The Film Daily (1939)

1ME DAILY Tuesday, October 3, 1939 «> v R€VI€UJS Of TH€ R€UJ fiLiM '< w "Eternally Yours" with David Niven, Loretta Young, Hugh Herbert United Artists 95 Mins. ROMANTIC COMEDY WITH FINE CAST IS SURE-FIRE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL AUDIENCES. This is just what the exhibitor ordered. Romance, comedy and drama are all wrapped up in a neat package labeled, entertainment plus. Any type of audience is sure to like it. The film is top-flight in every respect. The sophisticated original story and screenplay contributed by Gene Towne and Graham Baker leaves nothing to be desired in its smooth march of events. The direction of Tay Garnett is expert, with just the right amount of emphasis on the dramatic sequences and a neat handling of the comedy. On top of this, the picture has been complemented with a fine cast that makes the utmost of every opportunity. David Niven assumes new stature with this release as a top male name with a smoothly executed performance as a lady-killing magician. Loretta Young is attractive, capable, and polished as Niven's wife. Hugh Herbert draws numerous laughs as Niven's butler, handy-man and what not. Bi Hie Burke, C. Aubrey Smith, Broderick Crawford, ZaSu Pitts, Virginia Field and Raymond Walburn give finished characterizations. Crawford is particularly good. Walter Wanger deserves a mead of praise for the film's lustrous production value. Loretta, about to be married to Crawford, who is a bit on the stuffy side and a fiend for fresh air, meets Niven, a handsome magician and pseudo fortune teller. Instantly attracted to each other, they are married, and Loretta becomes part of the act. However, despite their love for each other Loretta wants a home in America and a family, and after pawning her jewels to build a house she leaves Niven when he refuses to go home with her. Another factor causing their splitup was brought about by Niven's vanity in jumping from planes while handcuffed, ruining her peace of mind. Niven follows her back to America, but before he can catch up with her she marries Crawford following a quick divorce. Niven manages to get a bid to a house party where Loretta will be, but he leaves when his appeals to return to him are rejected. However, C. Aubrey Smith, Loretta's uncle and also a bishop, seeing that she really loves Niven, discovers that her second marriage is almost illegal and can be easily annulled. Loretta goes to watch Niven jump at the World's Fair from a plane and when he is almost killed she clearly proves to Crawford that she loves Niven and he opens the way for her to return to him. The sequence at the house party is particularly hilarious. If Niven is conducting a one-man war to win a ranking place in the affections of audiences here, the war is over, and he has won with his performance in this picture. CAST: Loretta Young, David Niven, Hugh Herbert, C. Aubrey Smith, Billie Burke, Broderick Crawford, Raymond Walburn, ZaSu Pitts, Virginia Field, Ralph Graves, Eve Arden, Lionel Pape, Dennie Moore. CREDITS: Producer, Walter Wanger; director, Tay Garnett; Original Story and Screenplay, Gene Towne and Graham Baker; Cameraman, Merrit Gerstad; Editor, Dorothy Spencer. DIRECTION, Expert. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. "Hawaiian Nights" with Mary Carlisle, Johnny Downs, Constance Moore, Eddie Quillan Universal 65 Mins. MELODIOUS LITTLE MUSICAL NUMBER WITH POP JUVES WILL APPEAL TO JITTERBUG TRADE. Combining music, a breezy story and a popular group of young actors in the lead roles, this release from "U" should appeal to the pop trade, particularly the youthful swing element. The cast, headed by Johnny Downs, Eddie Quillan, Mary Carlisle and Constance Moore, work hard. Etienne Girardot and Samuel S. Hinds support the principals capably. The story, which is somewhat frail in body, has been kept moving to offset this deficiency, with pleasing results. Downs, son of a hotel magnate, is more interested in leading a band of his own than running his father's hotels. He is sent to learn the hotel business in Hawaii, where father, Thurston Hall, has a hotel. However, Johnny and his band are tossed out of the hotel practically the instant swing is mentioned. Constance Moore, daughter of the owner of a rival hostelry, lets the band play there for their room and board. Everything is worked out satisfactorily when the band is a big success, pineapple kind Girardot, gives them a contract on his radio show, and Hall reluctantly approves of the whole proceeding. CAST: Johnny Downs, Constance Moore, Mary Carlisle, Eddie Quillan, Etienne Girardot, Samuel S. Hinds, Princess Luana, Thurston Hall, Robert Emmett Keane. CREDITS. Producer, Hax H. Golden; Director, Albert S. Rogell; Screenplay, Charles Grayson and Lee Loeb; Original Story, John Grey; Cameraman, Stanley Cortez. DIRECTION, Swift. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Bali" Does Biggest 2nd Week in Year at N. Y. Para. Paramount's "Honeymoon in Bali," which finishes its second week at the New York Paramount tonight, is assured the biggest second week's "take" since "If I Were King" a year ago, according to Manager Robert M. Weitman. Additionally, according to Para.'s home office, the pix is running ahead of house average biz and favorable in comparison to previous Para. b.o. hits in various keys. Home office was also enthused yesterday over the report that "What a Life" was running 15 per cent ahead of "Man About Town" at the Strand, Providence. F. W. Georlitz Expires Sheboygan, Wis— F. W. Goerlitz, 65, for 17 years an employe of the Alexander Film Co., died here. He is survived by his wife, a son and two sisters. Mrs. Joe Scotti Dead Albuquerque, N. M.— Mrs. Elynore Scotti, wife of Joe R. Scotti, manager of the Sunshine Theater here, is dead. "The Arizona Kid" with Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Stuart Hamblen Republic 61 Mins. WESTERN WITH CIVIL WAR BACKGROUND FALLS BELOW PAR AS ACTION LAGS. Starting off with a bang, this new Roy Rogers starrer fails to sustain its opening pace, and the action lags in several sequences in the picture. However, the Rogers fans will undoubtedly like it, as Rogers sings pleasingly and gets his man after the customary amount of setbacks and difficulties. Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, and Stuart Hamblen, an admirable villain, headline the cast. Sally March supplies the feminine interest. Rogers arrives in Missouri town, accompanied by Hayes, to sell his string of Texas horses. He meets an old friend, David Kerwin, who is planning to join a band of raiders. The Civil War starts and Rogers joins the Confederate Army as a scout. Hamblen also joins the Confederate cause, with Kerwin among his men, but the uniform merely masks his activities as a guerilla. Soon his notorious fame spreads throughout the country and Rogers is assigned to get him when the Confederate high command learns he is an outlaw in their uniform. The usual amount of riding and shooting take place before Rogers kills Hamblen in a gun duel. Kerwin is shot when the other members of the band are caught. CAST: Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Stuart Hamblen, David Kerwin, Dorothy Sebastian, Sally March, Earl Dwire, Peter Fargo, Fred Burns. CREDITS: Associate Producer and Director, Joseph Kane; Screenplay, Luci Ward and Gerald Geraghty; Original Story, Luci Ward; Cameraman, William Nobles; Editor, Lester Orleback. DIRECTION, 0. K. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Ellery Queen Pix Rights Acquired by J. D. Trop West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — J. D. Trop has secured the motion picture rights to the Ellery Queen detective stories. Fifteen books and many magazine stories have been published about the detective. CBS broadcasts a weekly program Sunday night, called "Adventures of Ellery Queen." Business Screen Selections First Annual Selections of outstanding commercial film productions is announced by the editors of Business Screen magazine Pictures, totalling 29, with four more netting special mention, were selected by the magazine's reviewing committee from the standpoint of utility and circulation rather than technique Lou Irwin Moves Lou Irwin, with headquarters formerly in the Paramount building, has moved into new and larger quarters at 522 Fifth Ave. * COmflTCRCIRL * The Middleton Family" (at the New York World's Fair) (Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co.) Modern Talking Picture Service 50 Mins. WELL-MADE INDUSTRIAL PACKING WIDE APPEAL VIA HUMAN INTEREST, ROMANCE, COMEDY. Precedents are set in this new fivereeler, salient of which is utilization of a full-blown scenario of the entertainment film type. Hitherto, industrial solons have almost invariably made their motion pictures for audiences of their own stamp. But here is a production which has far more general patron appeal than predecessors. Admittedly, Westinghouse is casting an eye on entertainment film outlets for the dissemination of its promotional aims. This objective, if, indeed, not originally planned, must have loomed large when Audio Productions, as the producers, finished their creditable job, for the footage is replete with excellent shots of the current New York World's Fair, and predominantly and naturally of the Westinghouse exhibit there. Although this feature-length attraction is regarded by Westinghouse as carrying "a social as well as a commercial message but these are never obtrusively underscored," the social and commercial elements are far from being unstressed. Rather they are accented considerably more than Hollywood would ever care or dare to attempt in product designed for the widest of public consumption. Photographed in Technicolor, the pix is visually grand. Orally, too, it is top-flight. Throughout the five reels is woven a nice romantic story, with copious spurs of human interest and comedy, the latter being supplied by young James Lydon whose natural, easy acting is standout. Marjorie Lord, his sister in the plot, is comely and efficient, while the other cast members are skillful in their allotted roles. More careful casting might have been done in the instance of the film's young Romeo, who eventually wins the heart and hand of Marjorie Lord, after she finds out the marital unsuitability of her fiance, George J. Lewis. Young Lydon and Marjorie Lord are the youngsters in the Middleton family which has come from the mid-West to see the Fair. How the young people's future is to be cast is the crux of the production, and the Fair can be said to have been very fair to them. Direction is very good, and so is the photography. CAST: Marjorie Lord, James Lydon, Ruth Lee, Harry Shannon, Adora Andrews, Douglas Stark, George J. Lewis, Georgette Harvey, Ray Perkins, Helen Bennett. CREDITS: Producer, Audio Productions, Inc.; Director, Robert R. Snody. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Tip-top.