Variety (Aug 1932)

14 VARIETY FILM REVIEWS Tuesday, August 30, 1932 Talking Shorts «TEE FOR TWO' Comedy, Singing, Pancinfl 17 Mins. Strand, N. Y. Vitaphone No. 1417-8 A hodeepodge of slnslng, dancing, comedy and novelty woven around a Ught story. Entirely In Tech- nicolor and elaborate on setis, cos- tuming, etc., but generally lacks the pace to set it aside from routine revue-sketcli material. There is a little too much of nearly everything in 'Tee for Two," mostly singing arid dianclng. Short would have been more effective if trimmed down to about 12 minutes, but in view of the polish, flash and color il has enough of a touch to avoid, complaints. Franklin Fangbom, Esther How- ard, Helen Liynd, Babe Kane and Dave Morris are among those In the cast 'Pangbom does a wife- wearied .husband to whom the golf club ii3 his pnly refuge. He Is in and out of the picture* often lost for stretches to allow for song, dance and other nutabers," On the whole the story holds together fairljr well. It's'based on a novel idea. Pang- born holding out against permitting womien into the golf club.: "When accidentally hit with a golf ball, he sees his state of unconsciousness a lot of lovely girlies loona up. They igo into dances,-etc., canning golf clubs'and teiinis racquets. Action moves! sill iatrband, finally Into the ladles? locker room^and at . last to thfr swimming pool. .. . Numerous -vaude turns have been used. Including doubles, a Juggling group and; a man wfap. wrestles with 'hiinself..'' •' .•' ' ■' Majority of the sOrig and dance numb49rtf are nicely executed. Shiw-t Is one of several made on the edaAt.-in' color,: :wlth Warners using- lip Technlcolo'f in this man- ner under that company's commlt- menta ■ Char. THE NICKELETTE' Novelty ; 10 Mins. Strand, N. Y. Vita. No. 1399 Amusing but not aiis well- strung together as some of Its type. • vShort boils down to 10 minutes an'idea of what a film show- waa like In-the palmier days of the silent pictures. "Where novelty of this IdndTs pre- ferred, a buy. Material has been compiled, by Burt Frank. It includes amusing slides reminiscent of another day, a couple old shots under the head of Pathetic Newsreel, a ballad singer working with song slides, and parts from a couple 'stiper dramas.' One is ian oldie in. which the late Ru- dolph Valentino appeared as a gangster. There has been considerable of this sort of thing in shorts form of late, but' for many folks they still pack a lot of Interest. Char.- . LOUISE FAZENDA •UNION WAGES' Comedy 20 Mins.. Camoo, N. Y. Universal I One of the better two-reelers, containing several good laughs, an idea or two of originality and a couple standard names. Miss Fa zenda is aided in the acting line by Sidney Toler and Jim Finlayson. It's not an especially new idea of the plumber in to fix the lady's bathtub. She has a jealous school mate caller and wants to impress, her, 8c hires the plumber to make believe he's hubby. He puts it on thick, and as played by Toler gar ners a whole armful of laughs. Miss Fazenda looks better in this one than:she has in some time. . Kauf. 'BELIEVE IT OR NOT' With Bob Ripley and Leo Donnelly Novelty Travelog 8 Mins.. Winter Garden, New York Vitaphone No. 1363 " (Sroup of travel clips and not so unusual, showing a piece of terri- tory around Gibraltar over which Spain and England were once in controversy with neither getting it; a newly Invented collapsible auto in Berlin; a N. T. haberdasher who specializes In clothes for fat people only; a butt picker who sells his nicked-UT) stogies, and the 11th ave- nue (N.Y.) railroad Jockey who races up and ^own warning of an approaching train. . . \ .. , _^ Technically this subiect is done okay. The photography passes, but It sizes only with regular newsreel .matter. With eO much of present- day newsreels being mostly ra&sa- zine, any theatre utUizing both this type of subject besides a newsreel has .plenty to Aeure oyt for. cus- tomer entertainment possibilities. Shots are silent, but the voice of Leo Donnelly details . the silent action offscreen. Donnelly, one ol the -screen's best