Judge — May 30, 1931 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

JUVGWG THe) reinG a title like ‘“Indiscreet” and recollecting the recent at- tempts of ex-Marquesa Swanson to recreate the majesty of De Mille bathtubs, I expected another Michael Arlen heroine, dyed in champagne ‘or the first time the hard- working veteran let story and dignity go their way, and even though she is no more an actress than she was in “The Trespasser” (and in that and in “Sadie Thompson” she proved she was a willing but unfeeling worker), the story and action of her new show e funny enough to make good enter- tainment. “Indiscreet” almost lives up to its title. It starts off with one of those ladies who has loved and lost and wished she hadn't, and to make things even more unpromising there is a young novelist, one of those boys who quotes a well-known advertisement and advises the girl to obey her im- pulses and not her memory. If you have scen any movies since “The Great Train Robbery” you can guess at some of the episodes in “In- discreet.” Here we have a girl who has had what everybody in the picture refers to numerous times as an “af- here we have a novelist who s “obey your impulse.” Of course, at one point in the show the novelist not only has to face his own philoso- phy but he has to believe for a while that the heroine is an improper woman, tears. Yo can point to another situation not unknown to even Confederate veterans in which the heroine discov- ers that the man who did her wrong happens to be in love with her younger sister! I might as well be bilious as possible. This show written by three song-writers, I Sylva, Henderson and Brown. Never- theless the thing is worth the price of admission, because just when you think the worst is going to happen the three airy composers insert a line of pure farce that lifts the show out of the pretentious into the entertaining. as JUDGE By PARE LORENTZ There was one place which I thought the worst had happened; it was the big scene where the heroine is trying to fool the villain and gets caught by her fiancé. After the big renunciation scene she turns to the villian and sa “I begin to understand you, Jim; you're not bad, you're just not very bright.” ‘That line, and a scene in which Miss Swanson and her boy friend pull a Laurel and Hardy and throw ice ¢ y8: m cones over the place, “Indisereet” a pleasing, unpre- tentious, light comedy, and even though Miss Swanson is no more tal- ented than a host of younger stars, her spirit and her good judgment are worth commendation. I pon’r know Elmer Harris and I didn’t see his stage version of “Young Sinners,’ but the movie adap- tation has enough of the author's spirit to mark him as one of those lads who has about as much pride in his work as a plumber’s assistant, and I'd rather listen to the assistant’s off- color stories than see any more Harris dramas, Young Sinners” is not only a poorly constructed and ill-born play; it is a sleazy and hypocr attempt to clothe the robes of purity in enough sin to make it a financial success in ny country. A youngster is on the downward path simply because, so he says, his father and mother do not like him and gave him nothing but Recommended “City Lights”—Chaplin in a silent but great picture. “City Streets"—A kracious and talented Dashiell Ha ing. he Front Page"—Uproarious and wdy dialogue turned nicely by excel- lent directic “Iron Man"—Poorly cast, but well written and competently directed, “The Secret Six”—Overdone but effec tive acting by Mr. Beery, and con vincing at times ‘abu"—The loveliest picture you will see in many a year. av LY mz) money and an education. ‘The youn; ster is in love with one of those loos: heroines that exist in the minds of the e: ly post-war novelists, and) when she turns him down for a baron the lad proceeds to fill his apartment full of gin, women and bad wise-cracks The family lawyer brings one of thos: strong, silent men down from the Adi rondacks to teach the boy clean living It may interest you to hear. the strong, silent man was capably played by Thomas Meighan, so well played I see no reason why he should not bx given more work, and for that reason I advise you to wait until he is in an other picture. The boy takes so well to clean living he begins to look upon the trainer as a father, but one night his old girl from the city arrives. takes off most of her clothes and tells him she “wants to p * Of course the subsequent purity on the part of the boy is worth matinée standing room and real money to Mr. Harris, but the whole thing is so cheap I am almost sorry Dorothy Jordan was so charm ing and above-board in the scene, 1 want to see Mr. Meighan a Jordan again, but if “Young § is the best they can get I'm afrs have to do without them. de the remark was the worst movie I ever had seen. Perhaps I'v wrong. “Captain Thunder” is so bad I wouldn't like to make a choice. 1 advise you to beware of both. that Qs second thought, if you ever ar forced to choose between “Cap tain Thunder” and a thing called “Party Husband” for your entertain ment, I would recommend either “Captain Thunder” or a bullet throug! your brain. “Party Husband” is on of those phoney problem plays prov ing that a man and wife can't get along if each takes on an extra man or wife. Dorothy Mackaill and James Rennie behave as nicely in this little moral lesson as any two people could have, under the circumstance. comicbooks.com