Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 6, 1945)

_— sd THE PICK OF THE PICTURES |} a ee VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INOUSTOY REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Vol. 10, No. 23 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK $2.00 Per Annum Dorian Gray with George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury MGM 110 Mins. SILK-GLOVE HORROR STORY WITH STRONG APPEAL TO ADULT AUDIENCES RATES :AS SWELL ENTERTAINMENT. Emergence of Oscar Wilde’s best-known work is evidence of Hollywood’s production maturity. The way has been long and obstacle-studded, but courage of Producer Pandro S. Berman has prevailed. Film’s most impressive attribute is its general appeal to mature audiences. To sophisticates it remains Wildean, preserving much of the flavor imparted by the author, and studded with his epigrams spoken crisply and cleverly by George Sanders, as Lord Henry Wotton, rascal, cynic and questionable friend of Hurd Hatfield, who plays Dorian Gray. To another segment of theatregoers, Wilde’s story of abnormal psychology will appear dominantly as fantasy, which was the device used to recount the sordid happenings in Gray’s perpetually young life, during which span he himself does not age but rather the oil painting of him. Yet another division of screen patrons will regard the Berman opus 4s a murder thriller, spiked with tragic romance and mysticism. Thus “The Picture of Dorian Gray” has over-all lure, and is consequently rugged box-office stuff. Cast has been ingeniously chosen, and there are few contemporary films equal to it in photography and settings, the latter carrying all the tinsel splendor of the Victorian Age. Albert Lewin's direction is of high merit, as is the screenplay which he wrote. Hatfield is convincing as Dorian Gray, possessing the bright and ethereal exterior necessary for the most effective portrayal of his soul's incredible blackness. CAST: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Lowell Gilmore, Richard Fraser, Douglas Walton, Morton Lowry, Miles Mander, Lydia Bilbrook, Mary Forbes, Robert Greig, Moyna MacGill, Billy Bevan, Renie Carson, Lillian Bond, and Devi Dja and Her Balinese Dancers. CREDITS: Producer, Pandro S. Berman; Director, Albert Lewin; Screenplay, Albert Lewin; Author, Oscar Wilde; Musical Score, Herbert Stothart; Cameraman, Harry Stradling; Recording Director, Douglas Shearer; Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters; Set Decorations, Edwin B. Willis; Film Editor, Ferris Webster. DIRECTION, Expert. PHOTOGRAPRY, Aces, The House Of Fear with Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce Universal s 69 Mins. LATEST OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIES IS ACCEPTABLE MELODRAMATIC DIVERSION. Melodramatic entertainment that borders on the gruesome has been concocted. from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story ‘The Adventures of the Five Orange Pits.” The Sherlock Holmes fans should have themselves a grand time, for the film is among the best of the series, being loaded with action, suspense and unalloyed villainy. The scene of the story is a forbidding old house on the Scottish coast where the members of a club known as “The Good Comrades” keep disappearing mysteriously, supposedly the victims of foul play. Each holds a heavy insurance policy naming the club's final survivor as the beneficiary. By the time Holmes and his trusty Dr. Watson find the answer to the riddle only one member is left. The missing members are found in an abandoned tunnel very much alive. Their murders were faked to enable them to get the insurance money. The film has capable direction by Roy William Neill, who also produced, and acting that has much to be said for it. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce once more are an effective and amusing team. CAST: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Dennis Hoey, Paul Cavanagh, Holmes Herbert, Harry Cording, Sally Shepherd, Gavin Muir, Florette Hillier, David Clyde. CREDITS: Producer, Roy William Neill; Director, Roy William Neill; Screenplay, Roy Chanslor; Based on story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Cameraman, Virgil Miller; Musical Director, Paul Sawtell; Art Directors, John B. Goodman, Eugene Lowrie; Sound Director, Bernard B. Brown; Set Decorators, Russell A. Gausman, E. R. Robinson; Film Editor, Saul Goodkind. | DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Okay. Fashion Model with Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver Monogram 61 Mins. WEAK COMEDY MURDER MYSTERY YARN SUFERS FROM FARFETCHED PLOT, OVER-PLAYING. Wholesale