College Coach (Warner Bros.) (1933)

(Review) “College Coach” Is Mighty Interesting Entertainment Dick Powell, Pat O’Brien, Lyle Talbot and Ann Dvorak in Rousing Football Picture W HETHER you’re interested or not in football, you’ll get a great kick out of seeing ‘‘College Coach,’’ the Warner Bros. picture which opened last night at the Theatre. tainment for the entire family. sister along with you. Here is entertainment—real enter By all means bring junior and It’s a touchdown from the very first scene.: The picture shows how certain colleges have commercialized football in order to raise funds. But is isn’t just a foot ball picture, although the scenes on the gridiron are about as spectacular and as exciting as watching the annual Army and Navy -Game.. It is a elever motion picture, with splendid dialogue, smart pieces of business, a thoroughly absorbing story and a east. ef superb players. Pat O’Brien plays the title role as professional coach Gore, who is hired away “from another institution by Calvert College. Gore has a reputation for turning out winning football teams, something that has been sadly lacking at Calvert. The college is in a hole financially and. the trustees realize that by getting a winning football team, they will be able to turn a deficit into a neat yearly profit. Gore ealls football coaching a racket and is out to win at any cost. He imports a complete football team with the exception of the quarterback played by Dick Powell, who does splendidly in his first’ straight role. Powell is the captain of the team and is the only member of the team concerned about getting an education. Gore’s code is win the game at all costs. Even to the extent of so seriously injuring an opposing player that the player dies from the effect of an illegal tackle. Lyle Talbot as the conceited but unstoppable imported back, Dick Powell as the clean cut highly honorable student, Hugh Herbert as the very funny “Yes Man” to Coach Pat O’Brien -and Ann Dvorak, as the petulant, neglected wife of the College Coach, all give finished performances. The triangles, in. which Pat O’Brien, Lylé<"Talbot ‘and Ann Dvorak figure, is very plausibly developed with a totally unexpected climax that leaves everyone happy. Dick Powell, whom fans. have come to admire for his singing and attractive personality in “42nd Street,” “Gold Diggers of 1933” and “Footlight Parade,” puts over a catch tune entitled, “Lonely Lane.” With the exception of this one song, Powell plays Stet ae thit throughout. Other players in the exceptional cast includes Arthur Hohl, Berton Chur ehill, Arthur Byron, and Phillip FaverPAT O’BRIEN sham, in adMat No.1, dition to Price 5c. scores of football stars recruited for the actual football scenes -from California colleges, William Wellman, who directed, got about everything possible out of the exceptional story. Niven Busch and Manuel Seff, wrote both the original story and did the screen adaptation. We recommend “College Coach” very strongly because it is excellent entertainment. Current Publicity Opening Day Story “College Coach,” An Eye-Opening Football Film, Opens at Football fans who yearn to see a conference match will have their opportunity today when the Warner Bros. sensational football picture, “College Coach,” comes to the Rie ey a ee eee Theatre with Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak and Pat O’Brien in the featured roles. For this picture shows real football scrimmages with California’s greatest gridiron heroes in the line up, every man on the teams being a star from one of the state’s universities. The teams mix in the fiercest football battles ever seen on the screen. Bands, cheer leaders and cheering enthusiasts add to the color and the spirit of the games. But the spectator will see more than football for the picture goes back of the scenes to tell how winning football teams are sometimes made, when a college decides to commercialize football. Pat O’Brien, himself a former erack football player of Marquette University, has the role of professional coach.with Ann Dvorak the central figure of the triangular love affair in which Lyle Talbot, as the star imported half-back, is involved. Dick Powell has the heroic lead, the one man ‘on the university football squad who takes his studies seriously. Others in the large cast include such notable players as Arthur Byron, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Hohl, Phillip Faversham, Guinn Williams, Nat Pendleton, Berton Churchill and Harry Beresford. William A. Wellman directed the picture: from the screen play by Niven Busch and Manuel Seff. Here is one of the many tense moments in “College Coach,” startling new football picture, which is daily regaling SE audiences. In this scene, we see some of the stars of the cast including Ann Dvorak, Arthur Hohl, Pat O’Brien, and Lyle Talbot. Dick Powell also has an important role in the film. Mat No.15, Price 15c. —————— Ist day of run No Retakes Required With Pat O’Brien Through 147 Scenes When Termis O’Brien earned the monicker “Hard Rock” O’Brien because of his rough-and-tumble prowess in Cork, Ireland, late in the 16th Century he started something. That something is a string of nicknames which become attached to any of the numerous O’Brien elan with ease and tenacity. Once on, they stick. Cheek over the modern list. “Philadelphia Jack” O’Brien is synonymous with the cauliflower art of boxing. “Saturday Night” O’Brien brings fond memories to died-in-the-wool New Yorkers of the bluff, lovable Irishman who roared up and down Broadway on his endof-the-week sprees. Racing has its “Hurricane Finish” O’Brien, football its “Antelope” O’Brien of Notre Dame fame, and so on down the line. Now Pat O’Brien joins his kinsmen with “One Take” O’Brien, earned because of his recent motion picture work. in “College Coach,” a gridiron film produced by Warner Bros., now showing at the Theatre. “One Take” was bestowed upon Pat by Director William A. Wellman .after the final scene of the picture was filmed, because every |jone of O’Brien’s 147 scenes was perfectly registered both in the film and on the sound track. Regardless as to whether the sequence dealt with the slam-bang football action of Lyle Talbot, Dick Powell, and the 77 crack college players used in the picture, or close-up romance between Pat and vivacious Ann vorak, who has the leading feminine role, O’Brien’s dialogue, enunciation, and action before the turning cameras was flawless. Whenever a “re-take” was necessary, it was through no fault of Pat O’Brien and his nickname is sticking. “College Coach” is the thrilling lowdown on how some colleges commercialize football. 