Variety (Sep 1928)

.-J VARIETY FILM REVIEWS Wednesday, September 5, 1928 THE WATER HOLE (Continued from page 14) the generally familiar continuity ai'e offset by the leading pair's Intelli- gent playing, particularly that of Miss Carroll, who makes her hoyden a living, breathing charactei*. Holt, as dapper In dinner jacket as he i(3 manly in chaps and sombrero, is perfectly cast foi'. the Zane Grey hero. For all of its genei-al llghtweight- edness; ; "The Water Hole" will please the fans and will, of course, make nioney for the producer and exhibitor alike. It's an. inexpensive production, chiefly outdoors, with more than two reels transpiring on supposedly Arizona wasteland, lead- ing into the mirage; stuff when, the near-victims search for the water hole as a result of a horse-thieving Indian guide having stolen their mountSi The Interiors, are few,- the most pretentious flash being a few shots of a ballroom dance. As a result, considering the production and the personnel, this one won't Impoverish anyone, and it will please even, the skeptical western fans. Feature has enough of the "society" in it to click with the fernnies, ■There is some natural color pro- togi-aphy included in the prolog in the Adam and Kve allegorical by- play arid in one: mid-section golf scene. It : is disclosed that Miss Carroll is a flaming Titian, unless the celluloid is artificially tinted, the black-on-white otherwise showing her off as a blonde. Whether a red-head of not, Mi.ss Carroll is a cutie and a comedienne of sur- prising resourcefulness and depth, Aleh this talented lady. Made by Alex Nalpas for L, Aubert Distribution, It carries a couplo of known dancers, MUo, Edmonde Guy and her partner. Van Duren, as prin- clpal.s, supported by Mona Goya, Sylvie Mai, Yvonne Legeai, Valenti Kolino, Paul Lprbert and Jacques Arnna. The story has been somewhat changed 'for this picture version, with the book preferable this time. Pindere Is a smart, handsome young man, seeking adventures. He joins a party visiting the ancient sites of Mingrelia, is made prisoner and to receive good: treatment Pin- dere poses as a diplomat. He is brought into touch with the governing classes of the region and also meets a French dancer, Lily de Thorigny, with whbni he falls in love. One day Pindere is invited to visit the ollgarche ruling the city, and to his astonishment finds him- self In front of Mandane, a beauti- ful Princess, who constitutes the monarch all on her own. The couple are mutually Infatuated. The lady is anxious to shoot the moon, and Pindere assists her in appropriat- ing the court jewelry.. Nevertheless, he is gentleman enough to think of Lily, They cross the frontier and are-then safe from pursuit, where the two women abandoned their de- voted, amorous slave. Then he woke ,up; it .was a dream. "L'Oublie" is a romantic sort of reel for short-run houses. KetidrciQ. FORGOTTEN (FRENCH MADE) Paris, Aug. 20. Another French film, adapted from a novel "L'Oublie" by the pro- lific Pierre Benoit. The subject la full of adventures in foreign lands, with an eccentric beautiful lady as exotic heroine. "L'Oublie" has been produced by Mme. Germalne Dulac with care. It Is by no means the best release of HERNIE KING Musical Master of Ceremonies Direction Taachon and Marco Fifth Ave. Theatre, Seattle Gino Severi MUSICAr. 1>TRl!CTOR CAM,FORNTA TirEATRI! SAN IlftANCISCO Direction: WEST COAST THEATRES. Inc. A SHIP COMES IN Pathe production and release. Directed by W. K. Howard. Original story and adaptation by Jullen Joaephson. Rudolph Schlldkrau't, Loulae Dresser and Robert Edeson featured. In cast, Mlltori Holmes, Linda liandl, Frlt2 Feld a^id ljuclen Llt- tlefleld.' At the Hippodrome, New Tork. week of Sept. 3. Bunning time, 75 minutes. A Story of immigrant life which packs plenty of sentiment but still manages to keep from going over- board on sob stuff. Fine -work by Rudolph Schildkraut and Louise Dresser, together" with discreet-di- rection by Howard, makes this a worth while screen offering. Story concerns the trials and trib- ulations of Peter Pleznik (Schild- kraut), a Hungarian immigrant. Peter