Modern Screen (Jul-Dec 1945)

MOVIE REVIEWS (Continued from page 15) waiting. He has traced her to New York and is ready to take her back. He even helps her pack, quite unconscious that in Joan's slender body the primitive force of Carmen is angrily rising. In unbelieving horror Joan sees her own hand reach stealthily for a pair of heavy shears. In another moment Bob lies dead on the floor. Murder. A trial. The death penalty. But Eric is still on Joan's side. Still trying to convince the representatives of justice that something is incredibly wrong here. The end will leave you in a state of limp amazement. — M-G-M. MY REPUTATION It's awfully easy to say "I'll be my own judge of what's right and wrong. It doesn't matter if people talk, so long as my conscience is clear." But it does matter, and in unexpected ways. Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck) finds that out when she's left a widow with two young sons. Jessica has led a very protected life. Too protected, perhaps. Her mother dominated her until her marriage. Then her husband, who was completely devoted, took over. She led the accepted life of a rich, pretty young society matron. But now what is she to do? There are two alternatives. She can settle down to widow's weeds and charitable work, as her mother thinks proper, or she can be Jessica Drummond and make a new life for herself. She tries the first for a whole summer and almost goes out of her mind. In the fall when the boys start off to school, she realizes that she just can't stand it any longer. She goes with some friends to Lake Tahoe in California. There she skis, parties, and falls in love. The man is Major Scott Landis (George Brent), and he isn't like anyone Jessica has ever known. He's definitely a wolf, and when he kisses her, she is furious with herself for responding. She tells him goodbye and hurries back to Chicago, where she can be nice and safe— and lonely. When Scott is transferred there, Jessica can't conceal her happiness at seeing him again. Suddenly all the old conventional taboos seem unimportant. She and Scott go everywhere together. When her mother insults him, Jessica is more on his side than ever. She drops her old friends completely. Jessica doesn't worry about the gossip until the boys come home at Christmas time. They hear it, inevitably, and when they face her on New Year's Eve and demand that she stop seeing Scott, Jessica faces a heart-breaking choice. Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent make a nice couple. Lucille Watson, Eve SEPTEMBER ISSUE Can we help it if we're so popular? No! But still, you'd better chase right out on August 10 if you want to be sure of getting your September Modern Screen, a terrific issue of your favorite movie magazine! Arden, Scotty Beckett and Bobby Cooper are among the supporting cast. — War. THE NAUGHTY NINETIES The naughty nineties aren't really very naughty in this new Abbott and Costello epic, but they are funny, with the boys loose on a showboat in the Mississippi. Bud Abbott as Dexter Broadhurst plays romantic roles in all the shows, while Lou as a deckhand named Sebastian just gets in everybody's way. The showboat is run by Captain Sam (Henry Travers). He's supposed to have run it for years, but the first good looking lady crook who comes along doesn't have a bit of trouble getting it away from him. Her name is Bonita (Rita Johnson) and she's far too smart for the old captain. With the assistance of a smooth gambler. Quincy (Alan Curtis), who owes her so much money he has to do whatever she tells him. she gets the captain drunk and wins fifteen thousand dollars in IOU's from him. That makes her own eighty per cent of the showboat. Of course it was Dexter and Sebastian's fault, in a way. The captain's lovely daughter, Caroline (Lois Collier) , had sent them to look after her father. As usual they got a little mixed in their assignment, and by the time they created enough furore in the gambling joint to get the captain out, the damage was done. The fair Bonita had the IOU's tucked away in her garter, and the showboat was in alien hands. Poor Captain Sam! It's Dexter and Sebastian who fix things up. And how! But see for yourself. — Univ. ADVERTISEMENT 24 She — "What has ze Americaine girl got we have not?" He~"A big bottle of Pepsi-Cola!"