Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, March 19, 1949 The Box'0££ice Slant Current and Forthcoming Feature Product Reviewed from the Theatreman's Standpoint My dmm Is Yours (Color by Technicolor) Warner Bros. Musical 104 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) The music, color and humor in this light, romantic story, should please those interested in musical offerings, and that's a large majority. Doris Day (known from the Bob Hope Radio Show and her introductory picture, "Romance on the High Seas") is again co-starred -with Jack Carson. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: This musical has Technicolor, plenty of songs and the name draw of Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Doris Day, Adolphe Menjou, S. Z. Sakall and others to insure excellent box-office returns. Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Lee Bowman, Adolphe Menjou, Eve Arden, S. Z. Sakall, Selena Royle, Edgar Kennedy, Sheldon Leonard, Franklin Pangborn. John Berkes, Ada Leonard, Frankie Carle i.nd his Piano. Credits: Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Harry Kurnitz and Dane Lussier. Adaptation by Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr. Photography, Ernest Haller and Wilfred M. Cline. Technicolor Color Director, Natalie Kalmus; associate, Richard Mueller. Associe-^te Producer, George Amy. A Michael Curtiz Production. Plot: A radio talent scout discovers a new "voice" and makes every effort to get a wellTcnown sponsor to hear her and sign her up. He originally starts looking for her when the man whom he had built up to a star shows his true colors and signs with another company. The talent scout ends up by not only getting the girl started on a career, but also gets the girl. Comment: Similar in theme and thus in entertainment values and again co-starring Jack Carson and Doris Day, "My Dream Is Yours," gives the public another picture like their first co-starring Technicolor musical, "Romance on the High Seas." It has the same fine color, songs and performances, plus the addition of the Eve Arden and S. Z. Sakall type of comedy, all combined in a light, romantic story which the average individual can enjoy. There are quite a number of old as well as new numbers sung by Doris Day and supposedly by Lee Bowman. Among them seem to be two that have definite "hit" possibilities, the title song and one called Tic, Tic, Tic. There is also a sequence in which Bugs Bunny, the animated cartoon character, joins in a singing-dancing production number, which should delight the children but adds little to the film's entertainment worth. Cast is all excellent, and this includes, besides the two stars, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden and S. Z. Sakall. Veteran Producer-Director Michael Curtiz has given the picture plenty of the type of entertainment needed to insure excellent returns Champion United Artists Drama 99 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Aduh) A picture that all fight fans and most moviegoers will praise; one of the most convincing to hit the screen in a long time. Excellent acting and direction give audiences their money's worth of exciting fight sequences. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: The popularity of Ring Lardner, the large number of potential fight fans and those moviegoers who Notssnal Reviewing Committees' Classifications MIRANDA (Eagle Lion) MATURE— National Board of Review. CLASS B — National Legion of Decency. (Objection: Suggestive situation and dialogue.) IMPACT (United Artists) MATURE— National Board of Review. CLASS B — National Legion of Decency. (Objection: Reflects the acceptability of divorce.) enjoy a good prizefight drama should guarantee the box-office success of this picture in practically all theatres, from the first runs to the last of the subsequents. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Lola Albright, Luis Van Rooten, John Day, Harry Shannon. Credits: A Screen Plays Corp. presentation. Produced by Stanley Kramer. Directed by Mark Robson. Screenplay by Carl Foreman. Adapted from Ring Lardner's story, "Champion." Associate Producer, Robert Stillman. Song, Never Be It Said, by Dimitri Tiomkin and "Goldie" Goldmark. Plot: Forced to marry Ruth Roman by her suspicious father, Harry Shannon, Kirk Douglas at once deserts her, takes up the fight game under the management of Paul Stewart. He rapidly rises to the championship by double-crossing all who have helped him — his manager, the girl friend of a defeated fighter (Marilyn Maxwell), the wife (Lola Albright) of his new ' manager, Luis Van Rooten, who buys him off, and his own crippled brother, Arthur Kennedy. In a comeback fight with John