Variety (April 1932)

Taesday, April 5, 1932 FILM REVIEWS VARIETY 23 Beauty and the Boss ([Continued from page 14) «n assortment of Interested and In- terestlngr femmes, such as Mary Doran. Yola D'Avrll, Barbara Lepn- Jird, et al., but our heroine clicks jor the biff moment. On reflection, as with every pic- ture that's below par, there's plenty to comment upoii Ih the line of eeh- •ral deficiencies. One wonders frpm the start, despite the gUbness of-the explanatory dialog, how a starving itreet waif could be so Intelligently •fflclent as an. amanuensis; why and how she dares to be as high- handed Ih her secretarial relations; wbv she must needs resort back to thi't eccentric get-up which she -flashed during her starvation day^ (tills, after shi has apparently "es- tablished herself); along with the most unconventional horseplay by a Viennese banker whose character has been esitabllshed as of the most decorous and opha^rvatlve. That the players make It Impres- sive, even If only Intermittently, Is as much to their credit as some bt Joe Jackson's dialog which had to battle walnst no small handicap with tSr ba.slc premise. Marian Marsh, with her wide-eyed nalVette, made some of the Cindy, stuff al- most sound real. .Warren.William was alright up to a certain point as the big business man. Warners has ' been trying to give WIllla,m a build- up as a new type of male lead, but he has yet to find his opportunity. Same went for David Manners^ for a time; but here the Juve Is Sloughed off In a bit. Mary Doran, . teho has been a:w:ay from pix for some time, makes a light vamp register. She seems to have hit. her stride with an assignment such as this. Others are negligible save for Charles' Butterworth, another WB out, who was quite promising for a time with his dry comedy. style. Given the linos, Butterworth stUl has Important screen possibilities, but he's been madie too formula on . the Warner lot.. Del Ruth's direction goes as far tia the story material would permit, but that's not far enough. Obviously when 'Church Mouse' was originally acquired It was seen a,s ,(1) an eco- nomic Investment; .(2) an economic production, and (3) as a box office potentiality via the beauty-boss equation. On that premise, consid- ering everything. It may get some- Wheres but not In Important keys. Relative liberality of New- York censorial regulations permits for some extra saucy lines and business, notably In Miss Doran's description of her love technique. That may halve a cei'tain flap iappeal, but It may also suffer censorial shears in fcther spots. Abeh South Sea Adventures Travel and sport subject sponsored by Sol Lesser, distributed by Principal D18- trib. Corp. Zane Grey, novelist, teatured . In .person on a fishing jaunt Into the South Seas on the; tbree-masted schooner Fisher- man.. Cameramen: Grey.. Carmen and ' Ulddleton. Narrative written by Tom GeraKhty; • spoken by . WcdKWOod Nowell. Edited by Carl ' Hlmjn. At the Cameo, New York, March 23; Running time, . .17 mins. views of native girls dancing or at household tasks or water sports are slighted,: with Gtey always in the spotlight. One capital Incident is the photographing of ia group of sperm whales oft the Alexican: coast, spouting arid rolling about In a calm sea. Sportsmen brought a small boat up to within a hundred feet or so of the big crealureis, with the lecturer dwelling with good ef- fect on the danger of the situation. Principal piir.pose of the footage Is a travel and sport-thrill two- rfteler if the meat of the subject can be packed Into that limit. As a feature It Is confined to the Cameo class of fans who seek.,novelties away, from the run of coinmierclals. ^ Rush. Novelty subject of awkward length and apparently closely, edited for this showing. Sound effects sometimes appear to be dubbed in while an off-screen lecture accom- panies the party on the sailing vessel - through their adventures With big flph In South Pacific Waters. Picture Is more a travel-arid sport tw6»reelor than a feature. All the action revolves about fishing launches which take off from the big sailing vessel and it becomes monotonous before the. end. In spite of shrewd