Variety (Dec 1929)

Wednesday, t)eceniber >li 1929 ILM REVIEWS VARliETY 15 Talking Shorts "FINDERS KEEPERS" VITAPHONE NOS. 3179-80 Comedy Sketch 18 Mine.. ^ , Strand, New York Seinl-serlous animated "MICKEY'S BIG MOMENT" RCA PHOTOPHONE 20 Mins^; Comedy Globe, New York Band. 0f kids staging a show In a sermon | bam and spasmodically funny. It's concerplng the dishonesty-of people t^e Mickey McGulre cartoon strip who-flnd but wont return things, brought to life with the director. Should Intrigue neighborhood audi- Albert Herman, pourln^r In about encea more thftn those who attend everything he could recall. Light the downtown spots. Perhaps a bit | ^nd amusing all the way, with enough laughs for anywhere. Opens In a school room lii which a corking comedy climax Isn't fully developed. After the kids have fln Ished their usual comedy reciting, the teacher pronounces "either" as "I-therj" is corrected: by a parent too longi but according to the mate- rial they're turning out for talking shorts, this one can flash on. any] screen. .^.^^^i. Wife finds a gold purse with $400 m $60 bills. Decidedly intimates she haai no Intention of trying to _ ^ ^ j,.^.^..., return it and the husband^ is exas-I j^ont perated. Enters the friendly neigh- parent In the room Is In on the ar- bor to ask advice after hewamng gument. Could flnisti In a hoke her loss by naming a similar amount free-for-all but cut oft before the in the same currency which the wife peak. has found. But the frau won't give p^j. no reason subject then jumps in, the neighbor leaves and the bus- the juvenile performance. Fea- band burns- He is Anally Instru- tu^ed kid strongly suggests being a mental In getting the money back to midget and overworks to gain the woman who lost it, and cop3?Z6 points, but some of the other young from his wife's pocketbook. When gtgys click naturally. • she squawks he hurls her own theo-I second of two shorts preceding TAMING OF SHREW (ALL DIALOG) United Artlata release ot tallcer produc-^ tl9n by Douglas Falrbanlu and Mary PIclc- ford, co-starred. Directed by Sam Taylor, who lA credited with taavlncr adapted the Shakespearean comedy. .Cameraman, Karl Struss. Mentioned as ot production ataff: Earle Browne, Lucky Humberatone, Walter Mayo. At RlvoU, New Yorlt, openliie Nov, 29 on grrind. Bunpln^ time, 05 minutes. Katherl ne.................. Mary Pic Word Petruchio.Douglas Fairbanks Baptlsta Edwla Maxwell Gremlo .Joseph CaWthom Grumio. .Clyde Cook Hortenslo.Geoffrey ^Vardwell Blanca...........>...k.....Dorothy Jordan' ries at her and keeps the dough. Nicely played by Helen Ferguson, Joljn.B. Lltel and Janet Adair in an ordinary interior set. 8id. "MI G K E Y'S MID N I T E PO LL IE S'? RADIO PICTURES 19 Min8.. Comedy ^, ^- , Commodore, New York Only fair talking short entertain ment, largely on the strength of its novelty, this two-reel kid com- edy features Mickey (Himself) McGulre and gang, Incliidln^ "Ham bone," Uttl6 colored chap. Better "Vagabond LKJver." Sid. "OLD BILL'S CHRISTMAS" RCA PHOTOPHONE 16 Mins. Comedy-Drama Sketch Globe, New York - ^ ' story by Capt. Bruce Balrnsfather and one of his "Old Bill" series of yairn^. Inadequate as an appeal for peace atid as entertainment. Locale is a cross-section of a trench- with Bill and^ twd comrades delving for laughs by bemoaning, the war. ■ Belhg Christmas the firing stops, the British lads hear the Germans singing and finally call for class houses playing to large kid ow.e,xws xv^. patronage ought to find this satis- somebody to come over. One does factory filler. i. +t,^^i. Young Teuton drops in for a gen Unusual .about shprt is that there | g^g^j discussion on the futility of it Is a minimum of dialog and a max- i before returning to his.own imum of! sound effects,. made Pos; side thfe firing starts a^aln. As he sible by the many extraneous; shots |.