Variety (Oct 1932)

Tuesday, October 4, 1932 FILM R E V I E W S VARfETY 19 [THE ALL-AMERICAN (Continued from page 15) ner of Stanford and Christy Walsh. One Interesting sequence shows them making their picks. The players, many of whom were Imported to the Coast for this pic- ture, are given prominent individual and collective moments before the camera, on the field, where they look at home, and in tuxedos at a banquet, where they look like bouncers in .a dance hall. What a bunch of muggs! A few, such as Frank Carldeo, Chris Cagle and Grnle Nevers, have a line or two and handle them okay. Carldeo had experience in U's "Notre Dame.' vThe boys, are deftly spotted in the story and manipu- lated so as not to interfere with the picture's progress. Distance shots of the actual play, obviously those of real games, are spliced In proficiently and never look fakey^ while -.the close-ups of Arlen and the bthier leads carrying the ball or working in the scrlm^ mages suggest that the boys re- ceived expert instructions before- hand. Gloria Stuart is the girl and does very nicely arid John Darrow the kid bro, is equally good.- Andy Devlne, in lor comedy purposes only, grabs a f;\ir quota of laughs, but there are times whein the comedy end is overdone. This is the pic- ture's only important flaw. Jimmy Gleason is. fine while also grabbing some laughs . as the . pessimistic coach, remindful of 'Gloomy Gil' Doble, if the fables about the Cor- nell mentor are correct. Cast is extra heavy in numbers and long on short spea kin? parts. Bige. Cabin in the Cotton First .National production aiid release, etarrlnff Richard Barthelmess. Directed by Michael Curtlz. Based' on the novel of Harry" Harrison KroII; screen play by Paul Green; nssoclato director, William' Kelsh- ley; asa't director. AI Alborn, Camera; Barney McGlll. Film editor, Georne Amy. At the New York Strand, Sept. 20. Run- nlng time, 70 mlna. Marvin . Richard Barthelmess Betty. ; Dorothy Jordan Madge. Bette Davis Old Eph... Henry B. Walthall Lane Norwood ..Berton Churchill Cleve Clinton......... ^.... Walter Percl val Jake Fisher .William LeMaIre Roland Neal Hardle Albright Old Slick Hnmees. Tully Marshall Old Blind Negro ...Clarence Muse Holmes Scott i.......;Edmund Breese Lilly Blake Dorothy Petereon storm by the heroine is a novel slant. There is one passage in which the little hussy does a coy strip .in front of him by way of coquetry. Best this hero can do in the embarrass- ing situation is to gasp, 'Madge!' This was much too much for the Strand audience that witnessed the opening. They broke down in mer- riment. Bad cutting may have had something to do with the untoward reaction. . Or maybe the censor wrecked it. Picture. has all the flaws of an adapted book. Incident is blurred and character is foggy. Best feature Is the playing of some poor white farmer types of which there is a vast variety. Best are done by Henry B. Walthall and Tully Mar- shall. Bette Davis is the naughty- naughty planter's daughter and her rising popularity Is really the firm's best chance for business. Dorothy Jordan, as the humble farm girl, is Just a shadow. Indeed, most of the people are puppet-like. Includ- ing the Barthelmess character. Rush. Chandu the Magician Fox production and- release. Features Ed- mund Lowe, Bela Liigosl and Irene Ware. Directed by Marcel Vamel and William C. Menzles. Based on radio broadcast series by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M, Oldham nnd R, R. Morgan, Adaptation and dialog by Philip Klein and Barry Conners; Film editor, Harold Schuster, Assistant director, Walter Maryo, Art director. Max-Parker, Photography, James Wong Howe, Sound, Joseph E. Aiken, At Roxy;.N, T., for week starting Sept,'30. Running time, 72 min- utes. Chandu .................... .Edmiiiid Lowe Princess Nadjl.. ..i.............Irene Ware Roxor Bela Lugosl- Albert MIggles Herbert Mundln Robert Regent .. ...Henry. B, Walthall Abdullah Weldon Heyburn Dorothy Virginia Hammond Betty Lou, ;....June Vlasek Bobby , Nestor Aber ricture proves again that a book that attracts, a good deal of at- tention isn't necessarily screen ma- terial. Subject matter