Variety (Apr 1929)

Wednesday. April 10, 1829 FILM REVIEWS VARIETY S9 ALIBI (Continued from page 16) pile up tbe kind of KToaaes other smash melodrama have achieved In last couple of seasons. This Is a hit. From the human Interest stand- Bolnt plfctur© belongs to Chester Morris, virile stage juvenile. He cornea aa a welcome variance from the pretty boys. And he can troupe like the old daya. In this picture he Ja a cruel, cold-blooded eaqgster, aulck to let 'em have'the works. When he starts to play more sym- pathetic rolea he should develop as a general fav. . "AUbl" starts out to Blve the cops the losing end of an expoattory tract on -brutality. It winds up by hint- ing that the gendarmes have to be tough. Morris : Impersonates a clever young rodent with-, the. In- stincts of a Chinese brigand. Quick to shoot when his adversary's back is turned, he la a'ahlvellng, grovel- ing, contemptible coward-when cor- nered himself. Without stressing the moral, picture is dedicated to the proposition that the man with a gun la a dirty name to atart with —and was bom that way. There are loose enda and desul- tory passages In "Alibi," but in gen- eral it has the tempo of a Missouri breeze and'is punched with some gripping sequences. Third degree stuff is pregnant with melodrama. Police atmosphere and detail have realism and the ring of authenticity. Strong cUmax . illustrating the spineless character of the gangster. Cop fires blank cartridges,- with the gartgster. fainting, although nn touched and uninjured. Acting is generally good, vyrlth another newcomer, Hegls Toomey, attracting attention as a young de- tective. He Is suggestive of James Murray, the ex-usher who for a time was under contract to M-Q-M, but Toomey la a far better actor, having been In the legit ' Kleanor GrifiBth, a blonde, is also HARRY Kow on Balaban & Eatz't "SHOW BOAT" A Publtx Unit" (Proteges of Ed Lowry—Thanks, Ed; You, Toe, Jackie) DInotlOB WILLIAM MORBIS OFFICE IRVING ROSE KRAZY ELBOW DANCER WeA tt April M, Capltel, Salt I^e Featured bj- FANCHON and Marco a recruit from the speaking stage. Her performance Is okay but not distinguished. Her face In anima- tion photographs well, but In repose not as strong as might be, Pat O'Malley as a quiet-spoken sergeant of detectives, and Purnell B. Pratt both stand out aa prefer- ential talent for talkers. Elmer Ballard as a hophead gangster did a fine bit of character work. Irma Harrison was cute In a bit as a cafe entertainer. Roland West, who finances, pro- duces and directs his own pictures, la the only entirely independent pro- ducer releasing through United Ar- tists. He can sleep In peace in the security that his investment Is safe and his picture there. Land. HIS CAPTIVE WOMAN (HALF DIALOG) First National production and rsleaso. SUrrlns .Milton Sills i7lth Dorothy Mac- kalll. Olak reeordlnK. Directed by George FItzmaurlce. Story by Donn Byrne, adapt- ed by Carey Wllaon.- Camertman, Lee Garmes. At the Central, N. Y., (or twice dally run at $2, startlne April 2. Run- ning time, 02 minutes. Officer McCarthy Milton Sllb Anna Bergen DorothyMackalll Alstair deVrles Gladden James Layorls Smythe Gertrude Howard Bobby. Marlon Byron District Attorney Frank Rclcher "iwyer ..George Fawcett Judge William Holden Governor August Tollalre Originally this may have been an interesting story, but in the opera- tion of grafting dialog into and onto it First National has so strained, twisted, pununeled and otherwise mistreated plausibility that the re- sultant product is pretty silly. And the now thoroughly familiar court- room scene will not qualify as so hot. It's Just fair program. Milton Sills does not enter until the unspooling has been continuous for 30 minutes. Dorothy Mackalll seated mute and dumb in the pris- oner's box has been triple damned by a series of witnesses. She is de- scribed as a common boulevard promenader who murdered in a Jealous rage the wealthy man who had picked her up and for a time fondled her In luxury. Things look bad for her. Then into the picture and onto the