^jjj^^g trench he's hit and and action minutes. At first It's pantomime, aided by ^sound effects. Scene is of a wind- blown street, with ; cip chasing dies, concluding the subject. Mean while much talk of mother, etC; A bit maudlin, in treatment and not sufficient comedy to. make it - - , »,"yM,oo^>«a».<i 1 stahd. up for Interest. .Cast mem-r kids. co«P^« «^.f,'^™^i,,f^"f«^ ;be,r3 unknown other ^h^ri Harry Mc, ^«f/i^fnJ «hm,t over N^SeKtohrcapabl^ but with nothing vTf ^^^?^ T^^iv^n^LnW notWne to do. J. Leo Meehan directed Hl^^fS^l^^ nothing j^j^j^ Currier supervised.' ^S^v^ T dlrtlSS the • Used a,t this house^ah^d of.."Vag strS %iLb?S ill 1^^^^^ and meaningless be, ma and pai^It is night and he's |,.^P^6. -M audience,,, .^^^flgr?^^ au.dl- anxlous to get out. Ma and pa dis- appear,- latter to rob chickens, and Is chased by the owner, who is coming from masque-ball ^and dressed as the Devilia'-V" vii -. Another chase and this. time through a graveyard. Three kids for some reason or other also In cemetersfiih'^dead <i*^!nleht>vWlth a ences also apt to become Impatient Sid. BUOK> and BUBBLES^ "In,vffnd Out" -. PATHE 10 MirA.; Corn0dy,-Dancmff Colony, New York ; ' . - ^, ^ , '^(BtWe'eh average ^iiid'^ small plidnpferaph, ttplpat«ttay tvlth: ^Kbl'tj-wlh feuck and^dbbl^s;'colored a view to scaring Mickey and. his lads, locked" lip Ih a'tjell' accldent- pal. They show up and On hearing _allY after' delivering some food to ""Sambo and 'the Dievll" (record), go,ne other colored boys who hadl' with plenty welrdness, are off on -q^^ hoosegow foe shooting another'chase. ' ' Jv; ; ' • i-i'atia. A-game started ih'the cell It develops- that Mickey la run- '| 'buifdq yi^ . the comedy',,in, ,th|s jpart, with' riiore' to follow wHeri they go nlng a kid show In a deserted* barn.' "Mickey's. Midnlte Follies" Is the 1 entertainment, and Includes every- thing from kid Idea of "The Great Train Robbery" to a nanCe number. Short ends with distrfessed-parents and cop busting up the affair. Some good laughs but mostly far | apart, and some doubtless intended as laughs lost through poor voices' I or recording, or both. McGuIre's | voice often can't be heard clearly. Same Is true of "Hambone's.": Per- haps house projection. RCA Photo- phone sounded. Photography good and effect of midnight (time of entire action) ex- cellent. Char. for the winnings in retaining a law yer, who hurts rather :thah helps their case. The judge allows Buck and Bubbles to do something be sides, comedy and sing.. Mbnt^ Brice MOduced short for Pathe, with Nat w.azarro directing, Shbrt laces llttlei danger 'of fiop ping. Char, A money picture, easily, for it's worth 75c. for anyone , to see Mary Plckford and Douglais Fairbanks do this kind of stuiff in a vastly , ex- travagant burlesque of Bill Shakes- peare's best laugh. The tyro stars often turn that Into a howl. So many ballyhoo and exploitation angles there's not oh0 town where It should tall down. Of course. Bill will never know, what the talkers have done to and maybe for him. This is apt to make the Bard more" popular than he has been of late at $2, up. .Which gives the Pickford-Fairbanks combo the edge, without royalty." Nearly everyone has seen "The Taming of the Shrew" -xvlthout al- ways catching the source. The. svig- gestion must have come to Shakes- peare with the older story of .the lion tamer after sui>duing his beast, afraid to go. home to the wife. Bill twisted it around; But moi-e gently In Ills way. Fairbanks and. Plckford, slapsticl artists, give it another bang. They go to It knockabout. And Miss Pickford takes the prattfalls. Two and each good. One lands her in bridal gown .while it rains in the niud with the pigs. AH for 75c. Th6 other is you-slap-me-and-I'll slap-you, the mainstay of all rough comedy h6k>> mixed teams, and again Miss Plckford goes kerflop clear across the room to land on a feather bed this