FilmIndia (1946)

January, 1946 F I L M 1 N D I \ that he will arrange a meeting, but conceals the fact that Kitty was a guttersnipe. Marcy takes Kitty into his home and together with his gin-loving aunt (Constance Collier), teaches her how to act like a "lady" in a scheme to marry her of! to the Duke, and thus recoup his fortune. In the course of her tutelage, Kitty falls in love with Marcy despite his shabby treatment. When Marcy is suddenly thrown into debtors' prison, Kitty inveigles a wealthy ironmonger into marrying her, and she steals his money to pay for Marcy 's release. The ironmonger attempts to beat Kitty for stealing, but a housemaid she had befriended kills him and then commits suicide herself. Shortly after the funeral, Marcy manoeuvres the now wealthy Kitty into a marriage with the elderly Duke. She bears a child that had been fathered by the ironmonger, but allows the Duke to believe that the child was his own. The excitement of the birth causes the Duke to die from a heart attack, making Kitty one of England's richest noblewomen. Having been deeply in love with Marcy all along, Kitty finally becomes angered at his indifference to her and, to spite him. she becomes engaged to Brett Harwood (Patric Knowles) his best friend. Marcy, his love for her awakened, tries to break up the engagement by revealing Kitty's past, but Harwood is unimpressed. Kitty, however, assured that Marcy 's love for her was genuine, jilts Harwood and proclaims her love for Marcy. Darrel Ware and Karl Tunberg wrote the screen play from a novel by Rosamond Marshall, Mr. Tunberg produced it, and Mitchell Leisen directed it. The cast includes Eric Blore and others. Strictly adult fare. Veera makes the screen a career in "Shikari" a social theme of Filmistan Ltd. Khurshid Jnr. as the belle of Araby in "Song of Desert" a Jagriti picture. "THE SPIDER" (20th Century-Fox, no release date set; time, 61 min.) This murder mystery melodrama is only mild program fare, for the plot is ordinary, lacks suspense, and the action drags. Even though the murderer's identity is not divulged until the end, it fails to hold the spectator's attention, for the events leading up to his unveiling do not intrigue one. Moreover, the motive for the crimes are not clear to the spectator, for it is communicated to him through excessive, uninteresting dialogue. Stock tricks have been used to create a mysterious atmosphere, and to throw suspicion on the different characters, but they are not very effective. The comedy, little as there is of it, is hardly worth mentioning. Seeking to unravel the mysterious disappearance of her sister, Faye Marlowe retains Richard Conte, a private detective, and asks him to pick up an envelope from Ann Savage, his assistant. Conte, mystified, arranges for Ann to meet him at his apartment. There, before he can obtain the envelope, she is murdered by a mysterious intruder. Lest the police suspect him of the crime, Conte removes Ann's body and takes it to her apartment. The police find it under circumstances that lead them to suspect Conte. but they are unab'e to hold him because of lack of evidence. Conte, determined to solve Ann's murder, starts an investigation of his own. He trails Faye to a local theatre where he finds her working in a mindreading act with Kurt Kreuger. Faye explains that Ann had communicated with her and had offered to give her proof of her sister's murderer in exchange for a diamond brooch. She explains also that Kreuger had been married to her sister but that they had been divorced several year* 57