Convention City (Warner Bros.) (1933)

a Page Two WE DO OUR PART December 9 E933 Fs “CONVENTION Sa Fist a HILARIO HAT W “4 LICKING THROUGHOU?: a burlesque 4 ‘ . n of conventioneers er cent business ant ting it UP 8 er cent refreshing conce no trouble giving want 3 mixture 93.8 Convention City (First National) Comedy This is Grade A and novel lowdown comedy from start to finish. A straightaway commercial so brimful of fastmoving laugh-drenched topical amusement that it’s actually big entertainment, for big city and small town. If your audiences go for this slam-bang, somewhat intimate yet never-stop-a-minute brand of fun creation, they surely should enjoy this one. Treating a familiar subject, a business convention, the idea of the show suggests a host of natural, spectacular, curiosity-stimulating ballyhoo activities. The show concentrates on portraying the funny, social, have-a-good-time side of such gatherings, bringing into relief the incidents that people like to remember and talk about after the brawl is over. The principal story is a hilarious amalgamation of about a dozen incidental stories. All have been dolled up to the limit with inside color, glamor, excitement. Alltake surprising twists. Besides being the stuff that entertains, “Convention City” ts liberally studded with scores of nifty spe londell, — ibbee, Frank US FARCE KEEP AUDIENCES ROL MOTION PICTURE HERALD SHOWMEN’S REVIEWS ay This department deals with new product ‘. from the point of view of the exhibitor QP ity ul who is to purvey it to his own public lu cial selling angles. The cast is of more than ordinary box office power. Every kind of showman will have his choice of specialties to exploit. ; Selling “Convention City” should be a cinch. First get your patrons to know, in the strongest ways you can, that it’s worth. more than the price of admission. Names in the cast should more than take care of all marquee, lobby and ad requirements. For ballyhoo purposes concentrate on one big idea. Make your theatre the grand headquarters for all fun lovers. Announce the show as a mammoth convention of all _ those who appreciate non-sensical mirth. Invite the women to get the low-down on what their hubbies do wher they shove off on one of these important blsiness gatherings where wives are not wanted. Renew for the men all the good times they had while conventioning. Brush up the old key to the city gag again. Hang up all the banners and pennants you can in your neighborhood. Circus the show to the limit. Pound home the idea that “Convention City” is not common, usual entertainment. Convince the crowd that it’s a new, different, unusual 70 minutes of laughter. —McCartuy, Hollywood. @ e e THAT IDEA of staging special skits as trailers for coming films, now being used by Warner-First Natiqnal, is clever stuff ‘in the one on “Convention City,” a cop interrupts a couple of safecrackers, just to tell them where the pix is playing... .... then a husband walks in on his wife and her sweetie, to tell them the same thing .. ....and when an acrobat, who is being balanced in mid-air, tells his partner about the picture, the latter walks out from under and leaves the former floating in mid-air oh * * Convention City Fast moving comedy that should be a money magnet at all houses, ‘Convention City’ was evidently built for entertainment and nothing else and succeeds 100 per cent. With a cast of names well chosen for their box-office attraction, plus good campaign material in the story, it can stand the strongest type of bally. Story is written around the sales convention of a rubber company in Atlantic City. There’s a thread of a yarn running through it, not too thick to interfere with a number of running gags and situations that kept the audience running the gamut of laughter from start fo finish. Archie Mayo has contributed. everything he knows about comedy direction to keep up the laugh average. Robert Lord has written a script that never lets down. Adolphe Menjou, on the make for the company president’s daughter, so that he may be promoted to sales manager, kicks around his chances when he takes the rap on a badger game frameup to save Guy Kibbee’s reputation. Kibbee’s wife tips off the Menjou spouse who is looking for a divorce and she catches him red handed with Joan Blondell, a gold digger. He tries hard to get back again with Patricia Ellis, the prexy’s daughter and is about to succeed when Mary Astor, who loves Menjou, argues Miss Ellis out of him. At the convention, Grant Mitchell, the sanctimonious president, announces the new sales-. manager, drunken Frank McHugh, who ran into the president while he was enjoying the company of ‘Mae LaRue, Insect Exterminator, insects exterminated at all hours.’ Picture at all times is hanging on the border of the bandy but never goes over the line. Smart cracks are flipped around with lightning speed. No performance is outstanding. . Everyone has his inning and everyone scores. For instance, Hugh Herbert runs _ all through the picture as a drunk, has less than a half dozen lines. Comes near copping the picture in the fadeout speech when he discovers he is attending the wrong convention. Menjou plays a fast talking, wise cracking salesman, a character unusual for him, gives a performance that should heighten his popularity. Same for Dick Powell in a similar part. Joan Blondell takes her share of the honors as the gold digger. Frank McHugh takes care of himself. Guy Kibbee and Ruth Donnelly as henpecked husband and bossy wife have their innings. Mary Astor, Hobart Cavanaugh, Sheila Terry, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Westcott, Johnny Arthur and Huey White are all fine in smaller parts. Photography and sets are excellent, also the cutting job of Owen Marks. oe a)