time. Maybe the first' fall hurt. lyir., Fairbanks skeletonizes the scheme when first meeting Kath- erihe, the hell raising daughter. He says, "Howdy, Kate." • She says, Katherine to you, mugg," or some thing near; and the warrior an swers, "Kate, d'ya hear, ' plain Kate." Theii to show her it stands l^e.. ^'nd Katie roll down a fiight 6f stairs. Somewhat of a changed opinion' 6f Course of what these two vet- eran and gilded stars of the screen vyouldVdo in and for their firsp co- starrjhg picture. While there is plenty of romance and dialog, slap- stick and mud, there's no dirt, so that part 'of Miss Pickford's career remains as clean as ever. . vSp^^nclId settings - itt the Failr-' banks' massive proftuctloh- lTlarih'S^ to more sharply contrast the very IbwJfcibintdy, as low as Shubert,com- inon ,and more commoil. ^ • !rA.^dj if 65 ihlnutesv'perhaps''thej cutter said stick to the laughs. It sticks. Maybe the rep companies can follow this, up with Bin's orig- inal . • stage version, wltbo.ut. •. the. .prattfalU but still at'76c.' Aa this was built for laughs only an(4 gets them, nothing else .mat"' ters. For laughs get money,- and besides the laughs you have Mary Plckford, with Douglas Fairbanks— and Shakespeare at last! Had the talkers been of other daiys, what travesty stars Mabel Fenton and her husband,, the late Charles J. Ross (Ross and Fenton), would have been. Sime. MILLER and LYLES "They Know Their Groceriesr'.' VITAPHONE No. 862 ^ 10 Minsv''-Gomedy ' ^ Arena, New York i w i u p i„„-v,c Colored combo in, skit ithat looks anywhere and is shy of,laughs MILLER and LYLES. "Harl6m Knights" VITAPHONE NO. 879 Comedy Sketch 1P Mins. Strand, New York Nothing to recommend; may do as a filler where house and audience npt too fussy. Indiffereht effort any way. you •look.at'it. . , •■ ■ Starts building but never gets like a chunk from a colored musical.. Use extra ^epla male and female to boost act. Chatter ftinny but not] belly. For outlying, houses. Concerns usual uricohdcibtis -wit of two colbi-ed . partners' In: a grocery store—each oh the gyp with the other. When , one finally rises to Carelessness in the .-making of these vaudeville talking shOrts is and will continue to send stage shows back into wired houses. Two steady 1 hour's of "wire" is tough enough to sell bad ones- spelling trade fer the stage opposition* Colored comics open by going into the One leg through the cellar dOor and asking for alms thing. Leads the pair into a colored cabaret ring down the curtain In some kind] of song trloed. Recording and photography okeh^| This team from! vaude. ROGER WILLIAMS VITAPHONE No. 882 9 Mins. Noise imitations Strand, New York One of the best - arguments for sound cartoons to date. Regardless of how many minutes this short runs it's too long. Roger Williams mimics more noises than there are In a Jjadly wired house , an d it's "all preffy tedious". W'hen.he finally works up to a,-.-. , , banjo it looks like the flnlsH, but lines as acts In vaude offering mar where they bump into a couple of shouting gunmen. Latter two each take turns at bulldozing the lead pair, very unfunny for the most part, Sid* "MARION ETTEG'* DeFOREST PHONOFILM 8 Mins.; Novelty Fox, Brooklyn Produced abroad by British-In ternational, with the De Forest "Phohofilm^lgystem^tJf ==-Teeording Novelty attraction done along same no such luck. There still Is a flvfe piece orchestra to go. Some of the imitations catch interest, but Wil- liams' non-personable manner of introducing and selling them will ionette routines. Trio of minstrels dancing, a burlesque on Al Jolson singing "Sonny Boy," and an or chestra. Entertainment value A-1 and re- forever hold this one in the lesser cording and photography satlsfac ho\ise.s.. tory. Strand must have been short of Where novelty's wanted, this is shorts. Bid. lo. k, Gnar. lulold coin around for this break