Modern Screen (Dec 1940 - Nov 1941)

Garland and Rooney clown in "Strike Up the Band." Cooper and Goddard in "North West Mounted Police." BY WOLFE KAUFMAN STRIKE UP THE BAND Though this picture has very little to recommend it except youth, it has so much of that — vital, exciting, exuberant youth — that you'll probably go for it! And the antics of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney won't make anybody mad, either. Do you remember "Babes in Arms?" Well, this could be called another version of it with different songs and different dialogue. It's the same basic plot — but Metro probably figured it was good the first time, so why not try it again? Okay, Mr. Metro, do it a third time as long as you keep Judy Garland in it! To our way of thinking, Judy is just about the ne plus ultra of all time. The kid's got everything. She can sing a song like a trouper, she can peddle a line with the best of 'em, and she can do a Conga that'll positively astonish you. The story concerns the difficulties of an ambitious drummer-boy, Mickey Rooney, in organizing a band. It's not all plain sailing, but eventually he gets his band together for a radio contest and wins a prize offered by Paul Whiteman. Thus ends the plot of the tale, but the entertainment doesn't stop there! You'll love the dances and ditties, especially one swell song entitled "Our Love Affair." Directed by Busby Berkeley. — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. PREVIEW POSTSCRIPTS: A year from the day production began on "Babes in Arms," Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland started the first scene in "Strike Up the Band," directed by Bus Berkeley and produced by Arthur Freed. The same quartette have a date for 1941, to make "Babes on Broadway" . . . Mickey practiced his drum solo for the "Drummer Boy" number two hours a day for a month and two days. While waiting to have it shot, he began picking out the tune on a xylophone that was handy and wound up playing both in the picture . . . Mickey's dad, Joe Yule, who has played in a burlesque house in Los Angeles for a number of years, appears with his son for the second time. First time was in "Judge Hardy and Son" . . . Nine different orchestras are used in the film — a new high for a single picture . . . The miniature band made from various fruits and vegetables, seen in the "Our Love Affair" number, took a crew one month to complete and six men to operate . . . Mickey uses make-up for the second time since his mother applied burnt cork to make his hair suitable for the Mickey McGuire roles . . . During production of "Strike Up the Band," Judy celebrated her eighteenth birthday and her graduation from high school . . . Judy revives "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl," the song that laughed every sentimental popular ballad off the market back in the days when Marie Dressier made her greatest stage hit . . . Paul Whiteman's "fatherly talk" to Mickey in the picture is virtually the story of Whiteman's own life. ★★★^ NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE Pictures come, stars go, worlds change, but Cecil B. DeMille goes on forever. Here is another of those DeMille specials with his usual can't-miss formula — lots of action, lots of excitement, a terrific cast of stars, some top-notch and thoroughly excitable scenery — but this time it's all wrapped up in a cellophane bundle of beautiful Technicolor! It's a lot of movie, and all of it's swell. You've probably heard the story many times about the North West mounted policeman who always gets his man. Well, DeMille has to go that yarn one better, of course, so he reminds you that the Texas Rangers used the same slogan. And when both Preston Foster, the Canadian, and Gary Cooper, the Texan, go out to knock off the same meanie, said meanie (George Bancroft) should know enough to give up right away. But he doesn't — the die-hard — not until the grand finale. To complicate things just a little, both Preston and Gary fall in love with Madeleine Carroll — not that any one blames them — and the picture finishes with one of the boys getting his man and the other getting Madeleine. Now you can have yourself some fun guessing which gets who. That's not the whole story, of course. There are lots of undercurrents caused by the fact that Madeleine's brother, Robert Preston ( don't get the Prestons mixed up ) , is in love with a blue-eyed half-breed — Paulette Goddard, who is secretly Bancroft's daughter. Walter Hampden, as an Indian chief, Akim Tamiroff and Lynne Overman provide the humorous element, such as it is, and there are a half-dozen other well-known actors and actresses in the picture. It's not one of those films that we intellectuals are likely to rave about, but it's a good movie. Some of the dialogue is pretty bad, and you have never heard quite such a collection of strange accents, but what's the difference? The key to this film's success lies in the fact that it is two hours long and not a minute of it drags. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. — Paramount. PREVIEW POSTSCRIPTS: Over 1,000 persons are in the cast, and there are 153 speaking parts . . . This is DeMille's 64th production as he enters his 28th year as a producer-director; this is his first all-Technicolor production although he was the first Hollywood producer ever to use color in a film (in 1917) . . . The Royal Canadian Mounted Police opened its official records to the filmers for research purposes and helped to drill DeMille's "troops". . . Walter Hampden underwent the most unusual bit of make-up for this film ever attempted. Blue-eyed Indians are out of the question, so the color of his eyes was changed to brown by way of invisible contact lenses; first time this has been done 10 MODERN SCREEN