Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 10, 1942)

Page 4 June 10th, 1942 RKO-Radio CALL OUT THE MARINES Payoff: A rough and rowdy romp featuring Victor McLaglin and Edmund Lowe renewing their routine of the last war. Plenty of good singing music. What Goes On: The boys are battling over female affections, as of yore. This time it’s Binnie Barnes. There’s some minor spy stuff to string it together. Sizeup: Paul Kelly, Dorothy Lovett, Franklin Pangborn, the King’s Men and Six Hits and a Miss keep it bouncing. Republic REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR Payoff: Under the USA’s No. 1 battlecry, the studio has whipped up an exciting, if routinous, melodrama. It’s a B. What Goes On: It’s a story about a hard-to-discipline soldier who is at odds with the service but distinguishes himself by a heroic deed, giving up his life and winning a posthumous medal. Sizeup: Donald M. Barry, cowboy star, turns soldier in this one. He’s supported by Alan Curtis, Fay McKenzie, Sig Ruman and Rhys Williams. It starts off with every torrid zone trick used in films before but leads up to some real thrills. Vitagraph Shorts THE DRAFT HORSE (Merrie Melodies) A very good and uproariously funny color cartoon of a patriotic horse who leaves the farm to enlist. LIGHTS FANTASTIC (Merrie Melodies) The lights of Broadway do many a laughy stunt, They raise a full quota of chuckles and howls here. No Royal Road Studios Busy To Stardom Since there is no college course in becoming a movie actor, players manage somehow to get before the cameras in a multitude of ways, many of them odd. Veronica Lake, for instance, owes her movie career to the fact that she casually accompanied a girl friend to a studio interview. The executives took one look at small, blonde Veronica and offered her a part instead. Dolly Loehr, a winsome, blueeyed brunette of 14 summers, got her film start by coming to the studio with a girl friend who was trying out to be featured violinist in a musical. Dolly just came along to accompany on the piano. Instead, Dolly was given a featured role as a pianist. J. Carrol Naish did it by giving blood— in a transfusion to a movie magnet. A good example of the Cinderella approach is afforded by Ellen Drew, who was a waitress in a Hollywood confectionery shop when an actors’ agent asked for a soda and told her she ought to be in pictures. It was almost the same with Lana Turner, except that she was on the other side of the counter—a customer having a soda—when an influential gentleman picked her for pictures. On New Stars Gone are the days when studios signed pretty acrtresses to term contracts and gave them nothing to do but pose for leg-art photo graphs. Today young contract players work harder than many stars. And that goes double for the men, since enlistment in armed services has greatly increased the margin of demand over supply. All studios have speeded up their systems for development of new talent. Consider, for instance, RKO-Radio’s intensified training plan. Young contract players who are not in current pictures must rehearse all day, five days a week, for stage plays presentations. Nights and Sundays they present these plays at military camps. Two players are trained for each role in these dramas and comedies. Understudies are mecessary becaue the casts are frequently raided by the film directors. Far from languishing without opportunity to face a camera, the RKO-Radio contract players get extensive screen experience almost from the moment they’re signed. Phone: Adelaide 4316 MRS. MINIVER Payoff: A truly great picture, one that will be an early challenge for the Oscar. It has captured the same spirit of reverence for the dignity of ordinary life which gave “How Green Was My Valley” and “Goodbye Mr. Chips” its distinction. What Goes On: The picture opens as an idyll of family life in one kind of England, an idyll that is shattered by Britain’s acceptance of Hitler’s challenge. Three stories are told in the scenario, the family life of the Minivers, the love story of their son and the granddaughter of the snobbish local grand dame, and the competition for first prize at the annual rose show between the grand dame and the station master. Sizeup: The utter sincerity of the acting, the perfect casting, the complete absence of the slightest tinge of hokum, and the natural blending of every phase of the story makes it a high spot in contemporary screen history. Every type of audience will embrace it warmly. Greer Garson, as Mrs. Miniver, may have easily turned in the year’s best feminine performance and Walter Pidgeon, as her husband, provides the same solid genuine role that he’s famous for. Henry Travers, as the simple station master, is a standout, as is Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon. Teresa Wright and Richard Ney, as the sweethearts, provide wholesome and heart-filling appeal. Make no mistake, this picture belongs with the all-time best. TORTILLA FLAT Payoff: Extremely entertaining but shy on excitement and loud comedy. The names are big and may help pull them in— Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff and Allen Jenkins. What Goes On: A bunch of lazy loafers, led by Tracey, sleep under the stars, steal their food and just let the rest of the world roll by. Lamarr intrigues one of them, Garfield, who is torn between her charms and Tracey’s anti-Lamarr blarney and conniving. Garfield, plagued by love, goes bad and gets hurt, leading to the temporary reform of Tracey and to Lamarr’s arms. Sizeup: The acting honors belong to Frank Morgan, a dogloving, pious character. Morgan gives the picture some real sentiment. The roistering music and backwoods Californian Mexican peasantry are pleasant to the ear and eye. The photography is superb. & XHIBITORS “BOOKING _ASSOCIATION A thoroughly reliable, tried and proven buying and _. booking service for Independent Theatre Owners. 21 DUNDAS SQUARE Toronto Frank Meyers, Manager