Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 27, 1943)

sii OE a, || Bi i) i ' | ! THE PICK OF THE PICTURES REVIEWS . INFORMATION | RATINGS Vol. 8, No, 44 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK October 27, 1943 ‘Top Man?’ with Donald O’Connor, Susanna Foster Universal 824% Mins. O’CONNOR DOES IT AGAIN IN LIVELY MUSICAL THAT 1S SWELL FUN FOR THE FAMILY TRADE. This musical further establishes Donald O’Connor as a Universal gold mine. The younger element will respond enthusiastically to the display of talent put on by the youthful performer, without whose presence the picture would be just another variation of a familiar story. He, Susanna Foster and Peggy Ryan are the whole film. As long as the three are around the customers won’t care about anything else. In this spry, youthful and hilarious entertainment O’Connor is a riot in his attempt to play the head of the family while his father (Richard Dix) is away serving as an officer in the navy. He gets into situation after situation loaded with laughter, tossing lines around with amazing skill and ease. O’Connor wins the admiration of all when he induces his young friends to devote their spare time to working in an airplane factory sadly in need of help. The plant, run by Miss F'oster’s uncle (Samuel S. Hinds), gets the Army-Navy E, and O'Connor gets official Government recognition for his act of patriotism. The film winds up with a swell show put on by O’Connor and his pals for the entertainment of the factory hands. The music, of which there is plenty, has been selected to suit the tastes of both jitterbugs and lovers of the better music. Miss Foster, who plays the girl in O’Connor’s life, takes care of the demands of the latter group with a selection of numbers that bring out the full beauty of her voice. O’Connor and the Misses Foster and Ryan (playing O’Connor’s kid sister) get excellent backing from Dix, Lillian Gish (O’Connor’s ma), Anne Gwynne, David Holt, Noah Beery, Jr. Not to be forgotten are Count Basie and his orchestra and Borrah Minnevitch’s Harmonica Rascals (minus Minnevitch). Producer Milton Schwarzwald deserves much credit for the film’s high status as popular entertainment. Charles Lamont’s snappy direction makes “Top Man” extremely zestful diversion. CAST: Donald O’Connor, Susanna Foster, Lillian Gish, Richard Dix, Peexv Ryan, i:Anne Gwynne, David Helt, Noah Beery, Jr., Marcia Mae Jones, Love, Samuel S. Hinds, Count Basie and orchestra, Borah Minnevitch’s Harmonica Rascals. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Richard | ‘Holy Matrimony’ with Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields 20th-Fox 87 Mins. SUPERB COMEDY IS HEADED FOR HEAVY TAKES; WOOLLEY, FIELDS, MAKE A SUPERLATIVE TEAM. Chalk up another triumph for 20th-Fox and Nunnally Johnson. In “Holy Matrimony” he has consummated a wedding of the cinematic arts that will bring happiness galore to exhibitor and patron alike. The film, which is pure escapism, should prove one of 20thFox’s biggest grossers of the year. With superb cleverness and ex~ emplary skill Johnson has concocted a solid piece of entertainment from the Arnold Bennett novel, ‘Buried Alive,” which was made into a film once before—by Paramount in 1933 under the title “His Double Life.” Audiences will revel in the delicious fun purveyed by this comedy, which at times can be as gentle as it is hilarious. The intelligent will get as much diversion out of “Holy “Matrimony” as the dyed-in-the-wool fans. Johnson has assembled a handpicked cast. In the leading role Monty Woolley again delivers 2 sock comedy performance. As 2 famous British painter who tries to escape the inconveniences that go with fame he is a mixture of brusqueness and sentiment. The story of “Holy Matrimony” is ironic, provocative and out of the ordinary. Woolley returns to his native England to be knighted after secluding himself in the South Seas for a quarter of a century. When his valet (Eric Blore) dies, Woolley’s name is entered in the death certificate by mistake. Blore is burled in Westminster Abbey. The painter, eager for peace and quiet, makes no attempt to correct the error. Assuming Blore’s identity, he finds what he’s after in marriage to Gracie Fields, a widow. Complications arise when Blore’s wife turns up. There follows 2 court session in which Woolley has a tough time convincing the world that he isn’t Blore. It takes the presence of two moles on his anatomy to win his case. Of course, the discovery that the chap resting in the Abbey is just a valet creates a sensation. CAST: Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields, Laird Cregar, Una O’Connor, Alan Mowbray, Melville Cooper, Franklin Panxborn, Ethel