CATACLYSMS in COLOUR

Radio Record, 24 June 1938, Page 25

CATACLYSMS in COLOUR

And Paramount Throws In Crocodiles And A Crushed Cameha For Good Measure

HEN I found I was not to be given an opportunity to review Paramount’s "Her Jungle Love" prior to its public release, my conscience began to trouble me. Was it fair, I thought, to have reviewed "Marco Polo" and similar notable stretches of Hollywood’s imagination, and not do anything about "Her Jungle Love,’ which is,

from all accounts, the most remarkable production of all? —

Krom this dllemma I was saved by coming across Miss C. «A. Lejeune’s review in the "Sunday Observer" of "Wer Jungle Love’-one of the most entertaining pieces of film writing ever accomplished by

this brilliant English critic. Unblushingly I have lifted it and reproduced it here, thus getting myself out of a difficulty, saving myself work, and eanthins mv conscience.

How seldom it is that expediency co incides so nicely with desire! Here is Miss Lejeune on the subject of "Her Jungle Love": but before yon read on I had better point out that the film has just finished a highly successful season in Auckland and looks like repeating it in Wellington :- Crashed! Q. A. POrO >O Who was She, and what was her Jungle Love? She was a lovely Malayan with plucked eyebrows, geranium lipstick, and two sarongs, one red an‘ one blue, and Baab was her jungle love. . Baab who? Bob Mitchell, pan-American pilot. . How did they meet? . Quite simply. He was looking for a lost flyer named Atkins, and his plane erashed in the Malay Archipelago. . Why did it crash? . Beeause his fiancee rang him up in a storm to ask him if he was think ing about her. . Was the Malayan his fiancee? . Of course not. The blonde, Eleancr Martin. . What did Bob do after the crash? . Ife bled first, because the film is in rechnicolour. Then he saw a chim: panzee and the brunette, Tura. . What did he say to her? . He said she Jooked like a squirre] in Hyde Park, . And did she look like a squirrel in Hyde Park? . She looked to me just like the heroine of "The Hurricane." Enter Crocodiles Q. But you said she was # Malayan,

A. >O Oh, no, she was English really. She had been brought to the island eighteen years before by .a University graduate called Kuaka, . Why? . Because he was rich and cultured, wore sapphires and emeralds alternately, according to the day’s technieolour schedule, and wanted his

revenge on the white ,

GevVils. Q. Rather thankless ree venze, wasn’t it?

A. That wasn’t all his re venge He sacrificed one white man per annum to the sacred crocodiles. Q. A. Where did he find the white men? Oh, they just happened. Q. But if one year they didn’t happen? A, a>) Q. Don’t be tiresome. With five scriptwriters on the story one was bound to happen. Besides, he had a white man in hand already-Atkins, the missing flyer. . Did Tura know about the croco=diles? . Certainly. She tried to warn Bob about them, but her English was hardly serviceable for detailed narrative. . Didn’t she learn from Bob? . Oh, very quickly. In a couple of days she was singing "There’s Lovelight in the Starlight With You," with only the faintest trace of @ Malayan accent. What was Bleanor doing all this time? To The Rescue! A. Q. A Po PO rO Q. Eleanor? Oh, Miss Martin, the blonde. She was lying back in & chaise longue in a pink negligee. Not exactly helpful, was she? . Give the girl a chance. Once she got over her first grief and regisgistered a pastel triumph for technicolour, she called out the U.S. navy and air force and went off to look for Bob herself in a neat yachting costume. Did she find him? . Not for a long time. He was down in a subterranean temple watching Atkins being fed to the crocodiles. . Didn’t he interfere? . He said between clenched teeth: "I don’t like the lcoxk of this." He registered manly horror. And then he embraced Tura. . Wasn’t that rather unfair to Eleanor? . Oh, no. He said the two girls would be sure to like gach other. . And did they? . Don’t anticipate. Bob and Tura had to be thrown to the crocodiles first. Why? Exit Natives A. So that the publicity department should say that. this picture (Continued on next page.)

