Variety (Sep 1930)

Wednesday* September 10, 1930 FILM E V I E W S VARIETY 29 THREE FACES EAST (Continued from paee 17) has beett tha casting of Constance Smnett and JSrlc vou Btrohelm for Sie leads. They guarantee a, better than average week for the secret iervlce story Anthony Paul Kelly wrote as a play In 1918, before the 'Armistice. ^. ^ It's only two months ago that Badlo's "Inside the Lines" had the same central spying effort; an at- tempt by a girl to secure war In- formation from a safe In the et^ly hours of the morning In the home of an Important official. The girl in each picture got Into the home through deception and became the secret service agent of the country she ^'as then In, for the final twist. Earl Derr BIggers wrote the stage play, "Inside the Ldnes," from which, the Radio picture was adapted. That play was produced in , Mew Tork In July, 191B,- and flopped, while "Three- Faces EJast" three years later was a smash. With no sexy stuff In, although chances were'plentiful, with a gpod looking woman spy, the 'story Is made to hold and with some sus- pense, but these spy stories have not varied greatly. They Tgo oii a. formula with deviations. This one needed something different and got it In the cast, for the support is without fault as well. Miss Bennett does quite well as the English spy who, wormed her way Into Gemuiny's war headquar- ters, to get the German secret serv- ice Chief.- She eventually uncovered him as a butler In the home of Sir "Winston Chamberlain in England. With. Sir Winston having_placed the butler he knew to be a Dutch- man and Who looked like one. In the British Intelligence Office as an undercover mah. Not tod much war stuff. A smat- tering . of. submarines, the butler's ambition to procure sailing data of the American troops and his secret radio station In the cellar' of the Chamberlain home. The role Is pie for von Strohelm. He plays it that way. That guy is a figure In the American picture business. With the way they are throwing money Into talkers now- adays, it's a wonder he isn't once more directing. He couldn't pos- sibly bum up more than some of the others are doing. . Production always . okay with flome minor «xterl0r scenes. Direc- tion carries the picture along with- in 76 minutes-and ihat'fl another credit' to Roy Del Ruth. William Courtenay makes his role stand up, with" Anthony. Bushell'^s the juv ion 'the: reverse, the latter limited; however, by the script. The flnEtle may be open to opinion. Von Strohieim as the master spy Is shot in- the back by the girl agent, . while he is trying to send a vital' message over the radio. She told him when he was near dead she was sorry, and that almost got a;' snicker, but he replied he would have done the same -thing to her. But that's not the point; it's the shooting In the back, for it would have been more thrilling had Von Strohelm tried to beat the girl lo the gun and passed a^ay that way. All the heavy, advance work 'should be on Miss Bennett and von etrohelm. Both can stand it, es- ^peclally the Bennett end just now through "Common Clay." Bltne. kalll singing throws out a big hint on the reason for her new contract with Warners. She's got that s.a. in . her tones and^slngs with a kick on the blues order. Of the four songs in the film, one, "You Got Nobody to Love," is. most re- membered as sung by' Miss Mac- kalll. Sharon Lynn also smgs but no'one will mention it. Milton Sills In this Is. as before. He stands up. His voice registers okay.and he has the mapvfor the rol9. He hit's the Williams' mark of character all the way except in one phase. That is a directorial fault He's made blunt with no mystery, air. Latter would have helped the picture greatly. His ac- tion is always straight and expect- ed. McKenna, on the other hand, doesn't fit. Especially where he comes to have it out With the tough bird. That spot Is hokey and could have been sidestepped. .Three-quarters of the way the film swings a fairly even gait and then sinks Into hoke once again. It's where the girl and McKenna meet the old couple with whom they are to spend Christminfl. Dialog - right here-mostly n.g., especially from the old man. Miss Chapman does some nice acting, but her talk Is some- what off, too. The directors muffed showing a farmyard couple with an up-to- date kitchen that most city homes don't have. Too rich for an old farmhouse idea. They'll note that In the sticks. All farmers aren't so quaint as this old man .Qr. maybe most of them are. But in the film it's too big a contract for the taction. Another funny twist Is the croon- ing newspaper boy—^Roscoe Keams. Hollywood still thinks all news- paper men