Variety (Apr 1930)

Wednesday, April 30, 1930 FILM REVIEWS VARIETY 35 THE CUCKOOS (Continued from page 17) lh« Queen Gyjpsy and aang the big- pon? from the side lines. Miss Lee looks good and played well, opposite Wheeler all of the time. She has an incisive manner of putting her voice over whether epeaking or singing;, and it Just fits the screen, besides the girl has ginger with personality. This Wheeler boy looks like one of the biggest prospects in pic- tures. He can coraede, mugg, sing, dance, act, Is a low as well as ■ a light comedian, and Jooks as well ' its the best juve, makmg him a love Interest all by ■4ilmself whenever needful, besides what else he can do. That seems to say that Bert Wheeler should be starred by him- eelf. If Radio hasn't cinched him, they'd better, and also Woolsey, but not to be teamed with Wheeler. There's no one who can deliver cracky dialog as Woolsey does, mak- ing him a fast light comedian, who could be fitted into almost any light timbered picture. Heavle.s were played by Mitchell Lewis and Ivan Lebedeff, the latter who starts the troubles and wor- ries by abducting the girl he can't get. Radio's studio on the coast may learn from this picture how to time laughs. Two or three chopped off by unexpected laughs before the jUinches ai-e reached. Likely can't be helped, but still possible might be spaced in on the prints. First is the "Poison Ivy" gag with the "Mother-in-Law" Day," wholly lost at the Globe the. opening night through the laugh coming with "Poison Ivy*" showing tlie mood the kudience was already in, as that happens early in the running- A couple of more later on. Just a mat- ter of saving good laughs. And laughs count. And how! When for comedy and not love mak- ing. Sime. A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR (All Dialog) First Nalianal production, starring BiUie Dove. l''eaturine Boall Bathbone and Kay Francis. Directed by Uoyd Bacon. Based «D a ploy by Audrey and Waverly Carter. Adapted by J. Grubb Alexander. Producer, Jlobert North. Cameraman, Bmest Haller. Sound, Oliver Garrctson- At Strand, New Tork. weelc of April 2S. Running time, 70 minutes. _ Pat Blllle Dove OherardI Basil Rathbone Countess Kay ITranda Sir Thomas; .Montague Love Allan Pomroy Kenneth Thomson nes3, one of the most convincing jealous fools a season's quota of eternal triangles would reveal. Leglt-trained Thomson, still very much of a newcomer, is a verv fine trouper. Basil Rathbone's tralninpr also stands out Pvathbone is better known in films than Thomson, and it's no discovery that he's a skilled Thespian. Kay Francis, whose up- ward rise has been very rapid since last summer, Is limited in scope here, but sufilcicntly supports, merely by her presence, the story's suggestion of a seductive countess of definite niTnphomaniacal tenden- cies. She fg supposed ^to have .<;ent Basil Rathbone into a nervous breakdown. Hers, not Miss Dove's, is the reason for the unwarranted title, "A Notorious Affair." Land. THE BLUE ANGEL (All Dialog ) . ■ (GERiyiAN MADE). Borlin, April 13. UFA pictiiia. proJuoi-.l under supervlsiun ■ Kndi I'ommer. .-jicnario (oundpd on nmc'l, "Proi'essiir Vnrath," by llelnviolr M;inn, ad.iptpd by the droinatl.sta, K;ul Zu.>km,-»yei- aivl Curl Viillu'uller. LVnim- lilty liy Robert I.lphiinnn. Dirorted by Jii?i>lih v,in sil'.-i noi'VB. rtinll J.innlnt's siaiiv.l and ilaiioim l>i<.>ir;oli f<>niuic.l. lu- clilcnt;il n)usic bj VreIcri- li llulUn-li>r. Al the aioiia Paldst. Double Cross Roads (All Dialog) Fox production and release. Directed by George Mlddleton. l<'rom the novel by William LIpman, entitled "Yonder Grow the Daisies." Designated an Alfred Wcrkcr production. Cameraman. Joseph August. Featured in the cast are. Robert Ames, lA\a Lee, Montague I.,ove and Xeil Sparks. Run- ning time, CO 'minutcs. At Col'iny, New York,-week April 23. Ultra production qualities, gor- geous femininity fetchlngly frocked, •nd other fancy trimmings is the strength and the alibi of this latest BUIie Dove picture. . Plot is tanta- lizingly and Irritatingly incomplete, Illogical and sappy. Suggests a stu- dio compromise between trite dic- tum, censorship and a desire to fin- ish on schedule, regardless of any- thing else. It cannot be recommend- ed as worthy of first runs. It must be accepted as an unpar- donable, sin in story-telling to arouse the sympathies of an audience for one man and then break faith and the Illusion by giving tlie woman to another. That is the lame, unejt- pected and lazy conclusion of "A Notoiious Affair." To avoid the ne- cessity for a divorce or because the authors lacked the Ingenuity to de- vise any new twist, Blllie Dove sud- denly is thrown back into the arms of a thoroughly selfish, weak, neu- rotic and unmanly husband whom a moment before she most emphati- cally doe.