> © MOVES. Against the lush _ background of the steaming jungle there is an increasing parade of ACTION, The climax is sensational, breathtaking, and realistic. The film is’ thrill-packed. The jungle is shown in all its colourful glory, There is also a big romantic appeal and much delightful comedy. Besides. what else were the crocodiles for? . Did they eat Bob and Tura? . You’re so optimistic. There was 2 voleaniec eruption, and the whole temple crashed down on top of them. . How did Bob and Tura escape? . Through a crack in the rock, The earthquake wiped out Kuaka and half the natives, and the surviving crocodiles advanced in mass _for-

mation and finished off the others. Q. And then what happened? Renunciation A. Eleanor came running up the -- oe a. A. Q. beach. . What did she say when she saw Bob? . You’re very anxious about Eleanor, aren’t you? She's only a fiancee really, just a nobody. No jungle glainour, no sarong style, merely the other woman. She said, if you must know, "Look there! It’s Baab!" And then, "Hullo, Baab, what an attractive native girl." . And what did he say? . He said, "Tura, this is Bleanor Martin. and this is her father, Mr. Martin." . Oh, was her father there, too? Of course, it was his yacht. They went back on board for dinner and Fleanor changed into a black tulle evening gown. Why had she brought an evening gown? . She had seen jungle pictures before. She knew there would be an attraetive native girl. Besides. black tnlle is always good for a renuneiation scene. So she renounced him? Of course. Her heart told her to, So did the five seript writers. And how did it end" Left In Doubt A Tura dived overboard and swam back to the island, heartbroken. She crouched by a pool, kissing 1 (rushed camelia, and crooned, "I fell in love. What else could I do?" And then she saw Bob's reflection in the water, . So he married Tura and not Eleanor? Well, considering the social conditions of the island. that is a theme I would rather not elaborare, ("I think the cinema is the very greates{ art, ‘vith the possibilities of heeoming the greatest art form that has ever exist ‘\d.""-Mr, H, G. Wells, November 29 wy 19385.)

Thanks, Miss Lejeune-and Mr. Wells! All the same, I’m looking forward to seeing "Her Jungle. Love," now that I know what to expect. And they tell me the colour is really sensational, " BO _["Her Jungle Love." Paramount, Directed by George Archainbaud. Starring Dorothy Lamour; Ray Milland, Already released. ] Who Stole The. Lady From The Morgue?. Crime Club Thriller F you don’t know what the .. Inside of a morgue looks like, Universal gives you the chance to satisfy your morbid curiosity in the Crime Club thriller, "The Lady in the Morgue." The audience is also privileged to be present at a body-snatching party in a dark graveyard, and after that’ it is almost an anti-climax when the action switches to an undertaker’s establishment, , . I have seen jollier pictures than this. but it is not nearly as gruesome as it sounds, because it is one of those up-to-date crime stories where the detective walks round with his hat on the back of his head, drinks lustily and wisecracks furiously, He also attends’ a very bright party where Miss Barbara Pepper gives an all-too-brief performance that makes Mae West look an amateur. In between these social ac-

ehhh iiiititiiiitiiii iii tivities, the smart detective and his henchman, the orthodox police, the villains and the heroine keep steadily on the trail of an unknown. girl’s corpse that has disappeared from the morgue, leaving the morgue-keeper’s body in its place, Pass The Cocaine! HAVE a suspicion that some of Hollywood’s crime experts don’t play fair with us amateur detectives. They’re altogether too keen on dropping false clues all over the place, and dragging in new suspects, until I’m sure that even Sherlock Holmes would retire baffled from the case and seek solace in a treble dose of cocaine. Srill, "The Lady in the Morgue" fairly competently does its job of eombining mystification with amusement. The cast doesn’t matter much, apart from Barbara Pepper, but you may be interested to learn that the lending roles are played by Preston Foster, Patricia

