Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1940)

Page 12 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 12, 1940 Mexican Spitfire Out West Before I Hang RKO-Radio (Hollywood Preview) Comedy 75 mins. (Prod. No. Ill, Nat'l Release, Nov. 8) AUDIENCE SLANT: (ADULT) FUNNIEST PICTURE TO HIT THE SCREEN IN MANY A MOON. WILL GIVE MORE ENTERTAINMENT TO YOUR PATRONS THAN THEY EXPECT. BOX OFFICE SLANT: GOOD SCREENFARE OF THE "SLEEPER" VARIETY. AN EXCELLENT COMEDY THAT WILL SEND ANY AUDIENCE HOME PLEASED. WILL PROFIT BY WORD-OFMOUTH. Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods, Elizabeth Risdon, Cecil Kellaway, Linda Hayes, Lydia Bilbrook, Charles Coleman, Charles Quigley, Eddie Dunn, Grant Withers, Tom Kennedy. Credits: Directed by Leslie Goodwins. Screenplay by Jack Townley and Charles E. Roberts, from the story by Roberts. Photographed by Jack McKenzie. Film editor, Desmond Marquette. Produced by Cliff Reid. Plot: Leon Errol, noted British whisky manufacturer, arrives in New York to arrange a new advertising campaign. When Eddie Dunn, another ad man wants to see him, Donald Woods arranges to keep him a virtual prisoner in his Park Avenue apartment. In the excitement, he forgets about his wife, Lupe Velez, who is all steamed up because Woods has forgotten it's their first wedding anniversary. She leaves for Reno and engages a lawyer (also played by Errol), and he almost brings around a conciliation when the entire family arrives, including the whisky manufacturer' Lupe tries to make Woods jealous by making love to Errol, which complicates matters more. Things are finally straightened out, Woods and Lupe kiss and make up and all ends well. Comment: Newest in the series co-starring Lupe Velez and Leon Errol, is a broad farce loaded with slapstick and jammed with laughs. It is the type of picture that will keep any audience in stitches, and tops the previous two in the series by a mile. Leon Errol is in practically every scene, playing a dual role, and although it becomes a bit confusing at times, it gets a flock of laughs, the kind that make you miss the dialogue in the next scenes. Lupe Velez turns in her usual swell performance and the supporting players are perfectly cast for this mad screwy comedy. Leslie Goodwins keeps the film rolling at a furious clip, and deserves a lot of credit for his work. Cliff Reid rates a big hand for his efforts on the production end. Here's one that will hold its own, wherever played, with hilarious effect. Offer prizes to the person who names the most "different kinds of laughs" such as belly-laugh, side-splittinglaugh, etc. Rig up a "laugh-o-meter" in your lobby, presided over by a pretty girl. Catchline: "We guarantee you 75 minutes of belly-laughs." They Knew What They Wanted RKO-Radio Drama 96 mins. (Prod. No. 104— Nat'l Release, Oct. 25) AUDIENCE SLANT: (ADULT) ITS ABSORBING DRAMA WILL COMMAND THE ATTENTION OF ANY AUDIENCE, ALTHOUGH CLASS PATRONAGE WILL BE MOST ENTHUSIASTIC IN ITS PRAISE. BOX OFFICE SLANT: IT HAS ELEMENTS THAT MAKE FOR INCREASED ACTIVITY AT THE BOX OFFICE. Cast: Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, William Gargan, Harry Carey, Frank Fav. Joe Bernard, Janet Fox, Lee Tung-Foo, Karl Maiden, Victor Kilian. Credits: Produced by Erich Pommer. Directed by Garson Kanin. Screenplay bv Robert Ardrey. From the play by Sidney Howard. Director of photography, Harry Stradling. Special effects, Vernon L. Walker. Legion of Decency Ratings (For Week Ending October 12) SUITABLE FOR GENERAL PATRONAGE Pony Express Thief of Bagdad SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY Night Train Meet ihe Wildcat Down Argentine Way North West Mounted Police They Knew What They Wanted Art director, Van Nest Polglase. Musical direction, Alfred Newman. Film editor, John Sturges. Plot: Laughton, Italian grape-grower, goes to San Francisco in search of a wife. There he sees Carole Lombard, restaurant waitress, and although he never speaks to her, he returns to the valley determined to marry her. He gets Gargan, his foreman, to write to her (he himself cannot write) and the correspondence continues. Eventually, marriage is proposed. Carole accepts, and when she comes to the valley, she is met by Gargan, whom she thinks is here future husband. On learning the truth, she is furious at being duped, but decides to go through with the marriage to Laughton. At a fiesta later, Laughton gets drunk, falls, breaks both legs. The marriage is postponed, but Carole can't escape contact with Gargan, and eventually, despite her effort, gives herself to him. When Laughton recovers, he wants to go through with the marriage at once. But when Carole faints, the doctor examines her, discovers she is to become a mother. Feeling she can't marry Laughton now, she persuades Gargan to help her leave the ranch. Laughton discovers them leaving, beats Gargan mercilessly. Then