Screenland (May-Oct 1937)

SUPERLATIVE: "A Star is Born" SHOCKERS: "Night Must Fall" "Love from a Stranger" HE-MAN STUFF: "Kid Galahad" YOUNG ROMANCE: "Cafe Metropole" RHYTHM, JUST RHYTHM: "Shall We Dance" CHEERS FOR: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Robert Montgomery, Basil Rathbone, Ann Harding, Edward G. Robinson, Wayne Morris, Tyrone Power, Adolphe Menjou, Loretta Young, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Eric Blore, and — as usua| — Edward Everett Horton A STAR IS BORN— Selzniclc-United Artists /£mZ\ REFUTING two rockbound theories of picture-making\SM that Technicolor must only occur in costume dramas, and that stories about Hollywood are poison at the box-office, "A Star is Born" is the most distinguished production of the season — and for good measure smashes still another tradition : that no Hollywood star can ever really "come back." Here's splendid, satisfying entertainment, in natural colors which are really natural, and never cloying; here's a down-to-earth drama of Hollywood which comes closer to telling the truth about that fabulous city and its citizens than any other film has ever done ; and here — cheers ! — is an actual "come-back" to warm your heart, that of Janet Gaynor, who becomes for the second time a truly important star. "A Star is Born" is Janet's super-"Seventh Heaven," and she soars to new eminence as its heroine. Briefly, it's the story of the one girl in 100,000 who makes the grade in pictures ; ahe falls in love with a fading star, magnificently played by Fredric March ; she rises to the Hollywood heights while he descends ; and the "final fadeout" gives you new faith in the integrity of the finer film-makers — it's a great ending to a grand picture. Direction, dialogue, cast, and the Technicolor — all are practically perfect. THUNDER IN THE CITY— Columbia PROVING the English can take it as well as dish it out, K2§)) this satirical comedy records the experiences of an American go-getter in London, with Edward G. Robinson, in K one of his more genial moods, in the leading role of the high-powered promoter. Somewhat in the same style as "The Ghost Goes West," this new film, also written by Robert Sherwood, has its amusing moments, thanks chiefly to the breezy performance of the star and the scintillating supporting cast, in which Nigel Bruce is particularly outstanding. In fact, I've never seen a more thoroughly enjoyable acting job than that contributed by the bluff and hearty Mr. Bruce as an English Duke who falls in with Robinson's wildest schemes because he is taken to the "fun-fair" and allowed to ride on the merry-go-round until dizzy. Constance Collier as his Duchess is also at her best; while a seductive newcomer, Luli Desti, plays their daughter in the Dietrich manner, with accent and all the trimmings. You may like Miss Deste ; you may not ; but at any rate she's a new face— and figure. Eddie Robinson's efforts to find his way around a historic castle provide the most fun in this movie. Utile Caesar's ingratiating energy saves more than one scene, as well as the castle, from falling to pieces. CAFE METROPOLE— 20th Century-Fox IF YOU liked "Love is News" — and if you didn't, I don't want to know you — don't fail to see "Cafe Metropole." We-e-11, n-o-o-o, it isn't quite as good as that first co-starring film of Tyrone Power and Loretta Young; but it is still as good fun as you'll find on any screen right now, if you're still interested in love and such. And there's Adolphe Menjou, who practically guarantees the entertainment value of any picture lucky enough to have him in it. This time Adolphe plays Cupid — in the guise, of course, of a fascinatingly rascally cafe proprietor — to our young lovers, with Tyrone masquerading as a Russian princeling at Adolphe's command, and Loretta as the lovely American girl who sets her new Paris chapeau for him, but has to do considerable pursuing before Tyrone, and the plot, will permit her to catch up with him. Of course it is all frothy — a mere trifle, a light and airy bauble; but it's juggled with such charm and cleverness that nobody minds very much when the fun interferes with the plot. Young Mr. Power keeps up the pace he set himself for adroit comedy in "Love is News," even managing to hold his own in scenes with Menjou. And if Loretta isn't the prettiest girl in pictures, I wish you would kindly tell this department who is. 53