raconteurs, does superior lecturing as ustial. bnan. CHARLEY CHASE 'First in War' Comedy 20 Mins. „ „ Orpheum, N. Y. Metro One of the best turned out,: tliough a cent of the Slim Summervllle Unl versal shorts/ Plenty" of eooA, clean laughs, with consJderaWe. ac- tion make it okay despite the obr vious derivation.. ^ . . • Chase is cast a« the marine in some jphony South American counr try and flghtlKi'g, with his sergeabt ahbiiit a ntttive gal. Bringing in a goofy ■revbltitlonist who -likes to sing and Joins Chase's quartette rather than his own army makep for a surprisingly funny set of coni- plicationa • MAN-EATING SHARKS 'Cannibal* «f tha Debp'- ^ , Mack. Sennett Adventure Series 8 Mine. Translux) N. Y. . . Educational In his series on fish life titled Cannibals .of the Deep' Mack Sen-' nett groups various flashes of landr ing man-eating sharks for; tlie pres- ent release: Its difference from many similar subjects is that it em- phasizes the strength of the shirk even after he has been hauled into the boat. Subject has as good a continuity.. as; can be expected. Serle^ .however, is better for the Neighborhood tyi>^ of theaitre. Waly.. Chase has bit reminis- Minuitare Reviews 'Life Begins' (FN). Splendid women's ' picture promising at least solid matinee . businesia. Particularly well cast and played with names which mean more on performance than they do on a marquee. 'Back Street' |tJ). .Corking; transition of Fannie Hurst novel featuring Irene Dunne and John Boles. Swell ro- mance, a little tear-Jerklng, arid a woman's picture— which ineans a money produc- . tion. : .. . ■ • ^Night Club. Lady' (Col). Save for slowness through de- tail, a murder mystery that holds the interest Adolpho Menjou as master detective makes it what it is but no love Interest at all which ma^y hurt where that's expected to Men- jou. 'Passport to Hell' (Fox). Plctorlally good but jstale story pnils it down. 'Alias Mary Smith.' A mur- der mystery with a faint touch of novelty, but not above javer- age indie. , . 'Man From New; Mexico.' Formula story made more lik- able-than usu^ through good acting':.and coinpeteiit dlcection. Will please.'. 'Law of tfie North' (Monp- grarii). ArobltiouB western drama which do4^ not achieve its ambition of being jdifferent. Bill Cody arid .Andy .Shurford. Fair program. ^Tho Stflri. o* the Four' (Worldwide). Too bad this is laisking on. tihe technical end 'because It is the best knit and most ' promising, of tlie Doyle series jtaade on the othei^ pide. Tiamei (lilonogram). Great flre scene, but slovenly woifked plot' r^ponsible for confining piicture chiefly to the lesser boxofflces. : .'Sehoon ist di» Wanoeverzeit^ . (Wtorid'irade^ii - Ariother IGer- ■ much b.o. • hope except • in strictly German nabes: 'Last Mile' (Worid Wide). Depressing subject of convicts in the death hotise, Picture without feminine Interest and lacking public Interest" such as helped stage play of .two sea- sops ago. LIFE BEGINS riret National production and Warner Bro8. release. Features Loretta Young and I Eric Linden. AHne .MacMahon, Preston Foster, Glenda Farrell underlined. Dlrect- 1 od by James Flood and. Elllptt Nueent. Adapted from Mary. M. Axelson's ploy of same name. Screen play by Earl Baldwin; film • editor, George Marks; photography, James Van Trees: technical direction, Dr. Harry Mnrlln. At the Hollywood. N. Y., for twice dally pop prices reserved'seat run 'BERLIt! TODAY' Travelog 9 Mins. . . i. Strand, N. Y. • Vitaphone No. 1357 One of the E. M. Newman Travel talks taking a: tourist's look-see at Berlin, .It's complete as to Impor- tant highlights of a visit of that city, but dwells a little too much on police dogs and their training. Otherwise Interesting and well done, particularly as to photosraphy. Newman, whose voice has a pleasant tonal quality, delivers the usual offsci'een explanation. A por- tion of the short deals with Berlin at nighty revealing the city's bril- liant mazda advertising. Char, MAGIC CARPET SERIES 'Silver Springs' 10, Mins. Entbassy,' N. Y. • Fox Movietone , ~ Regular newsreels have worked the Silver Springs, Fla., from every angle tlnie and again. There is a different slant in this Carpet epi- BOde. .