Variety (Nov 1932)

r Tuesdaff November 22, 11932 FIliM RE VIE WS Tess of Storm Country : 'Fox production-anil'release) starring..Jancit ° iCiaynor And Charles Karrell. .:Dlre.cted. by ..w—JClL*'—"***'^ ?»wd OA'.Eloper);,flughe*' .BQvel. At the Boxy beglnnliifc^TTV'...'.19, '.Biinnln? time, TIt.mlns. , ■ "* '.•Teas'Howland..;•..■..i'..'^.Janet Gaynor Freaerlck OarAeld, Jr.Charles Farrell Captain Howland ,..'..0udley. Pigge? Teola Qarfleld : .June Clyde "Pan Taylor.;...' Qeorge Meeker Ben Iletta Bdward Pawley. Frederick Garfleld. Sr. .Claude (fllllngwat'er 'plllon ..Uatty Kemp ''Oamei'Warden.'..... De Witt JeDnings rare. Garfield....>«......^....Ixiuise Carter ' Jim • Btuce - 'Warren 'Old Martha............i......Sara. Fbdden Peppy ............'.••...<•>*••.... Himself- With little more tlian names, to .dra\r this, ased melodrama Is han- 'dicapped by. a continuity bo cdre- liessly hlneed that. the picture pro- jects like separate episode^. ^Gay- nor-Farrell fans, will tie attracted as usual but, not as usual, they will 'be disappointed. ".<) Farrelt has slightly more than & ;l!ilt part. Dudley Diirges as the cap teln Is. importantly cast.' ranking |i«)Xt to Miss Qaynor In .time .be- fore the camera. i'''Tesg'"Is entirely a "Qaynot ve- hicle. This whimsical little star, i^lthough pleasing; never impresses ad the wiry Tess who . cUmbg the , 'Wgglhg, fights off tough seamen; and rescues people from the sea. Mlas Farrell Is more in character ' ih tender scenes , with the baby , she mothers in order'to save her sweet- :^eart's sister from disgrace. -. The punch in this version la the monkey, Peppy. This animal ac- tually has a role upon which the fltory is dependent for its' comedy relief and no small amoUnt of its 'human interest. v : "While an old favorite, the story . Is not in keeping with the last few : generations. The production;-evi- dences* on the screen more ' than once that Fox did not limit its ibiidget. >. One of the more elaborate (Bets Includes an entire squatter ivlllage. ■ : . ■ . ■ Picture Is excellently cast through- out and the editing, rather than the direction, is probably responsible for the episodic character of its final state. Waly. THE CONQUERORS i ij.RndIo - production and release cO-starrlng Rtchard' Dlx' and Ann Harding; Directed 'by ' Wllllajn Wcllmsn. Featured ore Edna .aiay .Oliver and Guy Klbbee. Adapted by ■ 'Robert Lord from a- story by Howard .Estebrook. Cameraman, Edward Croiija- ,ger; musical director, Max Stelner; art dl- 'tfectot; Carroll Clark; sound. John Trlbby; V0lm editor, William Hamilton. At the i-Moyfalr, New Tork, Nov. 18. Running 'time 84 minutes. Roger Standlsh RIcliard Dlx Caroline Ogdeh Standleh Ann Harding Alatllda Blake Bdtaa May Oliver Pr. Daniel Blake.... ....Guy Klbbee Frances Standish JullO Hjaydon Warren Lennox Donald Cook Stubby Harry 'Holmari Bensoa ' Skeels- Gallagher Mr. Ogden Walter Walker One of the twins.... Wally Albright One of the twine ....Marilyn KnoWlden Picture with somethinig .of the eemi-hlstorical pattern ' !of 'Cim- marori' but without the epic sweep of that production. It measures up at a little better than fair screen material. Its fallings being in the conception rather than In the pro- duction or acting of its people. ' Story has to do with the courage With which Americans have met na- : tional panics and the theme is , neatly enough managed to hang [upon a thread of biographical ro- ; miance. ] The intrinsic drama .of vast in- - dustrlal upheavals is conceded, but in this case the ' tension is mild, 'Viot to say tepid, as compared with 'the robust action drama of 'Cinima- ' Ton' from'the covered wagon saga to the boiling excitement of an oil strike. The new picture substitutes the courage with which a pioneer banker in .Nebraska faces honorable ruin in a panic, for the stir of a land rush and a gun fight with des- perate bad men. It substitutes moral courage for spectacular phys- • Ical btavery and therein lies the dlf-j •terence between 'Clmmaron'' and . The Gonquerors.' '■ The fact that the story deals with the subject of depressions at all is probably an element against .its ap- peal, that being a topic that the