must sing and drink. Spme of them may drink. That's probably when they sing. Photography fair and recording okay. Director in trying to main- tain the time element did some off- side shifting from outside action to cabaret and back, that could have been smoother; THE SEA GOD Paramount prodttctton and release. Adap- tation of John Russell's writing, "The Loat God.f Direction by George Abbott. A. jr. Stout, cameraman. At Paramount, New Tork, veek Sept. S. Running time, 71 minutes. "'Pink" Barker Richard Arlen Daisy Fay Wray "Square Deal" Eugene Pallette Scbulta Robert Gleckler Pearly Kick Ivan Simpson Abe ; Bob ' Perry Rudy Maurice Block Bin.. Fred Wallace THE GREAT GAME (All Dialog) (English' Made) London, Aug. 2Si> Oaumont British production and release. Directed by Jack Raymond, from story by W. P. Llpscombe and B. G. Bettlnson, Photographed by Peror: Strong. Record- ing, Brltlsb' AocousUca., In cast: John Batten, Jack Cock,.Renee Clama. Randle Ayrton, Nell. Kenyon. Length 7048 feet; ranhing time' '^.76 minutes. Censor's Certificate "U." Reviewed Palace theatre, London, Avti Zt. Readers of adventure mags and the red blooded youth of the land win like "The Sea God." It's very mediocre material, however, for the run of fans at a de luxe house. Good draw for neighborhood and small town theatres. . The story unravels rather stiffly. It Is more often not convincing. Most of the dialog is stereotyped. Theme Is an old one grafted on to several other old ones. Some of the performances are likewise. But It doesn't pretend to be anything except hoke. Richard Arlen and Fay Wray do one of these stilted love scenes on an Island over-run by savages on one side and policed by Pink's arch enemy, Schilltz and his gang, on the other. Robert Gleckler In the latter role Is one of those Holly^ wood snickerers. Some, folks have always liked that kind, and always will. Diving for hidden treasure-is-not particularly startling, although thei savages attack while the hero is under the boat is designed, with that hope. Pink, the dauntless, cuts the rope when the airline ceases to function and, unlike other divers, just walks to shore. There he Is mistaken for'a god by the savages, with the result all are temporarily freed. Freedom Is All too short-lived. Schultz has to be dealt with. He captures the hero and the gal, the only one on the Isle. Then the savages reappear and the villain takes the spear poIn,t. Pink gets back into his diver's outfit and the head-eaters bow as the good folk win. —There are some refreshing sea se- quences. Race of two sloops In a bet inspired by the girl early in the footage is pleasing. The Island lo- cale Is familiar screen background but "romantic." It dees seem George Abbott could have turned out a far better job on his own typewriter, and with the meg. ' Waly. and Intelligence are always a handi- cap In these Bolshevik writings. As the Son, impersonated by the stolid V. Inkizhonov, in his hour of tri- umph just before "The End" Is flashed, screeches to American audi- ences in head-high type. "Oh, my people! Rise in your an- cient strength and free yourselves." With their appreciation for things technical, their wide dreary land- scape or rugged mountainous region for locales, their endless supply of gruesome-faced character actors, the Soviet picture, people, have oppor-. tunitles which they continually and deliberately muff. . They refuse to handle the propaganda angle subtle- ly. It must predominate and, at all cost the poor man must overthrow the rich man and the. illiterate mtist prevail over the educated. No American Western In the most highly colored days ever had a single customer bowl over as many naughty cowboys as the Son does soldiers in the official barracks here. THE SQUEALER Columbia production and release. Di- rected by Harry Jbe Brown. .. Title from play by 'Mark Under,, produced In 1028 by Jack Under. Screen atory by Dorothy Howell and Casey Robinson. Dialog by Jo Swerling, Jack Holt. Davey l«e and Dorothy Revler. featuted, with cast In- cluding Matt Moore, 2aau Pitts Arthur Houseman, Matthew Bets, IjOUIs Matheaux. At R-K-O Hippodrome, New Tork, week Sept. 0. Running time, CS minutes. MAN TROUBLE (With Songs) ' Pox production and release. Starring llllton SlUs and Dorothy MackallL Di- rected by Berthols VleteL Adiapted by George Manker Watters and Marlon Orth from story by Ben Ames WllUams. Dialog by George Manker Watters and Edwin Burke. Music and lyrics by James F. IHanley and Joseph McCarthy;' Cast In- cludes Kenneth MoKenna, Sharon X>ynn, Roacoe Keams, Oscar Apfel, 'Jame*~Brad- Dury, Lew Harvey, Harvey . ClaXk and Bdythe Chapman. Songs, "You Got No- body