Variety (Sep 1930)

Ve^HPsJayt Sgptgmber 17. 1930 FILM R E V ■ E^W § VARIETY 21 Talldiig Shorts Miidatore Reviews J-I'LL TAKE THAT ONE" Comedy - Loew's Nbw York, N«w York Pathe George Clarke; featured, Is the Cngllsh chap Who last year played vaudeville Using a trick midget car as the substance of his act. This skit Is worked up to the point where Clarke gets into the same car for the real ptinch of the short. But he credited it to Gordon Bostock, . iwho produced. Tb9 action preceding the trick car sequence is full of ' comedy meat. ' Scene is laid in England, all char- acters use broad ^Sngllsb, with a man and wife and their two chU- 4lren entering an auto sales estab- lishment to buy a c&r. After a bit of preliminary slapstick about en- tering through the revolving door, the twp look and argue over every car in the place.. Meanwhile the kids raise -havoc with all the fix- tures. After hoke wrangling over each car between the coupfe. they all set- tle in a small car. Husband can't drive but tells the salesman he is an «xpert. Finally gets the ca^ started and it wrecks the place. Trick manner in which the-car is bandied, its sudden spurts and re- ' versals, isn't' as effective on the ecreen as on the stage, although it Is laughable, Oke support by Mamie Watson, as the wife, and by the two kids. NICK and TONY "Society Goes Spaghstti" Comedy .. 20 Milts.' Globe, New York Radio Picts. Radio .sponsors this subject, fea-> luring Henry Armetta, who was a comedy standout in "Little' Acci- dent" (U). He has the same team mate used In an earlier short by Pathd. This Is an enormous im- provement, having some good cus- tard pie comedy, but Injured by be- ing stretched out to 20 minutes. Opens with the balloon busting bit and the rage of Armetta, the wop peddler, at Innocent people he thinks did the damage. Lieads to an argument with Tony, who peddlies statuettes, with a frolic of crash- ing plasterware ensuing. Kid In a waiting limousine tries to buy a balloon, and the whple bunch floats away while Nick is making change. Chase follows, bringing on complications when the kid gets lost. Rich parents offer reward and Nick and Tony deliver the stray clilld, getting Invited to dinner In the luxurious mansion. Dinner table roughhouse keeps the clowning running at high speed, foil to the spaghetti-consumers be- ing a haughty English butler. Roughest kind of strong arm fun, but laughable and well sustained to the formula chase finish. O. K. for neighborhoods where R-K-O can use such material. Be- tween them Radio and Pathe have turned out quite an assortment of this material. Rush. WILLIAM DEMAREST "Seeinjg Things" (Comedy) 14 Mins. Winter Garden, New York Vitaphone No. 1081 Another short in the program for the Jolson opening in "Big Boy." Goes pretty far back for Its comedy idea, which is based on the haunted house trick. Demarest is the legal heir of a rich old man who left him a fortune ignoring other relatives In his will. One condition is that he live in the = old man's lonely home. Other dis- appointed heirs scheme to frighten him ^ out of the house, since his departure would Violate provisions of the will and make him surrender the fortune In their favor. Takes plenty of time to plant all this. Then they go Into the ghost sequence which is acrobatic and funny to few people more mature than a schoolboy. All acrobatic knockabout and trick stuff that has been done scores of times. Pretty feeble comedy subject and elves the comedian small chance. • Rush. JOHANNES BRAHMS Music Master Series 12 Mins. Stanley, New York Fitzpatrick Short biography In pictures and titles of the noted composer Brahms. Musical accompaniment by Nat Shilicret's orchestra, playing only compositions by Brahms. Fairly interesting In Its entirety. Record gives biographical details Of Brahms and then flashes a still portrait. Gpes Into motion with w-ahms characterized. Explains that he only had one short and un- iruittul romance, with a gypsy girl, and episode is dramatized. All through the musical selections arc cued to the accompanying "JAY WALKER" Comedv Sketch 0 MinsT Peacon, New York Vitaphone No. 1061 A futuristic fantasy regarding the Issuance of walking license for