igeniei-ality would be just as well ((satisfied to have left out of its mo- ments of relaxation In the theatre, even though, admittedly the sub- ■J^ct lis treated In a spirited and. In most respects, tin inspiring way. The human Interest angle is ex- cellently managed, starting with the young cbupld^, Caroline and Roger, In. New York, back in '73 when a financial collapse leaves their young romance stranded. Despite poverty they wed and go west to xepair their fortunes. Bandits attack their river boat party and Roger is wounded, but recovers under the kindly hands Of a shrewish but big-hearted hotel proprietress in Nebraska, played eplendldly by Edna May Oliver, i: "With a return to prosperity Roger starts a bank in the- frontier towh, Story thence has to do with the suc- ceeding panics of '87, 1907 and final- ly of 1929, together with the effect these disturbances had upon the - gtaduaUy aging pair; the- loss of their son and, in the end, the forti- tude of their grandson, facing ruin in the cliisbacle of three years ago. Thoro .Trf- .stirring .seqiifnces of the . (Jk^VGlopnicnt of the west and there are truly touching episodes in the romance that sees, the man - and: -woman facing fife and tribulatIon| together ..through the-years. : But Iti -is mostly tame .screen drama. -There Is, for Instance, the Incident of'the: .wife of the struggling- likhkef. who ^ets the railroad through thelr town, hot ua'ring or brilliant exploit, but because she knows how to feed the visiting railroad ; mdigii^te 'sweetbreads a la Delihonicb.' Comedy contrast to. ther melan- choly history Is supplied by Miss Oliver as a sympathetic shrew and her tippllrfg husband, a doctor from the east, and played with just right blending pf restrain and vigor by Guy Klbbee. This pair sometimes take the central interest away ifrom the leads, who take on a certain artificiality because of the progress- ive change of make-up to mark the passage; of time, while the comedy team are real people. . Picture contains a whole serleis of camera symbolism to picture the successive cycles of depression and prosperity—mounting cplles of. gold cdlQ and their, collapse for thia'ii^nlc of '76 and a .climbing market qhart line and its abrupt decline to mark the «llma.x of '29 and the beginning of deflation. Ingenious effects,. but £rloomy rehiinders of what is new taking place. Maybe at the peak of the next period of prosperity a pic- ture about the panic of 1929-32 will be a great American smash,-biit up to date no depression-theme story has clicked, and that ought to mean something in appraising the public taste. . . , ' - . Miss Harding accomplishes .some- thing of an histrionic achievement by growing old gracefully and inter-: estingly, and her. romantic '. scenes in. the earlier footage are charming; Dix turns in an ihteUlgsntly modu- lated performance in a rol6. that gives hlyi small pppdrtunity for ,cbl-i orful heroics such, atf he titirlves upon. • Rush. ■: WOMAN IN CHAINS (DRITiSH MADE) Associated Picture producUon and Ha^ld Auten' release on this Bide. Directed by Basil Deaii, with a British cast including Betty Stockfleld, Owen Nartei Allan Jeaves, Geo. Curzon and Aubrey. Mather. At the Beacon theatre, starting Nov. 18. Running time, 68- minutes. . Quota picture n&ade for RKO, but not brought over by It for American showing, so it's being nursed along by Capt. Harold Auten. who switched the title from the English 'The Impressive Footman.' Done from the book of the same name by 'Sapper.' '"Woman in Chains' is a bet-; ter box office title for the hick audi- ences but, unbacked by names, it will not draw much. Just a filler for a booking emergency that will not; altogether make good In spite'of some points of merit. Chief handicap is. the development of the story along etage rather than .screen Uneis, which makes.for talky situations which do not grip-the in- terest strongly. A further handicap is failure to concentrate on the love interest. Two . character players air most smother the intended and technical hero by being more inter- esting and promising stronger devel- opments, which are not wholly real- ized. , Story concerns a