Cinema Reviews

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22016, 13 February 1937, Page 7

Cinema Reviews

STATE "TO MARY—WITH LOVE" An excellent example of what can be done by intelligent direction and first-class acting to make a great success of the simplest of stories is provided by the film which heads the programme at the State Theatre this week, "To Mary—With Love." It is a plain, unvarnished tale of the married life of a typical American couple whose fortunes rise and fall with the Wall Street prices. There are touches of genius in this film—genius both of direction, and.of acting. First and foremost Myrna Loy takes the honours as the wife who remains faithful to a husband who, in the years of prosperity thinks of little beyond making more money in the land boom; and who, in the subsequent crash, loses not only his material possessions, but his self-respect and his affection for his wife. Myrna Loy brings all her gifts of beauty, poise, and intelligence to this role. Warner Baxter is the husband, a mercurial figure, admirably portrayed, but even better is the performance of lan Hunter, the lawyer friend of the couple, who guides them through many perilous matrimonial seas and brings them safely to port when they appear to be overwhelmed by a storm even more than usually severe. He has the thankless role of the faithful friend, in love with the heroine, but too honourable to act selfishly. There is dignity and restraint in this acting of lan Hunter, and he makes the character stand out by sheer sincerity and force of personality. The film covers a chequered period of the history of America and of the world, and great events of the last 10 years are worked very cleverly into the story. There are "shots" of the Dempsey-Tunney fight, and of Lindbergh's triumphal ride through New York; there are glimpses of America at the height of its prosperity and scenes of its blackest depression. The director, John Cromwell, with quiet malice, throws on to the screen a «raph of Wall street indices with the hopeful prognostications of prosperity made by all the national figures, with the exception of gloomy Calvin Coolidge, superimposed thereon. There is an excellent sense of the theatre, too, in the way in which the situations in the film are handled. The hospital sequence in which the husband has to tell his wife that her baby is dead, and the scene in which Hunter, by traversing incidents in their married life, brings to the couple a realisation of what thev mean to each other, aro notably well down. Hero is no lavish and spectacular film, but it must appeal to all audiences by its sinceritv and its humanity and its trueness to life. There is a eood supporting programme, including a news reel of the finals of the Australian lawn tennis championships and an excellent scenicmusical short.

AVON THEATRE "CAIN AND MABEL" An intermingling of music, boxing contests, and really witty American dialogue make up "Cain and Mabel" at the Avon Theatre. It is hard to conceive how such a variety of entertainment of every form could be worked so skilfully into one film without spoiling the continuity of the story: but the producers of "Cain and Mabel." Ccsmooolitan, have succeeded, and the result is a musical comedy worth seeing and hearing. The film is full of melody and humour; the former ranges from.grand poera to modern dance tunes, and incidentally some good dancing, while the latter is a mixture of boisterous comedy with clever "wisecracks." The story is unusual in another way, for it is the first time that Clark Gable and Marion Davies have been featured in one show, and Marion Davies takes on a new type. of role as the leading girl in a variety show. The latter gives ihe producers opportunity to introduce some remarkable settings—remarkable both in their magnificence and in their beauty. The heavy-weiuht boding contests, which form part of the story, are quite plainly shots from real fights and not iust staged for the film. Anvone interested in the sport wpuld find the film worth seeing for them alone. The title is.particularly apt. in spite of the obvious pun. for the story concerns the romance that develops along a very stormy path between Gable and Larry Cain, a heavy-weieht boxer, and Marion Davies, Mabel O'Dare. a waitress, turned leading lady through the interference of an amusing character, Aloysius K. Reilly (Roscoe Karns), the reporter who never wrote a true story. The interference was not very successful for Mabel, for, as the theatre manager puts it, the box office is so low that the ushers are afraid to be left alone in the dark. Reilly comes to the rescue by staging a romance between Cain and Mabel, but they spoil everything by falling in love. Reilly is not to be outdone and successfully upsets the course of the romance by a little judicious publicity. The comedy is kept up to the climax, which is well hidden from the audience. One feature of the film worthy of comment is the extremely happy choice of cast. Every one- of the lesser lights in the plot has been selected with a care and finesse that give balance to an excellent film. " ~ Of the supports, the best is the running description and scenes of an American lumber camp, showing the skill of the lumberjacks in all the phases of tbfir arduous work. A "Merry Melody" and a newsreel of the new King and Queen make up the rest of the; programme.

