Judge — July 18, 1931 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

JUDGE JUVGWG TEMOY’ L$ 1ERE are two things one mustn't Ho on the screen (and don’t let your imagination carry you away). One is fantasy, the other sat- ire, and if you don't believe me, any good director. You can broad sand slapstick comedy, 5 can have melodr id sex problems, but you mustn't ever confuse an audi- ence with satire or real fantasy. I have been told this for years, and ¢ spite the facts and figures I think so much hooey. True, one of the few real satirical pictures ever made in Hollywood, called “A Regular Fellow, played superbly by n the fault of the business office. Even though the natives. in Camden, Arkansas, did not understand it was a parody on the Prince of vales they must have enjoyed the show, or would have, had they been given a chance to see it. There was another c rious satir! F “Wolf 's Clothing”. I od the pro- ducers thought it was a detective story and billed it as such, thus hurting the sale of the film, But, of course, these and “So This Is Paris” and several of the early Lubitsch pictures lost moni which proved once and for all t satire will not go on the sereen. The fact that such 4 “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” lood’” and “Transgression” have not made any fortunes for the boys has not altered their policy against going over the head of the mass with humor. Policy or not, I think they are cock-eyed, be cause I have seen even old ladies from West Orange rumbling over a piece of satire in an otherwise lousy picture. Tern icture, by the way, was nabelle’s Affairs”, a re-take of that ancient comedy “Good Gracious, An- nabelle.” To begin with, the plot not much of a job a decade ago. To further the age of the piece the pro- ducers cast Jeanette MacDonald a farce lead and they let Vic By PARE LORENTZ (Teeth) MeLaglen play — opposite her. If they had searched for days I doubt that they would have found two more unfunny and bovine come- dians, unless they wanted to cast Mischa Elman, Gigli, and Robert Woolsey. Few singers have a sense of humor, or in « hundred thousand can act, and one in a century is come Miss MacDonald is neither : funny, nor able to act. She has a good voice, she has pleasant features, but why try to make her light and fluffy? She is about as dexterous in “Annabelle’s Affairs” as an elephant performing parlor tricks. Mr. Me- Laglen, of course, can't even sing. He s only his smile. his teeth, and his re to recommend him, if any of those attributes interest you, Yet Hollywood is full of surprises, and although the story about the show girl who takes a job in a mansion is well-used and although the leading man and woman of “Annabelle’s Af- sare just as miscast as trained seals playing “Hamlet,” there is a young man named Roland Young in the show, and there is an older man named William Collier, Sr., playing s' with him and they are worth your time. Recommended ty Lights" Ti first time, take a “The picture « “Le Million” with A have m ther French picture medy better than we st of the tine “The Public Enemy” istic gang picture. The A tough, real hestofthem a “Smart Money"—Ry_ the “Thy Public Enemy Ni well acted Smiling Of good -looki lier, all put “The Viking’ seal hunting off the coast of I is one of the awful tragedies of Hollywood that a man like Roland Young can be swallowed whole by that great industrial center. He is one of the most engaging actors | know, he is a better comedian than a half dozen young men awarded lead- ing parts in those gay things turned out by visiting British writers, yet he has been doing bits for months. He happens to have a bit in “Annabelle's Affairs” that comes down his alley and he docs it so weil the audience was puzzled from time to time to un- derstand just what Miss MacDonald and her dental model were doing in the picture. Young is a little million- aire who lives in an alcoholic dream world, who is harassed by drunken servants, who has to break glasses, china and bric ¢ in order to sup- port his ego, and he is marvelous. Mr. Young's antics and the one scene in which his butler drills the drunken servants on the lawn and then sends them off to a picnic got real surprise laughs from the audience. Mr. Collier got some chuckles as a de tective who loses his badge. Andre Beranger, had he been given anything to do, might have been funny, and Hank Mann, as a stranger from a speake: x when he works with Mr. Chaplin, so there is no rea- son why under proper guidance he can’t be funny. ie laborious and unfunny plot and the happy ending make “Anna- belle’s Affairs” a dull show. Mr. Young and his friends give it surpri and humor. If the theatre is cool by all means take a look at Mr. Young and pray he ven a job to do all be unprofit- by himself. Satire ma able, but I would stake a little mone that had the producers thrown a this ancient: manuscript’ and hired somebody to write a story about a drunken millionaire who breaks china, and let Mr. Collier, et al., help Mr. Young with the story, the result would make more money and friends than “Annabelle’s Affairs.” comicbooks.com