Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1939)

40 MOTION PICTURE HERALD JULY I , 1939 IN THE CUTTING ROOM Babes in Arms (MGM) Comedy Set in the period that marked the passing of vaudeville, "Babes in Arms" will tell the story of the brave attempt made by a group of former "two-a-day" headliners to recapture fleeting fame and fortune with a comeback tour, and the audacious manner in which their children, born to the stage, come to their rescue. Adapted from one of the most successful Broadway comedy hits of the noted composerauthor team of Rodgers and Hart, the theme is a blend of comedy and light melodrama, offset by several of the original musical numbers and a half dozen especially written melodies. Mickey Rooney will be seen as the youthful author-composer-producer, who, knowing that the oldsters' brand of entertainment is outdated, sets out to prove that moderns want modern ideas. Two distinct shows will be shown within the show. One, in the nature of a minstrel show, takes place in a barn with Rooney impersonating the noted Eddie Leonard in song and dance, while in blackface he and the support relive many other famous minstrel folk. The concluding number an extravagant juvenile revue, will feature the entire cast and about 15 young specialty performers. Adolescents predominate in the cast. Featured with Rooney will be Judy Garland, Betty Jaynes, Douglas McPhail, June Preisser and Ran Brooks. The other players concerned are Charles Winninger, Margaret Hamilton, Guy Kibbee and Henry Hull. Busby Berkeley is directing. Release date : To be determined. The Real Glory (UA-Goldwyn) Military Adventure Except for "The Hurricane" and "The Adventures of Marco Polo," which in the last analysis were spectacles, Samuel Goldwyn's recent production record has not included any out-and-out action-adventure films. For that reason, "The Real Glory," which basically is a super action-adventure story, becomes a matter of more than ordinary importance to exhibitors. The photoplay will tell a story of patient American courage and heroism in conflict with native fanatic savagery. The locale is Mindanao, an island in the Philippine group. The time is just after the Spanish-American war, when American troops were evacuating the islands, and coincident with the establishment of the Philippine Constabulary. Of all the wild island tribes the Mohammedan Moro tribe had remained unconquered for three centuries. Feared by Spaniards and Americans, they were also dreaded by Christian, peace-loving natives. How they were subjugated by an American Army doctor's courage and the heroism of an American girl constitutes the theme of the story, with the combative romance between the doctor and the girl. The many hand-to-hand fights and mass battles, culminating in the dynamiting of a dam, simultaneously with a fanatic siege of an undermanned fort, provide the spectacles. In most Goldwyn pictures in which he appears, Gary Cooper's importance as a box office draw takes precedence over practically all other commercial values. That importance will have significance in the case of "The Real Glory" just as much as will the Goldwyn reputation for making quality entertainment no matter into what field he ventures. But the appeal of the story, which has to do with one of the most noted episodes in modern American history, should not be ignored. Then, too, there is the prestige of others in the cast, principally Andrea Leeds, who, since her first picture, "Stage Door," and through "Goldwyn Follies" and "Letter of Introduction," has risen high in public esteem ; David Niven, Reginald Owen, Broderick Crawford, Russell Hicks, Vladimar Sokoloff and Henry Kolker. To bring to screen realism this stirring adventure story, based on Charles Clifford's novel of the same title, with all its factual authenticity and fictional counterpart, Mr. Goldwyn chose as director Henry Hathaway, whose career is studded with many thrill pictures, among them "Lives of a Bengal Lancer," "Souls at Sea," "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and "Spawn of the North." Release date : To be determined. Our Leading Citizen ( Paramount ) Topical Melodrama "Our Leading Citizen" probably will prove to be the picture in which Bob Burns is established as a screen personality of greater importance than has been his lot to date. In substance the photoplay, which is based on an Irvin S. Cobb story, stresses the importance of being an American and it essentially is newspaper headline material. Leaning neither to right or left, but straight down the middle, as it treats sociological, political and economic events that are transpiring in almost every American city today, it is a story of rugged old fashioned honesty in conflict with the forces of industrial and financial greed and invested privilege and the various radical "isms" that take root when social classes clash and the rich grow richer while the poor are ground down to become further discontented. It's meaty stuff, yet supplied with comedy, love interest and human interest. Coming within that classification of picture entertainment which some producing organizations have decided is a bit too delicate to concern themselves with at this time, the picture is a bit too delicate to concern themselves with at this time, the picture is being made in straight-f rom-the-shoulder fashion with the direct objective of being absorbing timely and meaningful entertainment and by no means either propaganda or educational presentation. To support Burns, Paramount and the producer, George Arthur, have rounded up an exceptionally strong cast, among them the studio's new discovery, Suzan Heyward, now in "Beau Geste," Joseph Allen, Jr., Elizabeth Patterson, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, Charles Bickford, Paul Guilfoyle, Clarence Kolb, Fay Helm and Otto Hoffman. Direction is in the hands of Alfred Santell, who made Burns' "The Arkansas Traveller" and had experience with this type of material when he directed "Winterset" and "The Life of Vergie Winters." Release date: August 11, 1939. Hotel for Women (20th Century-Fox) Exploitation Show Although the thematic structure of "Hotel for Women" will follow the path of a multiangled romance melodrama prior to its happy ending, exhibitors, for many patent reasons, most likely will consider it an unique exploitation show. The major locale, as the title denotes, is a New York City hotel for women, so rigidly administered that a member of the sterner sex hardly dares stick his nose inside the front door. It is populated by models, and the heroine is one of them. Its contact woman is the widely publicized party giver, Elsa Maxwell, who, in addition to having served as technical director on the film and helped write the story with Kathryn Scola and Darrell Ware, will appear in it and sing a song she wrote Secondly, "Hotel for Women," while it will present a score or more of well known screen personalities, will also serve as the screen debut of two promising newcomers, Linda Darnell and Katherine Aldridge, a photographer's model. For more familiar names the picture will feature James Ellison, Ann Sothern, who did something for herself in MGM's "Maisie," Miss Maxwell, John Halliday, Lynn Bari, Alan Dinehart, Jean Rogers, June Gale, Mary Healy, Joyce Compton, Amanda Diff, Sidney Blackmer, Chick Chandler, Ivan Lebedeff and Barnett Parker, and many others. The film is being directed by Gregory Ratoff, whose latest credits are "Wife, Husband and Friend" and "Rose of Washington Square." Raymond Griffith is assuming responsibilities of production. Release date : To be determined. These Clamour Girls (MGM) Collegiate Romance Entertainment for youthful audience groups, those in the ages between adolesence and early maturity, is the aim of "These Glamour Girls." Regarded as one of the fictional hits of the season when published in Cosmopolitan, the story in which comedy and light melodrama have been combined to generate human interest is being brought to the screen by S. Sylvan Simon, whose record as a MGM director includes "Spring Madness," "Four Girls in White" and "The Kid from Texas." Production supervision is by Sam Zimbalist, who made "Tarzan Finds a Son," "The Crowd Roars" and "Navy Blue and Gold." Although the theme will not concern itself with an' athlete or cheer-leader, it nevertheless is a college story. Mainly it will treat of the experiences of a taxi-dancer who, bidden by a young blue blood, during a tipsy escapade, to a weekend fraternity house party, invades the environs of a tradition-shrouded college to find herself in conflict with Park Avenue debutante glamour girls. It will detail how she bests her snobbish rivals in all competition. Further it will show how she proved herself a real women when the student who forgot that he invited her is the victim of misfortune and needs an understanding friend. Although Lew Ayres, who will play the leading role, can hardly be considered a youngster,