Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

118 Advertising Section For all around, good lively reading! The Popular MAGAZINE A fiction magazine that specializes in variety On the news stands the 7th and 20th of each month Best at any price OllllllllllilllillllllllllllllillllM The Screen in ReVievtf Continued from page 98 to live down their roles, but Reed Howes manages somehow to make Butch believable. The picture is chock-full of sound effects, including the discordant hubbub of the carnival. Still More Underworld. Once more the underworld is lighted by Kleigs, the machine guns do their stuff, the motor-cycle squad turns out, the "gats" pop, and a crook is shown to be smarter than the police department. It is called "State Street Sadie" this time, is aided and abetted by the Vitaphone, and is fair melodrama, which through sound effects and snatches of dialogue, will achieve a standing it might not otherwise possess. The story is typical of the movies, its preposterousness being disguised by its quick movement. Conrad Nagel's twin brother works in a bank which is robbed by gunmen who, in the melee, kill a policeman and fasten their guilt on the twin. This is responsible for his suicide, whereupon Mr. Nagel turns up to avenge his brother's death, and unmask the master mind known as "The Chief." In bringing this about, he meets State Street Sadie who, oddly enough — or it would be odd outside the movies — is the daughter of the slain policeman. Need it be added that the master mind is unmasked by the hero and heroine masquerading as crooks, and that love lights their future? William Russell contributes a gripping, though florid, character study as the principal crook, and his work is given further importance by his skillful handling of dialogue. As much can also be said of George Stone, but Mr. Nagel, though reputedly satisfactory as a Vitaphonist, sounds to me as if he had a cold in the head, and Myrna Loy's exotic appearance is nullified when her pallid voice is heard. Oleomargarine. The reason I take issue with "The Butter and Egg Man" is not only because it is a slow, conventional movie, directed and acted without resourcefulness or imagination, but because the character around which the stage play was written has been ignored and a counterfeit substituted. This character, by name Peter Jones, was a shy, idealistic youth with a beaming belief in the theater and the people of it, though he knew little of either. In the picture he has, it is true, the same name ; but, woe is me, he becomes a natty movie actor of distinctly moviesque countenance and acting. In a word, he becomes Jack Mulhall who, veteran performer though he is, is about as shy and wistful as an Elk. So that when Peter comes to Broadway with $12,500 to invest in the theatrical business, all the point of his deception and fleecing by a pair of fly-by-night promoters is lost. Peter, as seen on the screen, appears to be quite able to see through any gold-brick proposition made to him. And so it goes. At any rate — and this is written wearily — Peter turns the tables on his betrayers, recoups his money, espouses the leading lady, and leaves his enemies on the brink of ruin. It is all drearily trite despite the presence of Greta Nissen, who in appearance is a rhythmic poem but who, because of this, resembles more the star of a Ziegfeld revue than the heroine of what in theatrical parlance is known as a "turkey" show. Pleasing and Funny, Too. A thoroughly pleasant little picture is "Heart to Heart," in which Mary Astor, Lloyd Hughes, Louise Fazenda, Lucien Littlefield, and others appear. Characterizations count more than plot, but the latter is sufficiently fresh to be interesting. The Princess Delatorre, nee Ellen Boyd, revisits Millertown, Ohio, her birthplace. Great preparations are made to receive her with all the honors due a circus, her Aunt Katie being the ringleader. Arriving on an early train, and without the court robes expected by the natives, nobody recognizes her. In fact, she is mistaken for a seamstress by her aunt, who thinks the worst when Uncle Joe is discovered carrying on what is thought to be a flirtation with her. To insure sentimental interest for the picture, the Princess looks up her childhood sweetheart. If a childhood sweetheart in the movies ever failed to deliver the sentimental goods, please advise. The picture is replete with amusing touches, with no little slapstick to make laughter doubly sure. Louise Fazenda, as Aunt Katie, and Lucien Littlefield, as Uncle Joe, make the most of their opportunities, and Mary Astor is beautiful and charming as the Princess. Lloyd Hughes is the essential young man. "Heart to Heart" is a homy picture, with plenty of laughter guaranteed and every opportunity to see Louise Fazenda increases one's admiration for her ability to be funny, without ever repeating her characterizations. Mary Astor is becoming a better actress in each role she essays.