Judge — September 13, 1930 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

ust before the movies entered into their garrulous old the mans were setting the styles in Camera an s became a ta good look it the figures or faces of the charac- » foot. a hi relessly around the corner 4 The Getman school not only established this set of tricks, but they brought — their prominence. Leni fetish und you seldom or a tooth would t you. wn furniture into “The Man Who Laughs” was one of the best and most nteresting of the last batch of silent films, His outdoor sets were very good, but his modernistic design of llows and of ac tionally effective. cus were excep s The producers, i » their custom, red if a futuristic ped a Victor Hugo scenario it rily would appreciate the value Thus “Broadw eat in movie form with a café th: the size of the Grand Cen- tral Station and as foreign to a Broad- way night club as pre-war. whi For about six months the produ used these futuristic sets for every movie tl pheric was twice made, ¢ n atmos- ground of addict on the loose in a Crane bathroom factory. Then came the talkies (and now sneaking up on an idea), Sound s, dialogue directors, and an y new set of virtuo: into the Gold Coast factories. tunately no to hi s moved Unfor- ody thought it necessary ‘Today there one designer in Hollywood Hy builds beautiful sets—Wil- liam Cameron Menzies, designer to Fairbanks these many years. There are half a dozen distin- guished workmen in the theatre: Bel- Geddes, Jones, R ds, Throckmor- ton, one ha v sent to Holly- Ithough all the assistant as- sistant directors in the world are on salary in the movie factories. Until the directors rebel, we shall have to take our movies surrounded with the bathroom architecture left by the de- parted ‘Teutons, scenic designers. who re he wood, JUDGE “Dsxexe Sweeties” is remarkable only because from sound it’ is unashamedly soda jerker and a di meet on the dance floor. and set up their love-nest. man evolves a dance step which his wi innot follow, a grim tragedy that breaks up their home. The hero dashes out of the house and finds his old dancing partner. The big punch comes when the broken-hearted hero- ine outsteps her husband and again wins his admiration, story to A all girl They marry The younz vexow, Westcott, and even Ander- son have written good literature about farm life. Yet [do not know of one movie in the history of the indus- patized rural life. David,” one of the best movies ever made, dealt with moun- taineers. Eisenstein’s last movie, “Old and } was farm propaganda, but it had exciting stuff in it. The writers and producers of Hollywood should stop off in Iowa the next time they trip across the continent. A fellow named O'Neill actually wrote plays about farmers. However, unless they found some way of putting a 1 club hostess and a couple of gangsters in the corn fields, the boys would be at a loss for story materia Recommended “Anybody’s Woman’ ton again wasting her t Chatter- on medi “Anybody’s War." — Ditto Charles Mack “AM Quiet on the Western Front*— “Hollday"—The lest jolr of the “Hell's pictur Moby Dick"—Jobr Barrymore and some good photography “Ol English d oi 1 George Arliss in a splendid of the play. “RamMes"—Colman a mild ro mance well set off. ie recommend “Old F entertainment. For some re Warner Brothers have take pains with their Arliss movies, a whatever the importance of th rial, “Disraeli” and “Old are superior in every detail to the or- dinary production. The latest all-t king, all-movie, rliss production is adapted from Isworthy play, and the British Id Bell Wright must have had Mr. Arliss in mind when he wrote it. The movie amounts to nothing but series of full-length portraits of Mr. Arliss impersonating an old man. It is not exciting, but Mr. Arliss does his work thoroughly. He is annoyi when he looks triumphantly over the footlights after a deft bit of work ond almost congratulates himself openly for being a clever fellow, because he is photographed so closely that he is practically sitting in your lap. But you will enjoy the directors’ meeting. Mr. Galsworthy can write. and this scene in which the Liverpool merchants licked by the doand nkrupt. Edwardian is thoroughly satisfactory. The di office, the pompous speeches, in fact every de tail is realistic, and the supporting cast is hand-picked and able. Te haven't been able to find a trained whale for Mr. Barrymore. so the talking version of “Moby Dick” is almost as ridiculous as the original silent production. Mr. Barrymore has od time stumping around in nny make-up d his ur d there are some satisfying photographs of ships at heen However, the white whale has riv in the person of tt. and if you have any re- spect for Melville, that alone destroys “Moby Dick” for you. If they ever find a smart whale to replace the mat- Joa tress Mr. Barrymore now uses for bis enemy, they eventually might make a good production of Melville’s great book. comicbooks.com