Picture-Play Magazine (1933)

The Screen in Review (il are buddies late of the marines, calling themselves Bill and Toodles. Their names indicate that Mr. Fairbanks is the hero and Mr. McHugh comic relief, and right you arc. They become mixed up with a gangster who employs them to transport HHKHT S^8£?P^ l^^s^^fe 1 B^?it^iCT«kitis^vhiL m it may be good practice for Miss Dunne, it is indifferent exercise for the critical moviegoer. To him it is a tryout for a beginner in acting and a futile resurrection of outmoded material on the part of the producers. It is a melodrama of what is called. for lack of a harsher term, mother love. In the movies this means but one thing, the inevitability of suffering for mother and work for the make-up man. For mother must age as she is buffeted by life in order that she look properly seedy for the big moment when she faces the son that was torn from her because of her unworthiness. It's all here, only mother is blameless. The only thing her inhuman father-in-law had on her was a sedate dance in a dive. And though her son grows up to be a cad, mother love will not be frustrated longer. She proclaims herself guilty of the murder he committed. liquor in planes, but they are really In the early episodes Miss Dunne carrying dope without knowing it. 5 charming as the American show Pursued by a government aviator, .ondon, but lose her indi the} have a crack-up without, however, being badly hurt and Mr. Fairbanks is paired off with Bette Davis. She first appears in Central Park, a tidy victim of the depression with no bed of her own till Mr. Fairbanks offers one where she is, of course, ready and eager to defend herself against insult. But you feel it is more for the sake of a "hot" scene. Earlier in the picture Mr. Fairbanks, a rose thrust above his ear, frolicks in a Central American joint. If you can bear it, this is your picture. "Nagana." Tala Birell, Melvyn Douglas, Onslow Stevens, M. Morita, Everett Brown, Noble Johnson. Frank Lackteen. Tip is applied to An undecided mixture of jungle simulate age and hard experience, animals, scientific experiment and She follows the convention set by heavy vamping, this combination some of her predecessors in similar roles by altering her figure and carriage not at all. Shrewd casting guided the choice of Douglas Walton as her son. He actually resembles his screen mother and gives a good performance. Lionel Atwill does what he can with the relentless father-in-law, Phillips Holmes forsakes the picture early and Jean Parker, a touching ingenue, appears late and briefly. "Parachute Jumper." Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Frank McHugh, Bette Davis, Leo Carillo, Claire Dodd, Sheila Terry, Harold Huber. Any one interested in Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.? If so, here is your opportunity to see him in a program film apparently devised for smaller theaters where presumably critical makes for nothing but confusion and enjoyment is at a low ebb. futility, not even uniform photog Mr. Fairbanks and Frank McHugh raphy giving visual satisfaction. A doctor attempts a serum to cure sleeping sickness when a former flame appears and diverts him from his humanitarian labors. He penetrates the jungle and comes upon a tribe of natives who are dying of the sickness. Succeeding in winning their confidence, his redoubled efforts are defeated by the reappearance of the lad_\ who antagonizes the tribesmen, mixes the serum and. for all \ know, releases the annuals that wreck his laboratory. Anyhow, she is condemned to be devoured by crocodiles but is rescued by the patient doctor who escapes with her. Tala Birell, a plain and pleasanl person, is miscast as the devastating charmer, and Melvyn Douglas carries on as a leading man should. Onslow Stevens is arresting, vital, and superior, his magnificent voice striking fire from the brief words allotted him before passing out. A Japanese, M. Morita. is excellent as the doctor's devoted aid. "What! No Beer?" Jimmy Durante, Buster Keaton, Phyllis Barry, John Miljan, Roscoe Ates, Henry Armetta, Edward Brophy, Sidney Bracy. Buster Keaton's farewell to MetroGoldwyn gives major opportunities to Jimmy Durante, but we needn't inquire into this. Though hardly a comic masterpiece, the picture provides almost continuous laughter. I believe that is what the majority hope for when they go to see a comedy, caring not at all for implications of genius in the actors or cosmic significance in their vehicle. Never mind, then, about faults found in this. It is funny and timely, haphazard, roughhouse, and down to earth. It has to do with a pair of nitwits who buy a brewery on the supposition that the thirty-second amendment will soon become a fact, and they proceed clumsily to operate the plant. Their innocence as lawbreakers causes racketeers to misContinued on page 67