becomes a patriot alinost as soon as he and his family set foot on their adopted land despite the grumblings of an anarchistic coun- tryman. Obtaining a job as a mop- per In a federal building he looks forward to the day when he will have citizenship conferred upon him and sees nothing but happiness, ahead for his family. When he Is finally naturalised, Peter, to show his appreciation, plans to present the Judge with , a cajce that Mrs. Pleznik (Miss Dres- ser) has baked. The disgruntled anarchist removes the cake and places a b^mb in the box that Peter brings to the judge's office. The Infernal machine explodes, the judge who has befriended Peter is serious ly Injured, his secretar-y Is bumped off and Peter is jailed, convicted of radical tendencies. To add to his misfortunes Peter's son, who has enlisted In the army, is killed in action. Despite all this, his patriot- ism never wavers and In the end all Is cleared up and Peter goes back to his mops and brooms happy. Lacking a final clinch or box of- fice title the flicker nevertheless should find an appreciative audi- ence In the neighborhoods, eepc- clally those drawing from a foreign element. THE VORTEX (ENGLISH MADE) Produced 'by Gainsborough and released In America tiirough Ameranglo. Few credlta. Adaptation of Noel Coward play of «ame name. Cast: Ivor Novello, WU- lette Kershaw. At Fifth Ave. Playhouse, week of August 25. Running time, ec minutes. which continues on a roof, to fill in between the start and finish which are 55 minutes apart. Daugherty screens as no beauty but looks wholesomely athletic and seems able to lead and feint with- out falling down. Miss Falre merely plays straight and Kotsonaros Is the appropriate heavily muscled menace. Comedy touch Is derived from a coiiple of kids continuously giving the uncouth wrestler the bird. Mod- erate production called for and U evidently had no objections. Cam- era and title work average and minus high spots. Novelty sport touch plus Daugh- erty's two fights to let It stand alone in the dally changes If neces- sary. Sid. The only salvation for "The Vor- tex" In the American, market will be the "arty" houses. At that fans will have to be pretty arty not to laugh at this melodrama, with Its ludicrously heavy titles and its be- lated climax. Stiff, Btarchy and absurdly arti- ficial are the members of the cast. The Coward play Is there In out- line but the substance" Is so han- dled as to be mistaken for bur- lesque by any cluster of American ticket buyers. Stuff of the mother playing kitten; the athletic boy who could out talk a speaklid crowd, the gigolo se- quences, the newspaper girl who Is an actress of scanty screen experi- ence—all these angles and many more make the picture a poor sub- ject for screen audiences of all grades. THE BODY PUNCH Universal production and release. starring Jacic Daugherty with Virginia Browne Falre underlined. Directed by LiClgh Jason from H. O. Hoyt'a atory. Titles by Gardner Bradford. Cast Includes George Kotson- aroB,. Honte Montague and Wilbur Mack. At lioew'a New Tork as half of double bill Aur. 24. RannlDg time, K minutes. Favorable action episode for the intermediates. It presents the sport controversy of boxer versus wrestler with the ultimate decision In favor of a straight left, the contest go- ing to a finish In a boarding house room. Daugherty is the glove ex- ponent and Kotsonaros the catch- as-catch-can artist. Love interest flits . in when Daugherty saves Miss Falre In an underworld cafe brawl. Her social parasite eompanlbn ieventually tries to get away with a necklace, Daugherty is blamed and this leads to the private four wall struggle with the wrestler, the latter having taken the trinket from the actual snatcher. Interested in welfare work. Miss Falre stages a charity bazaar, the main attraction to be the boxer and.wrestler In a ring The missing bracelet abruptly calls off the contest and postpones the decision until the two men meet privately. Sport angle should catch the In- terest of male patronage and there's enough activity in the cafe scrap. Moscow as It Laughs (RUSSIAN MADE) Berlin, Ayg. 20. The