nursing to a climax in the landing of a huge fish near the Sandwich Islands, weighing more than 1,000 pounds and looking the .weight. ■ Lesser exploits with the rod and line gradually lead up to the excit Ing deep sea battle, but these build ups ratlier take the edge off the climax. Lecturer's voice becomes monotonous in 47 minuteis. Side lights help to break tip the Ashing episodes, some of them ex- tremely interesting. These Include * girls dancing, Polynesians' tribal ceremonies and feasts and a wealth, of. stunning marine arid sjiore line scenei'y. Interest, however, centers In the punch of the big fish battles and however thrilling they may have oeen to the fishermen, they do not .suffice to sustain intere.st for this long footage. At the Cameo the ^pject is exploited as a feature with a group of shorts buliding out a two-hour show and it makes "Mattered and sketchy entertain ment for the run of fans. -Saiting is an oddity. There arc eequonce.s that look padded; such as an elaborate introduction show- jng Grey preparing tackle for the trip. Side remarks of the lecturer, w»o seems Intent on building up the novehst rather . than centering In- terest on the film, while the si>mi).ses at native life have been VI*" ^ minimum. view of a huge fish leaping from tne water on the end of a line has punch, but It tapers off when .repeated at length five or six times jn almost parallel epl.-^odes. iRoman- w .^'"fatnient of the South Sea lonaia uuoselhcr iftnored and WITHOUT HONORS Supreme Features production arid Art class relrase. ' Starring Harry Carey and featuring. Mary Ryan and Bernlce-Donovan and a cast . Including MUce Donovan, Lopez Veri^ro. >Vhlte ' Eagle, Stevp Henderson, Sholt Fletcher, Jock Murlah, Alac MacL.ain. Story, by Lee Sago; dialogue: and continuity by Hai-ry P. Christ and Lee Sake; directed by "William Nigh; Harry P. Christ, asst. dir; Edw,. Linden, camera.; Geo. M. Mer- rick,- production' nigr. At LoeW's N. Y. theatre one'day, March 30, as One-ihalt of a double bin. Running time,' 02 minutes. ■ Coriipetently made horse opera with plenty of compHcatiori; fast movement,: sustained suspense and a dash of cori[»edy which is-not per mltted to interfere with the action. This time Carey is Jack Marian; re- puted bad ,man. and actual gambler, who turns Texas Ranger to clear his dead, brother's . memory. • -He breaks up a. smuggling cpriibine, proves, to the Ranger captain that his brother was falsely accused and gets the woman he loves. DOne with fast riding and spirited indoor ac tion, the feature holds up well.in its class and can boast ipore plot than most border yarns, aiid .clearly told ' Carey holds Ihe center of Interest, but Gibson Gowland gets a chancei to act as a crook, and Mary Jane Irving haridles capable the Ingeriiie part, with Mae BuScli as the woriian Cirey. wants and finally gets. Not only Is the photography ex cellent,. but - the camera has been studied for angles as well as loca- tions; something unusual in hippo features. Most of the dialog has been weir done and tlie average of sound is good though a trifle too heavy at times, which may not be a fault inherent In the film; MURDER AT DAWN Biff Four" production and. release. Fcaturr Ing Jack Mulhall and Josephine Dunn, with Mischa Auer, Martha Mattox,. Crautord Kent, Phillips Smalley, Marjorle Beebe, Frank Ball, Eddie Boland. Supervised by Burton King, and directod by! Richard Thorpe. Story by Ban-y BJirlnger. .Edw. Kull, camera; Earl Grain, sound: Fred Bain, flini led. At Loew's N.. Y'. theatre one day, March 20, as bnc-half-of-a doubl^ bill. ' Running time, 35 minutes. DEVIL'S LOTTERY Fox production and release. Ellss'a Landi featured. Directed by Sam Taylor. Adap- tion and .dialog by Guy Bolton from novel by Nalbn> Hartley. Ernest Palmer, pho- tographer. At Roxy, N. y., week April 1. Running time, 78 mlntites. . Evelyn Beresford Ellssa Landi Lem Meech .'Victor Mc'Laglen Stephen'Alden. .Alexander Klrkland Major Hugo Beresford..<.. .Paul Cavanagh Captain Geoffrey Maltland..Ralph Morgan Joan Mather .Barbara W«eks Mrs. Mary. Ann Meech..Beryl Slercer Trowbridge,:... ...Herbert Stundin Lord LItchfleid.. ....... i. .Halllw«ll Hobbos - Ever since 'Tlie Bat,'• ambitious scenarists have been shooting at the same combination of tlirllls and lauirhs,. with very few hitting even in the outside ring. 