Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

16 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, October 22, 1949 The Box'Oflice Slant Current and Forthcoming Feature Product Reviewed from the Theatreman's Standpoint Bride for Sale RKO Radio Comedy 87 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Delightfully amusing entertainment for average audience in this sophisticated comedy that includes a slapstick sequence and other laughprovoking situations. Claudette Colbert is excellent in the title role. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Should balance with fun and laughter a program weighted at the other end with drama. Has fine exploitation possibilities in the catchy title and the star-names. Exhibitors should do pretty well with it. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Robert Young, George Brent, Max Baer, Gus Schilling, Charles Arnt, Mary Bear, Ann Tyrrell, Paul Maxey, Burk Symon. Credits: Directed by William D. Russell. Screenplay by Bruce Manning and Islin Auster. Story by Joseph Fields and Frederick Kohner. Photogi-aphy, Joseph Valentine. Produced by Jack H. Skirball. Plot: Complications arise when an ex-Wac takes a job with an accountant so that she can, in making out income tax returns, find herself a rich husband. Her boss, learning of her plans, arranges for a friend of his to teach her a lesson, but Ms plan backfires when she and the friend fall in love and the boss also finds himself in love with her. Comment: Since comedy attracts a considerable number of customers who ordinarily are not interested in other types, of entertainment, here is a film the exhibitor should welcome. It 'is a sophisticated comedy that has many amusing sequences, with some slapstick thrown in and ending on a hysterical note generated by the hilarious events that lead up to it. It is by no means a worldbeater, but from an average audience standpoint it is delightfully amusing entertainment. Claudette Colbert is the star and her splendid flair for comedy, known to most, is again evidenced by her ability to look attractive and still be in there punching for laughs. George Brent is a capable foil and Robert Young contributes a swell job as the gentleman she has marked as her "husband-to-be." Additional laughs are contributed by Max Baer in the role of a pug and Gus Schilling as a member of the merchant marine. William Russell's direction succeeds admirably for comedy's sake and Jack H. Skirball's production values are of a high standard. "Bride for Sale" will balance, with fun and laughter, a program weighted at the other end with drama. Exhibitors should do pretty well with it. A Kiss for Corliss United, Artists Comedy 88 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Clever comedy lines and several amusing situations in this further adventure of Corliss Archer (remember "Kiss and Tell"?) should keep audiences thoroughly entertained. A wholesome family comedy that will be welcomed by family moviegoers. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: No one is likely to claim it vnll break all box-office records, but on the strength of its star names, its relation to the earlier "Kiss and Tell," and filational Reviewing Committees' Audience Classifications COWBOY AND THE INDIAN (Columbia) FAMIJ^Y — National Board of Review CLASS A-SEC. 1 — National Legion of Decency MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND (Columb;a) FAMILY — iNational Board of Review CLASS A-SEC. 2 — National Legion of Decency DOCTOR AND THE GIRL (MGM) MATURE — iNational Board of Review CLASS A-SEC. 2 — ^National Legion of Decency the publicity it will get in connection with the "Meet Corliss Archer" radio show, it should do all right for itself. Cast: Shirley Temple, David Niven, Tom TuUy, Virginia Welles, Darryl Hickman, Robert Ellis, Richard Gaines, Kathryn Card, Gloria Holden, Roy Roberts. Credits: A James .Nasser Production. Produced by Colin Miller. Associate Producer, Marcus Loew II. Directed by Richard Wallace. Story and screenplay by Howard Dimsdale, from characters created by F. Hugh Herbert. Photography, Robert de Grasse. Production manager. Lewis J. Rachmil. Musical direction, Rudolph Polk. Plot: A teen-aged girl gets involved with an oft-divorced man who is seeking revenge on the girl's father, a lawyer. It looks like the girl is going to become Wife No. 4, but matters are ironed out before the fateful wedding march. Comment: About four years ago Columbia released "Kiss and Tell," screen version of the F. Hugh Herbert Broadway stage success. That picture, arid this new production, have a number of things in common. Shirley Temple, Darryl Hickman and Tom Tully, of the present film's cast, also appeared in the 1945 comedy-drama. Richard Wallace directed both pictures. And, oddly enough, both pictures are pegged at the same running time — 88 