Griffies, Eric Blore, George Zucco, Fritz Feld, William Austin, Montagu Loye, Richard Fraser, Edwin Maxwell, Leyland | Hodgson, Whitner Bissell, Geoffrey Steele, Lmusden Hare, Thomas . | Wolfe, Milton Parsons, Alec Craig. DIRECTION, Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY, e. ( ‘Lady Takes / A Chanee’ with Jean Arthur, John Wayne RKO 8&6 Mins. SMART, CLEVER ROMANTIC COMEDY SHOULD PROVE A BOX OFFICE WOW; ARTHUR, WAYNE RATE POSIES. The exhibitor will be taking no chance with this baby. What he has here is as sure a bet as he could hope for. In “A Lady Takes a Chance” the theatre man will be getting a sweetheart of a romantic comedy. Every moment of it is vastly entertaining and amusing beyond the ordinary. The highbrow and the lowbrow will obtain equal enjoyment out of it. The appeal for the intelligent filmgoer lies chiefly in the dialogue, which is literate and grown-up. The film supplies Jean Arthur with another grand opportunity to give full release to her talent— and to exercise that haunting voice of hers. While the role mekes demands upon her primarily as a comedienne, there are moments when she can elicit a heart pang as readily and as expertly as a laugh. The yarn presents Miss Arthur as a New Yorker who finds love out West during a bus tour. The idea of a city working girl and a cowhand falling in love may not sound terrifically original, but the way the story is developed in this instance is unusual, not to say fascinating. The game is played subtly with the cowhand fighting hard but finally falling like a poled steer. As the cowhand John Wayne turns in a far better job than one | would have expected of him. One| wouldn’t be going overboard in saying it was his best work yet. Miss Arthur and Wayne have an ace supporting cast. Laying con ‘Sahara’ with Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram Columbia 97 Mins. SWELL MELLER OF ARMORED WARFARE IN NORTH AFRICA; STIRRING FARE FOR THE ACTION FANS. Glorifying the hard-bitten courage of the men in USA tank forces, and stressing the camaraderie of United Nations’ soldiery, “Sahara” is a stirring if not a sensational saga of the North African campaign. That it is not sensational makes it all the more moving and impressive, for in its content is found only occasional touches of the Hollywood concept of war. Thus an uncommon degree of realism is achieved. Its all-male cast, headed by Humphrey Bogart, adds to the credibility of the story, unpunctuated as it is by feminine characters whom most Hollywood filmmakers hold to be essential to audience interest, but whose injection so often detracts from realism. Action is plentiful from the time the American tank commanded by Bogart, operating with the British in the fighting around Tobruk, is cut off by the German advance toward Alexandria and finds itself and crew forced to cut across scores of miles of sandy wastes to establish contact, if possible, with Allied units. To effect this on a low supply of gas and without adequate water supply for the crew, considerable drama is enlisted via the screenplay, based upon a story by Philip MacDonald derived from an incident in the Soviet photoplay, “The Thirteen.” To the original crew of three Americans is added as a consequence of various happenings an Italian prisoner, his captor, a Nazi airman who is shot down after strafing the tank from the air, and several British Em siderable claim to attention are! Pire soldiers. At some desert ruins Charles Winniger, as Wayne's} buddy, and Phil Silvers, as a travel guide. Smaller roles are | well taken by Mary Field, Don Costello, Grant Withers, Hans Conreid and Grady Sutton. Frank Ross has guided the production carefully with the assistance of Associate Producer Rich| ard Ross. } CAST: Jean Arthur, John Wayne, Charles Winniger, Phil Silvers, Mary Field, Don Costello, John Philliber, Grady Sutton, Grant Withers, Hans Conreid, | Peggy Carroll, Ariel Heath, Sugar Geiso, Joan Blair, Tom Fadden, Ed Waller, Nina Quartero, Alex Melesh, Cy Kendall, Paul Scott, Charles D. Brown, Butch and Buddy, Three Peppers. i DIRECTION, Fine, PHOTOGRAPHY, | Fine. ( the group makes a stand against several hundred Germans, and at the climax the latter are routed and many taken prisoner. When the British rescue the valiant defending band, following El Alamein, only two are left. Cast generally does a good job, and audiences will enjoy the excitement provided by the attraction which is solidly directed by Zoltan Korda. CAST: Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, J. Carrel Naish, Dan Duryea, Richard Nugent, Patrick O’Moore, Louls T. Mercler, Carl Harbord, Guy Kingsford, Kurt Krueger, Jchn Wengraf, Hans Schumm. DIRECTION, Solid, PHOTOGRAPHY,