The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

COLUMBIA Cowboy From Lonesome River (6201) Estimate: Good western. Cast: Charles Starrett, Vi Athens, Dub Taylor, Ken¬ neth MacDonald, Jimmy Wakely and his Saddle Pals, Ozie Waters, Arthur Wenzel, Shelby Atchison, Foy Willingham, Al Sloey, Ian Keith, John Tyrrell, Craig Woods, Bud Geary. Directed by Beniamin Kline. Produced by Jack Fier. Story: Charles Starrett, helping ranchers fight water rights baron Ian Keith, is just about to be jailed along with his pal. Dub Taylor, when Sen¬ ator Kenneth MacDonald and his secretary, Vi Athens, return from Washington, where he nas a bill pending to convert Keith's water company into a municipal project. Keith brings in MacDonald's black sheep twin brother (also played by MacDon¬ ald), who kills the senator, and the twin proceeds to pose as the dead man, secretary Athens having been in with Keith all along. They now proceed to wreck the dead senator's bill. Athens arranges to further discredit the bogus senator at a notorious night club. Starrett and his rancher pals, wonder¬ ing what has gotten into their senator friend, go to the big city, and wreck the night club in, an at¬ tempt to protect him. Later, they learn through a wallet Taylor found in the club that the real senator is dead, and proceed to Keith's suite at a hotel where the bogus senator is unmasked, and shot, Keith exposed, and arrested, along with Athens, the bill passing. X-Ray: This modern western with songs is a combination wild open spaces opera and big city meller with cowboys going to town in the big town. The idea clicks, as does the business of having the gal a ‘heavy’, instead of a heroine. There are several fist fights and a bit of the usual riding and gun-play. Several cowboy folk songs are pleasantly rendered by the Wakely outfit, including ‘Cowboy From Lonesome River.’ Ad Lilies: “He’s a Tough Guy On the Range; A Two-Fisted Terror In the City”; “A Fighting Cowboy Goes To Town”; “Range Riders Ride Herd On Big City Crooks.” Musical Western 54m. MONOGRAM The Utah Kid Western 53m. Estimate: Fair western. Cast: Bob Steele, Hoot Gibson, Beatrice Grey, Evelyn Eaton, Mauritz Hugo, Ralph Lewis, Jamesson Shade, Mike G. Letz, Dan White. Directed by Ver¬ non Keays. Story: U. S. Marshal Hoot Gibson and his deputy. Bob Steele, are on the trail of a gang that follows the rodeo, from city to city, and always take the prize. Steele enters the rodeo, and, after winning most of the first day's events, is kidnapped by the gang, but Gibson discovers where Steele is being hidden, and helps him escape. When Mauritz Hugo, gang leader, hears of Steele's escape, he tries to bribe him to throw the rodeo. Steele pre¬ tends to accept the offer, but wins over Ralph Lewis, one of Hugo's men, in the final day of the contest. In a last attempt to snatch the pot, Hugo orders his men to conceal a poisoned needle beneath Steele's saddle. Steele discovers the needle, and wins the event just in time to capture the gang as they are robbing the city bank. X-Ray: Just a run-of-the-mill western, this has nothing unusual to recommend it. With the usual quota of fist fights, gun battles, and pursuits, it will fit in where this type of fare has registered before. Ad Lines: “Fists Fly — Guns Roar — As Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson Clash With the Rodeo Bandits”; “Never Such Thrills, Never Such Action As Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson Ride Again.” PARAMOUNT Frenchman's Creek HoMA’,T,c (Technicolor) Estimate: Colorful romance is headed for the better returns. trp 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. 21 OCTOBER 4, 1944 Cast: Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Cordova, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Cecil Kellaway, Ralph Forbes, Harald Ramond, Bill Daniels, Moyna MacGill, Patricia Barker, David James, Mary Field, David Clyde, Charles Coleman, Paul Oman, Arthur Gould Porter, Evan Thomas, Leslie Denison, Denis Green, George Kirby. Directed by Mitchell Leisen. Pro¬ duced by B. G. DeSylva. Story: In 1668, Joan Fontaine jbecomes bored with her very dull life in London, as well as ex¬ tremely annoyed with the persistent romantic at¬ tentions of her husband's best friend, Basil Rathbone, and takes her two young children to their country home on the Cornish coast. Pirates are still an active menace. At the house, Fontaine finds a new majordomo, Cecil Kellaway, who also dou¬ bles as a lookout man for the Frenchman-pirate, Arturo de Cordova, and through Kellaway she meets the pirate, whose vessel lies in a nearby creek. She is forcefully attracted to Cordova. For the thrill of adventure, she goes with him on a raid of the nearby coast disguised as a cabin-boy, and it is on the trip that