unfolded in spite of relying mainly on dialogue. •BIG TOWN GIRL Twentieth Century-Fox. American. "A " certificate. Romantic radio comedy-drama. Runs 70 minutes. Claire Trevor Fay Loring Murray Alper Marty Donald Woods Mark Tracy Spencer Charters Isaiah Wickenback Alan Dinehart Larry Edwards Maurice Cass Mr. Hull Alan Baxter James Mead Irving Bacon Petrol Station Attendant George Chandler Red Evans Directed by Alfred Werker. Based on original stories by Darrell Ware and Frances Whiting Reid. Extravagant story of a night-club dancer who, refusing to return to her bank-robber husband, is made a famous "masked" radio singer by a press agent, but is unmasked by a sceptical reporter who falls in love with her. Claire Trevor gives a spirited performance as the lady in the case and sings quite well. Donald Woods is not at all bad as the reporter, and Alan Dinehart makes a resourceful and amusing press agent. Gangster thrills are included, and the ending hands out a certain amount of rough stuff. 15