Canadian Film Weekly (Jan 16, 1946)

THE PICK OF THE PICTURES Vol. 11, Ne. 8 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS $2.00 Per Annum Kiss And Tell with Shirley Temple Columbia 90 Mins. HILARIOUS COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT IS PURVEYED BY PIC VERSION OF STAGE HIT. A fast-paced comedy, amusing from first to last, has been fashioned from F. Hugh Herbert’s stage success. Full of laugh lines and funny situations, “Kiss and Tell” is a worthy vehicle for the talents of a hand-picked cast headed by Shirley Temple, who delivers her best work since her farewell to childhood. The action, kept constantly at the boiling point by the astute direction of Richard Wallace, permits of not a dull moment in the film’s entire footage. In playing strictly for laughs, the picture, scripted by Herbert himself, takes its place as a solid boxoffice hit. Youth certainly has its day in the story of “Kiss and Tell.”’ And what a day! Miss Temple is responsible for some hectic doings when she attempts to conceal the marriage of her best pal to her soldier brother because her family and that of her friend are feuding. The complications are compoundsd when a visit to an obstetrician with her sister-inlaw causes her by error to be suspected of being motherhoodbound. Miss Temple has to keep mum to protect her friend’s secret. All misunderstandings are straightened out after a swell time has been had by all. The film, produced extremely well by Sol. C. Siegel, has been performed jin the spirit in which it was written. Miss Temple carries on in a manner that will make her fans happy. Jerome Courtland is supremely amusing as her goofy boy friend. When he’s around, Walter Abel, playing Miss Temple’s father, takes command of the film. Katharine Alexander, Robert Benchley, Porter Hall, Tom Tully, Mary Phillips and Darryl Hickman are others whose performances are in key. CAST: Shirley Temple, Jerome Courtland, Welter Abel, Katharine Alexander, Robert Benchley, Porter Hall, Edna Holland, Virginia Welles, Tom Tully, Mary Phillips, Darryl Hickman, Scott McKay, Scott Elliott, Kathryn Card. CREDITS: Producer, Sol Assistant Producer, rector, Richard Wallace; Screenplay, F. Hugh Herbert; Based on play by F. Hugh Herbert; Cameraman, Charles Lawton, Jr.; Film Editor, Charles Nelson; Art Directors, Stephen Goossen, Van Nest Polglase; Set Decoratcr, Joseph Kish; Sound, Jack Goodrich; Musical Score, Werner R. Heymann; Musical Director, M. 'W. Stoloff. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, C. Siegel; William Mull; Di Man Alive with Pat O’Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Ellen Drew RKO 70 Mins. FAST-MOVING FARCE SUPPORTED BY GOOD MARQUEE NAMES MAKES THIS AN ENTERTAINING FILM. Aided by a novel, fast-moving Screenplay, Pat O’Brien, Ellen Drew, Adolphe Menjou, and Rudy Vallee give spirited performances to point up this screwball comedy. Robert Fellows, executive producer, has co-ordinated a pleasing production, and his choice of Leigh Harline to complement Ray Enright’s lively direction with appropriate musical background was effective and noteworthy. The story gets under way with O’Brien working into a pitch because his wife, Ellen Drew, has invited Vallee, her former college crush, to the house on her birthday. Believing that Ellen married him on the rebound, O’Brien goes cut on a binge and has Jack Norton, the perennial drunk, drive his car after they exchange clothes as a gag. Norton drives carelessly off a pier into the MisSissippi. Norton is killed, but O’Brien is picked up by Menjou, an actor on a Mississippi show boat. Nursed back to health, O’Brien heeds Menjou’s advice in making sure of his wife’s love, since she is about to marry Vallee after thinking she buried O’Brien, really Norton in her husband’s clothes. After playing ghost and then dressing as his Uncle Barney from Killarney, O’Brien tries to convince Ellen that he is still about, but suffered from amnesia. CAST: Pat O’Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Ellen Drew, Rudy Vallee, Fortunio Bonanova, Joseph Crehan, Jonathan Hale, Minna Gombell, Jason Robards, Jack Norton. CREDITS: Producer, Robert Fellows; Director, Ray Enright; Screenplay, Edwin Harvey Blum; Original Story, Jerry Cady and John Tucker Battle; Music, Leigh Harline; Musical Director, C. Bakaleinikoff; Music arranger, Gil Grau; jAssociate producer, Theron Warth; Cameraman, Frank Redman; Special effects, Vernon L. Walker; Art Directors, Albert D’Agostino, Al Herman; Set Decorators, Darrell Silvera, Victoc Gangelin; Sound, Francis M. Sarver; Editor, Marvin Coil; Assistant director, James Casey. