Variety (June 1932)

14 VARIETY FILM BE YHE WS Tuesday, Jnme 2ft» 1932 LAUREL and HARDY 'Any Old Port' 21 Mine.: Capitol, N. Y. Metro-Goldwyn Ayerafro rough-house two-reeler In Its field and considerably below the usual grade for this pair. Com- edy lacks resourcefulness and falls into tried and tested chase stuff. All apparently built around one solid laugh, well placed and swiftly ■ sprung. Pair are couple of sailors Just off a whaler. . Find a seaman's lodging" house kept by the tough Walter tiong, who is abusing a girl slavey when they, arrive^ They make a gallant gesture oiT going to the girl's defense, but when billiard balls bounce <rft the tQUgh guy's bean without attracting his atten- tlohi they let It go at that. . Angry, Long chases them all oyer the place and when they escape with the girl he is left furious. Sail- ors meet up with a friend who stakes them to chow on. .condition that Xaurel, the little one, goes in the ilghit ring that night as a pre- liminary. Fight arena stuff is neatly worked up. laurel Is making his entrance as the last defeated gladi- ator is beliig carted off, on a stretcher, but his attentSoh is dis- tracted. He gets Into the ring with much parade, and the surprise is sprung—his opponent Is liong. . Fight is Just uninspired horse- play; Long puti a heayy weight in his glove, gloyes are exchanged and the tough mugg Is Ito'ed after Hardy has backed Long; Outside the one surprise iaugb* ItTs mediocre material: Rush, • 'BIG DAIME HUNTING* With Ned Sparks Comedy 20 Mine. , Columbusi New York ' ■, Radio ■ Good comedy short. Action Is neither wasted nor oyerdrawn- Slapstlck acceptable mostly because of Ned Sparks and bis cynical facial expressions. It's a program builder that causes laufi^ wtthoat forcing. ' Photography and recwdlng both Plot Is thin enough but satirically construbted. About a domestic pair and their quarrels. Sparks is the husband who after staying out late tries to put one over by dioving In through a window-and lands on the maid's corpus; Screams follow as usual. The climax comes when Sparks is picked for a matrimonial ipahlac while trying' to j^k a cook for his: household. Walks into a malfimony aeency by mistake and 80< forth. . In the wIndiB|» he is stlU quarxd- ing with.his wife. It's a sadden but fitting endings Caught hoa on a ^uble-f^ture program and carried the showfs punch and middle. Sparks himself is an asaiet to the b. o. as a comedy principal. Hhttn. PATHE AUDIO REVIEW Nf^velty Travelofi 6 Mins. Trans-Liix; N. V. . RKO Paths Of Interest In this Issue Is the tour taken of a museum in Munich whose exhibits range from minor achieve ments by humans to airplanes, etc. The Review also photographs odd flsb, including a species that blows itself up with water, 'nd for a nov elty finish gives an idea of how the wrong sound oh the right picture works out. It's for novelty and laughs. Char. 'KNOWMORE COLLEGE' With Rudy Valtee Comedy, 10 Minsi Loew's. Orpheum Paramount Mr. Vallee, sans megaphone, sans orchestra and sans intelligent di- rection as an actor In a comedy sans humor. Brand new Idea, too —or it wasJn 1840—of^a schoolroom full of growntips who can't learn their lessons, so the peppy new teacher . comes along, sings .'em songs, teaches thenri to sing songs^ and an Is lovely. . . Vallee is;, of course the teacher. He sings the class two numbers, one of them b^ng Too Can Find a Rhyme for Bverythinp but Orange.' Then, the 'kids' in the Class sing some choruses.. Only real laugh in the reel is the tag; And it's a' tip-off. on the en- tire subject. A Helen KanIsh girl with oiie of those boop-boop-a-doop voices Is standing in front iA a skeleton telling about anatomy. Skeleton tilts its head at bar, <v>ens Its mouth and says 'Aw nuts.' Kauf. RIDINia THE SKIES Amelia Earhart Putnam TrstweIbi r-' : ■ ■• 12 iiins,:----.;; '• '"'-GapHol '] Ordinary travelog of a trip from Ntew York to Washington, J>. <X, dis- tinguished only by the titular intro^ ddctQry of Mrs. Amelia Earhart Putnam's aeronautical fame, and cut-ins. of her piloting the 1*. T.