The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 60

plOPMM1NIMMIMINIMMI MMIPMNILMINIEFUMONNMMMMMMEll 00 TIM KANSAS CITY STAR SUNDAY JUNE 22 1930 10 'MID PRISONS AND PALACES THE SCREEN'S LEADING MEN ROAM rs0 6 4 AOMIEMMEEEIIEMI le) EIEIMIIIIIIIINIMIIIINIMIIIIEIIIEIMIIIIOIIEEIIM lir irt 7 7 1 04 1 4 i I s41 (tt 4 4 i 0 1 -tN ow' (44 -54 41 'itl i 1 14 (4o-7 I A ---N s4 V14-''' 4 Ifrilli i1" '4 z'' 4: 'N tiiti is IN '11 471fik 0 4 1 11'''''14H 14 lr 'N1 '1 -it -io -179 I 4 411 0 i kr fr 0 ti: e) 4 4g 01 li: ti 41)Ittit V3 ::4 1P i 14 31 111'' TO i 554' Ak 1fre 4 5 -I'''''646 A 4 4 4 I 4 7 te Ie li 1 -kk 10 rii94 '''4 4 a Niel '4 V' tr likt 5' 404k 1'1! l'Is 1''' 113 1 711 r' ''''4t 4 ":4 tiTc? 1 rs 1 'S': 4ps I 1010 4 el 11 (4' 1 0 3 s'114 i '4 '''4 t' 1 4 i 1' 'srl 1'' 4 le i 7 4' '''T' '4 I4AZIki 0 44011k: 1 1: '4t'' I 9- sc A '''i'- fkksi: CI )) '44'4r Ir f' I) r) 0 1 1:14 (v (Iv LA I A1k 1 1 11 I s4r IsiNt frt-Ee i I 1 1' tii: fa )1 1 I 6 i Sau a bit embarrassing "Shadow of the Law" at the Newman Marguerite Churchill is a sad Italian beauty and Edmund Lowe is a tough mug in "Born Reckless" the scree democracy h4s gone a bit too far upon learning that Lillian Gish has fallen in love with the tutor in "One Romantic which brings a talkie version of Franz Molnar "The Swan" to the Midland of Mal'rion Shilling Prince Albert feels William Powell as an escaped jailbird finds the adoring glances version of "Louis Beretti" at the Mainstreet Rod La Roque as The Critic OnThellearth PERSONALITIES OF HOLLY WOOD HEMAKES LpvE TO GARBO AND DREAMS OF Ills PIGS youth it would be ungenerous to withhold unstinted praise to a number of mature performers concerned in it Louis Wo 'helm makes Katczinsky a figure of tremendous appeal John Wray is a figure as memory compelling ai Himmelstoss the hateful martinet "Slim" Summerville swings from dry humor to pathetic frustration as Tjaden the lanky Infantryman and Raymond Griffith is unforgettable as the French soldier familiar However credit must given Bessie Love for a restrain and gripping little sdene where sh sits quietly and pensively on the be and listens to the man she loves lel for the hundredth time how he ha made a fool far himself over anothf woman This is a finely sustains bit of realistic tragedy Between Miss Love's bit of triaged and Miss Dressler's howling ha hour of comedy "Chasing Rainboa has its moments t' r- L-' st-it -1f5'f' roit 1 il i 1 1 11 I 's' it 1 to fiePg' 0 )i Charles Bickford a Jim Tully Type of Actor Speaks His Mind I Hollywood but Digs Tunnels and Spears Whales for Recreation URLY BICKFORD grasping Garbo sighed for the pigs of Boston It takes an unusual guy to think AL of pigs when he's necking Greta Garbo but what it takes Charley Bickford's got Mr Bickford who 141' i There are furrows that no grease paint will fill up and there is a pugnacious chin that all the hammering In the world would not knock down And thdre are two blue eyes that have gimlets in them and thick blonde eyebrows that give a peculiar contrast to the heavy mahogany mane of him I ft A of the Law" A story that keeps you in sus pen Rapid action effective humor a drama that arouses the sympathies Bill Powell doing a big lob of tugg: at the old heartstringsthe bion lady with too many datesthe Jig the accidental deaththe vs ishing witnessthe life sentence the funny and loyal convictt daring escapethe attempt to 81 straightthe pretty lady with II ways blackmailthe law like relentless houndthe exciting ing 1 Rainbows" Marie Dressler and Polly Moran Merry Marie and "Pretty" Miss Dress lees choking songs choking with laughter arias from "Tillie's Dad He KnowsTwo merry old souls on a bingeSweet sentiment that pours from a bottleDainty Marie pulls down the washstand Charles King sings "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Lucky Me Lovable You" more technicolored talkiesBessie Love in a poignant bit of acting a picture with considerable entertainment but with an old plot and some stretches that might be cut Jack Benny and his master of ceremonies manner Car lie Bessie Love Terry Charles King Eddie Jack Benny Lester George Arthur Polly Polly Moran beifiNne Owen Lee Nita Martin Cordova Eddie Phi Inns Bonnie Marie Dressler Star occasionally have their pictures