The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1942)

September 9, 1942 THE EXHIBITOR anti-aircraft, and 12 planes. Arriving with them is civilian contractor Albert Dekker, who has a Navy contract to build up the defenses, and who makes it plain at the start that he is not going to be hindered by any brass hat or silly military rule. Story moves on to the rush to make the island more easily defendable, with comedy relief supplied by private William Bendix, the typical dumb Marine, whose only interest is that his enlistment runs out on Dec. 7, and that he will then return to civilian life. In early December the island entertains the Japanese “peace” envoy on his way to a conference in Washington, and joins with him in toasting peace. Bendix gets his discharge on Dec. 7, just at the time ,of the news of Pearl Harbor. After being kidded for a while as a civilian, he is put back in uniform, and the island goes about its business of preparing for the inevitable attack. Dekker gives up his idea of despising the military, and starts building trenches. First attack comes, causing terrific damage. The attacks come with increasing fury, with the Marines taking a tremendous toll of Japs. Carey learns that his wife was killed at the Pearl Harbor bombing, and immediately after that takes off to bomb a Jap destroyer. He is killed. The final assault comes on Christmas Day, with the Japs at last winning the objective but only after they have killed most of the handful of men. X-Ray: An action story from start to finish, this would probably be no more than an average programmer were it not for the story it has to tell. As it is, the picture will undoubtedly be one of the big grossers of the year. “Wake Island” is jrist about the most saleable picture to come out of Hollywood in a long time. It is a magnificent saga of American heroism. Ad Lines: “History In the Making . . . The Glorious Tale Of ‘Wake Island’ “America’s Heroic Marines ... In Their Most Gallant Stand.” Wildcat Melodrama 73m. Estimate: Thriller for the duallers. just hard fighting and action that keeps moving at all times. Ad Lines: “Oil the Black Gold That Men Die For”; “One Against the World, and He Wins.” PRODDCEBS RELEASING COUP. Baby F aCG comedy Melodrama Morgan (317) Estimate: Entertaining gangster picture with a comedy twist. Cast: Mary Carlisle, Richard Cromwell, Robert Armstrong, Chick Chandler, Warren Hymer, Charles Judels, Vince Barnett, Ralf Harolde, Toddy Peterson, Hal K. Dawson, Pierce Lyden, Kenny Chryst, Sam Bernard. Directed by Arthur Dreifuss. Story: Things are not so good for gangsters Robert Armstrong and Ralf Harolde when Armstrong gets an idea, and summons members of their old gang from all sections of the country to reorganize a protective racketeering scheme, but they need a tough guy as a front. They hit upon country -bumpkin, Richard Cromwell, whose name is Morgan to post as tough “Baby Face Morgan.” He doesn’t even know about it, but believes he is head of an insurance company in which his cousin. Chick Chandler, is made vice president. When money rolls in and big deposits are made, the boys are warned by Armstrong not to draw any checks. When they read reports about trucks being smashed, they go out and sell protection insurance to the trucksters. Thus, when they pay off a loss, the money goes-round-and-round, all unknown to Armstrong and Harolde. Cromwell meets Mary Cailisle, who owns a trucking company, sells her a policy, love blooms, but the road is hard ’till the whole scheme blows up, the real gangsters arrested, and the yokel-boys exonerated. X-Ray: This will fit into the duallers nicely. It has a better cast than usual, and it is a travesty on the old-type gangster melodramas. Cast: Richard Arlen, Arline Judge, William Frawley, Buster Crabbe, Arthur Hunnicut, Elisha Cook, Jr., Ralph Sanford, Alec Craig, John Dilson, Ed Keane, Will Wright, Jessie Newcombe, Billy Benedict, Billy Nelson, Tom Kennedy, Fred Sherman, John Fisher, William Hall. Directed by Frank MacDonald. Story: Richard Arlen, down and out oil man, moves into a boom town,, and hooks up with an easterner, Elisha Cook, Jr., as a partner. By much trickery they manage to promote a loan for some money, and take a lease on oil ground. There is a $25,000 prize for the first well brought in, and they start shooting for the money. When rival Buster Crabbe sees them forging ahead, he permits a truck to crash their well, ruining the machinery, killing Cook. Gambler William Frawley and his partner, Arline Judge, hit town, and Frawley has her pose as Cook’s sister so that they can collect the money. She goes in for the kill, but falls for Arlen, and wants to play it straight. Overcoming all obstacles, Arlen looks like a sure winner, when Crabbe recognizes Judge for what she