The Film Daily (1948)

Wednesday, March 17, 1! 142 of 237 Spanish Releases from U.S. ft REVIEW Of THE DEUI flLfflS £ Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington— A total of 142 of the 237 features released in Spain last year were of Hollywood origin, Department of Commerce pix director, Nathan D. Golden, announced this morning. In addition, there were 30 Spanish films, 16 British, 15 Italian, 11 Mexican, seven Argentine, six French and 10 from other European countries. Spanish production actually went to 50 features during the year — and another 50 features are due from Spanish studios this year, Golden said. Printing is limited to 10 copies of domestic pix and five copies of imported features. While 1947 attendance was down about four per cent from 1946, higher prices brought an increase of about 10 per cent in the box-office take. 52 Catholic Features To Be Made in 16 mm. (Continued from Page 1) tions. And while a spokesman of the group could not reveal the name of the movie maker who would turn out the 16 mm. fare to be shown in more than 50,000 U. S. parishes, he did say that Father Helfen would try to make "His Lips Were Sealed" as the initial effort. Point that the spokesman wanted to make clear was that these films would not be offered in competition to Hollywood product. These films, he insisted, were to be used as a magnet to draw Catholics closer to their church. Films would consist of Bible stories, lives of churchmen, and stories similar in vein to "Going My Way." All the bishops and cardinals in the U. S., The Film Daily learned, had granted their authority to Father Helfen to proceed with his project. "His Lips Were Sealed," incidentally, is one of about 100 plays written by Father Helfen for parish use. "Agreement" Tradeshows Set "Gentleman's Agreement" will be tradeshown tomorrow in all 20thFox exchanges, except branches of the Western division, where it was shown yesterday in the division offices. STORKS "April Showers" with Jack Carson, Ann Sothern, Robert Ellis Warners 94 Mins. RELIABLE STUFF FOR SUBSTANTIAL BIZ; FAMILIAR SHOW STORY HAS CAPABLE PERFORMANCES, SOUND DIRECTION, GOOD PRODUCTION, A COUPLE OF TUNES. This one is all about showbusiness — vaudeville, before the curtain dropped — when Mom, Pop and Junior were a team and by keeping their act fresh and funny and Pop away from the bottle they went places. They went to New York. There they became enmeshed in the toils of the juvenile performer law in the form of the Gerry Society, cut Junior out of the act and promptly flopped. Variety reported it on page one. Then Pop hit the rum-bottle. Junior and Mom joined up with Robert Alda and hit the road to success once more while pater waited on tables in San Francisco's Barbary Coast. In due time Mom located him. It was no dice, however, for Pop was blacklisted. Then a musical comedy engagement came along and the producer wanted Pop's old act in a contrasting spot. Alda tries to get Junior to show him how it was done. Junior tries hard but Alda doesn't have the touch. He slaps the kid around. Pop bursts in. It is Christmas Eve. He beats Alda to a frazzle. The musicomedy man engages Pop and the Three Tymes are together again headed for the bigger time. Joe Laurie, Jr. suggested this one. Producer William Jacobs did well by it. James V. Kern in the directorial seat ran his players through the familiar backstage.on-stage, off-stage rigamarole. Jack Carson, Miss Sothern, Alda, young Ellis, S. Z. Sakall and a complement of veterans hop to it and deliver full role requirements. "April Showers," besides being a routine offering that the general and conditioned audience will probably accept with little objection, also has a number of good, reliable new and old tunes to assist. Like the man said, there's no biz like shew biz and the paying spectator will always lay down his cash to get a peek behind the scenes. He has seen it before. It seems he always wants to see it again. The public will be pleased, 'nuff said. CAST: Jack Carson, Ann Sothern, Robert Alda, S. Z. Sakall, Robert Ellis, Richard Robert, Joseph Crehan, Ray Walker, John Gallaudet, Philip Van Zandt, Billy Curtis. CREDITS: Producer, William Jacobs; Director, James V. Kern; Screenplay, Peter Milne; Story suggestion, Joe Laurie, Jr.; Photography, Carl Guthrie; Art director, Hugh Reticker; Editor, Thomas Reilly; Sound, Stanley Jones; Sets, Ben Bone; Musical numbers, Leroy Prinz; Music arranged and adapted by Ray Heindorf; Musical director, Leo F. Forbstein. DIRECTION, Suitable. PHOTOGRAPHY, Standard. A girl, weighing seven pounds, three ounces, was born last week to John and Mrs. Gilmour. Father is a director and producer for the Jam Handy Organization. It is their second child. Seven pound boy was born to Leo and Mrs. Lerner. Dad is in the accounting department of Columbia Int'l. Boy has been named Lester Henry. Time Warns Advertisers Of Magazines' Copyrights Slugs and cover formats of Life, Time and Fortune are trademarks and cannot be used by others for advertising or promotion, Bernard Barnes of Time, Inc., informed film companies in a letter to advertising heads and agencies. Publisher said there is no objection to quotes from Life or Time reviews of films, but asked that trademark and copyright restrictions be observed. "Hazard" with Paulette Goddard, Macdonald Carey Paramount 95 Mins. SMARTLY PERFORMED, THIS IS ONE FOR THE SUBSTANTIAL MONEY. GIVES THE AUDIENCE EVERYTHING IT REQUIRES IN ROMANCE, COMEDY, STORY INTEREST. Receiving impetus from a pair of sock performances turned in by Paulette Goddard and Macdonald Carey, this first rate romp takes alternating