The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1943)

COLUMBIA Frontier Fury Western (4205) 60m. Estimate: Satisfactory western. Cast: Charles Starrett, Arthur Hunnicutt, Roma Aldrich, Clancy Cooper, I. Stanford Jolley, Edmund Cobb, Bruce Bennett, Ted Mapes, Bill Wilkerson, Stan¬ ley Brown, Joel Friedjcin, Jimmie Davis and Singing Buckaroos. Directed by Wil¬ liam Berke. Story: Charles Starrett and Stanley Brown, an Indian, are transporting some gold when their stagecoach is attacked by outlaws. During the fight. Brown is killed, and Starrett vows revenge. Bruce Ben¬ nett, stage driver, admits he has been working with the renegades. Before he can go on trial, however, he is shot, and killed. Starrett is determined to solve the case to clear his Indian friends who have been blamed for the crimes. With aid from his pal, Arthur Hunnicutt, he catches Roma Aldrich, penniless actress with a medicine show, trying to tip-off bandit Clancy Cooper, with whom she is in love. Starrett suspects him of the crimes. She tricks Starrett into walking into a trap with Cooper, but, at the last moment, has a change of heart, and informs Starrett’s friends of his predicament. In the fight that follows Starrett captures the gang, recovers the stolen money, and clears the Indians. X-Ray: There is plenty of ridin’, fightin’, and gun play in this. Comedy relief by Arthur “Arkansas” Hunnicutt is okay. Jimmy Davis, cowboy crooner, sings, and the Rainbow Ramblers put over several selections. Songs include: “When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold,” “Sinners’ Prayer,” “End of the World,” and “I Hung My Head and Cried.” Ad Lines: “Indians On The Warpath! Thrill To The Thunderous Roar Of Gal¬ loping Hoofs”; “Blood Tingling Drama Of The Old West”; “Six-Guns Roar And Red¬ skins Ride In Fever-Heat Drama Of Raw Courage And Flashing Fists.” PARAMOUNT Alaska Highway Melodrama (4227) 66m. Estimate: Topical programmer for the duallers. Cast: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Ralph Sanford, Joe Sawyer, Bill Henry, John Wegman, Harry Shannon, Edward Earle, Keith Richards, Eddie Quilan. Directed by Frank McDonald. Story: Richard Arlen and his gang of construction workers have just finished a job when his father and his brother, who have just returned from Washington, an¬ nounce that they have gotten the contract to build the Alaskan Highway, but that they would all have to be sworn into the army as an engineer unit. They all agree, except Arlen, who has plans for joining up with the Marines. That night, however, he meets an old childhood girl friend whose father is going to work with Arlen’s father, Harry Shannon, on the road, falls in love with her, and changes his mind SECTION TWO • VOL 30. No. 8 TEJTTTrTEJ ACTUAL REVIEWS *• with ALL pertinent data, plus the X-RAY about going into the marines. They set out to build the road, but friction de¬ velops between Arlen and his brother. Bill Henry, when Parker and Arlen begin seeing a lot of each other. It seems that Henry fell for Parker while he was down in Washington, and resents what he thinks is the usual playing around of his brother. In an attempt to smooth things out, Parker tells Arlen that there is nothing between them. This, combined with a forest fire which Arlen accidentally sets, is the cause for his asking for a transfer. All thoughts of a transfer are forgotten when a land¬ slide occurs, pinning Henry and another man under the debris. Arlen and his father risk their lives to effect a rescue. At the conclusion of the incident, Parker runs to Arlen, thus admitting that her love for him is true. Henry takes his defeat like a good sport, and the building of the road continues until it reaches com¬ pletion in record time. X-Ray: The story has a topical twist, the Alaska Highway. Scenes from news¬ reels and other sources are inserted in the film showing the actual construc¬ tion of the road, adding to the interest of the film. The cast turns in capable performancea. This will fit into the lower half. Ad Lines: “Watch Richard Arlen Help In Building the Great Alaska Highway”; “Action, Romance, and Comedy Are To Be Found In this Latest Saga Of the United States Engineers”; “The Alaska Highway, A Road To Victory and Romance, With Rich¬ ard Arlen and Jean Parker.” . Comedy with Music 87m. (4230) (Technicolor) Estimate: Musical has the angles to get the dough. Cast: Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Billy de Wolfe, Marjorie Reynolds, Lynn Overman, Raymond Walbum, Eddie Foy, Jr., Grant Mitchell, Clara Blandick, Tom Herbert, Olin Howard, Robert Warwick, Fortunio Bonanova, Brandon Hurst, Jos¬ ephine Whittell, Paul McVey, Charles La Tone, Charles R. Moore, Tom Kennedy, Charles Cane, Edward Emerson, Cyril Ring, James Burke, Dudley Dickerson, Jimmy Conlin, George Anderson, Wilbur Mack, Harry C. Bradley, Bill Halligan, George H. Reed, Willie Best. Directed by A. Edward Sutherland. Story: Bing Crosby leaves his home town and girl to seek fame and fortune, with a promise to return to marry her when he has become successful on the stage. He meets Billy de Wolfe, who re¬ lieves Crosby of all his funds. Crosby catches up with him in New Orleans, and de Wolfe agrees to try and pay him back, meanwhile inviting Crosby to live with him. The owner of the boarding house is Dorothy Lamour, who takes a liking to Crosby, who returns the compliment. With two other boarders, Lynn Overman and Eddie Foy, Jr., Crosby and de Wolfe form a minstrel quartet, a success. The theatre, however, bums down, and deprives them of a job. While it is being rebuilt, Crosby plans to return home, and tell Marjorie Reynolds that he is going to marry Lamour. He finds her crippled by par¬ alysis and forced to spend the rest of her life in a wheel chair. They are married, and leave for New York, where Crosby will try to make out as a song writer. Raymond Walburn travels to New York to persuade Crosby to return to New Orleans to the now greatly enlarged act. Back in town, the two girls take a liking to each other, but Reynolds sees that Lamour still cares for Crosby. A new show has been gotten up, and a theatre manager agrees to give it a tryout. After the start of the show, Reynolds sends a note backstage that she is leaving, but Lamour reads it, burns it, and walks out. Flames catch hold, and Crosby, seeing them, begins to sing “Dixie,” which he had written as a slow ballad, faster and louder, the entire troupe joining. This new version of “Dixie” proves a hit. Mean¬ while, Lamour tells Reynolds that she is marrying de Wolfe, and Reynolds is glad to hear that her note was destroyed in the fire. X-Ray: Colorful, with the Crosby and Lamour names, plus a title that is a sock in itself, this has all the angles for the selling. The story, itself, is weak in con¬ tent, and the pace sometimes is too slow, but these are offset by the apparent ad¬ vantages, with the result a box-office number. Music presented includes “Old Dan Tucker,” “Turkey In the Straw,” “Dixie,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Last Rose Of Summer,” and “Buffalo Gals,” and these new ones: “Sunday, Monday, and Always,” “If You Please,” “She’s From Missouri,” “A Horse That Knows the Way Back Home,” “Kind’a Peculiar Brown,” and “Laughing Tony.” Ad Lines: “Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour United In a Technicolor Musical About the South”; “‘Dixie’ Brings You Songs By Bing Crosby and Beauty By Dorothy Lamour in Technicolor”; ‘An¬ other Smash Musical Hit.” V JUNE 30, 1943 1293