The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1939)

Servisection 5 MONTMARTRE MADNESS. Columbia — Music Hall Vanities. 10m. Spreading two or three minutes of entertainment over 10 minutes of film, this bats a mere .200 in the musical sweepstakes. Harry Stockwell goes to Paris’ Montmartre, sings his own tune, is entertained by a troupe of screeching apaches, the Fanchon and Marco chorus. FAIR. (9964). L. S. M. YANKEE DOODLE HOME. Columbia — Music Hall Vanities. 10m. The best of the Music Hall Vanities releases, this is still a rou¬ tine musical subject distinguished chiefly by the presence of Vince Barnett and Ipana Troubador Nick Lucas. Jean Walters sings "I’m a Very, Very Private Secretary,” a catchy little ditty. Lucas gives out with "The Great American Home,” a patriotic tunc he had popularized to a certain extent before warbling it before the cameras. GOOD. (9963). L. S. M. Color Novelty FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. Vitaphone— Color Parade. 10m. Featuring a "Bowery Beau¬ tician” who makes a living by coloring black eyes back to normal, this makes a nice novelty reel for anyone’s program. The other clips deal with parachutes, the right way to make coffee, how to lose 10 pounds in a like number of min¬ utes. GOOD. (4610). L. S. M. Novelty CHINOOK’S CHILDREN. Central Films. 10m. One of the most beautiful winter shorts produced, this takes us to a New Hampshire kennel where a woman breeds dogs for mush¬ ing sledges through the northern snow country. With Chinook, Admiral Byrd’s antarctic lead dog, siring the pups, the film shows as pretty an array of canines as is seen anywhere. How the dogs arc brought up and trained are pictured in the subject. It closes with a dog sled race. Even if this is out of season, it will evoke plenty of ohs and ahs among the audience. EXCELLENT. L. S. M. DEAN OF THE PASTEBOARDS. Vitaphone — Variety. 10m. Another in that interesting "card trick” series featuring Luis Zingone, this hits the spot in the matter of getting, retaining audience attention. Zingone exposes card sharpers’ methods while extracting a promise from some college students not to visit a nearby gambling house again. GOOD. (4910). L. S. M. HOLLYWOOD HOBBIES. Metro-Miniature. 10m. From its title, one would expect that Metro tackles the "Screen Snapshots” idea from a different angle. However, it’s the old routine stuff, showing the various movie stars at play. Seen in sepia are Joyce Compton, Reginald Den¬ ny, Sally Payne, Clark Gable, Robert Young, Irene Hcrvcy, Allan Jones, Joan Davis, Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Virginia Bruce, Tyrone Power, Jimmy Stewart, Jane Withers, Ritz Bro¬ thers. Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, etcetera. GOOD. (M-878) L. S. M. KNOW YOUR HISTORY, No. 2. Columbia —Happy Hour (Special). 11m. A melange of events down through the years (of less historical import than in the first of the series), there is here presented the boneshakers of 1 885 and th present’s six-day bicycle race; the evolution of the Iron Horse from the famed horsecar-locomotive race ( 1 830) to the 1939 streamlined Diesel-powered leviathan of the rails; the tinker¬ ing geniuses, Orville and Wilbur Wright (1893); a couple of nutty inventions from the vintages of 1882 and 1896; and scenes of the building (1905) of the Panama Canal. The subject is continually interesting and timely during a "pa¬ triotic cycle. (The series, of course, can be booked apart of the Happy Hour units). GOOD. (9472). W. W. RADIO HAMS. Metro — Pete Smith. 10m. With amateur radio operators coming in for their de¬ served share of publicity, Pete Smith tackles the job of narrating while the film pictures some of the heroic deeds performed by the "Hams.” A bit of comedy accompanies the dramatic ef¬ forts. GOOD. (S-908). L. S. M. SCREEN SNAPSHOTS, No. 10. Columbia. 10m. Another of Harriet Parson’s one-clip sub¬ jects, this one deals with the preparations for and the consummation of Mrs. Basil Rathbone’s char¬ ity ball for the Hollywood Guild. Running gag of the piece (and the series seems of late to re¬ quire one) has Rosalind Russel having no end of trouble counting the chairs. Included in the pic¬ ture are shots of more real stars than Parsons usually gets in several Snapshots. And, according to the anonymous announcer, it was that kind of a party; it certainly is that kind of a subject. GOOD. (9860). W. W. STRANGER THAN FICTION, No. 63. Uni¬ versal. 9m. Piecing together a half dozen strange true facts, this issue sees a youngster’s miniature roller coaster, a home-made printing press, a man who has clocks for a hobby, a dog who puts out fire, a woman etching on celluloid, and a one-legged man who golfs and shags. There’s nothing too exciting about it all and nothing to really condemn it. FAIR. (3 374). L. S. M. Sport DEATH VALLEY THRILLS. Paramount— Sportlight. 10m. Ted Husing narrates while the Wilhelm brothers cavort in Death Valley, skiing on sand, performing other feats with the aid of their trusty auto, which is almost of tractor proportions. This makes for a striking novelty and the content hasn’t been seen in other reels, which takes it out of the general run. GOOD. (R8-1 2 ) . H. M. Color Travel PICTURESQUE UDAIPUR. Metro — Fitz¬ patrick Traveltalk. 8m. With a little-known in¬ dependent state of India as its locale, this con¬ tains a series of well-photographed shots on the customs, traditions and religious beliefs of Udai¬ pur. It shows the usual washing scenes by the river and common street scenes, but also includes the daily feeding of wild boars, interior of a palace and other points of interest. GOOD. (T-861 ). G. K. K. Travel GOING PLACES, No. 63. The Theatre of the Sky. Universal. 9m. Swerving off the route carved by its predecessors, this edition of Going Places takes the audience to Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, one of the finest astronomical mu¬ seums in the world. After showing pictures of the various heavenly bodies, rare telescopes and timing precision machines are seen. GOOD. (3361 ). L. S. M. GOOD NEIGHBORS. 20th Century-FoxMagic Carpet. 10m. Lowell Thomas narrates while an excellent travel subject of South America unfolds. Shown are Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, with shots of mountains, volcanos, cities, etc. The photography is aces, the short so ex¬ cellent it seems much too short. This is one of the best subjects of its kind in recent years. EXCELLENT. (9106). H. M. INSIDE THE CAPITOL. Columbia— Wash¬ ington Parade. 10m. The title tells the story of this subject — it’s a tour through the capitol in Washington. Basil Ruysdael’s commentary tics in the tour with some praiseworthy propaganda on democracy. GOOD. (9903). L. S. M. Commercial VACUUM CONTROL. Jam Handy. 10m. Considering vacuums in nature — thunder and meterological phenomena — the anonymous com¬ mentator gets down to a consideration of the practical applications of vacuums in cleaners, pneumatic tubes, and finally explains the use oi vacuum in shifting gears in automobile construc¬ tion. That is where the commercial angle (for Chevrolet) comes in, but the discourse is so superbly fabricated and fascinatingly presented that the sponsorship obtrudes not upon the en¬ joyment of the picture. This is definitely one of the Jam Handy organization’s best releases. EXCELLENT. W. W. 323