criticized in these columns If an employee may be permitted to get flowery we would like to say that it is a pleasure to work where the honest opinions of a reviewer are never subjected to the pressure and policy of other departments It is the only system that is fair to the person writing reviews fair to the public and in the long run fair to the pictures and their producers Reviews in the final analysts are opinions and opinions based upon outside considerations are meaningless Reviews are opinions The ones you see in these columns will be honest opinions They may not always be right but they will not he blackjacks Not that there are not things in "Chasing Rainbows" that can be criticized It is a backstage story and there have been too many backstage stories The picture is a little long and the acting of Jack Benny and Charles King is some distance below that of their stage performances But this does not obscure the fact that Marie Dressler and Polly Moran are in the picture and that they are up to their funniest antics The scene where the two of them get a buss on and wreck the dressing room is funnier than anything they did in "Caught Short" and "Caught Short" pleased the movie fans immensely Miss Dressler's work as a lachrymose and alcoholic old harridan who gets sentimental and pulls down the washstand is a howl Also she sings a number of the ditties that made her famous on the stage a decade ago The music throughout the picture is good "Happy Days Are Here Again" originated in this film and Is snappily presented in a tecimi- color number while Mr King croons a love lyric "Lucp Me Lovable You" that would give most girls spots before the eyes without the aid of studio technicians There isn't much to criticize about the love story save the fact it is too ly touched on but none the less appealing figure and he is the only commissioned officer to figure conspicuously in the story These argumentative paragraphs are inserted because it seems wise to allay apprehensions that have been felt in a few quarters and because it would be a sad thing for anything to prevent your seeing this picture which is easily the greatest of the talkies In the text of his novel Herr Re-marque exclaimed that the youth of the war belonged to a lost generation that they had planted nq roots of daily life in the generation that preceded them that their horrific experiences would make them strangers to the generations that would come after them This pnotodrama the work of young men seems to be a spiritual refutation of that statement Carl Laemmle Jr who was responsible for its being filmed and who supervised the entire production is Just past 21 years old Lewis Milestone whose superb direction makes this work a masterpiece was only 23 at the close of the war Lewis Ayres Owen Davis Jr Russell Gleason William Bakewell and the other youths who partray tne German soldiers are in their early twenties They were children while Remarque and his compatriots were fighting Yet they have told the story of those youths who served with overpowering sympathy and simple sincerity There is not one of them but has proved an emotional understanding and appreciation of his task by the very character of his work It is an optimistic sign Remarque Sherriff Zweig and a few other writers who served in the war have overcome the difficulty they feared most By the power of their pens they have carried the story of their sacrifices to a succeeding generation and made it understand This may be the greatest thing that came out of the war Alhough "All Quiet" is a picture of Janteii Montgomery William Poel Edith Wentworth Marion Sill ihrt Ethel Barry Natalie Mooreheti Tom Regis Tom Pete Paul Pur Colonel Wentworth George Mike Kearney Frederic Bu Warden James Durk And you will understand the cleverness that is in him when you hear that he has garbage contracts with all the towns round about and that the Bickford pigs are by way of eating the very things that have been on the tables of the quality from Beacon Hill to Cambridge He couldn't be taking the pigs to California with him but he hears from them regularly and they're getting along fine Also and furthermore he is a whaler It takes mighty men to go after the mighty fishes and there's great wealth