The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1944)

October 4, 1944 THE EXHIBITOR Ad Lines: “He Fought For a Job . . . But Fate Had a Different Answer For Him”; “Let’s Remember World War I When the Boys Come Back From War World II”; “Don Barry ... As a Tough Racketeer . . . In the Year’s Fastest Action Show.” Stagecoach To Monterey Western ' 58m. (462) Estimate: Satisfactory western. Cast: Allan Lane, Peggy Stewart, Wally Vernon, Twinkle Watts, Tom London, LeRoy Mason, Roy Barcroft, Keene Duncan, Bud Geary, Carl Sepulveda, Jack Kirk, Fred Graham. Directed by Lesley Selander. Associate producer, Stephen Auer. Story: Allan Lane and Wally Vernon, Treasury agents, come to Monterey to frustrate plans of Roy Barcroft and LeRoy Mason to victimize the miners by means of forged "mint" certificates. They pose as a wandering cowhand and a tramp printer, re¬ spectively. Vernon gets a job with the town printer, Tom London, father of Peggy Stewart and Twinkle Watts. Mason forces London to print the certificates at a secret press. After several scuffles with the gang. Lane and Vernon discover the secret press and evidence linking London to the plot. Confident that he has been innocently involved. Lane has a talk with him, and he confesses, implicating the real crooks, and promises to help round them up. After a gun battle, the crooks are killed, and London wounded. When London recovers, he is given a job by the Government for having helped Lane and Vernon clean up the racket. X-Ray: This western, more slow-mov¬ ing than usual, although containing suffi¬ cient gun-play and riding, will prove okay where this type of fare is popular. The title is somewhat of a misnomer. Vernon’s mild comedy relief is amusing. Ad Lines: “T Men Fight It Out With Crooks In a True Story Of the Old West”; “Secret Agents For the Treasury In a Battle To the Finish With Western Frauds”; “Action, Romance, Comedy In a Thrilling Episode Of ‘T’ Men In the Old West.” 20th CENTURY-FOX In the Meantime, Darling (507) Comedy Drama 72m. Estimate: Pleasant programmer. Cast: Jeanne Crain, Frank Latimore, Stanley Prager, Gale Robbins, Eugene Pallette, Mary Nash, Jane Randolph, Dorris Merrick, Cara Williams, Ann Corciran, Reed Hadley, Heather Angel, Bonnie Bannon, William Colby, Cliff Clark, Elisabeth Risdon, Marjorie Massow, Lee Bennett, Roger Clark, Carleton Young, Mae Marsh, Ruth Clifford, Frank Wilcox, Glenn Langan, Clarence Muse, Blake Edwards, Mary McCarty, Olin Howlin, Evelyn Mulhall, Geraldine Wall, Don Hayden, Lillian Bronson, Eddie Acuff, Merrill Rodin, Janet Burston, Paul Harvey, Milton Kibbee, Marvin Davis,*Charles Hayes, Frank McLure, B. S. Pully. Produced and directed by Otto Prem¬ inger. Story: Lieutenant Frank Latimore finally secures a room in the over-crowded boarding house run by a war widow, Jane Randolph, near his camp, and im¬ mediately sends for Jeanne Crain to marry him, and live there with him until he goes across. A daugh¬ ter of wealth, she arrives with her mother, Mary Nash, and her dad, Eugene Pallette, who, after a ludicrous wedding ceremony, spend an uncom¬ fortable night there. Crain has a difficult time ad¬ justing herself, but gets along nicely with Gale Robbins, wife of Stanley Prager, her husband's buddy. After a quarrel brought on by Crain trying to get her husband a desk job, she leaves, only to have him chase after her to the station when er¬ roneous word that she is to have a baby reaches him. Several times Crain tries to tell Latimore the truth, but he is so enthused she doesn't. Later, fol¬ lowing the counsel of Robbins, she still doesn't tell him on the eve of his going away. At the last minute, she reveals the truth. He is obviously disappointed, but realizes it is all the more reason to hurry back to her, and goes off knowing their marriage will endure. Crain leaves with Robbins to work in a shoe factory. X-Ray: A pleasant programmer which will find its way into the duallers, this has some capable performances, but is devoid of star lustre or sock box-office angles. Several scenes are nicely handled, and the direction is generally okay, while the title may prove to be an asset. Ad Lines: “The First Part Of That First Married Year — In a Mad House Of a Boarding House Near An Army Camp”; “Trials and Troubles Of a Newly-Wed Serviceman”; “A Gay and Tender Story Of Furlough Love.” UNIVERSAL Comedy Drama Babes On Swing Street Musical 3 70m. Estimate: Pleasing program. Cast: Ann Blyth, Peggy Ryan, Andy Devine, Leon Errol, Anne Gwyne, Kirby Grant, Alma Kruger, Billy Dunn, Sidney Miller, Marion Hutton, June Preiser, Freddie Slack and his orchestra. The Rubenettes. Di¬ rected by Edward Lilley. Produced by Bernard W. Burton. Story: When the talented members of the Settle¬ ment Club are offered a scholarship to a music school, they are up against the problem of paying a $20 monthly fee, per person, so they decide to open a youth night club. Ann Blyth, wealthy member, allows them to use an unused family warehouse, without the knowledge of aunt, Alma Kruger. Blyth is in love with Billy Dunn, a member, and just as Peggy Ryan, president, is managing to get the two together, Dunn's old flame, June Preiser, returns, and once again places the young man under her spell. Preparations for the night club's opening are being made, and everything is progressing nicely until Kruger gets wind of the proceedings, and orders the club closed. Leon Errol, absent minded brother of aunt Kruger, fakes a suicide. Kruger, completely unnerved, allows the club to open. On the opening night, however, she learns that the suicide was just a fake, and she makes for the club with the intention of closing its doors forever. Errol, however, learns that