Variety (Dec 1933)

Tuesday, December 19* 1933 FILM REVIEWS 19 DOROTHY LEE ^Plane Cr«xy' Comedy with Music 19 Mins. Striind, Hi Y. ;. Vita. No. 1613-4 A faked round-the-world flight forms the basis In this instance for some musical liumbera relieved by ComedjF and heiehtened to aomcs ex- tent by the' novelty oi the subject iniatter and treatment; Should pro- vide worthy support on any show. Action begins at a flying field where a couple rookies, Arthur and Morton Havel (of vaude), are offer- ing to take passengers up but doing little business. When what looks like the bfflctal news clips of Wiley Post's return are cut into the se- quence, the Havels get . the bright idea bf-faking d globe-glrdllrig trip. They are overhea:rd by 9.' . girl hangetraround (Dorothy Lee) who stows iway and ifter-return of the supposed flight cops most; of the .glory.. ■' At a reception when the girl and .the phony world fliers. start to re- count their , adventures, the ground-, work is. laid for production numbers with chorus ensembles used. Commencing to tell of the gals In Prdnce, Aim "its to a production number that begins on the housetops and later comes- down to .cafe tables on the street. From the French scene, the same number Is carried on into the atmosphere of other countries with effective results. A triple wedding number figures for the close, enlarged by a dance rou- tine oh a large wedding cake. The coniedy is never so worthy as the production numbers. It in- clMdes that old 'I was killed' gag when wiWJ aninials closed in on all 'LITTLE DOQI Featuring James' Metton Musical 10 Mins. Rivoli, N. Y. Educational • HiilbiUy western featuririg James Melton, otherwise a romantic radio sohgster. Stag, stuff with ranger isonSf etc. Plot (Arthur Jarre tt credited for story), is .one of.j those. sIrig"US-a-song7Stranger rour tines, 'Melton sings several; There are flashbacks to illustrate the lyrics of 'Home on the Range,' showing herds of cattle and ante- lope to coincide with the lyric. Ten mins., too long, Abel: Should*Ladies Behave? ■Metrq-GoldWyh production and release dl-' rected by Harry Bcautnont. Lawrence Welngarten. . producer. Featured players: Lionel Barrymoria, Alice ' Brady, Conway fearle and "Katharine Atexailder. Screen, play .by Bella and Samuel $pewack.. from the' play, ' ^The Vinegar Tree,' by Piaul Os- borh. Song by Kacla. Brown and Arthur Freed. Cameraman, Ted Tet?laff. Film editor, Hugh Wynn. At the Capitol, New York, Dec. 16.'Running tlmie, : 80 'tnlTi" .Utes. Augustus.'..,,... ionel ^arryinore I/aura.'.'........ ^.. ., AUco. Brady Max.,...... , . ................. .Conway Tearle Winifred.. i....... 1.. .Katharine Alexander Leone,. ,;, , , , . ;, Mary Carlisle GeoHry .William Janney Butler i.....,., rrr.. . Halllwcu Hobb^s Miniatdre Reviews sides. Char. TTY' ARBUCKLE ROSCOE *Toma(io' Comedy 18 Mins. Strand,. N. Y, Vita. No. 1537-8 , Last of the two-reel shorts 'flogcoe li'atty' Arbuckle made under his contract for Warner' Bros. It. Is the best of the trio eVen if much of its strength is due to th^ presence. In the cast of Charles Judels, who plays a bombastic but comical Mexi- can .general. Short opens on a laugh execution ordered by the Mex big shot, who likes music with his shootingis but has the misfortune of generaling a •firing squad whose aim. is bad. As a result the intended victim walk.s away, neither gen nor his squad men looking to see if they got their man. From here the action cuts .to Ai'- Ijuckle and his pal who are- touting around aimlessly with a little wagon and burro. They wander Into the. camp grounds of ]the Mex general and stir his ire,—-tly through gor ing on the make fur a girl he favors. Some old but tried and true means of .slapstick are Invoked, as