to be come by if the arm is brawny and the eye is deft and when one is wielding a harpoon For whalebone and blubber have their uses even though everyone is not an Eskimo and the corset business isn't what it once was And glory be to the heavenly hosts! There are whales in the Atlantic Ocean and whales in the Pacific Ocean as well So that if one wants to act in Hollywood the whaling business can be moved to San Pedro harbor and the boss himself on days when there are on cameras grinding can go down to the sea in a ship and spear his quarry He has great scars on his hands and they came there in a curious way wben this same Charley Bickford was trying to put a sea lion in a bag But why he wanted to put a sea lion in a bag or why he didn't get a bag that was big enough always will remain a mystery for Charley Bickford on such subjects is a strong silent man All of these things have made money for him but also there was fame to be had So he went on the stage playing parts in stock companies and finally arriving on Broadway where he was much in demand when there was heavy mewling and scowling to be done Finally they brought him to Hollywood where he has made three pictures "Dynamite" "Anna Christie" and "Hell's Heroes" He was good in all of them but in the last two he was magnificent "I thought movies were the bunk" he says "but 'Anna Christie' changed my mind I didn't want to play it because Miss Garbo was the star but I didn't know Miss Garbo then as I do now She's a great trouper and a magnificent artist who regards the Play as more important than anything else It was great to work with her" He's made so much money that he can afford any luxury he likes which is the reason he sometimes gets a job with a construction gang when he has a little time to himself He went around the world once in the United States navy and once on his own hook "I love the sea" he growls "because it keeps my harpoon eye keen and next to that I love speaking my mind" And with that Mr Bickford spat very positively Id 11ILL POWELL again demonstr that brains have a place in movies when he builds up a suspe that keeps you On the edge of seat in a finely thought out role "Shadow of the Law" at the NewmL This picture was made many ye ago with Thomas Meighan in ti title role If our memory serves correctly Mr Powell makes a mucl better picture of it Not bell obliged to caress old character veins and kiss babies to preserve his "scree personality" he devotes all of his and the audience's time to putti over the story So the tale unfol HERE is quite a bit of amuse- ment in the Uptown's picture "Chasing Rainbows" This remark is not based upon the fact that the Uptown advertises in this newspaper If the Uptown were not an advertiser we still would think there are things in this film that are amusing We still would think that the Uptown has its breaks along with other theaters that "Hallelujah" was one of the best films of the year and that "His Glorious Night" was worthy of considerable intelligent discussion The theaters that advertise in The a 1-2 6 a 'i! 1 it 4 tt re it" rr' 1 Ne iv'' N''' 4" V'A4-' 4s tt tJtA 4ii0 'i tIrS4 e' les''' 05' 4t :1: 4t) 4iiAk :1:1 4 4A $7- I 1 4 :1 i-: g': :::::::::::::::1 i 1 7:: I 4:::::::::: r-: i' 9 o- 0 "-4-41' tlrio" ''iw' 01: iftw1 1- 7 'gralt-S' 414r-" iAr 1-1 F18 ki' tri- 11- :4 4 lAt '0' ifi' 6 PHOTO PiAJJHOTO PLAYS DOWNTOWN i DOWNTWON PHOTO PLAYS I PHOTO PLAYS DOWNTOWN I DOWNTWON CHARLES BICKFORD Quiet on the Western Front" HENCEFORTH there will be no more dramatic criticism In these columns by other members of the family Last week we permitted our mother to write the review of "All Quiet On The Western Front" This was a pretty swell thing for us to do but mother immediately took advantage of us by showing us up All week we have been receiving letters from a rapt public entreating us to let her take our job and do all the criticizing from now on Professional jealousy has raised its ugly head at our breakfast table and completely curdled both the milk on the corn flakes and the milk of human kindness Mother is getting fan mail The 'phone is kept jingling by those who want her to make speeches to head organizations and to set forth on crusades to abolish the United States army and navy and to