Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1940)

THE COMPLETE CHECK-UP ON CURRENT RELEASES TQGtUtQA Marseillaise . . (79) World. .Nov. 3 Historical Drama. Early days of the French Republic. Pierre Renoir, Lise Delamare, Louis Jouvet. Director: Jean Renoir. 12-39 Mercy Plane.. (..) P-D-C Drama. The pilot who was to fly the “Mercy Plane” which was stolen, sends out a false S. O. S. to trap the man suspected of stealing planes and selling them to a foreign government. James Dunn, Frances Gifford, William Pawley. Director: Richard Harlan. 1-40 Mesquite Buckaroo . . (59) Metropolitan Western. A bronc-riding cowboy escapes kidnapers and reaches the rodeo in time to win Bob Steele, Carolyn Curtis, Frank LaRue. 11-39 Mill on the Floss, The.. (80) Standard Drama. Tragedy follows the antagonism between twro families. Geraldine Fitzgerald, Frank Lawton. Director: Tim Whelan. 12-39 Mystic Circle Murder. . (69) Merit Melodrama. A newspaperman saves his girl from a phoney medium about to rob her. Betty Compson, Robert Fiske. 11-39 One Night in Paris.. (74) Alliance British Mystery Drama. A French producer is murdered on the opening night of his play. The murder is solved before the play closes. John Lodge, Judy Kelly, Hugh Williams. Director: Walter Summers. 1-40 Pocomania . . (65) Dec. 1 . .Lemval All-Negro Drama. Filmed on the island of Jamaica, the plot deals with a jealous girl, who uses voodooism to gain control of land left to her sister by their father. Sisterly love reunites the two. Nina Mae McKinney, Jack Carter, Ida James, Hamtree Harrington. Director: Arthur Leonard. 1-40 Port of Hate.. (57) Metropolitan Melodrama. Two discoverers of a pearl bed protect the secret from raiders. Polly Ann Young, Kenneth Harlan. Director: Harry S. Webb. 9-39 Return of the Frog . (70) Select Melodrama. The Frog and his henchmen return to terrorize London. Gordon Harker, Hartley Power, Rene Ray. Director: Maurice Elvey. 10-39 Royal Divorce, A.. (87) Imperator Historical Drama. The love that Josephine gave Napoleon when he became famous came too late. Ruth Chatterton, Pierre Blanchard. Director: Jack Raymond. 9-39 Second Bureau . (60) Film Alliance Spy Drama. A German girl spy trails a French spy agent. They fall in love, admit their identities, and plan to resign and marry. But the g:rl is shot as a traitor. Marta Labarr, Charles Oliver. Director: W. Victor Hanbury. 1-40 Spies of the Air.. (78) Alliance Mystery Drama. The British Intelligence, by the process of elimination, uncovers the traitor who has been stealing aeronautic plans. Barry K. Barnes, Roger Livesey, Joan Marion, Basil Radford. Director: David MacDonald. 1-40 Straight to Heaven . (56) Domino All-Negro Drama. A chemist uncovers a canned goods racket in Harlem, but is framed by the guilty parties and sent to jail. His wife and lawyer friend continue the crusade until the head mobster is exposed. Nina Mae McKinney, Jackie Ward, Stanley Harrison, Percy Verwayne, Lionel Monagas. Director: Arthur Leonard. 1-40 Taku..(48) Norman Dawn Nature Drama. The gold-mining country of Alaska as seen through the eyes of an old prospector. Amateur cast. Director: Norman Dawn. 10-39 Timberland Terror.. (75) Hoffberg Melodrama. A lifeguard saves the heroine and her father’s timber business. Shirley Ann Richards, Frank Leighton. Director: Ken G. Hall. Torpedoed !.. (66) Film Alliance Melodrama. British naval diplomats quell a Latin revolution when a ship is attacked. H. B. Warner, Robert Douglas, Richard Cromwell. 10-39 Torture Ship . (57) Oct. 22 P-D-C Melodrama. Criminals aboard ship mutiny in fear of becoming scientific experiments. Irving Pichel, Jacqueline Wells, Lyle Talbot. Director: Victor Halperin. 11-39 Treachery on the High Seas.. (68) Times Melodrama. Jewel thieves are after a ruby necklace on a trans-Atlantic liner. Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels. 10-39 When Germany Surrendered .. (70) A. L. Rule Documentary. An appeal for peace. Scenes of the battlefronts and submarine warfare of the World War. 11-39 Why This War.. (70) Jewel Documentary indicting the war-makers. Compiled by Samuel Cummins. 11-39 Foreign Dialogue A Brivele Der Mamen (A Letter to Mother) . . (106) Sphinx Drama. Disintegration of a family of Jews, who, one by one, leave Poland for America. Lucy Gehrman, Alexander Stein, Max Bozyk. Producer: Greenfilm, Warsaw. 10-39 A People Eternal . . (65) Six Star Drama. Mystical interpretation of the Messiah’s plea for salvation. English subtitles. Conrad Veidt, Peggy Ashcroft, Basil Gill. Director: Maurice Elvey. 12-39 Affair Laffont, The.. (90) Trans-Atlantic Drama. A married woman shoots her sister whose illegitimate child she has raised, when a blackmailing father arrives and the mother is about to tell all. Corinne Luchaire. Director: Leonid Moguy. 11-39 Alexander Nevsky.. (92) Amkino Epic Drama. Invasion of Russia by Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. Nickolai Cherkassov, N. P. Okhlopkov. Director: Sergei Eisenstein. Betrayal . . (80) World Historical Drama. The love of Catherine the Great for the treacherous Count Orloff. Annie Vernay, Pierre Richard-Willm. Director: Fedor Ozep. 10-39 Boys’ School. . (90) . . (Foreign Dialogue) . .Columbia French Melodrama. A kaleidoscope of kiddish pranks in a middle-class French boys’ school, in which one of the lads inadvertently learns that the educational director is involved with a gang of counterfeiters. Aime Clarion, Eric von Stroheim, Michael Simon. Director: Christian Jaque. 1-40 Conquests of Peter the Great. .(94) Amkino Historical Drama. The monarch who led Russia out of feudalism but executed his son for an attempted betrayal. Russian cast. Director: Vladimir Petrov. 9-39 End of a Day, The.. (94) Juno Films Drama. Actors at the twilight of their careers. Victor Francen, Louis Jouvet, Michel Simon. Director: Julien Duvivier. 10-39 Golden Key, The. . (70) . . (Foreign Dialogue) Amkino Dec. 25 Russian Fantasy. Tolstoy’s adaptation of the Pinocchio yarn, about a poor musician who fashions a puppet from a block of wood. It comes to life and gets involved in a series of fairy tale complications. A. Shagin, S. Martinson, G. Uvarov. 1-40 Harvest. . (80) French Film Center Drama. A woman comes to a peasant and her love inspires him to harvest the land wasted by others. Fernandel, Gabriel Gabrio, Orane Demazis. Director: Marcel Pagnol. 9-39 Hatred ..(..) World Drama. A story of the sea. (In French, with English titles). Harry Baur. Heartbeat. . (90) French 31. P. Corp. Sept. 4 Drama. A peasant girl runs off with a scoundrel, returning a year later to humiliation imposed by her father’s code of honor. French cast. Director: Marcel Pagnol. L’Alibi. . (82) . . (Foreign Dialogue) Columbia COLUMBIA The Doctor Takes a Wife — Hay Milland, Loretta Young, Gail Patrick, Reginald Gardiner, Gordon Jones. Director: A1 Hall. Producer: William Perlberg. Original: Aleen Wetstein. Screenplay: George Seaton, Ken Englund. (Starting) Blondie on a Budget — Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms. Director: Prank R. Strayer. Producer: Robert Sparks. Screenplay: Richard Flournoy. (Completed) METRO Untitled Dr. Kildare — Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Rita Johnson. Director: Harold Bucquet. Screenplay: Harry Ruskin. (Starting) MONOGRAM Rhythm of the Rio Grande — Tex Ritter, Dorothy Womack. Director: A1 Herman. Producer: Ed Finney. Screenplay: George Martin. (Completed) RKO RADIO Courageous Dr, Christian — Jean Hersholt. Director: Bernard Vorhaus. Producer: William Stevens. Original Screenplay: Ian Hunter, Ring Lardner jr. (Starting) Irene — Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, Roland Young, May Robson. Director: Herbert Wilcox. Producer: Herbert Wilcox. Screenplay: Alice Duer Miller. (Completed) French Melodrama. (English subtitles). A girl, stacked up against the persistent forces of the law, confesses to the falsity of a “perfect alibi.” Eric von Stroheim, Jany Holt, Louis Jouvet. Director: Pierre Chenal. 