Variety (Nov 1928)

so Wednesday, November 14, 1928 THE SKY RANGER (Continued from page 26) ■pot Is where Farrell rescues his ■weetle'3 dad from the Chinese smugglers. Howes, regarded as a .stunt man, 1b stunting it in the air, although, a double could'even appear with audi- ences none the wiser. . Director Brown has done fairly ■well with a scenario that afforded little scope. Barring a spot or two, It Is ordinary filming. Photography *s a whole Is splendid;.ether scones, whether phoney or real, : rp.quired Bome expert camera acrobatics. The men predominate. Film calls for border outlawry and hazardous flying and relegates the gals. And any "western" .or avIa;tIon story without a plentiful dash of roman- tic paprika suffers. And this one Buffers. .' . At best, a rider for the double- feature days. Mark, It Wilt Be a Bear of a Pr'oductiori "FIVE O'CLOCK GIRL" Starring • MARION DAVIES Directed by Released by, BORN TO BE LAUGHED AT STATE, NEW YORK" Next Week (Nov, isy Harry Howard Mysteries of the Orient ' (GERMAN-MADE) Berlin, Oct. 28. This Ufa special cost a lot of ■money and tooted highly before it.s premiere. Disappointment. Ah imitation of "The Thief of Bagdad" but without the story, di- rection, cast Or production. The Russian director, Alexander. Woll- koffi again proves himself only of second rank. His star, Nicolai Ko- lin, a serviceable player In support- ing character roles, disclosed that he Is unable to carry a film alone. His comedy Is lacking In spontaneity and he Is always the intelligent player, never losing himself In the role. Ivan Petrovitch and Marcella Al- bani, featured, have no chance to show any qualities. Scenically the film was also disappointing as well as ridiculously overornate. Story ,'Is Just another one of those Arabian nights. Trask, TRACKED FUO production and relenso. Directed by Jerome Storin from story by John Stuart Twist. Supervision of Robert North Brad-, bury. Starring Ranger, dog. Cast Includes Sam Nelson, Albert J. Smith, Clark Corn- stock and Carol Lincoln. At Stanley, New Torjc, Nov. 12, one day. Running time, 60 minutes. A touching drama about a dog falsely accused of killing sheep. Wliere they like dogs and sheep the picture is on a .par with anything else turned out along those lines. Where, they want westerns it's only a pain In the neck. Ranger may be a good dog, and the production runs like a boost in general for all dogdom. It should appeal to dog lovers and children, mainly the latter. The menace, Albert J. Smith, is just a, mean pierson on the screen, but he likes sheep. Carol Lincoln is the coy young maiden saved from death by "Ranger," and Sam Nelson is the brave lad who fixes the dainty anlde; A flash of th© villain gnashing his teeth makes it dog-gone perfect. , Mori. May hoB unquestionably kept his eyed open, and the film Is a com- petent one. It might have been ex- cejltionaJ and, for this type of tragic story. It would have to be to get over In the States. The plot is old: two German pris- oners In Russia; one . escapes and the other is appaxentiy lost. The fugitive returns to the wife of the other and falls In love with her. . Husband reappears and, realizing th© love of the twt>. walks out. Hus- band splendidly played , by Lars Hanson, but Qustav Froe'hllch was too sweet as the lover, and Dita Parlo not emotionally ripe enough for the role of th© wife. Trash. FARMER'S DAUGHTER Fox production and ^release. Directed by Arthur Rosson from etory credited Harry Brand and Harry Johnson. Titles by Gar- rett .Graham. In cast: Uaxjorle Bcebee, Arthur Stone, Warren Burke, Jimmy Adama, Lincoln 9tedman. At Loew's New York, one day,. Nov. 9, half of double bill. RnhDlng- tim«,. about 60.minutes. . HOME COMING (GERMAN-MADE) Berlin, Nov. 1. Joe May was one of the first well known German dlrectsrs. Upl to five years ago he held a position al- most neck to neck with Lubitsch. Then suddenly he disappeared. This is an attempt at a comeback under.Erich Pommer'a supervision. A rube story sticking close to coh- ventiohal lines is handled In the same way. A smart caption here and there and an old gag garnished with plenty of slapstick will get "The Farmer's Daughter" by in sonde of the lesser second runs and grinds. On the whole the action drags badly