The Exhibitor (1949)

March 30, 1949 THE EXHIBITOR WARNERS My Dream Is Yours Comedy Drama ‘ Musical 99m. (Color by Technicolor) Estimate: Good entertainment. i Cast: Jack Carson, Doris Day, Lee Bowman, Adolphe Menjou, Eve Arden, S. Z. Sakall, Selena Royle, Edgar Kennedy, Sheldon Leonard, Franklin Pangborn, John Berkes, Ada Leonard, Duncan Richardson, Frankie Carle and his piano. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Story: When crooner Lee Bowman signs with a different agency for a radio show, Adolphe Menjou fires Jack Carson, talent scout for Menjou’s agency because the latter fears that sponsor S. Z. Sakall will now shift his account. He decides to dig up fresh talent to replace Bowman, and, with financial aid from Eve Arden, Men¬ jou’s secretary, goes to New York, and finds Doris Day. She agrees to go to the coast and leave her little son, whose father was killed in the war, in the care of her uncle, Edgar Kennedy. When she meets Bowman, she falls in love with him, and she auditions for Sakall. He likes her but not her selection. Carson tries to sell her to everyone with little success and as she is getting downhearted, he sends for her son, Dimcan Richardson, and discovers that mellow love songs, ballads, etc., are her forte. Bowman tries to get her to leave Carson, but she is reluctant. Day gets her chance to substitute for Bowman when he gets too drunk to go on Sakall’s last show, and she is a hit. Bowman dis¬ appears. She tries to find him. Meanwhile, Carson tells her he loves her, and pro¬ poses, but she turns him down. Bowman returns, but no one will let him sing. Carson, knowing how Day feels, arranges for him to sing before an audience con¬ sisting of Day, Menjou, Sakall, and others. His voice is not up to par, but Day helps him. He thinks he is back in form, and brushes off Day for’ a flock of admiring females. Day accepts Carson’s proposal. X-Ray: Utilizing the success story formula, Micahel Curtiz has fashioned another pleasing boxoffice show, and sur¬ prisingly enough Carson plays his role more or less straight, and gets the right girl, too, at the end. This contains good performances, light and tuneful music, Technicolor, as well as an entertaining sequence with Bugs Bunny. The produc¬ tion is loaded with potentialities. Among the tunes heard are: “My Dream Is Yours,” “Someone Like You,” “Love Finds A Way,” “Tic, Tic, Tic,” “I’ll String Along With You,” “ Canadian Capers,” “I Got A Right To Sing The Blues,” -“Let The Rest Of The World Go By,” etc. Tip On Bidding: Higher bracket. Ad Lines: “Another Technicolor Hit From Warners With A Galaxy Of Hit Tunes, Pretty Girls, And Loads Of Comedy”; “Comedy, Romance, Music, And Beautiful Girls Make Up This Dream”; “An All-Star Cast Combine Their Talents To Bring You Another Technicolor Hit From The Warner Studios.” FOREIGN Devil's Daughter Melodrama 97m. (International Alliance) (French-made) (English titles) Estimate: Okeh import has the angles. Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Ledoux; Andree Clement, Therese Dorny, Albert Remy, Henri Charret, Serge Andreguy, Albert Glado, Francois Patrice, Felix Claude. Produced by Henri Decoin; di¬ rected by Maurice Saurel. Story: Bank robber Pierre Fresnay escapes from the police though wounded, and is picked up by drunken Henri Char¬ ret, who informs Fresnay he is returning to his town after a 25-year absence, dur¬ ing which he became a millionaire in America, to lord it over those who used to call him stupid. The ride ends in a crash from which Fresnay emerges long enough to toss the Charret corpse into a river. Fresnay is successfully operated upon by doctor Fernand Ledoux, who delivers him into the waiting arms of aunt Therese Dorny. Fresnay assumes his new identity, but is soon after blackmailed into con¬ tributing a church bell. Fresnay meets the malevolent village prankster, embit¬ tered Andree Clement, who refuses to give him blackmail information concern¬ ing Ledoux, so Fresnay’s kindness con¬ tinues in the form of a clinic, and then a stadium. One day, Clement and her assistants smash the shop of Fresnay’s aunt. Angered, he administers a spanking to all involved. Accidentally, he discovers news clippings extolling his deed as bank robber, and that Clement is infatuated with the criminal. She recognizes him, and refuses to accept his accounts of crime but when spurned by him, she tips the police. He refuses to shoot his way out, and surrenders, and the disillusioned Clement shoots herself. X-Ray: Utilizing a novel story idea, this is made credible and interesting by the performances of Fresnay, Ledoux, and Clement but is uneven, and suffers from an overly melodramatic denouement. There are selling angles, however, for the art houses. The screenplay is by M. G. Sauvajon, Henri Decoin, and Alex Joffe. Ad Lines: “Pierre Fresnay At His Superb Best In ‘Devil’s Daughter’ ”; “The Most Hunted And