W. C. Fields Just Kept The Horse Alive

Radio Record, 22 July 1938, Page 27

W. C. Fields Just Kept The Horse Alive

["The Big Broadcast of 1938," Paramount, Directed by Mitchell Liesen. , Starring W. Cc. Fields. . Already released.)

F W. C. Fields hadn’t returned to the screen after: his recent serious illness, I hardly like to think what would have become of "The Big Broadcast of 1938." Perhaps it would just have died out, and that mightn’t have been a bad thing, because the whole idea of these annual revues is pretty defunct anyway. It’s. time Hollywood was made to think up something new. Fields alone prevents this being a dead horse. The Fields type of clowning has such evergreen appeal, is so verdant with folly, that there’s still a bit of grazing left in the show, even if its theme has withered. Fields’s study in erratic absurdity is as good as anything this great little clown has ever given us, though it’s a pity some of his performance is so hard to hear, His game of golf is the highlight, followed by his game of billiards, but nearly everything he says and does can make me raise a chuckle, Kirsten Flagstad [THE rest is Just a hotch-potch of singing and flirting and funny business among -a number of people who are supposed to be leading entertainers of stage, screen and radio. I make an exception in the case of Kirsten Flagstad. She is a great artist, even if I found her aria "Brunhilde’s Battle Ory," a trifle disappointing. It hardly seemed to have got going. before it was all over, and that was the last we saw. of her. Hach year in these revues Paramount makes some such ¢concession to the higher forms of art, but 1938’s concession is no more than a perfunctory gesture. Some Good: Some Bad OF the others, Shirley Ross and Bob Hope touch a new low for protracted emotional crooning with the duet in which they say "Thanks for the Me mory." I cannot even say that.Dorothy. Lamour also croons and looks petulantly beautiful minus her sarong. What’s that? Oh, no, she wears something else instead. Most satisfactory single item, I thought, was Tito Guizar singing with gusto a Spanish number which must eertainly have been written by someone who had just heard Largo Al Factotum from "The Barber of Seville. " Biggest spectacle: "The Waltz Lives On" ballet: Much the same thing was done better in "Cain and Mabel" and "The Great Ziegfeld." If you see this show, don’t waste too much time looking for the story. There’s supposed to be a race. between two Atlantie liners, and one of them carries

a cargo of entertainers. That’s just about all. Didn’t Like It I MIGHT be inclined to doubt my own critical judgment about this film were it not for the fact that, when I saw it, a surprising number of people were walking out of the theatre; and among those who were left only W. C. Fields seemed to be causing any appreciative reaction. With almost any other

‘kind of film one might have explained the walk-outs by saying that some people had gone in expecting a drama and .found.a comedy, or something like that: but after all these years, surely everyone must know the type of entertainment to expect from.a film entitled "The Big Broadcast of 1938."

Film Institute N interesting programme Was presented the other week at a meeting of the Wellington Film Institute, a body which, I gather, concerns itself principally with the cinema ag a social force. There was a large audience, including the Hon. P. ©, Webb > and other notabilities. Most interesting item from a topical viewpoint was a featur ‘tte entitled "New Zealand Marches On," an excellently photograp:.ed documentary film dealing with Mr. Semple’s mechanisation of public works in Ne Zealand. It is well produced; but although an attempt has been made to have the film distributed commercially through-

out New Zealand,..I believe that hardhearted movie men consider.it' to"be a trifle too propagandist in treatméiit to inflict on audiences who have paid for their seats. A pity, because the film has distinct merit; and I personally ' think that the average audience would be far more likely to notice the interest and entertainment it contains rather than the propaganda, Anyway, where are you going to draw the line at propaganda? If it comes to that, there are some overseas "news" films that could bear watching for a start. Mr. Semple was to have been present in the flesh to introduce the film, which might certainly have increased ‘its entertainment value; but, unfor.tunately he was electioneering elsewhere that night. "Coal Face" MPHE Institute’s programme also ine cluded "Shelter," q rather regrettable classroom exposition of man’s freatment of his housing problem; an escorted tour through the Walt Disney studios (in effect a feature length trailer for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"); "Boulder Dam," an interesting 16mm, sound film produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and recording the progress. of the great dam from start to finish (propaganda?); a unique English musical cartoon employing the Esquire puppet motif; "Coal Face," a documentary film produced by Jobn Grierson; and last, "Our Daily Bread." which purports to tell the history of the wheatgrowing industry in New Zealand. It’s nothing for the N.Z. Government Film Studios. which made it, to crow ahout. However, in my opinion, the Institute will fully justify its existence if it can’ coutinue to show films of the standard of John Grierson’s "Coal Face," which deals with the coal-min-ing industry in Great Britain in a modern and exceedingly impressionistic manner, Sociologists would eall_ it a forceful social doeument. Leo’s New Home JF0, the M-G-M lion, has found himself a new Jair in Wellington. Previously he has concentrated on the Majestic and St. James Theatres, with an occasional visit to the De Luxe: now he is about to add the Regent Theatre also to his residences. From this Friday, the Regent will include M-G-M films among its releases, "Live, Tove and Learn" (starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell) heing the first of several ‘with the Roaring Lion trade-mark which will be going into the theatre managed by Ross Meikle. Leo’s main Wellington jair will, however, continue to be the Majestie, . The Dopey (jOMES now the "Doin’ the Dopey," * the latest in square-type ballroom dancing, inspired by "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Hailed. by American dance authorities as "the logical successor to the "Big Apple," the "Doin’ the Dopey" has plenty of novelty and swing, according to: Lucille Marsh, director of the National Dance League, "Snow White" ‘will dominate dance fashions just as she is already influencing feminine styles, dolls, toys and other merchandise, predicts Miss: Marsh, _ a