Week-End Marriage (Warner Bros.) (1932)

Review Great Story — Fine Cast And Able Direction in *“‘Week-End Marriage” Putting novelty and entertainment into the statement of a domestic problem is one of the tough problems that have always confronted playwrights and stage and screen _ directors. The way in which in “Week-End Marriage,” the First National picture which opened _yesterday at the.... This story of an almost illfated marriage strikes a happy medium _ between its prob GEORGE BRENT Cut No. 3 Cut 15ec Mat Sc. lem and entertainment aspects through the combination of good writing, fine acting and splendid di rection. It also provides winsome Loretta Young with one of the finest vehicles of her career. Can two people make a go of marriage while both are busy carving out careers for themselves in the business world? This is the question the picture propounds, and then it goes ahead and weaves a delightful plot around, this question. The picture definitely proves, as far as its story is concerned, that marriage is a fulltime career for women, and not a matter of week-ends only. The husband and wife team of Loretta Young and Norman Foster, which scored so well in “Play Girl,” again proves intriguingly effective. These two young players give a fine sparkle to their performances. Aline MacMahon, as the older sister, gives an outstanding piece of acting. Her unique personality and dry humor, effectively displayed in “Five Star Final” and “The Mouthpiece,” find an excellent outlet in “Week-End Marriage.” George Brent, Hollywood’s latest male “rave,” plays the part of the “other man.” Very fine support was given by Vivienne Osborne, J. Farrell MacDonald, Sheila Terry, Louise Carter, Grant Mitchell, Richard Tucker, J. Carroll Naish, Harry Holman, Luis Alberni and Thomas Jackson. Thornton Freeland, well-known director, merits applause for his direction of “Week-End Marriage,” eliciting all the lights and shades of comedy and drama with which the picture abounds. URRENT The story is based on a novel by Faith Baldwin and was adapted by Sheridan Gibney. “Week-End Marriage” is sincere and very pleasing screen entertainment. See it for a genuinely pleasant evening! Ia day of run Strong Cast Features ‘‘Week-End Marriage” at.... Theatre Judged by its cast alone, “WeekEnd Marriage,’ the First National picture at the... . Theatre, offers rare entertainment and fine performances. The team of Loretta Young and Norman Foster, having won such splendid success in the recent production of “Play Girl,” are man and wife again in “Week-End Marriage.” Loretta Young has been climbing steadily in the past few months in such pictures as “Taxi” and “The Hatchet Man.” Norman Foster will be remembered for his work in “Under Eighteen,” “Young Man of Manhattan” and “Alias the Doctor.” Aline MacMahon, who won acclaim in “Five Star. Final,” “The Heart of New York” and “The Mouthpiece,” is cast in a prominent supporting role. Teamed with her is Roscoe Karns, who won a place in moviedom through his fine portrayal of Hildy in the Los Angeles stage production of “The Front Page.” Heart thrills are well provided for. George Brent is just as heart damaging as in “So Big,” “Miss Pinkerton,” “The Rich Are Always With Us” and “The Night Flower.” Vivienne Osborne once more goes blonde and vampish, as in “T'wo Seconds.” J. Farrell MacDonald, by an odd coincidence, plays Loretta’s father again, just as, in ‘Play Girl,” . in which Norman Foster was also her husband. Other players equally well known | to screen fans are Grant Mitchell, Wilfred Lucas, J. Carroll Naish, Richard Tucker, Thomas’ Jackson, Sheila Terry, Harry Holman, Luis Alberni, Herman Bing and Allan Lane are also seen to advantage. Thornton Freeland directed. y nd day of run Aline MacMahon Has Made Four Hollywood Trips in Five Months Railroads will have to start issuing commutation tickets between New York and Hollywood, otherwise Aline MacMahon will have to decide to settle in either one of these cities. She has made four round trips in five months; and that is what’s known as covering a lot of ground. She first came to Hollywood for the stage production of “Once in a Lifetime,” which first brought Miss MacMahon to the attention of producers. When the run was over, she returned to New York only to be brought back for a featured role in “Five Star Final” for Warner Bros. That production over, she returned once more to the Big City, where she bumped into Mervyn LeRoy, director of the former production, who induced Miss MacMahon to return to the Coast with him for a part in “The Heart of New York.” No sooner had she returned to New York after finishing “The Heart of New York” than Warner Bros. decided they needed her for “The Mouthpiece.” So out she came again, played her part, and went back home. Then she had to come to Hollywood again to play with Loretta Young in “Week-End Marriage,” the current picture at the .... Theatre, with a prospect of staying on and taking a rest after so many train rides. She claims she knows almost every brakeman, conductor and Pullman porter between here and New York by his first name. ob rd day of run Norman Foster One of Filmdom’s Busiest Men Faint circles and a weary look around the eyes of Norman Foster don’t come from celebrating holidays, ie insists—and his friends believe im. The popular young leading man is so much in demand for motion pictures that he has made no less than six films in four months. He hasn’t had a day off in many months. “Under Eighteen,” “Alias the Doctor’ and “Play Girl” for Warner Bros.-First National, and “The Dove” and “Cobblestones” for other producers, are included among those that have featured his work. His most recent film is “Week-End Marriage,” the First National picture now at the . ...