Silver Screen (Jun-Oct 1940)

Direct From Hollywood REBECCA One or the Finest — Selznickhiternational HERE is one of the finest pictures of the year. Directed by the famous British director, Alfred Hitchcock, and adapted from Daphne du Maurier's sensationally popular novel, the film is actually even better than the book. Joan Fontaine gets her first chance at stardom in this picture, and as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter gives a performance that will have you applauding with admiration. Laurence Olivier matches his superb portrayal of Heathcliff, and as the master of Manderley, tortured by the memory of his first wife, Rebecca, he does himself proud. If you do not know the story of "Rebecca," if you do not know about the terribly oppressive and memoryladen atmosphere of Manderley, if you do not know the secret of Rebecca's death, the more fun for you in seeing the picture— and we won't divulge it here. Judith Anderson, borrowed from the New York stage, is so wonderful as Mrs. Danvers, the psychopathic housekeeper, that she makes your flesh crawl. In the excellent cast are Reginald Denny, George Sanders, Nigel Bruce, C. Aubrey Smith, and Gladys Cooper. Florence Bates as the snobbish Mrs. Van Hopper got a big hand at the preview. Being a Selznick picture it is definitely a "class" production. Don't miss it. TOO MANY HUSBANDS Delightfully Screwballish — ■ Columbia DIRECTOR Wesley Ruggles and Writer Claude Binyon have gotten together this time on an "Enoch Arden" situation. It's pure screwball nonsense from beginning to end, but if you're in the mood for foolishness {and there have been too many pictures with serious messages lately) you'll get a big laugh out of it. Jean Arthur, in a regular glamour girl wardrobe, first marries Fred MacMurray, but when he is drowned at sea, supposedly, she marries his best friend and business partner, Melvyn Douglas. They have been six months wed, or at least they thought they were, when Fred returns from his drowning to claim his charming wife. Jean is very pleased to have two men fighting over her, and keeps both husbands in tow the greater part of the picture. Finally, the Law steps in. Minor supporting roles are well played by Harry Davenport, Melville Cooper, and Dorothy Peterson, who does a little scene stealing right from under Miss Arthur's nose. There's a dance turn called "The Tyrolka" which you will find most amusing. STRANGE CARGO Grim but Good — M-G-M JOAN CRAWFORD and Clark Gable are teamed again in this grim sordid story of escape from a penal colony. Joan plays Julie, a cabaret entertainer, who has been every place and done everything, and who is being driven from the island by the authorities. She joins up with Gable and five other desperate ruthless men who are seeking their way to freedom on the mainland through the horrible perils of the jungles, murderous Indians, and a becalmed sea. With them is a seventh man, named Cambreau, in the guise of a convict, a strange, gentle, mystical man, who knows what is going to happen to every one of them before it happens. Before each convict dies he has done something good for the others, and Top left: Fred MacMurray, Jean Arthur and Melvyn Douglas in "Too Many Husbands." Left center: Sinister Peter Lorre and flashy Joan Crawford in "Strange Cargo." Left: Miriam Hopkins is quite amazing with her Can-Can dance in "Virginia City," in which she is co-starred with Errol Flynn. Below: Deanna Durbin dancing with Walter Pidgeon in "It's A Date," her seventh consecutive smash hit. Kay Francis is also in this not-to-be missed Pasternak production. 52 Silver Screen