Screenland (Nov 1937-Apr 1938)

IN OLD CHICAGO— 20th Century-Fox BEST screen show you can find anywhere— don't miss it! Movie spectacle in the gaudily grand manner, it is also .curiously convincing. Mr. Darryl Zanuck's Chicago Fire is a four-alarm epic, but it is not the whole show of his big picture. What we might call the prelude is good, too. "In Old Chicago" is solidly built on a foundation of strong, believable human drama— its O'Leary family become the most believable flesh and blood people of the screen season ; caring what happens to the tribe is the real reason for your excitement at the Fire— which lasts a good half hour, singes your soul and almost your eyelashes, and sends you out wanting to decorate today's brave and efficient fire laddies on both cheeks. It's a magnificently awesome sight, Mr. Zanuck's fire. But his robust, romantic melodrama of old Chicago before the big blaze, recorded with so much gusto and bluff good humor, also is something to see. Tyrone Power plays a handsome rogue, pride and despair of Mrs. O'Leary's heart, in dashing, daredevil fashion — his best performance to date. Alice Brady is a grand Ma O'Leary— her best job, too. Alice Faye as the notorious but nice Belle Fawcett sings and acts vibrantly — how you'll like those Rabelaisian love scenes ! hi SEAL' 0F| £ Reviews of the best Pictures MANNEQUIN— M-G-M gggk SEEING Spencer Tracy as a Cinderella Man has almost (j&Sffil unnerved me, so I can only advise, as to "Mannequin," ^§8jigL that all Joan Crawford's fans must not miss it. and all doubters must look twice before they leap to the ticket window. You see, it is the super-Cinderella picture. Not only is Joan Cinderella again, which is all right if you can take it: but Spencer Tracy becomes the Cinderella Man, his first altogether unbelievable acting job, and not his fault, either. He's a self-made tycoon with a heart of gold— all right so far. He falls in love with Joan, very much all right, too. But when he takes to seeing her ghost on the terrace, and mooning around generally— then not even the Terrific Tracy can make me believe it. Manufactured to formula as all Crawford pictures seem to be these days, "Mannequin" may appeal, with its gimcrack glamor, to some eager addicts. It has a lavish fashion show, Joan in many guises, and the false appeal of the rags-to-riches plot. There are some scenes at the start in which the star shows considerable emotional power and poignancy, with Alan Curtis, the newcomer, playing her caddish lover in acceptable style. In fact, Mr. Curtis didn't seem a cad. He's the film's most honest contribution. 52 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS— Disney-RKO /gmjs. MOST daring picture on current screens! "What, you say, (Sam a Walt Disnev picture, and daring? And I repeat— yes, definitely daring. Producer Disney has taken the boldest step of his brilliant career in making a full-length fairytale with cartoon characters. He succeeds in this as he has in everything he has ever undertaken— for Disney is a real pioneer in a new art medium ; a great artist with the biggest canvas ever stretched. Here is the good, old familiar fairy-tale by the Grimm Brothers, told in terms of animated drawings, all in color— with more suspense than any other screenplay of the season— well, perhaps we can except "In Old Chicago," if you insist— and more true humor, and charm, and liveliness, and imagination, and beauty. You will, I swear, be captivated by the little heroine, enthralled by her adventures in the wood, her encounter with the Seven Dwarfs, her bewitchment by the wicked queen : you'll rejoice at her rescue by Prince Charming— in a word, you'll be young again. New and delightful Disney animals — rabbits, deer, other woodland creatures — to charm you; Snow White herself is a miracle of girlish grace; the Dwarfs— well, you'll be humming their jolly Hi-Ho song and counting 'em in your sleep.