Canadian Film Weekly (Sep 28, 1949)

THE PICK OF }) THE PICTURES Vol. 14, No. 37 REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK REVIEWS INFORMATION [f RATINGS {fi $2.00 Per Annum MASSACRE RIVER with Guy Modison, Rory Calhoun, Carole Mathews, Cathy Downs. Monogram 75 Mins. SUPER WESTERN PACKS YARIED APPEAL WITH RUGGED OUTDOOR ROMANCE, INDIAN MARAUDERS AND GORGEOUS SCENICS. Pictorially this super Western is superb with its panoramic sweep of Arizona scenery done in sepia tones. With the locale in Indian country after the Civil War and the colorful activities of the calvary troops around the Army post, it looks like a bangup action thriller of conflict with rampaging Indians. But it turns out to be an involved romance between two young Army oOfficers, the colonel’s daughter and a gambling hall queen, with the Indian sequences playing a secondary role. The officer pals rift over Cathy Downs, with Calhoun losing out to Madison. But as marriage plans proceed, the latter falls under the spell of Carole Mathews, part owner of the gambling hall. His jilting of the colonel’s daughter sets off a string of complicated events resulting in the killing of Miss Mathews’ gambling partner by Madison, which forces his resignation from the Army, and then the death of Johnny Sands, kid brother of the jilted lady, who is killed by the gaming queen as he tries to shoot down the unarmed Madison. Then Calhoun starts a manhunt after his former buddy as he flees through forbidden Indian territory with his lady love. The three join forces as Indian marauders swoop down. The girl is killed, and Madison rides off with a pioneer train leaving the road clear for Calhoun to marry the colonel’s daughter. Colorful and virile Parton mances are turned in by Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, who form a grand team with equal appeal for the femmes and the male thrill customers. Carole Mathews dominates every scene in which she shows with a striking characterization of an embittered dame fighting for her man. Cathy Downs does well with a far less glamorous role: Steve Brodie, Art Baker and Johnny Sands score and the rest of the cast turn in competentlyhandled jobs. CAST: Guy Madison, Rory Calhoun, Carole Mathews, Cathy Downs, Johnny Sands, Steve Brodie, Art Baker, Cody Frank. CREDITS: Allied Artists Production. Producers, Julian Lesser, Frank Melford; Director, John Rawlins; Screenplay, Louis Stevens; Photography, Jack MacKenzie. DIRECTION: Good. PHOTOGRAPHY: Expert. IN THE GOOD OLD ABBOTT, COSTELLO SUMMERTIME with Judy Gorland, Van Johnson, S. Z. Sakall, Spring Byington. MGM (Technicolor) 102 Mins. DOUBLE ORDER OF BOY MEETS GIRL. FAMILIAR PLOT ON THE SLOW MOVING SIDE. HAS MUSIC. MISS GARLAND’‘S SINGING FORTIFIES THE SHOW. A double order of boy meets girl is served up here. Against an early Chicago background Van Johnson meets Judy Garland, S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall meets Spring Byington. It is a leisurely paced show. When Miss Garland offers the half-dozen or so vocals the proceedings adopt a_ discernible sparkle and a pointed up entertainment quality. Known only to Miss Garland as a secret pen pal, Van Johnson is top salesman at S. Z. Sakall’s music store. Soon Miss Garland comes seeking a job and is hired after she sells a harp to a gullible woman. Sakall has 99 harps left. At the conclusion he still has 99, considerably marked down. Johnson and Miss Garland do not get along too well. Sakall for whom Spring Byington has been cashier for 20 years, decides to ask her to marry him. Buster Keaton plays Sakall’s nephew whose tasks about the store are not too clearly defined. Sakall throws an engagement party and his private Stradivarius is supposed to be brought by Johnson from the store. Sakall fancies himself a virtuoso. Johnson lets Marcia Van Dyke, a neighbor who aspires to the concert stage, use the fiddle at an audition, substituting her ordinary instrument which Keaton smashes on one of his well known acrobatic flops. Sakall is prostrated, irate and then bewildered when the truth comes out. He fires Johnson, but immediately rehires him when the stupidity of the situation dawns on him and he has time to reconsider the matter. It is Christmastime. At closing Johnson plays up to Miss Garland and reveals himself to her as the secret pen pal with whom she has been communicating intellectually but also lately, romantically. Seen at the finish they are a family of three. CAST: Judy Garland, Yan Johnson, S. Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Buster Keaton, Clinton Sundberg, Marcia Yan Dyke. CREDITS: Producer, Joe Pasternack; Director, Robert Z. Leonard; Screenplay, Samson Raphaelson; Written for the screen by Albert Hackett, Frances Good _ rich, Ivan Tors; From a play by Miklos Laszlo; Photography, Henry Stradling. DIRECTION: Fair. PHOTOGRAPHY: Fair, MEET THE KILLER: BORIS KARLOFF with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff, Lenore Aubert. Empire-Universal 84 Mins. SOUND ENOUGH A & C NUMBER SHOULD GIVE DIVERSION WITHOUT EXERTION. SHOULD BE EASY TO SELL TO AUDIENCE DEMANDING LAUGHS, BROAD SLAPSTICK. Many old gags given new polish and a fair number of new ones heavily worked over for broad effect give this new Abbott & Costello number what is necessary to garner laughs, however obvious, from the audience and provide diversion without exertion. A murder in a resort hotel occupies the time of the pair. Bud and Lou fall afoul of the law, Boris Karloff, a phoney Swami from Brooklyn; a couple of femmes fatales and assorted attempted mayhem, plus a collection of corpses. Lugging the cadavers around hotel corridors, in and out of closets and propping them up at a table in a card room might sound like gruesome business but being played strictly for guffaws it comes off in good style. This is one of those comedy films with which the exhibitor can use a stop watch to time the laughs. What makes people respond to certain types of comedy is an unknown factor. There is plenty of the X element here. Selling A & C in this opus, despite its elongated title, will be an easy task. When a well known criminal lawyer is murdered in a resort hotel the finger points at Lou Costello, a bellboy. He discovered the body. The police arrive, Abbott, a hotel dick, takes over custody of Lou and the pair then proceed to have a wild and continuous round of adventures which ultimately culminate in a cavern where Lou is almost done in. But he returns to the hotel where the real killer is unmasked and knocked out by one of Costello’s booby traps, a swinging hammer. Direction by Charles*T. Barton and production by Robert Arthur are capable and smooth. CAST: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff, Lenore Aubert, Gar Moore, Donna Martell, Alan Mowbray, James Flavin, Roland Winters, Nicholas Joy, Mikel Conrad. CREDITS: Producer, Robert Arthur; Director, Charles T. Barton; Screenplay, Hugh Wedlock, Jr., Howard Snyder, John Grant; Story, Hugh Wedlock, Jr., Howard Snyder; Photography, Charles Yon Enger. DIRECTION: Good. PHOTOGRAPHY: Good, MY FRIEND IRMA with John Lund, Dianna Lynn, Don DeFore, Marie Wilson. Paramount 103 Mins. ALL HANDS HAVE SKILLFULLY ACQUITTED THEMSELVES THIS TIME. SHOULD, IN VERY SHORT ORDER, HEAD FOR VERY SUBSTANTIAL MONETARY RETURNS. All hands concerned with the fabrication of My Friend Irma or rather its translation from radio into screen terms have skillfully acquitted themselves of a soundly contrived romantic comedy that should in _ short order head for the very substantial in monetary returns. The farce and laughter content has been liberally inserted. Moment after moment and sequence after sequence have been neatly constructed for resultant howls. The audience is familiar enough with the basics of the plot—‘“Irma” is a good natured girl, constantly fouling up her roommate’s job, romance and wardrobe, among other things, who is being courted by a sharpie named “AI.” Miss Wilson, of course, is “Irma,” Diana Lynn plays “Jane Stacy,” a career girl. Her intent is to marry a millionaire. Lund as “Al” takes Martin and Lewis to an audition, meets up with Don DeFore, Miss Lynn’s boss, and first thing you know the Martin singing has Miss Lynn afiutter. A full roster of complications arises and are drained for full worth as situation with Miss Wilson in due course of time headed for a_ suicide — bridge jumping— with her portable radio for company. At the right moment she learns she is being phoned in a quiz contest, manages to get home to her distraught friends, wins a carload of assorted prizes. The romantic doings conclude as the girls head for the altar but “Irma” falls into an excavation en route. Diana Lynn says: ‘What can you expect when you live with my friend Irma?” With “Irma” ensconced in the projection room the showman will live—but royally. George Marshall directed. CAST: John Lund, Diana Lynn, Don DeFore, Marie Wilson, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Hans Conroid. CREDITS: Producer, Hal B. Wallis; Director, George Marshall; Screenplay, Cy Howard, Park Levy; Based upon the CBS radio program by Cy Howard; Photography, Leo Tover. DIRECTION: Solid. PHOTOGRAPHY: Good. "Six Gun Mesa Six Gun Mesa is the next Monogram western to star Johnny Mack Brown with Max Terhune,