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CRYSTAL PALACE "WANTED: JANE TURNER" "Wanted: Jane Turner," the film showing at the Crystal Palace, is essentially a fast-moving and coherent melodrama, and good entertainment throughout. It is a unit of the postal service cycle of films which Hollywood has produced in the last few months, and is one of the best of them. Perhaps its main recommendation is the excellent casting of every player. The two main leads are particularly well taken by Lee Tracy and Gloria Stuart, as postal agents working in co-operation, but enjoying continual and amusing bickering. The part of the main criminal —Crowley—is admirably taken by Paul Guilfoyle, who has a forbidding appearance as a basis for his acting. Half the interest in the film is in the numerous small "aside scenes, which provide most of the humour, but are not long enough to suspend the speed of action of the main plot. One scene throws interesting light on American third-degree methods—or at least as Hollywood knows them. Three detectives try to break down a woman suspect's reticence by various irritations and annoyances. After hearing the monotony of the jarring sounds in the theatre for only a few minutes, no member of the audience would doubt this systems efficacy in drawing out a "confession after an extended period of such mental torture. This review has given prominence to one or two trivial scenes, but it should be realised that they have been selected more or less at random, merely to show the vivid impression of reality given by the film. "Wanted: Jane Turner" is an apt title, in that there are two Jane Turners, and one of them is urgently wanted by the gangsters. They had robbed a mail-van, after murdering the driver, and had sent their "haul" to an associate named Jane Turner in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for them, the wrong Jane Turner calls for the letter at the delivery counter of the post office. She takes the money and is also followed by the detectives, who know about the letter going through the post and hope that it will lead them to Crowley, the murderer. It is from this point that the story gathers tenseness, and there are exciting car chases and shootings in darkened rooms before justice is triumphant and Tracy and Miss Stuart are reconciled to each other.

MAYFAIR SHIRLEY TEMPLE IN "DIMPLES" The followers of Shirley Temple, and they grow with every film she appears in, will enjoy her latest triumph, "Dimples," which is now in its second week at the Mayfair Theatre. Although other actors are apparently co-starred with her on the bills, she rules every minute of the picture. It is a sentimental fairy tale, with Shirley Temple as a waif and stray, who, though not translated in the end into a charming princess, has happiness and wealth showered upon her. For those who like their Alms exactly true to life, the sentimental drama touch may have been overdone. However, all these minor blemishes are used so that Shirley Temple's remarkable versatility can be seen to better advantage. However, these criticisms are beside the real point. They cannot detract from the outstanding performance given by Shirley Temple, who has enhanced her reputation as the leading American child actor of the present decade. Her voice control, the reflection of her every mood in the varying facial expressions, her singing and her dancing are amazing accomplishments for a child so young. Whether those who see the film like every part of it or not, they must leave the theatre with a feeling of admiration for the performance given by its leading character. Frank Morgan, her "professor" grandfather, has 0 difficult part to perform, as he has to subordinate his ability to that of the child and plays the part with his usual finish. The courtesy title of professor covers a discarded mantle of Shakespeare and an ever-recurring habit of acquiring other people's property even though, as he himself says, be frequently forgets to take away his own. The other players have small allowances, and their performances adequately fill in the spare feet of film which they are allowed. OTHER THEATRES "The Gay Desperado," featuring Nino Martini, Ida Lupino. and Leo Carrillo is the current film at the Plaza Theatre. The Majestic Theatre is now showing "The New Moon," with Grace Moore, Lawrence Tibbett, and Roland Young. "My Man Godfrey," with William Powell and Carole Lombard, is in its second weeK at the Regent Theatre. ' This,week's film at the Tivoli Theatre is "I Found Stella Parish," starring Kay Francis and Paul Lukas. "Little Miss Marker." with Shirley Temple, and "Here Comes Cookie," with George Burns and Gracie Allen, are showing at the Liberty. This week's films at the Grand Theatre are "Murder on a Honyemoon," with Edna May Oliver, and "West of the Pecos," with Richard Dix.