The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (Dec 1, 1941)

Page 4 THE The Exhibitor December Ist, 1941 FOX I WAKE UP SCREAMING This is a first-class big-time whodunit with appealing names. Best of all, it is an intriguing mystery story which defies guesswork. It should find a ready field, coming as it does right behind “The Maltese Falcon.” It is tingling and enjoyable entertainment. Victor Mature, who is growing in box-office power, is the young sports promoter hounded for the killing of Carole Landis, a girl he snatched from her job as a waitress to make her a star. The whole cast has the finger of suspicion pointed at it convincingly. There are several ace jobs of acting, notably one by Laird Cregar as a psychopathic detective. Betty Grable is great in the romantic role and William Gargan, Allan Mowbray, Morris Ankrum, and Elisha Cook, Jr. serve expertly. The picture has been announced as “Hot Spot” but Fox reverted to the juicier original title. It comes from.the book that yielded the story. WARNERS BODY DISAPPEARS A minor spectre-cal about mortals changed to transparency by injection. Good comedy on a small scale. Jeffrey Lynn is a young millionaire kidnapped by his compatriots when he passes out alcoholically at his farewell bachelor dinner. They stick him on a slab in the dissecting room of the college. Edward Everett Horton, an eccentric prof trying to bring back the dead, thinks he’s done it when Lynn wakes up. Horton has accomplished invisibility instead. It breaks up Lynn’s wedding but gets him a new girl, Jane Wyatt, Horton’s daughter. The colored Willie Best provides the needed amount of raised hair. Though the public’s scalp will remain untwitchy throughout, it’s ridiculous but amusing. 1930 1941 THE RADIO in eleven years? No comparison! “THE AUTOMOBILE—enormous betterment. ‘THE TELEPHONE—totally different and better. THE TRAIN—air conditioned, streamlined, smooth. ANY ITEM you care to mention—modern, efficient, better during the passing of the years. Your Sound System — there's the rub. Obsolete as the dodo-bird—only you can fully understand it. Why not wise up? Give the audience a break and the box office a job to do. Install Modern Theatre Sound ! It's not really expensive, and it quickly pays for itself. Full information for the asking. COLEMAN ELECTRIC COMPANY 258 VICTORIA ST. TORONTO, ONT. PARAMOUNT GLAMOUR BOY This is a swell picture. It starts out to be a kibitz on a whiz of a quiz kid but turns into a back-screen drama with fine sentiment. Towards the end it goes a little haywire but there’s excitement so it won’t matter. Some of the footage is given over to a projection room showing of “Skippy” and the audience will like that part very much. sackie Cooper, the original Skippy, plays a kid star grown up, to hard times and no film breaks. He sells the studio on the idea of remaking “Skippy” with its current ‘child star, who needs a good picture after a bad one. Darryl Hickman turns in a great job as a know-it-all quiz kid who keeps being a nice little fellow. Cooper is hired as his adviser. He falls in love, has his ups and downs but wins out. Fine performances are turned in by Ann Gillis, Susanna Foster, Walter Abel and Katherine Booth. Jackie Searle is his usual insufferable film self and William Demarest, as the boy’s low-life father, is funny. A darned good job is “Glamour Boy.” sentiment and inside peeps at a studio. COLUMBIA It has comedy, music, STORK PAYS OFF An unbelievable but pleasantly lively film about a kindly gangster who takes over a nursery when he thinks his mob has muscled into a night club. Victor Jory, the gangster, who never killed anybody, goes soft on the kids’ custodian, Rochelle Hudson, and runs for office while in jail. Maxie Rosenbloom’s dumb-wise guy comedy gives it a boost. A youngster, Danny Mummert, playing Maxie’s East Side protege, is also amusing. SECRETS OF THE LONE WOLF Warren Williams gets back the Napoleon jewels after Victor Jory and his crew have bagged them. It’s interesting and entertaining. Eric Blore, Ruth Ford and Roger Clark are in support. | GO WEST, YOUNG LADY An enjoyable western musical with Penny Singleton, Ann Miller, Allan Jenkins and Glenn Ford. The plot is the old hoke about a town leader being chief of the outlaws. It won’t puzzle anybody but it will certainly please more than the cowpuncher following. Singleton, Miller and Jenkins sing and dance. Jen kins carries the laughs. New Film Board Release The story of tkose_ strategic moves in the Pacific area which have included, among other defence preparations, the sending of Canadian troops to Hong-Kong, are fully described in the film “War Clouds in the Pacific.” This is an issue of the series “Canada Carries On” produced by the National Film Board in co-operation with the Office of Public Information. Its initial showing was on November 26th. Material has deen obtained from motion picture sources the world over. The panorama moves from Washington to Tokyo, Berlin to London and Ottawa. There is much also about defence prepaartions along the coast cf British Columbia. Clips from newsreels of former years are used to give the historical background of Japan’s adherence to the Axis. The new Japan ese army and navy are shown in manoeuvres, with items in addition about Chinese and Russian military forces in the Far East. Great importance is given to naval strategy. American warships are seen riding’ at anchor in the naval base at Pearl Harbour. British cruisers are depicted on patrol duty. Finally the scene shifts closer to home. The Alaskan defences are described. There are pictures of those air bases in Washington and Oregon, in British Columbia and we od Alberta, which have been erected \, to make communications with Alaska both speedy and efficient. There is a practice blackout in Vancouver. The film aims to give a critical analysis of the situation in the Pacific, with ample stress on the part Canadian defences play. “a wt