in previ- ous Arbuckle shorts: , The gag of laj'ing a coat over a, mud puddle that's man deep and the . flower-pot stuff ai'o both there trying to make tho s-hort funny. IMne production attention raises the screen ■ v.ilije of 'Tomalio' con- siderably. In a technical way, it represents a competent job all arouncl. Char. ofan, De •LAD! ES NOT ALLOWED* With William Gaxton, Loi^ Victor Moore* Charles Ki Wolf Hopper Lambs Club Comedy 18 Mins; Broadway, N. Y. Columbia. One of a series- of aiutuLs by -the I.anibs Club and with remittances from Columbia on percentage dis- tributioii "deal to be aiiplied against the club mortgage... Masquers in Hollywood did the same thing and iDar]ie>r. 'Ladies Not Allowed' is a situa- tion minlaturo; farce and reasonably funny. From the standpoint of e*-. hibs in small towns.Lois Moran and Charles King are the '.best; known cast members. To diick wifie for an evening of poker ■\ViIliam Gaxton declares he is attondinfr the Lambs' gambol where ladles are hot allowed. ■\Vife .(Lois Moran) dresses in male at- tire and attends the all-stiag affair with con.sequent distress whien forced to smoke a cigar. Husband tipped o(C. by his pal, Victor Moore, beats wife, home and pretends he was one of the female impeivionators in the ^ow. Land. 'SHERMAN SAID IT' Charles Chase -20'MiTYBr^ Rivoli, N. Y. Hal Roach Syjvthctio Hoach-Chas:*' comedy behind the" front. Chase is a .screwy croinmandnnt of a U, K. A. corps, Tliorc ,T.rc' sox complications, sev-. eral gendarme arrests which, take him Vmrk to woi-k out. penalties, efp. Thesf lattf-r permit hi.s. buddies to ivo nut .sonio niu.sicnl soquehccs, CJi;i'.^li;s r.irrott directed and thr- \y(iui\\ (loach corFS of f?lai)S'tick av- MCn'c- -. i'-n-iicijSiit* (1 In, itif propar.n- ■ i'M". I'nriiii'iv, Mirl. A'fter all the most hazardous cel- luloid undertaking is-a comedy, the higher the tougher. When a sat- irical society spoof liko this runs for .nearly an hour and a half, it has two strikes on it to start with. The once-popular, play (it ran near- ly seven months in New Tork) turns, out to -be dull screen, ma- teria.!, albeit.it has been transferred to the -new medium painstakingly and with a good deal of skill and is acted witii a flne flourish by a flrst rate cast of name players. Somebody Concerned in the mak- ing must havO realized- that it was thin picture stuff, for the acting Is dpne in a strident key, as though the intent was to make up in vig- orous playing what the piece lacked in vigor for the fans: Alice Brady is the principal offender. She does the fluff role of the middle aged wife- in the manner Of a.: Grade Allen iS-minute gag specialty. Per- haps it couldn't have been, handled any otlier way. for cinema purposes, but that doesn't save it from being tiresome. Error Isn't so much Miss Brady's jazzing up the part, as It Is the choice o£ the story for a.feature length production, Laura is either a pitifully tragic figure of a hearf- hungry middle-aged wife, or a ri-^ diculous dlimbbeil. In neither ca- pacity is she a person to hold 90 minutes of flicker entertainingly. IE it had to, be done at all, the laugh treatment probably is the best. So they robbed hei" of any sympathetic appeal at air and left her to clown her way through the footage. Bar-i rymore role of Augustus lends itself more easily to legitimate treatment, which it gets, Otliers are subordinate and nice- ly played by Conway "Tearie as the philandering artist, Katharine Alex ' ander as the mucli married Winnie and Mary Carlisle as the fiapper. Play is done in an unusual lit' erary form, somewhat in the man- ner of an O, Henry short, story, where the punch is ro.served for the illuminating last line,' Here Laura, mariried as a girl