The Exhibitor (Jun-Oct 1943)

THI IXHIBITOR September 8, 1943 Girl Crazy Comedy with Music 99m. (409) Estimate: Headed for the better money. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, “Rags” Ragland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Guy Kibbee, Frances Rafferty, Henry O’Neill, Howard Freeman, Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. Directed by Norman Taurog. Story: Henry O’Neill, rich publisher father of Mickey Rooney, thinking that his son will really get into trouble with his crazy actions at night clubs and with the opposite sex, with whom incidentally he is a great hit, sends him off to Cody College in the middle of the western desert. Rooney hits the ceiling when he finds that there are no girls in the vicinity for miles with the exception of Judy Gar¬ land, whose grandfather, Guy Kibbee, is the dean of the school. Rooney wants to go home, but changes his mind when Garland drives him to the station, and comes back in time to help her celebrate her birthday that night. He gives her a locket that was handed down in his fam¬ ily. The next day, hearing that the school will have to be closed unless it can show an increase in enrollees, Rooney sub¬ mits a plan to Kibbee which calls for an annual rodeo with a beautiful girl to be voted queen of the rodeo. This will bring about a great deal of publicity. As the rodeo day arrives, Rooney is in a quandary about the queen. He then chooses the governor’s daughter because of the publicity. Garland becomes angry, be¬ cause ske sees her locket on the new queen. Rooney manages to get back in her graces when news that the college is to continue comes through, and Kibbee’s job is safe. X-Ray: With a cast of pretty girls, the pre-sold names of Garland and Rooney, the popular Tommy Dorsey musical organ¬ ization, and some very amusing comedy situations, this can’t fail to do business. The plot is routine, but the production moves at a fair pace. Music heard in¬ cludes: “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” “Bide My Time,” “Treat Me Rough,” “Bronco Busters,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “Barbary Coast.” Ad Lines: “Mickey Rooney, Judy Gar¬ land, “Rags” Ragland, and Tommy Dor¬ sey and Etis Orchestra In This Latest Hit Musical”; “See What a Hundred Pretty Girls Do To Mickey Rooney”; “A Metro Momentous Musical — With An Unbeatable Trio.” I Dood It Comedy with Music 102m. (403) Estimate: One of the better Skelton ef¬ forts. Cast: Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Sam Levene, Thurston Hall, Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, John Hodiak, Butterfly McQueen, Marjorie Gateson, Andrew Tombes, Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra with Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell, Lena Home, Hazel Scott. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Story: Red Skelton is a love sick pants presser with a crush on Eleanor Powell, star of a Broadway show. He attends her show every night, and soon knows every word of the dialogue. He follows Powell about until she begins to notice him. After a fight with her fiance, the leading man in the show, over his attentions to a rich debutante, she begins to go out with Skelton. With enough provocation on the part of the leading man, Richard Ainley, she marries Skelton. Powell is under the impression that he is an owner of a gold mine. That impression is soon dissolved when Skelton’s boss, Sam Levene, turns up at the apartment, and, in front of sev¬ eral people, as well as Powell, asks his pants presser for the clothes belonging to his various customers that Skelton has been wearing all along. Thrown out of her life, he tries to commit suicide, but the gas company turns off the gas. He tries to see Powell at the theatre, but is thrown out. One of the cast, however, in reality a Nazi spy, hearing that Skelton knows every line in the play, talks him into taking his place while he sets a bomb to blow up an ammunition warehouse next door, and makes his get away. Skelton catches on to the spy’s evil intentions in time to save the warehouse, collect a re¬ ward for his capture, and get Powell to admit her love for him. X-Ray: This is one of the best of Skel¬ ton’s Aims. Some very funny scenes, coupled with the good dancing of Pow¬ ell, music by Jimmy Dorsey and band, songs by Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell, a few specialties by Lena Home and Hazel Scott, etc., should bring in the busi¬ ness. The plot is minor but the charac¬ terizations are well done. Musical num¬ bers heard are: “Star Eyes,” “So Long Sarah Jane,” “One O’Clock Jump,” “Swingin’ the Jinx Away,” “Taking A Chance On Love,” and “Jericho.” Ad Lines: “Red Skelton With His Fun¬ niest Gags, the Dancing of Eleanor Powell, the Music By Jimmy Dorsey, Songs By Bob Eberly, Helen O’Connell, Lena Home, and Hazel Scott In This Latest MGM Musical”; “Another Hit Musical Comedy From MGM”; “Stars Galore, Comedy, Music, Popular Songs, Romance In This Latest MGM Hit — T Dood It’.” Lassie Come Home Drama (410) 88m (Technicolor) Estimate: High rating dog drama. Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gwenn, Nigel Bruce, Elsa Lanchester, Elizabeth ’Taylor, Ben Webster, J. Patrick O’Malley, Alan Napier, Arthur Shields, John Rogers, Alec Craig, and Lassie. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox Story: Lassie, a beautiful collie, is sold by Donald Crisp because the family is In need of funds, and Crisp is out of a job. The buyer is a duke, Nigel Bmce. This almost breaks the heart of Crisp’S son, Roddy McDowall. Lassie escapes twice from the kennels, but is given back by Crisp. Finally, the duke talces Lassie to his house in Scotland, but the dog breaks away from his thoughtless trainer, J. Patrick O’Malley, and heads back for Crisp’s home. Lassie encounters many ad¬ ventures enroute, and finally does make the Crisp cottage, piore dead than alive. Bruce arrives at the cottage, and finds Lassie worn and tom on the floor, but he generously refuses to recognize her, thereby giving her back to her former owners. He also offers Crisp a job in his kennels. McDowall is overjoyed at finding his pet home once more, and all ends well. X-Ray: ’This is a story that will tug at the heart strings of any who see it, with the dog. Lassie, taking the limelight away from the human cast. The entire cast turns in a good job in this absorbing col¬ orful production. Direction is good, as is the color camera work. Ad Lines: “The Touching Story Of a Dog”; “A Story About Man’s Best EMend"; “Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp In a Touching Dog Story In Technicolor.” Join The Exhibitor’s Kit Parade — the Finest Service the Industry Has Ever Seen. The Man From Melodrama Down Under i^^m. (411) Estimate: Well made melodrama has ffie angles. Cast: Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, Richard Carlson, Donna Reed, Christopher Severn, Clyde Cook, Horace McNally, Ar¬ thur Shields, Evelyn Falke, Hobart Cava¬ naugh, Andre Chariot. Directed by Rob¬ ert Z. Leonard. Story: After the armistice is signed in 1918, Charles Laughton, a sergeant in a company of Australians, is about to be sent home with the rest of his outfit when he meets two homeless waifs, who take a liking to him, and ask to go along with him. He consents to smuggle them aboard. Meanwhile, he meets Binnie Barnes, an entertainer, whom he had met in London, and asks her to marry him so that the kids might have a mother. She agrees to meet him in front of a church, but he forgets about the appointment because of one drink too many, and sails without her. As time passes by, Laughton teaches his boy, Richard Carlson, how to box, and event¬ ually he wins the Australian champion¬ ship, while the young lady, supposedly his sister, is sent off to a smart finishing school. In the championship fight, Carlson tears the ligaments in his shoulder, and it is doubtful whether or not he will ever be able to fight again. Laughton, learn¬ ing this, sells his city pub, and buys a swank hotel in the country, where the boy can get a good rest. As there are no pay¬ ing guests at the hotel, Laughton soon begins to owe a great deal of money. While the creditors are beginning to bother him, Barnes shows up, now a lady of wealth, due to two previous marriages, and event¬ ually takes the hotel off of Laughton’s hands, retaining him as manager. Soon thereafter, war is declared, and Laugh¬ ton tries to join up, but he is told that he is physically unfit. Carlson, meanwhile, seeing that he is falling in love with his supposed sister, Donna Reed, leaves the place without an explanation to anyone, because he knows that no one would understand. Laughton, who has arranged some boxing bouts for the boy, thinks that he is yellow when he walks out without an explanation, and he also leaves to join a labor battalion. Much later, northern Australia is bombed, especially the hotel that Laughton had owned. Carlson, on the way home to recuperate from wounds re¬ ceived in Singapore, sees the bombing, and tries to get through to the house in a truck, buj: the vehicle overturns, and he is pinned underneath. Laughton, who had just arrived in the vicinity with his labor group, sees the bombing, and starts to make his way through the woods to the house. He comes upon Carlson, rescues him, and they both arrive in time to save the home from being taken by a crew of Japs, who had made a forced landing. Proof comes from Belgium that Carlson and Reed aren’t really related, and a com¬ mission finally comes through for Laugh¬ ton through the efforts of Barnes. X-Ray: Here is a fast moving, exciting production that should please. Laughton, Barnes, Carlson, and Reed turn in very creditable performances, with Laughton a standout. The effort is paced nicely, and will prove interest-holding throughout. Since this is one of the first productions with an Australian background, public in¬ terest should be high. Ad Lines: “Charles Laughton At His Best In ‘The Man From Down UndeP “A Top-Notch Cast In a Top-Notch Pic¬ ture About a Top-Notch People”; “A Story About the People Of Australia.” Consult the Territory Screening Guide For Trade Show Information. 13S0 Servisection 2