Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 7, 1943)

A j THE PICK OF THE PICTURES REVIEWS INFORMATION | RATINGS Vol. 8, No. 15 COAST-TO-COAST COVERAGE April 7, 1943 ‘Desperadoes’ Action COLUMBIA OFFERS GOOD TECHNICOLOR WESTERN ‘THE DESPERADOES” COLUMBIA (Running Time: 85 Mins.) ag ‘Journey Into Fear’ Fair “JOURNEY INTO FEAR” RKO (Running Time: 71 Mins.) “Journey Into Fear,’ though not the best of Orson Welles film offerings, might easily outrank the others in audience attraction. It falls into the ranks of spy dramas, for which there is an established following. This despite the fact that it lacks mystery and whatever suspense it has depends on its ability to make the patron share the fears of the main character. Those patrons who are prone to weigh things will observe that the Nazis miss many chances to assassinate the main character. This being the idea on which the film moves, its lack of conviction slows things down. Mainly Welles has substituted a mood of fear, reflected in the subdued photography and presented by the acting of the main character, Joseph Cotten. Cotten is an American armament engineer in Turkey. It seems at first that the Turkish police are his persecutors. Then it develops that they are his protectors, aware of the Nazi intentions. The Turks are interested in keeping Cotten alive because they want the eventual use of the weapon of which Cotten is the expert. Orson Welles, as Colonel Haki, head of the Turkish police, presents a good character performance. Welles’ attempt to keep Cotten alive leads to a separation of the American and his wife, played by Ruth Warrick. The film becomes one long chase, slow most of the way, but very fast at the finish. The matter of life or death for Cotten is finally settled in Soviet Russia. The film has a number of fine acting performances in the minor roles by Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Jack Moss and Jack Durant. The characters are distinct and unusual and do much to make up for the slow pace of the early reels. Waugh in Africa Capt. Freeman Waugh, who used to manage the Hollywood, Toronto, and the Lyric, Hamilton, Ont., is now serving in Africa. Technicolor and the old time West were just made for each other. Columbia, for its first adventure in the field of color films, has brought them together in a happy union. Any Western script slated for color starts off with an immediate advantage. Such a film, of course, isn’t critic-proof but there’s a great deal of guaranteed customer satis faction. Westerns, though mortgage lifters in the byways and the sideroads, are rarely downtown stuff. “The Desperadoes” is. Against the colorful scenic backgrounds, which are extremely relaxing, there breaks out every little while one of the sure-as-shootin’ pieces of Western business. There’s 2 pip of a bar-room brawl, an exciting chase, a broncho-busting episode, ranch music and one of the wildest and best stampedes ever filmed. By way of novelty, horses, not steers, do the stampeding. Though somewhat shy of shooting in the earlier episodes, ‘‘Desperadoes” makes it all up before the fadeout. Lean and lanky Randolph Scott is the sheriff in the triedand-true plot about an outlaw who goes straight for love. The outlaw is Glenn Ford and love is Evelyn Keyes. Ford is the sheriff's old buddy who captures the old buddy’s girl as the reward of delayed virtue. There’s a bosomy and buxom Clair Trevor, Ford’s boyhood sweetheart, now a saloon keeper. There’s also good old Edgar Buchanan as a banjoplaying, tobacco-chewing, softspoken old buzzard. He’s Keyes’ father, pretending to be one of the good guys but really in league with the bank robbers. Others who add to the excellent playing are Porter Hall, as a dishonest banker, Guinn Williams as Ford’s pal, Raymond Walburn as a slavish judge, Bernard Nedell as a robber, and Joan Woodbury. Much of “Desperadoes” was shot at night and those parts don’t stand out nearly as well as the daytime scenes. But, all in all, it’s a rip-roaring Western of the kind everyone likes. The Technicolor reproduces everything in fine style, lush furniture and the overstuffed gowns of the period, gleaming gold watch chains and carpety vests, etc. Have YOU Helped The Motion Picture Committee CANADIAN: Campaign Yet? West n ‘Chetniks!’ is Exeiting Film “CHETNIKS” 2th CENTURY-FOX (Running Time: 73 Mins.) The controversy as to whether General Draja Mihailovitch, leader ef one section of Serb resistance, is everything claimed for him has not sunk into public consciousness sufficiently to affect the attraction of his screen life story. He has had a long buildup as a fighting hero and there is much public curiosity about him. Phillip Dorn, as Mihzilovitch, provides a daredevilish performance. The picture, in fact, is in the Western tradition. There are mountains, horses and ambushes. The story of Serbian resistance has been fitted into a Hollywood mold. This may not be closest to the real picture of the struggle against the Nazis but it will help the box-office in action situations. Dorn and his men hide in the hills, swooping down on prison trains and supply groups. His wife, played by Anna Sten, still lives in a town occupied by the Nazis but unknown to them. The General’s trucculent son makes a slip and the Nazis find out about the family. Planned starvation is introduced by the Nazis to force the population to turn in Sten, who has escaped without her children. In the end the General storms the town and everything is okay. Phillip Dorn does a plausible job and Anna Sten, in her return to the screen, makes you wonder where she has been all the time. Others who add to the picture are John Sheppard, Virginia Gilmore, Martin Kosleck, Felix Basch and Frank Lacteen. “Chetniks” is loaded with action and will prove fine fare for most patrons. Hollywood Previews NFB's Navy Short Members of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization, which represents eight other bodies of Alm workers, had a look at the National Film Board's new short about the Canadian Navy, “Action Stations," on March 30. Joris Ivens, who directed it, was a speaker,