2nd day of run O’Brien Duplicates Famous Touchdown at Marquette For Film A few years ago this.coming football season 25,000 hysterical . Marquette University rooters got the thrill of their lives when Quarterback Pat O’Brien smashed _ offtackle on Notre Dame’s 45-yard line and zig-zagged through the Irish secondary defense for a touchdown. That lone tally remained the only score until Notre Dame unleashed an unstoppable attack late in the game to overcome Marquette and_ finally nose them out. But regardless of the outcome, Pat O’Brien’s touchdown caused much joy and sorrow for 35 minutes of furious action. O’Brien turned actor after graduation, and his association with football had been limited to a stadium seat until Warner Bros. assigned him the title role in ‘“College Coach,” a picture now showing at the Theatre. While shooting the football action at the historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Director William A. Wellman was momentarily stopped when the script called for a scoring play without indicating what that play should be. As Pat talked over the situation with Director Wellman the years rolled away and he saw the same situation that confronted him as the Marquette field-general with Notre Dame’s goal-line 45 yards away. “T’]] show you the play, Bill,’ he exclaimed, rubbing his hands enthusiastically. “Just let me handle this.” oof With that O’Brien called the two scrimmaging teams together, lined them up in formation and stepped through the play, showing exactly how the ball-carrier’s interference should cut down the secondary defense. “College Coach” is a thrilling ‘romance of campus life, with a revealing truth about football. In the cast with O’Brien are Dick Powell, Ann. Dvorak, Arthur Byron, Lyle: Talbot, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Hohl and 77 of California’s crack gridiron stars. 3rd day of run Herbert, Comedian in “College Coach,” Has List of Pet Hates Hugh Herbert, the Warner Bros. featured player, who furnishes the comedy in “College Coach,” now showing at the Theatre, with Pat O’Brien, Ann Dvorak, Lyle Talbot and Dick Powell, has just come to the conclusion that he has a larger collection of pet aversions than any actor on the west coast. The other day, being in an introspective frame of mind, Hugh took a pencil and a pad and started to jot down a list of things he had discovered he didn’t like — goatgetters, betes noires, or whatever you want to call ’em. An what a list it turned out to be! Getting up early, meeting strangers, fifty-cent parking lots, ealf’s brains, tripe, Mexican hairless dogs, the radio next door, loud socks, high-powered salesmen, home brew, birds’ nest soup, screaming brakes, child prodigies, autograph fiends, stale jokes, post-mortems at cards, backslappers and buttonholers, after-dinner speeches, rumble seats. “Outside of those few items, I’m the easiest person to please in the world,” said Herbert. “T would like almost everything and everybody. I don’t get ‘nerves’; I’m not temperamental.” “College Coach” is a_ thrilling story of the gridiron in which 77 of |the most famous college football stars appear. There are also some startling revelations in regard to football methods, as practiced at certain colleges. William A. Wellman directed it from the screen play by Niven Busch and Manuel Seff. Ath day of run “College Coach” Set Moved to Let Powell Work in 2 Pictures The “College Coach” company moved suddenly one day during the production of the picture, which is now showing at the Theatre. Everybody wondered why. With the exception of football sequences photographed at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, all shooting on this football story had been done at the Warner Bros. studios in North Hollywood. Why then the sudden shift to a sound stage at the Sunset Boulevard studios of the company in downtown Hollywood. The reason was Dick Powell — a lad of growing importance in the movie business. Dick was working in two pictures at the same time, an unusual procedure for a featured player or a star. Archie Mayo was directing “Convention City” as well as the lead in “College Coach.” Shooting schedules on both pictures allow for no lost time. Therefore, it became a question of moving one company or the other. Certain small set sequences for “College Coach” were easier to transfer than Mayo’s impressive hotel lobby. Dick learned to shed a football uniform almost between sound stages. In a portable dressing room, he exchanges it for the tailored business suit he wears in “Convention City” and then bobs up smiling on the hotel lobby set. And often he had to change back again to the gridiron outfit before his working day was ended. “College Coach” is a thrilling tale of gridiron heroes with some inside information on how certain colleges commercialize football. Romance is furnished by Ann Dvorak who flirts with Lyle Talbot, while married to Coach Pat O’Brien. Page Seven