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Lightnin':
Fox Film Corporation,
December 7, 1930
New York Times, November 29, 1930
THE SCREEN
By MORDAUNT HALL
A happy hour or so awaits those who visit the
Roxy this week, for at that theatre Will Rogers is
to be seen in an excellent vocalized film of that
highly successful play, "Lightnin." Mr. Rogers gives
a delightful interpretation of the tippling,
good-natured and understanding "Lightin'" Bill
Jones. His acting is if anything superior to that of
his previous characterization in "They Had to See
Paris" and "So This Is London," pictures that have
brought him a tremendous following, which was
attested to by the crowds that filed into the big
house for the first performance and by the fact that
in spite of the wintry blasts a line of patrons was
waiting outside.
Henry King, who directed "Stella Dallas" and the
silent picture of "Tol'able David," is responsible
for this worthy offering. He has turned out a most
pleasing and restrained transcription of the stage
production. Besides Mr. Rogers's splendid portrayal,
impressive performances are contributed by Louise
Dresser, as Mrs. Jones, Helen Cohan, a daughter of
George M. Cohan, as Milly Jones, and Joseph M.
Kerrigan, as Judge Lem Townsend.
It is with great glee that Bill Jones, facetiously
called "Lightnin'" because of his snail-like
movements, points out to various persons that half
his hotel is in California and the other half in
Nevada. There is the Sheriff who is eager to
apprehend John Marvin, but who is always defeated in
the arrest of the young man by a leap from Nevada to
California. There are also the women who come to the
hotel anxious to get rid of their incompatible
spouses, and the scheming men who want to buy Bill
Jones's hotel with spurious stock.
Bill Jones knows, or at least pretends to know, a
great deal about everything. He is probably the
greatest white liar that has ever come to the
screen. He is forever counseling wives against
divorce, insisting that they have taken advantage of
it too freely. He hazards that the Chinese have the
best cure for marital difficulties, and when asked
what this might be, he declares that in the Orient
they drown all the girl babies.
During a court scene, Bill Jones is called a liar,
and he wishes to take the law in his own hands and
chastise the attorney responsible for the assertion.
Judge Townsend wants to know if the lawyer can
remember any specific lie told by Jones, and the
attorney ponders and then says that Bill once told
him that he had driven a swarm of bees across the
plains without losing one!
In his interrogation of the lawyer, who takes the
witness chair, Bill Jones succeeds in making his man
very uncomfortable. All this happens because Mrs.
Jones has decided to ask for a divorce on account of
Bill's "intemperance, cruelty and failure to
provide." In the end Mrs. Jones withdraws her
action, and Bill, his wife and their daughter Milly
leave the screen as happy as ever.
One of the humorous remarks made by Bill is when he
is looking at his pay check for being a veteran of
the Spanish-American War. He points out that the
document has been signed by the President and the
Secretary of War, but that it isn't any good until
he has signed it. He says that a business is
controlled by "stock rummies" when he means "stock
dummies."
In one of the early episodes he hands a bottle of
whisky to a friend, who puts it on a shelf. Bill is
sorely tempted, but with a stamp of his foot he
finally moves toward the door, only to reconsider
his action and snatch up the bottle and take it
away.
This film is filled with genuinely good fun that
kept an audience yesterday in gales of laughter. Mr.
Mr. Rogers does not miss a single chance to make a
line tell, and as Bill Jones he appears to enjoy his
prevaricating as much as he does outwitting those
for whom he has no liking.
Mr. Kerrigan is capital as the Judge. His bearing of
authority, tinctured with a desire to please one
woman, is admirable. Joel McCrea is also to be
congratulated on his work as John Marvin, the young
man who, besides being wanted on a trumped-up charge
by the Sheriff, is in love with Milly. Miss Cohan is
attractive and competent as that girl.
Lightnin':
Fox Film Corporation,
December 7, 1930 |
