Screenland (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

for December 1935 53 HAIL NINO MARTINI! Screen's New Star of Song NOT since Grace Moore enthralled us in "One Night of Love" has the screen offered such a thrill as Nino Mar, tini's voice in "Here's to Romance." The slender young Latin from the Manhattan Metropolitan is the new singing sensation. What Nelson Eddy is to movie operetta, Martini should be to screen opera — if he can conquer his self-consciousness of the camera. If Nino could only act half as well as he sings, we might have a hero to revive the Valentino traditions. Only when he is singing does Martini really come into his own ; and I believe that you will forgive all his lack of acting ease when you hear his fine tenor rendering arias from "La Tosca," "Cavalleria Rusticana," and, particularly, "Pagliacci." Brush up the boy's acting technique, Producer Lasky, and you'll have a real hit. Here's to Romance— 20th-century Fox IMPORTANT to you because it offers, for the first time, your opportunity to listen to Martini's glorious voice from the screen. Otherwise, a moderately amusing piece, obviously painstakingly tailored to Martini's vocal talents, with few flashes of originality. The story concerns a young singer, Martini, sponsored by a society woman, Genevieve Tobin, whose designs become embarrassingly romantic, particularly since our hero is himself in love with a ballet dancer, Anita Louise. To add to the complications, Reginald Denny as the music-loving lady's husband decides to sponsor Anita's career — it begins to sound like a radio program, doesn't it? But fortunately, the starstudded cast performs wonders with the weak material, and Martini atones for his histrionic sins when he lifts his' voice in song, which he obligingly does often enough to turn this picture from a pain to a pleasure. Mme. Schumann-Heink lends her gracious dignity to her role of the singing teacher, and her still impressive contralto to one welcome song* Anita Louise is a vision of blonde beauty as the young dancer, with Genevieve Tobin her sparkling, sophisticated self and Reginald Denny as usual highly competent. The Big Broadcast of 1936 — Paramouni I HAVE a weakness for these mad, merry movies that Paramount turns out every so often in an abandoned moment. They never make sense and they aren't supposed ™ to. They always have Jack Oakie at his zaniest, and George Burns and Gracie Allen at their most irresponsible. In addition, this latest explosion offers just about every radio star you can think of, including Mister Crosby (Bing, not Bob) ; Ethel Merman, Amos and Andy — oh, you go on; you know 'em all. There's Bill Robinson, too; and two other colored boys, the Nikolas Brothers, who are grand entertainers. Plot? Oh, yesplot. Well, it more or less concerns a big broadcasting contest won by Jack Oakie, whose other adventures include being kidnapped on a yacht to a mythical island by luscious Lyda Roberti — Jack's the sort of boy these things seem to happen to. Wendy Barrie is part of the decorative scheme of "The Big Broadcast," and Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles contribute one of their marvelous skits on domesticity; and for dramatic emphasis there is a fine little sketch excellently played by Sir Guy Standing and David Holt. You'll want to hear Merman warble and Bing sing. The Last Days of Pompeii — RKO-Radio IF YOU have recovered from "The Crusades" take a long, deep breath and start out all over again to be thrilled, stunned, and entertained by this historical cata clysm. Boys and girls, it out-DeMilles the old master himself ! Maestro Cecil's latest effort, you'll recall, had the fall of Acre but darned if it had anything as exciting as the eruption of Vesuvius. You just can't top that for thrills. And the cast of this new spectacular melodrama is robust and rousing enough to hold your interest even above the stirring scenes of the slaughter in the Arena and the volcanic violence. Preston Foster at last has his big chance in the important role here — and he is tremendously impressive in technique as well as stature as a Roman blacksmith turned gladiator, whose devotion to an adopted boy, after he loses his own child, leads him into intrigue and drama and finally to supreme sacrifice during the destruction of Pompeii. Of course, it is all high-keyed-and-colored stuff, but genuinely powerful and superbly staged. Basil Rathbone, Louis Calhern, and little David Holt stand out in an excellent cast. Trick spectacle effects best since "King Kong" — but no Fay Wray !