to L«ve"; "Now I Aak Tou": "Tou l>o—Don't Tou7" "Pick Touraelf Up.'; At Fox. Brooklyn, week Sept. S. Running time, 87 minutes. Where the customers "are still 'curious and lilt on the gangster- hero type, this film offers fair pro- gram material. Exhlb, however, must guage the ganster appeaj in his nelghb to play a safeway with this one. Otherwise It's off. Ex- ploitation offers nothing except cast names that aren't too powerfuL jPair yarn, the film sticks in dialog spots and mediocre his- trionics for a good-, part of the way. In adaptation it falls too, but prin- cipally because of subject matter. Adapting Ben Ames William to the screen Is not easy. He's a two- We character writer; either ter- nflcally hard or tremendously gen- tle. No middle path. Usual run be- ing the hard guy takes a sudden and closing tumble or the soft bird goes suddenly hard In a closing clinch. "Wlndup of his tales, therefore, arc nearly always vlsloned after three- •l^^rters of the story. Tnl3 tale concerns a tough bird, cabaret owner, with Manhattan as a setting. He looks cleaner In dvles inan in evening clothes, although appropriate both ways. Ho fights ms way out of life. Doesn't know f**^; All win or lose. So he wins he meets a girl that's differ *nt Then she wins—a newspaper man and by the tough bird's sac- tlflciai grace. Getting a slant of Dorothy Mac This Is the. first talker to be made In England exploiting ,the English football Efanie, known as "Associa- tion." England and Germany had made film of the game tn silent picture days. Drawing power, is obviously in the neighborhoods^'Where the foot- ball fans cluster. Everyone except the upper 10 here Is a .fan for the game. Picture is likely, to cash, in consequence, although it may be said the film never takes anything like the chances it could.. Point Is, something like 760,000 people see football games here between the crack clubs every week. Story is slight, the. difference of opinion between a chairman and manager of a club. The chairman is all for getting star players at big prices, the manager for build- ing up from raw material. Manager's daughter Is sweet on a reserve forward, in whom the bods believes. When he suggests the laid should be played in the English Cup Final, the directors clear him out and accuse him of personal bias. The team,' when they reach. Wembley, where the biggest foot- ball game of the year is staged, are dissplrlted through the loss of the manager and are losing at half time. The old boss sneaks through the crowd and gives the boys a spot of advice. They take It; draw level, and the reserve . forward bangs through in the usual way. - -Bloture-is-addltionally-lntere8ting_ to football fans as, it carries some quietly amusing comment on the current political .situation of the game In England. Recording is frankly bad and synchronization often faulty. De- tail of the ball games is well done, the producer using stock stuff from the last real Cup Final and cutting In with prepared shots taken on a sports ground. Film is only of value to football fans, who won't mind a trite story. For the States, nil. Randle Ayrton again gets the best performance as a hard-fisted football director, with Nell Kenyon following very close as the man- ager. Two good pieces of natural characterization. John Batten as the reserve forward Is conventional. Jack Cock, pro player here, is good as a star forward. Some well kno'wn London ball players appear^ln^the picture, looking natural, ROAD TO FORTUNE (All Dialog) (English Mads) (Quota Release) . London, Aug. 29. Paramount quota release. Produced and directed by Arthur Varney. Players: Guy Newall, Dorla Marsh, Recorded RCA Photophone. Length UBS feet. Runnlns time eo mlna Censor's Certlflcata i"D." Reviewed Carlton, London; Aug. 29.' Chief value of this one .to the Paramount output here is just to show how good its other pictures are. Film reaches pretty well' the last word, even for a .British quickie. Regarded as burlesque it may be a. riot. As a picture, nix. Story tells how a wicked man tries to secure a lease on a forest believing tin to be underneath. He has. the usual feud with the usual old man, who has the usual niece, who has the usual sappy lover. Ends with the usual villian being kicked over the usual cliff. Acting and direction or this one deserve to be seen If only to be be- lieved. Still, it's perhaps unfair to blame the actors. Dialog is pretty rotten and the recording none too hot. Picture hais all the earmarks of being run together In 10 nights. NQt.even for the hick towns here, where they usually fall for any- thing. ■'■ Explanation Is "quota release." Chap. Chap. Tully Collaborating