here doubt- less has dramatic power in its es- sence, but It doesn't come through to the audiencfe from the screen. Less than a moderate grosser all around, probably with its weakest reaction in the big cities. Title doesn't attract attention "to start with, and the subject matter isn't of wide appeal, having to do with what the advance notices de- scribe at, 'a great contemporary so- cial confiict,' which everybody con- ceded is vividly Amerloan and up- to-date, but which doesn't particu- larly concera the average fan. Conflict in point is the feud be- tween southern cotton planter (land owner) and tenant farmer (here de- scribed as 'peckerwoods'). It's the industrial capital vs. labor wrangle all over again in another setting, and not a particularly fascinating one at that. Picture is not well done and it presents Barthelmess in another luke-warm role, a role which he plays without vigor. Nub of the drama is that Marvin Blake belongs to the under-dog tenant farmer class, but is befriended by the planter and finds himself be- tween two fires—torn by loyalty to his class and an obligation to their enemy who also is his benefactor. Also Marvin falls in love with the planter's daughter. That ought to supply a wealth gf dramatic confiict and histrionic fire- Works, but it doesn't.' The best you get out of it is that the boy is ex- tremely uncomfortable. ■ He knows that the farmers are stealing the planter's cotton, but he thinks there is some justice on their side- But he doesn't do anything about It, but Just trails along with both sides In a passive sort of way. One passage deals with a man-hunt and a.lynch- ing, when a poor white farmer kills a distant planter. Marvin goes along on the hunt, unwillingly, but he goes. 'He niakes a feeble effort to help the fugitive When he rui^p into him.in the swamp, but nothing Comes of it, and he stands in sorry wretchedness when the poor devil IS Btruiig up. A sorry kind of hero all around. In the end there's a showdown. The boy has to tdke sides, and the way he meets the issue isn't any cinema epic. He calls a mass meet- ing of farmers and planters and forceg the land owners to agree to a co-operative fiarming scheme. In the novel It may have been absorbing. . On the romantic side Marvin is even loss admirable. He paysvalgue allegiance to his humble sweetheart Qf the cotton fields, but he breaks down when the headstrong and nor bettei--than-she-should-be daughter of the iilahtor pays him violent and rather sh.nnielo s court. Idea of a tUm.-hero who has to be taken by Gitta Entdeckt Ihr Herz ('Gitta biscovera . Her Heart') (GERMAN MADE) (With Sonfls) Froehllchflim production. Capital Flint release In the XT. S. Star's Gltta Alpar and Qustav Froehllch. - Direction Carl Froehllch: adaptation, Dr. J. Brandt and Erich Faber from an Idea by Tilde Foer- ster: lyrics, Dr. Johannes Brandt; music, Nlcolaus Brodsky. At' the HIndenburg, N. Y,. on grind run, beginning Sept. 20, Running time 02 mins, Gltta Gltta Alpar Fred , ..;> Paul Kemp Impresario .:Leonard Bt6ckel Peter ., .Gustav Froehllch Ja'nos ,Tlbor Von Halmay Peters' Father ;..' .Oscar: Sabo' Ilona ... .Blandlne . Eblnger • With the sole exception of 'Con- gress Dances' (Ufa) this is the best German musical turned out in the past couple years. Under .ordinary' conditions it ought to ride with ease to box office superiority—as. Indeed, it did in Germany. In America the picture is up against the handicap of a public satiated with bad Ger- man musicals to the extent they re- fuse to gQ to see whether they're good or bad any more. Picture de- serves making money, and perhaps will, but It will depend entirely on what the distributors and exhibitors do for it. Film marks the meteoric appear- ance. In filmdom of Gltta Alpar, a blonde and slim Hungarian lass with an exceptional voice. Since starting to make the film she has married Gustav Froehllch, Gerr many's best leading man, who co- stars in this picture with her. Gltta has everything it takes to get some- where in film work and will be heard from. Story around which the film Is built is anything but original. It's again the business of the composer and