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for August 193 1
59
Best Pictures
SCREENLAND'S Critic Selects the Most Important Screenplays of the Month
Ten Best Portrayals of the Month:
John Boles in "Seed" Lois Wilson in "Seed" Lewis Stone in "Fame" Doris Kenyon in "Fame" Genevieve Tobin in "Seed" Clark Gable in "A Free Soul" Norma Shearer in "A Free Soul" Edward G. Robinson in "Smart Money" Jackie Cooper in "Young Donovan's Kid" Miriam Hopkins in "The Smiling Lieutenant'
Seed
U?iiversal
HERE'S the picture people are talking about. And no wonder. It's the most human drama that has come to the screen in a long time. Director John Stahl has done a good job, although his scenario dodges the theme of Charles Norris' best-selling book — which was birth control. The picture becomes an absorbing, sympathetic cross-section of an American family — about a man who, after ten years of married life, leaves his wife and children for another woman. Now don't think of this in terms of the usual movie triangle. John Boles as the husband isn't a cad. Genevieve Tobin as the other woman isn't a "vamp." And Lois Wilson as the wife is far from being the old-fashioned snivelling martyr. They're all real. Splendid acting, especially by Miss Wilson. See it.
Fame
First Natio?ial
HERE is as neat and witty and bright a picture as you can find. Directed by Robert Milton, who gave us "Outward Bound," it's safe and sane for the whole family. It's a comedy drama of thwarted ambitions — but don't let that keep you away. This story of an aspiring artist who gives up his hopes for a substantial job with a soap manufacturer for his family's sake is spirited and clever. Ironic when the man in question quits his job to dabble in art again only to sell his masterpiece for use in a soap advertisement! With such splendid players as Lewis Stone, Doris Kenyon, Evalyn Knapp, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkle and John Darrow in the cast you are assured of fine entertainment. Butterworth is really funny. The quaintest man on the screen.
Young Donovan's Kid m
Radio Pictures
STRONG men swallow hard and weak women love to weep when Jackie Cooper comes on. And here he is again, this wonderful kid whom even our meanest critics are calling a genuinely great actor. Jackie doesn't steal "Young Donovan's Kid" — he is "Donovan's Kid." Even a fine performance by Richard Dix can't take this picture away from its rightful star — that tough, homely, intelligent child known as Skippy. You'll like Jackie even more as the gangster's son who is adopted by Donovan after daddy bites the dust. Marion Shilling is the girl interest. The story? Punch and pathos — or bunk and bathos, it all depends upon how deeply the Cooper kid can move you. I'm for him, so I liked "Young Donovan's Kid." And I hope you do, too.
John Boles, Lois Wilson, and Genevieve Tobin, the "triangle" in the fine domestic drama, "Seed."
"Fame" is a charming picture, in which Lewis Stone and Doris Kenyon are seen to advantage.
' Young Donovan' s Kid" features Jackie Cooper and stars Richard Dix, with Marion Shilling.