The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

T Hi 1 EXHIBITOR August 23, Ad Lines: “What Was That Nameless Terror That Pursued Her? . . .Was Her Husband Guilty Of a Heinous Crime?”; “Was She a Woman Trapped By a Merci¬ less Love . . . and a Merciless Killer?”; “Must She Live In the Shadow Of An Un¬ solved Mystery? . . . Could She Trust Her Stranger Husband?” REPUBLIC Comedy WITH MUSIC 69m. Estimate: Engaging entry for small towns, duals. Cast: Brad Taylor, Ruth Terry, Virginia Brlsscte, Beverly Loyd, Charles Irwin, Olin Howlin, Maxine Doyle, Mary Kenyon, Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys, with Rachel, Lulubelle and Scotty, Harry "Pappy" Chesire, the Milo Twins, ^ Carolina Cotton. Directed by Frank McDonald. Associate pro¬ ducer, Donald H. Brown. Story: Thrown out of a small town radio job. Brad Taylor, who works with Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys and Scotty, starts out with his lads for a job on the coast, and runs into Ruth Terry, a college gal niece of Virginia Brissac, whose in¬ fluence with the college board has had a gloomy effect on the college. Taylor, a fake psychologist over the air, falls for Terry. He comes to the college with his phony beard on, and is mistaken for Charles Irwin, international psychologist. Taylor gets a chance to make money giving lectures, and selling booklets, and stays on, meantime making a play tor Terry as himself. His teachings and lectures do good, and the college enrollment increases so that it doesn't have to close. Finally, he grows tired of the deceit, and is about to quit when the real psychologist, Irwin, arrives on the scene. It Is all ironed out, with Irwin taking over, Brissac straight¬ ening out her love life, and Taylor staying with the local radio station as manager. X-Ray: Main attraction here is the pres¬ ence of Acuff and his boys, Lulubelle and Scotty, Harry ‘Pappy’ Chesire, the Milo Twins, and Caroline Cotton, whose radio draw will be strong where the program gets airing. Otherwise this is pleasing en¬ tertainment for the duallers. Terry, Taylor, etc., have stock roles, but take care of things nicely. Songs include: “Sing Neigh¬ bor Sing,” “Not a Word From Home,” “Easy Rockin’ Chair,” “Durned If It Ain’t In My Soul,” “Popcorn Polka,” “Down By the Railroad Track,” “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”, “Phrenology,” and “Tudor Song.” Ad Lines: “Your Radio Favorites In the Year’s Musical Frolic”; “She Studied Bumps On the Head But She Lost Her Heart”; “Real, Enjoy Yourselves With Radio’s Roy Acuff and His Smoky Moun¬ tain Boys.” Sing Neighbor Sing (401) Silver City Kid (461) West5|rmn Estimate: Well-produced western has plenty of action. Cast; Allan Lane, Peggy Stewart, Wally Vernon, Twinkle Watts, Harry Woods, Frank Jaquet, Lane Chandler, Glenn Strange, Bud Geary, Tom Steele, Tom London, Jack Kirk, Samuel Flint, Frank MeCarroll. Directed by John English. Produced by Stephen Auer. Story: When Harry Woods and Frank Jaquet learn that a vein of their molybdenum mine runs under property owned by Lane Chandler, they kill him to prevent a further profit division. Allan Lane and Wally Vernon, for the sake of Chandler's sister, Peggy Stewart, who must pay a mortgage, attempt to discover the* murderer. Woods kills Jaquet, and frames Stewart, hoping to dispose of her, and assume control. When Lane discovers the vein, he suspects Woods, who, learning he is swspecled, kidnaps Stewart, hoping Lane will attempt to rescue her. Lane does, but Woods is killed. Stewart receives her rightful share. X-Ray: With quite a few of the best western fist-fights seen in some time, and a good plot, this emerges as a top-flight out-door entry. Good acting, superior pro¬ duction, and fast-paced direction keep in¬ terest and action in the fore. Lane, star¬ ring in the first of his own series of west¬ erns, completely satisfied a matinee audi¬ ence, and should build. The film also offers Vernon some comedy moments. Ad Lines: “You Can Blue-Print Murder, But, When the Pay-Off Comes, It’s In Lead!”; “The ‘Silver City Kid’ Burns the Mask of Respectability From the Faces Of Power-Mad Killers”; “Ride To New Thrills