murder prevails throughout far-fetched plot which makes a bid for laughs rather than thrills. Some of the situations are overplayed, reducing the category of the film to unmitigated farce. Weaver and Lowery keep the action alive and make the most of their standard comedy situations in their roles as a fashion model and stock boy of a smart dress shop. Lowery is suspected of murdering one of the models in the shop and Weaver talks the police inspector out of holding her boy friend. Then the owner of the dress shop is found murdered after being propositioned to find an expensive brooch which the dead model had in her possession. Lowery and Weaver are now being hunted by the police as the killers. Another model gets it in the neck when she is found strangled. But our young lovers absolve themselves after giving the cops a merry chase by leading the police to the home of the killer, a: milquetoast character. CAST: Robert Lowery, Marjorie Weaver, Tim Ryan, Lorna Gray, Dorothy Christy, Dewey Robinson, Sally Yarnell, Harry Depp, Nell Craig, Edward Keane, John Valentine. CREDITS: Associate Producer, William Strohbach; Director, William Beaudine; Cameraman, Harry Neumann; Film Editors, William Austin and Dan Milner; Art Director, E. R. Hickson; Musical Director, Edward J. Kay; Set Decorator, Vin Taylor; Sound, Tom Lambert; Screenplay, Tim Ryan and Victor Hammond; Original Story, Victor Hammond. DIRECTION, So-so. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fair. Toumanouva MGMs Tamara Toumanouva, the noted ballet dancer who recently signed an MGM contract, will play her first role in ‘“‘Ballerina,’’ sharing honors with Margaret O’Brien. The picture will be produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Henry Koster. Vol. 10, No. 28, June 6, 1945 HYE BOSSIN, Managing Editor Address all communications—The Managing Editor, Canadian Film Weekly, 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada. Published by Film Publications of Canada Ltd., 25 Dundas Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Phone ADelaide 4317. Price 5 cents each or $2.00 per year. Entered as Second Class Matter. Printed by Eveready Printers Limited, 78 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario. . Bring on The Girls with Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts Paramount 92 Mins. AMUSING MUSICAL COMEDY RATED GOOD ENTERTAINMENT; AIDED BY PRODUCTION NUMBERS. Girl trouble provides Eddie Bracken with another screen vehicle that is a fountain of entertainment. A good program musical comedy, “Bring on the Girls” will win general acceptance on the basis of its fine Technicolor investiture, its highly diverting production numbers, its hilarity and its musical treatment. The film moves breezily and amusingly under the direction of Sidney Lanfield and the supervision of Associate Producer Fred Kohlmar. The fact that much of the action takes place in bistros makes the film constantly interesting value. “Bring on the Girls” relates a gay though not-very-convincing yarn of an extremely wealthy young man who yearns for a femme who will love him for himself. Disgusted, he joins the Navy. A member of his law firm is sent along to keep an eye on him. Our hero falls in love with a cigarette girl whom he believes to be in love with him and not his dough, but the cutie, who really is stuck on his guardian, makes a dope of him. A romance with a rich girl solves his problem. Bracken is very funny as the rich lad. Quite a funster, too, is Sonny Tufts as the guardian. Veronica Lake is the ciggie gal and Marjorie Reynolds the rich dame. CAST: Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts, Eddie Bracken, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Mitchell, Johnnie Coy, Peter Whitney, ‘Alan Mowbray, Porter Hall, Thurston Hall, Lloyd Corrigan, Sig Arno, Joan Woodbury, Andrew Tombes, Frank Faylen, Huntz Hall, William Moss, Norma Varden, Spike Jones and orchestra, Marietta Canty, Dorothea Kent, Ray Riggs, Stan Johnson, William Haade, Jimmy Dundee, Walter Baldwin, Pat Cameron, Maxine Fife, Veda Ann Borg, Douglas Walton, Grant Withers, Noel Neill, Jimmy Conlin. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Fred Kohlmar; Director, Sidney Lanfield; Screenplay, Karl Tunberg, Darrell Ware; Based on story by Pierre Wolff: Cameraman, Karl Struss; Musical Director, Robert Emmett Dolan; Songs, Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson; Dance Director, Danny Dare; Art Directors, Hans Dreier, John Mechan; Settings, Raoul Pene du: Bois; Film Editor, William Shea; Sound, Wallace Nogle, John Cope; Set Decorator, Ray Moyer. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine,