Variety (May 1934)

Tuesday, May 8, 1934 REVIEWS '/ARIETY 21 Film Reviews Manhattan Melodraoia (Continued from page 14) drama' will never bore, and please jtreherally. Gable and Powell and Miss .Loy are thoroughly believable In most spots. Leo CarrlUo is best of the supporting cast as the east side padre. Nat Pendleton as the dumb lug henchman la one bf those char- acterizations hot as effective here tor thia comedy relitif as in the past. Ditto for hi^jdumb Dora, girl-friend. Mickey Jlopney and Jimmy Butler in the JUve. portions -are tiptop. Bhirley Ross is the colored warbler Who hiandles the lone Kodgers-ECart song in- the picture (which mean^ little) in the Cotton Club setting. 3 ON A HONEYMOdN jTo:; production and releiase. Directed by- James TtnlinK.' Sally Ellers, ZaSu Pitts, featured. Adapted by EM'ward T. Lowe, Douglass Doty and 'Raymond ' Van : fitckle from' novel ■■'Proihenade DecK,'' .by. Ishbel Roqs. Dances by Dave' Gould. Joseph Vnlentihe, photosv At Fox, Brooklyn, week May '4i Runiilng. time, :70 minutes. Joan Foster. Sally Ellers Alice Afiidge..I.. ZaSii Pitts '^a' Qlllssple...enrletta Crosman Dick Charlton..........v>Charles Starrett Mllllcent' Wells i. ,v... .Irene Hervey Chuck Wells... t........ John Mack Brown Ezra MacDuft. , .Russell Slm"iBon Phil Lang.Cornelius Keefe- ZaSu Pitts almost but not quite saves this'one with the laughs she creates, but a coAmpIete save is too much to aslv even of that .first class comedienne. 'Three (Jn a Honey- moon,', whose title is a misnomer, doesn't get bevond the double bill level. . • Story is a reminder of most of the details contained in the nu- ineroiia takeoff s on the 'Graiid Hotel' plot method, A quasi-char- acter, study and, like two or three of its predecessors, laid on an ocean ^her. Some of the. details are too remindful for comfort. ■ Sally Ellers, as the spoiled daughter of a steamship magnate, is the i.o'tivating character. Ther.e really is. a pair of honeymboners, as the-title states, but'there's lots more than three on the cruise. Al- most the whole passenger , list some- how becomes Involved in the honey- moon.. • At the iHnish there are two more honeymoon couples, Miss Ellers pairing off with the hand- eoin^ Second Officer (Charles Star- rett), .while Miss Pitts and Russell Simpson hook up. for comedy pur- poses. It's all about the spoiled and t.omboylsh'young lady's trip to get away from a nagging step mother, and the efforts of . the young ship's officer to carry out an assignment-r- that . 6f ;chaperoning the boss' daughter. There's some crook stuff and a suicide during the trip, not very exciting, but all under' the heading of necessary padding.. Misses Ellers and Pitts, co-fea- tured, are pretty and comical, re- spectively. Henrietta Crosman, a proficient comedy sideline sitter- Inner through considerable past ex- perience w'ith such roles, again sits in as the sporting old. lady who keeps the several sets of lovers in good humor with her . wise r racks, and patches up their little quarrels. When Miss Crosman refuses to ac- cept the lovers' spats seriously, she voices the likely sentiment of the picture's audiences. There's a brief but interesting display of the ship's mechanical de- partments, but otherwise the pho- tography sticks to formula for boat dramas. One of the two scenes off the ship, is set iii an Algerian cafe, where a cooch dancing line per- forms some well staged dance for- mations, and '"ah unbilled' bruhet sings the chorus of a . song. Bige, ORDERS IS ORDERS (PRITISH MADE) ' Gaumont-Brltlsh production and release starring' Charlotte' <3reenwo6d and - James Gleaaon; Cyril MaUde featureed. Directed by WsUter Forde. Story by Ian Hay and Anthony Armstrong; screen play, Sidney Gilllat and Leslie Arllss; additional dialog' by Gleaaon.. Unit production manager, Victor Peers;' assistant directors, Bryali Wallace, Frank Cohen; camera. Glen Mac- Wllllams. At 'Westminster Cinema,'N. X.> week May 2. Running time, 60 rtilns. Wanda ; Charlotte Greenwood Waggermeyer ....... k James. Gleason The ° Colonel.'. .,>.<........,. .Cyril Maude Dave .Flnlay Currie Zingbaum. ■. Percy.. Parsons Brigadier .'.....,.......Cedric. Hardwicke Pavey. ..Donald Calthrop . Captain Harper... ............. .Ian Hunter Patricia ...... .Jane Carr Dashwdod t.... ^....... .Ray Milland Quartermaster Edwin lA-wrence Slee ,,., Ellbt Makeham Goffln ..;.,.,..;.».....Htty Plumb ,..Br.iti3^.