tO a ■ much older man, carries on^ a flirtation 'vyith man she supposes Lwas . a girlhood sweetheart. It is in her rattlebrain reaching for a '.morsel of belated romance that the disappointments ot hei' married life are revealed The syriipathetic side of .the situa- tion you have to supplyi for your^ self, the surface action making the ■woman ■n^holly absurd. Complloatiohs develop out of the fact that the man's interest is en tirely in the woman's daughter, an adolescent nitwit who throws' her- self at the experienced charmer Tag comes, when ,after. the inters loper has been evicted and the girl is saved from . him, . it transpires tliat he \via.sh*t her, girlhood sw.cet heart'at all, but merely had a sinriir lar name. There isn't much in ^all this to capture one's interest. Superficially they're all well bred but dull people bo they ever so intricate and human below the surface* . Their actions are mostly trivial ■-or=---si 11 j'^and'T-generJill y=fehe;y-=evoke nothing but indifference. Production (mp.tt of the scenes are in a subur))an home of better class) is unobtru.«lvoly convincing Story I'as an elaborate oponlnfi with the family at the ui)era and it is licr.c that the special song nunibor is introduced as very incl dontjil Iff the .<itory ItHClf. It Is sung by an -'ii('ifntin*id tenf)r and so proiio i !)"' performance, and has no i*f fi i\ 111 n,!! |)ii;tiiro. < xc:{'pt tlKi* '\i>i','.- ' fl i".."iii'-iit In cvi !•- < (•'.■ I'iinIi . 'Should Ladies Behave' (M- G-M). PlcturJzed: •Vinegar Tree' revealed aa futile comedy stretched to .90, nilnutes. -with niuch hbkey playlhg 'by'. Alice Brady., ThiA stuff and doesn't, support: interest, tor anything like its footage. No^ dice, 'Right to Romance' (Badio). Ann' Harding in a romantic story overloaded with sugary sentioienti For the femme Harding fans. Men wOn't like It. 'His Double LiV. (Par). Pleasant little , film unlikely to get blg-lrrOsses because of geh^ tie and idyllic nature of theme. Brings Lillian Gish bac)^ to the screen. . -Sin otf Nora Moran' (Maj). Story of a former circus queen who sissumes guilt of a- mur-. . der.' Poorly told In the nar- ratage manner. 'Advice fp the Lovelorn' (UA). Lee Tracy starred in a hit-and-miss feature.. Not even the rapid-fire "rraCy. con- ception of .a ne-wspaper porter can bolster it. 'Secret Sinners' (Mayfalr). Good cast fails-to save poor script. Fijr the less exacting nabes. .'Jimmy and Sally^ 0oxy^ jimmy Dunn and Clalrie Tre- vor in lightweight entry. Sti-ictly for the nabes. 'East of 6th Ave' (Gol); A Grand Hotel version of 'a boarding house. Good drama and deserving of serious ex- hibitor conisideration. a humble physician who has wor- shipped afar for years. Test of the erx'or of the theatric trfeatment Is the fact that the only humble character in the bright gal- axy steals the interest of the pic- ture. Outstanding role is that played by Nils Asther as the com- monplace doctor who wins the gal In the end. His is the best piece of acting In the cast because he Is in the most nearly human role and It pays ri&turns in proportion. Miss Harding does probably the worst work of her careert which has been singularly free from over acting so far. It's unfortunate that the .part should have been assigned to :.the ohi^ actress who simply can't gUSh; Rvsh. RIGHT TO ROMANCE Radio proiiUctlon Mni releane. Stars Ann Harding. Directed by Alfred San- tell. Myles Connolly, aisaoclated producer; screen piny, Sidney Buchinan and Henry McCarty; story, Mylee Connolly; camera- man, Liucleh Andrlot; film, editor, Ralph Dletrlcli. At Radio City Music Hall .weels; Dec. 14. Riunnlns time,. 00 mins. Ur. Marirar^t Slmniona...... Ann . Hardlner Bob ' Preble .Robert YoUne. Dr. Heppllng ..Nils Astber Lee Joyce ......