Silver Screen (Nov 1938-Apr 1939)

Barbara O'Neil and Edward G. Robinson in "I Am The Law." TOO HOT TO HANDLE With Plenty of Action and Puh-lenty of Glamour— MGM IF it's action you want, here it is, and by golly it's terrific action. Clark Gable plays a reckless newsreel cameraman whose one desire is to outsmart his rivals, and he'll stop at nothing. When he scoops his rivals on Alma Harding's plane crash in China, he lets himself in for a lot of trouble, on account of Miss Harding's flight was a hoax, and rival newsreel cameraman Walter Pidgeon swipes the reel from him. But anyway he has the pleasure of rescuing Miss Harding from a burning plane, and as Miss Harding is none other than the utterly adorable Myrna Loy, you can be quite sure a romance starts then and there. Myrna's brother was lost in a flight over the Dutch Guianas, and as Myrna still believes him to be alive her one ambition is , 10 get money enough to fly a plane to Dutch Guiana. When she is exposed as a fake her chances are pretty slim but Clark comes across with some more neat lying, and soon Clark and Myrna and Pidgeon and Carrillo, Gable's sound man, are all in the jungle at the mercy of the voodoo savages. Clark pulls a number one newsreel scoop in the jungle that puts him right on top again with his boss— and with Myrna. Walter Connolly is elegant as the highstrung boss, and so is Marjorie Main as his phlegmatic secretary. The high spot of the picture is when Clark and Myrna fly out over a burning mystery ship in an effort to photograph it before it explodes. And of course Clark "trucking" with the jitterbugnatives isn't exactly un funny. BOYS' TOWN This Packs a Real Wallop— MGM I've seen a lot of pictures in my time, and my time is your time, but never one that is so thoroughly satisfying as "Boys' Town." It is the best advertisement that the Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment campaign could have. Told with the utmost simplicity and sincerity it clutches you right around the heart, and you find yourself caring an awful lot over what happens to Father Flanagan, Whitey Marsh, and Boys' Town. There is in real life a priest named Father Flanagan, who is the founder of a community for homeless boys, near Omaha, Nebraska. The community is really called Boys' Town, and it lias a post office, a police department, and a board of commissioners, all in charge of the boys. When the real Father Flanagan built the real Boys' Town his one idea was that "there never was a bad boy." And this is the main idea of the picture, with Spencer Tracy playing Father Flanagan (and he might just as well be given next year's Academy Award here and now). The picture shows the long uphill fight of the young priest to establish Boys' Town for the homeless waifs from the city streets, and how, once established, he must save it from destruction by such hard-boiled brats as Whitey Marsh, the brother of a gang killer. Dealing as it does with the everyday life of a community of youngsters the picture is simplicity itself— but it packs an awful wallop. The picture ends with Whitey being unanimously elected as Mayor of Boys' Town while he bawls his eyes out, and kindly Father Flanagan's faith renewed in his great belief: there never was a bad boy. Whitey Marsh is played by Mickey Rooney, who cannot be praised enough for his grand Hope Hampton in "The Road To Reno." Randolph Scott plays opposite. Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Walter Kingsford in "Carefree." performance. Henry Hull plays Father Flanagan's one friend, whom he coaxes into giving him money with which to finance Boys' Town, with a ten cent toy as security. Edward Norris plays Whitey.'s gangster brother. Leslie Fenton scores tremendously as the condemned man on the way to the chair in the opening sequence. Outstanding among the boys of Boys' Town are Jimmy Butler, Frankie Thomas, and Gene Reynolds. 62 Silver Scre en