Picturegoer (Jul-Dec 1937)

PICTUREGOER Weekly July 17. 1937 REVIEWS by Lionel Collier AS a full-blooded boxing story you will find Kid Galahad hard to beat. ^ It is certainly the best picture of the ring since The Patent Leather Kid and has not only the thrill of realistically produced fights but also sound human characterisation. It takes you behind the scenes of boxing promotion and shows you the inner workings of a shady racket, but does not forget to introduce a touch of very pleasing romance. The Kid is played by Wayne Morris, a comparative newcomer who on his showing here looks like doing things in the near future. He •has very much the same sort of effect as Gary Cooper; an obvious sincerity and direct naturalness. But the mainstays of the production are Edward G. Robinson as Donati, a boxing manager, and Bette Davis as his girl friend who frequently saves him from making a fool of himself but leaves him when she discovers she has fallen in love with his new "champion" find, a bell hop who does not reciprocate her affection. Actually, the Kid falls in love with his manager's sister, Marie, which causes trouble in the camp because the promoter had determined at all costs to keep his sister away from the boxing fraternity. However, by this time Kid Galahad is nearly due to a championship fight. Forgetting his hatred of the rival manager who had doublecrossed him, Donati concentrates on "ruining" the Kid because he had made love to his sister. He forces an early fight and gives the Kid the worst possible advice in tactics. He is appealed to by his sister and his girl friend and manages to turn the tide of battle in favour of his protege. This incenses the crook manager of the rival boxer who, on Donati's advice, had bet heavily on his own man, and he shoots him. Edward G. Robinson seems as much fated to die in every picture in which he appears as does Humphrey Bogart, who appears as his rival and is also neatly "bumped off." Both these performances are excellent; I expect to see the latter's name in the big lights before long, he has not had a really good break though since The Petrified Forest. Bette Davis is sensitive and intelligent as the girl friend and brings real feeling to a difficult role. Jane Bryan is attractive as Donati's sister. Although the picture is played in melodramatic vein it is definitely holding throughout and the ring fights are immense. NIGHT MUST FALL IF the idea of a repressed woman's momertary infatuation for a homicidal maniac suggests a good basis for entertainment to you, you will like this picture very much for it is extremely well acted and the macabre nature of the theme is driven relentlessly home. If it had succeeded in doing nothing else it would have proved that Robert Montgomery has something more to give to the screen than the care-free playboy roles to 32 which he has been typed up to the present. It was a bold move on his part and one which will result in giving scope to his versatility but, for my part, I hope he will not find it necessary to repeat this essay in morbid psychological characterisation. Emlyn Williams' play deals with an hotel boot-boy, Danny, who ingratiates himself with a wealthy old woman living in a lonely house on the edge of a forest and gets taken on as her personal attendant. A murder has been committed in the neighbourhood which causes great excitement in the remote rural district and especially interests the old woman's niece and companion, Olivia, who suffers from repression. Danny tries to captivate Olivia and eventually does succeed in fascinating her, although she is always recoiling from him. Eventually she convinces herself that Danny is the murderer and that he carries the head of his woman victim in a hat box. Later the body is found and the head is missing. Quite convinced Olivia still feels attracted to Danny and somehow sympathetic; she helps him hide the hat box. Then one night overcome with fear as to what she might do she runs from the house. Danny, left alone, murders his mistress, robs the safe and prepares to set the house on fire. At that moment Olivia returns drawn by the same fatal fascination. Danny tells her he must murder her but at the critical moment the police arrive together with a man who had always loved Olivia. The play is acted with a touch of fantasy and comedy but the humour merely heightens the horror of the situations. Robert Montgomery is brilliantly insane, depicting the low cunning of a type which covers an inferiority complex with boastful lying and inimitable sangfroid which breaks down only occasionally. Rosalind Russell is very good as Olivia, but somehow one cannot bring oneself to believe that she could possibly be fascinated by the type represented by Danny however deep her complexes and repressions. Dame May Whitty gives a very clever character study of the gullible old lady and two cockney maids are amusingly and convincingly played by Merle Tottenham and Kathleen Harrison. All the action takes places in the lonely house and the wood surrounding it. Dialogue is good but at times is inclined to be affectedly clever. WE FROM KRONSTADT A Russian film dealing with the defeat of the White Army besieging Petrograd by the timely arrival of marines and sailors from the Red stronghold at Kronstadt. It is all rather confused and the adventures of the hero, a sailor, who appears to elevate himself to the rank of admiral or general in an exceedingly short space of time, are presented in a serial-like manner with not a little unconscious humour. Battle sequences involve the slaying of remarkable numbers of White soldiers without a great deal of slaughter in the Red ranks. There is, however, one incident when a landing party of Red marines are captured and driven over a cliff into the sea with