witness stand comes trusty Milton. Does he prove by testimony that Dorothy did not kill ■Reginald Moneybags? He does not. He tells in his own simple way the .Immaterial and Irrelevant story of how he arrested the prisoner. He wrings the Jury's heart and makes a dribbling PoUyanna out of a hard- boiled New York Judge by explain- ing step by step the spiritual trans- formation that took place la the spotty character of the murderess as he and she lived together happi- ly, 'shipwrecked for several years upon a deserted, island In the south Pacific. • Things happened to Dorothy's soul on that Island. This is made very definite. Her wanton ways slip from her and she becomes as "a lamb. In the course of time Milton takes to wife the reformed killer at Vrhose trial he Is now testifying. And what does the New York Judge do but snap his flngerd at the law and the bar association, lay himself open to impeachment, and tell the murderess to go free and murder no more, peacefully happy on her Island with her policeman. Action alternates between dialog in the courtroom and silent psia- aagea explaining and amplifying the testimony. Scer»s in the aouth seas are good, both as to photography— unusually effective—and drama. Donn Byrne, recently deceased Irish writer, was a much better crafts- man than superficial Judgment of his story &g brought to the screen would indicate. There la elemental and dramatic conflict between the personalities of the bard-to-get woman avoiding policeman sent to arrest the dame that .always got her man. She plays a hundred tricks. Including disrobing before him and swimming In the nude. Her wiles avail nothing. He's made of tougher fiber than she Is. Time and the quiet beauty of her surroundings wear down her filppancy. She^ be- comes soul sick, doubtful, filled with fears. All this Is human, reason- able and well-told narrative. Miss Mackalll does good work, but in the courtroom Is made to seem pretty stupid In being the only FOUR COnON PICKERS JUBILEE SINGERS WILLIAM CARR JAMES ARNOLD W. D. BURNS GEO. FUGGITTI (Mtisical Director) Tooriiw PubUz Circuit of nteatree MreotlOB WIUJAU HOBBIS OITICB Broadoastino Nightly Over Stations WCFL and KYW eSTTiSON ELSTr JONES and ELLIOTT THIS WEEK, ORIENTAL, CHICAGO With FDbUx XheatTM FoUowtng Thanks to MAX TDBNBB ' DIreotlen WM. MOBBI8 OFFICE Dialog Percentage Variety hereafter in Its re- views of dialog picture* will denote under. the tiile of the film, the quantity of dialog contained. If all-dialog (oontinuoua through picture) it will be so Indicated, or three-quar- tera, one-hair or one-quarter or sparsely or added, ate. character who falls to speak. She does gurgle a few hallelujahs at her exoneration, but it's too late to re- move the impression that she's si- lent because she has to be. Sills talks well enough, even with a ipth avenue brogue. His troup- Ing in silent portions also strong. Looked a little peaked. Banality of the dialog parts meases what might have been something. Skillful handllngr by George FItzmaurlce saves some of the more tr^nspeu-ent absurdities, and general production la of high type, with exceptions noted. Many people will be in the proper frame of mind to pronounce "His Captive Woman,", from soup to toothpicks, delicious. Which la intended to convey the plcturie's rating: Mod- erate with reservations. Land. THE SHAKEDOWN (HALF DIALOG) Universal production and felease. James Murray and Barbara Kent featured. Wil- liam Wyler producUon, directed br Mr. Wyier, (com story by Charles A. Logue. Adapted by Clarence Marks. Title* by Al- bert De Mond. Joseph Chemlavsky did the musical synchronization and C Roy Hunter Is credited tor recording supervision. Bal- ance. oC cast Includes Qeorse Kotsanoros, Wheeler Oakman, Jack Hanlon and Harry Grlbbon. Ran TO mlnntas, V» Colony, New York,. week April 6. A not bad SO per cent, talker—the rest sound synchronized, musically and effects—with a tough little Irish youngster. Jack Handlon, as the un- official- star. If be handles the dialog as apparently he (genuinely does he'U