'Murder at Dawn' is clear off the target, a cluriisy effortv which Is further handicapiped by Indifferent direction and vei-y poor photography. It will get over In B and C houses where patrons do hot ask for plausibility, birt the plotting 1^ based on a false premise and illoglcally developed. Many of: the cast have done excel- lent work on other screens, but they are sunlc in . this production. Plot revolves around the efforts of a'pair of stock: brokers to depress stock in the Inverition of Prof. Far- rington, who has solved the prob- lem of developing power from sun- light. It is supposed to be about to revolutionize all Industry. The Pro- fessor's announcement that he can develop ..unlimited power and 'free thousands of work slaves' is not going to get. rousing cheers from the unemployed in the audience. They're free already. Most of tlie happenings are laid in the isolated country home of the Inventor, which is visited by his daugher and her fiance. She is ac- companied by Marjorlie Bebee and Eddie Boland as a young. married couple. Boiand does r a .comedy souse; with Miss B^ibee squealing In terror whenever she" is told. A care- takier who lias follovi-ed the experi- riients has rigged up a similar de- vice, and threatens the professor with electrocution If he does not reveal the final details. The rising sun will strike the device and. put it in bperatlori, killing Isbth the in- ventor arid his daughter. This situ- ation is built up by slinking char- acters who carry, lighted candles while they stand in the epotlight, fall through trap doors, encounter apparent corp.se.*?. suddenly disap- pear.! None pf the familiar com- ponents have been overlooked, but they never blend, and the hackneyed devices fail to thrill. Josephine Dunn is but of her metier as the heroine, and Jack Miilhall labors (in v4tin" with the juvenile lead. Misf;lia Auer and Martha Mattox, an the caretaker and housekeeper, are. suppp.sed to be sinister, but are too badly handi- capped by awkward bu.siness. The direction is too frantic to be ef- fective, iand the photographic qual- ity is evehlv bad. 'Murder at TJawn' may thrill 'the hinterland, but even the E audi^ncs will bb upl to urofi'. Ellssa Landi's Iriabliity to get a firni foothold in American talkers has been attributed up to now t^. nbri-support on the story iend. 'Devil's Lottery* seems to give the actress - her best, chance thus tav, but Miss Landi ajgaln ifails to regis- ter. Although 'Lottery' , is a. islight improvement as far as literacy help is concerned. It Isn't strong. This time the faiilt Is Miss Landlfs as well as the story's. Picture looks like a doubtful gr<)sser, chlefiy be- cause of Its lack, of cast attractivc- riess. • : • ■ \ ; Miss Landi is the Intellectual type of actress.: In the,s..a, department she's limited^ On the stage Such a per^ionality Is saliible, sirice the in telligeriqe Of such a, patronage, prompts It to seek more than jiist plain s. a. But in jiictures, v'here an.:entlrely different brand of thinkr ing dictates audience tastes, the pri mary value of .physical appeal .ai.d. secondary ' position of intellectual performing coinnot be avoided. Miss Laridl hasn't helped herself by changing her coiflture. Her for mer long bob seemed more in ac- cord with what they want than her present, hairdress. That's Miss Landi's only change, biit It makes a big difference. She has matured. The rub in 'Devil's Lottery' is the failure of Miss Landi and her: part to mix. She-s the central woman In a group of people, with all the men immediately on the make for her, But Miss. Landi doesn't show why the boys fall, so quickly and forget the other women. Despite her act ing ability and cleverness at making more difficult situations seein plaiis ible, she fails to be convincing on that attraction angle. This'coriditlon Is harmful to tlie picture as a whole as well as to Miss Landi's score. The men be- come unriatural as soon as they start to fall. It's not hard to undeiv stand why Victor