<i not love. Billie Dove plots hardly vary the traditional .005 of an inch, although some, as this one, are too careless to be accepted even by admirers of Miss Dove, than whom the screen hardly holds a more beautiful wom- an. That eventually the disregard "Tor fllmgoers' Intelligence will have * reaction seems quite probable. Stars must occasionally be asso- ciated with some real entertainment •atlafaction. Several excellent performances in this picture. Kenneth Thomson as the nice chap ia particularly re- markable, as in the last Blllie Dove picture, "The Oth^r Tomorrow," he Played, and with consummate nasti- Colony in the Universal fold is reaching around for underworld stories as a sort of specialty. Pity this one didn't come through when the crook romance wa's going good. It could then have played any of the deluxes on merit Probable defect is that the picture has no star personality to exploit, but as a crpok story It is rich in punch and vigor, and as a straight story has plenty of points. Pro- grammer of excellent quality and a first-rate subject for the neighbor- hoods. Slow opening, showing two men in prison, and continues quietly for 500 or 600 feet, then comes awake with a bang. From then to the finish a I'eally tight story, full of suspense and fast unrolling of incident, with not a little production magnificence. Young crook and older convict talking it over. Boy wants to go straight and older man helps him to- 'a quiet place In the country on his release. Typical rural cottage Is presided over by a mellow old wom- an and her lovely granddaughter in the person of Llla Lee, than whom no screen actress can look more charming In misted photography and In idyllic surroundings. Old crook gang is maneuvering to lure the hero back to. his old safe- breaking trade, needing his skill, while he stubbornly refuses and basks In the peace and quiet of the country and his new-found divinity. This quiet atmosphere is nicely worked up and the picture is begin- ning to lag, when It wakes up with a bang. Jolting surprise Is the sudden rev- elation that the wistful girl and the benevolent old lady are really tools of the wicked gang, planted to help in getting the hero to one more "job," for which he is badly needed by the plotters. Quick disclosure is a stunning surprise and gets the story going at top speed with a jolt. Picture has a touch of the senti- mental quality that made "The Mir- acle Man" what it wa.=r, although it is frank melodrama and without the ' spiritual suggestion of the earlier ■ picture that made throe stars over- night. Only explanation that appears as likely Is that the producer decided crook melos were out of fashion and let the picture go to the compara- tively modest release medium of the Colony instead of a regular exploita- tion house show window. A lot of pictures with less merit have been ballyhooed at the Broadway de- luxers. . Jtitsh. ascrll>ed to the Klangfllm loud- speaker equipment which is not even able to reproduce first rate .\merican product satisfuoiory. Only fault is a certain pbndcr- ousnoss of tempo which tends lo lire. The story is not ono with .■^trong dramaiio impulse and ito'.dom grips with su.^pense or moves you emotionally.'- It is the exoointonal lilayin? ot JunniiiKs and inoiriiU, and tlic .'^ensiiivo direction of ytorn- 1 borg wliiL-h will piit it across for | nione>-. Tiiiiik. Krich Poninior'.s idoa oC engaging Sterribei'g to direct Jannings' first starring vehiclo for the Ul'".