Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW. November 19, 1949 29 lind's appointment, complications develop as the result of Cummings' pursuit of Ros&lind in an efiEort to effect a reconciliation. The pursuing ex-husband is always getting in a jam just as the couple have been reconciled. But things right themselves eventually. Comment: There hasn't been much drumbeating about this comedy up to this time, but the producers can still get out the sticks and drum away. For while "Tell It to the Judge" is not destined to win Academy .\wards or make the ten-best list of all time, it will go a long way toward making both exhibitors and their customers happy. It isn't just a good comedos it's a very excellent comedy— due, undoubtedly, to Nat Perrin's screenplay of Devery Freeman's story, Norman Foster's splendid direction, Buddy Adler's 4ropnotch production values and the fine performances of the principals. If there isn't an outright bellj'-laugh every minute, there's a chuckle, so that throughout the entire proceedings the spectator is never permitted to Lapse into sobriety. And situations that are apparently contrived and anticipated nevertheless appear spontaneous and laugh-provoking. Rosalind Russell is in her element again and proves once more her ability as a comedienne, while Robert Cummings, whose recent comedy portrayals have seemed too forced, does a bang-up job in this new offering. Perhaps it took just the right director to bring forth this actor's talents in the most favorable manner. At any rate, Cummings practicalh' steals the picture. There is capable support by Gig Young, Marie McDonald, Harrj^ Davenport, Douglass Dumbrille, Clem Bevans and others. The producers have hit the entertainment jackpot with this one, and exhibitors should look forward to playing it. Smart exploitation is definitely in order, and word-of-mouth will play a large part in maintaining box-office grosses at a high level. Square Dance Jubilee Lippert Prod'ns. Musical 78 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Satisfactory entertainment for all those who like musical westerns. Loaded with music, entirely of the hillbilly variety, this should please all those who like Spade Cooley and his brand of music. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: A good offering for the small towns, where a picture of this type should have a following. In the urban areas, it will draw best where Spade Cooley and his type of entertairmient is known and enjoyed. Cast: Don Barry, Marj' Beth Hughes, Wally Vernon. Spade Cooley, John Eldredge, Thurston Hali, Britt Wood, Chester Clute, Tom Kennedy, Max Terhune, and others. Credits: Directed by Paul Landres. Based on a story by WilHam Nolte. Screenplay by Ron Ormond and Daniel B. Ullman. Photography, Ernest W. Miller. Produced by Ron Ormonrl. .■\ Donald Barry Production. Plot: Two television scouts arrive at ;i small town looking for typical western acts. In the process of finding them and weeding them out, a show is put on. Also, during their stay they come across cattle rustlers and help the young ranch girl who is being harassed by the thieves. Comment: In "Square Dance Jubilee" a collection of western variety acts have been linked together with a story about television talent and, inevitably, cattle rustling. It's a good offering for small-town audiences and for moviegoers who enjoy this particular kind of musical entertainment. Loaded with hillbilly music, several square dance sequences and various other forms of stylized entertainment, this picture, though it has little to offer the average urban patron, might even attract in those areas, now that square-dancing and western music are such a rage. Spade Cooley and his band head the list of entertainers, among whom are the Cowboy Copas, the Broome Brothers, Smiley and Kitty, the Tumbleweed Tumblers and many others, too numerous to mention. Don Barry and Mary Peth Hughes are the romantic leads and Wally Vernon is the comic relief, a role he handles capably. Direction by Paul Landres play= up the ''vaudeville" for the sake of entertainment, letting the story come in only when necessary. Production credit goes to Ron Ormond, who lined up quite an assortment of artists, to make sure that the film had enough '''western flavor" to satisfy everyone. The Affair Blum (German Dialog — English Titles) Central Cinema Drama 109 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) Long and weighty but well constructed, excellently played story of a murder case that gets involved in anti-semitism and politics. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Good for serious audiences, billed as the German Dreyfus affair that foreshadowed the days of Hitler. Cast: Kurt Erhardt, Gisela Trowe, Paul Bildt. Gerhard Bienert, Claus Becker, Renee Stobrawa, Helmut Rudolph, Arno Paulsen, Karin Evans, Maly Delschaft, Hans Christian Blech. Credits: Produced by Deutsche Film A. G., Berlin. Director, Erich Engel. Scenario. R. A. Stemmle. Photography. Friedl Behn Grund and Karl Plintzner. Music. Herbert Trantow. English titles, Charles Clement, Plot: A young hoodlum kills and robs an accountant of the large Blum company. Learning that the accountant was trying to catch the company in some fraud, he attempts when he is apprehended to shift the blame for the murder to Blum. Encouraged by the officials concerned with the case, who are anxious to discredit a prominent Jew, he adds to his story until Blum is on the point of conviction. Outside investigation reveals the truth iji time, but a dangerous flaw in German justice has been revealed. Comment: A 1926 murder case described as the German Dreyfus affair, which foreshadowed the Jewish persecution under the Hitler regime, is the basis for a well constructed, excellently played drama from the Deutsche Film Studios of Berlin. The camera carefully records the planned killing for robbery and the tense reaction of the culprit and his girl friend. From the time shortly afterward when he is picked up for passing a suspicious check until the end of the picture there is a great deal of dialog as the officials pump the killer for the information with which to convict Blum. The plot so develops, however, with the race between the independent investigator and the killer trying to save his own neck by telling the right lies, and the acting is so e.xcellent that suspense is created. Outstanding in the cast as the magistrate who hopes to convict Blum is Paul Bildt, who also appears in the recent "Somewhere in Berlin." Kurt Erhardt plaj-s the killer. So long and weighty a film, in a foreign language, has obvious audience limitations. Serious audiences, however, will find it good. A RELEASE IN TRUCOLOR SCREENTIME 72 MIN. BOOKING THRU ALL ASTOR IN U. S. A. WRITE OR WIRE FOR OUR DISTRIBUTOR IN YOUR TERRITORY! ASTOR PICTURES CORP. 130 W. 46 St., N.Y.C.