Evening star., 1932-01-02
Men of Chance"
At R-K-O Keith's.

THE deacons of cinema land ap-
pear determined to educate their
public in the various arts OF gentility
as Hollywood conceives them. Twice
within the past month they have
employed the same formula to hand
down dicta on drinking, dancing and
dallying la mode.
In case you missed the recent &C.
casion when Miss Lois Moran
tutored Charles Bickford in the ways
of the "smaht woild," a second les
son is current in Men Of Chance"
at R-K-O Keith's this week. This
time it is Miss Mary Astor who pa
tiently enlightens her willing pupil,
Ricardo Cortez. AS Diamond
Johnny" Silk, Mr.. CorteZ has been
too busy fixing horse races and max
in sentimental speeches to his own
nags to learn the improperly Of IA
carat diamond stickpins, rings and
other sparkling embellishments.
Once he Is married to Miss AStor,
however, he casts away most
Of these gaudy decorations, without,
1t seemed, a reasonable protest. He
did not, in fact, even retort to her
bland corrections Jim Brady's famed
comment, Them that has 'em wears
en-" Rather he became a con-
servative and bankerlike spectacle,
distinguished more by his gold than
his glitter.
Johnny Silk is the protagonist Of
Men of Chance" and Miss AStor the
bait en- which his bookmaker enemies
plan to hook him. She, a poor,
hungry and unlucky art student, is
discovered in Paris by one Dorval,
secretly a partner of the big shot"
bookie Farley. Without announcing
his purposes, Dcrval sets her up in
the countess businesS-and intro
duces her to a socially ambitious Mr..
Silk. The pSuedo-counteSS and the
psuedo-gentleman, Mr.. Silk, are mar
ried
They return to New York to con-
sumo the plentiful profits of Johnny
Silks occupation. At Belmont one
day Miss Astor meets Doryal Her
erstwhile benefactor announces that
he is bankrupt. He makes broad
play for sympathy and he gets it
along with the promise of tips on
the horses to help him recoup his
fortune. Since these, obviously, are
Johnny Silks tips, DorVal naturally
communicates them to his partner,
Farley. Thereafter, Of course, Mr..
Silk finds himself losing every bet
he makes, while his wife continues
innocently to assist In his destruc-
ton.
Johnny does not like losing He
SAYS so in no uncertain terms His
hausfrau thereupon realizes and con-
fesSes her guilt. Johnny storms He
throws her out. He talks to himself,
he talks to his favorite horse. He
says quite bit to the gods, fateS and
furies. No one believes that this
petulance forecasts an unhappy end
ing TO the film, and it does not.
You may find out why for yourself.
There Is in this film one point on
which the cinemoguls should be
called to task That is the public
display Of scenes depicting profess
sional gamblers repeatedly fixing
races at the race tracks. 1t may be
naive to suppose that this intimation
is slander, in view Of the occasional
discovery of successful instances of
fixing, but certainly no race fan
wants to be told his fayorite sport
is the pawn OF thugs. Men of
Chance" is but a cinema, 1t is true,
and there are those VINO Will think
it Is not probable, but the power OF
suggestion is great.
Three of the vaudeville acts on
this weeks program are moderately
entertaining-Miss VaneSSi and her
company, Rae Samuels and Beehee
and Rubyatte. There are some film
short subjects. X. b. P, Jr.
MatronoIitau
Fairbanks Travel Film.
DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, who
~ knows when enough is enough
and who probably won't ever again
be seen vaulting through windows
and knocking dead score of VII
lains with his two bare fists, has
turned to another field.
In Around the World in Eighty
Minutes" at the Metropolitan,
Douglas proves himself a juvenile
Burton Holmes or a Mr. Newman.
His style. Of course, is his own.
Just as his grin Is his own-and the
fact that unlike the other two mon
archs of travslogues he manages 10
expose more Of his person than they
have in their quarter of a centurys
service. Essentially, this is travel
trip without benefit of plot-and
hence without benefit of white skin
in darkest Africa. So you can sit
back and enjoy the unusually fine
photrQTaDhv the slight "a bsllrditias