- Wa^ihingtpn .plamfc '. _. ' :." . That's excuse for the. Empire City's skyline shots of Newark, Trenton and PhUaddphla.: and finally the Capitol OB landing. Conventiowd tzavelos stuff lent an interestinr tone by the Earhart aviation hook-up. That wHl tell the story on Mr league bookings.for this short at the moment at a pretty good rentaL . -A^*'- MEDITERRANEAN MEMORIES' Travelba . .9 Mins. Embassy* N. Y. . Fox Fox Hovietone cameramen got aboard the Saturnia and made, some of its stops, including Gibraltar, Riviera, Algiers and Athens, with an ofcitcreen voice aiding the camera in telling what it saw. Up to standard of travelog material of its type, suit- ing nicely as filler. On whole well, photographed, the cameramen spotting . their equip- ment at strategic and novel points In .most cases.. t77ior. 'PROHIBITION' Screen Snapshots Series 9 Mins.... Trans-Lux, N, Y; ■■■■ Col. Portions of the recent: debate on whether prohibition is a success or a failure, between . Aim »e Semple MacPherson and Walter -Huston, makes up the total of this issue of .'Snapshots.' It's of unusual Interest at this time In view of the wet-dry Issue's significance politically. FOr that reason, it should be ideal filler. Action is In the MacPhersoii An^ g61us Temple, It. A. The evangelist leads off as an exponent of the dry cause, provIng^ herself a skillful «»ator. Huston,follows, also reveal Ing an oratorical flair that Is sur prising. He topped Mrs. MacPher son oh audience reacUpn. Char. SHARKEY^CHMELING Made .and. presented "Leon Briton vn- der auspices of the- Madison Square Corp. At the Globe, New Tork, on terina rtart- Ins June - 23; Rannlne time. B2 mins. ' The pro and con squawks that followed -the Sharkey-Schmellng fight for the world's heavyweight championship were a bireak for this sound film record of the match^ A banner oh the. Globe mai-quiee, where the picture openeii the'mom- ihg after, says: "Wais' Schmeling robbed of the title? Come in and see for yourself.' Nothing could be sweeter. Oddly enough, Sharkey clearly has an edge on rounds and points in the film. According to this re-: porter's scoring the German took six rounds to the new champ's seven, while two were even. This varies considerably from the counts by ringside spectators. Those who saw both the fight and the pictures say the routine looks different on celluloid. Sevel-al who thought" Schineling won by a mile at the Long Island stadium say the pictures sh6w Sharkey as having an easy edge. . The: differ- ence in- celluloid retrospect raised a lot of peculiar questions. 'Also some sags. Somebody figured that maybe Schmeling didn't photograph so well. The pictures are the most clearly photographed of any opcn.-alr night prize fight. so far. ' The camera re- mained at an even distance;, while what must have Tjeen an overhead mike picked up the ring sounds faithfully. All preliminary gab, in- cluding Joe Humphries' announce ment and Referee Gunboat Smith's Instn^ctipn to the boyst waS faith- fully picked up. tia descriptive chatter this time, with the'fight t>ermltted ' to speak for Itself. All the rounds were timed to the full three minutes, and no stalling in between. . Title sheets with the coming' round's number are flashed between stanzas. The longer the sporting page squawks continue the better off this film Wll be. Without the contro- versy it would be minus half its present value, fOr the film. like the fight, Is entirely devoid of thrills. Bush. .. Man from Yesterday Paramount production and iclcoae feator- ing Clandette Colbert and CUve Brook Screen play W Oliver H. P. Garrett from' the play by Net! Blackwell and Rowland G. Edwards. Directed by Berttaotd Viertel. PhotoETophed by. Karl Struas. At the ParamoQiit, N. T. and Brooklyn, 'week starting June 24. RnnnlDK time, 68 Minis. Sylvia SolTolk..... ^.; Calndette Colbert Copt. Tony Clyde. , Cllve Brook Gene Gaudin , Charles Boyer Steve Hand .....Andy Devlne t)r. Walte Alan Mowbray Inn Proprietress... Greta Meyer ■Tony's cocotte...... .Tola D'Avrll Andy's, cpcotte... .v...... .Barbara Leonard Baby Tony.... Ronald Coobey Rather too late in the day to ex pect war scenes, however well made to cairy a thin plot to distlncUon, and when the war peters'oiit there Is only scenery and conversation re- maining, a.id the conversation is not very good. Probably will bo ac cepted as average by class, audi ence?, but not apt to Interest those Hiiiitiire 'Ifait From Yesterday' (Far). Program plcttire handsomely made but lacking any quality tp lift it above the common level. Rather •too late for a war drama but getting, off oh that angle. No one gets much, opportunity. 