When Critics Agree

Radio Record, 1 April 1938, Page 27

When Critics

Agree

The Public Often Doesw’t, But "Ebb Tide’ May Be an Exception

yw N the ordinary journalistic world H. it’s not news when a dog bites a man. In our special little sphere of film criticism, the parallel to this is that it’s not news to disagree with the notorious James Agate. Disagreement with the dyspeptic Mr. Agate is in the natural order of things, for the simple reason that Mr. Agate himself so persistently and whole-heartedly disagrees with everyone but Mr. Agate. So the very rare occasions when oue finds oneself in harmony with the Agate are as newsy in their way as the discovery of a dog-biting man. One such. occasion occurs With the release of Paramount’s coloured version of MR. L. Stevenson’s story "Ebb Tide." Writing about this film in "The Tatler," James Agate describes it as "an absolutely first-class transcription to the screen of a rich and enchanting novel." Bravo, Mr. Agate-except for: that word "absolutely," you've bitten the dog! Whoops Of Joy ET, while the critics are practically unanimous that "Ebb Tide" is a picture well. worth noticing (I under-

stand that Miss C. A. Lejeune was a bit snooty about it, and I must say I'm surprised at Miss Lejeune), the film people give me the impression of being rather down in the mouth over its box-office prospects. Not so that you’d really notice it, of course-just 2 slight restraint in their manner of discussing the show. But if a film man isn't actually bubbling over with enthusiasm about a new production you can generally be pretty sure that he’s either dubious about the queues it will line up-or else it belongs to another company. This conflict between critical opinion and box-office appraisal is so common it has ceased to be a phenomenon. The reason for it is that critics see so many pictures that when one occasionally jumps out of the rut they go whooping after it with cries of joy, whereas the film men, for safety’s sake, usually prefer their pictures to run along well-worn box-office lines. Why They Worry I AM possibly giving the impression that "Ebb Tide" is startlingly original. That is not strictly correct, and yet the picture appears to me to be unconventional enough to have made the film trade rather unsure of its publie receptior

Not in so far as the colour goes. The fact that "Ebb Tide" is the first story of the sea to be filmed in "glorious natural colour" will doubtless be given top place in the advertisements and will doubtless pull considerable weight with the public-as it should. Yet I imagine that very much less attention will be directed to the omission of a fade-out kiss, the somewhat deliberate pace of the story, and the fact that villainy is far more important than romance. In spite of the way they write advertisements, film men are conservatives at heart. Yet those three aspects I have mentioned above are, because of their rarity, the very ones that catch the critics’ attention and make them enthusiastie about this pieture. Personally, I believe that as hindrances to the popularity of "Ebb Tide" they are far more imagined than real, Let us extimine them, Over-Acted, But... iN the first place, "Ebb Tide" seems to move at a leisured pace because, despite its adventurous theme and setting, it is primarily an exaggerated study of character. When everything else about the film (including its colour) is forgotten, I think some people.

will still remember Captain Thorbecke (Oscar Homolka) in that scene where decency fights a losing battle with his greed as he listens to Huish’s filthy suggestion to kill a man by throwing vitriol. Or that earlier scene in which the captain, a beachcomber because he is a drunkard and has lost his ship, comes to tell his two comrades ‘‘on the beach" that he has been given a new command-eyven though it is only a plague ship which nobody else will sail. The picture is full of these revealing glimpses of character. They come mainly from Homolka, from Ray Milland (as the young down-and-out Englishman), and from Lloyd Nolan (the religious fanatic, Attwater, who rules a strange island and bears a quaint semblance to R. lL. Stevenson himself). Strangely enough, the force of these character-studies lies in the fact that they. are over-acted, that the Inrid colours of melodrama are put on with a palette knife rather than with a brush. In Jess capable hands such characters might arouse derisive laughter, and the film itself be nothing more than conventional blood-and-thunder. Instead of this it has the semblance of reality, or, if it hasn’t, it doesn: t seem to matLer, . His Face Runs Riot "THERE is a fourth character whose part is almost the biggest in "Ebb: Tide’-that of Barry Fitzgerald as Huish, the leering, snivelling, drunken Cockney. But in this case, I think, there is over over-acting. The other characters, though highly improbable; yet seem possible because there is a certain restraint even in their luxuriance; whereas Huish is just a fantastie nightmare. At the beginning, Homolka relies as much as Fitzgerald does on grotesque grimaces to. gain effect; but comparatively soon Homolka brings his facial displays under control, whereas Fitzgerald lets his face run riot throughout the picture, ,

