Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

Advekti s i n ( ; S ec no x 107 The Screen in ReViev? Continued from page 105 pleasant. This is really a gross injustice, for Pia and Lorens arc the most interesting characters and arc played by the best actors, Alona Rico, a newcomer, and Victor Varconi. But finally they are in luck when Marcus and Ciglia die together in a landslide, which hurls them presumably to "eternal love." Anyway the scenery is superb and uplifting, even if the drama is not. Printer's Ink. Because it is an all-dialogue picture, "Gentlemen of the Press" entertains more through the power of speech than the inherent drama of the piece. The latter, strong as it is intended to be, never registers fully. Yet the characters are played by capable actors with interesting personalities. It is the special audience, with a knowledge of newspaper life and types, that will find what the casual moviegoer may not. Its humor is sardonic, its tragedy is marked, and over all is futility. Surely not the prescription for a snappy movie, with plenty of laughs and no afterthoughts. The central character is Wickland Sncll, night editor and veteran newspaper man. He is absent from home when his daughter is born, again absent when she marries, and is too busy getting out a special edition to be present when she dies. The irony of his life is stressed when, in the face of all this, his advice is sought by a hero-worshiping youth who wishes to be a great newspaper man. Wickland Sncll advises him to get out of the game before it poisons him. The cast is comprised of stage players, all of whom do well, particularly Charles Ruggles, as an inebriated reporter. Others are Walter Huston, Kay Francis, Betty Lawford, and Norman Foster. The "It" Girl of Africa. The picture once known as "The Woman Who Needed Killing" has become "A Dangerous Woman," but that doesn't save it from my murderous instincts. Told entirely in dialogue, it is a rococo story of an Englishman in .Africa, whose Russian wife exerts such a fatal fascination upon the lives of his young assistants, that suicide is the only way out for them. Yet all she does is to dress scantily, play the piano coolly and sing with a tremolo. It's enough, however, to make the Englishman's young brother no exception to the rule. So the husband poisons his wife's lime juice and confesses his supposed crime. But a venomous snake supplies the needed poison, which leaves the brothers free to return to England. Perhaps there's no necessity to harp on the shortcomings of the picture, especially as the director and players have done well in other ventures. So it is more in anguish than reproach that I implore Clive Brook, Baclanova, and Neil Hamilton not to be bad any more. To Leslie Fenton goes a low bow for contributing the grain of good that can be found even in the murk of a picture like this. Wkat the Fans Think Continued from page 103 My second choice is Charles Farrell. He is a whimsical, lovable youth. So adorably real, so human, that he might break all the Ten Commandments, and we'd love him just the same. Mrs. Alice H. Osborne. Y. W. C. A., Billings, Montana. The High-hat Complaints. If only the fans would stop crying "high-hat stars"! Now Gary Cooper is getting it. It's too bad a star has to continually bear the sign, "I'm the friendliest person on earth" ! One fan writes something about "spending money on those who are not worth it." Oh, well, I guess the stars had better quit the picture business and look up the fans, give them long, friendly chats and wide smiles. A real fan goes to the theater to see So-and-so act. If, later, she reads, or has occasion to find out personally, that So-and-so is high-hat, she will continue to go to the theater and pay her fee to see him act. Anyway, how can a fan judge whether or not a star is high-hat? I'd like to know that. Gary Cooper isn't high-hat with Lupe Velez or Lane Chandler. Me. 120 Broadway, Alton, Illinois. Neighbor Marian Nixon. I'm very much interested in Marian Nixon. She is a neighbor of mine, and just about the cutest trick off screen there is. I say off screen, 'because Marian is much more beautiful in real life. Naturally, living close by, I see her often, and some day I hope to meet her. I had occasion to visit Universal City about a year ago. I mentioned that I would like to meet Miss Nixon, but she was not working that day. I was very disappointed. Later I wrote Marian a little note expressing my disappointment. One afternoon, about two weeks later, my doorbell rang. I opened the door, and there stood Mrs. Nixon, Marian's mother. She had brought me a very beautiful autographed photograph of her daughter. 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