be plenty In demand for kid parts. James Murray, once touted as a good Paramount bet. Is also destined for renewed importance, because of hie linguistic accomplishments. Bar- bara Kent, the heart Interest, Just looks nice and says little. It's a good release and merits some good bookings. -But this one looks Uke a aulcfcle among talkers although there's no palpable cheating because It's that kind of a he-man story -that, calls for little produqtlon Investiture. The femme interest revolves, about the salvation of the street urchin, tvhom Murray as a fake pugilist adopts as a prop for public sympathy, pur- poses in order to heighten neigh- borly Interest in his forthcoming fracas with a pug, subtly labeled Kid RofC. George Kotsanaroa plays the vain Greek battler welL Wheeler Oak- man as manager of the outfit is sleek in his assignment of building up pseudo-battles between the planted local talent (Murray) and the barnstorming Kid Raff who of- fera $1,000 prize to any contender who stays four rounds with him. Oakman, as the manager, has it primed for a grand killing In the oil boom town of Boonton when Mur- ray Is spotted as a diiUer. The In- evitable complications with the heroine and the Inspiration to go straight leads to the grand fisticuffs for the finale. Instead of the Shero rushing down to ringside and morally bolstering waning courage and unwilling flesh, the kid la tbe heart-stuff appeal, and It's done rather plausibly. There will be some captlousneea concerning the untrained battler beating the behemoth Kid Roff. A bit of plauaibllity could have been injected at the expenae of the blonde doll who'a part of the Kid's scenery. An inserted title that because of the' continuous set-ups and the assured frame the pug was as below par as the hero was phyaically handicapped might have lent a somewhat realis- tic touch to It. However, as one would expect, he manages to kayo the Greek leather-pusher and thus saves his honor, his fellow town- men's dough, his gal, his country and his Yale. Of course, until the telling kayo, our hero la ahown taking more falls than a cataract, but somehow comes up smiling where Kid Ruft keels over almost at the first healthy clip. The flght scene la the big punch. There's a prelim flght staged In the second reel to illustrate the racket, the meeting later on, the count-up and the payroff. The Juvenile , attachment between the street urchin and the phoney hero who proves a real hero In a railroad track rescue Is pretty well developed.. A good touch is injected When-Murray., lopkfl^around and re- grets no one viewed hls^herolam.'hc counting on the local aentlment as part of the build-up. Universal has a good partial talker In "The Shakedown." The vigorous title Is a bit misleading In its Import for the "shakedown" in the argot ia by no means aynonymous with a "frame-up," which is what this racket actually la. AM. German-Made Pictures (IN BERLIN) Berlin, March 24. "Hotel Mysteries" Primus Palast. — 'Hotelgehelm- nlase" ("Hotel Mysteries") (Derus- sa Film). One of the best German films of season. Has suspense anci humor. A young girl, companion of a countess, is wrongly eentenced to prison for stealing Jewels. Released she becomes a thief in reality and, posing aa royalty,'gets away with a big swag of Jewels. District attor- ney, instrumental in sending tier up. has fallen in love with, her even though he recognizes her real Iden- tity and this time he saves her from conviction. Discreetly directed by Frledrich Feher, Magda Sonya in the lead Is not much to look at but can act. Rest of a well handled cast included Gertrud Eysoldf, Wolfgang Zilzer and Xilvio Pavanelli. 'Diary of a Cdcotte" Kurf uerstendamm T h e a t e r.