'Bachelor's Affairs' (Fl!W>» Lightweight theme with Men- Jbu stronger cast . name. Neither farce nor a. social problem development, it misses throughout. Its general <^vi- ousness naitigates against sus- taining interest.. 'NeW mUirats fur Ot* (M-G- M). Serious treatment of the younger generatUai,^ a theme that never yet has been a smash. This one Is swathed in . glooms; Is muddled and is withouii names' that win draw. .Result is a weak stoter. - 'Wbistlin' Dan^ <Ttflrany). Border story with Ken May-- nard starred.. Trite etoryt but well written and acted and ex- ceptional photdgrapliy for this class. Somewhat. above class ayerag&' ■- - 'Dmwinig Danger' €Co](>: Tim McCoy In a western too over- stressed to greatly Interest any but the lower levels. 'Herr . Buerovorsteher' (Sle-: gel-Monopbl)i Another farce built entirely around .Felix Bre»art; Too similar to past . efforts. Ko bk o. indicated in Qerman nabes, or elsewhere. . *Htfrra Ein Junge*. (Kreutz- berg). involved German 'farce along . usual Unes but with extra heavy casC Ought to please Germans^ 'fidfiubertl's FrwehlfngslniHm^ (Atlas).. Based on the Hfe of> and with music by, FTahx Saiubert. Good photography and the fine mtisic make it pretty sure boxofflce for for- eign or arty trade. . . on the. lower levels who crave action in plot and movement. A well-made production. ih point of staging, but it stops there. Will not do. much better than slide throngih. Picture gets off to some fictitious excitement of aa air raid over Paris, which covers now familiar ground from no new angle. Clive Brook, as an army pfflcer, .marries Claudette Colbert in a wine cellar during the raid, because he has to join his com- mand the following day for the big push. Back in the line he Is gassed, left for dead and interned in a prison camp. A comrade tells Miss Colbert he is dead, but she still re- fuses to marry Charles Boyer, army surgeon, whose nurse she was dur- ing the war and who befriended her when the baby came. Brook comes back, Boyer sends his wife back to him. but Brook guesses that she loves the other man; so he leaves her. goes on a drunk and deliberately seeks death, leaving her free to rewed. Nothing new in the pattern and no new twists redeem the now threadbare tale. The story merely wanders aimlessly along with inter- minable conversation and little drama. Supposed to be mental in its appeal, but rather lowbrow on this angle. It is Impossibiel to feel the sug- gested tragedy because it is not sharply pointed up. More, the drab atmosphere of the last third of the plbture Clogs the iKkaginatlohi and thie players do nothing to lift It out of the slough. Brook moons around, Miss Colbert goes into trances while she thinks of the other man, and a clever child is wasted on the usual blah paternal teve stofC The seen arist worked aloaff the lines of least resistance, and the director did little or Bothinff to boost the slump throng deft touches. Plenty at movine around, but no action. It takes 4A minutes to terminate the returned husband, . with Just that one incident on which to hang the action. It's too slight a peg. Productionally the picture has been well made. There are some pretty exteriors and some graphic, if uninteresting, war stuff, with one 'shot of Brook ill the ambulance Which Is calculated to \klll. him off as afemmerave. Brook, almost as usual, is the stern, igilent man who struts through his mess of woes like a .stoic and never catches the sympathy because his role and his acting- are alike wooden. Charles Boyer is more human as the surgeon, but appar- ently Is held back to keep him from gettintr too much interest. . Miss. Colbert turns in only an average performance, with Andy Devine about the iody really human being in the chief cast as. a war buddy. A lot of money has been spent to purchase very little audience satis- faction. BACHELOR'S AFFAIRS Vox:' productteb ' and release' featafiiv AdBlph Menjoaa. Based on 'FreciouB,' play by ' James ForbcB. directed ' by ; Alfred tl'crknr. Screen pl»y by Bnrry Conners and Philip KIel»; ■oiind, Alfred. BruzHn; cainora. Normtts Nortiert Brodlne; dssie- |.ant director. iCbarles ' . .Woolstcnhulme. Rnntilhg; time; \>4 minutes, ' at the Rosy, N. T., week o« Jime 24. Amirew H6yt^.>........;..Adolphe Weiiloa Steiu;.. .... .Mhia* Oombell OHyit Donton.....'Arthur Picnon Mills'...'...'....'