Judge — October 12, 1929 — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

eT aE ea an ne ee ee ee a ow a gE ear 1 eee Seen nen Wena F { JUDGE ) talking movie continucs on its erratic course y soon talk the producers into bankruptey. » the growth of the marble It costs a million dollars to make a feature imovie, and it is not these days to know just what kind of a movie to make. When all was silent, pra anything with twenty thousand extras and on looking gal could be called a feature and we would pay our moncy. Unfortunately movie audiences are listening to good dialogue and it is becoming more difficult to make them sit quict and take what they get. The audience I heard listen to would have cheered the heart of Mr. Barry. They sighed, groaned, and all but hissed at the right tin actually applauded when it finished. It was a rare novelty, this “Paris Bound,” and I don't re them. For once, they were shown sophisti- Bound” ed, wealthy people who did not rush about in straight eights and give champagne suppers in marble halls. They were allowed a woman of wealth, and temperament who maintained a rigid old- ioned morality. They were told that a clandestine love affair was going on, yet they had to do without a Garbo-Gilbert. catch-as-catch-can exhibition—and they liked it. The photography duction poor, yet “F ash- mediocre, and the sound pro- ris Bound” carried such spark- ling dialogue it overwhelmed a movie audience that is not used to such things. Then, too, Ann Harding and Frederic March gave a restrained polished in- terpretation of their lines, and Miss Harding dressed like a smart young woman, instead of a 57th Street mannequin. The fact that movie audiences are not used to such things calls forth my dire prophecy of hard times ahead for the producers. Hitherto wealth in the movies has been a symbolism of exhibition. It has been a Hollywood conception of what a movie audi- ence would do it had five million dollars, It's what one out of three producers have done, and they By = PARE LORENTZ IUDGIWG =MOVIES is me 1 if it ends at the altar, and immoral if it doesn’t. Despite the extraordinary number of movies unrecled during the past three years you will search hard to find a movie scenario with any variation of this moral axiom. But the talkies have upset. the producers. They have had to call upon men who can write, they have had to buy successful pla And, much to the surprise of the movie audiences, it is possible for two people to break the old movie code and still refrain from suicide, diverce, or taking to the street. They had never been told this before, and when the narrative was handled by the best craftsman of smart comedy working for the stage they were absolutely However, with “Interferenc mond” and “Paris Bound” ¢ movie behavior, the producers I rio departments. Movie educated and they are going to with a grain of salt. The wre a good horse Ia the patient wife will find little sympathy from the customer who has sunk his teeth into caviar and cham- pagne. The old fare of meat and potatoes won't do from now on. It is the one blessing of the talking movie. Every once in a while it has said something worth while and it must continue to do so if it is going to pay for itself. Incidentally, if I have passed carelessly over it, “Paris Bound” is a well executed mo of the smart comedy of last season and I recommend it highly. “Tom Duane Case” is old-fashioned movie-mel The district attorney sneers. It’s been years since we have heard laughter like that. Then there is a will, a mother with a past, and a comic crook. It gives you a nostalgic remembrance of the McKinley Administration and if you can find it in a cheap theatre where they sell popcorn “The Drake Case” should prove to be real old-fashioned conv “Bulldog Drum- new school of ter look to their idiences are being ke the old: song: rt se sardonic were going on the right theory. Again, a love affair — fun, "The Argyle Case” — Pad. “Bulldog Drummond” —See it, by all means, “Cock-Eyed Werld”—Cheap, vulgar and repetitious, “The Drake Case"—In this imue. “The Great Gabbe” —Very dull. “The Hettentet”—Old-fashion pleasing, with Edward Everett Horte “Hungarian Rhaprody”—A silent and pleasing German production. “Hollywood Revue™—A collection of very bad vaudeville acta, The Movie Guide “Hallelujah” —The one superb at tempt of the talkies “Paris Bound” —In “Piccadilly” —The best British have done to date. “River of Remance"—Wallace Beery returns ay an excellent comedian. “Street Girt” —Neching to fight over, but an amiable and well-knit show Thine the _uWomae-Teap"— Another crook movie, b a good cast “The Woman Lies”—A superb cast and a good story, Worth while. 19