clean up the movies We live in daily apprehension that all this may go to her head and we are pretty sore over the fact that she has turned up more uproar with one criticism than we have produced in three years' production of what we thought was prettiii hot stuff Anyhow mother doesn't know her public as we do She doesn't know the kind of mail she'd receive if she dared razz Clara Bow or Joan Crawford Even though she gave us something to shoot at we will have the hardihood to say a few words in praise of "All Quiet on the Western Front" We've got to say something on our own hook It would never do to let her think she is getting our goat For one thing we fail to agree with many of the telephone callers on the point that this picture is anti-military It is anti-imperialistic and anti-Jingoistic but we don't find anything in it that refers to or condemns adequate national defense or the profession of arms It preaches a powerful and necessary doctrine of the awfulness of war: it issues a terrible warning to those statesmen who assume the obligations of plunging nations into conflict It is a tremendous indictment of the type of militarism that plunged Europe into a certain holocaust based as it is upon the doctrine of force and the delusions of imperialism But it scarcely can be considered an attack on the profession of arms as it has existed in the United States At no time in our history has the army or the navy of this country constituted a menace to the world's peace Our major military activities have been over such matters of principle as independence slavery and secession the freedom of the seas and the safety of neutral American citizens Far from revealing America as having a menacing militarism times of national crises have revealed us as woefully unprepared So there seems to be no reason for any patriot to get roiled up over the content of this picture Neither does it preach any revolutionary doctrine Neither Erich Maria Remarque its author nor Carl Laemmle Jr its producer has any desire to see the liberated citizens marching through the streets and herding the bourgeoise to the guillotine with pitchforks They are too bourgeoise themselves Remarque wouldn't like to see the revolutionists grabbing off his fat royalty checks and a revolution would be very disturbing to dear old Johnny Drink water while he is doing a biography of Uncle Carl in high-'priced Ozonian English No self-respecting army officer cart' see ad attack on himself in the character of Himmelstoss unless he himself believes in the Himmelstoss methods "Al! Quiet" does not revile officers as a class or as individuals Himmelstoss the unreasonable martinet unfortunately is a universal type You can find him in the German army the English army the American army the high school cadet corps or the drill team of the Fraternal Order of Eagles But he is not the prevailing type Remarque balanced this sergeant with the courageous profane and loveable Sergeant Katczinsky In Lieutenant Bertinck he depicted a kindly humane officer who did his job as best he could under trying circumstances was always a decent human being He is a brief etiut)rned 1( ivliklIN wr hn te me os rh he esnePme Pet 9 of ezc54ttt1 liv454 440 dolk 1 I 1 a 3 011A sligvis 4 tAlttok4 74: l(t 4 11kt 1 OW I 1 1 1 (e IN r'' i' i C) il 211iityr4 e1(1 iftlik-rk 1 ii 4fk11f-4-1 A -L L16 0 ilk slk4 ifx 04 ler o- koltriittfrp414 'i dlr f1 i to 0 7o 1 I': 1440 1 10 I '1'' ''f'' it 47 Na 1 A A -3e C-k-:) '1 iiis A46Akt' 1 "'''''''N 0: 1f4' A attiO4tVas A'r I AILS iiii a 1 1k And over and above all this he's a head on his shoulders Graduated he is from the Boston public schools and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology He has his farm up the Charles River about miles from Boston and it's a fine respectable profit making pig farm Conrad Nagel is to appear as the bibulous lawyer Charley Steele in Sir Gilbert Parker's "The Right of Way" which First National will produce We wonder what this alcoholic part will do to Conrad's Sunday school following TWO MERRY OLD SOULS yvp440t-ns Ilikt)L -xv-gont74Akto Axv 9 1141)- 4- 44 400t4 3 4 W37te941 yort 4 '11 frOk ZifF1' 3 ---A--44 i' 9 11: 4 4ft) I 4 4 4 i' bl'tfJ t''r1 i nn zk innuoin Je Ni 1 v'1'? 