^-vSarl Marltza Dr. Beck .Trying . Plcliel Hell and High Water Paramount prpductlon and release. 1-r rectod l>v. Qrover. Jones and wullam Sluv- ehs MtNult. Adapted by Agnes Brand Loahy from story by Maj^ MlUcr. Al Qllks. photog.. At Rlalto, NeNv Tork, :Week Dec. 16. Running time, OS mlnUted. .. . - Captain. Jericho... .....Richard Arlen Sally Drlggs. ^ i.... . Judith A.i\en Peek Weallii.... 4 • •. • •;. .Charley Grapeyln Roar Admiral.......... .Sir ^uy Standing Barney. Moin' Weatlri........... Joe Satsanukl.., ,'. Milton J,Dunaey...... barney's Mother.. .... Robert Knttles Gertrude Hoftman .....MatBUl .•William Krawley ......Esther Mulr A cluck, for slough booki pi'Oduced in the major manner, but its story di quickie treatment. The >vaterfront romance wiilch motivates the characters concerns a woman-hating^ miserly young garbage. ;Collector and a dancehall girl who falls into his net when attempting tp- drown herself. 'Be-. HIS DOUBLE LIFE Pttramount release of KiUlIc D<)wlire- Arihur Hopkins liroduotlon. Mado nt A.'" torla, Long I.slaml. .<»tiirs Rolrtnd Young and Lillian Gisli. Directed by Arthur Hopr kins. Based on novel and pliiy Uy Arnold Echhctt; sup6^vI^<lon. Ben Jack.'-gn.; cam- eraman. Arthur Kdosbn. Sto:-y a>luptatlun, Arthur Bills. At Parariiount. N. Y., week Dpc. 15. Running time, 0.3 mins Alice Priam Farrel. Oxford........ Mrff, Lcclt... Witt;-,, Leek Twins,, 4 1 .Lillinn Gish ,.;, Rolun'd Young. ... Lumsden Hare' . ..Lucy- '.Boaumoht Charles^ Klchmoii^ .Oliver Smith Phillip" Ti'ngiia It takes all Ann Harding has to carry this assortment of sugar coated- sentimental iioke. Its de merits, are ail On the story side, for the. studio has given the picture a beautiful physical production and packed the supporting cjast with standard screen names. Grades as. fair general material, but will stand, up better than that where- the cli- entele, has. strong Harding ieaninge. Men won't like it. Technique departs from the trea.t- ment usually iven- to this. <. \ \vliich .is fatilty judgment. In con- genial roles Miss Harding is^ per- haps, Hollywood's most eariiest and believable - actress and therein lies her special distinctioni But she needs authentic character and probr ably for that reason is.less success- ful -with literary figures than many actresses of much less intrln.sic talent. . * 'Right to Romance* is entirely synthetic both in its story treat- ment and In its production method. They hipijodrome their subject be- yond all reality. Dr. Margaret Simmons is a plastic surgeon on an epic, scale of skill and eminence, working colossal cur-es In a mam- moth liospital, but afflicted with' an (shovmoiis sense of the futility of it all. .ObOying the impulse to be just a frivolous Ayoman, ahe goes- in for frivolity on a isimilarlty generous plan. Scene shlfta from the ultra hospital to a dream seashore in California, wherie the heroine pur- sues romance In,the person:of Rob- ert Young, revealed as a swain ap- propriately lavish in youth, riches, gayety iahd resource in courtship. Courtship is jtist a series of roman- tic st tints.. Trouble Is the studio tries to make every tiny detail breath-tak- ing, ahd« Of course, It defeats itself by sheer ovei'dolng. A triumph of synthetic cfffect Is the arrival of the young hero on the California scene. He comes in an aeroplane and spends hundreds of feet of eel lulold in sky stunting' before ho finally lands in a flurry ot femi nine excitement. to meet his fate. . Presently the hectic pair are mar ried in a country estate setting, the wedding spread out over a couple =ot=acreH^of=lawnSr gard(>nK=and=so- ciety leaders. Rest of the .'