Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 17, 1942)

Page 4 Canadian FILM WEEKLY June 17th, 1942 Vitagraph SPY SHIP Payoff: No names but plenty of spies, patriots and shooting. What Goes On: The story is obviously based on the woman flyer who was sent to jail by Uncle Sam a while back for aiding the Nazis. An interned ship is the hideout for the fifth columnists she hangs out with and when news of the Pearl Harbour raid comes in they try to escape with it. A newspaperman foils it while winning the traitorous flyer’s sister, who is a patriot. Sizeup: Just another picture out of the hopper. The players are Irene Manning, Craig Stevens, Maris Wrixon, Michael Ames and some others. Columbia SUBMARINE RAIDER Payoff: The USA submarine vs. Jap aircraft carrier duel in this picture, which fortunately occupies most of the footage, captures a maximum of interest. Which gives it a high rating in the Pearl Harbor film league. What Goes On: A Yankee sub, commanded by John Howard, is in the Pacific when the Japs move to the attack. Prevented from warning the forces by Jap radio manipulation, it goes after and gets @ carrier. Sizeup: The love stuff is wisely omitted, though there’s some stock FBI vs. fifth columnist stuff—but not enough to get in the way. Marguerite Chapman is the only survivor of a Jap Regal SUNDAY PUNCH Payoff: Packs plenty of punch, a fair amount of laughs and an interesting, if not unfamiliar, story. It’s cast solidly with a host of known and popular players. It’s a healthy B. What Goes On: Sam Levene is the trainer who tells the story which the camera takes over and gives back to him at the finish. William Lundigan is the medical student turned pug to get rich quickly. Jean Rogers, as a would-be golddigger reformed by her love for Lundigan, pleases. Dan Dailey, Jr. is the janitor-turned-fighter for love of Jean. Lundigan and Dailey, the best of friends, fight it out in the ring for a crack at the champ—and for several other good reasons prescribed by the script. Sizeup: The best acting performance is that of Dan Dailey, Jr. as the smitten Swede. By stocking the job with such players as Guy Kibbee, J. Carrol Naish, Connie Gilchrist, Leo Gorcey and Rags Ragland MGM has managed to turn out a worthwhile screen venture. Vitagraph LADY GANGSTER Payoff: A filler meller about a tough-luck girl who gets tangled up with a bad mob. What Goes On: Faye Emerson is the gangster’s aide who win the interest and support of Frank Wilson, an investigating broadcaster. She knows where the money is hidden but won’t tell, this being the chief complication. Sizeup: Okay for that sort of thing. Julie Bishop, Roland torpedo and machine-gunning. NFB Wins Biggest Boosts Abroad The National Film Board comes close to being a victim of the old saying about a prophet being without honor in his own country. That is, the men who are the NFB and the product they are turning out. Canada is just waking up to a realization of the quality of these men and their work. Reports drifting in from American distributors and the rave reviews of the USA’s best magazines and newspapers are beginning to stimulate interests on the home grounds in Canada’s crack film makers. The National Film Board was busy tunning out any number of films, from regional pictures to war effort inspiration, in a quiet way and organizing the world’s best documentary unit when the USA was drawn into the war. All at once American distributors discovered the existance of a series of war shorts that exceeded anything of a like nature in the United States. David Coplan of United Artists, who is liaison man between the industry and Ottawa, had been trumpeting NFB accomplishments to the USA executives and trade for a long time and suddenly found himself much in demand. He sold MGM the NFB’s “War Clouds in the Pacific,” which became a USA sensation, then completed a deal with his own company for the distribution of the shorts throughout the world under the general title of “The World in Action.” These were the first shorts handled by UA in a long time. The backlog of shorts sold in Canada by Columbia as the “Canada Carries On” series and the addition of films made especially for the new series permitted Coplan and the NFB to meet all requirements. For consistent excellence and as prime examples of film making the NFB’s product cannot be touched, a fact that Hollywood agrees to, as witness its Academy award to “Churchill’s Island.” But the fact remains that the least appreciation of the NFB’s shorts comes from Canada itself. Canadian exhibitors need special selling to use shorts that are almost fought for in the United States and other parts of the world. Canadian newspapers, while running much film news and gossip, devote little space to NFB product — while the USA press uses stills and stories with regularity. The Federal legislators are also victims of this comparative silence. They keep asking for information about the NFB from the floor of the house. Suddenly waking up to the existence of an organization as powerful and important as the NFB and not being acquainted with its accomplishments through the daily press, they are using their legislative time and rights to learn about it. Much of this is no doubt due to the fact that the National Film Drew, Ruth Ford and other unknowns work in it. Board is just getting its publicity organized. Its press department is trying to tell the home folks about “Inside Fighting Russia,’ named by many as the best thing to date done on the subject of Russia’s fight; “Ferry Pilot,” ready for release, which packs more drama than any full-length feature; and ‘Inside Fighting China.” This last one’ is being handled by Joris Ivens, famed as a documentary film maker. The National Film Board staiffmen take great pride in their work and are happy that they and John Grierson, their chief, have been vindicated by the current acclaim from across ocean and border. But they won’t be completely happy until they hear the Canadian exhibitor and public hand out that well-deserved cry, ‘Well done!” & XHIBITORS “BOOKING _ASSOCIATION A thoroughly reliable, tried and proven buying and booking service for Independent Theatre Owners. to) 21 DUNDAS SQUARE Toronto Phone: Adelaide 4316 Frank Meyers, Manager |