4 i 1 ''-'-1 1 v- 7R- dr' nr l'id' in 10Z io '1'70 1'11'c' 4imlialtokoibiod IA A ::4 nii iel sre 2v- i-1- 'Nr lid 411:4 IA 4ski -4 41-Afr 4 1 k-'f6t-4 (-)14A 4 4's i' 41 tIt 14e is 4zvi if 11 iek '4'4' 1i' 4' '14 0 l'AVN: 1 '4' il' 1 5 1 74 41 pJOTt': i I 4'f'-ni4-7'WW 1' ''Ne IWI I 0'1 Pi Vti VIVI 1 --(14 a4titili3t2403 I I I --'1411ZN071-417-RORk11711 II I iti'V44 11 '3' WRI'l( With a Big Cast of Favorites including Catherine Dale Owen Marguerite Churchill Lee Tracy la le Owen Churchill A Sacred solemn pledge to a wartime had to be broken regardless of cost he made his choice then fearlessly faced the music--0 from tho Novel "LOUIS BERM!" striga4)--- By Donald Henderson Clarke 1 1- 4 I will be remembered as the leading man of "Anna Christie" Is probably go the most widely known hog raiser In the United States a big shot pL among the whalers and the finest In broth of a lad that ever hit Holly- pil 10 Not that Charley Bickford cares re anything about understand Mr Bickford cares nothing for Hollywood Louis Mayer Will Hays or the devil hear Mr Bickford tell it "There's not one pig of mine" says Mr Bickford "but has got more sense in him than all of the Hollywood executives Sometimes lye got a mind to go back to clay I undoubtedly will" Our relations with the Hollywood executives are such that we will not venture an opinion either way concerning the relative intelligence of themselves and Mr Bickford's pigs We are inclined to think that Mr Bickford was talking like a professional roughneck not to say a professional Irishman when he made the above declaration For one suspects Mr Bickford of having a Jim Tully complex When interviewed he becomes extremely growling and he-mannish It is like when Mr Tully described his uncle as "one of Gods collar buttons that rolled under the dresser" Mr Bickford likes to be rough and he likes best to be rough before an audience If things are otherwise why should Mr Bicidord be in Hollywood? Why should he be in Culver City on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot? Why should be be working for this Mr Louts Mayer if he finds it irksome? Mr Bickford has enough money to do as he pleases And those intelligent pigs back in Boston do not require his services They are sell-supporting But he's a fine ingenious fellow this Charley Bickford and a magnificent specimen of a man and an actor SO one can be content to let him say what he will No pretty boy is 'Charley Bickford He's got a towering body and a chest like the trunk or a redwood And on his face there has been written all manner of things about what he was thinking and doing in times past It's not the face of a Movie actor Or It wasn't until Char-Bickford decided to make it so got pig 100 IMSoinolsT at LA-448748 10:48 Pim LA-440740 1040 a -t 1 IV LI I 1 2 q6uestrA tf tat I 4 3 4" a 1 1 -t' i 1: i y0 fro 5 12 4 loc- ititl -4111 ii 1 I fk 1 'fi 'yf- 4 Aot4 0 1 ks t46 iit Ii--" )0i''' i )-A ')' 1 I 1 ztitiok 1 4" I f1'31' I i 4' A itiikti it i Atik 4111 i 1 i 1 1 1 4 1 i do i A r1li 'I 1 4p I r) "ty o) 4' 4 i it's 7 g'i4to AtwanononommillmonV 4 ''i 'Y' ''''''14 (f 4 i- frti 1 'S1 1 fe' r- t- I'' 1 1 1'1 14i 1 i 4 i'r i'l :611 oir 4L RX0 VAUDEVILLE Th Lovable Anier'ican Comedienne A -MA NAN HALPERIN presenting "SHADY LADIES OF TErrEaut TODAY AND TOMORROW" DANNY DUNCAN AND COMPANY In the Comedy Playlet "OLD SWEETHEARTS" THE FIVE REILLYS Amer lea's Foremost Juvenile Tap Dancers "CADETSAXTETTE't A Manual ot Notes and gun GEO NAIT TD -aT ensa GEO N-BURNS and ALLEN-GRACE In awn" Chaise Cats et Comedy Yedvit at Doom Opts at 11:86 -4-e' 47' VAEIDEVILIF' -AV' ii17K Lovable American Comedienne i teAL NAN HALPERIN witEX i 0013tI presenting "SHADY LADIES OP YErrEaDAY TODAY AND TOMORROW" IC I 1104 DANNY DUNCAN AND COMPANY I NCI IkN viTSV In the Comedy rayle "OLD SWEETHEARTS" a I THE Fin REILLYS itlatt It 10 91 mmerieve Foremost Juvenile Tap Dancers "ESXT nIllitt 11 A CADTAETTE" tYEAVE fl Manual ot Notes and Inn CA1 67e 14 tbe )1 ot titAt' GEO and ALLEN-GRACE cit 00 1u sficto silt lo CHOPS" 1001 00 1000 Cholas Cuts et Comedy ivelAte11193 top- tian Tedvil as te likarf4trIt'' qeltfptirl tleAgtlite 1014 01 000 Deere op to at 11:86 If 'Ir'IN Marie Dressler and Polly Moran in a riotous scene from l'ehming Rainbows" at the Uptown 4 1111111111ENEMEnomm.