Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1945)

Opinions on Current Productions, and Sxploitips for Selling to the Public FEATURE REVIEWS 11 Bewitched M-G-M (530) Drama 65 Minutes Rel. Edmund Gwenn, Phyllis Thoxter, Henry H. Daniels jr., Addison Richards, Kathleen Lockhart, Gladys Blake. Jungle Captive F Melodrama Universal (9038) 63 Minutes Rel. June 29, '45 This is a horror film replete with enough spine-tingling occurrences to induce a bumper crop of goosepimples. Otto Kruger conscientiously portrays a scientist obsessed with a theory he can restore life to the corpse of an "ape woman" his ghoulish handyman has stolen from the morgue. To accomplish this end he drains blood from his young female assistant. The body is revivified in the person of a beautiful, but brainless, woman. Not content with such minor success, Kruger proceeds to transplant his assistant's brain in the skull of the newly bom "ape woman." However, his creation reverts to her original more virile personality and chokes the scientist. The police arrive as the situation portends a strangling spree, and the assistant and her fiance are reunited. This should round out duals and provide enough chills to be satisfactory hot weather fare. Harold Young directed Otto Kruger, Amelita Ward, Phil Brown, Jerome Cowan, Rondo Hatton, Eddie Acuif, Ernie Adams. Mystery Boston Blackie's Rendezvous F Columbia (6030) 64 Minutes Rel. July 5, '45 Audiences which like to watch the antics of Boston Blackie and the Runt in their inspector-baiting dramas, where they always turn up with the right solution of the crime — to the discomfort of Inspector Farraday — will accept this. It is fast moving and has comedy situations in spite of two corpses before the maniac strangler is carried away. A neat bit of acting is done by Steve Cochran as the sadistic young criminal but the story is routinish and lacks even one original touch. However, enough of these Blackie pictures have been made that the exhibitor knows whether his situation will welcome it or not. Unlike the whodunits, the who'll-be-thenext-victim type of plot depends on that element alone for the suspense. For the lower half of a double bill, this should tit in in all but de luxe houses. Arthur Dreifuss directed. Chester Morris. Nina Foch, Steve Cochran, Richard Lane, George E. Stone, Frank Sully, Iris Adrian. The Last Hill p War Drama Artkmo 84 Minutes Rel. June 23, '45 Slow in starting, the production soon gathers momentum, proceeds at increasing pace to a thunderous climax. A wellchosen cast, containing new and attractive personalities, grVDSjC°nViincing Peir4ormances. The story is that of a group ot Red sailors, survivors of a destroyer's crew, engaging in the heroic and apparently hopeless defense of -Sevastopol, a city of historic beauty. Their commander places them in a shattered tower overlooking the Nazis' approach to the city, orders them never to surrender or retreat. Sailor-like, they regard their station as a ship, operate on naval lines with sea-going discipline. The Germans advance, each sailor destroys a Nazi tank and subsequently in suicidal heroism helps turn the tide of battle. Directed by Zarkhi and Heifitz makers o. Baltic Deputy" and "The Great Beginning," Russian film classics. The Naughty Nineties F Universal (9003) 76 Minutes Comedy With Music Rel. July 6, '45 Although shy in production value, boxoffice names, action and interest, "Bewitched" may have an appeal for avid followers of Director Arch Oboler's radio programs. Exploited along this line, it should prove satisfactory support on a double bill or midweek single. Its plot tells of a girl whose split personality drives her mad, finally impelling her to murder her fiance. At her trial she is defended by a young lawyer who loves her. Unable to get the listless girl to cooperate in her defense, as a last resort he dramatically tells the jury she killed in self defense. About to be acquitted, she leaps up and screams she is guilty. Convicted and sentenced to die, she is saved from the chair when a psychiatrist friend of. the youthful lawyer hynotizes her and effects a lastminute "cure.” •NT y ■ur\ up U Nikolai Kriuchkov, Marina Pastukhova, Boris Andreyev, Anton Khorava, Nikolai Dorokhin, Feodor Ischenko, Nikolai Gorlov. R4H e. in $9,5f uIleK Soutl^ ish ) "The Naughty Nineties" provides a perfect setting for the kind of zany shenanigans of which Abbott and Costello are masters. In addition, pleasing tunes lend the proper touch of nostalgia to counterbalance the duo's antics. The cavorting couple run through „some tried and true routines and others more original with their usual boundless energy. Gangsters cheat their way into part ownership of the showboat, River Queen, and convert it into a floating gambling den. Costello, as a rotund roustabout, cuts capers with Abbott, the leading man, in his attempt to thwart the gamblers. All ends happily when the more handsome gentleman gambler, motivated by love for the captain's daughter, doublecrosses his comrades in a card game that is to settle the complete ownership of the River Queen. lean Yarbrough directed. Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson, Henry Travers, Lois Collier, Joe Sawyer, Joe Kirk. Why Girls Leave Home F Melodrama PRC ( ) 69 Minutes Rel. A noble exploitation title which garnered plenty of shekels a couple of decades ago herein is hung on a picture which fits it like a $12.50 hand-me-down suit, leaving completely unanswered the burning question as to why damsels desert the parental domicile. In truth, it is just another cops and robbers melodrama, produced, directed and enacted satisfactorily, which is qualified to serve as support in situations normally booking PRC product. If the title is heavily exploited—and such possibility is the picture's best assetother bookings and additional cash probably can result. But also there will be unhappy customers when they discover that ^ the sex angles which the tag indicates are entirely lacking. It s about a gal who leaves home to sing in a nitery and gets into complications with mobsters. Directed by William Berke. Pamela Blake, Sheldon Leonard, Lola Lane, Elisha Cook jr., Paul Guilfoyle, Constance Worth, Claudia Drake. ratin, te F Mr. Muggs Rides Again Monogram (411) Comedy Drama 64 Minutes Rel. One of the best East Side Kid pictures to date, this entry in the series being produced by Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz should have a much wider appeal in both bookings and audience satisfaction than the average predecessor. A sounder, better-written screenplay, specializing in plot rather than shenanigans affords the film its additional scope Another noteworthy improvement is furnished by Nancy Brinckman, a cute, curvaceous blonde — once a performer in Our Gang comedies— grown up to be a promising miss who contributes to the offering's Thespic stature. It's a race track story which has Muggs a jockey, who is disqualified after he is framed by crooked gamblers.. How he and his gang stage a comeback, performing varied good deeds en route, is the plot. Race scenes, albeit stock shots, are exciting. Directed by Wallace Fox. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Benedict, Nancy Brinckman. Bernerd Thomas, George Meeker, Minerva Urecal. Write — YOUR REPORT OF THE PICTURE YOU HAVE JUST PLAYED FOR THE GUIDANCE OF FELLOW EXHIBITORS. — Right Now USE THE BLANK ON REVERSE SIDE Just Paste It on a lc Government Postcard and Mail