— A couple are allowed to give the Imprcssiori of staying under water for t'.-.e full 10 minutes of the sub- ject's running, time. The swimmers explore the floor of the pool Avith the aid of an under-water camera. SCREEN SNAI^SHOTS' 8 Mink' . . New -York» New York Columbia. .w»w..-^ Concerns Itielf wholly with Hootl 5™;,{S,'g"A^^t'jS:*'.^i"„-^rngtT^^^^ .Gibson's.rodeo,at the latter's ranch g^^g sutton i^retta Toung in May, with the date plainly show- jed sutton. ;;.-"?'M„„M?5nIl iSg from the fence signs. As a MU%^^wers.. ...........Al^n^^^^^^^^ novelty and detailed screening of '^^^^^^j^jg p^t,g„t,.Dorothy Peterson wiiat goes on in a rodeo together I m„. MacQllvary— : Vlvlenne Osbome with glimpses of a dozen or so celebs in the rodeo audience, t^lp tow^^...^.^.^j^...^ snapshot' may • make interesting jjacQUvory ..Herbert Mundin flller.. Photography is oke.: Action jiw. west......... '.^Tiofia shea Is silent with an offscreen voice lec- Mrs. ^^^^ turlng. Voice is okay. ' ' William Powell, Mary Pickford, •Tom Mix, Sally Eilers, Mitzi Green, A good picture, a woman's picture, Jackie Searle, Ginger Rogers,-Lew different, and on the' serious side. Cody, Bill Hart and Tim McCoy Basis of the theme is child birth are among the celebs gHmp.qed. with the entire localei a hospital Shan. I and the story particularly concerned with a cross section of probably any TED HUSING I maternity ward. Sportslants Its strength la Its cast and the 5 Mins. natural drama which the surround Winter Garden, N. Y. Ings imply; Its weakness is the Snappy 6 minutes under the CBS problematic reaction of men and announcer's expert spieling; starting adolescents. Women, universally, off very Ripley with a child wonder will like It and sustain it for box golfer, Sol Hartman,. but soon going office success. Into the more substantial Sport- Picture is an adaptation of a play slants plc'turizlng Miami outboard which opened in New York last motorboat racing and a cross-coun- spring arid ran just one week de try steeplechase: to a rousing and spite that it created a definite de electric finish, catching the third- gree of favorable word-of-riiouth from-behind nag coming to the fore among the women who saw it It In excellent fashion. reached Broadway after having TounfT Hartman's links wizardry been introduced by a collegiate is likewise legit, and the fast water group at Columbia University, sporting in Florida waters is a nice As a film it Ignores much of the com'^dy which it held as a play It's become a sober screen discourse ending with the dea'th of .the mother at her own wish to save the child and despite the young husband's orders to the contrary; That she is a prisoner, about to embark on a sentence for murder, also inclines the doctors to the girl's rather than the play, Glenda Farrell, as a hard- boiied night club performer who goes the way of all mothers after Insisting she'll have nothing to do with her twins. She sings 'Franklo and Johnnie' to one infant, after it arrives, as the closest to a lullaby she can get. Miss Farrell's per- formance is splendid and the twist given the ribald ditty is an effec- tive theatrfc touch no matter how obvious. Aline MacMahon, as the ever effi- cient nurse. Miss Farrell and Eric Linden comprise the performing highlights. Linden is particularly sincere and belleveablo as the; very yourig and distracted father while Miss MacMahon is outstanding with an Impressive performance which she expertly shades as called upon. In the early running Frank McHugh is prominent as oiie of those 'we never lost a f-^ther yef examples, and to him is confined most of the gestures at comedy. Miss Toung is convthcmg throughout in a none too easy role, being restricted as to action and clothes. That she may not seem the type who would kill a man is not fatal. Also worth more than casual mention is Dorothy Peterson as a psychopathic patient suffering from the delusion, that she is going to have a child and who is always seeking the maternity ward. Film reveals a fine