and Action With Allan Lane!” Strangers In the Night Melodrama (326) 56m Estimate: Suspenseful metier for the duallers. Casf: William Terry, Virginia Grey, Helen Thlmig, Edith Barrett, Anne O'Neal. Directed by Anthony Mann. Produced by Rudolph E. Abel. Story: Marine Sergeant William Terry, wounded jn action in the South Pacific, and who had the will to live only because of some letters which he had been receiving from a "Rosemary Blake", whose name he had found on a flyleaf of a book, re¬ turns to the States for a rest, looks up his corre¬ spondent's address, and finds the home located high upon a cliff on the outskirts of town. ,The mother, Helen Thimig, is devoted completely to her daugh¬ ter to the point of fanaticism, and she also seems to have a strange power over her companion, Edith Barrett. She tells Terry that her daugnter is away for a few days, and asks him to stay over, e$ pecially when his wounds bother him. The local doctor, Virginia Grey, is called in, and Thimig be¬ comes angry when she finds out that the pair know each other from a train trip. Later, he sees a por¬ trait of the missing daughter, and recognizes ihe brushwork as that of an old school friend. When he becomes suspicious of the daughter's absence, he sees his friend, and inquires after the subject of the portrait. During his absence, Thimig's companion, Barrett, tries to warn Gray of the outcome of Terry's investigation, and also that Thimig is mentally ill, but she is discovered, and is poisoned by Thimig, who hopes to have Grey blamed. Terry returns, and informs Grey in Thimig's presence that "Rosemary" is a figment of the imagination, the creature of a frustrated desire to have a child. They also dis¬ cover Barrett's bpdy, and Thimig tries to kill them. Failing, she calls upon her "daughter" to help her, and ironically the huge painting falls from the wall, and kills Thimig. X-Ray Good characterizations keynote this suspenseful meller, with the entire cast proving a credit to the feature. The direction and pace are okay. This will fit into the duallers. Ad Lines: “What Was the Mystery Of the House On the Cliff?”; “Terror Lurked In the Mind Of An Insane Woman”; “Who Were the ‘Strangers In the Night’?” 20th CENTURY-FOX Dangerous Journey Travelogue (504) 73m. Estimate: High rating travelogue with plenty of selling angles. Credits: Produced and filmed by Armand Denis and Leila Roosevelt; Conrad Nagel, commentator. Story: Following the expedition of Armand Dents and Leila Roosevelt through Africa, India, and Bur¬ ma, one sees incredible scenes of unexplored out¬ posts. In the steaming jungles are seen rituals in which the natives pierce their bodies with silver needles, and move in slow processions in front of villagers. Capturing a wild elephant produces min¬ utes of suspense as the giant bull bellows and tugs bounds, escaping, and being recaptured. One sees native females scarring their bodies in order to make themselves appealing. Film is climaxed by witness¬ ing the kissing of a deadly cobra. X-Ray: Moving at a nice pace, this has been edited well, and offers possibilities for the exploiteer. It has been some time since an entry of this kind has been seen, which also should help at the box office. Where this won’t stand up as an exploitable single, it will fit into the duallers. Ad Lines: “An Amazing Picture Of An Expedition Into Unexplored Outposts”; “Amazing Religious Rites, Hunting Wild Elephants, Strange Native Dances, In ‘Dangerous Journey’ ”; “Unusual . . . Ex¬ citing . . . Amazing.” The Big Noise Comedy 74m. Estimate: Routine Laurel and Hardy entrant Cast; Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Dorlt Merrick, Arthur Space, Veda Ann Borg, Bobby Blake, Frank Fenton, James Bush, Phil Van Zandt, Esther Howard, Robert Dudley, Edgar Dearing, Selmar Jackson, Harry Hayden, Francis Ford, Jack Norton, Ken Christy, Beal Wong, Louis Arco. Directed by Mai St. Clair. Pro¬ duced by Sol M. Wurtzel. Story: Laurel and Hardy, working as janitors at a detective agency, receive a call from Arthur, asking for two detectives to guard a new explosive. A group of thieves intending to steal Space's sister-in-law's jewels are living