Canadian Film Weekly (May 14, 1947)

THE PICK OF THE PICTURES | Backlash with Jean Rogers, Richard Travers, Larry Blake 20th-Fox 66 Mins. DETECTIVE-MURDER STORY WITH GOOD PRODUCTION VALUES AND TOUCHES OF SMART DIRECTION SUSTAINS INTEREST. Given good production values and frequently heightened by a few smart touches of direction, this offering should hold the audience’s attention. The performances are regulation and fill requirements. Crime elements in the plot have a familiar ring. If it is guesswork that the audience likes, then in “Backlash” they will have something to ponder. Plot starts off with a bang. John Eldredge is making time on a highway. Police have roadblocks out to catch Douglas Fowley, bank robber-killer, a client of Eldredge, who is a lawyer. Cops let Eldredge pass. Down the road he meets Fowley. Later Eldredge’s car is found wrecked, burned, containing a body identified as Eldredge. His wife, Jean. Rogers is informed. ‘Immediately Larry Blake, a detective starts chasing down the case for there are many unusual circumstances involved. The DA in the case, Richard Travis, pokes about, too. He is very friendly with Miss Rogers. A _ blonde, Louise Currie figures in the ensuing developments with Robert Shayne, Eldredge’s law partner. Seems there’s considerable dough owed the latter by the former. In due time police work shows fruit and while much suspicion is directed at almost all the principals in the cast the real culprit is revealed in a surprisefinish. It has a few spots which rise above the routine pattern. The pace is good. It should hold up. CAST: Jean Rogers, Richard Trayis, Larry Blake, John Eldredge, Leonard Strong, Robert Shayne, Loulse Currie. CREDITS: Producer, Sol M. Wurtzel; Director, Eugene Forde; Original story Screenplay, Irving Elman; Cameraman, Benjamin Kline. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. New Firm Borrows Actress For Picture Marguerite Chapman has been loaned by Columbia to Cavalier Productions, new independent producing firm headed by Robert Young, to play the lead opposite Young in “Three Were Thoroughbreds.” This is the large scale Technicolor Western which the new company will make for Columbia. « a VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY The Man I ’ Love with Ida Lupino, Robert Alda Warners 96 Mins. GOOD WOMAN’S.-ANGLE YARN: SHOULD DRAW WITH THE SKIRT TRADE: DONE WELL. Ida Lupino in this one is a handsomely-gowned femme fatale. She’s a West 52nd Street night club singer who takes a” ‘quick trip out to the Coast to visit with her sister and brother . during the Christmas holidays. That’s at the bottom of it dll, _ for she promptly proceeds to inject a dozen troublesome situations into their lives, jobs and romances. In due course of the footage she manages to restore some semblance of balance to the various domestic situations she becomes .embroiled in, and even finds herself a true love. The tale has all the smoke of night clubs and about as. much ignition. There is a good deal of attention paid music which has Miss Lupino, a keen listener of © and appraiser of hot music. She sings, in the blues style, such standbys as “Why Was i Born,” “Bill,” “Body and Soul’ and the title number. Her voice is on the flat side but she registers. Miss Lupino: sets out to thwart the wolfish designs of Robert Alda on her sister, Andrea King. A number of other people become involved in what transpires and Dolores Moran, mother of twins and inclined toward the playful side, dies as a result of a boozy rendezvous with Alda. Meanwhile Miss Lupino carries a torch for Bruce Bennett, sailorpianist, masquerading under the monicker of “San Thomas.” He carries a slight smouldering facsimile of the same thing for his lately divorced wife. Miss Lupino securely hooks Bennett after a great deal of running around, getting nowhere. His ship is about to sail. They vow the usual vows. Finally the many-faceted plot is strung up to manage a semblance of coherence. The affair closes with normal order and procedure coming’ into its own. . CAST: Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Bruce Bennett, Andrea King, Martha Vickers, Alan Hale, Dolores Moran, John Ridgely, CREDITS: Producer, Arnold Albert; Director, Raoul Walsh; Screenplay by Catherine Turner, from the novel by Maritta Wolff; Cameraman, Sid Hickox. DIRECTION, Effective. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, "Silver River’ Starts Production has started on Warners’ “Silver River,” starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan. Sinbad The Sailor with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Maureen O’Hara RKO 117 Mins. TECHNICOLORED ARABIAN NIGHTS’ TALE BLENDS PHILOSOPHY, SPECTAOCLE, ACTION AND ROMANCE; SHOULD PROVE STRONG DRAW. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., has a fine romp in this pleasant fantasy. The seven voyages of the Persian mariner are safely under his belt. ‘Here he details his -eighth in a plot which sets up ‘primarily a sincere, human phil osophy wherein the real treasure of humankind is not gold or jeweled baubles, but lies in the heart. Embroidered into the story is a garish, colorful, mystic, gay slightly overplayed-fantasy de-’ rived from legend and fashioned into a pleasantry. The romantic doings will not be taken too seriously — which is a creditable thing. The horseplay performed by Fairbanks whose foot finds someone's fanny continuously will draw laughter spontaneously. Maureen O'’Hara’s femininity’ is languishing, her performance has a glow at times. Costumed in Hastern finery she sets off any number of fine Islamic photographic compositions. Much of the doings are at sea in ancient craft. Three seek the treasure of Alexander the Great on the island of Derrybar. While Fairbanks seems to have the true claim, Anthony Quinn and Walter Slezak are also hot for it. Miss O’Hara is in and out of the doings, once with Fairbanks, then with Quinn. But her heart is set on the former. After intrigue in Basra, Daibul and at sea, the island of Derrybar is hailed. The explorers go ashore. The treasure is located. Slezak realizes his ambition. He dies. Quinn gets his via “Greek fire,” early vintage marine artillery. Then a quick flashback to the shore at Basra, where the tale started, and Fairbanks: isconcluding his eighth tale tossing jewels to his listeners and sailing off with Shireen—La Belle O’Hara. ” “ The film has every required Islamic “touch” in the telling enhanced by the fine color rendition. CAST: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn, Walter Slezak, George Tobias, Jane Greer. CREDITS: Producer, Director, Richard Wallace; Screenplay by John Twist; Cameraman, George Barnes, DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, Signs Contract Smiley Burnett has signed a five year contract with Columbia, Stephen Ames; LA Fiut SAG RTS eo Se Fs $2.00 Per Annum Humoresque with Joan Crawford, John Garfield Warners 125 Mins. FIRST RATE NUMBER SHOULD GIVE GOOD BOXOFFICE ACCOUNT. Jerry Wald’s production of the Fannie Hurst original, handsomely embroidered, should prove itself generally, and, a fine bet and especially so for the ladies of the audience. From the outset it concerns itself with the feminine viewpoint. Joan Crawford renders her role as the unfortunate woman in the case with all the emoting necessary to lend it conviction. As the man in the case, John Garfield sustains his temperamental violinist all the way. : But the payoff is Oscar Levant. He is Garfield’s inspiration, sparring partner, guide, counselor and stooge. They are constantly having it out but, comes the next scene, and they are hard at it again—musically. Levant was given the humorous relief. The gag lines thrown his way are considerably enhanced by his delivery, and he is always relieving threatened monotony and the uncompromising situation. Opening in 1920, the story traces the rise of John Garfield _in the musical world. Constant devotion to his instrument garners him a measure of artistry. Through Levant he meets Miss Crawford, who decides to “help” him along in his career. She’s married to Paul Cavanagh. Drink, dallying, and the high life have done her no good. She brings Garfield to the attention of the music world, showers him with gifts. In time they have an affair. Garfield’s mother, Ruth Nelson, is always in the background, fearing for the worst for her son. No one quite deceives her as to the true, sordid state of affairs. Cavanagh decides to give Miss Crawford a divorce. She makes plans for herself and Garfield and gives up drinking. Meanwhile Garfield has devoted all his energies to his music and cannot ‘understand Miss Crawford when She does not show up at his greatest concert. Following a phone call she hits the bottle, later commits suicide. CAST: Joan Crawford, John Garfield, Oscar Levant, J. Carrol Naish, Joan Chandler, Tom D’Andrea, Peggy Knudsen. CREDITS: Producer, Jerry Wald; DIirector, Jean Negulesco; Screenplay by Clifford QOdets and Zachary Gold, from the novel by Fannle Hurst; Cameraman, Ernest Haller, DIRECTION, Very xood, PHOTOGRAPHY, First rate,