-mad e - Daten tly, primed ■ for the U. S. market but nix for this, .side despite its obvious Anglo- American hybridizing. Will not do for * anything but the arties or a house such as the! Westminster Cin- ema (former Charles Hopkins legit house on West 40th, N. Y.) with its all-British film policy. It had a good idea which never materialized, rrobably read great on paper but never was fruitfully capUfxHztHt. Idea of a Hollywood film company moving into a British barracks for a cinematic location was designed to satirize Hollywood's bombast a,nd funibles, but evolved into a pointless and very obvious farce. Motivation by--which , the Holly- Wood film company on location near the barracks is enabled to tUrn'His Majesty'is army topsy-turvy is very Macksehnett; The o. k. tp 'go as far; as you like' refers to another military problem—vthat of combat- ting the mauraudlhg rats on the bommissary. Instead the colonel in charge of thfe Royal Loamshires fig- ures that the brigadier-general has approved the idea of the Anierican film company using the British troops as on-the-cuff extras for the military picture being made. Rest of the' comedy is a film- withln-a-film. Some of the comedy .comes froni the screen dialog of the daily', rushes, seemingly replying impudently to the colonel's inter- rogations, . Best, that can be said for.this GrB is .that Cyril Maude and most of the native cast eclipse the Amer- ican impor.teeiS. Maude is particu- larly staple as the colonel. Ian Hunter and Qedric Hardwicke like- wise register and; if never before in Hollywood, suggest west coast pos- sibilities. Jane Carr as the femme lead is as light as her assignment, that Of the; colonel's daughter. Gleason is the slangy, impudent, boorish, hoggish director from Hol- lywood who,, given a barracks, takes the Whole British army. Miss Greenwood is cast as his -'es-woman aiid general assistant. " She, too, wears the same burlesque-checkered suits that her director-boss wears and is always oh tap with a gram- ophone to appropriately set . the motif and locale of any action,, be it Bombay, Moorish or British. It's all to accompanying, disk recoirdings. Th$ satirizing on American • film manners and methods. If not par- ticularly complimentary, is done with restraint, and little offense. As is obvious, the G-B hope was that via the importation of the Green- wood-Gleason stellar duo and its subject matter it Would find a more extensive Anglo-American market. But the idea died aborning at Shep- herd's Bush Studios, London, where the film was shot under Walter Forde's direction. As is a common fault with al- most every British-make, the sound is-bad. It's bad not alone because the Enjgllsh dialect is basically for eign to the American ear, but it's technically poor. The sound crane seldom seems to move with the ac tion so that walking to or away from any given position always brings a diminUation of Sound one way or the other. Abel. WHIRLPOOL Columbia production and release. Stars Jack Holt, With Jean Arthur, Donald Cook, Allen Jenkins and LUa Lee In support. Directed by "Woy WUHam Nelll. Story by Howard' Emmett Rogers. Adaptation . by Dorothy Howell and Ethel Hill. Film editor, Richard Gaboon. Photography by Benjamin Kline. At Casino, N. T., week starting Friday, May 4, Running time, 00 mlns.. Buck Rankin.. .. i.. Jack Holt Sandra....'....' Jean Arthur Mac.,.; .-. .Allan Jenkins Dob -Donald Cook Helen Llla Lee Thelma.. ...........Rita La Roy Barney Gaige John Miljan Morrison. 'WiUard . Robertson Farley Ward Bond Editor Oscar Apfel Majority audience Interest may find disappointment with the end- ing but little else about 'Whirlpool' is likely to displease anyone. Based on one of the most surefire father and daughter stories ever screened, with heart interest running high throughput, it-is a piece of film merchandise that's welT above fair in entertalninent appeal. Since the Jack Holt . name isn't powerful enough on box office suc- tion to pull a poor picture to over-^ average business, a well-directed exploitatioh campaign would be ad vlsable. Jack Holt's fans will like him as the hard-luck hero in this one In which he knoWs the nianly thing to do. Although picture startia out with Holt