— Tagebuch einer Kokette" ("Diary of a Cocotte"), Ridiculous old story about a girl who has the usual bad liick to be "forced" into the oldest profession. A young man who seduces her must leave hurriedly for America and requests his tmcle, rich busineaa man, to' take care of the girl. He does nothing for her. She goes to him to demand an explana- tion and Is about to ttean him when he thoughtfully dies of heart fail- ure. So it all comes out in f ourt what kind of a girl she la. She triea to commit auicide but la eaved by a doctor. who Inaiats, 'upon marrying her. . Not too badly directed by Con- stantin J. David with minor rolea well taken by Ij, Stahl Nachbaur, Mary Kid and Matthias Wlemann. Fee MiOlten and Fred Doederleln in the leads have nothing individual to offer but may develop. Will get by here on Its title but all wet for America. "Ifiss Else** Capitol Theater.—"Friluleln Hlae" ("Miss Else") (Poetlo Film). Any- thing that Ellaabeth Bergh'er plays In la sure to do business In Ger- many. Outside of her salary , this picture catn't have cost much and will turn In a nlcie profit. This ac- tress's quality which' gets over so superbly on the. stage has not yet been captured for the screen. Too bad, for the scenario In Itself has possibilities for distribution In the States. It is taken from a masterly short 'story by Arthur Schnltzler. An Innocent young ffirl vacationing in Switzerland la wired by her par- ents, that they are on the verge of bankruptcy and she must borrow money from a rich banker staying at the same hotel with her. ' He Ae- mahda that she come to his bed- room that night Unable to stand the idea of giving herself to him she takes a deadly dose of veronal before going and when she at last finds him is on the verge of death. These last moments are among the strongest seen in a German film for some time and help one to for- get many of the long drawn-out and padded scenes of the beginning. These were the result of a mistaken effort to allow nobody else any part in ^e picture. Only the lately de- ceased Albert Stelnruck has some moments as the brutal banker. Interesting for the sure seaters but doubtful for general distribution in the States. "The Cirons Princess" Prlmus-Palast.—"Die Zirkus Prln- zessin" ("The Circus Princess") (Agfa). Taken from the atory of Kalmann's operetta, it ia little aulted to pictures. It was old-fash- ioned as a stage plot and is twica as musty when viewed on the screen. One. would suppose that the public would at last get tired of these ridiculous concoctions about bogus royalty. But the personal popular- ity of Harry Iiledtke in the lead will undoubtedly make It a business proposition. He could even play Hamlet and get away with IL Di- rection of ■Victor Jonson is routln* and nothing else. "Melody of the World" (Sound) Terra Theater.—"Melodie tfer Welt" ("Melody of the World") (Toble). Announced as the first German feature length sound film. Expectations were raised high—th« disappointment was all the greater. It is really nothing but .a travelog with a few soynd effects. Ruttmann, who was responsible for the effectlv* "Berlin" picture, flopped badly het«. Hamburg-American Line, which evidently paid him to crank the film as an advertisement, will hot get much return from its investment. "Berlin" viewpoint Is merely re- peated without any new anglea Om the whole a boring evening. A pltx to waste the splendid Russian actor Kowal Samborskl and- Renee Sto- brawa on the puppet roles of a sailor and his sweetheart. If this is really the best that the Tobls can tiura out in the way of soiind it had bet- ter take a year off for elperimenta. At this rate, the talker wiU b* killed in Germany before It- gets started. "'The Midnight-Taxi'' Kammer-Lichtspiele. — "Die Mlt- temachtstaxl" ("The Midnight Taxi") (D. L. S.), Harry Piel, first of the stunt performers in Germany,* had- at last decided to take the black make-up off his eye and get somebody human to write a story for him. He Is Just beginning t« (Continued on page 26) JUST FINISHED 21 WEEKS SmiTORD, CHICAGO ASM.C Thanks to CHARLIE HOOAN BOB HOPE **The Humor out Interlude" Opening April 14 Lincoln Square Theatre Diecatur, III. INDEFINITELY MILES INGALLS ' Did That FAMOUS BrlsU BMt Bet Coffee Dan's, Loa Anselee, CaL RON and BON That ''^iPlfl \»t Mnskal Diyerting £ i Organ Duo-I I Now Seattle Theatre, Seattle, Wash., 2nd Year andFeet-