matron with a hypochrondriacal husband. Shei states her own case when she re^ marks they've been manned eight years and she should have had two or three children. She wants to quit him for a famous surgeon, who, of course, is the only pierson who can perform a major operation when thei husband is really 111. Husband is not decent enough to permit her a divorce, but his butler hears him told that a sudden excitement inlght prove fatal, so he provides the ex- citement by accusing the husband of steaUng his (the butler's) wife and then Avalklng out on her when the baby comes. She had died and the butler has been waiting all this time for revenge. That's why he has been acting mysteriously men- acing all through the story. Picture comes to a smart cRslng with the now avenged butler Jauntily walk- ing out on the job. It might have been better to have developed the story with the butler as the pro- tagonist, subordinating the love In- terest. George Curzon does nicely, by this assignment, though, like the others, he gives It a little too much-stress. Allan Jeaves is the invalid husband and makes It a .standout. Betty Stockfleld is adequate but not out- standing as the wife, and Owen Nares gets the worst of the deal as the surgeon. These people might all have done much better had tliey realized that the screen does not call for the same emphasis as the stage, where it is necessary to bear down hard in characterization for the sake of the back rows. This apparently is a di- rectorial fault, for the same over- stress is noted in the handling of the scenes, particularly the Unnecessar- ily expanded operation scene, which has slight pictorial value but no plot Interest. Apparently elaborated to walk with the late surgical cycle in American production, but coming In belatedly. ' Five years ago this would have been rated as a great picture com-, ing from the English studios. But they're doing better than this now. You Said a Mouthful First National production and release atarrlng Joe E. Brown. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Original story by William B. Dover, adaptation by Robert l4>rd and Bolton Mailory. Camera, Richard Towers; art di- rection, fack- Okcy; film editor, Owen Marks; technical director, Harold Kruger. At the Winter Garden, New Tork, Nov. Ifl; running time 70 minutes, Joe Holt,.Joe E. Brown Alice Brandon... ^Ginger Rogers Ed Dover .....Preston S. Foster Cora Sheila Terry Sara ...«•'..................*....,. .. Farina Joe Holt....... .......Oulnn Williams Harry Daniels... .Harry Grlbbon Armstrong. .Oscar Apfel Office Manager "Bert Morehouse With the reservation that feature length comedies seldom turn out to be notiable for earnings, this Joe Brown release promises to top most of that comic's film subjects by some small margin, meaning that the pic- ture ought to classify about fair boxpfflce. Best returns will come in the sub- sequent ruins where riotohs farce gets Its heavy play. A great deal isn't to be expected for a Broadway run date. Metropolitan de luxers never did go so Strong for this par- ticular comedian. However, this is one of the best of his recent re- leases; not counting 'Local Boy,' which "seems to have been Brown's high water mark. . Indeed the new picture has taken a lot of the story technique from 'Liocal Boy' and therein it rises somewhat superior to the usual rough clowning to wliicb the cavern- ous-mouthed fun maker formerly was addicted. It has a certain far-l cical finesse and by that he mucl^ avoids the straight Sennett of his earlier releases. 'Local Boy' was made out of a stage play that had enjoyed ^ome vogue, and the new release, like 'Boy,' has some distant relation to a logical story. It has. In common with the older picture, a certain distorted Cinder- ella quality in its hero, a brow- beaten boob in a big business office where, he is made the butt of prac- tical, jokes. He is thrown on his own and by a serietl of wild mlshapd finds himself hailed as a great swimming champion committed to enter the marathon swim from Cat- alina Island, although he can't swim a stroke and. dreads water as a burned child is said to fear fire. The dizzy., accidents which make him win in spite of himself are pretty hard to accept, but the whole thing Is carried out with comedy re- source that keeps it amusing, with shrewdly timed laughs and a sus- tained thread of engaging entertain- ment. Brown has learned some- thing of semi-restraint, playing down some of his clowning in order to leave himself som6 room for em- phasis when the situations call for heightened effect. He used to work at consistent rate of top speed, without change of pace or shading and the result was monotonous. The newer technique Is an improvement. 