the leading 'woman who sings his song and brings him fame plus love. It's so simply and charmingly told here, however, that It takes on new luster. Miss Alpar's sense of humor arid natural charm, Froehl- ich's usual naturalness, and a cer- tain simplicity that pervades the en- tire production are what put it over. That and a lack of what the French call chl-chi. There's nothing fancy, no flourishes, no lines of prancing girls. And- the songs, (there are four of them) all seem to fit ex- actly into the action and business, so that they, too, become simple .and natural. • Carl Froehllch, who directed, is rapidly assuming major proportions in European filmdom. He's the man who did 'Maedchen in Uniform' as well as 'Queen Louise,' both at practically opposite ends of the range from 'Gltta' and both success- ful in their own. separate spheres. A director who can turn from heavy drama to light musicals and back over night is a rare thing, one that can make the transition successful is even rarer. But Froehlich seems to fit. Only one of the songs, a waltz, is outstanding, and It may catch oh via air and discs on this side.. If so, and if the distributor can capitalize that to the extent that was done with 'Zwel Herzen' by a song, the film looks to be in. Kauf. Hotel Des Etudiants ('Students' Hotel') (FRENCH MADE) . Paris, Sept, 20. Noe Bloch production. Osso release. Di- rected oy Tour.1anfl'<y. Scennric by Henri Decoln, Made In Braunbcrger RIchebe studios. Recorded Western Electric. Mou- lin Rouge, Paris, Sept. 10, Cast includes LIsette Lanvl'n, Raymond Gall';, Clii'Istlan Casadesus, Robert Lepers and j'Sylvrttc Flllacler. Weak in all respects, only point of interest being LIsette Lanvin, who seems to have big screen possi- bilities. Apart from being a test for the girl, film has. not much value. Story shows a students' rooming hoUse in Paris, With a nice girl hav- ing an affair with a boy, from Which she domes oUt not so nice, but when he finds out her predicament he dbies the nice thing, and everything ends nicely. Treatment of the story Is rather raw. Dialog poor, and act- ing, especially by the men, indlf^er-, ent. Apart from the first few .100. feet direction' is poor. Studio Sets, faking open air, are very bad. A filler for cheaper houses, Maxt. Lots to sell froih the box office, if properly sold, but little to deliver from the screen. It's the bait that .will bring 'Chalridu' past house aver- ages info what, may he pretty nice returns rather than what people will say about it. The knocks may be legion, partlcult^rly from the men. With women and kids no one can tell. 'Chandu' carries the fantastic, the inconsistent and .the ludicrous to the greatest lengths yet achieved by the screen; Were it to be taken seriously, there'd be no enjoyment for anyone. If It's accepted stHctly as hoke growing out of the develop- ment of the horror cycle, it's not so bad, but it's still hoke. While a variation of the horror cycle through the majglcal angle, pic- ture often readies the point in its continuity where it reminds of serials. In that respect It will prob- ably prove oke to those radio fol- lowers of Chandu's adventures. Fox. from accounts,, may^ do the next thing to a serial in the usual manner'by making another or sev- eral features around Chandu and Roxor, the menace, both of whom are not exterminated in the chapter. Audience on finish of picture does not know whether Roxor perishes or not, this probably being a Fox angle in order to still have the character for a possible, sequel. Chandu is done by. Edmund Lowe and Roxor, the madman who hopes to Conquer the world with a death ray secret of which he is after, is In the hands of Bela Lugosi. Lat- ter looks more himself than in any other picture, hot going In for too much menace on makeup. It's an odd assignment for Lowe, but his eyes are photographically great in close-ups for the hypnotic routines. . The voice is Lowe's own with no attempt to shroud it with the mystic accent of the East. At first it's a shock but that effect later wears oft. The story of 'Chandu' is elemen- tary. Probably it sounded better over the air than it looks on a