Screenland (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

54 SCREENLAND The Petrified Forest — Warners THE most fascinating picture on current screens ! Robert Emmet Sherwood's fine play becomes even more im, pressive cinema, with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart in their original stage roles, and Bette Davis in her best part. Here is a super-thriller, an intellectual exercise, or a magnificent nightmare of emotion and melodrama ; take your choice. You will hear talk such as you've never heard from the screen — no, no, not that kind ! I mean stimulating dialogue of ideas and lost ideals, which when uttered in the melting voice of Mr. Howard will convert you to a chattier cinema. As the defeated poet who wanders into a gas station-lunch on the edge of the desert, to lose his heart and his life to a beauty-loving girl stranded there, Mr. Howard plays subtly and superbly his most sympathetic role. Surrounded by showier actors, Mr. Howard nevertheless dominates every scene. Bette Davis as the girl is a revelation, a different, adorable Davis ; practically a new "find !" Humphrey Bogart is a most picturesque bad man. "The Petrified Forest" will leave you breathless or bewitched. : ^SEALOh > best Reviews of the Dictu res by The Milky Way-Pa ramount HAROLD LLOYD'S long-awaited comedy turns out to be the funniest he has ever made. It is even better than .that — it is one terrific howl, or roar, or hysterical giggle from first scene to last. If you have never laughed at Lloyd pictures before, you are going to rock at this ; and if you happen to be a Lloyd fan, "The Milky Way" will be your favorite picture of all time. The laughs are so fast and so furious that they overlap. I am so enthusiastic about this picture because it proves once and for all that it is entirely possible to make an uproarious comedy without descending to vulgarity — possible, that is, if Mr. Lloyd produces it, and stars in it, and surrounds himself with a brilliant cast including Adolphe Menjou, Lionel Stander— one of the funnier men in the world — Verree Teasdale, Helen Mack, and Dorothy Wilson — and permits his cast to shine. Harold plays' a naive milkman who, much to his surprise, becomes a prize-fighter. The gags are not obvious, but inspired. Lloyd achieves a really splendid characterization, and Menjou and Stander are terrific. Brave, Harold ! You're head man again. Strike Me Pink— United Artists EVERY new Eddie Cantor picture seems to me his best. Maybe "Strike Me Pink" really is. All I know is, it's Cantor at his craziest, the Goldwyn Girls at their gaudiest, Ethel Merman at her maddest, and a star-studded cast of "legitimate" performers to lend weight to the hectic goings-on — a cast including Jack LaRue, William Frawley, Brian Donlevy. Sally Eilers is the heroine, which helps. Eddie has himself a holiday in the part of Eddie Pink, who starts as a timid little tailor and by taking a mail-order course in personality develops from "Mouse" to "Man" and the manager of an amusement park, with brisk encounters with gangsters for good measure. You haven't really laughed until you've watched Eddie being menaced by the businesslike Jack LaRue. As customary in Mr. Samuel Goldwyn's musical epics, the "girl" numbers seem to have a verve and dash distinguishing them from other such spectacles. Rita Rio is" a colorful newcomer, and Sunny O'Dea the latest contender for Eleanor Powell's tap-dance crown. Also present is "Parkyakarkus," Eddie's radio stooge — if you care.