kid. Marie Dressier isn't any more to this picture than its heart. Veteran and fully capable comedienne is all over thjB screen as a. flighty social climber . who has hi&r ups and downs, due to mistaking Vallee and his boys as Ted Grant's band, the supposed ace dance outfit of the country. Reasons for the band playing and- Vallee singing are screened as a musicale in Miss Dressler's home and a charity bene- fit. ■■ ' Meanwhile, Vallee and his mob are threatened by the village cop because Vallee has taken the gag Grant correspondence course . and insists that -the orchestra mogul hear his outfit. Boys invade the vacant Grf),nt home,, on the suppo- sition that he's there, and start playing, which brings on the con- stscblG ' - ■''' Sally Blane is the girl to Whom Vallee keeps togsihg his vocal ef- forts. Playing Miss Di-essler's niece she's off Rudy on the mis- taken Identity thing. Eddie Nugent, who reminds strOngly of Raymond Hackett, Ifl jE>laced as a dummy band member to lend valuable support as this unit's spokesman throughout the running. Production is fair enough includ- ing a . brief but pleasant ballet dui:- irig the charity affair, which turns "hot" for a climax. KeCordlhg is good'-and excellent oW the Vallee songs. One of these numbers sounds new, but the three others are fa- miliar as Vallee standards or froni other sources. One Or two of the dlttiea ..ate ' reprised, so. there's- plenty of Vallee's -voice. One thing in the film's favor is that It runs only 65 minutes. That may have been smart cutting. The Vallee fans are sure to go for and chortle over it. For the others not so addicted it rates as light but pleasing entertainment indicative of nothing in particular. Opening night at the Globe Val- lee made a brief address preceding, the picture, virtually asking the audience not to expect too much of him as an actor arid modestly re- ferring, to hi3 singing. That was smart, too. To what extent New York femininity goes for this boy was evidenced in the following ap- plause which ran through the 'lead titles and from the girls of from 13 to 60 in the audience and lobby. Sid. cabin, Andy changes and becomes a regular Horatio Alger character. This role is played in a collegian way by Robert Montgomery. Like others in the cast, due to poor script and direction, he is allowed to drag on until becoming a dime hero. Theme song Is unreeled again On deck. Incidentally, injection of songs is at oddest moments. Andy tries one of them while shaving and the couple, after a row and while danc* ing, suddenly break Into a duet that first startles audience and then gets one ctf biggest laughs in the foot- age..'■ . ■ -Desperate efforts to keep, her -wild once she dons evening dresses and opens a New Tork estate, the direc- tion finally diverges from series of' drinking parties to set up a ring on dance floor. Her man must win, and he does after taking the count so many, times • that the audience has lost track in its accompanying mirth and guffaws. It's just sad. attempt at a scrap,- even for the screen. There's other stuff, but it doesn't matter. Waly. THE NEW BABYLON (RUSSIAN MADE) (Synchronised) . Produced by .Sovklnb and releasing throuffli Amklno.. Directed by G, M. Kor zlnUoV and I/. Z. Trauberg. Amedcan titles by Shelley Hamilton. A. N. Mosk- . vin, cameraman; Synchronized on dlalc. At the Cameo, N-. Y., beginning Nov. 30. i^un- nlng time, 110 mins. ; Soldier Jean..... .Peter Sobolevskl The SoulJ«'ette..*... — ....i...Sone MagarlU St'oro Owner- Sales Girl.. Head Clerk Deputy..... Journalist.. Shoeniit^ker., Laundress., ..•4;....... ......Ik.I . .D. Gutman ...IDlenA Kuziiilna .....A. .Kostrlchkih ......... A. Arnold Sergei GerasslmoV. ........i.8. Gueev A. Glushkova UNtAMED VAGABOND LOVER (ALL DIALOG, with Songs) Radio Pictures (RKO) production and release. Starring Riidy Vallee. Directed by Marshall Nellan from J, A. Creelman's story. "ftCA Photophono sound track record- Ingi .Leo Tover. cameraman: John Trlbby, sound. At Globe. New Tfork, at $2 top, twice dally run starting Nov. 26. Run- ning time, 65 mins., Rudy Bronson...... i .Rudy -vallee Jean.