selection of players in all instances and good dialog direction.. Photographicfilly it holds nothing unusual other than ,a monotonoiis penchant for process- ing the next scene to the screen from left to right with nary any variation. It's a vivid treatise on the qualms of parenthood as regards both moth- ers and fathers. Hum&nly and deli- cately, presented it carries its thematic punch which may. Jolt the thoughtless and explain why men will be disinclined to give it verbal support. But i^ treats of a vital subject, foi^ women, they'll be en- thralled and in sympiathy with it. Young girls, probably seeing the picture In groups, are apt. to steer their ma:e escorts elsewhere at night. Which ihakea. 'Life..-Begins' seem a big matinee picture with night business mostly a matter of the married couples. That the studio never anticipated the home office reaction to the film appears evident in the Introductory scoring,. the musical theme being that Old .tin pan alley pop,"'Pretty Baby.' - Tied in with the dignity which WB - has tried to evolve for ithe-Picture, arid which it deserves, that 'Pretty'Baby* seems all out of key.. Film looks to be under the 1200,000 on cost with Warhers hav- ing paid but $6,000 for the play. James Flood and Elliott Nugent share co-direction billing, the latter being credited for dialog super vision. As it unwinds first honors iassuredly belong to Nugent for, as previously stated, it's the literal translation of the play which has been made to count here. Pertinent to exhibitors may be the report that at the recent Warner national trade shows a rating voted on by attending theatre men on the features screeried placed 'Life Be- gns' fourth in the list. Sid. BACKSTPEET \ . Vnlverml prodoctlon j^nd release feator* ins Irene Dunh« and John Boles. From Fannie Hurst'* novel ot the same name, dlr«ctad by John U. Stahl, adapted by Oladya I/Obman; camera, Karl Freund. A( the Mayfalr, N. T., comraenclns Aug. 20. Running time, 80 minutes, . - Ray .Schmidt ' Irene Dunn« Wolter Saxel...... John Boles Freda Schmidt ..June Clyde Kurt Shendler..... ....George Meeker Mrs. Dole.....;....... ZaSu Pltu Franolno i • • •..Shirley Qrey Mrs. Saxel....^. .......Doria I..loyiI Richard .William Bakcwell Beth. -. .^ ..Arietta Duncan Mrs. Saxel, Br ...Maae Turner Gordon BahelesB. .Walter Catlett Frothero. James Donlan Hr. Schmidt........... .Paul Welctel Mrs. Schmidt........' Jane Darwell Uriole Felix Robert McWad* A winner. It s a tear-jerker, with- out being artificially sentimental, impressing , in the main as a human docunient faithfully translated into celluloid and sound, which rings true from start to finish. Just as Fannie Hurst's best seller must have fired the imagination of ; readers a couple of. years ago, this eaga, of Ray Schmidt who lives , in; a shadowy 'back street,' and tech- nically meretricious relationship with Walter Saxei, leaps off the screen and smacks the auditor above the gray . matter and under the heart. its skillful transition to thb screen has everythlrig in its favor for box office, THe sympathy for Ray Schmidt is naturally, humanly and wallopingly developed, even unto Irene Dunne's superb characteriza- tion winning her- audience away from a slightly unconventional start where she is shown hob-nobbing gayly, but harmlessly, with the traveling salesmen in the Ovcr-the-. Rhine beer gardens . of Cincinnati, . Her ready acquiescence to ■ every demand of her lover (John Boles)', despite his own imminent marriage, •for family reasons,' is as natural- In Its artlessness as having a cup o£ coffee, and yet it is packed witli human interest and sympathetic romance, without becoriiing wishy- washy or maudlin. At no ume Is It sleazliy senti- mental. The sentimentality of Ray Schmidt and Walter Saxel's pseudo- unconventional association is a nat-- ural, humanly progressive which ie built up without ostentation, and 1b all the more gripping by its very ease and naturalness. Miss Dunne is excellent as Ray Schmidt. She is the personification of • 'a real woman,' an excellent casting asslgmment for this sort of role. Boles, too, is