...,'.,. ..Joito Mdrsh Luke Rndcliff;...,.'.........Allan' DInehart Jane......'.......; a.. .Trene Purcell Ramon...-.. ..•.,..'. ;..... .Don Alvarado Jopeon. ........ .. Berbett' Mundhv Mi a. Oliver Dentoa.. ...;...mta La Roy Besides Menjou, cast holds lighter names inl Minna Combell, Arthur Pieisom and Joan Marsh, who . can Tend but little to a weak sister, so It'll be iip to the exploitation to setl Bachelor's Affairs' for what it can get. It'll be tough selling, although Its best baUy, as the. press-books ittdHeate, is along light, summer farce Hnes,. and not as. a . social problem play. However, it misses all around, tacking spice and holdr irtg nothing to. sustain the interest from the start. Premise is speedily established that Menjou's marriage with the dumbbell Joan Marsh Is strictly for her, or rather inore for her machi- nating sister's convenience. And as soon as one gets a fiash of Arthur Pierson, who comes Into the pic- ture In an intended casual manner, one knows the solution. Menjou is cast in a thankless role as the somewhat a. k. bachelor who kids himself that he needs a youth- ful companion ih wedlock to Jazz him tip. The kid's dizzy pace al- most wrecks -. hlni physically. Against this background Is ah un- derstanding business associate (Al- lan Dlneharf) and a moi'e than sym- pathetic amanuensis (Irene Pnrcdl) which about tells the flnale before much of the first reer has traveled its course throu^ the sprockets. Hence it becomes a matter of wait- ing for the obvious, which explains why that 64 minutes of running time seems so much more. . Apart from the flimsy structure, Barry Connors and Philip Klein, the Scenarists, have seen fit to per- mit their characters to talk in 'Col- lege Humor* epigrams. As an example, there's a crack about ah architect 'but he has other plans'; or. if you don't care for that, this epigram might do: 'Every man has his price and every woman h.cr figure.* ■ Menjou looks, the aged bachelor, but his affairs aren't as intriguing as the title would suggest. About the ^biggest affair is the mistress of ceremonies as done by ~MInna Gombell who tries to frame things for economic convenience. ■ ' Worker's' direction, is in keeping with the lightweight material as- sigr.cd him; and the same goes for the playing which tried somewhat desperately, and almost always in vain, to . Intelligently treat with rather inspld material. . Abel, The Man Frorn Yesterday' (Par). A stale story based on incredible coincidences, slowly and heavily told. Needs a more ihterestlrig, defi- nitely glamorous personality than Colbert to sustain femme Interest. 'Bachelor's Affairs' (Fox). The comic aspect of a May-December ro- mance, casting Adolph Menjou disappointingly, as an elderly, dyspeptic bridegroom. Builds laboriously to several good laugh^ its mild enterr tainment elabraated by a pa.rade of luxurious sets and flashy costumes. 'New Morals For OtcP (MOM). "What's the younger generation com- ing to?', answered with a brpmldlc, tacked-on conclusion. . Previous development, uncertain of where to direct its sympathies, fails to enlist the support, of audience matrons or their ilapper daughters. Additionally weakened by a non-boxoffice caist. *Schubert's Frulingstraum' (Capital).. Only music students and ladles with a fondness for Schubert will find interest in-this uninspired, over- dialogued German film, based on incidents in the composer's life, told with scant dramatic effectiveness.. The Office GirP <Ga:insbor6ugh). British version of an old German musical, strictly Continental in viewpoint, humor, and slowness Qf pace. Virtue-gets-the-wedding-band its only basis for American femme attend- ance, which is no longer news to picture audiences oyer here. New Morals for Old Ketro-Geldwyn piedoctfon anA' releaaeu Directed by Charles I*. Brabto. Robert' Totmtg, Uarsazct Pezfj, litKMlk Stone ana lAura Bope Crawea featwrcd. Story based Ok the atsv* play, 'Atter AH,' by : John Van. Scotew. Additional: dtfaleir by Zelda Sean* mmt. Wanda Tochock. PliotoKraphy, Johs Mescar. Film editor. William S. Gray. At the Capitol. New'Tork,. Jane'23, Ria. nlnff time, 72 mins. '. . . Ralph .RobPrt Tounp Phyl Marxaret Peny Mr. Thomas ..£e'wls Ston* Mrs, Thomasi. ,.LAora Hope Crewes Myra...^••.....•...■•..^..if...-.• .Myma "LiOiy Sva..,..,,... ..........^..Savtd Ncvrett HalKtt.,. •............ ^. .Jean Hersliolt Sistelle.^:....'...:......,..;...,... ^. Ruth Selwya Zoe.....'..Kathryn Gi'nwtordf' Mrs. Warfcvrton..XouiBC Closwer Hdl» Bodvln'....:'..,.. .......... . . .Mitchell Lewis Aunty Doe.,'........Elizabeth Pnttpraoa Maid'.;.^..................<...Lillian Harmer' A weak sister on ii^numerable counts, chief of which is that It goes about the time-worn subject of the clash between the ojd^r and the yourigor generation In a tire-, some way. There is no clean-cutr issue to create tension. Author Isn't 4.uite able to maker up his mind who is to blame—« whether It is -.the headlong selfish^ ness of the youngsters Vfjip wani their own way, or the older peoplei who . selfishly . seek to order th» world to their , own - liking, regard* less of the rights of the childreo^ Both sides are unreasonable, and & sympathetic treatment of. both . ot tUem leaves a fkn wondering, 'An<t so what?' It m&y -be that this im- partial viewpoint has its literary merits, but it doeisn't supply th» dramatic background for a film pb^.. Certainly hot for one that runs. close to an hour end a 4uarteiv There are spots of padded ;footagfti Many things happen out of a clear sky and nothinjg comes of, them. one is constantly invited to take . interest In; people who saunter casually in and then disappear. A great to-do Is made of the youne heroes meeting with a girl fellow lodger in his Paris studio building. She is proniptly recognizable as Myrna. Loy and one naturally looks fw something to happen out of this association. Nothing does. Instead there are other ambling events that make no more progress. Plcttnre is: sttiffed from start to finish vflth drieary commonplaces. Picture opens with the elders leav- . ing church services and walking h<upae, greeting friends as they pass ami Chatting of tlMir own concerns'. They get home and. it then belng^^ 12:30f, the boy and girl of the household are still sleeping and have to be awakened in an elab- orate comedy secifuence. Point 19 . that all this takes nearly 20 minutes to accomplish the preliminary planting of tfie story's basis, the merest sketch of a prosperous, ami- able, cultured American middle cflass home. Story moves hence with leaden feet to the rebellion of the. young pair. Daughter is impatient of re- straint and endst. up in an ttlicit alliance with a married man. Son. wants to study art in Paris, and. in the end they both have their way-» althoTigh the elders do their best.t» keep them put, rcisorting to un- scrupulous little famfly artifices ta grt their own way. Thei strugglo kills the father and leaves th« mother solitary and doleful. Toune man goes to Paris; only to. learn from a great art teacher that he wHl hever do, and then comes home to resume his old life; apparently- contented at having found out fo^ himself that he had no talent. More amazing, the girl's 'affair* turns out happily enough, then the married man's wife gets a divorce and they marry, and we have the closing episode of the now-grown- up boy and girl back in the old faome^ the girl with twins of her own, and starting right away on the same system of ruling, everybody around her by running their lives for them.. Altogether a wide circle that makes a tiresome journey. . Production is excellent. Laura Crowes gives an inspired perform- ance of exqnl.<3itely balanced gentle comedy, and Lewis Stone sujiplles a flawless character role opposite her. The young people, Robert Young and Margaret Perry, are just an agreeable pair of juveniles, working gracefully and with en- gaging ease. Elizabeth Patterson contributes one of her very human types, arid Mitchell Lewiis, in a smalt, bit as the French artist, makes a nioment stand out. Louise Closscr Hale makes an astonishing appear- ance in wha/t amounts to a walk-oh bit; and Myrna Loy flits in and out. Picture is just one of those things you wonder at—how it was chosen and why It was carried through. Rush. Milstein's Inspection Hollywood, Jtine 27. Harry Mifsteln,. general sales manager of. i^hor^s for Universalj. after, a couple of days at the. studio here, is continuing hls lhspection of exchanges. Returning to New .York via Dal- las. Kane, Churchill Set at U Universal City, June 27. Sddle Kane goes into 'Once In a Lifetime' at Universal, and Bcrton Churchill has a part in 'Merr>'-Go- Round,'at same studio. Both deals agented by LCo Mor- rison^