McLaglen's^ per- formance stands atop the other cast efforts. He's the only gent not enamoured of Miss Landi. Story attempts to show the grief that comies with sudden riches. The money, winners in the Calcutta Sweepstakes iare Invited to spend a vacation at the English home of the winning horse?s owner. Within, a short time they all meet with trag- edy. One dies, another Is murdered, a young romance Is temporarily blasted and a paralytic war vet suffers "a relapse. The inference that money may bring unhapplness is psychologically accurate,. .but film audiences will be hard to convince that coin is so difficult to handle. The corifliction with poipular illu- sions is bound to create opppsitlori to the story. Productlorially, 'Lottery' Is never lacking. A horse race sequence with views of the betting row neatly dovetailed provides a fast start, and the pace la sustained most of the way. - The . sudden melodramatic twist at the far turn is a blow that knocks the wind out of thie script. From then on It llmpb. Beryl Mercer is tragically coriilc as the" suddenly rich old lady whose constant fear Is loss of the money. Excepting the Juves, Alexander Kirkland and Barbara Weeks, and Herbert Mundin, comedy butler, the other players are all more or less straight men. Bige^ MEIN LEOPOLD ('My Leopold') (GERMAN-MADE) (With Songs) Majesllc-Orplld production. ' Capilal Film release In "U. S, Starring Max' Ad!ill,iert and Gustav Frochllch. Direction . Hans Stelnhoff; scenario, Hans' Brennert, from the German play by same, name by Adolpli TArronge; music, . I,eo Aschfer.- At the Hlhdenberg,' N. T.; oh grind run begin- ning March 30. Running time 00 mlns. Gottlieb-Welselt. Max Adalbert Leopold. .Harald Paulsen Kkira........... . .Camilla Spira Rudolf' Slui-ke ...GustaV Froehllch Zernlckov .Paul Hentikeiy Natalie: ... 4 .•;.........«.. Idi Wuest Emma ,..... ......... ;Lucle Engllsch Marie .'.'... .Elfrled Borodin Mahmeyer..-;.', ....Hermann ThlmlK Miellsch..,;.,,.,.......' Alfred Belerlc Dangers of monkeying around with superimposed title.H and other artificial attempts at changing a leopard's spot.s are best lllu.strated by thiS' picture. Opening night it was shown in Knglish titles. After three days the print was yanked and the original German replaced it At the first showing auditors saw what scem6d like a hopelessly bad German film, with poor pho- tography, sound and handling. Ac- tually it's a P.i etty fair programmer that ought to draw in strictly Ger- man nabCR, In attempting to stick Engli.sh titles onto the picture the film was Kppilod several ways. First, a very bad print.re.fultfd, which loo'.ted and sounded bad, .Secondly/ the titles wrjre an esppfially bad set, Well- written, but they all were stuck into the wrpng places. Wliilo the screen chai'acter wa^ being sad the funny speech to follow was fiashed. And vice versa. Also there were almost as many titles as used to be used in the old silent days, with an evi- dent attempt on somebody's part to make It all iritelllglble to American customers. .. . \ What made it ail the worse. wisis the fact that It's not a piicture Inr tended for Am®'^'*^'^ri audience con:- sumption. It's a sentlnieritar Ger- man yarn that has appeal only for dyed-in-the-wool Teutons., To them titles are, andialivays will hei mere- ly a disturbance. ' Story is that father love thing, Papa dotes ori his darling .Leopold,: who wastes all the family fortune and forges the old boy's name on some notes, then vamps, Papa goes completely , to ruin . and son wanders around a bit. Then he In- vents a , new gadget, restores the family fortune; and. all is \vell.: Max Adalbert , as the father turns in, a splendid performance, though a. bit along his usual lines, arid Gustav Froehllch is somewhat dis- appointing. Other actors are pretty poor, largely because theiy overact arid strain that sentimentality that the play perhaps calls for. Couple songs in the film that are jiist about satisfactory. Kavf. Raub der Mona' Lisa (•Theft of the Mona LW) (GERMAN MADE) (With Songs) Supcrnim production. Tobis Forenfllm rt« lease for U. S. Starring 'Willy Forat and Trudc vbn Molo arid fecCturlng Gustav Grundgens. . Direction Ge;«a von -Bolvary; scenario,' Walter Retsch; music, Robert Stol?.;, production supervision. Julius HaU tnann; photography, WfUy . Goldberger; sound; Fritz Secger. At the Europa. N. T., on grind run. beginning March 29. Running time, 03 mins. VIncenzo Perugglh i.,;........'