he is over 50 years of age, and that he is now owner of the estate according to his father's will, so the show goes on. X-Ray: Possessing a standard plot, this juvenile musical will find its spot on the duallers with pleasant music, fair comedy, and average performances and direction. Songs heard include: “Just Being With You,” “Siboney,” “Hotch Sonya,” “I’ve Got a Way With the Boys,” “Peg O’ My Heart,” “Wrong Thing At the Right Time,” “Loch Lomond,” “Musical Chairs,” “Music and You,” “Take It Easy,” and “Youth Is On the March.” Ad Lines: “Music, Mirth, and Romance In a Star Studded Comedy Of ‘Babes On Swing Street’ ”; “A Jive Jamboree With Freddie Slack and His Orchestra”; “You Laughed At ‘Chip Off the Old Block’ . . . You Howled At ‘This Is the Life’ . . . You’ll Scream At ‘Babes On Swing Street’.” The Climax Melodr8a6^a (Technicolor) Estimate: Slow moving meller will need plenty of push. Cast: Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, George Dotenz, Thomas Gomez, Ludwig Stossel, Boris Karloff, June Vincent, Gale Sondergaard, Jane Farrar, Scotty Beckett, Erno Verebes. Directed and produced by George Waggner. Story: Boris Karloff, doctor to the Royal Opera, had killed June Vincent 10 years before when he saw her singing interfering with his love for her. Vincent has been marked missing, but Karloff has kept her body preserved in a vault in his home. Meanwhile, people think him slightly on the balmy side because of his grief. Susanna Foster, a young singer, is heard by Thomas Gomez, head of the opera. He thinks her a coming star and she gets a break in an important role. When Karloff hears her sing, however, he realizes that her voice is the same as that of Vincent. As physician, he gets her into his home, places her under his spell, and tells her she will never sing any more. Turhan Bey, Foster's sweetheart, suspects ■ something is wrong, and gets her back from Karloff's home, where she is placed after her voice apparently breaks. Bey arranges for a royal command performance, with Foster to be the lead. Before the show, however, Karloff grabs her again, but again she is rescued. The show starts, but, thanks to Bey and his friends, the spell is broken. Karloff, fleeing from the police, runs into the vault where the body of Vincent has been placed, a fire starts accidentally, and they are burned to death. Foster becomes a success. X-Ray: A period piece, this is slow mov¬ ing, and although enhanced by the Tech¬ nicolor and music, it will need plenty of push. The title doesn’t convey much. It would seem that an accent in the selling should be on Karloff’s hypnotism and the mystery angles. The players are compe¬ tent, with most of the lead on Foster and Karloff, although Gale Sondergaard, as Karloff’s housekeeper who eventually finds out his secret, contributes a good perform¬ ance. All in all, this will need plenty of attention. Production is handsome. Ad Lines: “What Was the Mystery Of the Locked Room?”; “Could a Dead Girl’s Voice Live Again In the Body Of a Vibrant, Radiant Beauty”; “He Worship¬ ped the Dead . . . And Would Kill To Keep His Immortal Secret.” The Shorts Parade Two Reel Dramatic PROUDLY WE SERVE. Vitaphone— Featurette. 20m. This tale of the Women Marines, produced with the cooperation of the Marine Corps, opens under an air attack by Jap planes somewhere in the Pacific, and aerial gunner-sergeant War¬ ren Douglas tells his shelter-buddies about his experiences with the Women Marines. Through flashback, Douglas is shown in the states attending gunnery school with Sergeant Alfreda King as his weapon in¬ structor. She teaches him how to shoot accurately, how to dismantle his gun, and how to put it together again, etc. After hours, they dance, play baseball and tennis, and really get acquainted. As he streaks from his dugout to take to the air, he re¬ veals that he finally married the girl before he left. EXCELLENT. (1102) . Musical HARMONY HIGHWAY. Universal — Name Band Musicals. 15m. A1 Donahue and orchestra are heard in “Temptation” and “The Moon Is Low”; while Lynne Stevens and Dick Vance sing “Knock Me a Kiss”; Jimmy Cash sings “Where Are You?”; The Stapletons, dance team, do their stuff; The Foursome sing “In a Little Spanish Town”, and Marlyn Hare sings “Blame It On the Rhumba.” This stacks up as the usual band reel with appeal to the jitterbug element. FAIR. (9122) . Topical INSIDE FRANCE. World In ActionUnited Artists. 19m. Beginning in the 19th century, and up to date, this succeeds in showing the ever present conflict between France’s radical and conservative groups. Seen are Clemenceau, France’s ‘Father Victory’ of the First World War; Leon Blum, liberalite and friend of the people, and many others who contributed so much to the molding of France. Today, as the Allied armies enter France, her people are firm in their belief that a bright future is opening for them in which the highest duty of the state is to serve the human being. EXCELLENT. WHAT TO DO WITH GERMANY. March Of Time — 20th Century-Fox. Vol. 11, No. 2. 18y2m. This takes up the problem con¬ fronting the Allied leaders, namely, “What To Do With Germany,” and a number of facts and opinions are presented. Some of the facts presented are that the Nazis’ mass murder of Europe’s civilian popula¬ tion, which they call a “biological victory,” will still leave them the most populous nation in 1970, a probable date for the next world war; that even now Nazi prisoners and homeland officials are begin¬ ning to form a nucleus and plans for an even greater nationalistic and socialistic Germany. Some of the opinions expressed herein are by Sumner Wells, Walter Winchell, Britain’s Lord Vansittart, a leader of Servisection 3 1593