Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 27, 1948)

THE PICK OF THE PICTURES Vol. 18, No. 41 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS $2.00 Per Annum The Black Arrow with Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready, Edgar Buchanan Columbia 76 Mins. STIRRING TALE OF INTRIGUE AND DRAMA OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY WILL KEEP THE AUDIENCE ON EDGE; PLENTY OF BOXOFFICE LURE. Producer Grant Whytock has done a splendid job in bringing Edward Small’s production of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel of medieval conniving to the screen. : On arrival home, Louis Hayward learns from his. uncle, George Macready, his father had been cowardly slain by Paul Cavanaugh, who forfeited his own life in retaliation. Janet Blair, as the Crown’s ward, has been placed under Macready’s guardianship. While Hayward and henchmen are escorting Miss Blair to the castle, they are ambushed. A black arrow kills Ray Teal with a warning message that three others, Rhys Williams, Walter Kingsford and Macready are marked for the same fate. The message further charges that Hayward's uncle is responsible for his father’s death. Confident her father is still alive, Miss Blair and Hayward try to escape from the castle where they are held. She is captured, but Hayward, wounded, makes his get-away. Edgar Buchanan finds Hayward and takes him to Cavanaugh’s hiding place. Cavanaugh fully explains. to Hayward how his father was slain and why Macready turned the blame on him. Off to rescue Miss Blair, Hayward, Cavanaugh and Buchanan are ambushed on the way to the castle. Cavanaugh is captured but Hayward manages to kill Williams. As friars, Hayward and Buchanan make for the castle to rescue daughter and father. Promising her father to escape to France, Macready forces Miss Blair’s acceptance of marriage. While the ceremony is in progress, Hayward and Buchanan are captured, A trial by combat is agreed upon when Hayward publicly brands the uncle as his father’s murderer. A furious battle ensues. Macready falls victim. Hayward and Miss Blair are together once more. CAST: Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready, Edgar Buchanan, Rhys Williams, Walter Kingsford. CREDITS: An Edward Small Production; Producer Grant Whytock; Director, Gordon Douglas; Screenplay, Richard Schayer, David P. Sheppard, Thoma-¢ Seller. DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY, Very Good, The Luck of The Irish with Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Cecil Kellaway. 20th-Fox 99 Mins. A THOROUGHGOING DELIGHT AND SURPRISE: HERE IS AN EASILY SOLD FANTASY-ROMANCE THAT SHOULD RECEIVE COMPLETE AND REWARDING BO RECEPTION. This one is an unexpected and thoroughly pleasant surprise. It is a delightful fantasy romance. What seriousness there is in the story is tinged with bits of stuff and nonsense completely out of this world. Power plays a foreign correspondent, name of Fitzgerald, who is driving around the Irish countryside. He has an accident on a bridge and goes after assistance. In a forest glen, near a waterfall, he encounters a little old man hammering away at a shoe. This is Kellaway. He directs Power to the nearest town and Power tells of the meeting. Seems that is one of the legends of the community, strictly a product of the imagination. But Power meets Miss Baxter and late one night he finds J. M. Kerrigan setting a bottle of whisky outside the door of the inn. He previously learned that the “little people’ know where gold is buried. He watches and soon Kellaway comes hopping and skipping, grabs the bottle, makes off with Power in pursuit. Power catches him, forces him to reveal himself and point out the gold. Ii is found in a pot and Power, impressed by Kellaway’s pleading that it is his life savings gives it back. Grateful Kellaway gives him a Spanish doubloon. Jayne Meadows, who is sweet on Power, arranges things so that he sees much of her. Miss Baxter is forgotten. A manservant is engaged for Power and turns out to be Kellaway. There is considerable romantic shuffling about. It is briefly interrupted by some fine bit playing in which Miss Baxter tells Power how she came to be in town. Lastly Power has married Miss Baxter and gone to live in Ireland; Lee J. Cobb stews in his publishing business; Miss Meadows is left to her connivery and now our hero is the one who Places a bottle at the inn’s door for old pal Kellaway. CAST: Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Cecil Kellaway, Lee J. Cobb, James Todd, Jayne Meadows, J. M. Kerrigan. CREDITS: Producer, Fred Kohlmar; Director, Henry