and fiJm could have been snapped Into better entertainment had it been released as a short. The city slicker and the small town inventor, th© swalii and the farmer's daughter, all together but get unraveled with'a happy ending when an accomplice identifies him- self as the son of a woi'thy cheese maker who will pay for the inven- tion, * MarJorJ© Beebee, as th© daughter, magnifies^ the stiffness of a girl of the hay. Her rough and tumble antics in her handling of the men folk pull spot laughs. Waly. THE AVENGING RIDER PBO produotlon and release. Directed by Wallace Fox from original story credited to Adele Bufflngton. Tom Tyl^r starred. In cart: Florence Allen, Franklo Darro, Al Fer^uMB, Bob FIcmmlng. At Stanley, New Tprk, one day, Nov. .«. Running time, about 60 mlnntes. One Of the Woolworth plots of the plaina Story padded in way so un- usual as to be obvious to grfnd au- diences; the only one who will sit through "The Avenging Rider." Director apparently had bunch of female extras on pay rbll. Used them "with ridiculous comparison to cut-in and drag along customarr ranch murder case. Dames in. dusty country and bearded men flitted around barn In. classic veils or high cut bathing outfits., Tom Tyler forceg rough expres- sion and grabs the close-ups, which make it more monotonous. Thing Is generally nonsensical and abnor- mally hacked. • Waly. ROUGH RIDING RED FBO production and release.' Directed by IjouLs King from the story by F. H. Clark. Supervised by R. North Bradbury. Star- ring Buzz . Barton. Cast: James Welch, Betty Welsh, Ethan I^aldlaw, Frank Rloc, Bert Moorbouse.At Stanley, New York, Nov. 8, one day. Running time, 65 minutes. A western with lowest appeal,: minimum of action, and a misdirect- ed sens© of comedy. The most exaggerated pretensions would not allow riiore than thirty minutes of this picture anywhere, and then as filler only. The story Is the simplest, com- pletely denuded every conceivable ahgle which mllght possibly lend it attractiveness.: It ;is different from the usiial western in that it lacks the conven- tional though popular riding, shoot- ing and fighting sequences which form the. well known but iessential backgrounds for every production of this type. In addition to the continuity it seems that Its jtivenile star, Buzz Barton, is a drawback. A boy star in westerns may be appealing to a certain element, but that would bo extremely linrtlted. The boy eylr dently can't be \ised for a more In- teresting story calling for stronger action on account of his obvious in- ability to handle anything but a cinch role. Frank Rice is a, type excellently suited for westerns. But here he is too prominently miscast and direct- ed in a manner which detracts from his usefulness. Properly employed he would be valuable. Miss Welsh is ;a vivid feminine lead, surmounting th'e drabness of her role with smart appearance. Mori. WEST COAST NOTES (Continued from page 29). last night (Tuesday) at the Cordova Play Shop. Francis Josef Hlckson, Mildred Paver, Ralph Matson, Harry Fires, DeWitt Bodeen, Jack Angel, Molli© Mullins, Warren Washburn, Mae Betterldge, Charl- ton. Powers and Esther Gilbert con- stitute the cast. '■ Slgrrid Schneevolght, pianist, and wife of George Schneevolght, con- ductor of the li. A. Philharmonic orchestra, has returned to the coast after the completion of a European tour. St. Elmo Boyce directing 'TBlg Hearted Toots," produced by Larry Daramour for FBO. Cast includes Bud Duncan, Thelma Hill, Llge Cohley. Cullcn Johnston and George Gray. "Circumstantial Evidence," origi- nal by Wilfred Noy, bought by Lon Young for Chesterfield Production*. Author has been signed to direct. A troop of. Russian Cossacks are to be feiatured in a three ring circus, opening at Shrine Audito- rium Nov. 14. Full week. Jani'e.s Ford added "Children oC the Ritz" (FN). Continuing to LEAD THE TOWN "A Regular Habie' Rube VoIP Loew's Warfield Theatre 8AN FRANCISCO > 2,500th Performance HELENE HUGHES ROY SMOOT Featured with FANCHON and UABCO THE GREAT ^«niriffinnHlnud£' SAYS: I admit Al Jolson's "Singing Fool" is tough opposition, but I will work cheaper than he. Will work for $2,000,000 less. Everybody is singing "Sonny Boy," but "Banana Skins" will be done by THE GREAT WM. MORRIS AGENCY