next door. One of their number learns about the explosive, and brings Veda Ann Borg to the house. She is innocent of their plans, and Space becomes inter¬ ested in her. The night of the robbery she overhears the gang discussing it, and runs to Space's house to warn him. The crooks arrive soon after, and Space is forced to take them to the room where Laurel and Hardy are guarding the bomb. Laurel succeeds in trapping the crooks in a closet, and Space announces that he wants them to take the bomb, which they have concealed in a concertina, to Washington for him. The crooks escape from the closet, and set out in pursuit of Laurel and Hardy, who have been told by Space that the bomb they are carrying is a fake. Then they receive a wire that the concertina contains the real bomb. Chang¬ ing trains, they discover that they've missed the Washington connection, and decide to hitch a ride out to the airport. The crooks pick them up, but Laurel and Hardy escape, and take off in a plane which is controlled by radio, and being used by an anti-aircraft battery for practice shots. Laurel and Hardy take to the parachutes, and, floating down over the water, spot a Jap submarine, ana drop the bomb on it. Final shot shows them sitting on a buoy with Laurel playing "Mairzy Doats" pn the concertina. X-Ray: This is a fair Laurel and Hardy entry for the spots where the comedians still have a draw. Elsewhere, it will fit into the lower half. Several of the sequences are funny, and inasmuch as L and H have provided some surprisingly high grosses in the past, the same opportunity is present here. Audience reaction was good. Ad Lines: “Two Defective Detectives . . . Laurel and Hardy!”; “Fun . . . Fast and Furious ... As Laurel and Hardy Turn Detectives!”; “Look Out, Sherlock! Laurel and Hardy Are Detectives Now!” UNIVERSAL Farce In Society (8001) with Music 72m. Estimate: Farce packs plenty of laughs. Cast; Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marian Hutton, Kirby Grant, Anne Gillis, Arthur Treacher, Thomas Gomez, George Dolenz, Steven Geray, Margaret Irving, Murray Leonard, Thurston Hall, Nella Walker, William B. Davidson, Will Osborne and Orchestra, the Three Sisters. Directed by Jean Yarbrough. Pro¬ duced by Edmund L. Hartmann. Story: Plumbers Lou Costllo and Bud Abbott are called in on an emergency repOTF job at the home of Thurston Hall, whose wife is giving a costume ball Marian Hutton, woman cab driver, waits In¬ side the house for the boys whom she has driven there. She is mistaken by Kirby Grant, wealthy bachelor, for a gbest despite her protestations, and she becomes the belle of the ball. The boys flood the upstairs rooms, and are thrown out. The next day, instead of receiving a letter of castigation which Hall had written, they receive an invitalion to a week-end party by mistake. Thomas Gomez, a crook who had lent Abbott and Costello $1,009 to start the-r plumbing business, hears that they are going up to an exclusive estate, and demands that they either repay him, or help him steal a val¬ uable painting. They refuse, and are given a dead¬ line for payment. Hutton, meanwhile, also attends the party with Grant, and the two really wax romantic while the boys hop from one amusing situation to another, especially when Gomez arrives to steal the painting. He accomplishes his mission, and Costello and Abbott are accused of the theft, but they spot Gomez, and take after him on a hook and ladder fire wagon. They overtake him, recover the painting, and are vindicated. X-Ray: This is the first Abbott and Cos¬ tello in more than a year, and the boys prove that they are still among the top gross recorders in the business. The film was shown to a preview audience, which reacted well. Some of the boys’ gag rou¬ tines are a bit gray haired, but they are the past masters at that sort of thing, and customers probably won’t mind. The show is obviously made for laugh purposes only, and on that score it fills the bill. Tunes, as presented bv Hutton, include “No Bout Adout It,” “Rehearsin’,” “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time,” “What a Change In the Weather,” and “Memory Lane.” 1S60 Servisectlon 2