'Mouthful' has <many fresh angles in bits very well developed by the camera, fhere Is a riotous episode in which the hero intaocentiy gets himsell caught aboard an aquaplane suddenly jerked off the beach and shot along the water in tow of a speed boat at express speed. Cam- era shots are beautifully worked here, together with the trade-mark Brown yodel for effective comedy retuma Dialog 'is neatly gagged for laughs In a smoother manner than is the comedian's wont and his acro- batic grotesauerles are soft pedalled to the immense improvement of his comedy style. Farina, freed from his 'Our Qang', limitations, gives the story an added comedy flavor, the mournful eyed pickaninny drawing laughs on his own and not over played. Ginger Rogers does nicely with a lively flapper role, working with a more subdued technique but still conveying the Idea of a breezy young thing in her sometimes de- lirious romance sequences. Any- how, her reform from bols(;erou8 hoyden helped her here greatly. Preston S. Foster (same who is In 'I Am a Fugitive,' which is quite a leap) is much too engaging a Juvenile for his role here as a sort of genial young menace. The water scenes around Catallna Island are splendidly done and there Is a quantity of. under-water tank stuff that Is good for a world of laughs in addition to their novelty effect. Rush. FAITHLESS , Metro production and release starring Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery. Directed by Harry Beaumont. An original story by Mildred Cram, adaptation by Carey Wllaon. Cameraman, Oliver T. Marsh; dim editor, Hugh Wynn. At the Capllol,' New Tork, Nov. 18. Running tinie, 75 minutes. Carol Morgan .Tallulah Bankhead Bill Wade ...Robert Montgomery Mr. Blalney.., Hugh Herbert Anthony 'Wade Maurice Murphy A Landlady Louise- Closser Hale Another Landlady....;- .....Anna Appel Srr. Lcdyard , Lawrence Grunt Atr. Carter .....Henry Kolker It wasn't enough that Para- mount, didn't do right, by Tallulah Bankhead; they had to lend her to Metro for a picture pointing oiit the sorrows of the depression and what Jt did to one wealthy and glamorous heroine. What It.did wag plesty. From. otM oC ttuUM sUuHo juoa- sions that would fit on the site of Rockefeller Center at the start, the hard times absolutely broke her and seiit her to the streets, where she was half way to the police station for soliciting, and if hadn't been for a, sympathetic policeman with a rich brogue who was wanted to match up for fan appeal with a big- hearted Jewish landlady, she would, have gpne over thei roiad, Starting out with enormous wealth, it looked for a moment aa though for once Miss Bsinkhead wasn't going to be a scarlet womair, but when the executors at the bank looked over her assets along about reel No. 2, the drift began In that, di- rection. V The whole business invites spoof- ing. They pile the suffering^ on so thick any but the most naive the- atregoers are going to revolt and scoff, instead of reacting in tears. To start with, public reaction to the Big Slump of 1929-32 Isn't favorable. It has done things to the fans, too, and they'd like to forget it when they spend 85c. and a.musement tax. "The Crash' indicated something of the sort. That was a problem play ostensibly addressed to the discrim- inating. This, is family story paper stuff directed at the remote neigh- borhoods. "Why Miss Bankhead had to fall into it is just fate. She struggled valiantly with the role, but it was too much for her, even with a new hair comb that makes her look very much like Garbo from certain angles. Garbo heriself couldn't^ do much