The Exhibitor (1950)

July 5, 1950 E X H I & I T O R TANGLEWOOD. United States Infor¬ mation Service — Musical Short. 22m. The annual summer music festival held in the Berkshires for music lovers and students is the topic. From all over the country they come to Massachusetts to watch and study conductor Serge Koussevitsky and his assistants, Copeland, Bernstein, Car¬ valho, and others. The students have ample grounds for relaxation. Viewers stay in the shed or sprawl out on the lawns. This is extremely well photographed, and the mood of the music, the festival, and the Koussevitsky verve are well captured. Selections heard include Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture,” an excerpt from a Randall Thomson choral and orchestral work, an extemporaneous rendition of “Roll Out The Barrel,” and other ex¬ cerpts. The music appeal and production polish give this a regular audience appeal in addition to the class and art house value. EXCELLENT. Serial ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN. Colum¬ bia — Serial. 15 Chapters. Cast: Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Lyle Talbot, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin, Jack Ingram, Don Harvey, Rusty Westcoatt, Terry Frost, Wally West, Paul Strader, George Robotham. Produced by Sam Katzman; directed by Spencer Bennet. Chapter One, 23m. Lyle Talbot, crooked scientist, threatens to destroy the city unless he is given a huge sum of money, and he offers to destroy a bridge first to prove it can be done. Following the bridge’s destruction, Kirk Alyn, in reality “Superman,” Noel Neill, and Tommy Bond, all reporters on the paper edited by Pierre Watkin, are assigned to the case, and Alyn as “Superman” is able to capture Talbot, and have him put away. While in jail, Talbot invents a machine that can disintegrate people causing them to disappear and then put them together in another spot, and no one except his confederates know he is responsible for the crime wave. “Superman”, on the trail of one of the crook’s trucks, is thrown off the trail when it explodes before him. GOOD. Chapter Two, 16m. Jimmy Bond is captured by the crooks, and is ordered by a disguised Talbot to carry a challenge to Superman. When he is released, Tal¬ bot notices that one of his magic coins needed in his operation is missing, and sends his henchmen after it. Neill gets the coin, and is lured to a high building by the crooks. In the struggle, she falls from the window. Superman closeby tries to rescue her, but is stopped by one of Talbot’s atom machines. This is packed with plenty of selling angles, and with Columbia giving it high-powered mer¬ chandising, this is made to order for the serial fans. GOOD. (2180). ONE REEL Color Cartoon SAFETY SECOND. MGM— Tom and Jerry Cartoons. 7m. On the Fourth of July, Jerry wishes to impress the value of safety on his little mouse friend. The little mouse, however,, wants to shoot the works, and it isn’t until Tom chases Jerry around that he gets his wish. The firecrackers come in handy, and Tom is routed. How¬ ever, the safe and sane spirit stays. GOOD. (W-145). THE RED -HEADED MONKEY. 20th Century-Fox — Terrytoon. 7m. A British hunter, fully equipped with modern con¬ veniences, seeks an unusually odd animal to add to his collection, and discovers a red-headed monkey. The chase winds up with the monkey captured, but when it comes to the payoff back in London, the hunter is sold by the monkey, who col¬ lects the cash. FAIR. (5010). WHAT’S UP DOC? Warners— Bugs Bunny Special. 7m. An imaginative and very amusing biography of Bugs Bunny’s rise to fame is set forth. He is shown spending much time in the chorus of various musicals, and then flopping in the lead role. More chorus work follows, and eventually starvation. While leading a park bench life with other now-famous actors, Bugs is saved by Elmer Fudd, who is looking for a straight man. They click, but the annoyed Bugs switches the pie¬ throwing routine and his scared “What’s up Doc?” query before the enraged Fudd goes over big. Then come Hollywood and cartoons. EXCELLENT. (6722) . THE DOG SHOW. 20th Century-Fox— Terrytoon. 