1-40 La Inmaculada . . (95) . . (Foreign Dialogue) . . . .UA Drama in Spanish. Produced by Atalaya Films for the Latin market. A girl, married to one man, loves another. When the husband finds she loves some one else, he kills himself. In the meantime her lover marries another girl. Fortunio Bonanova, Andrea Palma. Director: Louis Gasnier. 1-40 Life of Tchaikowsky, The (Es War Eine Rauschende Ballnacht) . . (93) UFA-Carl Froelich . .Nov. 1939 Music Drama. The composer’s struggle for recognition. English sub-titles. Zarah Leander, Aribert Wascher, Hans Stowe. 12-39 Light Ahead, The.. (108) Carmel Drama. Romance spurs a blind girl and a crippled bath attendant to combat the smugness and superstition of the townsfolk. Isidore Casher, Helen Beverly. Director: Edgar Ulmer 10-39 Mademoiselle Ma Mere . (78) J. H. Hoffberg Farce Comedy. Annulment follows the marriage of a young woman and an elderly man when she runs off with her stepson. Danielle Darrieux, Marcel Simon. Director: Henri Decoin. 10-39 Mirele Efros..<87) Credo Drama. A daughter-in-law versus mother-inlaw ends at the bar mitzvah of a grandson. Berta Gersten, Michael Rosenberg, Ruth Elbaum. Director: Josef Berne. 11-39 Neighbors. . (90) Best Films Comedy. A mixup in names brings confusion and romance into the life of a radio announcer. Helen Gross, Joseph Orwid. On His Own. . (96) Amkino Drama. A screen biography of Maxim Gorki as his adult life begins. Alexi Lyarsky. Director: Mark Donskoi. 10-39 Fort of Shadows . . (68) Film Alliance Drama. Romance of an army deserter and girl escaping her foster-father ends in tragedy when the former is killed by a gangster. Jean Gabin, Michele Morgan. Director: Michael Carne. 11-39 Rasputin . . (93) Concord Drama. The influential monk’s notorious activities. Harry Baur. Director: Marcel L’Herbier. 11-39 Scipione L’Africano. . (155) Esperia Historical Drama. The conquest of Carthage by the Romans. Isa Miranda and Italian cast. Director: Carmine Gallone. 10-39 Song of the Streets. . (75) . . Mayer-Burstyn . .Sept. 1 Drama. Study of children growing in the slums of Paris. French cast. Director: Victor Trivas. 9-39 That They May Live (J’Accuse) (78) Mayer-Burstyn Drama. Fantasy of dead comrades aiding a war veteran to fight for peace. Victor Francen. Director: Abel Gance. 12-39 REPUBLIC Oklahoma Outlaws — Three Mesquiteers. Director: Lester Orlebeck. Producer: Harry Grey. Screenplay: Earle Snell. (Starting) 20TH-FOX Earthbound — Warner Baxter, Andrea Leeds, Lynn Bari, Charles Grapewin. Director: Irving Pichel. Producer: Sol Wurtzel. Original: Basil King. Screenplay: John Howard Lawson, Sam Engel. (Starting) Hotel for Women No. 2 — Lynn Bari, Joan Davis, Henry Wilcoxon, Dorothy Dearing, Helen Ericson. Director: David Burton. Producer: John Stone. (Completed) UNITED ARTISTS My Son, My Son — Brian Aherne, Madeleine Carroll, Louis Hayward, Josephine Hutchinson. Director: Charles Vidor. Producer: Edward Small. Original: Howard Spring. Screenplay: Lenore Coffee. (Completed) UNIVERSAL Alias the Deacon — Bob Burns. Director: Christy Cabanne. (Starting) Enemy Agent — Robert Armstrong, Helen Vinson, Richard Cromwell, Jack Arnold. Director: Lew Landers. Producer: Ben Pivar. Original: Sam Robins. Screenplay: Edmund L. Hartmann. (Starting) 90 BOXOFFICE :: January 20, 1940