minutes. But whereas "Kiss and Tell" had a heart-tuggiing quality along with its laugh-provoking situations, this new cinematic account of the adventures of Corliss Archer contrives complicated situations for laughing purposes only. Therefore, while it may lack some of the human warmth of its predecessor, it is otherwise a good match in clever comedy lines -and several amusing situations that should" keep audiences thoroug'hly entertained throughout its running time. Average moviegoers may get too many dramas, too many psychological stories, too many controversial films, or perhaps even too many musicals. But "A Kiss for Corliss" is that type of family comedy that is always welcomed by family audiences. What matter if they forget it quickly, so long as the pleasure is there during its unwinding? Shirley Temple 'is just as adolescently appealing as ever as the teen-aged Corliss, and Darryl Hickman is the prototype of the confused but ever faithful next-door boy-friend. In one of his rare comedy roles, David Niven is refreshing as a wolf, by reputation, but really the unhappy victim of three gold-digging marriages. As Corliss' father, Tom Tully occasionally goes overboard in his reactions to the supposed escapades of his daughter, but he gets the laughs, just the same. Gloria Holden, as the mother, Kathryn Card, Robert Ellis, Richard Gaines and others of the supporting cast are all satisfactory. Colin Miller's production values are good and the Wallace direction maintains a smooth pace. Samson and Delilah (Color by Technicolor) Paramount Biblical Drama 128 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Bids fair to stand as DeMille's most impressive and magnificent spectacle since his 1923 historymaking religious epic, "The Ten Commandments." Patrons will flock to see it, be thrilled, engrossed and handsomely entertained by it, and renew their faith in the glories of motion picture entertainment. There are spectacular scenes of eye-filling beauty and pageantry in this Technicolor feast. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Has all the trappings of a record-breaking moneymaker. Exhibitors will see in it that longed-for opportunity to again put into motion the principles of old-fashioned showmanship that made this industry famous. There's money to be made in "Samson and Delilah" — lots of it. Cast: Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Henry Wilcoxon, Olive Dearing, Fay Holden, Julia Faye, Rusty Tamblyn, William Farnum, Lane Chandler, Moroni Olsen, Francis J. MacDonald, William Davis, John Miljan, Arthur Q. Bryan, Laura Elliot, Victor Varconi, John Parrish, Frank Wilcox, Russell Hicks, Boyd Davis, Fritz Leiber, Mike Mazurki, Davison Clark, George Reeves, Pedro de Cordoba, Frank Reicher, Colin Tapley and others. Credits: Produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. and Frederic M. Frank from original treatments by Harold Lamb and Vladimir Jabotinsky. Based upon the history of Samson and Delilah in the Holy Bible, Judges 13-16. Photography, George Barnes. Special photographic ,ef?ects, Gordon Jennings. Directors, Paul Lerpae and Devereaux Jennings. Process photography, Farciot Edouart and Wallace Kelley. Holy Land photography, Dewey Wrigley. Art direction, Hans Dreier and Walter Tyler. Technicolor color director, Natalie Kalmus ; associate, Robert Brower. Research, Henry Noordlinger and Gladys Percey. Music by Victor Young. Choreography, Theodore Koslofif. Plot: The only hope of the enslaved Danites against the Philistines is Samson (Victor Mature), a giant youth with remarkable strength. When he is tricked at the wedding feast for the Philistine girl of his choice (Angela Lansbury), Samson destroys the home in a fit of rage, with the girl, Semadar, mortally wounded. Her younger sister, Delilah, vows vengeance and promises the Philistine Saran (George Sanders) to bring Samson back from his hideout in the hills. She pursues him, finds him and wins his love. But this love turns to hate when his childhood sweetheart appears. Learning the secret of Samson's strength, Delilah dopes him, cuts off his hair and delivers him into the hands of the Philistines. But when Delilah finds him chained to the grist mill, his eyes burned out, she is remorseful and seeks to release him. Next day, when the Philistines bring Samson to the temple to make sport of him, she pretends to harass him, meanwhile professing her love and following his bidding: to lead him to the two columns supporting the house of the temple on which the great idol stands. Under his strength, the columns crash and the temple topples in ruin, killing Samson, Delilah and his enemies. Comment: A little more than 25 years ago Producer-Director Cecil B. DeMille turned deaf ears to associates' protests that religious pictures were commercial suicide and made a picture called "The Ten Commandments."