\^provod an astute Talculafion. It. will un- nuestionably do splendidly in the whole of Kurope and should also appeal strongly in the Stales. On top of the drawing power of Jan- nings comes the discovery of a now magnet, Marlene Dietrich, who should be as much to the American taste as to that of the Continent. To date the picture has been break- ing all records at the Gloria Palast, even those latolv made by "Love Waltz." At the beginning the scenario sticks i)ri'tty closely to the novel. "Professor I'nratli," by Ili-imicli Mann, on which it is founded. A nilddlc-oged school teacher dlsc:ov- er.s that several ol his pupils art- attending a dive, th,' P,lue .Xngvl. and hanging around tlio perlormcr Lola, He goes to the caharet in tli'> hope of catching them redhaudcd and falls for the singer himself. Despite the jeers of his pupils and the warnings of the principal of the school, he marries Lola. As a result, he lose." his posititm. In the .novel he and the girl remain in the town and she takes on several in- fluential citizens. At the end the two are running a well paying gambling house patronized by all the good burgher.s. Sternberg evidently thought this a trifle too strong and oiiose a more conventional twi.st. The teacher sinks from peddler of postcards showing Ills wife In semi-nudity to assistant in a magician's act. In a grotesque clown make-up he has eggs extracted from his mouth and broken on his head—crowing in the meantime, like a rooster. De- spite his protests, he has to pfay In his -native town and is featured on the bill under his real name. Many of his pupils with whom he was not any too popular are In the audience and welcome him in a far from friendly fashion. During his act, while he is uttering his "cock- a-doodle-do" he sees Lola in the arms of another performer on the bill. Still screaming out his terrify- ing animal-like shriek, now a hor- rible burlesque, he throws himself at her and his half insane jealousy can only be quieted with a straight jacket. Later in' the night he Is freed and, realizing what a botch he has made of his life, steals back to his former classroom and dies at his old desk. Sternberg has in this picture done what Is probably his best work since "Underworld," He caught the atmosphere of the sailors' dive with utmost precision. Kurt Gerron and Rosa Valettl as a hard-boiled con- juror and old comedienne are per- fect in their roles of rather sardonic comic relief. Marlene Dietrich a-s Lola has a slow rhythmed sensuality which gets over without being In any way crude or'offensive. Foregone that Jannings would be able to get inside the school teacher, but Sternberg deserves credit for keeping him simple and not allow- ing him to overact—a great danger for this player whose face Is per- haps the most expressive on the screen. Sound on the whole satisfactory, esppc'ially the music. Dialog not always natural in quality and in the dramatic passages has a ten- dency to become distorted. There seems little doubt that this Is Light of Western Stars (All Dialog) l'.ir;ini.->um produ.-tion niiii r,'li'.'»se. Troni /".ane (.frc> imvi'l nf same r.iiinc. .Vdjip- tiitlon nn.l diulog by Urovor Jotic.>< and WlUlnni Uhtvens McNuU. Directed bv Otto ni-ewer and ICdwln H. Knopr. iniotiiR- r.ijihy by L'lr.irles I,ang. No- recorder cii-dils. At J'arnmount, New York, week April i",, r.unniiig time, 70 minutes. Dick Kailey RJchiird Arlon Ruth Hammond ; Mai-v Brian Stack liVcd" Kohler "I'le J'lur- i'ult/......... Han-y <.;reon noh Dro.>:en negts Toomey GilC lleeki-r William I.eM.iire Sli? WlKilen Ueorge (.•lianillor '•S,(unre-Toe" B...jls Si.l Savloi Sh-rin ,1:ir\is (i»iv c)liM.i- T'.ii ^kelly ciu., Sm ill-,' stupor and manhandles her, only to discover she is tho sister of !il3 best friend who wa.s. ■ sliot from behind, he Inunodiatvly sober.s up :'ind -cliaiiRt's his voico nooordingly. Lat-r-r ho takes a IniUot from a lOi'U wall that ordin.arily Ivivo gone all the way through tluv.> W;ills of that tlilckni'HS. li; t'lo l'!!? ai tion ■ si'enc another detail is oviT'iiiiUed. llt-avy's .;.uipr liJi.s laid .';i.'4'e to viauaiuio intcrest'.s ranoh-liou.-=e aiul is shoouus; i-tiu- tinuoUi^ly. It .all stop-^ wlier un- known to atl U'k<'r.>i a Uill>> l-)v-> scene is being enacted. Dialog good throu>;hout. )><>•'•. Straight and coniody iiiatit-r. r/i,i.. "Light of VVeatrtrn Stais." based on the widely read Zane drey novel written many ye.irs ago and Par'.s first str.iiulit talker of the c-.>w country, has evcr.Uhin^ that a horse opera should have, plus genorous comedy. Unquestionably money- maker. Lauglis it nothing else put the picture out ot the doubtful clas.s. Dialog Has revived the slapstick thought packed av.