It was a mistake also to force Fitzgerald, an Irishman in every inch of his stumpy height, to play a Cockney, even though that was the way R.L.§. wrote the part. Only in one scene does Fitzgerald approach the level of the others-that moment of sickening suspense as he carries the "peace offering" of a bottle of vitriol to Attwater. Love And Colour N such a story of masculine villainy and masculine struggle with good and evil, love-interest necessarily takes a back seat. In Stevenson’s story it was given no seat at all, but, personally, 1 welcome the addition of Frances Farmer to the crew of the ill-fated "Golden State." because her presence gives point and purpose to the clash of loyalties in the young Englishman (well brought out by Ray Milland), and because Miss Farmer herself has i cool loveliness that photographs delightfully in colour, In this matter of the colour I am almost all enthusiasm, It’s not so long since all players in colour films looked like roast turkeys or as if they were suffering from bad bouts of scarlatina, but in "Ebb Tide" you can actually distinguish. hetween the complexions of ‘male and female, and between those of ‘white men and Kanakas, And the Vivid blues of the the southern seas, the. purples: and oranges and reds of _the tropical vegetation enhance the ‘mood of a story that is essentially ‘vivid--a, story, indeed, that Joseph ‘Conrad as much as Stevenson might have written. Lest anyofie thinks that this film ‘lacks action, let me hasten to aldd that it includes a remarkably realistic typhoon and sundry shootings. -It also includes, at the. end, a-blast of ridiculous music from ‘an unseen choir, which comes through a: scene of sunset that looks to have .been caused. by -Parajmount’s arfists tipping the whole. con-

tents of their colour-boxes on to the screen, at once. This scene was doubtless to compensate us for the omission of that fade-out kiss: instead of which it momentarily blasted away the whole excellent impression which the picture had made upon me. But only momentarily. "Ebb Tide." Paramount. Directed by James Hogan. Starring Oscar Homolka, Ray Milland, Frances Farmer. Released this week.] Good-Bad Beery So tough guy Wally Beery is just a sissy, after all. But he keeps the secret pretty well until the end of M.G.M.’s "Bad Man of Brimstone," when, in a Stella Dallas finale, he stands outside the window with yearning eyes and bobbing Adam’s apple, and watches his son (who does not know the Bad Man is his father) being married to the girl of his dreams. Then the Bad Man turns on his heel toward the waiting Vigilantes, and goes to his

GUERGURGRGURDGRORDRRGUEGREERTEGRGRERGRRERDERERGOUERD self-sacrificing death with his secret forever hidden. In just one previous scene did I think that Beery was going to let his’ fatherly emotions get the better of him. Bad Man and clean-limbed son are bivouacking out on the prairie. The son goes to sleep; Beery creeps. long-

ingly toward him. For one horrid moment I had the feeling he was going to kiss the boy good-night. But he only sneaks his blanket! Robbers’ Roost "PAD Man of Brimstone" is not much better, but certainly no worse than dozens of other pictures with the same type of theme and setting. In spite ot its pretentious production, its 14carat cast, this remains a Western at heart, with all the bluster and speed and gun-play of the typical cowboy melodrama, Being a Western is nothing for a film to be ashamed of-especially as it’s some time since we’ve seen a really big one. All I suggest is that you'll be wise not to expect too much. Without the father-love, Wallace Beery played much the same part in "Viva Villa" as he plays in "Bad Man of Brimstone," only it was more striking then because it was novel. MHe’s a brilliant exponent of what the Americans call the art of ‘"mugging" (pulling faces); and all the familiar Beery tricks of arousing scorn and sympathy are taken out for an airing among the hills and valleys of old Utah, where he rules an outlaws’ roost and twists all honest settlers round his trigger-finger. Beery makes such a_ loutish, conscienceless killer in the early part of the picture that he has @ hard tas& later On Winning as much of the audience’s sympathy ag it is intended he should. Don’t Be Misled Wilbn I say that, however, perhaps I am forgetting that "Bad Man of Brimstone" is just a large-scale Western (and a pretty good one, at that). Perhaps I have been misled by the presence of Virginia Bruce, Lewis