.. .Willy Porst Mathildo ,.Trude von Molo Mystery.' Man........... .Gustav Grundgens Louvrei director................ Fritz Odemar Chief Guard.....'.; .Max Gulstorlt Landlady ...... .^.i........... Rosa Valettt THE DEVIL PAYS .Chesterfield ' production and - release.' Directed by Richard Thorpe from story by Arthur Hoerl'. Jameson Thomas, Florence Brltton, Thomas Jackson. Dorothy Christy, featured'. In cast: Richard Tucker, Lillian ■Rich, Robert . pills. Lew Kelly. Carmelita Geraghty, Edmund BUrns,. Jack . Trent, MUrdock MacQuarrle: At Loe'w's 'New York, o'nd day, March .31. Running tlniiei 00 mlns. More doors arie open arid shut In this then In a dozen of the average independent features. Plot of a short, story writer superceding the police in a riiurder mystery hias been used in short subjects. . Only difference is that In 'The Devil Plays' It Is three tliries as drawn out and four tlnles.as boring. Jameson Thomas never had. a chance to be' as suave In pictures for his old coriipany, British Inter national; as .he has in this. He sees all; knows all, arid finally shows all how easy It is to get all to tell all, No. picture, Indejpendent or other- wise, ever glorified the 'veracity' of the cheap mag writer to the i>olnt which this does. To Thomas, as that writer, the police are less, than the butler. In fact, the police, largely in the person of Thomas Jackson as the inspector; turn out to be not orily a stupid lot, but fawning. Insipid and apologetic. The whole thing Is such a: fabri- cation, frorii the story to the direc- tion and the acting, that It can be served better as comedy in the lesser grinds. . Police headquarters, according to 'Devir is a place where.the rich are graciously bowed In and out while the other kind Is bounced In via the neck. Story lis a long rambling clue- hunting affair. Missing letters, blackmail, a couple of stabbirigs In- spire endless pacings over a' '■ouple of sets. Wdly. Monsieur, Madame Et Bibi Paris, March 19. A Mataft'production and release. Made In Berlin. Directed by Jean Boyer and .Max ' Nelifeld from the play by Paul Franclc titled. 'Business In America.' Music by Paul Abraliam. Recorded Tobls Klang- nim. Running^ time, .00 mlns. Olympla, Paris, March 18, The Wife........... Marie Glory The • Secretary Florelle The Maid.'. .Suzanne PrevUle Blbl A Dog The Manufacturer. Jean Dax The Agent .....Rene Lefebvre Chances are tliat Badio, Which bvvns thiB American rights, is allow-; ing Tobis to release this picture In German now as a sort of test pri newspapciv criticism' and public re- action. In which case the test won't mean a thing. Picture Will get rave ripticcs in all the dailies as a highly artistic arid meritorious effort. . It will have considerable box office pull at the various German sure-se&ters. What it will do in major American theatres when released in the fall in a fully dubbed English version will probably be an entirely dllfererit story. ■ ■ ;■.■ ■ 'Theft of the Mona Lisa' is ,one mpre of, those European. paradoxes. Beautifully done, finely thought out and artistically A-1. But when re- leased to American audiences, the ordinary eyery-day customers will firid it so terribly slow a^s to be bor- ing. 'Arid romari'tlcally so ironic as. to be annoying. First thing to be said for the pic- ture is that it is highly original In Story concept. Has to do with a poor Italiari glazier in Paris who falls in love with a hotel maid be- cause she resembles the Mona Lisa. Because she wants him to do some- thing exceptional arid great fpr heir, hei steals .the , picture from the. LpiiVre. Gesture, of cpurse, means nothing to her, so she runs off with a rich man who propositions her. Arid the lad goes to jail, after toll- ing the court he stole the picture in order to, restore it to his country where it originally belonged. There- by becoming a national hero In his own