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Don’t Fence Me In with Roy Rogers, George ‘‘Gabby”’ Hayes, Dale Evans Republic 71 Mins. A KNOCKOUT WESTERN MUSICAL WITH ALL THE QUALITIES FOR TOP FEATURE BILLING; WELL CAST. Républic has a sure-fire box office winner in this one, and should feel mighty proud of having corralled director John English and associate producer Donald H. Brown to handle the job. The tune title has been perfectly adapted to a swell original screenplay by Dorrell and Stuart E. McGowan, and a new, catchy, lyrical tune, “A Kiss Goodnight,” has been injected for special delivery by Dale Evans. Despite the fact that Rogers, King of the Cowboys, offers his best performance to date, equal heners must be shared by “Gabby” Hayes, as Wildcat Kelly, and geod-looking Dale Evans. Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers supply most of the musical background, giving a fresh quality to stock Western songs. Spotted with novel situations and effects, the story has Dale sent on an assignment by her picture magazine editor to the western town of Twin Wells. She discovers Wildcat Kelly is still alive after having been reported killed and buried for his misdeeds 30 years ago. A series of candid shots in her magazine brings Mare Lawrence, henchman of Moroni Olsen, out to the ranch to finish the job for which he collected a $50,000 reward from the State. Roy and Dale get in each other’s way in an effort to expose Olsen, but they finally clear Wildcat of false accusations and win each other. CAST: Roy Rogers, George “Gabby” Hayes, Dale Evans, Robert Livingston, Moroni Qlsen, Marc Lawrence, Stephen Barclay, Edgar Dearling, Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers, and Trigger. CREDITS: Associate producer, Donald H. Brown; Director, John English; Cameraman, 'William Bradford; Original screenplay, Dorrell McGowan, Stuart E. McGowan; Musical director, Morton Scott. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Swell. Vol. 11, No. 8 Jan. 16, 1946 pin ee a Hal A OE 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. ey : Entered as Second Class Matter. Printed by Eveready Printers Limited, 78 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Yolanda And The Thief with Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer MGM 108 Mins. EXTRAVAGANT MUSICAL MUST LEAN CHIEFLY UPON ITS PHYSICAL ASSETS FOR SUCCESS. Done in the spirit of an extravaganza, “Yolanda and the Thief,” dripping with Technicolor, will have to depend for its drawing power primarily upon its eye-filling qualities, not the least of its optical delights being Lucille Bremer, who has been photographed most lusciously by Charles Rosher. The picture is a musical full of ostentation that makes up in sumptuousness and glitter what it lacks in story interest. The cast has to work overtime in an attempt to keep the audience interested in a tale which is a rehash of the: old one about the thief who falls in love with his intended victim after undergoing the proper change of character. The gay Jacques Thery-Ludwig Bemelmans yarn which Irving Brecher converted into a screenplay, is laid in a mythical state called Patria, obviously situated somewhere in Latin America. Astaire and his pal, Frank Morgan, fugitives from the States, set out to fleece Miss Bremer, who has come into the richest fortune in the land. The story, none too intelligently developed and at no time believable, has Astaire troubled by his conscience just when he has made the biggest haul of his life. Marriage to the rich gal more than well rewards him for foregoing his plan to mulct the lady. Producer Arthur Freed is credited with a costly production spottily directed by Vincente Minnelli. Although the players try hard to make the film click, the story prevents them from giving the best that is in them. Astaire confines his dancing to a couple of production numbers, one of which, a dream sequence, is spectacular to the extreme. CAST: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, Mildred Natwick, Mary Nash, Leon Ames. CREDITS: Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Vincente Minnelli; Screenplay, Irving Brecher; Based on a story by Jacques Thery, Ludwig Bemelmans; Cameraman, Charles Rosher; Musical Director, Lennie Hayton; Art Directors, Cedric Gibbons, Jack Martin Smith; Dance Director, Eugene Loring; Songs, Arthur Freed, Harry Warren; Film Editor, George White; Recording Director, Douglas Shearer; Set Decorators, Edwin B. Willis, Richard Pefferle; Special Effects, “A. Amold Gillespie, Warren Newcombe. DIRECTION, Fair. PHOTOGRAPHY, Aces,