^.. .Sally Blane MViT -Whitehall........./:...'Mal-fe Dresslfer Officer.- Tuttle............^-.-.'Charles Sellon Sport.,, .• 4. „ i.Eddie Nugent Mrs, 1:od Hunter Nella "Walker Ted• Graiit .Malcolm Walte Manager *. Alan Boscoe . Ffeures to dO all right. In the pro- gram<. houses because of Rudy Val- lee's songs and Marie Dressier. In. those' spots where the girls are Val- lee bound, the feature stands a chance'of beating average figures due to the resultant matinee business. For New York, where the gals, young and old^ are nuts over the boy, "Vagabond Lover" may surprise for $2 and hang around a few weeks. "Who can figure the feminine tangent? They threw or- chids at him at the Riverside. So, upon that deduction,, this- release classes as an oddity. It's certainly no great shakes as a picture'.' For Marshall Neilan, who directed. It unwinds as Just a passing fancy. He could have .phoned this One in from the golf course. Story Is merely a series of ex-, cuses --tor^permlt^-Vallee—to"=^slng7 Otherwise, the studio has covered up and supported the kid band leader with everything but' a nc-w contract. And that's not an impos- sible eventuality, dependent, of course, upon. what degree they go for the songs. If somebody can make Vallee relax In front of the camera, grab on to a half decent yarn and figure cast support ap im- perative there may be further, cel- (ALL DIALOG) Metrb-d'tildwyiniMayer oro'dudtlon and re- lease. '' :Dtrectea by ' Jack Go'nWay; ' eiar<- ring Joan Crawford. Story by Charles; Scogglns; dialog by Wlllard Mack. .Oliver Marsh, cameraman. Theme songs tltlcft "Chant of the Jungle," "Wonderful." At Capitol rweek Nav., 2t)., Bunnlncr tloje, |3& nilnuieo.'" ". .. ' . _ ' ■ Slihgblvi. Joan Criwford Andy .Robert Montgomery B<3n Murchison Ernest Torrence Howard Presley HotaeS Herbert Bonnock... ;,.John MUJatt Marlory.i .mv >^v,.Gwei* Ji<)a. Paul.,.,.........> , Edward Nugent. Gregg.-.'.'. . 't .Don 'Terry »........*...• Mrs. M&Boh JoUop. Do-wUhg,'.., Muiyr.'.'.v.... Moran;;.:; jBlJlcppribe.r ..Gertrude Astor ..Milton Farney . .".,"T.Ioyd-^ng^fiwi" Grace Cilhard .• i-.. i......i. Tomt O' Brlen Wilson Benge I ^ • • m^m « • • • • . Hollywood'3 all-Tilght coffee drink*' ers never conjured up a more non- descript assortment of .Writings' for any one imaginary story for. the screen than the melange contained in "Untamed." This is the Rlcture Of IncOnslstenoles; so- many se- quences -designed for the dramatic often get bigger laughs than those Intended for comedy. First runs, should emphasize this comic aspect In tbeir ballyhoo. Houses .Where they don't know any better can let it go for a grand old thriller, meller or what-not. . /'Untamed" Is one of those that starts and ends and starts again* Picture can be cut to six reela with no one the wiser, except less con- scious of Sitting through all e-pl- ,sod^s , of a .serial. As .lt stand?, do'esh't' seem "UntamOd'.' feached -within' a mile Of the editing rOom. It's Joan Crawford's first talker, but Ernest Torrence holds' It to- gether. Miss Crawford, as Bingo, opens the reelage singing one of the theme oongs,' "Chant of the. Jungle," in a highly artificial atmosphere supposedly tropic. Although her English Is perfect, the dialog of others wotild have her just a wild dancing daughter of an Englishman battered by heat and booze, Torrence and Holmes Herbert, as Ben and Howard, In search of Bingo's dad, arrive just after a native has. been led into insulting the girl and In time to witness him slash the old man for no part-icti- lar reason. Death. scene Is over- done, with Miss Crawford's wails seemingly endless. Subtitles