Koster; Screenplay, Phi\ip Dunne; Based on a novel by Guy and Constance Jones, DIRECTION: Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY: Good, Embraceable You with Dane Clark, Geraldine Brooks, Lina Romay Warners 80 Mins, ROUTINE, UNDISTINGUISHED FARE HAS UNDERWORLD GANGSTER ELEMENTS TO SPARK INTEREST. BOY MEETS GIRL WITH A CRIMINAL NOTE, This one gets started on an effective note of presentation which ably develops the setting, the place—New York—and the people who inhabit the city. But in no time flat the story boils down to coincidence, boy meets girl albeit in an unorthodox manner and from then on it is strictly fiction that concerns itself with cops and gangsters. Stooge to a gangster, Dane Clark drives a getaway car for Richard Rober who has just knocked off a gambler in a hotel room. He runs down Geraldine Brooks. It’s a case of hit and run and there are no clues. After reading about the accident Clark goes calling on Miss Brooks and soon thereafter Wallace Ford, a cop, steps into the script. Miss Brooks, it comes out, has an aneurism blood clot that will prove fatal, according to the medicos. Ford learms of this, confronts Clark whom he suspects and demands he make the girl’s last weeks, months her happiest. Clark sells his car, hocks his watch. He sets Miss Brooks up in a Park Ave. apartment. The girl has relapses. More dough is needed. Clark presses Rober, who does not fancy being pressed, for a grand. He gets it, but is also marked for extinction. Clark is aware of this and makes off with Miss Brooks via a slick strategem, to a country hideout. She has another relapse. They decide to marry, love having bloomed in the interim. On their wedding day Lina Romay, Philip Van Zandt and S. Z. Sakall are on hand for the nuptials. The minister is late. Clark goes down the road looking for him. He meets Rober who plans to shoot him in the kack. Ford shoots Rober instead. Clark marries Miss Brooks. At the fadeout, the girl knowing of her precarious health, talks Clark into pretending nothing will happen to her. “Let’s pretend,” she says, “that it’s forever.” CAST: Dane Clark, Geraldine Brooks, S. Z. Sakall, Wallace Ford, Richard Rober, Lina Romay, Douglas Kennedy. CREDITS: Producer, Saul Elkins; Director, Felix Jacoves; Screenplay, Edn. Anhalt, DIRECTION: Routine. PHOTOGRAPHY: Gond, One Touch Of Venus with Ava Gardner, Robert Walker, Dick Haymes, Eve Arden, Olga San Juan Empire-Universal 81 Mins. “SPEAK LOW” SHOULD DO MUCH FOR THIS ONE. A VERSION OF A STAGE SHOW, IT EMERGES AS SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN FAIR FANTASY-ROMANCE-COMEDY EN TERTAINMENT. COMPETENTLY PERFORMED. Romantic fantasy fashioned for the current taste, this production derived from the stage show of about two seasons ago is a slightly better than fair entertainment with the most emphatic notes in its makeup striving for comedy. A window dresser in love with Olga San Juan, Robert Walker gets high on a glass of chamPagne, kisses an antique statue of Venus, while fixing draperies. The statue comes to life, turns out to be Miss Gardner and promptly sets her chapeau for the confused chap. She walks off her pedestal, warms to Walker considerably and gets him into difficulties with Miss San Juan and Tom Conway. Latter is “Savory.” They leave the store, go to Walker’s apartment. Conway hires private eyes to get his statue back and they begin pursuit of Walker. About here the song, ‘Speak Low,” enhances the story. Then, it being a week-end Miss Gardner spends Saturday night in the store’s model home. Next morning Eve Arden, secretary to Conway, finds her, communicates her discovery to the boss. He is something of a gay lad with the girls. Miss Arden nurses a secret passion for him, too. Walker pops up, runs into Miss San Juan; they have it out and later that day after much chase by the dicks, Walker and Miss Gardner wind up in the park making plenty romance. Venus wants popcorn. Walker goes for it, is picked up and arrested. Venus goes to Conway’s apartment, works her wiles and in no time flat Walker is released; but by the time he gets to her, she has been transformed back to marble, has been shown to the press. Miss Arden and Conway plan to wed. Walker has his job back. CAST: Ava Gardner, Robert Walker, Dick Haymes, Eve Arden, Olga San Juan, Tom Conway, James Flavin, CREDITS: Producer, Lester Cowan; Director, William A. Seiter; Screenplay, Harry Kurnitz, Frank Tashlin; Based on the musical play; Book by S, J. Perelman, Ogden Nash; Suggested by the novel, “The Tinted Venus”; Photography, Frank Planer. DIRECTION: Able. PHOTOGRAHY: Good, imisats: =