^lory doesn't matter .much; The staid lady doctor can't hold her b'ensa tlonal husband, who goes baric to a sprlghtlier sweetheart. It .'ill oiids on •another artificial note. Krring husband and his light of lovo rra.ck up in-a plane and girl .suffers injuries that will f-poll lu-r beauty unless tlie doctor ijatfh* her lip, whirh she ajffi'cos. to do, so that- her flamboyant lo\f-r tnn. ! lif li.'ippy ■while she, tlie dof. trf,f-> ' 'oil If) lnlCf' Itfl U l\f-V. '(-Dliui ti'<' tween close-ups of the swill on the young man's scow, she's shown beating, down, his antl-^fexrtme re- sistance, until It hurts. Both are completely unbelievable, along with- the support characteris included for tatmospherlc purposes. In addition there'ls a year-old baby whose ma asked the garbage .man to hold him, and scrammed. Baby complicates things further, because his ma returns and the dancehall girl has to buy her off taking the kid, with the garbage man's hard- earned dough. During the baby-buying Incident the. garbage man Is on. a deserted island in southern waters. He.had gone out on a tuna .fishing boat to make- some extra, jack while, the Pacific fleet, whose garbage he col- lects, "wa.s away on a cruise. A steamer ranis Into the tuna boat and sinks hei". Garbage rnan Is picked: up on the: isle by the Admiral of the navy. The sanie Admiral's life had previously been saved by the garbage, man in an airplane crack- up back, at San Pedro, so they're even.' Arid, to make it clearer, the steamer whiclit rams the tuna boat has as. a passenger a Japanese lady who is coming over to rtiai-ry. a Japanese fisherman who Is' the owner of the tuna, boat. Plus a two-faced, hypocritical civic leader who, while stewed, was bilked out of $126 by the. dancehall girl at the dancehall just a few moments before she fell into the garbage man's net, "When Max Miller wrote this One he must have been seasick,, Richard Arlen, as the jgarbage man, will mako it tough on his femmo following with the garbage-' stained dpthea which he continu- ally sports through these 68 min- utes. Judith Allisn as the girl goes to the other extreme ■with more changes Of ■\vardrobe than Owen McGlvney. . But the?ie are handicaps. Even with proper cos- tuming the leading couple ■would have been up against too. much lit- erary trouble to get an even break out of this story. ' a: Mat!?ui, Jap dialcetlciah, do?»sii't come over \ety clearly .at first, but. after awhile his Oriental style sinks in and the Matsy gets some laughs. With material he'll surely develop into a new novelty fOr pictures. There is one delightful little cam- era shot that must be. symbolical of something if.it can be" figured out. Miss Allen, in a dress that accentu- ates a rather nice build, is stand- ing on, the deck of the garbage scow one moiming, inhaling the sea air. The. breeze is. blowing her skirt and hair ever- so refreshingly. But the breeze is Coming from the dirootlori of the garbage, not six feet a^NS'ay, and Miss Allen is breath- ing happily, just as though the boat were impot'ting a cargo of perfume. Blop. •His Double Life* is lightweight; entertainment and of similar indi- cations, for boxoffice purposes. This does not mean "that It's a bad pic- ture. On the contriiry It's extreme- ly nice. But Us very niceness is a ■vyeakness. Intermixture , of whimsy, refined British farce, and nioon- stru.ck nonsense has been woven to- gether dexterioiisly by Afthur Hop- kins, one of the high-ranking pro> diicers of .the legitimate stage. This is Hopkins first connection with the cinema. For audiences of better. tha,iii avei-age dIsCrlmihation and the more educated residential com- munities 'His Double Life' Is Grade A cream. Reversly for the average big city downtown deliixer It's thin milk to meet the salty competition Of current releases. lilllian