as a carnival owner who has plenty of grlfting and rough stuff oh his shoWi this bad charac- ter angle Is quickly disposed of and the foundation laid for some heart interest that ought to have the ladles handkerchief-minded. ■ Going up for a iZO-year stretch after an iUrfated fight oh the carny lot just after Holt has married and is ready to jump the outdoor show business, the story has Holt writing a phoney letter to his Wife which suggests he's committed suicide. She remarries and a. daughter by her first husband grows to womanhood. --i=Story=has=both=^meat-and-effective development, taking Holt into the night club busines.s after his dis charge And mixing him with his daughter by accideht. While father and daughter have a field day of it prior to his decision to skip because of a gangster trial at which he doesn't want to testify, the mother never knows her former .spouse Is alive. The average scenarist and direc- tor would have insisted on bringing in the mother somehow. Fact that in 'Whirlpool this isn't done is greatly in its favor, but whether the tans won't be disappointed that Holt has to kill another man . and then himself for the finish is something else again. Picture justifies this finish because a vengeful racketeer lawyer has dis- covered the Buck Sheldon of the present was the Buck Rankin of the past and is threatening to spread it on newsprint paper. He's murdereo. and that evidence is destroyed^ but someone forgot about the girl who tipped the lawyer off on the secret. Holt gives' a fins performance, grajjUng up after 20 years behind bars; while fOr high sympathetic and heart ihterest, Jean Arthur is whiat the doctor ordered^ Mother is plaved by L1II9! .Lee, while comedy responsibility rests mainly with .\llen. Jenkins, a good type for spot illotted here. Nice cutting Job sustains a good pace and maintains action without leaving, anything of importance missing or- upsetting continuity. Some camera work to suggest march of years in one ciEise and a night of gaiety In another, has bten effe?.- tively spliced In. Char. Stock Market Success at Any Price Riadio pro'duction and release. Features Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Genevieve Tobln, Colleen Moore, Frank Morgan. Directed by J. AValter Ruben^ From play by John Howard Law^on; adaptation' by Xawson and Howard J. Green.. .Photography,. Henry W. Gerhard. At Rlalto. N.; T., week May 2: Running time,. 74 mlns. Joe Martin. ^.;Douglas.Fairbanks, Jr: Agnes Garter... ^ .Genevieve Tobln. Raymond Merrttt............Frank Morgan Sarah Grlswpld Colleen Moore Fisher; ..../..Edward Everett Horton Jeffcry .Halliburton.:....Allen Vincent Dinah .Nydla- Westman Hadfleld ^. Henry Kolker He crushes everything around him in an Horatio Algerish climb ^ to wealth and business heighths, then tries to commit suicide for a happy recovery fade in the airms of the gal who waits for a building or something to hit him. The hero of 'Success At Any Price' Is an unin- teresting, conceited' person; but the picture around him can he endured. The dialog makes -that possible. ■ John Howard Lawson and How- ard J, Green, writing the dialog, supplied the only punch that exists. Again they demonstrate the value of words, notably where the action offers little, as in this case. 'Success* is episodic, unreasonable and anything but audience proof in treatment of its plot. At the outset it makes Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., an unsympathetic character, something from' which he never recovers. In the first couple reels or so, the lack of sympathetic Interest Isn't so pointed, but before the final spool is reached it has become) acute after he determinedly tramps <>n the necik^ of everyone, Including those who hav;e befriended him. An effort I9 made a little beyond middle to inject a feeling of commis- seration for the hero because of his wife's peccadilloes and the shattered dream of babies, but it's doubtful if the average audience won't feel he hftd this coming to him. Picture is draggry throughout and in plot a pipe dream of the first 6r- £ler. Somebody iqtore matured in the Fairbanks spot would have made a little more believable. Frank Morgran and Genevleye Tobln are both ezc<Bllent in asstgh- nientei of a character that are not really up to their standard, while Colleen