pe- destrians in the same manner as automobile licenses are now given, only burlesqued. Leaves the Impries- sion lt.was written during the time former Commissioner Grover Wha- len put the Jay-walking ordinances into effect. Had it been released at that time it would be much more effective. As is it makes fair en- tertainmnet. Gets laughs because of Its absurdity. >Showa how pedestriains must get their "walking licenses" before go- ing out. on the street. How they are properly taught to walk and must not interfere with automobll- Ists; Must carry a tail Herht and put out hand when turning. Main character gets in trouble when he steps off curb at wrong time, thereby slowing down auto trafllc from about 95. to 76 m. h. p. Cop knocks him cold. Sceife changes to court, where'charges are being pressed against him for Jay-walk- ing with the drivers testifying against him. Judge gives him 90 days as a desperate character. Scene changes, to where it left off to disclose him on the street. Court scene wa^ a dream. Gets up and cop arrests him for blocking traffic. Time of action/ Is supposedly 1932. A bit dizzy, but its okay. HlGGINS and GREENE "Crap Game" Comedy 3 Mins. Stanley, New York International Photoplay Just a blackout scene which ap- peared to be made more for ex- perimental purposes than anything else. DeForest sound equipment used and didn't sound so good. Per- haps because the boys spoke so fast. Both are colored. One teaches the other how to play crap and trims him. Novice at the! bones finally grabs all the dough and in- timidates the other by making be- lieve he has^a razor. Experienced crap shooter finds out the other was only fooling and knocks him down. Blackout. Crowd a lot of gab Into the three minutes, some of It funny. Appears to be sold to exhibitors along'with another short, Conchita, a singer, which followed- right on the heels of this. RUTH ETTING "Roseland" 10 Mins. ^ Winter Garden, New York Vitaphone No. 1041-42 Vitaphone shorts lately have been running toward superfluity of sketch background. This is a particularly fiagrant example. There is so much sketch surrounding Miss Ettlng that her supremacy as a blues and ballad singer is all but lost. And such a sketch! Smart revue performer is saddled with a sappy story and finds herself cast in the character of a humble hostess—they go to the trouble of making It plain that the taxi dance hall has 400 others—whose father Is the door- man, of the joint and whose sweet- heart is a tough chauffeur. Figure that for the basis of a romantic story. They must have thought well of the subject, for they spotted it in the premiere of the new JQlson pic- ture "Big Boy" at the Winter, Gar- den. Anyhow, the story. smothers what should have been a cleaq cut singing specialty. They laid the plot on thick and all it did was to delay and cut down Miss Etting's enjoyable singing of two or three numbers, which is the real asset of the subject. Last number is the best, a jazzed arrangement of the tearful ballad, "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes." Songs make the subject worth while, but the sketch Incidentals do much to weaken them. JItw/». "40 WINKS" Felix the Cat Cartoon G Mins. Stanley, New York Copley A new cartoon aeries among the many others, labeled "Felix The Cat" series and designated a Pat Sullivan Cartoon. Main cartoon character is practically the same as that used by Aesop Fables car- toons which Van Bueren produces. This subject, though, hasn't the animation that the Aesop Fables cartoons have. These cartoons are drawn more simply than the others. Lack pep and snap. Not as good as the ma- jority of the other cartoons. "What a Widow" (UA). Should equal "The Trespasser" with Gloria Swanson here In a new bright, breezy role with songs. Lively farce comedy. "Big Boy" (WB). Depends upon the Jolson pulL Comedy entertaining In hoke way, but production inferior to previous Jolson features. Spirited horse race finish helps. "Leathernecking" ( Radio ). WHAT A WIDOW Joseph P. Kennedy production t TXnited ArtisU release. Gloria Swanson starred. Directed by Alan Dwan with Hr. Dwan featured on billing. OrlKinal story by Josephine Lovett. DIaloe by James Gleason