is. He tells Arlen, who throws her out. Crabbe then sets fire to the well, and, when Arlen goes in to save it, he is hit by a falling piece of machinery. Judge, who has returned, saves him, and together they put out the fire. With the prize money safely on hand, Arfen turns to the more pleasant task of making love to Judge. X-Ray: Following the old western formula to the letter, this is one of those thrillers that will fit neatly into the duallers. There is no pretension of a big story. Ad Lines: “The Boob Turns Into A Bombshell When His Girl Is Threatened”; “The Gangster Kidded Him Into A Racket But He Had the Last Laugh.” City Of Silent Men Melodrama (308) 64m. Estimate: Neat inde entry. Cast: Frank Albertson, June Lang, Jan Wiley, Richard Clarke, William Gould, Emmett Lynn, Dick Curtis, Barton Hepburn, Frank Jacquet, Frank Ferguson, Richard Bailey, Jack Baxley, William Kellogg, Charles Jordan, Pat Gleason. Directed by William Nigh. Produced by Dixon R. Harwin. Story: Hot-headed Frank Albertson and oldish Emmett Lynn, ex-convicts, mooch a meal in a restaurant in which Jan Wiley is waitress for her brutish father, Dick Curtis. When the men cannot pay, Wiley offers to pay the check, but Curtis has them arrested. They are about to be sentenced to 30 days in jail when the mayor, William Gould, asks for a suspended sentence, their custody, and agrees to give them work. To help in their rehabilitation, he turns over to them a cannery, abandoned for lack of labor, with instructions to run it on a cooperative basis, and hire any ex-convicts who will work. This brings down a storm of protest from the local newspaper and the citizens who claim the reputation of their fair city will be besmirched, and their lives endangered. A triangle of love intrudes. Wiley, who has befriended Albertson, falls in love with him. He falls in love with the mayor’s daughter, June Lang, whose brother, Richard Clarke, makes a play for Wiley, whom he jilted a few years before. Later, Albertson is accused of murdering Wiley. It develops that Gould, was at one time a convict, befriended by Lynn, who helped him go straight. After it looks as if the irate citizens will lynch Albertson for the murder, Curtis confesses to the killing, which was accidental, but which he tried to pin on Albertson because of hatred. X-Ray: This will be easy for exhibitors to sell for it has a popular preachment, the rehabilitation of unfortunate men. It is directed with a smooth hand, suspense is well kept, and the entire cast gives sincere performances. It will fit neatly into the duallers, and it has a title to sell. Ad Lines: “All He Asked For Was Another Chance . . . and When He Got it . . . He Made Good”; “Accused of A Murder He Did Not Commit”; “The Love Of A Trusting Woman Helped Him Surmount The Stigma of His Past”. A Night For Crime Comedy /rtni\ Melodrama (oUl) 77m. Estimate: Fast moving who-dun-it. Cast: Glenda Farrell, Lyle Talbot, Lina Basquette, Donald Kirke, Ralph Sanford, Forrest Taylor, L3am Starr, Ricki Vallin, Edna Harris, Marjorie Manners, Joseph DeVillard, Niels Bagge, Ruby Dandridge, Florence O’Brien, Bob Fraser, and Jimmy Starr, Erskine Johnson, Edwin Schallert, Harry Crocker. Directed by Alexis ThxirnTaxis. Story: Newspaperwoman Glenda Farrell, engaged to be married to Lyle Talbot, praise artist for a Hollywood motion picture studio, on the night of a blackout hear a scream and rush across the hall to a room in which they find the dead body of a girl who had worked in Talbot’s studio. Along comes detective Ralph Sanford, who takes them in for questioning by Chief Forrest Taylor, who releases them. Meantime, Lina Basquette, temperamental star under contract to Donald Kirke, disappears. The chase is on to discover her whereabouts when her dead body is foLmd, and positively identified by four Hollywood columnists. Farrell does not believe them. Subsequently, she uncovers that Basquette has a twin sister, runs her down, pins on her the two murders after some creepy sequences in which both Farrell and Talbot are almost strangled by Ricki Vallin, Basquette’s chauffeur, the twin sister’s husband. X-Ray: With some better marquee names than seen in recent PRC pictures, this will fit into the duallers nicely. The Hollywood background brings added interest. It generally moves at a fast pace, and rates with the better product from the company. Ad Lines: “Thrill Packed Drama Of the Movies”; “Murder Mystery In a Hollywood Blackout”; “Glenda Farrell As a Sleuth Newspaperwoman Who Tracks Down the Criminals.” RKO-RADIO Bambi (391) Feature Cartook 71m. (Technicolor) Estimate: Top flight Disney. Credits: Supervising director, David D. Hand; story direction by Perce Pearce; story adaptation by Larry Morey; lyrics and music by Frank Churchill and Ed Servisection 5 1097