screen. Celluloid is a better medium, however. In the effectiveness of sets and clever trick photography. In a technical way, there is also much that isn't up to standard, notably desert scenes and the houseboat on the Nile. Menace stands out in a pronounced way in the sequences taken In and around the headquarters of the madman of the Nile' where Roxor (Lugosi) holds an Inventor captive in an effort to discover the secret of a death ray machine designed to wipe out cities and civilization. Kidnappings, rescues, threat of death, miraculous maneuvers out of danger and other wildly Impossible- elements of action figure in the story which leads up to its finish with the explosion of the death ray machine menace. Welcome comedy relief is supplied by Herbert Mundin as a cockney servant who loves his grog. As the Princess Nadji, who with Lowe weaves a filmsy love interest into the proceedings, Irene Ware is ac- ceptable. Char. LE BAL ('The Ball') (FRENCH. MADE) (With Songs) Vandal & Deiac production. Leo Brecher release for U. S. . Direction, William Thiele; adaptation by S. Fodor arid K, Slodmak from a. novel by Irene Nemlrov- sky; music, W. R." Heymann. At the Little Carnegie. N. Y.. on grind run, be- ginning Sept.-Z7. Running time. 81 mine. Alfred .Andre Lefaur Jeanne, his wife..... Germalne Dermox ' Antoinette, their daughter . ..Dannlelle Darrleux Cousin Isabella Marguerltee Flerry Betty,... ;..Wanda GrevlUe Marcel de Brecourt..Plerrei De'Gulngand pen, and the things that happen aro pretty banal and unoriginal. It's the business of a poor but happy family that gets wealthy overnight, with mama and papa going hay- wire. Been done a thousand times In as many variations, and still Isn't adult entertainment, but it's pretty nicely handled here and the char- acter portrayals are deliciously life^ like. The child, in the end, of course, patches everything all up with everybody happy all around. In France they liked Danielle Dar- rieux's perfornjance as the child very much. It's a pretty bad per- formance If .American acting stan- dards are applied, being unsubtle and overboard on 'emoting.' Andro Lefaur, as the father, is. exception- ally fine and Marguerltee Plerry, as Aunt isabelle, garners more than her share of laughs and applause. Germalne Dermoz; as the mother, is miscast, but turns in a nice per- formance. . William Thiele's direction is Teu- tonic and slow. The photography is excellent. Kaiif. Pack Lfp Your Troubles Metro release oC Hal Roach production starring Laurel and Hardy In their second full-length comedy. Directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey. Dialog (no script authorship otherwise credited >, by H. M. Walker; camera. Art Lloyd; edited- by Richard Currier. Running time. 70 niln«>.. at Capitol,' N. Y., • week . of Sept. 30. PKiyers; Stan Laurel, Oliver.Hardy. Don- pid Dlllaway.' Jacqui'e Lyn, Mary Carr, James Flnlayson, Richard Cramer, Adele Watson, Tom Kennedy, Chas. MIddeltoh, Muriel Evans, Grady . Sutton, Montague Shaw. Billy Gilbert: THIS SPORTING AGE Columbia production nnd rolea.Si- Jnok Holl starreil. Dlrecle<l by Andrew W. llcii- nison nnd A. K, Kriokson. Adnptntion nnd dialog by Dudley Nichols from J. K. Mc- tlulnness" . Story. IVddy Tetzlaft. photog. At Loow'.s State. New York, week of .SH>t. 30. Running time, 71 minute.s, Capt. John Steele Juck Holt .Mlcliey Stei-Ie Evnlyn Knnin> .lohnny Rneburn., Hanlie AUiright Charles Morrell. Walter IJyron Jerry O'Dny. ...J. li-arrcll MnrPonaM .Mrs, Rita Duncan Ruth WeHton Mrs, WiUnleigh.; Nor.i Lane Ann Brsklne ....Shirioy Palmer Surgeon; ;,.,. ...Hal Price Se-venty minutes of slapstick is a tall order for Laurel and Hardy and they hardly fill It. It's one of those hokum war farces with the nUmb- skull L. & H. Jazzing up the army as hapless rookies. : A sample of the libretto is dump- ing the "l^rrbage in the general's quarters. Just because a sarcastic chef told the K. . P.'s to do It, In reverse English. That gives an Idea. There's also a wartime buddy's girl baby whom the well-meahlng Laurel and Hardy endeavor to re- turn to her grandparents, a Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Trying to