Ellis and Frank Jenks, To ‘make things easier for you, none of these players is either the murderer or the lady in the morgue. "The Lady in the Morgue." Universal. Directed by Otis Garrett. Starring Preston Foster. Already released. Plagiarism Apart, "I See Ice" Is Good Formby’s New Film ELL, really, Mr. Formby! One hardly expected a reputable artist like you to pinch a fellow-comedian’s gags. _ More times than I cared to count in "T See Ice," George Formby uses Sandy Powell’s famous line (it is almost his traderemark): ‘Turned out nice again!" Yet who am I to cast the first stone. btaving just walked off in this issu? with 2 whole review from C, A. Lejeune! Formby seems more resourceful in exploiting .a familiar situation than in thinking up new ones; but plagiarism apart, "I See Ice," is productive of much of that variety of mirth somewhat indelicately known as the belly laugh. Thus we see him embarrassed by the lack of restraint commonly associated with. very young babies; further embarrassed by the need to seek refuge in a ladies’ cloak-room. But even more embarrassed is the gentleman to whom Formby ladles out castor oil under the impression that it is cough medicine! Funny Face (QHEERFUL vulgarity of this type is not, however, the only source of amusement. The mere sight of Formby’s inane face with the pianokeyboard teeth. was apparently enough to keep the person next to me at the preview gurgling with mirth, when he wasn’t actually bellowing over the comedian's antics during an ice-ballet and an ice-hoeckey metch. This enthusiastie young spectator was not, let me hasten to point out, a case-hardened previewer, but his appreciation was probably typical of what one may expect from the average public audience that sees "I See Ice." All Formby’s pictures are designed to make him out to be a dolt from the provinces who is the constant butt of misfortune till the last few scenes, when he emerges triumphant. This time he is on top of his form as an ambitions Press photographer who goes to the big city and falls heavily for a pretty skating champion (Kay Walshe). Miss Walshe is a better-than-average British musical-comedy heroine; and QGyril Ritchard (plus a moustache), Garry .Marsh, and Betty Stockfield make up a better-than-average British supporting cast. Greater imagination in the use of the camera and the editor’s scissors would have improved the whole picture-and particularly the presentation of Formby’s — ukuleleaccompanied songs-but on the: whole "T See Ice’. does -the job it sets out to do very entertainingly indeed, ["L See Ice," A.T.P., directed by Anthony Kimmins, starring George I'armby. dust released.]

Hal Roach Comedies ‘A FTER 13 years, Hal Roach is leay ing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and taking his organisation over to United Artists, who are expanding their activities in the dlistribution of "outside" product. Roach’s name has been associated for many years with the "Our Gang" comedies, but more recently he has been giving increasing attention to feature. length .comedy productions, notably ‘Topper’ and "Merrily We Live," and the Laurel and Hardy full-length come dies. Roach's releasing contract with M.-G.-M. will be ended formally with the completion. of two more Laurel and Hardy features. The first film under his new contract with U.A. will be "There Goes My Heart," which will have Fredric March and possibly Irene Dunne as its leading players. ‘The sceond will be "Topper Takes a Trip." Four films starring Laurel and Mardy

will be produced each year under the new contract. Started As Cowboy AL ROACH has had an interesting eareer, He started in the mavie industry as a cowboy player with Universal, who paid him 25 dollars a week. Prior fo that he had gone to Alaska at the age of 17 and engaged in the trucking business. It was while working as a eowboy in Hollywood that he met Harold Lloyd. We had ambitions to be a director and producer, and the chanee to gratify these ambitions came when he inherited 38000 dollars. Roach plunged into production with Lloyd as his star, and the film "Just Nuts" resulted. Then came the "Lonesome Luke" comedies, followed-from 19384 onward--by such features as "Fra Diavolo" (possibly his best effort yet), "Babes in Toyland." "Bonnie Scotiand"’ and ‘"Lopper."