Day, whom he knocks out as his own strength fails, he is so terribly beaten that he dies almost immediately. Comment: This is a picture that all fight fans and most moviegoers will praise. It is the story of a young man with decent impulses who becomes a complete heel as he rises to the championship. He double-crosses his manager, his crippled brother and the three women who figure in his life, but he is a great ring fighter, the hero of the fight fans. The fight sequences — his final fight in particular — are hot stuff, so brutally realistic that sensitive watchers must wince at the blows he gives and takes. Kirk Douglas was an excellent choice for the fighter; he depicts the degeneration of all the man's decent instincts under his thirst for victory — which means money and applause to him. He acts as well as he fights. The entire cast is excellent; especially praiseworthy performances are turned in by Paul Stewart as Douglas' manager, Arthur Kennedy as his brother, Ruth Roman as the wife he deserts, Marilyn Maxwell and Lola Albright. The production chores have been well handled, the direction all that could be desired and Carl Foreman has made a well-knit adaptation of the Ring Lardner story, though in adapting it for screen purposes, he had to depart widely from Lardner's "hero" who was a perfect heel at the start and remained the perfect heel throughout. The popularity of Ring Lardner, the large number of potential fight fans and those moviegoers who enjoy a good prizefight drama should guarantee the box-office success of this picture in practically all theatres, from the first runs to the last of the subsequents. It is one of the most convincing ring stories to reach the screen in a long time. Tuna Clipper Monogram Drama 77 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) This interesting and entertaining picture about the "Tuna" fishing industry should please average audiences. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Has the qualities for top-spot-draw in many situations. Cast: Roddy McDowall, Elena Verdugo, Roland Winters, Rick Vallin, Dickie Moore, Russell Simpson, Doris Kemper, Peter Mamakos, Richard Avonde, Michael Vallon. Credits: Directed by William Beaudine. Original screenplay by W. Scott Darling. Photography, William Sickner. Produced by Licdsley Parsons. Associate Producers, Roddy McDowall and Ace Herman. Plot: A young man's tuna-fishing family plan on his becoming a lawyer, but he is forced to join a fishing boat because he innocently becomes involved in a friend's trouble. His family disowns him and there is a great deal of trouble before the matter is cleared up. Comment: Here is a chance for most moviegoers to see, realistically and convincingly, how the men who catch "tunas" work at their trade. Used as a background for a story in which Roddy McDowall plays the white collar son of a "tuna" skipper, this offering has considerable appeal and interest for average audiences everywhere. Direction, performances, suspense and action have all been well combined. To give the film authenticity. Producer Lindsley Parsons had most of it photographed at San Pedro Harbor, where actual scenes of tuna fishing were shot. The cast members are all splendid, with particularly good characterizations turned in by Rick Vallin, Peter Mamakos and Michael Vallon. William Beaudine directed. Edward, My Son (Reviewed in London) MGM Drama 120 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) This brilliant adaptation of the international stage success will hold audiences with its powerful drama, superb characterizations by a handpicked cast, and masterly direction. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: With Spencer Tracy giving one of his greatest performances and receiving fine support from Deborah Kerr, an outspoken and provocative plot to arouse word-of-mouth comment and top production values, this should be a big grosser. Cast: Spencer Tracy. Deborah Kerr. Ian Hiuiter, Leueen MacGrath, James Donald, Mervyn Johns. Harriette Johns, Tilsa Page, Ernest Jay, Felix Aylmer and others. Credits: Adapted from the play by Rcbert Morley Lnd Noel Langley. Screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart. Produced by Edwin H. Knopf. Directed by George Cukor. An MGM British Production. Plot: Lord Boult (Spencer Tracy), business tycoon, has attained this position for the love of his son who, through spoiling, becomes utterly irresponsible. Boult allows nothing to bar his progress from small time insurance agent. He commits arson to send his boy to Switzerland for a cure, buys a school to prevent him being expelled, causes his old partner to kill himself rather than prejudice his chance of a title, deserts his (Continued on Page 22)