Stone, Bruce Cabot, Joseph Calleia, and other notables, and by the sepia photography, and, above all, by the M.-G.-M. trademark, to look for psychological subtleties in the story. There’s good, lusty comedy in this picture (mark: those scenes where the young hero gives the Bad Man a sound trouncing and the latter’s soft, fatherly heart won’t let him shoot back) ; there’s also a virile performance by a& newcomer named Dennis O’Keefe (he reminded me rather of Wayne Morris in "Kid Galahad") ; there’s buckets of bloodshed; and I liked Virginia Bruce better in the ginghams of the border better than I ever have in the silks and satins of social sophistication. In short, provided you don’t seek for art where only hokum exists, you should spend an entertaining evening with Bad Man Beery and the Boys of Brimstone. ["Ehe Bad Man of Brimstone." M.G.M. Directeq by J. Walter Ruben, starring Wallace Beery, Virginia Bruce. First release: April 1, Auekland.] Anna May Returns yN Paramount’s "Daughter of Shanghai," Anna May Wong goes through enough hair-raising experiences to make even a_ well-bred Chinese lose her air of imperturbability, and in seyveral scenes she is shown looking posi- tively dishevelled. But that’s what comes of getting involved with a lot of dirty Western crooks who are smuggling aliens into Uncle Sam’s territory. Miss Wong is shot at, fought over by coarse sailors, and dropped out of an aeroplane while tracking down the meanies who have killed her father. She even goes to a thoroughly unpleasant island in the Caribbean and exposes her sinuous limbs to lewd eyes while posing as a cabaret entertainer, And all the while, the arch-rascal (it’s a woman, only I don’t know the feminine for rascal) was right back there at home in ’Frisco, and Miss Wong had once drunk tea with her, Miss Wong is assisted in her mission by a Chinese G-Man called Kim Lee, His name off the screen is Philip: Ahm. It must be nice being this kind of Chinése actor-you just maintain a perfectly wooden expression so that no-

body can tell whether you are acting or not. The chief villains are Charles Bickford, Anthony Quinn, ©, Carroll Naish, and Henry Kolker, and they make a very choice batch of bloodcurdlers, ° Me, I liked it; but then I’m just a low-brow when it comes to this kind of thriller, ("Daughter of Shanghai." Paramount. Directed by Robert Florey. Starring Anna May Wong. Release date indefinite.] Departed Glory T’S because I expect gangsters to go round spilling buckets of blood to the tune of police sirens that I was just a trifle disappointed in "The Last Gangster." Such a prejudice is quite unreasonable, and I do not wish to stress it at the risk of putting you off seeing this unusual M-G-M production starring Hdward G. Robinson. What "The Last Gangster" lacks in action it just about makes up by the excellence of Robinson’s character study. He here writes "Finis" with a flourish to the career of screen ruthlessness which he so notably began in "Little Caesar." "The Last Gangster" is an essay in morbid psychology, revealing the mind of a gang Napoleon who has met his Waterloo. When Joe Krozae is sentenced at last to a long term on Alcatraz Island, toughest jail in all America, he will not accept the fact that the rule of the old type of gang law, in which the authorities could be bribed and intimidated, is temporarily over. He has married a foreign wife, not because he loves her (at the time she thinks he does) but because he wants a son he can bring up in his own wicked ways. A False Note HILE in Alcatraz, Joe Krozac’s son is born, but his wife has learned that her admired husband is nothing but a murderous megalomaniac, She disappears with the boy and later marries a newspaper man (James Stewart). On his release, Krozac is still dominated by illusions of his vanished greatness and by the desire for revenge on his wife and her new husband. This precipitates the climax, in which prac-

tically the only false note in the whole film ig struck by Krozac’s conversion and heroic effort to save his son’s good name. ‘This climax left me with the wrong impression of having seen just a rather unusual drama of father-love. But I suppose they had to get a happy ending somehow, and Robinson is so force: ful that he manages to prevent the false note from ringing out as stridently as it otherwise might. ’ The most interesting other member of the cast is the newcomer, Rose Stradner. The woods round Hollywood are full of.foreign importations, but Miss Stradner stands out not because she is beautiful, but because she is natural in a difficult role.. ("The Last Gangster." M-G-M, Directed by Edward Ludwig. Star-. ring Edward G. Robinson. Release date indefinite.’ ] ‘ Other Awards N addition to the award to Leo MeCarey for the best direction of the past yeay, other Academy Awards include that to William Wellman and

Robert Carson for the best original movie story, "A Star is Born." "Sweet Lelanie," crooned by Bing Crosby in "Waikiki Wedding," and thereafter almost nightly on the radio, was voted the best song written for the screen in 1937. Very Tempting ROSsALInD RUSSELL is meditating leaving pictures when her present contract expires. And she’s being offered a very heavy inducement to do so. Eugene O’Neill, America’s head highbrow dramatist, is engaged on a playwriting marathon, That is, he’s writing six plays in chronological order which will be produced by the New York Theatre Guild. Rosalind Russell and Walter Huston have been invited to co-star in the whole series. Assuming the success of each successive play, such an engagement would keep Rosalind busy out of Hollywood for a year or two. ,