Boxoffice barometer (1944)

hating man, wed and make a no-love pact. Of course, Cupid takes care of that. V>^omen's Army Cast: Lana Turner, Laraine Day, Susan Peters, Lee Patrick, June Lockhart, Marta Linden, Edith Leach, Agnes Moorehead. Producer: George Haight. Director: Eddie Buzzell. Original Screenplay: Mary McCall jr. Lana Turner, social butterfly, joins the Wac to prove her patriotism and thus inherit a fortune; Laraine Day, daughter of an old army family, enlists to carry on their tradition; Susan Peters signs up when her army captain husband goes overseas. The story concerns how these three, from diverse backgrounds, react to each other and their training. Yolanda and the Thief Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer. Producer: Arthur Freed. Director: Not set. Original: No credits set. Screenplay: No credits set, A Technicolor musical backgrounded against an imaginative Latin-American country. MONOGRAM Adventures of Kitty O'Day Cast: Jeon Parker, Peter Cookson, Tim Ryan, Ralph Sanford, Bill Ruhl, Shelton Brooks, Bill Forrest. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: V/illiam Beaudine. Original: Victor Hammond. Screenplay: Tim Ryan, George Callahan and Victor Hammond. Jean Parker and Peter Cookson, telephone operator and clerk, respectively, at a hotel, become involved in a murder when Jean hears shots over the phone. They find the body, but it disappears before the police arrive. Despite knov/ledge of jewel robberies in the hotel, the cops pooh-pooh their “slaying,” leaving the two amateurs tc track down a murderous jewel thief. Alaska Cast: Kent Taylor, Margaret Lindsay, John Carradine, Dean Jagger, Nils Asther, Iris Adrian, George Cleveland. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: George Archainbaud. Original: Jack London. Screenplay: George Wallace Sayre, Harrison Orkow, Malcolm Stuart Boylan. Arrested and charged with murder following the slaying of two members of a gang of claim jumpers, Kent Taylor is released into the custody of a friend in Rocky Point, Alaska, until the weather will permit travel to Juneau. He uses the time to prove his innocence and round up the real culprits. Allotment Wives, Incorporated Cast: Kay Francis. Producer: Jeffrey Bernerd. Director: Not set. Original: George Sayre and Neil Rau. Screenplay: No credits set. A drama about a gang of women who marry service men to secure their allotments. Army Wives Cast: Eiyse Knox, Marjorie Rambeau, Rick Vailin, Dorothea Kent, Murray Aiper, Hardie Albright, Kenneth Brov/n. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: Phil Rosen. Original Screenplay: B. Harrison Orkow. A comedy about the women who follow their men from camp to camp, this revolves around the efforts of Eiyse Knox, young debutante, to get married to Cpl. Rick Vallin who is always switched to new duty just before the ceremony. Eiyse meets an assortment of army wives and finally does wed Rick — between trains in Chicago before he leaves for overseas. Black Magic Cast: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Frances Chan, Joe Crehan, Jacqueline DeWit, Ralph Peters, Helen Beverley. Producer: I’hilip N. Krasne and_ James S. Burkett. Director: Phil Rosen. Original: George Callahan. Screenplay: George Callahan. In this third film of Monogram’s Charlie Chan series, the oriental sleuth solves the murder of a psychic medium. With the reluctant assistance of his Man Friday (Mantan Moreland), Chan embarks on a clue chase which involves spooks, hypnotists and all manner of magic hokus-pokus before he catches the culprit. Block Busters Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict, Jimmy Strand, Bill Chaney, Minerva Urecal. Producer: S'am Katzman and Jack Dietz. Director: Wallace Fox. Original: Houston Branch. Screenplay: No credits set. A wealthy dowager and her Europeaneducated grandson move into the lower East Side, so that the lad can learn how American boys live. He soon runs into the East Side Kids, who show him how! Follow the usual scrapes and comedy antics, with the boy learning a lesson in Americanism and the kids learning something about sportsmanship from the newcomer. Bowery Champs Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Benedict, Jimmy Strand, Bobby Jordan, Bud Gorman, Anne Sterling. Producers: Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. Director: William Beaudine. Original Screenplay: Earle Snell. The East Side Kids work for a paper, Muggs as a copy boy, the others on the delivery truck. A murder is committed and the ex-wife of the victim is sought. Muggs and the Kids drop in on her and are convinced of her innocence. They hide her from the police, and after an assortment of adventures, round up the real criminals. Charlie Chan, Untitled Cast: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland. Producer: James S. Burkett. Director: PJiil Rosen. Original Screenplay: George Callalian. Second of the Charlie Chan detective series for the 1944-45 season continues the adventures of the oriental super-sleuth and his Man Friday, Birmingham. The Cisco Kid Returns Cast: Duncan