Modern Screen (Jan - Nov 1940)

the last war, and she lives peacefully and contentedly with her sons — Chris, Karl, Fritz and Joseph. Then, suddenly, there are rumblings of what is to come. Karl joins a German social club and becomes a Nazi. Hitler moves into the land of the Czechs with a lightning-like thrust in one of his first blitzkriegs. Chris goes off to defend his country, returning after a quick and humiliating defeat. Caught in a swamp by swastika-uniformed troops while warning friends of the German purge, Chris shoots his way out, unknowingly killing Karl, his own brother. But the Nazis take a life for a life, and Chris is mercilessly shot down in front of his mother's home. Then comes the Polish blitzkrieg, and Fritz Bernle, at eighteen, must go off to fight for a Germany he hates. Frau Bernle's only hope of happiness now lies in building a new life in America with her one remaining son, Joseph. The entire cast gives superb characterizations. Eugenie Leontovich, as Frau Bernle, might well be the recipient of an Academy Award for her inspired performance. Don Ameche, Alan Curtis, George Ernest and Robert Lowery are excellent as the sons, and Mary Beth Hughes, as Karl's wife, is outstanding, too. Directed by Archie Mayo. — Twentieth Century-Fox. PREVIEW POSTSCRIPTS: Six actresses were tested for the role of Frau Bernle before Eugenie Leontovich, Gregory Ratofj's wife, was signed for the part. . . . Before Czechoslovakia was blitzkrieged, studio representatives bought $50,000 worth of furniture, bric-a-brac, lamps and chandeliers typical of the country. Later, with the help of various Czech societies, Twentieth Century-Fox was {Continued from page 15) also able to salvage authentic mobilization posters and other articles used in the picture. . . . The highest paid players in the film were not the stars, but the twin babies who portray little Karl Bernle. Since they are not yet six months old, they were permitted to work only twenty minutes a day and not more than twenty seconds consecutively. The infants— Carlo and Georgia Clarke — received $150 a day, for twenty minutes of work! k^k^k Tom Brown's School Days Though it's as English as Yorkshire pudding, "Tom Brown's School Days" will bring back with a rush memories of the days when you, too, were a kid in short pants (or pigtails). The picture is built around a schoolboy and a revolutionary educator who are both new to Rugby and hope to make good there. Though one is a student and one a professor, both must put up with dishonesty, cheating and lying. Tom, of course, gets much the worst of the deal, for he must endure beatings by the school bully without whimpering or snitching. The professor, on the other hand, must rid the school of corruption and vice and make, he hopes, "honest, God-fearing English gentlemen" Read the complete story of "The Letter," starring BETTE DAVIS in October Modern Screen out of his pupils. You'll be more than likely to relive your own school days while Tom Brown goes about trying to be a true Rugby-ite ■ — and therein lies the charm of the picture. Jimmy Lydon, as Tom, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, as Dr. Arnold, give fine performances. Freddie Bartholomew, as Tom's snooty chum, and Billy Halop, as the bully, are very convincing. Josephine Hutchinson, Polly Moran, Hughie Green, Alec Craig, Ernest Cossart and Ian Fulton, are all good, too. — Directed by Robert Stevenson — RKO-Radio. PREVIEW POSTSCRIPTS: To insure cooperation of the school, the producers hired two Rugby graduates as technical advisers, cast Britain's knighted Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Dr. Arnold, and handed the directorial reins to Robert Stevenson, English director. . . . Every book known to have mentioned England's famed Rugby school was used by the research department during the filming of the picture, and forty different editions of "Tom Brown" formed the basis for the sets and decorations. . . . In this production Billy Halop goes English, wearing an Eton collar, pin striped trousers and a black silk topper. The first day on the set, he received a telegram. It read, "Traitor," and was signed by the other "Dead End" toughies. . . . The fight sequence between Billy and Jimmy Lyd: n was Billy's 27th screen fight . . . 13-year-old Paul Mattl\2ws, who portrays one of the Rugby-ites in the picture, bore such a remarkable resemblance to Charles Laughton, that a meeting of the two was arranged. Laughton admitted the boy looked like him, and added, "Homely little blighter, isn't he?" (Continued on page 75) I BOUGHT HIS LOVE "h^ |OT for love or money!" I heard him say. No— Joe would never take a girl with dandruff to the party, and I had the worst case of dandruff in town. Yet, the very next day, he actually begged me to go with him! My whiteflecked hair was transformed into a silken glory overnight. Joe saw me as a new and radiantly lovely person, all because I purchased a bottle of Fitch Shampoo at my favorite toilet goods counter. I discovered that Fitch's Shampoo removes dandruff instantly, in one application. Its rich lather rinses out completely, leaving my hair shining clean. Actually, it penetrates tiny hair openings, helping to keep my scalp in normal, trouble-free condition. At the beauty shop or at home, I now insist on my weekly Fitch shampoo to keep my hair lovely and free of dandruff, the way Joe likes it. When I bought Fitch Shampoo, I bought his love! WRITE TODAY to the F. W. Fitch Company, Dept. M55, Des Moines, Iowa for a generous FREE sample of Fitch's Dandruff Remover Shampoo. Filch Shampoo GOODBYE t This photograph shows germs anadandruff scored but not removed, bY ordinary soap shampoo. 2 AH germs, d°"' druff and other foreign matter completely destroyed and removed by fitch Shampoo DANDRUFF Fitch Shamv00 notoral luster of ho'r , „x,er Fitch 4 Td hair rinsed Shampoo an sharnpoo ,«ice. H°,e..TondrUff and removes all dan and und',SS°W0ut the natural Copr. 1940 F. W. Fitch Co. DANDRUFF REMOVER SHAMPOO SEPTEMBER, 1940 17