The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1941)

. . SERVISECTIO ACTUAL REVIEWS — with ALL pertinent data , plus the X-RAY COLUMBIA Western 58m. Prairie Stranger (2208) (’40 -’41) Estimate: Fair Starrett. Cast: Charles Stari'ett, Cliff Edwards, Patti McCarty, Forbes Murray, Frank La Rue, Archie Twitchell, Russ Powell, Fran¬ cis Walker, James Corey, Edmund Cobb. Directed by Lambert Hillyer. Story: Medico Charles Starrett and his partner, Cliff Edwards, open an office in a strange town, and get mixed up in a cattle-poisoning plot. Starrett is accused of murder, but he manages to prove his innocence and apprehend the murderer via a microscopic investigation of bullets. X-Ray: This is just a fair Starrett en¬ try, with less action than usual. The com¬ edy support by Cliff Edwards is good, while Lew Preston and His Ranch Hands supply the western tunes. Oatie fans will probably be satisfied. Songs include “A Cowboy’s Life” and “I’m a Scalawag.” Ad Lines: “More Guns! More Fists! More Laughs Than Ever Before!”; “Brain and Brawn Work Together to Clean Up the West”; “See The Medico Wipe Out the West’s Worst Desperadoes”; “Thrill After Thrill.” X-Ray: First of the Buster CrabbeBilly the Kid westerns, this should sat¬ isfy. Crabbe makes a good debut as Billy, and the script includes plenty of fights, riding, etc. The' western followers should be satisfied. Ad Lines: “Meet the New Billy the Kid . . . Buster Crabbe”; “The Old West Lives Again As Billy the Kid Rides Once More;” “Thrilling, Exciting, Terrific”; “1941’s Fastest Western.” Ad Lines: “Exposing the Marriage Racket. . . . For Cash”; “She Wanted Cash . . . He Wanted Love”; “Hard Guy . . . Who Would Murder For Money”; “Get the Lowdown on the Boys Who Live by Their Wits . . . And Who Kill For Pleasure.” Mr. Celebrity (114) (’40-’41) Drama 66m. Melodrama 66m. PRODUCERS RELEASING CORP. Billy the Kid Wanted Western (257) 63m Estimate: First Buster Crabbe-Billy the Kid should satisfy. Cast: Buster Crabbe, A1 St. John, Dave O’Brien, Glen Strange, Charles King, Slim Whitaker, Harold Masters, Choti Sherwood, Joel Newfield, Budd Buster, Frank Ellis. Directed by Sherman Scott. Story: Buster Crabbe (Billy the Kid), hearing of the trouble homesteaders are having with their water rights, comes to help out, eventually arranging things so that one gang headed by Glen Strange fights another led by Charles King. But he and his aide, Dave O’Brien, are over¬ powered. However, thanks to some fast thinking, they turn the tables, winning for the homesteaders. Hard Guy (205) Estimate: Marriage racket yarn has angles for some houses. Cast: Jack La Rue, Mary Healy, Kane Richmond, Iris Adrian, Gayle Mollott, Jack Mulhall, Howard Banks, Ben Tag¬ gart, Montague Shaw, Inna Guest, Arthur Gardner, Eddie Durant and his Rhumba Orchestra. Directed by Elmer Clifton. Story: When her sister, Gayle Mollott, a dancer in a cafe operated by Jack LaRue, is killed by La Rue because she re¬ fused to go through with a quick mar¬ riage and suit against a socialite playboy, and the blame is placed on the latter, Mary Healy resolves to learn the truth, which is a mystery. She enters the em¬ ploy of La Rue as a cigarette girl. He wants her to marry Kane Richmond, of a wealthy western family, and then sue him for cash. She starts to go through with it, but balks after the marriage. Eventually, La Rue is exposed as the killer and head of a racket ring. X-Ray: With a title ideal for some types of houses, and enough action for the pay¬ ing customers, this overcomes, to some ex¬ tent, deficiencies in plot construction, act¬ ing, etc. For the type of house for which it is made, it should suffice. Selling the marriage racket angle, the shakedown of wealthy playboys, etc. may help. There is one song, “Alone Again,” sung by Mary Healy, who will be remembered from 20th Century-Fox. Estimate: Nice inde programmer. Cast: Buzzy Henry, James Seay, Doris Day, William Halligan, Gavin Gordon, Johnny Berkes, Jack Baxley, Larry Grey, John E. Ince, Frank Hagney, Jack Rich¬ ardson, Alfred Hall, Smokey Saunders, William Whitman, Francis X. Bushman, Clara Kimball Young, Jim Jeffries. Di¬ rected by William Beaudine. Story: Two grandparents of an orphaned lad attempt to get him away legally from his uncle, a veterinarian who follows the race track and is regarded as unfit, finan¬ cially and otherwise, to care for his sister’s son. Come repeated failures of a process server and the grandparents’ attorney to catch up with the boy and his uncle, romance for the uncle with a young story writer doing a book on celebrities in dan¬ ger of eviction from a benefactor’s estate, and a kindly judge eventually fixing things up to make everybody happy. X-Ray: This is better than the average independent production effort, and the customers will probably enjoy it. Oldtimers’ names should have particular appeal and, apart from that, it is nice entertainment every foot of the way, very suitable for the bracket for which it is intended. Ad Lines: “Haunting Memories Of the Silent Screen! See Francis X. Bushman, Clara Kimball Young, and Jim Jeffries, ExWorld’s Fight Champ!”; “A Thrilling Drama of the Turf and Life As the Other Fellow Lives It”; “Who Is Mr. Celebrity?” (The classification “ADULT” ap¬ pears in cases where the reviewer considers a film most suitable for adults. Where no classification ap¬ pears, it is inferred that the picture is suitable for both family and adults.) RKO-RADIO Cartoon 63m. Dumbo (293) (Technicolor) Estimate: Technically the best feature SECTION TWO m*. ~ . & mi VOL. 26. No. 23 OCTOBER 1 5 llHISPfwilW 19 4 1 869 zsm