Renaldo, Martin Garralaga, Gwen Kenyon, Norman Willis, Donna Day, Aurora Roche, Lee White. Producer: Philip N. Krasne. Director: Phil Rosen. Original Screenplay: Betty Burbridge. The Cisco Kid and his pal, Pancho, kidnap a pretty girl, who is wanted for murder. They take her to a mission to hide, while they track down a mysterious doctor, who she says called on the woman she had been nursing and gave her an overdose of sleeping tablets. The Kid eventually unravels the mystery and clears the girl. Cisco Kid, Untitled Cast: Duncan Renaldo, Martin Garralaga. Producer: Philip N. Krasne. Director: J. P. McCarthy. Original Screenplay: Betty Burbridge. Duncan Renaldo continues in the title role of the dashing Cisco Kid, Robin Hood of the west, who finds adventure and romance befriending those who are in trouble. This is the second of the series for 1944-45. Crazy Knights Cast: Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard, Maxie Rosenbloom, Tim Ryan, Jayne Hazard, Bernie Sell, Toy Dunti. Producers: Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. Director: William Beaudine. Original Screenplay: Tim Ryan. Billy Gilbert and Shemp Howard, on their way to the next town with their trained gorilla act, pick up a wealthy man and his niece whose car has stalled. They accept an invitation to spend the night at the man’s home and become involved in an assortment of weird doings, including the presence of ghosts and a murder. Divorce Cast: Kay Francis, Paul Kelly. Producer: Jeffrey Bernerd. Director: Alfred Zeisler. Original: George W. Sayre and Neil Rau. Screenplay: Harrison K. Orkow. Drama about the controversial subject of divorce and the fast-and-loose living that leads to wrecked homes and ruined lives. Dragon's Son Cart: Ducky Louie. Producer: Not set. Director: No credits set. Screenplay: No credits set. A dramatic story about a son of modern China who comes to America and experiences many exciting escapades. East Side Kids, Untitled Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict. Producer: Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. Director: Not set. Original: Earle Snell. Screenplay: No credits set. The second of four East Side Kids pictures planned for the new season, this will follow the pattern of boisterous comedy and roughhouse action established in its predecessors. Enemy of Women Cast: Claudia Drake; Paul Andor, Donald Woods, H. B. Warner, Sigrid Gurie, Ralph Morgan, Gloria Stuart. Producer: W. Fi. Frank. Director: Alfred Zeisler. Original and Screenplay: Alfred Zeisler and Herbert O. Phillips. Fundamentally the life story of Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, this also includes sketches of others in the Nazi hierarchy. Underlying and mitigating its more sordid aspects is a love story between one of the women Goebbels has chosen for himself and the man she really loves. From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water Cast: Phil Regan. Producer: Not set. Director: Not set. Original: No credits set. Screenplay: No credits set. A musical about the life and songs of Charles Wakefield Cadman. Gang War Cast: Not set. Producer: Not set. Director: Not set. Original: No credits set. Screenplay: No credits set Melodrama that tells of today’s underworld and a reign of terror started by feuding crime czars. Ghost Guns Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Evelyn I^inley, Sarah Padden, Riley Hill, Ernie Adams, John Merton. Producer: Charles J. Bigelow. Director: Lambert Hillyer. Original and Screenplay: Frank H. Young. Marshals Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton ride into Big Piney basin to investigate a series of murders and cattle rustling. They run afoul of a plot by the crooked town judge to drive the ranchers out in order to obtain their lands before the railroad line is run through the territory. They round up the culprits and restore order. G.I. Honeymoon Cast: Gale Storm, Peter Cookson, Arline Judge, Frank Jenks, Ralph Lewis, Virginia Brissac, Earl Hodgins. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Director: Phil Karlstein. Original: No credits set. Screenplay: Richard Weil and Tim Ryan. Peter Cookson, a G.I. Joe, has no sooner married his dream girl. Gale Storm, when he, gets traveling orders. From then on it’s a chase for the frustrated bride and groom. They finally get an apartment near his post, but it’s a former gambling house and all kinds of complications ensue. The Golden Girl Cast: Belita. Producer: Scott R. Dunlap. Director: Not set. Original: No credits set. Screenplay: No credits set. A musical with an ice revue background to star Skater-Dancer Belita. Gun Smoke Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Jennifer Holt, Riley Hill, Wen Wright, Ray Bennett, Steve Clark. Producer: Charles J. Bigelow. Director: Howard Bretherton. Original Screenplay: Frank H. Young. Marshals Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton find an overturned stagecoach with the driver and passenger dead. They learn the passenger, an archeologist, had discovered an old Indian site which BOXOFFICE BAROMETER 89