The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1943)

Henry Aldrich comedy with Music Swings It (4226) Estimate: Okay series entrant for the duallers. Cast; Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, Mimi Chandler, Vaughn Glaser, Marian Hall, Beverly Hudson, John Litel, Olive Blakney, Dick Baron, Fritz Feld, Steve Geray, Matt McHugh, Bernard Medell, Ed Bearing and Charles Amt. Directed by Hugh Bennett. Story: The arrival of the new music teacher, Marian Hall, makes Jimmy Lydon take a new interest in the high school or¬ chestra. She is interested when he tehs her that he would like to play the violin, but that his father won’t buy him one. Hall speaks to his father, and talks him into agreeing to buy Lydon a fiddle. Later Fritz Feld, a famous musician, appears with the school orchestra at a recital. Lydon, by mistake, picks up the guest’s famous Stradivarius violin instead of his own. A pair of crooks exchange violins with the famous musician, but they only get Lydon’s cheap violin. Feld discovers the theft, and sets an insurance detective on the trail. Lydon and his gang, playing, at a shady roadside inn to raise funds for a new piano for the lovely music teacher, are caught in a police raid. Lydon tosses his violin on a high shelf when they make their escape. The insurance cop traces the theft to Lydon, but he refuses to tell where his violin is for fear that the gang would be arrested for playing at the inn. He and his pal recover the fiddle, only to find that it is the missing instrument. The principal of the school hears of the band’s misconduct, and fii-es Hall. Then Lydon’s mother thinks that her husband has fallen in love with Hall, and leaves him. Seeing the detective com¬ ing towards the house, Lydon hides the fiddle in hb mother’s trunk. Lydon, mean¬ while, had telephoned Feld to say that if he showed up at the school exercises he would get hb violin back. That night, when the orchestra starb to play, Lydon’s mother returns backstage to give the in¬ strument back to her son. The two crooks try to steal it again, but they are caught, and everything b cleared up. X-Ray: Present are all the comedy sit¬ uations, heartaches, etc., usually found in the Aldrich series pictures. This has more musical numbers than in previous efforts, and characterizations are well carried out by the same caste. Musical numbers found here include: “Ding Dong, Sing a Song,” “Fantasy Impromptu,” “Violin Con¬ certo,” “Unfinished Symphony.” Ad Lines; “Henry Aldrich Gets In¬ volved In a Violin Theft”; “Henry Aldrich and Gang Swing the Classics”; “Henry Aldrich Takes Up the Violin In More Ways Than One.” So Proudly We Hail Drama (4228) 125m. Estimate: War story is headed for the higher grosses. Cast; Claudette Colbert, Paulette God¬ dard, Veronica Lake, George Reeves, Bar¬ bara Britton, Walter Abel, Sonny Tufts, Mary Servoss, Ted Hecht, Dick Hogan, Dr. H. H. Chang, James Bell, Loma Grey, Dorothy Adams, Kitty Kelly, Bill Good¬ win, Mary Treen, Helen Lynd, Jean Willes, Jan Wiley, Lynn Walker, Joan Tours, Wil¬ liam Forrest, James Flavin, Byron Foulger, Richard Crane, Else Janssen, James Millican, Michael Harvey, Fred Henry, Victor Lilian, Jr., Damian O’Flynn, Ray Godin, Frances Morris, Mimi Doyle, Fay Sappington, Julia Faye, Keith Richards, Isabel Cooper, Amparo Antenorcruz. Pro¬ duced and directed by Mark Sandrich. THE EXHIBITOR Story: A group of army nurses arrive by plane in Australia from Corregidor. They include Paulette Goddard, Mary Treen, Helen Lynd, several othters, and Claudette Colbert, their head, who has no apparent desire to live. On the boat home, doctor John Litel, asks them to tell their story in order that he might be able to figure out some remedy for Colbert. 'The nurses take turns as commentators, and the action flashes back to pre-Pearl Har¬ bor days when they left San Fkancisco for Hawaii, shifting to the Philippines when Pearl Hafbor is attacked. Goddard, who knows her way around, falls for Sonny Tufts, ex-collegian football star who joined the marines. A ship in the convoy is torpedoed. Amon& the survivors are nurse Veronica Lake, who isn’t talkative, and army lieutenant George Reeves, who falls for Colbert. It develops Lake’s hus¬ band-to-be was killed before her eyes at Pearl Harbor, and she has determined to kill Japs in revenge. Colbert refuses to marry Reeves because of her duty and the war. The ship lands at Bataan. From then on it is the story of the retreat. Lake gives her life to save the nurses when they are left behind during an evacuation. The Japs bomb the hospital base. Reeves is injured. Evacuation to Corregidor follows. Reeves recovers. The nurses are ordered off shortly after Reeves has left on a confi¬ dential mission. Colbert refuses to go, and collapses when she learns Reeves has been given up for lost. Story winds up with Litel reading a letter from