Modern Screen (Jul-Dec 1945)

and is found murdered. By now, Nicki realizes that she may be the next victim, and she's scared silly. So silly that she goes for a walk alone with the murderer. . . . — Univ. NOB HILL This is George Raft's first picture since he came back from his USO tour. He is teamed with (a) one beautiful brunette — Joan Bennett, and (b) one strawberry blonde — Vivian Blaine, which should be reward enough even for a trip to the front line trenches. The story is set in San Francisco, and the title comes from a part of town called officially Nob Hill, but known to people who don't live there as "Snob Hill." One of those who don't live there is Johnny Angel (George Raft). Everyone in San Francisco knows Johnny. He owns the Gold Coast, an elaborate, expensive night club. The star of the Gold Coast show is Sally (Vivian Blaine) who sings and makes eyes at the male audience with vast success, but keeps her heart for Johnny. The question is, does Johnny want it? Sally has thought he does for the last couple of years. Now, however, the situation has changed. Johnny has met Harriet Carruthers (Joan Bennett), who lives on Nob Hill and is the sister of Lash Carruthers (Edgar Barrier), Reform candidate for District Attorney. Johnny meets Harriet through little Katie (Peggy Ann Garner), an Irish orphan whom he has taken under his wing. Class distinctions don't mean a thing to Katie. As far as she is concerned, Harriet is just a nice, pretty lady, whom Johnny ought to like. Johnny does like her, and that's what's bothering Sally. Is he really in love with this girl from Snob Hill, and if he is, what will come of it? Sally cares enough about him to want him to be hap ADVERTISEMENT 4 SAVE A LIFE! Listen! Yes, we mean you, all curled up in an easy chair with your MODERN SCREEN. You, who are comfortable and whole and clean. This is about those who are not any oj these things. This is about the wounded who are fed life from a Red Cross bottle marked "Blood Plasma." Since 1941, American adults have filled more than 12,000,000 of these precious containers destined to reach every battlefield where men fight. They have lent life to boys who otherwise would have had to give theirs. Admiral Ross T. Mclntire, Surgeon General of the Navy, insists that plasma has been the greatest single life saver of the war. And on craggy lwo Jima, the U. S. Marines who scaled Mount Suribachi and raised the American flag over it renamed the heights "Mount Plasma." Last year, the Army and Navy started flying whole blood as well as plasma to Europe — a new, second-tosecond race against death. And in the far Pacific, ten minutes after whole blood arrives at field stations, civilian blood is flowing into the veins of wounded GIs. Today, in any of the thirty-one donor centers throughout the United States, you may dedicate your blood to a serviceman dear to you and sign your name upon the label to be attached to the container. Already, men wounded thousands of miles away have returned and made a bee-line to thank donors whose blood saved them. So, give your blood! The need is deep and ever growing. What better gift can you offer than life itself? py, yet she can't see how this new attachment will bring him happiness. She tries to tell him so, but Johnny gets angry arid they quarrel. So — the first thing the Barbary Coast knows, its leading saloon keeper has come out for Reform candidate Lash Carruthers, and Sally is singing at El Dorado, a rival night club. Katie, aghast at the effect of her friendly efforts, disappears the night that Carruthers is elected. Johnny's search for her has unexpected results. Little Peggy Ann Garner is as appealing as she was in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn." She isn't a bit pretty, but she makes you want to hug her. — 20th-Fox. THAT'S THE SPIRIT "That's the spirit," and the "spirit," believe it or not, is Jack Oakie. Jack isn't the ethereal type you usually associate with ghosts, but this is a very unusual ghost. For one thing, its shoes squeak. There isn't a clanking chain in the whole picture, which disappointed me a little. But clanking chains, it seems, are corny. Jack doesn't start right out being a ghost. In the beginning, he's a vaudeville comedian named Steve Gogarty. He is minding his own business and not looking for any trouble when he meets pretty Libby Cawthnrne (June Vincent) . Libby has been brought up with painful strictness by her disciplinarian father, Jasper (Gene Lockhart) . On this particular day she has sneaked off to come to the local theater, which Jasper considers a den of iniquity. When Steve asks for a volunteer from the audience, Libby steps up on the stage — and into love. She brings Steve home to meet the family, and Jasper almost has apoplexy. He pulls enough wires to get the theater raided, only to discover Libby in Steve's dressing room, apparently clad in a thin 24 "They say he drinks only Pepsi-Cola.