Moore rates a weak .third among those supporting young Fair- banks. Miss Moore does the office secretary who waits for her Algy boy friend to topple from his high horse. Nydia "Westman proves a good comedy type as another office slavey,, a loquacious, gum-chewing girl who reminds a little of Daphne Pollard. Chat. • — ■ • lA Sacramento. Permits to Sell Stock Indep«ndcBt Film Dlstrlbatara, Inc. Motion picture sales. To Issne three shares of total of 2,000, no par value. Fictitious Pirm Names AIM ^d«r, 8. A. Wtm, M. A. CiMrles, doing business as. Golden Gate Amuae- ment. Co. . . Oeorige M. (Chstk) BImmt (screen di- rector and actor) and Ernest B. Mason, doing business as Chuck jftlesber Sport- ing Goods. OKLAHOMA , Oklahoma City. AUaa AnanBement Co., Inc.* Altqs, dkla. Capital stock, $$,000.' Incorporators, Pat McGee, Oklahoma City; ■ Joseph H. Cooper, New York City and J. H. Everest, Oklahoma City, Okla. Hnskogee Baseball Assa, lac., Musko- gee, Okla. Capital stock, |S,000. Incor- porators, Joseph J. Magat, M. L. Brag- don and Joe Paul, all of Muskogeo. Mascot's Air Staff (Continued from page (J) dropped only .54 in conriparison with 4L dip of 4470 in Dow-Jones Indus-:, trial averages; Indiistrial averages stood at 98,20 at close .Saturday where, it shovyed a drop of 8.35 points in .tWo weeks. It is a well known axioni in the street that stock prices do not advance while commodities are; sielling. off, and that usually prices of issues on stock exchange follow those of com- 'moditiies in case of a, big dip. These factors, coupled with feeling that peak of spring activity has been reached, aided in decline of stock markiet in recent daySi Rails closed at 45.68 and utilities at 23.ifi. Which means that these two groups together with indiistrlal group rnay test the Miirch 27 lows within the next week or twd. Low- est point for industrial averages in March was 97.41 and the Dow-Jones averages hit 97.70 Saturday, which is the low of the current reaction, Stifllening of demand for several aunusement stocks helped group as a whole Saturday, in fact, Loew's reached high of week at 33 %: during the day, while Paramount certific- ates also climbed to week's peak. Warner rothers common ^tbck shipped a little behind am'usemeht group and was weak most of time Radio Preferred B dropped to 2T% before ineeting support though it came back •nea;r end of. week. Fox A closed near bottom but didi hot fare so badly considering: its recent climb. Xioew's common stock was about the steadiest of amusehient issues. Though it slumped with remainder of group, it mahag'ed to close at 32% and never dropped be low 31. , That the market has reached a critical level is admitted :by even the tnost. optimistic. If stocks sell off m heavily increased volume one of these days, many think that this may mark the end of present de- cline in prices. .Despite fairly op- timistic forecasts for summer the- atre business, statistics show that ahiusement stocks seldom go up during the last part of May or in June.. In fact, vast majority of June months have Witnessed slumps In prices Of amusendent issues. This is supposed, to reflect falling off in bozoffice receipts fo.r summer months. Liatter part of July and August has generally seen a reversal bf. trend, for then prlccjs of amuse- ment stocks begin to reflect in-^ creased fall business or hppes for a pick-up in theatre attendance. Earnitios Reports Film, company issuer, were helped: by favorable earnings reports.. Ra- dio Corp, reported $1,335,725 net in first quarter, cotnparing with a. net loss of $478,13 in 1933. Fox Film showed a net. profit.of $805,376,. after taxes and charges, compared with a net loss of $557,122 for the March quarter of previous year, . Radio Preferred B apparently had dis- counted favorable report in last two weeks.when it soared to new highs "'"^"HblIy wdoa775lay""Tr~"" Mascot Pictures has closed a deal with the Howard Hughes for choice of over 2,000,000 feet of original negative from 'Hell's Angels' to be used in some of Nat Irvine's forth- coming air features. First selected footage will prob- ably be incorporated into 'Crimson Romance,' which wilt go into pro- duction about May 16, with David Howard directing. lied strongly issuance of report. Radio common also was extremely active. Botli stocks closed week