and James Seymour. Songs Ity Vincent Youmans, who probably also wrote score, with special orchestrations by Dr. Hugo Felix. Musical director Joslah Zuro. Art director, Paul Nelson (Paris). At preview In Now York. Running time, 00 minutes. The Widow Gloria Swnnson Gerry Owen Uoore Victor Lew, Cody Valll ...t Margaret Livingston Mr. Lodge WlUIam Holdcn Jose Alvarado Herbert Braggiottl BastlkofC Gregory Gaye Paulette Adrlenne D'Ambricourt Marquise Nella Walker Masseuse Daphne Pollard titling is not. the least attractive of the whole: Jt's Comedy and Trag- edy In . masks introducing the technical staff and quarrelling over the story to come. Flashes that way all through, of a big steamer leav- ing the dock' arriving abroad; of London and Paris, and also of Bed- ford, Mass., the'Source; of the 60- year old, his young wife and the coin. With elegance in the steamer and hotel's suites a monied widow. Dwan has given an unusually fast tempo to the entire direction. He- weaves everything in and out. Miss Swanson as the joy seeking widow, has plenty of scope for airy playing. Often she Is very cute in her panto and sallies, greatly aided of course by the apt dialog, while her natural- ness in the role is something to wonder at. Moore does a good show. Cody Is pretty heavy even as a harmless stew, always fried, and the players of the foreign roles pass. Perhaps the story Itself holds up the burden, for It is logical. But Mr. Dwan and- Miss Swanson send it over. Sine, BIG BOY Warner Bros, production and release. Al Jolaon starred. Directed by Alan Ores- land. From original stage musical play of same name by Harold Atterldge; adapted by William K. Wells and Perry Vekroff. KybDlng' time, OS minutes. At New Yoric Winter Garden, opening Sept. .12, on grind. Gus........;:.^.... Al Jolson Annabel DMtord :.,CI&udla Dell Mrs. B«d(ord Louise Closser Hale Jack Bedford Lloyd Hughes COley Rticd. ..y .^IBddle PhUlipa Doo .Wilbur. ; Ijiw Harvey - Jim'.; ,^. .'i r. i. .Fntnklln Batis Joe. ..'.>..t'.•.%.».'• • •.VJohn Harron "Big Boy" on the screen as on the. stage is just a setting for Al Jolson; It isii't. aiiotber "Sonny Boy" coup, but It la efl<^tlve pop- ular, entertainment^ The, wealth of comedy should insure that. It isn't any special artibtiq'tirfumph for Jol- son, but'it will please the Jolson following, Hoke stuff sure for. the Jolson spots and moderately strong in the minor stands when the com- edy will carry It.. Comedy is the picture's first as- set, supported by a group of dis- tinctly engaging musical numbers in the typical Jolson manner. A trifling, hokey story nterely supplies a thread of narrative ui>on which to hang the Jolson witticisms and songs and the dramatic incidentals, chief of which is the grand old horse race finish, than which there Is nothing in the whole realm of fiction more sure lire. In "Big Boy" the glddy-ap climax furnishes the fillip to the whoto; picture, puttingr a spirited finalQ to an hour of easy laughter: and agreeable light music. Picture, is a, translation to the screen of a tried'and tested stage eritertalhmefit; the translation be- ing contrived by strictly showman Methods, without any literary com- plexes. Picture getd fnto Its atmosphere promptly, <o^enJng with Jolson In his charaicter of Gua the stable, boy singing "Liza Jjee" as the center of a group of other dusky grooma ef the Bedford farm, making a cap- ital atmospheric start for the sub- ject; Planting of the story- Is pretty roughly accomplished, but the scheme has the . merit of getting It over swiftly. Heavy menace is in- troduced, scheming to have another jockey substituted for Qus° to ride "Big Boy" in the Kentucky Derby and throw the race for the gam- blers. Question is put up to the mother of the Bedford family, who recites an old story to Illustrate the loy- alty of Gus's father. The device calls for a fade-back, to the crino- line days after the Civil War for much picturesque staging and a rather heavy handed v cotnedy se- quence In which an earlier Gus out- wits a white bully whoi tries to kid- nap the Bedford belld. Incidentals make this . sequence with Jolson leading a plantation. Chorus in a series of Negro spir- ituals. Handling here of