Canadian Film Weekly (Nov 1, 1944)

THE PICK OF | THE PICTURES Vol. 9, No. 44 iad Greenwich Village with Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, William Bendix 20th-Fox 8&2 Mins. EYE-FILLING TECHNICOLOR MUSICAL HAS ALL THE STUFF THAT MAKES FOR GOOD POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT. In “Greenwich Village” 20thFox has added another winner to its string of richly produced and eye-filling musicals skillfully tailored to the popular taste. Under the production banner of William Le Baron, who gave himself a free hand in making the film to guarantee a favorable boxoffice reception, the offering successfully surmounts the handicap of an extremely stereotyped story, emerging as highly diversified entertainment that is an amalgam of comedy, music and romance united in well-balanced proportions. Participating in the entertainment are Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, William Bendix, Vivian Blaine and a host of lesser players of proven ability. Ameche is a gullible college instructor from the Middle West who comes to Greenwich Village in the furious ’20’s with a concerto for which he hopes to get a hearing. Under the false impression that he has dough, Bendix, operator of a bistro, tries to play him for a sucker in order to get financial backing for a stage musical. Bendix not only doesn’t get any dough out of Ameche but loses his girl friend and singing star, Vivian Blaine, to him. At first Bendix plots revenge against him but changes his mind when he realizes Miss Blaine and Ameche are nuts about each other and goes sacrificial. The players do their stuff well. Miss Blaine, in her biggest role to date, makes a lovely picture. Miss Miranda virtually steals the show as an entertainer in Bendix’s night spot. She has more to do than ordinarily and does it to complete satisfaction. The film has able direction by Walter Lang. CAST; Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche, William Bendix, Vivian Blaine, Felix Bressart, Tony and Sally De Marco, The Revuers, B. S. Pully, Four Stevo Brothers, Emil Rameau, Frank*Orth, T. Meyer, Herbert Evers, Hal K. Dawson," William B. Davidson, Eddie Dunn, Sherry Hall, Paul Hurst,” Tom Dugan, Billy Wayne, Charles Arnt, Oliver Prickett, Charles Williams. DIRECTION, Good, PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY. NEW YORK Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Walker UA-Selznick 17Z Mins. ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S GREATEST FEATURES TO DATE, POSSESSING UNLIMITED BOX OFFICE POWER VESTED BY SUPERB ENTERTAINMENT VALUES INCLUDING TOP-FLIGHT PRODUCTION STORY’S TIMELINESS AND APPEAL, AND A PLANETARIUM OF MAGNETIC STARS AND PLAYERS. With the emergence of “Since You Went Away,’ David O. Selznick challenges seriously the preeminence of his own film masterpiece, ‘Gone With the Wind.” This will become clearly apparent to every exhibitor and filmgoer alike as the new attraction inevitably takes its place as a monarch of contemporary motion picture entertainment, wielding the power to command unprecedented grosses and become an institution in the esteem of fans wherever they may be. There will be a natural inclination on the part of theatre operators and patrons to reverence the memory of GWIW, and the latter’s prestige will not undergo major revision, but “Since You Went Away” will not lack for enthusiastic multitudes to sincerely appraise it as the equal, yes, and the peer of its vaunted predecessor. The new Selznick offering hasn’t the advantage of the pre-release hysteria which gripped moviegoers in the instance of GWTW, nor is it clad in the regal robes of Technicolor, but counterbalancing these assets are SYWA/’s far greater timeliness and consequence, plus a planetarium of stars virtually unmatched in industry annals. On the score of timeliness, SYWA is as vital now as each morning and evening headlines on newspapers. In consequence, it dips its banners to no present or past feature, for it fits every individual’s experiences at home in the current conflict and its every scene pulsates with those emotions which are felt by all who have loved ones serving in the war, and who themselves are backing the vast over-all efforts to attain victory. It has fallen to the genius and discernment of Selznick to fashion this saga of the Home Front, and he has accomplished his self ordained mission both grandly and sensitively, giving courage and inspiration to all of goodwill who stand shoulder to shoulder in the great task remaining before us at America’s firesides, in her factories, and in every activity to keep the nation free. The recounting of these things is through the instrumentality of a middle-class American family in a community which might well be in any part of the land. It is the father in this family who goes to war, leaving behind him his wife, Claudette Colbert, and his two children, Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple. Their income is reduced to the usual allotment from the Government, which does not permit of keeping a maid— the portly and lovable Hattie McDaniel. But at the instigation of her children, Claudette Colbert (to boost the shallow income), takes in a boarder, who is Monty Woolley, crotchety and difficult because his grandson has flunked out at West Point, thus bringing, as he feels, disgrace upon his traditional, martial forebears. This boy, Robert Walker, comes from a nearby Army camp to win the heart of Jennifer Jones, the older of the two Colbert daughters, and he subsequently dies gloriously in battle. To this tragic event is added the fact that the husband of Claudette Colbert is reported missing in action. But at the finale he comes home. CAST: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Walker, Hattie McDaniel, Nazimova, Keenan Wynn, Gordon Oliver, Lieyd Corrigan, Jane Devlin, Agnes Moorehead, Albert Basserman, Guy Madison, Craig Stevens, Jackie Moran, Anne Gillis, Robert Anderson, Irving Bacon, Aileen Pringle, Charles Williams, Wallis Clark, Neila Hart and dozens of others, DIRECTION, PHY, Aces. Superb. PHOTOGRA — + ES fol. 9, No. 44 Noy. 1, 144 re ee TYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Address all communications—The Managing Edlior, Canadian Film Weekly, 25 Dundas Square, Teronte, Canada. Published by Film Publications of Canada Ltd.. 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Ont., Phane ADelaide feat ene is e te 5 cemts each or $27.06 year, : Entered as Second Class Matter — Printed by Eveready Printers Limited 78 Wellington Street West, Torente, Ontarip REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS $2.00 Per Annum Glasier 20th-Fox Can. Ad-Pub Man (Continued from Page 1) ada, such duties as it includes having been carried on from the department headed by Rodney Bush at home office, New York. Glasier thus becomes the company’s contact man for exhibitors, editors, columnists and broadcasters in Canada. He has a wide acquaintanceship among them and is sure of a popular reception. The newest executive on the SAM GLASIER Sam, it has been announced by Sydney Samson, is now promotion representative of Twentieth Century-Fox in Canada. He inaugurated the post. Fox Canadian roster got into the film business in 1920 as a member of the poster department of Regal Films. He left Regal to become an usher at the Pantages, Toronto, now the Imperial, and at the time he resigned to take up residence in the USA; he was head usher, He joined Fox in 1929, shortly after his return to this country, as head of the adsales department, a position he continues to hold. Sam Glasier is highly regarded and his new appointment will bring him many good wishes for his future success,