The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

COLUMBIA Cry of the Werewolf Mystery (5027) 63m Estimate: Suspenseful horror mystery for the duallers. Cast: Nina Foch, Stephen Crane, Osa Massen, Blanche Yurka, Barton MacLane, Ivan Triesault, John Abbott, Fred Graff, John Tyrrell, Robert Williams, Fritz Leiber, Milton Parsons. Directed by Henry Levin. Produced by Wallace MacDonald. Storys Ivan Triesault, gypsy, tells Nina Foch, tribe queen, that Fritz Leiber, head of a museum that deals with the occult, is about to reveal the secret past of her mother, a werewolf. Foch goes to the museum, and hides in a secret panel. Leiber, hearing the howling of a wolf, goes to investigate, and is killed. His son, Stephen Crane, and his assistant, Osa Massen, call the police. Triesault, the gypsy, is suspected, and he flees to the gypsy camp for protection. However, Foch fears that he will talk. After turning into a wolf, she kills him. Going to the mortuary where the gypsies store their dead, Crane is attacked by Foch, who has again assumed the identity of a wolf. However, he man¬ ages to escape. Foch then traps Massen, and hypnotizes her into telling Crane that she killed his father, and then attempts to kill him. Crane breaks the spell. Foch, in a burst of hatred, turns into a wolf, and Iries to kill them both, but Crane manages to send a bullet into the beast's heart. As it dies, it again assumes the form of the gypsy queen. X-Ray: This has action and suspense to satisfy the horror fans, and it will find its spot in the duallers. The plot, although familiar, holds interest. Legion of Decency Rating: B. Ad Lines: "A Beautiful Girl By Day . . . A Blood Thirsty Wolf By Night”; ‘‘No One Was Safe From Its Dripping Lethal Fangs”; “A Chilling Thriller That Will Have You Looking Under Your Bed At Night.” Soul Of a Monster Melodrama (5026) 6lM Estimate: Suspenseful program meller for the duallers. Cast: Rose Hobart, George Macready, Jim Bannon, Jeanne Bates, Erik Rolf, Ernest Hilliard. Directed by Will Jason. Produced by Ted Richmond. Story: Dr. George Macready, on his deathbed, dying of an infection contracted while operating on a charity patient, is one of the kindest men in the country. When his wife, Jeanne Bates, finds out that there is no hope, she prays to any power, good or evil, for the life of her husband, and she is answered by the mysterious appearance of a strange woman. Rose Hobart, who effects a mirac¬ ulous cure on Macready. The patient is not himself when he recovers, and is generally vicious. His close friend, Erik Rolf, discovers that Hobart can control Macready even from a distance, and, when she orders him to kill him, only a crucifix thwarts Macready. An associate. Dr. Jim Bannon, while working in the hospital with Macready, accidentally gashes his arm, and not only does Macready not feel it, but there is no blood. Hobart runs Bannon down in order to get rid of him, but he is not killed, although only an operation by Macready can save him. Hesitation induced by Hobart causes Bannon's death. Macready is charged with wilful murder, and he is informed by Rolf that the only way he can help himself is to buy back his soul from Hobart, and destroy her. Knowing why he has come to see her, she shoots him, and, as he falls through a window, he takes her with. him. The the scene shifts back to Macready's original deathbed, and Bates prays to God to redeem his soul, and to take him if it is his time. All the above seems to have been a dream, and Macready passes the crisis. X-Ray: Dealing with the mysterious and unearthly, this will find its spot on the double bill. Performances, direction, and pace are okay, and the story holds interest. Ad Lines: “He Calls On the Unknown For Help”; “Darkness, Mystery, and Evil Walk Side By Side”; “The Unknown Stalks Its Living Prey.” MGM Maisie Goes To Reno Estimate: Pleasing series entry. Comedy 90m. Ca»t: Ann Sothern, John Hodiak, Tom Drake, Marta linden, Paul Cavanagh, Ava Gardner, Ber¬ nard Nedell, Roland Dupree, Chic Chandler, Bunny Waters, Donald Meek. Directed by Harry Beaumont. Produced by George Haight. II HH A Jay Emanuel Publication. Published weekly by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc. Publishing office: 1225 Vine St., Philadelphia 7, Pa. New York office: 1600 Broadway, New York 19. Coast Representative: Samuel Lindenstein, 425 S. Cochran Ave., Los Angeles 36, Calif. Jay Emanuel, publisher; Paul J. Greenhalgh, business man¬ ager; Herbert M. Miller, managing editor; J. A. Dalton, production manager; G. F. Nonamaker, associate editor. SECTION TWO VOL. 32, No. 15 AUGUST 23, 1944 iiiiiiiimiiiiiinimiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiismii Story: Ann Sothern, female welder, suffering from a nervous breakdown, is told to take a vacation. At a farewell party. Chic Chandler, leader of an all-girl orchestra, asks her to come to Reno, Nev., and work for him during her vacation. After hav¬ ing difficulty in obtaining a bus ticket, Sothern is confronted Dy Tom Drake, a soldier, who wants to go to Reno before his wife can obtain a divorce. Sothern gives him the ticket but just as the bus is about to pull out, he learns