National Board of Review Magazine (Jan 1939 - Jan 1942)

January 1942 17 head of the fifth columnists who are at the time plotting an explosion in New York harbor, and Bogart thugs save the city from annihilation. The build-up is swift and effective though the final denouement is rather incredible. BABES ON BROADWAY / — Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland. Original screen story by Fred Finklchoffe. Directed by Busby Berkeley. Metro-Goldivyn-Mayer. This musical review pays tribute to the hordes of youngsters who are as yet undiscovered by the theatrical world but who are nevertheless capable. The gang of them gives a show of their own for a benefit to send some under-privileged kids to the country. However, the acts are the thing in this loud affair and they include everything from blackface to Bernhardt and back. Rooney's exuberance knows no bounds and the camera never gets off him for more than seconds, which should gratify Rooney fans. BAHAMA PASSAGE / — Stirling Hayden, Madeleine Carroll. Based on the story by Nelson Hayes. Directed by Ediuard H. Griffith. Paramount. Pulchritude, lad-and-lass style, bathed in the sun of the Caribees and the latest Technicolor, slowly unfolds an Adam-andEve story with the shadow of an insane mother and a larcenous father providing the grim relief. The writing is of the slow "poetic" kind with innumerable conversations having their root in love; the direction dallies in the luxury of the color camera in the islands; the film is long on photography but short on drama. BALL OF FIRE / — Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck. Original screen story by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe. Directed by Howard Hawks. RKO Radio. A swell idea is embodied in the situation of eight frowsty old bookworms working on an encyclopedia and having to refer to a boogie-wise niterie singer for authoritative information on slang. The opportunities were many for developing this, but the writers chose to drop the theme midway and devote the story to the battle of an honest man and a gangster for the girl. It is moderately funny and original, chiefly due to a sure performance by Miss Stanwyck and some modest buffoonery by the sages. But they can't quite keep the ball a-roUing. BEDTIME STORY m — Frederick March, Loretta Young, Robert Benchley. Original screen story by Horace Jackson and Grant Garrett. Directed by Alexander Hall. Columbia. A comedy involving a playwright who loves the theatre and his wife, a great actress, who wants a home in the country. On this issue they quarrel and almost get a divorce. By a series of devices the husband manages to get his spouse to compromise and they have both. Rather talky and slow for a good while, but the film ends with a swift riot that is very satisfying. Throughout the cast does a very nice job. BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT / — Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes. Based on the character created by Brett Halliday. Directed by Herbert I. Leeds. 20th Century-Fox. The title refers to the diamonds which are being spirited out of the country by foreign agents to thwart our production, since diamonds are allegedly used in dyecutting, etc. Detective Michael Shayne is on their trail, however, and after a hectic voyage to Honolulu with a dangerous couturiere, punctuated with shots from a Maxim Silencer, he finally stops the diamond leakage and accompanying murders. It's a lively and good-humored mystery. THE BUGLE SOUNDS / — Wallace Beery. Original screen story by Lawrence Kimble and Cyril Hume. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A good service picture about the mechanized cavalry and Wallace Beery playing the part of an old sergeant with small love for tanks. The field shots are remarkably good and the story on which the documentation hangs, if slight, is pleasant enough and has a swell bang-up ending replete with saboteurs and Beery heroics. The star puts over his somewhat sentimental role with his old precision and all told makes the film a very enjoyable one.