Identify the Smiths through the city directory constitutes . the major portion of that sort of" pseudo-comedy. After a while it becomes as tire- some as^ it Is inanely obvious and one wonders why it wasn't kept to the confines of the usual twih-reeler as in the past. For the Capitol first-run on Broadway, a. costly stage show will not suffice to bolster this one. It requires more support than that, and as a celluloid entry, on Its merits, it's for the minor keys. Abel. Frankly an experiment on thfe part of the American distributor, who is attempting to gauge the likes and dislikes of the French colony in these United States. Sev- eral fine French pictures have been brought over to flop pretty badly because the French residents snubbed them. Here, then Is an ordinary French programmer. Maybe the compatriots will go to that. Results, of course, remain to be seen. 'Le Bar is not a good picture, but It is the sort of film that the ordU nary French home-body ought to love. As a matter of record it was madie .in Paris in French and Ger- man, with, the staff pretty largely German. ' In both countries it was pretty well riecelved and got good igrosses In the subsequent run houses! Film was made from a novel tell- ing about a child's reaction to the life around her and seen pretty much through the kid's eyes. In the picture, that's switched to an ordi- nary tellihg of the things that hap-. BEAUTY PARLOR George R, Batcheller production and Ches- terlleld • release, Directed by Richard Thorpe. Barbara Kent, Joyce Compton, John Harron, Dorothy Revier featured. Dialog and adaptation by Harry Sauber from story- by Marlon Orth. M. A. Ander- son, photog. At Loew's New York one day (Oct. 1). Running time, 00 minutes,. Sally ..Barbara Kent Joan Joyce Compton' Jellry Colt John Harron Stella....' Dorothy Revier Burke,,, < Albert Gran Fremont ......Wheeler Oakman Herman Bauer Mischa Aucr Lou. '. Betty Mack That, which 'Sporting Age" lacks In the way of a. story is p.irtly cov- ered up by three pleasant cast lead.s, but not enough. The lack demotes the picture to the programmer class since, while slightly better tlian the average of that calibre. It can't rate higher booking consldet-ation. The build-up process for Jack Holt, through which he's made into a superman, is a little too much for this always likeable actor to square. He remains likeable, but this time he's unbelievable. Evalyn - Knapp andv Hardle Albright areii't up against such .-i handicap, so they have an easier time of It, Holt, for a change, Isn't on the short end of a love triangle. Al- though he mixes up in a side ro- mance or two with admiring ladies, his object of affection this time is his daughter, played by MiSjs Knapp, In turn Miss Knapp is loved by Al- bright and compromised in a rather foolish scene by Walter Bvron. Byron, like the girl's father and sweetheart, is a polo player, too. Holt avenges his daughter's be- trayal in a polo game that's a l6t more exciting than .polo usually is on the screen. Although the racing ponies are nice to watch, they don't carry many, thrills In themselves. The kick here is the private battle between Holt and Byron, which re- sults in the latter's death. The death Is deliberate man- slaughter rather than accidental, and although it's, only partly con- doned by the motive the majority of customers probably will favor it. However, it can't help but .weaken Holt's character after an hour has been spent In building him up as a different sort of person. They set Holt up as a. greater- than-great guy right off the bat. The buildup continues until the man is too good to be true. His ■vices, such as a snorter now and then and a slight penchant for ador- ing ladles, are nothing to condemn him for. As Capt. Steele, the U. S. army's champ polo player, he spends the first five minutes in giving a soldier a lesson in fisticuffs behind the barn for .mistreating a horse. Then, instead of breaking it up when-catching the boys in the midst of a crap game, as captains usually do, he makes them change to an honest pair of dice. Later on he's shown tossing a couple of ndturals himself at the officers' club. Miss Knapp and Albright are a pleaiaant pair of Juves. In past per- formances the former has been an actress first and a looker second. This time she looks as well as she acts, -which means Miss Knapp has located the only thing missing from her screen attributes. She ought to get some place on strength of this one. • Bige. Bright chances for independent film producers to step Into the im- portant release feld, never brighter than right now, are dimmed rather than helped by this one. 