she falls in love with him. Meanwhile her husband, Ralph Forbes, comes down to the summer estate, and brings Rathbone along. Both join the local gentry in a plan to cap¬ ture the daring pirate, and gather together at a din¬ ner given by Fontaine, who also sends* word to Cordova. The pirate and his men interrupt the meal, rob their would-be captors, and lock them up. These are soon off in pursuit of de Cordova, with the exception of Rathbone, who takes this op¬ portunity to attempt to make love to Fontaine. She repulses him, and when he continues his attentions is forced to stab him. Meanwhile, de Cordova is captured by his pursuers and is sentenced to hang, but Fontaine and Kellaway outwit his jailers and set him free. At this point, Fontaine is forced to make a decision as to whether to go with her lover or to remain with her two children, and she choosesthe latter. X-Ray: With the fame of the best seller to help it, with plenty of money spent in the production, and with a romantic mood for the women, this ought to attract the femme trade. Performances are topnotch throughout, and the camera and colorwork highrating. The Daphne du Maurier name will aid in the merchandising. Put this down as a period piece that ought to turn in a healthy gross for itself. Ad Lines: “A Swashbuckling French Pirate Captures the Heart Of a Beautiful English Maid”; “The Technicolor Cameras Record the Romance and Adventure Of the Old Pirate Days”; “An Epic Of Color¬ ful Romance and Suspenseful Adventure For Everyone’s ‘Must’ List.” PRC Gangsters Of The Frontier (551) Western with Music 58m. Estimate: Fast moving western. Cast: Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien, Guy Wilkerson, Patti McCarty, Harry Harvey, Betty Miles, I. Stanford Jolley, Marshall Reed, Charles King, Jr., Clarke Stevens. Directed by Elmer Clifton for producer Ar¬ thur Alexander. Story: I. Stanford Jolley and his brother, Mar¬ shall Reed, break jail, gather up the remnants of their old gang, and take over a town where Tex Ritter is sheriff. They force the citizens and ranchers to work their own mines for the benefit of the bad brothers and their storm-troopers, but, ranger Dave O'Brien comes along, teams up with Ritter, and rallies the male ranchers who are not in slavery, plus femmes Patti McCarty and Betty Miles, wife of a slain rancher. Although they ride into an am¬ bush, the men and women blast their way out of the iron ring, and defeat the bandits, while the two brothers shoot each other by mistake, and thus, law and order is again restored. X-Ray: Here we have a western based on, and utilizing, the Hitler methods by taking over a community, and forcing inhabitants into virtual slavery. It should appeal tp western audiences. Musical num¬ bers include “Ride, Ranger, Ride,”' “He’s Going Up the Trail,” and “Please Remem¬ ber Me.” Ad Lines: “Tex Ritter and Dave O’Brien . . . Stamp Out a Gang Which Would Make a Fascistic State In the West”; “Never Shall Americans Be Slaves . . . Always Will Men Rally Round a Leader Whom They Trust”; “A Couple Of Square-Talk¬ ing . . . Fast-Shooting . . . Rangers . . . Save the Lives and Liberty Of Enslaved Ranchers.” RKO Going To Town (504) Comedy 68m. Estimate: Average Lum V Abner for the duallers. Cast: Chester Lauch, Norris Goff, (Lum V Abner), Barbara Hale, Florence Lake, Dick Elliott, Grady Sutton, Herbert Rawlinson, Dick Baldwin, Ernlo Adams, Jack Rice, Sam Flint, Andrew Tombes, George Chandler, Ruth Lee, Danny Duncan, Marietta Canty, Niles T. Granlund. Directed by Leslie Good¬ wins. Produced by Frank Melford. Story: Lum 'n' Abner fall for oil man Andrew Tombes' gag that oil is on their property, so per¬ suade their townfolk, including Florence Lake, who has a crush on Lum, to mortgage their properties, and invest in an oil drilling project. Politician Dick Elliott unsuccessfully tries to dissuade them, hoping to get the mineral rights himself. When the oil well is a bust, the boys are broken hearted, but just as the politician buys up the mortgages from the bank, and is making a deal with people returning their homes to them in return for the mineral rights, Lum V Abner return from some hectic experiences in Chicago, where, in the absence of his boss, a sales¬ man for the oil man had unwittingly bought all the property for $80,000, and they pay off everyone. X-Ray: In typical Lum ’n’ Abner style, this unfolds as an unpretentious, light¬ weight screen fare that will do as a dualler where the team has a following. It moves at a rather slow pace in an attempt to go all out for this team’s particular style of comedy delivery, but it is better than some of their previous efforts. .In a cab¬ aret scene, NTG’s girls do several num¬ bers. Ad Lines: “Your Favorite Radio Comics In Another Home-Spun Adventure”; IS9I