Ru.ssians are leaping ahead in film production. This Is their comedy and it is splendid. B. Bar- nett, who directed, for the Sovkino, rushies right up into the Lubltsch. class. What the Hollywood comedies so greatly lack In freshness of view- point and vitality is here to be found in abundance. That It sometimes flows over a bit is excusable and hardly disturbs.. A little modiste Is registered by- her employers as living in their apartment, so that they may be al- lowed by the police to have an extra room (great shortage of living quarters in Moscow). She has sym- pathy with a youn^ student who has no place to live, and marrying him, takes him to the apartment and demands her room. Her employers are. furious biit are forced to give It to her. They, however, remove all furniture; The two spend their wedding night .sleeping on the hard wooden floor— all, of course. In comiplete childish innocence. In the end the girl wins a prize in a lottery and after some ex- citing rough house cOmedy, the two are really united. Charming Is the work of 'Anna Sten and Koval Samborsky in the. leads. RIDERS OF THE DARK M-O-M ' production and release; Tim McCoy starred. Directed by Nick Grlnde with George Nogle at camera. ' Story "by "W. S. Van Dyke. . In ca-^t: Dorothy Dwan, Roy D'Arcy, Dick Sutherland. At Stanley, New York, one day. Running time 60 minutes.. Tim McCoy may. be able to knock over five or islx of fllmdom's bad boys of the plains and get away with it, but it will take a real fan with moronlstlc tendencies to as slmllate Tim's, blase accomplish- ment of a half regiment or more In his "Riders of the Dark." . How come the dark is another matter for discussion. The sun beams out brightly except when Tim leaves Rex Lease and Dorothy Dwan to defend the prison, while he summons the troops to wipe out Bad Guy Eagan's horde. Plenty of physical combat In this film baby; in fact, more than pio- neers in the racket would ever hav« attempted. This is Tim's most glorious con- tribution to what one man can do to several score or more—on th« screen. CHAMPAGNE (BRITISH MADE) Produced by British International Pic- tures, Ltd. Directed by Alfred HItchcocJc. Distributed In the U. K. by Wardour Films, ' Ltd.; in America by. the World Wide Fi m Corp. through Educational Ex- changes. Story by Walter Mycroft and' Alfred Hitchcock. Scenario by Elliot 8tan. nard. Photography by Jack Cox. Censora* certificate "U." Previewed at the London Hippodrome Aug. 20. Running time, M minutes. Betty, daughter of a Champagne King... ' Betty Balfour The Champagne King Gordon Haiker rho Boy.... Jean Bradln The Cosmopolitan Ferdinand von Alten If J. D. Williams is going to re- lease British pictures in America he will have to get some better than this. The story Is of the weakest, an excuse for covering 7,000 feet ot harmless celluloid with logs and close-ups. Be a female star ever so good— and Betty Balfour is not seen here at her best—no audience is going to stand for nine-tenths of a film being devoted to her doing noth- ing In particular. That's what happens here, with no other wom- an in the cast, and three men who are Indeterminate in character and badly directed. Two versions of the story are given—one in the press book and anothier In a v. p. folder. Neither has much resemblance to the story on the screen, which Is really an advantage to thei, literature. ' Gordon Harker Is supposed to be a "Champagne King," whatever that is, but the film show^s him, both In action and captions, as a caricature of Hollywood's idea of a successful New York busini^ss man. His daughter wants to marry a boulevard cake-eater, and poppa disagrees. The lover sails on the Aquitania (spelled through- out with a "c"), and Betty follows (Continued on page 30) DAVE GOOD MASTER OF CEREMONIES COLOR.1DO THBATRi:, DENVEB' ThaalcB to Fanchon and Ulaico R IN A Two-Reel Talkie-Comedy "A RBGUXAB BUSINKSvS MAN" Bryant 8027 Strand. Now York, Now By JOHN STOK£S I WERNER DETROIT'S BELOVED MUSICAL GENIUS MUSICAL DIRECTOR, fflCHIGAN THEATRE DETROIT CELEBRATING HIS 15th ANNIVERSARY AS PREMIER MUSICAL DIRECTOR WITH KUNSKY THEATRES Spphony Orchestra