'Beauty Parlor* is typical of the old school indie production, a quickie In every aspect.' Its proper element Is double bill splitting or, at best, single fea- turing in the hideaways. Story was an impossible , founda- tion In the first place, but the chief factor In making everything look bad, Including the cast, is the dialog. Every line Is a struggle for the play- ers. They're not only up against heavy odds in the way of a plot, but the chatter they're forced to hand out refiects upon their ability.. That Richard Thorpe's direction did much to help a poor, scenario is questionable. With the words they have to mouth, his actors couldn't be Impressive under any sort of direction, although a more proficient motivation Job might ha-ve been possible. The story would have a tough time, anyway, but the -way it hops around and loses the scent pre- cludes all chances. Barbara Kent, petite brunet, play- ing the lead, looking nice all the time, makes an Indlfterent Impres- sion; with her playing. The script spend.4 half Its time building her up as strictly a 'no' girl, but Miss Kent was badly advised. She's an Irri- tating heroine. Joyce Compton, John Harron and Herman Bauer are otlier victim.s of literary exag- geration and directorial mishan-. dling. ■ A.s tlie lives of two manicurists and several customers of a hotel Ijarber shop and nail clipping parlor are interwoven, the yarn is remind- ful of the 'Grand Hotel' type of theme. One love strain, that between Miss Kent and Harron, prcdotni- nates, but minor surrounding heart matches dovetail In the development of a many-sided plot. Picture doesn't look as bad as it pliys. Miss Kent .wears .som> nice clothes for a girl who lose.'* lier jolj midway and almo.st lias to r-:iiM-.\- an akay for money, not Xnvc Ui'je. . ILLEGAL (BRITISH MADE) (With Songs) Warner quota (production and Vltagraph release. Starring Isobel £:iiom and featur- ing Margot Grahame and Molra I.ynd. Story by Irving Asher. ' S^jreen piay by Rolant Pertwee. William McCiitnh, director, Martin Sandy, asst.. dir. Wlllard Van Ea- ger and C. J. Khowles, camera, Geo, Groves and Leslie Murray, sound. J. T. Garside, art. At Loew's New .1'ork theatre one dhy, Sept. 27, as one-hnlf of a d'^uble bill. Running time, Oi minutes. One of the Warner quota pictures made at the Twickenham studios and chanced over here under, the Vltagraph release label. Produced with conslderablei care, but handi- capped by an Infantile story with an. impossible climax. Probably figured that the advertising lines, such as 'She paid for her mother's shame,' would carry It over. It can be sin- gled in the 'B' section, but it will not make good, and the back kick may hurt. Better as part of a double bill, -with names, if possible, on the other offering. . Story Is that of an English wom- an of breeding whose second hus- band wastes the fortune the first left her and their two• little daugh- ters, She pays the man's gambling debts and packs him off to Africa, With a head waiter she starts a night club, and between the unlaw- ful sale of.liquor after hours and gambling, on the side she. rolls up a pile. Her two children are sent to a select finishing school. She eventu.ally I.s arrested and sent to jail. The publicity ousts her daughters from the schpoK They come back and reopen the cliib, playing on the level, and with noth- ing more for a pull than their ap- peals to their old school friends a^nd the singing of one of the girls. Not a bad voice, but it takes more than tliat to keep .a svyanlc London club buzzing. The i.notliPL- i.s released, and'that prt'fiplt.'ilp.s a showdown with the liii.^iiind, vvlio lias 'returned trony . (Cotuinned on page 27)