+ Theatre, in which he plays opposite Loretta Young. When the last scene of his-previous picture had been shot he breathed a sigh and said, “Now for a rest.” But a couple of days later he had started work again. He’s still hoping for that vacation, however. In “Week-End Marriage,” Foster, in real life the husband of Claudette Colbert, plays the husband of Loretta Young. Bares = ewan Ses. ee Af in day of run Loretta Young Gives Her ther to Save Improvidence is fast disappearing from Hollywood.| Now that the motion picture indtistry is out of its well known infancy there are many skeletons at the feast to warn the present luminaries that the proverbial rainy day is jnot just “unusual weather.” Director Thornton Freeland had a fresh reminder om the First National set of “Week-End Marriage,” which is now at the .. |. Theatre, in which he directed Lor tta Young. A former director, for whom Freeland once worked as assij ant, asked for and received a chant at an extra job. In one pictur which Freeland directed prior to} “Week-End Marriage,” he had no less than four former directors whom he had assisted in his earlier days--all working under him as extras. Investment, “ ead of spending, is now the great by of stars and directors. Lore Young turns her entire check ov 0 her mother every week, receive, regular allowance, and the balanc 3 carefully invested. CURRENT SHOR T “‘Week-End Marriage”’ Teams Loretta Young and Norman Foster Motion picture producers are ever on the alert for two young screen stars that would go well as a team because of their ability to enhance each other’s screen work. The most recent movie team to be featured in pictures consists of Loretta Young and Norman Foster. They worked together so well and were so convincingly suited to each other in “Play Girl” that First National cast them together again in Loretta’s latest picture, “Week-End Marriage,” which is now playing at SiG ss eee The large cast of “Week-End Marriage” includes Aline MacMahon, George Brent, Vivienne Osborne, J. Farrell MacDonald and many others. Thornton Freeland, a newcomer to the First National lot, directed. Loretta Your and George Brent as they appear in First National’s “Week-End * arriage.” Supporting them are Norman Foster and Aline MacMahon. Cust No. 5 Cut 30c Mat 10¢ CURRENT. Saturday or Sunday Feature George Brent Made 3 Tries at Hollywood Film Glory The test which various stars saw and which won George Brent the leading role opposite Ruth Chatterton in “The Rich Are Always With Us,” opposite Barbara Stanwyck in “So Big,” with Joan Blondell in “Miss Pinkerton” and with Loretta Young in “Week-End Marriage,” the First National picture which is playing at the . . . . Theatre, was made on Brent’s third trek to Hollywood in search of a “chance.” — Young actors are inclined to charge off their disappointments under the general heading of experience. Brent was no exception. He had charged off plenty before that memorable day when several famous stars seeking a leading man looked at a test he had made for Warner Bros.-First National and asked excitedly: “Where’s this man been all my lite?” An agent had arranged for the test. Brent all but rebelled at the time. He had been tested and tested and nothing much had ever come of the tests. The roles he had had in pictures were roles for which he had not been tested. “It’s astonishing how little help they give an actor who is new to the screen,” Brent says. “No one told me how to make up for my first tests in Hollywood. No one told me that it is not wise to move too fast before _ the camera. I came away from see ing my first test a sorely disappointed ewe All I had seen was a series of urs. “Of course by the time I made the Warner Bros.-First National test I was wise to some of the tricks of the trade. I knew where the camera was and where the microphone could be expected to be. But I’d found these things out by experience, not because anyone had ever told me about them.” With one ear to the ground for any New York offer, Brent waited for the results of his latest test to be relayed to him, directly or indirectly. While he waited, still not completely unpacked, several stars were sitting up excitedly in a darkened projection room at the Warner Bros.-First National studio demanding: “Where has this actor been all my life?” Brent was called, almost immediately, for another test, which Miss Chatterton personally directed, in which he, alone before the camera and under the microphone, read the lines of the part from “The Rich Are Always With Us,” from cues tossed to him from Miss Chatterton personally. Even his years of experience almost failed him then. It, was, he admits now, the most terrifying ex| perience of a thoroughly experienced. actor. / “I knew Miss Chatterton slightly,” | he says, “and I knew her’ great’ ability. “She was sympathetic and helpful, which made it more difficult. “A test is a brutal thing anyhow. You can’t help but be conscious of all those people out in front of you, watching to. see how well you can ‘act.’ And when Miss Chatterton is one of that audience and is feeding you lines which you are supposed to answer, well, it’s not easy.” try have been sending the merchandising plan to newspapers expecting the dramatic editor to go through the entire publicity section and pick the stories most adaptable to his needs, edit them and type them over. We suggest that YOU pick the stories, edit them and type them before submitting them in order to get yourself more publicity. It has come to our attention that many exhibitors throughout the coun Page Nine