with this number, even \ylth a sympathetic cop and a big-hearted Jewish land- lady. .Opening amid scenes of pre-de- pression magnificence and swank fouiid the elegant Miss Bankhead in a cheerful light comedy vein that promised something and she han- dled these sequences nicely, Mont- gomery supporting the comedy spirit agreeably. Then the clouds began to gather. ' Young couple, Carol and Bill, are sweethearts and. about to be mar- ried. A lovers' qua,rrel about living oh the'boy's trivial $20,000 a year or luxuriating on the girl's untold mil- lions, parts them. Carol learns from her bankers that she is broke and makes up with the $20,000 Bill, only to learn that his company has that day failed, and she can't see mak- ing the struggle with him in pov- erty. Follows a period of sponging on rich friends, ending up as the mistress of a rich married barbarian In Palm Beach. That looks like the ultimate de- gradation, but it's Just a mild fore- taste of what's to come. Bill hap- pens along, understands the situa- tion, walks out in disgust, and in sudden revulsion, Carol throws up the provider and tries to go to work. She's, starving when Bill happens alpng,. ag3,In being the happen- alongingest young man In all film- dom. He's driving a truck by now, so they get married. It happens Just like that on a casual basis of let- ting bygones be bygones. Remember, the depression is etUl on. Bill loses his truck job. Get- ting another he runs into labor strike trouble, Is hurt in a riot and brought back home penniless to die. For literary reasons they didn't take him to a public hospital, but left him in the furnished room, while Carol went out into the night to sell her honor for bread. A fresh angle Pn this passage was that it was snowing. Anyhow, it all leads up to the sympathetic policeman and the big-hearted dialect landlady who will be appreciated on Ninth avenue and 14th street respectively, and it ends happily. Bill doesn't die, but recovery to a $70 job which looks like Big Money—and why not?—and learns of Carol's Great Sacrifice for the final clinch. Miss Bankhead wears some mag- nlHcent gowns In the early passages, the technical production Is expert, and next week, hurrah! the Capitol will have Marie Dressier and Polly Moran In 'Prosperity.' Rush, TRENGK (GERMAN MADE) Berlin, Nov. 10. Phoebus Tonlllm production and release. After Bruno Franck's story, 'Trenck, the Story of a Favorite.' Manuscript :and di- rection Heinz . Paul and Ernst Neubach. Production management,. Hans Contadl. Photography, Carl ■ Drews, BrUckbauor, Hosselmann and Essek.' Recorded on Re bis Klangfllm. Running time, 84 mlhs. At Atrium, Berlin. This picture might have a .similar fate to Henny Porten's 'Queen Louise.' Filming of national themes calls for skillful treatment to cap- ture public enthusiasm. Here, two objects are sought at once and both missed. The two directors Eriist Neubach and Heinz Paul have made a pic- ture without temperament and tal- ent out of the story of the Baron von Trenck who was In love with Frederic the Great's sister Amalic and who for this reason was for many years ImprLsoned by the king. There Is no vigor In acting and the two directors pattern the picture like a mass. Hans Stuewc attract.s attention as Trenck. in the ma.ss of actor.s, Dorothea AVlcJ'k l.s chiirm- Ing and imper.soniil a.s I's-jrir c;-:: Amalie.. Sound and i)liotf>Ki';'i>liy j were average. Maaniis. I VARMLANNINGARNA ('The Varmlander*') (SWEDISH MADE) (With Sonos) - . Swensk production ' end Scandinavian Talking Pictures rolease. Direction C istaf. Edgren; music Andreas Randel; based on play by F, A,- Dahlgreen; cslst Including Uathlas Taube, . Hilda Bergstroem, Goesta KJellerts. Ivan Hedqulst, Anna-Lisa Drlca< ' son and Llnnea Edgren. At the Fifth Ave. Playhouse, on grind, two week beginning Not. 17. Running time, 90 mins. In Swedeb, so . the distributor of this film claims, this story Is one of the good old standby classics.. Babies, it's said, learn it on their mother's knees, and everybody with- in miles flooks to see the regular aur nual revivals. "Which indicates that Where' there are Scandinavians to be found in these