he calms down, agrees to marry Carole and raise the child as his own. She is not ready to take advantage of this kindness, and leaves ; apparently she will return to Laughton later. Comment: For sheer dramatic intensity, for inspired performances on the part of its principals, here is a picture that stands out in bold relief. True enough, its main theme is delicate and at times sordid, but so skillfully has it been wrought into a compelling screenplay that it never offends. Although Charles Laughton, as the happy-go-lucky Italian grapegrower, outdoes his past performances with a masterly characterization, and although Carole Lombard rises to dramatic heights in an effective portrayal, for which both of them deserve high praise, it is nonetheless apparent that only the skillful direction of Garson Kanin could have made the picture the absorbingly dramatic triumph it is. Most favorable reactions, of course, will come from class patronage rather than from the masses, yet there is no denying that the latter, whatever their ultimate criticism, will find themselves wholly involved in the situations unfolding before them. In Lombard and Laughton, you have a worthy selling combination. This, plus the proper accent on the powerful drama, superb direction and inspired performances, should create maximum interest in your engagement. Catchline: "Daring . . . exciting . . . sensational . . . here is this year's great drama." Columbia Drama 63 mins. (Nat'l Release, Sept. 17) AUDIENCE SLANT: (ADULT) TYPICAL HORROR PICTURE FOR THE KARLOFF FANS. BOX OFFICE SLANT: WILL DO ABOUT WHAT OTHER PICTURES OF THE SAME ILK HAVE DONE. Cast: Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan, Ben Taggart, Pedro de Cordoba, Wright Kramer, Bertram Marburgh, Don Beddoe, Robert Fiske, Kenneth MacDonald, Frank Richards. Credits: Produced by Wallace MacDonald. Screenplay by Robert D. Andrews from the story by Andrews and Karl Brown. Directed by Nick Grinde. Photography by Benjamin Kline. Film editor, Charles Nelson. Plot: Karloff is sentenced to hang for a mercy killing. The warden of the prison permits him to continue his experiments together with Van Sloan, the prison physician. He has been attempting to prevent old age. He takes the blood of a dead murderer and although his sentence is commuted and he is permitted to continue to work, the blood gives him a lust to kill. He kills the prison physician and another inmate, but is pardoned because he is thought a hero. Then he kills two of his friends, but finally is shot as he attempts to return to prison. Comment: For the horror addicts this is the perfect story and one in which they should revel. Karloff as usual is the whole show and while the story is utterly implausible he is the only one able to rise above it even slightly. The direction and photography are fair. Such old tricks as fog and darkness are used to hide a good deal of what goes on in an attempt to create an eerie atmosphere. It is hard to believe that scientists would work in a dark laboratory but after all, that is probably a liberty one is permitted to take with horror pictures. _ Get publicity stories planted in the way of interviews with prominent people about mercy killing and the theory that old age is a disease. With the cooperation of your druggist set up a lobby display of laboratory equipment with various bottles of colored liquids and dry ice to give off a vapor. Catchline: "His search for the fountain of youth ends in a pool of his victims' blood." Knute Rockne— All American Warner Brothers Drama 98 mins (Prod. No. not set— Nat'l Release, Oct. 5) AUDIENCE SLANT: (FAMILY) WARM, HUMAN ENTERTAINMENT THAT WILL DEEPLY IMPRESS ANY AUDIENCE. BOX OFFICE SLANT: WHILE A "NATURAL" FOR THE FOOTBALL SEASON, IT SHOULD NEVERTHELESS SCORE AT ANY TIME WITH THE DESERVED BACKING OF A STRONG SELLING CAMPAIGN. Cast: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp, Albert Basserman, John Litel, Henry O'Neill. Owen Davis, Jr., Tohn Qualen, Dorothy Tree, John Sheffield, The Moreau Choir of Notre Dame, Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall, William Byrne, Coach Howard Tones, Coach Glenn "Pop" Warner, Coach Alonzo Stagg, Coach William "Bill" Spaulding, Ruth Robinson, Cliff Clark, Richard Clayton, George Haywood, Carlyle Moore, Jr., Peter Ashley, Michael Harvey, Gaylord Pendleton, Charles Trowbridge, George Irving, Charles Wilson. Credits: Executive Producer, Hal B. Wallis. Directed bv Lloyd Bacon. Original screenplay by Robert Buckner. Based on the private papers of Mrs. Rockne and the University of Notre Dame. Director of photography, Tony Gaudio. Special effects by Bvron Haskin and Rex Wimpy. Art director, Robert Haas. Film editor, Ralph Dawson. Musical director, Leo F. Forbstein. Plot: Coming to America with his parents, Rockne (O'Brien) earns enough money to enter Notre Dame. While there, he and a