The New Pictures

Reaching For The Moon (United Artists). To bill Douglas Fairbanks in modern clothes is enough to fill any theatre, but this picture will thrive only as a curio.

Amazingly below the standard of the classics to which he has accustomed the public every year or so, it dresses him up in velvet lounging coats, British sack suits, exotic pajamas, and tailcoats, equips him with an effete but worldly-wise valet, shows him in modernistic apartments, offices, and on board ship, pursuing a Bebe Daniels who has dyed her hair blonde for the occasion. He is a market operator of incredible riches and naivete who has never taken a drink or run after a woman until a friend makes a friendly bet at a party--it is an old story and the treat-ment is old too, in spite of the settings. Douglas Fairbanks carries it off as nearly in his inimitable manner as he can manage amid the encumbrances of modernity. He swings himself around a good deal on poles and window ledges. His voice, entirely different from his radio tones of two years ago, has the drawling, nasal twang that is the mode among the smart people who are his friends offstage, but that has not quite the ring of naturalness.

Best shot: two French cabin stewards in their pantry on a liner which resembles in many respects the famed lie de France.

New Moon (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). Enlarged and changed, this operetta of the Broadway stage of year before last has been made into a vehicle for Metropolitan-trained Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett each of whom has done well separately in singing pictures. It is a plotty affair in which a Russian princess and a lieutenant make love against a background of soldiers thoroughly trained in quartet and ensemble work. Undaunted by the Presence of his superior officers, Tibbett pursues Miss Moore at a ball given in her honor by her fiance, the Governor, and in consequence is sent to an outpost where the men are noted for slaughtering their officers. At regular intervals, in solo and duet, princess and lieutenant emit the show's celebrated and familiar song-hit, "Lover, Come Back to Me,'' singing it probably better than it has ever been sung before. Grace Moore is not a polished actress, but she is an unusually handsome and healthy looking young woman. Lawrence Tibbett is adequately tempestuous. Best shot: Tibbett tactfully translating a gypsy song. Sunny (First National). The only excuses that could possibly be advanced for reproducing a musical comedy so old and dull as this are: 1) It was a Broadway smash in its day; 2) Marilyn Miller was available for her original part. She is a circus girl who has to become the wife (in name only) of the comedian before she can marry the leading man. To date Sunny accurately it is only necessary to remember that the song hit of the stage production was "Who?". In spite of its age (five years) "Who?" is vigorously plugged in the film Sunny. When Miss Miller is dancing the picture is bearable but not when Joe Donahue, brother of the late Jack Donahue, is trying to be funny. Best shot: Marilyn Miller dancing in a riding habit.

The Royal Family of Broadway (Paramount). When Edna Ferber and George Kaufman wrote this brilliant play about the manners of a great stage family, the producers were careful to dissemble and critics referred only with circumlocutory guile to the obvious fact that the Barrymores were depicted. But since the play, after brilliant and prolonged success in New York and on the road, provoked no violent animosity from the group satirized, Paramount has found courage to label the characters. Fredric March imitates John Barrymore and tries to look as much like him as possible without conspicuous makeup. Ina Claire reflects many of the favorite intonations of gaunt Sister Ethel. The playing of these two is better than the playing of the original principals in the same parts, and since the minor parts also are almost perfectly cast and the whole piece is smartly directed by Cyril Gardner and George Cukor, The Royal Family of Broadway takes rank as one of the year's best pictures. Technically its story is an exposition of the theme that the fascination of their job holds show people on the stage even when they want to quit. Actually it is a glittering picture of the off-stage affairs of interesting people--of the middle-aged woman who wants to leave the stage to marry a businessman, of the dashing scapegoat son, and a girl of a younger generation who has not tried the footlights yet, and of an old woman who in the course of the action acts for the last time. Best shot: March taking his family upstairs to tell them a story while he takes a bath.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.