couritry. With Bpme action and pep that Story might p&ss and have a chance of appealing to ordinary customers. As' handled here the film is about half over, with nothing having hap-, pcined, before he even conceives the notion of stealing the. picture; The photography and direction and act- ing up :that point are beautiful, artistically. But, as is almost al- ways true, also boring. What helps fllm more than any- thing, and rinay just possibly put it oyer (as was also true . In 'Zwel Herzen Im % Takt,' produced by the samei people) Is the theme song. Song .is a peach, catches on easily and is whistleable. Cleverly it's used throiighotit as a sort of back-, ground theme, being nicely blended with the sound and actlori and work- . ing pretty much to suggest the mood of various scenes. Willy Forst in the lead, turns in his first really worthwhile perform- ance seen in New York. He's quite popular with the Germans and haS: played in a lot of musicals. This Is his first straight work and shows him, surprisingly .enough, to be a really good actor. TrUde von Molo, opposite, is capable and pretty, plus having quite a resemblancie to Da Vinci's subject. (Fortunately, she's a good deal slimmer, however). All the rest of the cast are okay. Ka«/. One of the Natan productions, riiade ih Germany, was simultaric- ously made in French arid German, with different casts. Though It has sorinc music and is supposed to be an operetta,, it Is really a filmed comedy which;' thanks to good act- ing and funny situations rin'ore than the dialog, gets laughs, and is very well received at the Olympia. . Story is in. no way French, nor i.s it supposed to take , place In France, since it shows an. Amer- Icari mbtoi- car manufactui'cr vls^ iting his ^A'ienria agent, with the agent's wife passing herself off as the secre.tairy, and vice versa, until ieverything is squared in the end. However, the French audiences, due to the way in which the thing is done and the excellent acting, accept it. Title is a pun on 'Mr., Mrs. and Baby,'. Bibi in this case being the name of the woman's pet (log. ,. ; Sets and photo okay, with some good music, especially in the night club sequences'.. Songs are unricc- essary and only tend to slow up action. Rene Lefebvre as the'motor agent .who finds him.self compelled to pa.ss off his secretary as his wife while, latter i.s unwittingly mi-stal^en for the secretary and treated accord- ingly by the visiting boss, i.s ex- cellent, . Latter i,s satisfactorily done by Jean Dax. Fioi-cUe, who did 'Eeggar.s Opera,' is good as tho •sccrctaryi Marie Glory as the wiff is. her usuii.l snr-c bf;L with l-'rcncli audi<;nf'f>H. Sure b.o. Marl. ZAPPATORE (ITALIAN MADE) ANT production. Napoll Distribution. In U. . ^. Direction. Gustavo Sereno. Cast Including Gustavo Sereno, Silvio Oralno. Mina' Vloietto, Tina Renaldl and Anna Martelll. At the Sam Harris, N. Y.. on grind run beginning March 27. Running time, 80 mlns. If It weren't for the fact that the distributors of this picture intend to foist it on the entire unsuspect- ing Italian public of this country it probably wouldn't be worth review- ing. It looks very much like a resurrected epic of the Gay Nineties dusted ofC and. fitted up with a sound track for a couple of extra riiokcls. Italian pictures shown, ^n this country have almost always been the worst of the foreign fllnis to be seen. Tlvls is a new low even for them. It's advertised as an all-talking and singing Italian talker. To make that good one of the characters speaks .three words once and an- other character spits out four rhbre later oh. Also an eight-year-old girl moves her lips for a few min- utes and there emerges a song from a full grPwn coritralto voice. Story is one of those sad things about the boy.whp gamljlcs and tlie father who clears the dfebt by sell- ing the .old homestead and the swfplheart who believes 'til the end. lioy, of cour.sG, dy(^» a miraculous handspring in the last rod to re- store ev<^rything.- Ar tlng of half of the company is terrible and acting of the other half is worse. P.ut here it is on 42d Street in Xcw Voi'k,• w.iih glaring.- eliRCtrlc llufii." n.« 'the Kreiii Hiillan epic'