Gish returns to the screen herewith. An older, more cerebral, Xillllan Gish .matured biy the dra- matic stage, individual exhibitors and bookers niitist calculate for themselves what her' presence means. Name strength Is limited to Miss Gish and Roland Young. . Sto.ry Is an atnusing Invention o£ a slightly bewildered English paint-? er whose death is erroneously re- ported. His valet Is buried in hia place. The painter (Young) at- tends his own funeral In Westmin- ster Abbey and Is ejected, from the cathedral' for sobbing too loud at the honors , ■which his native, land, is heaping, upon-him. Later, married to a pretty busl- nedS-like- spinster (Miss Gish) the painter starts doing more canvases. He .creates a furor and ultimately a scandal in the art world. This leads ta a coui'troom; sequence. Two moles under his collar' settle the case. Courtroom sceiie Is handled \ btioyantly . with a stressed musical ' background . throughout. This • la done with a finesse amounting to daintiness. Production values of sound, pho- tography, etc., are first class. Stage settings for the Uhgllsh cottage in- dicate much thought and exquisite taste. Land. SIN OF NORA MORAN Majestic production and release. Fea- tures ZIta Jbhann, Alan Dtnehart. Paul Cavanagh and - John MUJan. Directed by. Phil ; .Goldstonc. Ba.scd on .stage play by W. M. Gdbdiiuc; adUp.tatton, France.? Hy- land; fllm editor, Otis .Garrett; photog- raphy,-Ira Morgan; recording, FJarl Craln. At Strand, N.. Y., week Dec, 12, Runnin time, 02 mins, 'Nora Moran ,,. .Tohn Grant,... Bin Crawford. Paulino Mrs. Crawford., Mrs'; Watts.,.. Fuifier Ryan,'.. • •••*«•■ ,,. .'Zlla Johana ,.AlaQ I^lnchart. Paul C.a.van'ngli ... . John Mlljan . .Claire Dubr.ey. ..Sarah Padden enry B. W.TUhalI Mr. Moron '... -. Otis Harlan Kai'ratage, as Jesse L.. Lasky or his press agents called it, 'here in a clum.sy and jumbled form, with- fliashbacks tellirig why the girl is in prh'ioh waiting for the electric chair. A district attorney, in. a manner of telling a story that isn't dramatic, tries to give.it punch as ho narrates the . incidents and circumstances leading to the girl's capitulation for a murder she didn't commit, but he mjinor i never succeediJi As Majestic has ' done It the results are technically, and from the entertainment stand- point, considerably under avetage. Because the, continuity often be- comes In'volvecl in an attempt to brm^f ihB ■teehHlque bt haffatclgfi: to the screen-with practicability, It is frequently, difflcult. to follow the story. The most confusing se^ quence is the footage which deals ■w-Ith the governor, -who, conscience stricken over tho fact that the girl is taking the blame for._murdcr, la finally drlyeh to a last minute par- don. This can he taken either as a nightmare or a scene in which the governor is. actually trying to do something and finally phones to. order a pardon but finds he's tOo late. By the fla.shback method, with cuts no^w' and then to the district attorney, the story unfolds a circus girl's experienees, tracing her from childhood to the point where she's (Continued on page 37) The Woman Angle =^^Sho u ld--Wadie«iBehave?=OM-C+K=--«aViby---a nd-w^^^ to . sn.stain moi:** than spotty intorf•.'^I, Tiiongst the matron.'*. •Hell, and High Water' (Par). -^S-atf-r front Wlnnl.-th'^-PooIi.« with no. story to help tlifiTi .("kc out thfii Oiiuini os-i.vf^nf*-. Hut the tltlo ■vvill l<ff-p tlif ladlo.«i away anyway. in of Nora Moran' ('vVtajesth-.i. 'J^s'-udo-di.ly iroatment oi' •-vif-'SiK-rlfifp nicllfir fai!.« to <Iis^'ni>f- if>- nioiKilomius unrpJiHlv. 'Advice to the Lovelprrt' (I'W '!•<"• n-.: ',v«ll thought fif by tho l.'id'fs. ♦'(.'ln.v n It |i j 't'lirvol.-il.lr. loclli I- Iwi'^l. TifX"- f'l' j.-ll