that his leave is cancelled, and he gives her a letter to be delivered in person. John Hodiak, blackjack dealer at the hotel, drives her to a ranch where Ava Gardner, the soldier's wife, is staying. Sothern delivers the letter, not knowing that the recipient is not the real Ava Gardner, but instead, her secretary, Marta Linden. After detective work, in which Sothern almost loses her life, she finally discovers that Linden and aides are trying to obtain Gardner's money. Finally, the crooks are brought to justice, the soldier and his wife reunited, and Sothern and Hodiak are in each others arms. X-Ray: A pleasant entry in a series which has turned in some good grosses, this follows the usual tradition, and it should find favor. The story holds inter¬ est, and the title is attractive. Sothern, as usual, is tops, and the whole thing shapes up as neat program. Ad Lines: “When ‘Maisie Goes To Reno’ Things Start Popping Fast”; “It Started Out To Be a Vacation, But It Ended Up With . . . Blackmail”; “You’ll Roar With Laughter When the Blonde Bombshell Gets Tangled Up In a Blackmail Scheme.” Marriage Is a Drama Private Affair 116m Estimate: Names plus title will make the difference. Cast: Lana Turner, James Craig, John Hodiak, Frances Gifford, Hugh Marlowe, Natalie Schafer, Keenan Wynn, Herbert Rudley, Paul Cavanagh,* Morris Ankrum, Jane Green, Tom Drake. Directed by IMPORTANT Data carried in this issue of THE SERV1SECTION, as it pertains to pic¬ tures of the 1943-44 season, will not be carried in complete detail again. Subsequent issues will be compiled as of, and after, the issue of Sept. 6, 1944, and will start the industry’s only complete record of the 1944-45 season. Currently included data on the 194344 season will continue to be carried until the record is completed. In other words, this issue marks the completion of the seventh year of this service. The eighth year will begin on Sept. 6, 1944, as a complete record of the 1944-45 season, including addi¬ tional material on the 1943-44 season until that is completed. Robert 2. Leonard. Produced by Pandro S. Berman. Story: Lana Turner, daughter of much-married Nataiie Schafer, meets John Hodiak at an officer's canteen. After a whirlwind courtship, they get married, and Hodiak, preparing to leave for over¬ seas, is discharged from the Army because he is more useful at an important telescope plant. Turner finds herself going to have a baby. Turner tries fo pattern herself after Frances Gifford and Herbert Rudley, Hodiak's closest friends, but her faith in marriage crumbles when she learns that Gifford and Hugh Marlowe, a habitual drunk, are carrying on. Turner's marriage, after one argument follows an¬ other, seems to be following the path of her mother's. Finally, after a quarrel, Hodiak, leaving her, rejoins his Air Force outfit, and Turner, re¬ alising she really loves him, pleads with James Craig, an ex-beau, now a captain in the Air Force, to find out his whereabouts. Craig learns that Hodiak is in Australia. By wireless set and walkytalky. Turner's message of love is relayed to him. X-Ray: With ingredients which find pop¬ ular favor, this has the Turner draw plus an attractive title to keep the ticket reg¬ isters busy. Presence of Craig and Hodiak will also help. Picture is quite lengthy for this type of show, but it should take care of itself at the box offices. Ad Lines: “When Lana Turner Meets John Hodiak, She Learns That ‘Marriage Is a Private Affair’ ”; “A Story That Will Bring Tears To Your Eyes”; “Even Mar¬ ried, She Was Unable to be Loyal to One.” MONOGRAM Mystery When Strangers Marry Drama Estimate: Engrossing dramatic entry. Cast: Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum, Neil Hamilton, Lou Lubin, Milt Kibbee, Dewey Robinson, Claire Whitney, Edward Keane, Virginia Sale, Dick Elliott, Lee White. Directed by William Castle for King Brothers Productions. Story: During a convention in Philadelphia, a man is found strangled with a silk stocking. Ten thou¬ sand dollars has been taken from the victim. Small¬ town waitress Kim Hunter, who has married travel¬ ing salesman Dean Jagger, receives a telegram from Philadelphia from him to meet her at a certain hotel in New York. Arriving, she finds a room has been reserved for her, but Jagger does not show up. Meeting a former suitor. Bob Mitchum, and plagued by a strange fear, she tells him of her plight. Mitchum escorts her to police headquarters, where she tells her story to detective Neil Hamilton, who deduces that Jagger is the murderer. She meets Jagger, and hides out with him, and the real killer is trapped by a letter sent by Mitchum which is intercepted by police. It contains the missing money. Mitchum then confesses, and Jagger explains that he was hiding because circumstantial evidence pointed to him as the guilty man. The lovers leave on a delayed honeymoon. X-Ray: This is one of the better murder mysteries, and it packs a dramatic wallop. Directed with an eye to suspense and en¬ tertainment, it has a cast that works with emphasis. Hunter, as the frustrated and worried wife, is superb, and Jagger and Mitchum give good support. Show will fit nicely into the duallers. 1559