explain that Miss Craw- ford has spent the following eight months with "her father's friends locating his oil well, and is now a rich girl. On the ship to New Tork, BlrigO i3'cuHured^one-moment^nd-a=^lIttle rough the nexti Impresses more as a. schOol girl acting smart than a female from fetid swamplands. It's Uncle Ben's troubles in locat Ing her that come nearest fraving the situations. Monkey playing with bottle of prize hooch, etc, . Andy, first young man Bingo is f^uppospd to have seen, is at fir.st n wom.in-maker. Ah soon a.s BInffo comes along, even popping into lus A teetotaler wljl be doubtful Of his own sobriety after sitting through "The New Babylori." Its opportuni- ties for dramatic register are fast and fieetlng. The whole thing Is a whirl of close-ups and triple ex- . posures, NO. foreign production can compare with it for flagrant excess of trick ^photography. It leaves ari audience dizzy; not from the strain : of suspense, but from eyes. So restless is the direction that . this film has only the vestige. Of continuity. Faces, feet, mud, sing- ers, soldiers, guns. Projected time and again. Babylon* Is described In the subtitles ilEt the. name of a de- partnient 'store'.' '•'i'he Owner, one D, Gutman, Js allowed plenty of foot- ag'e In which to sip liquor mohotq- nOusIyror adjust his top hat. 'Then the barrage-of .nttScellanebus things are suddenly flung'back at the audi- ence, as though the director sud- d-Ohty. "realized.- thei;©'. ought to:. be something., dolpi'. /; * 'r-.J^iaatest line to. the story Is an extemporaneous; 'iMimance suddenly. springing up between the soldier 'Jeah -and a.'sales gtrl:' Between, the triple, exposja'req the couple are broU^h€ togbtlfer:. The soldier USuaU ly looks streCight Into the camera with one of those f^r'away expres- sions.- ^t -the- crucial^perlod-Jean- lor with the Natioiit'als who, licked by the Prussians, are now dealing with the Commune, the polItlc9'l faction within. Chances for the-latter bat- tle., possessing ' the big dramatlq punch that It could, with the char- aOtors given some opportunity for Indi-vldualism, are also sacrificed by a' burlesque touph. This Is provided by flash-backs to what is described as a nearby hill dn which the store keeper and Others'are shown taking in the butchery as Americans would a football game. At the finis Jean and the. store iglrl are again brought together. He Is her grave digger and she Ib one of the targets for the firing squad. Picture claims it follows episod- ically events In the Franco-Prussian war and Commune j^actlvltles In 1871. It doesn't matter. Can't blame It on the cutting roOm this time. Doubtfulif anything oould help It. Waly. ATLANTIC (BRITISH MADE) (All Dialofl) Produced at Elstrce by British Inter- national Pictures, Ltd. Adapted from Ernest Raymond's play, "The Berg." DI» rectcd by B. A, Dupont Camera: Charles 'Rosher,' RCA recording.' Preview at Regal, Marble Arch, NOV. 15. Itunnlng time, 100 mlhB. Reviewing "Atlantic" presents tk. number of primary difllcuitlcs, whether the film Is approached frOm the purely native angle or from that of World appeal. Over a period of 100 minutes it piles horror on ter- ror, untill a normal person feels It were better the ship sank. It -will hardly succeed outside Central Eu- rope, when the German version will be shown as the first all talker in that tongue, DupOnt, directing, shows a lack of balance. He translates the ship disaster Into, the terms of a penny- _ajjlner's stock :: ,des4;nption of ' a cataclysm which he has not S;^Tt- ne.?sed. Heroic attitudinizing 'of officers arid crew, the singing of hymns as the ship finally settles down, the ex^ changing of grandiloquent platitudes —all the familiar stock routine of a daily newspaper descriptive writer are here. The native pro.«!g with one exception (.Manchester "Guard- (CoiiUnued on page 23)