very effective, deftly highlighting the somewhat celflsh man who makes heavy de- mands of his mistress, and yet withal genuinely in love with the No. 2 woman in his life. John M. Stahl In masterly man- ner has caught all the niceties of the Hurst book which a clever con- tinuity by Gladys Lehman has not let down in the least. It is appar- ent that whole gobs of printer's ink must have been skillfully capturjed and conderised into one., expressive scene. Yet, with all consideration to footage and running time, almost all the variegated highlights and shadows of the book's detail must (Continued on page 21) build-up for the equestrian finale. Abel. 'TRANSATLANTIC MYSTERY' Detective Drama 22 Mins. Winter Garden, Now York Vitaphone No. 1439-1440 So far as .is knovv^; this is the I ^j;^ goy''s command windup of the Van Dine detective story simple in its delineation of series. It's not a good one and Uhe arriving of a .first bom, doesn't hard to recommend for any, typo of concern itself .with the murder phase customers because it ends con- ^4,^^^ than to use is as a further fusedly. A London gem thief >s sympathetic device for the fright murdered by ^ his American Pal. Uned Loretta Young, the implication Latter absconds with the Jewels. Keing that she was Justined regard- while a mysterious blonde, bel ev- j^g^ ^f the Jury. The sidelights ar§ ing him to be the dead man. S.ives Lj^^ ^^yomen: In the ward from vari chase. Aboard ship the American ^ug Boclal levels and the different Is also kUled and the .AVoman.s pis- temperaments involved. (Continued on page 27^ { Jhert) is. out} sast retention from The Woman ^s Angle 'Speak Easily' (MGM)T Convincing details of backstage pandemonium, heightened by the attitoods of Jimmy Durante and Buster ICcaton. Sympathetic caricatures, built to suspenseful comedy against a'n inter- esting locale, win feminine attention and laughter. I 'Devil and the Deep' (Par). Carefully plotted melodramatic love triangle. Can rely on handsomer-than-ever Gary Cooper and Chai-lea Laughton's new style of cteepy, insinuating menace to interest the ladies and offset the apathy of Tallulah Bankhead's melancholy account of another unhappy heroine. Miss Bankhead's small but smart wardrobe warrants feminine attention. 'Hold 'Em Jail' (RKO-Radio). Title and cast will lure very few faiiettes indoors to enjoy the scattered laughs provoked by the laborious comic strip technique of Wheeler and Woolsey. Mothers who are not wary of its prison locale will approve of the extravaganza for their children. 'Crooner' (FN). Matinee ladies ore too conversant Vfith the styles of their radio idbls to swoon over the falsely dubbed in crooning that accom- panies David Manners tepid, uriromantlcally mocking characterization of an ether star. A faintly amusing success-story whose box office potentialities are weakened by unconvincing treatment and Inadequate casting. 'The First Year' (Fox). Crisp Ariierican folk lore modifled by the sweetening, box-office Influence of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell upon Frank Craven's stage play. . The tender, big-little tragedies of early marriage, trimmed with heart-warniing homey talk and situations that ring true to feminine audiences. 'Two Against the World' (WB). Routine murder-trial drama, weakened by unsubstantial conflict, disappoints its title's promise of a tender, inti- ma,te love story. But Connie Bennett's personality—plus instructions on what to do, wear and say, when ensnaring a beau or winning over Judge and Jury-r-save the film from box'office mediocrity. 'The Night Club Lady' (Cpl). Well dressed Adolphe Menjou, solving a hocus-pocus riiurder mystery that has moments of well built suspense and Skeets Glallagher comedy. Ignores fanettes by failing to establish sympathy for Its victlnjs or suspects. 'The Last Mile' (World Wide). .The tragic futility of John Wexley's play , loses dramatic intensity' thru unconvincing pr^jparatlons for a tacked-on happy ending. Thoug'h film invokes syriipathy for a likable cast, it is a slow, nerve-wracking ordeal that will be shunned by the