songs like "Let My People Go" is' a musical smash. Back to the main story and Gus Is the Victim of a plot to clear the way for the gamblers, being fired and turning up the night before Derby Day as a waiter in a Lex- ington hotel, where in another com- edy sequence that has much of the two-reel comedy technique of rowdy fun, the blackface hero accom- plishes the defeat of the plotters and paves .the way for the horse race finish In the closing episode.' Finish Is neatly done with an eye to its melodramatic effectiveness rather than finesse. A real horse race apparently has been spliced into the closeup shots showing Gus maneuvering his steed through the flying horses while two crooked jockeys attepipt to block his mount off. Clo.^eups are pretty unconvinc- ing in themselves, merely showing tho riding Gus in the Jolson person from the waist up. but tricky al- ternate shots in middle distance of the ffallopinp field, grandstand mob in frenzy of excitement and the other raoo .scene accessories fur- nish a l>acI;5round that blends Into ,-1 pimf'h scene. Ant l-rllm.'ix Mt take.s .something (Continued on page 30) Weak medley of horseplay and romantic musical comedy and both poor. Nearly half In 'j!echnIcoIos..for ensemble spec- tacles. "Her Man" (Pathe). New angle to underworld story of good strength. Looks like box office. "Call of the Flesh" (M-G-M). Money picturis but can stand a Iot~of cutting. Novarro gl^^s excellent performance and the love Interest is therel "Last of the Duanes" (Fox). Grind western of that calibre^ Sloppy piece of. work in every respect- except nature's o;im scenery. "Der Tiger von Berlin" (Tiger Murder Case") (Ufa). All-Grerman dialog. Built for Germany a home market; n. g.. fpr U. S. Warped plot and bad staging. DERICKSON and BROWN "A Sonii .Drama" Songs 7 MiiiK Bteacoin^ New. York ; - Vitaphone No. 912 ' Nothing much here. Just two songs. by Charles Derickson in an exotic setting. Derickson la a for- niet' musical comedy Juve, but more recently has been playing vaude teaiped un. with Brown. ' Parisian apache dive Is the set- ting. Derickson walks in wearily and goea into^"Song of Siberia." He's dre^s^d as a Husslan- and the lyrics bring out that he'a exiled and yearning for his' native land. Fol- lows up with the passe pop "She's Funny That Way," Switch In type of material too. sudden aind frdm one extreme to the other. DeHckison has an oke tenor and quite powerful. Also knows the art of delivery^ But the close ups here practically -spoiled everything^.' tor- he grimaces, too much and the cam- era shows it all clearly. In spots it drew', giggles. Brown Is iapparently the pianist accomt>anIst No other type of en tertalnment included. "MICKEY THE ROMEO" Mickey McGuire Comedy 18 Mins; Stanley, Nev^ York Radio - Radio Is putting out these Mickey McGuIre comedies In fast order. This one is a corker of ita kind and a good bet anywhere. Their' frolic begins at a home made playground. Kids do high dives into bath tubs, shoot the col- ored, boy out of a barreled cannon and chute-the-chutes on a home- made contraption. Have to drum up biz for their playground, so two kids go out to scout around and stir up a lot of laughs doing it They all go' to a real amusement park where they are chased by two men whose truck load of furniture they, dumped. Chase winds in an4 out the amusements-in the park. All the kids are good, with Mickey, himself, taking first honprs. The Inf'ant of the mob, a real tot, also aroused plenty. laughs. . ■ ^ CONCHITA Songs 4 Mins. Stanley, New York International Photoplay Flop short Femme in Spanish gown and using castanets warbling a Spanish song and trying to dance. Nothing here for anybody. DeForest sound equipment used. PATHE AHEAD DH SHORTS Culver City, Sept 16. With 35 of Its scheduled 62 short subjects already completed, Pathe Is way ahead on the program sheet It's likely all the two. reelers will be finished before the first of the year at the present gait of one a week. FOX Ant STOBT Hollywood. Sept 16. Al Santell has been assigned direction of "Squadrons" for Fox. It's an air story by Elliot White Springs. Jules Furthman Is doing the adaptation and dialog. Production starts around Oct L