serious punctuation and comedy bordering on the farcical. No matter how the title is juggled the show spells box office in large business letters. This one is done the way the audience wants them, the way the general filmgoer is conditioned to accept them. For the first few sequences of the story the plot bears resemblance to "The Lost Week-end." Only this time the addiction is gambling. Miss Goddard just can't stay away from the gaming tables. You name it, she'll play it. She's a case. She's got the bug. It's all mental and no doubt the psychiatrists have a name for it. After the first reel Director George Marshall threw morbidity out the window and went to town for laughs. They come easily. Miss Goddard is a natural for a light role and she's thoroughly entertaining. As for Macdonald Carey, keep an eye on him for a potential big following by all of the audience. He's a man's man and a woman's man, plus a thoroughgoing player of demonstrated capabilities. Rather than marry Fred Clark, Miss Goddard welches on a bet she made with him — he tears up her bum check or, matrimony. She flees to Chicago. Carey comes a-chasing. He's a private detective hired to bring her back to Clark. Miss Goddard eludes Carey, gets to the Coast and has a run of luck but eventually Carey shows up and they start East. In good time they return to New York. But that's not the half of it. Incident upon incident was written into the script. These border on substantially comic to neat touches of the risque. It's a happy affair generally. Maxie Rosenbloom, cast as a truckdriver. gets off some broad comedy. Hauling his prisoner Eastward, Carey falls in love with her. Hospitalized after saving Miss Goddard from a fiery death, Carev almost marries her. But Clark comes calling. Miss Goddard goes East with him. thoroughly disgusted with Carey because of a misunderstanding. Carey reappears in New York. He takes Miss Goddard from Clark. A gagged up, slapstick brawl concludes the doings for an uproarious note to send the customers away happy. "Hazard" is one for the substantial money. CAST: Paulette Goddard, Macdonald Carey, Fred Clark. Stanley Clements, Maxie Rosenbloom, James Millican, Percy Helton, Charles McGraw, Frank Favlen, Frank Fenton. CREDITS: Producer, Mel Epstein; Director, George Marshall; Screenplay, Arthur Sheekman, Rcy Chanslor; Based on the novel bv Roy Chanslor; Music score, Frank Skinner; Photography, Daniel L. Faoo; Art direction, Hans Dreier, Robert Clatsworrhy; Editor, Arthur Schmidt; Sets, Sam Comer, Ross Dowd; Sound, Gene Merritt, Don Johnson. DIRECTION, Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY, Very Good. MPTO Schedules Cairo Meeting St. Louis — MPTO of St. Louis, Eastern Missouri and Southern Till nois, schedules a regional meeting in Cairo in April or May, following the success of the regional session held at Hannibal. hie I "1 "Meet Me At Dawn" with William Eythe, Hazel Court 20th -Fox 89 M| BRISK LAUGHTER SESSION IN Tl ONE WILL ATTRACT THE AUDIEh SHOPPING FOR LIGHT FARE.^ Briskly, and with the light toucW^.val this Marcel Hellman production achie sought for gayety and delivers up laughter. Where in all the previous the subjects of duelling and the settl of debts of honor via rapier and pistol given serious treatment, here the revers* found. It just about kids the pants off pastime. Its broad comedy strokes pi duelling on a mass production, money mi ing basis, makes a travesty of the pract Film was made in England by Excelsior Fl Productions. Aside from its saleability as a comej; "Meet Me At Dawn" has an adde the female trade in the personable f capable William Eythe. Cast of Bri regulars do well by their parts. Yarn has to do with a young businessr about Paris. His business — duelling, not honor but for francs. By him it's stri commerce. His clients run the socjal gan For a price he will take anyone out circulation for as long as is required to ; a point or make a deal. As he perform job, it is not lethal, merely the slight wou ing of an opponent. At the Paris Exhibition of 1902 he mi Hazel Court and romance blooms. On account, or rather by framing, Eythe is gaged to fight a duel with a member of Senate. Miss Court's father delights in for the Senator is an old enemy. Howe Paris is abuzz with the gossip connec/ with the affair. The mysterious "Mad;l^| X" in the case is Miss Court. What transpires from that point on i J j smartly handled comedy of morals, manrl||j and customs with the marriage of the principals arriving in due time. In wedded state Eythe gives up his profes; but maintains some status as a fencing structor of the young. Thornton Freel directed. CAST: William Eythe, Stanley Holloway, E tiice Campbell, George Thorpe, Irene Brc Hazel Court, Basil Sydney', Margaret Rutherf. Ada Reve, Grame Muir, James Harcourt, K Johnson. CREDITS: Producer, Marcel Hellman; Direc Thornton Freeland; Screenplay, Lesley Stc James Seymour; Editor, E. B. Jarvis; Art direc Norman Arnold; Sound, J. C. Cook, Desm Dew; Photography, Gunther Krampf, R. Franc ;. Music, Mischa Spoliansky. DIRECTION, Able. PHOTOGRAPHY, Not Hot. ARMIT Seeks Discounts < Equip, and Candy Buys Denver — Board of Allied Ro< Mountain Independent Theaters 1 named a committee to investig discounts -for its members on P^ chases of theater equipment and si plies, and candy and popcorn. Grc will report at the ARMIT convent in May. Committee comprises Neil Beezl chairman; Walter Ibold, and T Knight. Board also reported that the D ver Shipping and Inspection Bure organized by F. L. Fetz, should s; express costs for members. Sear presently is restricted to ARM Gibraltar Circuit and Fox Theate