-ay for dead in the silent era. Same has occurred wiHi wtisterns and this one, en- tirely in dialog and sound, is a good c.vaniple. VVhiie the story, ils various elements, the telling. In- trigue, shooting, love interpsc and frontier atmosphere are all ihore in the most familiar guise, n-.cilium of sound and production brains be- hind "LlglK of "Western Sta.r^" nave combined to give it real entOi iAin- mtnt value. One hardly thinks to con.pare it with westerns that were horseless but fundiimentally there Is lltl^j difference. Sound has done the trick. There's nearly a laugh a minu;.?, witSi Harry Green the main com.ejy Interest. He's an itinerant pan- peddler tossing his lot with the cowboys who set out to save the heroine. Richard Arlen, who gets tough as the cowpuncher sobering up from a heart attack, induced the minute heroine from the east steps into town to claim the ranch left by her murdered brother, is not the heavy- weiglit that old time heroes were but puts up a good'front. Fred Kohler distinguishes himself as the menace, giving It a rare polish and punch. Regis Toomey's Is a small and unimportant role, well played. Sets and exteriors atmospheric assets. Photography excellent, ef- fect of nighttime and starlit skies giving picture a very natural touch. Two directors on this western. Otto Brewer directed many of the old Grey operas for Par and is a past master at making this typo. A few minor discrepancies have crept In. When Arlen stumbles over Miss Brian in his drunken THE GOLDEN CALF (All Dialog, with Songs) Fox protUKtlon and releasi". As.Mnia'i r)i'>dui'er, Ned M,-»rin. Dlivi'(od !,> Alii- lai-<l Wobb. nascd on .slury by -\ar t:i Davis, with adaptation and dinlii,; bv Harold Attcrldge. Sy'n.tts by Clift l-Yien.l and Jimmlo Monaco. Stage <(|roi.'tor, l.'ranK. Merlin. Dance director. Karl I.iiidway. Photiigraphy by I.uelen An-lrlot. ltoi',ird- Ing by TKinald Flli-k. Al l-'ox, BmoUlyx. starting April 2o. Running ■ time, GO niin- iiLes. rhili|> Homer Jack Molh.iU Murybi'Uo Cobb,. Sue Tarol ^ Knute 0(M>n Kl Ui-onilel Alloc Marjorlo Whll.i Tmnniie RIoliard Kccnl^ I::,hvar,lp ..Poul I'nijrt .M.istor (if C;ereinonl03 Walter Callctt Comedienne Uka (Jbasu Nothing to write honie about un- less it's to tell that "tioldcn Calf" is not dilllcult to take. An iimo- cuous, .simple story about an il- lustrator on the make for succes.s and a secretary who's on the makrt for him, picture is helped in appeal by some fair comedy and generally good music. It also has several In- tricately staged dance numbers. Title doesn't mean anything, having to do with the calf of a girl's leg. Exploitation possibilities help to ex- cuse title. Jack Mulhall is here, seen as a struggling Greenwich Village art- ist trying to put up a big front. Ho has in Sue Carol a secretary of the familiar film type who wears long skirts, goggles and no makeup. When her illustrator boss digs up the idea of- getting the perfect leg as a design for a friend's father who is in the hosiery business, story Immediately begins to twist and squirm for some way o£' getting Miss Carol that Job, too. Discouraged by her indifferent but handsome boss, she gets a vauda team of friends to fix her up and, returning as a mere applicant, wln.i the much-sought assignment, her gamb winning against all opposition. It is all rather unconvincing. How any sec could undergo such a start- ling change and fdol the boss la not 30 very plausible on the face of it, but having been handled in a comedy way, audiences will for- give the liberties. After the romance buds, the great (Continued on page 88) SEB MEZA "THE DANCING FOOL" Foalured in P. ft M. "ClTjr SEKVl'CE" IDK& BERNARDO DE PACE A Riot with "TOP O' THE WORLD" Unit NOW-MASTBAUM THEATRE, PHIL, PA. Direction WM. MORRIS OFFICE Featured in Fanchon & Marco's "CITY SERVICE" IDEA LADDIE LAMONT "THE SYNCOPATED FIREMAN" THIS WEEK LOEWS STATE, LOS ANGELES THIS WEEK (APRIL 25), CAPITOL THEATRE, NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL DANCERS GOMEZ An J WINONA Sailing May 9 for Extended European Tour, Opening May 19 SAVOY HOTEL LONDON. ENGLAND Just Concluded an Engagement of 21 Weeks at ST. REGIS HOTEL, NEW YORK. Thanks to Vincent Lopez