“Pocket Tenor” Reappears In Appealing Film

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 22, 27 January 1937, Page 11 (Supplement)

“Pocket Tenor” Reappears In Appealing Film

JOSEPH SCMIDT’S SUCCESS IN "A STAR FELL FROM HEAVEN."

(Kosy: Screening To-day.) The success of Joseph Schmidt’s "My Song Goes Round the World," made inevitable a further exposition of the ‘pocket tenor’s" talents. Schmidt has a voice of extraordinary power for so small a frame, and here he uses it to popular point in the perennial, "I Hear You Calling Me," and two • or three charming modern numbers. His vocal appeal, too is emphasised by his physical characteristics, for these make their own unconscious bid for your sympathy. Yet the entertainment is by no means a purely vocal affair. On the contrary, it is particularly strong in comedy, thanks to a genial burlesque of film production traditions and excellent all-round characterisations, while delightful romance and an occasional hint of drama agreeably round off a picture rich iu popular appeal. Nor is spectacle neglected, for. in the “film within a film" sequence, in which Schmidt doubles for a juvenile who has lost his voice, we have an ornate Hawaiian interlude in which song and dance combine to achieve both aural and ocular interest. The star is seen as Josef, a singer in a beer-garden whom a pretty Anne essays to help. Calling at the offices of | the Miracle Film Corporation, she mistakes the leading man for the producer when she asks for a job for Josef, and not unnaturally falls in love with him, to Josef’s evident regret. Josef has his compensations, however, for after various vicissitudes, he lands the job of doubling for the leading man when the latter loses his voice, and is eventually given a handsome contract. We have stressed the picture’s vocal bid, and we have only to add that George Graves is immense in a caricature of an uneducated film magnate, and that Steve Geray is delightful in naive, ingenious comedy as the leading man’s dresser, who is also in love with Anne. Other well-cast players include Billy Milton as the leading man, who uses Josef’s voice, but makes generous amends; Florine McKinney as the pretty and vivacious Anne, and W. H. Berry as a publicity man. Warner Baxter and June Lang , the thrilling sweethearts of “The Road to Glory," are teamed together in the Twentieth Century-Fox dramatic sensation, “White Hunter." The strong cast supporting the stars includes Gail Patrick, Alison Skipworth, Wilfred Lawson, and Georgo Hassell.