Reeves, in which he tells of his love for Colbert, and that he will be back some day. This is the spark' Colbert needs. X-Ray: Ranking with the better pic¬ tures of the present war, this has the benefit of three strong marquee names, Colbert, Lake, and Goddard, and is de¬ finitely headed for the higher grosses. It is lengthy, but the interest is sustained, with the first third of the picture partic¬ ularly excellent. Show will probably be best remembered as the first picture for Tufts, who is a click all the way. Tech¬ nical end is particularly well handled, with the evacuation and bombing scenes outstanding. Individual performances are also high rating. Some may find this strong stuff, but it represents a true ^8icture. Earlier portions of the picture are stronger on comedy relief, which practically dis¬ appears, except for the Tufts-Goddard combination, when the Bataan to Correg¬ idor sequence begins. Ad Lines: “ ‘So Proudly We Hail’ . . . The True Story Of Uncle Sam’s Heroic Nurses”; “Claudette Colbert . . . Veronica Lake . . . Paulette Goddard In The Great¬ est Picture Of Their Careers”; “A New Star Is Born . . . Meet Sonny Tufts . . . 1943’s Find”; “The Dramatic Story Of Wo¬ men Who Wouldn’t Surrender . . . The Nurses of Bataan.” Submarine Alert Melodrama (4229) Estimate: For the lower half. Cast; Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor, Abner Biberman, Marc Lawrence, John Mil j an, Patsy Nash, Ralph Sanford, Dwight Frey, William Bakewell, Edward Ellis. Directed by Frank McDonald. Story: Richard Arlen, alien radio expert, loses his job as the FBI spreads its drag¬ net to find the source of a secret radio transmitter which is tipping off an enemy sub about tanker movements off the Pacific Coast. Arlen needs dough, and accepts a job offered by Nils Asther, who heads a group of Nazi and Jap agents in this country. Meanwhile, Arlen falls for Wendy Barrie, who works for the FBI. Arlen gets wise to the spy setup, fights his way out when cornered, but is recaptured. June 30, 1943 He comes through in time to clean out the whole gang just as they are about to set off some flares. A U. S. patrol sinks the Jap sub. Arlen joins the army. X-R^y: ITiis is one of the weaker mem¬ bers in the Pine-Thomas series for Para¬ mount. The players walk through, and the production ranks with some of the lesser inde efforts. Title is misleading, and this is really just another spy story. Mark it down as just more film for the lower half. Ad Lines: “On Guard . . . America . . . Spies In Your Midst”; “A Deadly Sub Lurks Off the Coast . . . And Richard Arlen Comes Through”; “The Year’s Fast¬ est Melodrama.” PRC Border Bucicaroos musical Western (354) 59m. Estimate: Routine western. Cast: Dave (Tex) O’Brien, Jim Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Christine McIntyre, Elea¬ nor Counts, Jack Ingraham, Ethan Laidlow, Charles King, Michael Vallon, Ken Duncan. Directed by Oliver Drake. Pro¬ duced by Alfred Stem and Arthur Alex¬ ander. Story: Investigating the murder of a rancher, the Texas Rangers (Dave O’Brien and Jim Newill) and their pal, Guy Wil¬ kerson, capture a gunman on his way to join Jack Ingraham’s gang. The Rangers suspect Ingraham of the murder, and a plot to do away with the remaining heirs, Christine McIntyre, and Tom Bancroft, whom they find slugged further along the trail. Bringing Bancroft around, the boys tell him to stand guard over the gunman they have in tow, while O’Brien imper¬ sonates the bad ’un to get in with In¬ graham’s gang. Newill impersonates Ban¬ croft as the heir. After rescuing McIntyre from a kidnapping planned by Ingraham’s gang, O’Brien getting away with his impersonation, figures the low down on the dirty work. Wilkerson, meanwhile, tracks down evidence in town proving Ingraham is the head of the gang. Just as Ingraham is getting wise, a free for all fight results in the capture of him and the entire gang, and prevents any harm coming to the heirs of the ranch, which harbors a hidden mine. X-Ray: There is nothing much new here, and this follows the usual western pat¬ tern. TJiree brief songs are “Driftin’,” “Stay On the Right Trail,” and “You’re Here To Stay.” Direction and photography are average. Ad Lines: “High Voltage Action As Ranger Bullets Spell Doom To Rangeland Racketeers”; “Six-Guns Barkin’; Hoofs Poundin’; Fists Flyin’ As the Texas Rang¬ ers Go Into Action”; “Hunting Trouble — and Finding It — Watch Those Reckless Rangers Go!” REPUBLIC Thumbs Up musical Comedy Drama (223) 67m. Estimate: Pleasant dualler. Cast: Brenda Joyce, Richard Fraser, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Margeteon, J. Pat O’Malley, Queenie Leonard, Molly La¬ ment, Gertrude Niesen, George Byron, Charles Irwin, Andre Chariot, The Hot Shots. Directed by Joseph Santley. Story: American singer Brenda Joyce hears that a theatrical producer will seek 1294 SarvlMction 2