Gloria Swanson has followed her "Trespasser" with another, money picture, "What a Widow." The lat- ter Is totally distinct from the for- mer. In that, as much a^ anything, will Miss Swanson appeal to her fans. Besides she as before and in this story especially will be food for the women. Men will like it, but the women will love It. Whether it is the big money getter "The Tres- passer" was depends upon the thea- tre men. It can follow the other, although a second Swansqp talker, with the edge here if the exhlbs sell it that way. Rather remarkable, this Swanson girl.' As a silent picture player ap- parently gaining her rep or draw through being a clothes horse and with sufficient publicity to send her along. Miss Swanson didn't mean anymore than many others, but . ita talkers 'she has blossomed out In "What a Widow," the ran.fe un- dertaken and taken care of la all light; sent In an altogether different direction from her first ...talker. Again she singis, with that somehow acquired voice of hers in a couple of Vincent Totunans songs that should develop popularity. A skeleton of the story will tell what Miss Swanson aS saddled with here in the way of acting and action. She is a youthful widow, innocent in the world's ways, who was left $5,000,000 .when her 60-year-oId husband passed out Her lawyer informs her about the wealth in his New York office. Seemingly New York isn't big enough for the corking looking widow. She says she's going places to see and do. things; she wants everything without picking up ah' other husband; her 60-year old baby was enough for one girl to be come nurse for. So she switches to Paris, to the dress and hat shops, the masseurs, the rest of it that's tbere..when the. dough is also. What a widow with five can do under the clrcumistances is revealed by Miss SWansbn In rapid moving scenes. They wlH tell the foreigners that none of. theisn has anything on Alan Dwan for swift or subtle kaleidoscopic direc- tion. This is where the femme fans will sigh; this widow .with her coin and no guy to boss her. .. She buys and buys. A whole store full of shoes at one order. The sight may step many a bach from flopping. Into all of this come three men. The American is done by Owen Moore. He is a member of the widow's legal firm and colncldent- ally Is on the same boat for Paris, entrusted with the mission of look- ing after her. Otl.er two are a couple of gigs, one a Russian violin- ist and the second a Spanish piano playing warbler. Mixed in are a couple of professional dancers, Americans, husband and wife. -It's all about the nearest thing to genuine farce comedy the talking screen has seen to date. With a sufficient quantity of comedy. The. widow must dodge the gigs while falling for the lawyer, with the jealous plays dovetailing be- tween the two pro dancers, the male of that combo (Lew Cody) being a permanent stew and his wife a cheater. The lawyer divorces the two dancers to ease up a situation, but decides to leave for home in a hurry and In a dirigible as-he hears the widow has gone away ' with Cody. This is what occurred between the widow and Cody. It's the .big scene if you get it right. The widow thought the lawyer she loved had fallen for the dancer^s wife-partner and that Cody would take her (the widow) to Monte Carlo In the chaperonic way. Widow is okay morally. The first cham- pagne ever tasted by her happened in Paris. She goes to Cody's apart- ment. He's on his perpetual souse and piles her -with cocktails, not with any motive as drink Is the only thing he knows, being a'professional dancer. The widow also becomes soused. Cody drags her to bed In an Inner room, closing the door as he stag- gers Into the living room, to .stupor off to sleep himself. In the morning when the widow awakes and becomes cognizant of the night before, taking the worse for -granted, she decides he must marry her. As they arc on their way to secure a marriage license without the stew yet knowing what it Is all about, he casually men- tions nothing happened. That's enough. She airs him right In the middle of the street and dashes for the airplane, for her lawyer whom she gets before the plane sails. Start of the picture with the