Daring Gangster In France Was Safe Until He Was Loved By The ‘Devil’s Daughter’ ”; “He Was The Most Charitable, Beloved Man In Town Because He Had To Be.” Man To Men Drama 106m. (Siritzky International) (French-made) (English titles) Estimate: Good import with linffted appeal. Cast: Jean-Louis Barrault, Bernard Blier, Helene Perdriere, Louis Seigner, Abel Jacquin, Denis D’Ines, Berthe Bovy, Maurice Escande, Jean Debucourt, Fer¬ nand Rauzena, Groeneveld, Serge Emrich. Produced by Albert Pink; directed by ChristianJaque. Story: Algerian director of colonial ex¬ ploitation Jean-Louis Barrault has such difficulties getting a water works from the French administration he decides to go to the emperor. With his aide, Bernard Blier, and corporation representative Louis Seigner, they tour the battlefront, but Barrault is so touched by the suffering of the wounded and the general attitude he devotes all his time to aiding the wounded. When he finally meets Napoleon, he asks for permission to use enemy prisoner doc¬ tors, which is granted. He enlists the aid of the townspeople in his “hospital,” and meets gentle Helene Perdriere. The war over, he continues his work by writing a realistic book about war, and, with four sympathetic international figures, strives toward creating an international organ¬ ization. Perdriere lends her services with money and parties, but he is absorbed in his work. Eventually, he gets the Red Cross started, but his neglect of the Al¬ gerian exploitation and misuse of his salary therefrom for the organization brings him public denunciation by Seig¬ ner, and abandonment by his friends. Barrault becomes a vagabond, but with the war of 1870, returns to his wounded, and helps them greatly. General recogni¬ tion is not forthcoming ’til after his re¬ tirement in a Swiss old folks home, when he gets the Nobel Prize. X-Ray: Purporting to be the biography of the founder of the Red Cross, this is a well-made, overlong offering, with occasional shockingly realistic scenes of war suffering that will appeal by nature of its theme to the more intellectual minded. Barrault and Blier turn in intense characterizations, and the former’s name draw may help too. Adequate support is given by the cast, but the romance angle bogs the film down. The original screen¬ play is by Charles Spaak and ChristianJaque. Ad Lines: “At Last The Screen Immor¬ talizes The Biography Of The Founder Of The Red Cross”; “Jean-Louis Barrault Never Greater Than In ‘Man To Men’ ”; “A Stirring, Brutally Honest Film, ‘Man To Men’.” Rozina, The Love Child Historical Romantic Drama 95m. (Verity) (Czechoslovakian-made) (English titles) Estimate: Static import for the lower half. Cast: Zdenek Stepanek, Marie Glazrova, Francis Kreuzman, Ladislav Bohac, Jan Pivec, Gustav Hilmar, Sasa Rasilov, An¬ tonin Sole, Lola Srbkova, Zdenka Baldova. Directed by Otakar Vavra. Story: Marie Glazrova learns from Abbe Zdenek Stepanek that she is a foundling left with him 20 years before. Lonely and unwanted, she falls in love with Ladislav Bohac, an Italian glasier apprentice employed by Stepanek, and he swears to marry her. Bohac returns to Italy for the winter, and takes her savings with him, but sends a letter back stating he would not come back as her being a foundling would bar him from employ¬ ment. Embittered, she consents to marry wealthy bricklayer Francis Kreuzman, who promises to purchase an imperial certificate of legitimacy for her. Bohac returns in time for the wedding, but he is refused entrance to the convent by Step¬ anek, who publicly insults him for his broken promises. The marriage is a failure when no certificate is purchased, and Glaz¬ rova is confronted by an affectionate Bohac. After many arguments, Glazrova goes to Bohac, is seen publicly with him, and steals Kreuzman’s money for him. Kreuzman discovers the theft and throws her out, but she stays with Bohac, who now tires of her. Faced with Guild de¬ motion, and refused a divorce, Kreuzman hires someone to kill Glazrova. Meanwhile the vengeful ^Bohac gathers a following of cutthroats to storm the monastery, and divide its non-existent treasure. Bohac personally encounters Stepanek during the lotting, and kills Glazrova who intervenes, earning her final peace and absolution. X-Ray: Containing authentic back¬ ground, good,, performances by Stepanek, Glazrova, and Bohac, and interesting pho¬ tography, this, nevertheless, has an ex¬ tremely slow pace. The mob scene finale is adroitly done but too long awaited, and this will fit best on the lower half. The screenplay is by Otakar Vavra. Ad Lines: “A Beautifully Detailed His¬ torical Drama Acted With Force And Feeling”; “ ‘Rozina, The Love Child’ An Unforgettable Drama”; “She Was The Vil¬ lage Scapegoat Who Became The Village Queen.” The Wench Drama 911/^m. (Spalter International) (French-made) (English titles) Estimate: Exploitable import. Seivif#ellen 5 2589