Hollywood, Sept. 9. When completing retakes on Met- ro's "Way of a Sailor" this week, Jim Tully will leave for New Tork to collaborate with Charles Behan on a new legit. "Luck of the Irish." It's from Tully's story, "Shanty Irish." STORM OVER ASIA (.Silent) (Russian Made) Produced by Mejrabpomfllm and released over here through Amklno.. Directed by V. Pudovkin from scenario by O. Brik. A Golovnia, cameraman. American titles, Slielley Hamilton. At Cameo New York, week Sept. 6. Running time 80 minutes. The Son V. Inklzhlnov Rebel Leader ....A. Tchlstlakov Commander L. DedlaefC His Wife L. Bellnskaya Their Daughter A. Sudkavelch Fetid with propaganda and the? matlcally ridiculous to any spml- Intelligent audience, "Storm Over Asia" may get more than one week at theatres like the Cameo, which use such product as a screen hypo- dermic for that certain type of heavy-handed wild-eyed fan. Blow the man down! And the finale has a half gross or more wind machines spraying everything from leaves to muskets over the uni- formed generals and soldiers, while right to the rear of the gale Is the lusty. Impostor of the Great Kahn of Mongolian history seven centur les back, sweeping over Asia, much like In "The China Express," an earlier sequeL The more illiterate a man is in these Russian blurbs, the better his chances to make a name for hlm- Iself in the Red World. Education Two seasons ago Jack Llnder produced a legit meller written by his brother, Mark Llnder, but this isn't the same story. Columbia paid Llnder $600 for the title only, and used only the title, although Jack Llnder gets lead I sheet credit for the yarn. Title Is a good one and filts the film. And the picture is a good one for the moderate stands and neighborhoods. Likewise for the R-K-O combp bills. "The Squealer" on the stage was a story of the Frisco Chinatown around the time of the quake. This film hasn't a Chink In it^- nor an earthquake, but just as mello with all the best ingredients for under- world and gangster tales chucked in. Again the two rival gangster chieftains meet, and one gets bumped. This one's bumped in his own nest. A. sad finish for the picture and the brave survivor, for the b. s. frames himself to get shot after making a successful jail break for revenge, and then reconsidering upon hearing the truth, His loyal friend and constant companion of his lonely wife was' not a double- crosser after all, he finally learns. The missus only tipped his address to the police to save him frpm a worse fate at the. hands of the other mob. ■ e ■ Not too sad a blow when the lead gets it at the finish, for he had arranged: a few similar Jobs up ahead himself. . He does it gallantly, thoiiglV disguising himself as his friend, for whom he had intended^ the. worlcs. whereby his own men inisfakingly murder him. Their roles are walk-throughs for Jack Holt, Dorothy Revler and Matt .Moore..: Davey Lee, the cutest kid in pic- tures, gives another typical per- formance and shows once more what the Warners lost. when they let him loaf. Arthur Houseman for extra mention on his work. Brief prison scenes well done. Biae. L'Enfant de L'Amour C'lLLEGITIMATE CHILD") (French Made) (All Dialog) Paris, Aug. 25 . Produced by Jean de Merly In the Natan (JulnvUle) studios, released by Pathe. Directed by Maroet L'Herbler. Acted by Jacques Cathelln, Jean Angelo, Emmy L^nne and Mario Glory, from tne play of the same name by Henry Batallle. Re- corded R. C. A. Opened at the Max Lln- der, Paris, Aug. 22. Running time 90 minutes. Poor filmlzatlon of a former legit hit, so poor the producers dared not open it in the key house of the cir- cuit. Razed by the audience. Film started two yesira ago as a silent and finished a year after. Al- tered several times and then turned into a talker. It is the first one to have been |?ound recorded in the Natan studios. and the sound re- cording shows the process there was then still in an experimental Story, which opens in 1910, shows an actress, mother of a very young illegitimate son, making the ac- quaintance of a yeiing politician, with whom she begins, to live. It purports to show how difficult is the position of the child who loves her, but cannot be publicly ac- knowledged. Story jumps 17 years with the actress now one of Paris' acknowl- edged beauties. Her politician friend Is on the eve of being made a cabinet minister. The actress' loving son has become a star re- porter on ail :0ppoi^ltlon paper. On beiiig made '-k minister the actress' lover forgets the 17 years of com- mon life and jilts her. She la tran- tic. with), grief but Cannot, bring her- self tQ hate htm. Her son Ihtervehes. Be is about to cause the downfall, of the min- ister by exposing him as involved in an old financial .and political scan- dal, when the mother c&uses him to relent. This shows the minister that she Ipves him more deeply than he thought and he marries her. There ' is- a little by-play in the son's private-affair with another girl, whom he alqo marries.. The legit play offered dramatio posslbIllttesr :1>ut ha9~ been ti'eated for the fllmitatien in a '-way. which kills it Direction' iahd acting are Indifferent and the one big scene Is entirely killed by the terrible sound. Continuity is. atrocious and Cully succeeds in taking aWay^ the good points of the legit without in- stilling any of th^ picture possibili- ties.' story, if.p|t>p«^ly adapted for the scr<ie9«}lhta^ni-be■ t^rnra.u to a strong emotional JUt,- biit Is^of^o value in Its present state. THE OTHER ("Der Andere") (All Talker) (German Made) Berlin, Aug. 22. Glass production and Terra-United flim release'. Starring Fritz Kort- ner, Kaethe von Nagy. and Helnrlch George; directed. by Robert WIene from a stage play of the same name by Paul LIndau. Camera- roan, NIkolaus Farkas; sound, Victor Behrens. Running time, 92 minutes. At Capitol, Berlin. Max Artists Seventeen years ago Max Mack, formerly a well known German di- rector, shot this same picture with the famous German actor, Albert BasBermann,-in-the-iead, -At—that- time it was an event, as a novel was being used for the first time for. a picture. In the history of the Ger- man silent picture this will always be remembered. « But not thf» talker of thb middle- class director Robert Wiene, who did not know what to do with this uncanny wonderful subject. If Wiene had not had an actor of the range of Fritz Kortner, numbered among the greatest German actors, nobody could have understood the contents of the picture. Kortner is so very Impressive, During the day the dreaded public prosecutor, the representative of order, and at night a criminal who is visiting bad localities and com- mitting robberies with violence Kaethe von Nagy also makes a singularly deep and genuine Im presslon. She acts no lost girl, she lives it. If the director had not had in addtlion to actors like Kortner and Nagy, others like Heinrlch George, who represents a pleasant type of criminal, and Oskar SIma, who performs realistically, the pub lie woufd not have been as moved as it was. The acting and episodes with Julius Falkensteln, Paul BUdt and Otto Stoessel helped this talker to a medium success. Whether It will turn out to be a good business is another question. Magnus. RED HOT RHYTHM (With Sonoe) Pathe prodnetloo and nieuii. Alaa Hale and . Kathr^' -CraitrfoM.'-.fsatured. Directed by* I«6 HcCarey. - StoHr br 'WU- Ham Conselmaa sad Mr. .IfcOaray, with muelo by Walter O'Keefe. ^04 Bobby Dola,n. In cast: JoMpblne Stanii, Walter O'Keefe,: Aolta IQatvIn, JVu. .qbaite. At Loew'a Sftw -Xfitje, ' vap-rAmfi. Sept. 6. Running time, 76 mini. ' Musical comedy of chls^lers and cheaters- in ^e 'muslo publishing business, with the laughs ispotted at widely separated intervals. Not a sympathetic character. TWo color sequences with singing and dancing don't help.this effort to rate more than a daijr's stay. '-^ - - Title song, "Red Hot Rhythm," and ballad, "At Last Tm In Love," are a couple ol^ weak onMi 6'Keefe and Dolan, however, have done bet- ter with 'a' comedy humber» "The Night Elmer Died." Danclf|g, mostly taps on a staircase, is of no value In the unfolding' of A mild story along the .usual musical comedy lines. FIREBRAND JOHNSON National Players, Ltd, production. Dis- tributor not named. Supervised ^^r Henry Taylor. Cast, Includes LajLO Chandlgi:, To-. TilTria Cfaniiut't and' SheI(ion~Eewrfc Cine- phoiie recorded. -At Times, New Tork, halt of double bill, two days, Sept. ••4. Run- ning time, 6S minutes. If 'the exhlb can find a way to make 'em. laugh at this ene before the film begins it's worth his try on any grind doubler. It's a western opera with hoke acting,, action and dialog and the comedy is worse. Music and song in the film do little Xo help. Horses on story, too. Recording off. DeForest Equipment in Tec Art Studios, Coast Hollywood, Sept. 9. In a movement credited to be the Initial one to corral independent producers for the De Forest sound recording system which he controls, M. A. Schlesslngcr, returning to New Tork Friday, has effected a tentative agreement with Tec Art Studiod, Indie stronghold, for the installation of bis equipment. Radio Photophone's is now the equipment in Teo Art, but the studio, because of its leasing agree- ment, is understood to be in the position of accommodating all makes of apparatus.'