Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 23, 1948)

THE PICK OF | THE PICTURES a — VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Vol. 18, No. 25 River Lady with Yvonne DeCarlo, Dan Duryea, Rod Cameron, Helena Carter Empire-Universal 78 Mins. GOOD ACTION DRAMA IN TECHNICOLOR HAS WHAT THE AUDIENCE DEMANDS: SHOULD GO OVER EASILY. Every once in a while there is an audience demand for a good, robust tale of lumbering, of tremendous bloody brawls, strong love and the familiar like, enhanced by some splendid scenery in Technicolor. The audience goes for it. They get it here. Girlfriend to Cameron who spends most of his time up in the woods, Miss DeCarlo operates a floating gambling joint and behind the cold deck she manipulates a timber syndicate. She wants Cameron to give up the rough and tumble for her interests. To this end she will marry him so she frames a deal where he comes to operate John McIntire’s indy lumber company, she being the wire puller behind the corporate setup. She proposes to Cameron. He accepts. Celebrating their engagement, they are interrupted by Miss Carter who knows what’s up, forthwith tells Cameron. He leaves Miss DeCarlo cold and accepts Miss Carter’s proposal. Seems in this script the girls do all the proposing. What with this being Leap Year, it is fitting. And that brother exhibitor is an exploitation gimmick not to be overlooked. In time Cameron is brought up short by the vengeful Yvonne and he decides to buck the game his own way. This leads to some action. First he is beaten up by Duryea. Then he shanghais a crew of men from under the De Carlo-Duryea noses. If he can deliver the logs all will be well, even with wifey Helena. Duryea plays dirty, causes a log jam. Cameron decides to use dynamite. There is a pitched battle on the jammed logs before the blast goes off in which Cameron is shot by Duryea. Dan is killed in the blast. This end part restores the balance. Miss DeCarlo gives Cameron up and he decides to make a go of it with Miss Carter. CAST: Yvonne DeCarlo, Dan Duryea, Rod Cameron, Helena Carter, Lloyd Gough, Florence Bates, John McIntire, Jack Lambert. CREDITS: Producer, Leonard Go!dstein; Director, George Sherman; Screenplay, D. D. Beauchamp, William Bowers; From the novel by Houston Branch, Frank Waters; Photography, Irving Glassberg. DIRECTION, Fine. Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORE The Mating of Millie with Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Jimmy Hunt Columbia 87 Mins. THIS ONE WILL GIVE KEEN SATISFACTION; CLEVER PERFORMANCES, LIGHTLY HANDLED PLOT; HAS EVERY EARMARK FOR SUCCESSFUL RUNS, It’s all in the treatment here which is top-notch. As familiar as the story is, this time it has been given new life, new lines, and a generous application of smartness. With light ease it slips from sequence to sequence, delivers much laughter with just the right bits of pathos. Plot is set in Los Angeles. Miss Keyes, a bachelor girl given devotedly to her job in a department store where she is personnel manager, has 2 heart interest. It is youngster Jimmy Hunt, son of a neighbor. She meets Ford, a bus pilot, who gets fed up with his job when riders stubbornly refuse to move to the back of the vehicle She admires his independence, asks him to see her about a job. Young Hunt’s mother is killed. Miss Keyes is distraught when she learns he has been taken to a foundling home. Investigating she finds she must be married in order to adopt the kid. Ford, an aspiring novélist, is hired as a floorwalker. She tells him of her predicament. He offers to advise her on how to get a husband. Himself, he prefers the free, devilmaycare life of a bachelor. They develop tactics on objects, strategy and attack. Ron Randell, head-man at the home, is the target. Miss Keyes, under Ford’s guidance, emerges an attractive woman. Soon Ford, although he is unaware of it, is smitten with the love-bug. They kid each other and themselves until a time limit expires and young Hunt is to be adopted by others. Desperate Miss Keyes throws herself at Willard Parker, a neighbor, although she does not love him. At this point Ford finds a publisher. Realization of his feeling for Miss Keyes dawns upon his consciousness. He rescues young Hunt. Concluding, Miss Keyes and Ford are in each other’s arms, matrimony is just outside the door. CAST: Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Virginia Hunter, Ji ae Se Paige. CREDITS: A Casey Robinson Production; Director, Henry Levin; Screenplay, Louella MacFarlane, St. Clair McKelway; Story, Adele Commanding. DIRECTION, Smart. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good, B. F.’s Daughter with Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Charles Cokurn MGM 108 Mins. GOOD ONE FOR THE FEMALE TRADE; HAS PRODUCTION VALUES, CONVINCING PERFORMANCES. Always a compelling attraction that secures patronage of the distaff side of the audience, the inspection of marital difficulties repeated in this version of John Marquard’s novel, stands to ably make the grade in the boxoffice sense. The production was tastefully fashioned. Performances by worthies are effective and well rendered. Picture of wartime Washington has the aura of know how, know what and about whom. This is the story of the headstrong heiress who impulsively marries a struggling young economist and then secretly arranges for his success as a lecturer and national renown. He achieves the pinnacle of success when he becomes an advisor to the President with an office in the White House. As the wife in the case, Miss Stanwyck purchases an _ enormous estate and surprises Heflin. He expected a modest place. He is irked, provokes Charles Coburn, Miss Stanwyck’s father and depart for Washington almost at once. His work keeps him in the capital for months. Miss Stanwyck, visiting in Washington one day, learns her husband has been seeing a Dutch refugee, (female), in Georgetown. She goes to investigate, finds the girl to be blind and wholly dependent on Heflin for her will to live. At about this point Margaret Lindsay’s husband, Richard Hart, whom she married when he rebounded from Miss Stanwyck, is reported missing in the Pacific. Miss Lindsay is off visiting her mother. Miss Stanwyck lives in the Lindsay apartment. Heflin comes. Keenan Wynn, a radio commentator and pal to Heflin, meanwhile had broadcast the demise of Hart. At the point of the Stanwyck-Heflin breakup, Hart calls from the Coast. Seems he’s all right, on his way home. Heflin makes off but Miss Stanwyck catches up with him and reveals her desperate need. They decide to begin anew. CAST: meen Stanwyck, te Heflin, Charles Richard Hi Keenan Wynn, Peale tinder: sad Bying ton "CREDITS: Producer, Edwin H. Knopf; asian, Robert Z. Leonard; Srompays Fs Daughter,” Pe RECTION, GRAPHY, Good. Good. PHOTO $2.00 Per Annum The Lady From Shanghai with Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles Columbia 87 Mins. TENSE, UNORTHODOX DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT; HAY WORTHWELLES TEAM HIGH VOLTAGE COMBINATION THAT SHOULD LINE ’EM UP LONG AND LENGTHILY. Produced and written by Orson Welles, “The Lady From Shanghai” is tense dramatic entertainment loaded with surprises and departing vividly from orthodox treatment. Each time Welles does a film he composes a complete new text on the form. Playing an Irish sailor, Welles is hired by Everett Sloane, husband to Rita Hayworth. Sloane is a strange character, a criminal lawyer paralyzed in his legs. Yachting party heads for California via the Canal. En route Welles becomes enamoured of Miss Hayworth and Glenn Anders, Sloane’s law partner, comes aboard. It is a suspicious, confusing game that is played by all hands and while Miss Hayworth disports in costume and manner to please the male spectator and give the female ideas, it soon comes out that the law partners are not adverse to a little illegality. The Welles-Hayworth Jiaison is threatened by planted observers and intruders. But on arriving in San Francisco the lovers make plans to run away. Welles is offered $5,000 by Anders to assist in framing a disappearance act intended to resemble murder. The carefully thought out setup misfires. Anders is killed. Welles learns he is the fall guy for the murder. He’s arrested, faces trial. He fakes an attempt at suicide, escapes from the courtroom. Miss Hayworth later catches up with him and then in short order developments mount to a powerful climax that takes place in a “Crazy House” at the amusement park. A literate Irishman, Welles, draws paralles in which self destruction is the chief thought. Seems he once saw a school of sharks kill themselves off and he is inclined to think humans have similar voracious instincts. As events transpire he is quite right. CAST: Rita Hayworth, Or Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn pO hese Ted de Corsia, Erskine Sanford, Gus Schilling. CREDITS: Production and screenpla by Orson Welles; Associate 4 Richard Wilson, Will’am Castle; Photographv, Charles Lawton, Jr, DIRECTION, ovtiens: PHOTOGRAPHY, Top. Johnny Sands Cast Johnny Sands has been cast in RKO’s “Baltimore Escapade,”