United States, , there the film will do business. Out- ' side of that they probably won't look for business, which will be just as wen—^because they won't find it. For what it is, it's a fairly amus- ing sort of film and nicely enough handled. . It's the old story of the rich farmer's daughter who's in love with the.poor farmer's son (or vice versa), and the difficulties put In their way by the scheming parents. Pure love; of course, comes out vlcr torlous for the final reel. Photography Is surprisingly good, and there are one or tWo fair songs that don't have anything to do with the story and that don't belong. Also, it's much too elephantine i.n pace. But the home bodies in the audience enjoyed it the night caught. Kauf. XRevtew of aame stiiject from. 'Variety cor^'eapoixdent in Stooliholm.) Vermlanningarna Stockholm, Nov. 6. Svensk Fllmlndustri's trumpcard this season. Based pn the old Swedish saga which has played al- most every stage and silent picture screen in Sweden and has become a national classic. It is also, well known and popular among Swedes In America The story by F. A. Dahlgren is not so i'emarkable. It is A naive and charming yarn about a college boy's love for a beautiful peasant girl on his father's domain and the obstacles facing them in the shape of class diverg- ency and the parents' schemes to marry their children for economical gains; a theme somewhat old-fash- ioned these_days even on the Swed- ish countryside. The picture has been produced principally in the county of 'Wermland in middle Swe- den, the strange beauty of which has inspired many famous Swedish writers (Selma Lagerlof, . Gustaf Froding a. o.) to sing Its praise in prose and poetry. The picture starts very promising, the camera sweeping around nooks i and corners of. the old country church in a grieiceful fashion to the tunes of a mighty Christmas hyhln. The atmosphere calls for a certain slowness in rhythm, which, how- ever, becomes dragging in parts, especially during the numerous songs which, although beautifully sung, are delivered with remarkable stiffness. On the other hand, there are scenes which can compare fa- vorably with Stiller's and Sea- strom's direction in their old famous silent pictures, such as Anna's mad sledge ride, the imaginary picture of her parents* departure from. home, and the students' tavern in Upsala. The principal roles of Anna and Eric are played by Anna Lisa £rlcit- son and Goesta Kjellertz, two ama- teurs, the rest of the cast being made up of stage players. All the players have gone to the trouble of speaking the Wormland dialect, al- though all are-Tesidents of Stock- holm. / Ever since talking pictures were y Introduced In Sweden the "Wermr/ landers has been uppermost in the minds of the Swedish picture pro- ducers, and the public has been Im- patiently awaiting the premiere. The picture was released In 24 provincial towns simultaneously, with the premiere at the Red Mill theatre in Stockholm. It was en- thusiastically , received everywhere. and Is sure to have a tremendous following throiighout the country. Had four weeks' run at the Red Mill. Magnus. THAT'S MY BOY . Columbia production and release.- Directed by Roy Wlllltim Nelll. From novel by Franq.'s Wallace.' with-adaptation and dla- log by Norman Kr.isno, Assistant director, Jay.Marchont. Film editor, Jack Dennis. Photography by Jo.seph August. Recording, by aionn Romlnger. At Globe, N. T;, for week starling Nov. 17. Running time; 71 mtnuteH. Tommy .Richard Cromwell Dorothy ; ..Dorothy Jordan Mom ..i Mao Marsh ■ Pop Arthur Stone Adams .Dou.7las Dumbrllle . Uncle T/Oule Luclen LIttlcfleld Al Williams. Leon Waycoft Plhklc Rtiaseir {launders Carl.. ,. Sumner Gctchell Mayor. .Otis Harlan irap. .Dutch Ilc-ndrinn Flr»t Ktudr-nt .^.ElbrldKe Anderson .Sooond Ktii'Ient CrIIIy Butler' Tommy (as l>oy) , Douglas Ualg Light prosrrammer of the football cycle, timely Ju-st now, but not for the big 'A' hou.ses In major keys. In tlic general market outside of the high I'cntal runs, 'That's My Boy' will stand up a.s entertainment. TK-.'f.v will li.-i.vf to l)c provided by tlio tlifal:-p In ItH campilgn, with (Contiiiuod on page 27)