stones round their necks. Rather in the manner of Monte Cristo, our sailor hero manages to escape and takes the news to Kronstadt whence an expedition sets out to save the defenders of Petrograd. V. Zaichikov is good as a Commissar in the Kronstadt Expeditionary Naval Division and G. Bushnev is vital and dynamic as the sailor. A woman who hides in a shell hole and pops off advancing White troops with a natural sangfroid is quite well played by Raisa Esipova. Incidentally she is the excuse for what light relief there is. The sailor sees her and tries to accost her and a soldier warns him off. This rouses the sailor's undying hatred, but eventually they become friends and the sailor is informed that the woman is an infantry commander's wife. Camera work is generally very good, as is the composition, but there are one or two patchy sequences. One would have found the picture more entertaining if the position of the rival armies had been classified. Sub-titles explain the action inadequately. The film is being accorded a special run at the Academy, Oxford Street, London. On the Screens Now c* •CONFLICT General F.D. American. " U " certificate. Outdoor drama. Runs 61 minutes. John Wayne Pat Jean Rogers Maude Tommy Burp Tommy Eddie Borden Spider Frank Sheridan Sam Ward Bond Carrigan Margaret Mann Ma Blake Harry Wood Kelly Bryant Washburn City Editor Frank Hagney Maloae Directed by David Howard, adapted from Jack London's "The Abysmal Brute." This is particularly good stuff for juveniles. It deals in a robust manner with a youth from the backwoods who joins a boxing booth. His job is to go to a town, establish himself as a boxer and when his employer arrives with his show get all his friends to back him in a fight and then sell it. Eventually he meets real friends in a town and mends his ways at the expense of his unscrupulous employer. John Wayne is good in the leading role and the friends he makes are attractively played by Jean Rogers and Tommy Bupp. Good support is given by Frank Sheridan, Ward Bond and Margaret Mann. The atmosphere is picturesque and convincing and the fights well staged. ••FEATHER YOUR NEST A.B.F.D. British. "V" certificate. Comedy with music. Runs 88 minutes. George Formby Willie Polly Ward Mary Taylor Enid Stamp-Taylor Daphne Randall Val Rosing .Rex Randall Clifford Heatherley Their Valet Dave Burnaby Sir Martin Frederick Burtwell Murgatroyd Frederick Piper Mr. Green Frank Perpitt Studio Manager 3 Rhythm Sistkrs 3 Rhythm Sisters Syd Crossley Constable Jack Barty Mr. Chester Ethel Coleridge Mrs. Taylor Mike Johnson Potman Jimmy Goddeh Mr. Higgins Moore Marriott Mr. Jenkins Directed by William Beaudine. Adapted from a story by Joan and Sheila Campbell. Avery slight story gives scope for George Formby to indulge in his comicalities and put over some bright song numbers. He is well supported by a capable cast and by William Beaudine's fertile exploitation of gags and situations. Formby is cast as a gramophone recordist who breaks the matrix of a record made by a crooner and substitutes one of his own. So eventually fame comes his way and enables him to marry the pretty daughter of the tough proprietress of a public house. Polly Ward is refreshingly unsophisticated as the heroine. The action is brisk and the atmosphere of English middle class family life well maintained. ••MAID OF SALEM Paramount. American. "A" certificate. Period romance. Runs 84 minutes. Claudette Colbert Barbara Clarke Fred MacMurray Roger Covermaa of Virginia Harvey Stephens Dr. John Harding Gale Sondergaard Martha Louise Dresser Ellen Clarke Bessie Bartlett Timothy Edward Ellis Elder Goode Beulah Bondi Abigail Bonita Granville Ann Virginia Weidler Naby Donald Meek Ezra Cheeves E. E. Clive Bilge Halliwell Hobbes Jeremiah Pedro Cordoba Mr. Morse Madame Sil-te-wan Tituba Lucy Beaumont Rebecca Nurse Henry Kolker Crown Chief Justice Laughton William Farnum Crown Justice Sewall Ivan Simpson Rev. Parris Brandon Hurst Tithing Man Sterling Holloway Miles Corbin Zeffie Tilbury Goody Hodgers Babs Nelson Baby Mercy Cheeves Mary Treen Suty Abbott ; J. Farrell MacDonald Captain of Ship; Stanley Fields First Mate Lionel Belmore Tavem Keeper Directed by Frank Uoyd. Previewed M arch IS, 1937. In spite of the fact that she acta extremely well, Claudette Colbert] is not well cast as a Puritan maid; who gets accused of witchcraft and is nearly burned in this story of thai New England of the seventeenth! century. As a matter of fact, the juvenile! roles played by Bonita Granville, as a vindictive little girl, and Virginiai Weidler as her sister and Benniej Bartlett as a little boy are some of i the best in the picture. Fred MacMurray as the hero, an: outlaw who saves the Puritan maid plays far too much in a musical] comedy vein but good character! studies are given by Harvey Stephens] as a doctor and Gale Sondergaard as his wife. Frank Lloyd's direction is very} leisurely but he does at least make, the atmosphere a convincing one! and leads up cleverly to the mass] hysteria which results in innocent! people being burnt as witches. Crowd handling is excellent and! the court scenes have real dramatic] force. ••RACING LADY Radio. American. " U" certificate. Romantic comedy-drama. Runs 59 minutes. Ann Dvorak Roth Martin Smith Ballew Steven Wendel Harry Carey Tom Martin Berton Churchill Judge Frank M. Thomas Bradford Ray Mayer Warbler Willie Beet Bras* Hattie McDaniel Abby Harry Jans Lewii Lew Payton J«*| Harlan Tucker Gilbert Directed fcv Wallace Fox. Based on two stones, "All Scarlet" by Damon Runvon and "Odds Are Even," by J. Robert Br en and Norman Houston. Unpretentious but exhJarating story of the turf put over with plenty of humour, a strong romantic interest and racing thrills Ann Dvorak scores as the daughter {Continued on page 34)