with, only fractional losses, despite general market Weakness. Fox A .stpqk held fairly steady until last part of. week, having had its Tuove upwards in advance of favorable earnings report. Steadiness in Loew's probably may be attributed to report for 28 weeks ending March 15, which showed in- crease in profits over same period a year ago amounting to • $1,960,191. Report showed net profit, -after de- preciation, taxes and subsidiaries preferred dividend of $3,973,472, or $2.38 a shAre on common stock, against $1.04 for. period in 1933. Recent. Jictivity at high levels by Loew's stock n^ay in. part be ac- counted for in reported action of Western Electric Company In dis-, posing of 164,000 Loew. shares in open market, Western Electric pb-; tained this stock when Film Secur- ities Corp. defaulted on notes held by 17 banks and'Corporations last year. Eastman Kodak, cdnimon, lost 4% points net during week. 'I'his de- cline, is pertinent because directors pif the company meet this week to vo'te on dividend.' Present rate is $3 nionthly, and at present prices stock only yields . 3.3%. Eastman , stock closed'at 90%, and was at 89 at one time during week. iHowever,- %Mb. issue recently climbed to. a new 1934 high at 96"%, and decline this week cannot be viewed as indicating any change In dividend rate. If change is made it is believed, it would be. increased. Loew's piref erred 'dropped 3^ points, Uhiverisal preferred. 1 point, and. Warner. preferred lost ,2 points net. Otherwise prices of common stocks in fllm group on big board dipped: only, fractionally, Satiirday close showed. .' RIse of paramount- roadway 6%s to hew high iat 4*^ and 10% points net during week wfts feature of .bond market. Approval of reorganization plain which includes retirement of these bonds prompt remarkable climb of these liend. Parajaiiount- Broadway bonds made net highs nearly every , dasr starting Tuesday. Paramount-FamoUs-Lasky .9a. and Paramount-Publlx 6%s also were active and sought on Tuesday and again Saturday, These liens and certificat(BS for saine showed net g9,ins of 1% to 2 points on week. Showing in Paramount, bond group was ail the more' prominent for the reieisoh that other picture company liens fell off. Pathe 7s lost 2% points net after developing wetness - Saturday. They closed at 96%. General Theatre Equipment '40 bonds lo3t 1% after climbing to 11%. Loew-6s manaised to remain above 100. and lost half a point to ciose at 100%. . . While market may decline further, there is nothing in. selling of Mocks to Indicate that Wall Street expects a. drastic exchange control bill from Congress. If control measure actu- ally is passed at this session, those watching prices fail to see any r^al prospect for. a drastic, law. nearly every day. However, it ral- : Summary for week ending. Saturday! May 5 STOCK EXCHANGE Salen. Issue :and rate. 000 American Seat.....^ l,300-.Consol.Film..........f...>•. 4,00p Columbia P. ytc 4,800 Consol. Film pfd. (90C.)*....... 4,000 JBastman Kodak (8). lO.MO Vox, ClCiSB A.,. ^ . '. 82,000 Oen. Elec. (00c.);.. i..... , ..... 55,000. Loew (I).;.;. ...,..;<.'... 000 Do pref. (0%)........ .3,400 JVIadlson Sq. Qarden.<. 300 Met-G-M pref. (1.80) v.......... 44,800 Paraniount 9;200 Patbe Kxchange."...^. 20,700 Patbe, Class A 'i-; 121,200 Radio Corp..... .r...^... ^.i ••.. • • 77,00() Radio, ptd. 22^800 • 'HICO '«»c»*»** to*) Universal pref v. 81,100 Warner BroA -00 Do pfd. ....,.......,>; k....... 86,800 W^Htlnghouse High. 5 .M 20 . 10% 04% .22% 88% 00 7 20 5 •3 23 >^ 8% 31% 8% 4:1 VA 2H . 30% Low. 4% 4 27% 15% 80 10% 20% 81%. 0* '25^ 4% 20%. 7% 27% 2% 4.3 0% 2« .'iO Last. 4% 10% 00% 15% .30% 32% 04 0% 25% 4% 2% 21% . 7% 30 .3% 43 .•0<4 2.S 30% Net cbg. - % - %. - % -1%. %•■ -1% + U -3% t Paid this j^ear. * lO-share trading unit. CUR& 30 11% 3% 13 72 08% 3% 51 85 85 300 Columi>ia- Plctfl.. ^.. .3,800 Technicolor 1,000 Tran». I,ux (lOe.) .. ■ '40. f83.000 acn. Thea, IS 32,000 Keith O's, '40 20,000 Loew O'h. '41. 13,000 Pathe 7'8. '87 5i.%=i:=:..v=2tt%==^-.(W,000_-;jear2JE:ainJt-ai -1<4 54 55 54 47 05% Bld^ % % 28% 110,000 Par-Fam-Lasky O's,' clfa.. '47. 20% . 63,000 Par-Puh 3%'s, 'iiO ......... 20 103,000 Par-Pub 5%'s. 'Oft. c.tta 30 224,000 Pnr-iJro.ndwfty S'.i's. '31 40%. 370,000 Warner Uro-f, O'm, '31). r OVER THE COUNTER. N, V. +1% +1% hlO%