7m. Two mongrel pups attend a rather exclusive dog show but have to sneak in after they are forcibly ejected. The various dogs are introduced with a satirizing narration but at judging time the mongrels tie up a dachshund, and sub¬ stitute in a stove-pipe as a two -toned dachshund. They win the prize of many dog bones, are discovered, and escape with the other dogs in hot pursuit. FAIR. (5012). PUSS-CAFE. RKO— Walt Disney Car¬ toon. 7m. Pluto is the watch dog in a garden containing a fish pond and a bird house. Three bottles of milk left on the porch attract two Siamese-4ike cats, who carry on a campaign of attrition against Pluto, escaping his wrath via a loose brick in the wall. Their fishing is partially suc¬ cessful, but Pluto routs them, and chases them through the gaping hole left in the brick wall by the larger, dumber cat. They lead him into an alley ash can from whence he departs in front of their huge parent. GOOD. (04115). THE LITTLE SOLDIER. Motion Picture Sales Corporation — Technicolor Cartoon. 10m. An extremely appealing little car¬ toon, this may have most appeal for class and art houses, but it engagingly relates the tale of a little soldier boy toy’s court¬ ship of a pretty ballerina toy. The soldier boy is first chased away by a spinning top, and then rendered helpless when the villainous jack-in-the-box rival snatches out his winder-heart. Kindly old omnipo¬ tent snow man deposits the inert soldier on an ice-floe-filled river journey. The ballerina takes the heart-winder, catches her true love, revivifies him, and they happily leave while the villain perishes in a steel trap. EXCELLENT. ALL ABIR-R-R-D. Warners — Techni¬ color Cartoon. 7m. A cunning little canary is shipped cross country in a train baggage car, with a vicious but not too smart cat trying to eat him. In foiling the cat, the canary makes frequent use of pulling the emergency cord, and substituting a feroc¬ ious bull dog in his situation. Eventually the cat escapes with a mail bag which he unfortunately discovers contains not the bird but the dog. FAIR. (6712). DINGBAT IN ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW. 20th Century-Fox — Terrytoon. 7m. Two vulturos hovering ovei' railroad tracks in a desert spot a menu tossed out of a passing train, which gives them an appetite for rabbit stew. They track a bunny, but are foiled from capturing him by the timely arrival of the Dingbat. Various ruses backfire through the Ding¬ bat’s intervention, and eventually he routs them by substituting a hornet’s nest for the captured bunny. FAIR. (5011). Comedy THAT’S HIS STORY. MGM— Pete Smith Specialties. 8V2m. Pete Smith nar¬ rates while Dave O’Brien acts out two versions of every story, the braggart ver¬ sion and the truth. It winds up with an episode in a parking lot, with the result a smashed front end. This isn’t top Smith but it has its moments. FAIR. (S-160) . SO YOU WANT TO HOLD YOUR HUSBAND. Warners — Joe McDoakes Comedy. 10m. A decade of marriage has left husband Joe McDoakes overly indif¬ ferent to wife Alice’s charms. To cure this, she heeds the advice of a marriage counsel but all fails with the last resort, feigning having left with another man, backfiring when Joe fakes a suicide attempt, and gets her quickly back. Alice gets even when she and Joe have triplets. McDoakes does a pleasant character switch in this, and the domestic angle should hold con¬ siderable audience appeal. GOOD. (6405). Musical COUNTRY RHYTHM. RKO— Screenliner. 8m. Elisha Keeler, South Salem, N. Y., is the caller while various groups contribute some square dancing. “Red River Valley” and “Turkey In The Straw” are a couple of the tunes. Square dance enthusiasts might find some pleasure in this but for others it is just another short. FAIR. (04210). SKITCH HENDERSON AND HIS OR¬ CHESTRA. 20th Century-Fox — Movietone Melodies. 10m. Skitch Henderson is a music teacher whose modern methods of instruc¬ tion annoy an old fuddy-duddy substi¬ tuting for the dean. The dean returns in time to approve Henderson’s methods at an old timers theme dance when a pretty co-ed dances with him. Songs heard in¬ clude “Homesick,” “You Don’t Learn That In School,” and the instrumental, “Dancing With The Debs.” FAIR. (7003). A CONCERT ALBUM. Gordon Films. 10m. This entertaining musical short in¬ cludes renditions of various classical standards, which, while largely appealing to class and art houses, also contain a general appeal. It opens with pianist Constance Keene playing Chopin’s “Pol¬ onaise,” continues with Metropolitan Opera House Star Nadine Conner singing soprano aria “Sempre Libre” from “La Traviata,” and closes with a fast paced performance of “The Sleigh” by a male quartet called “The Men Of Song.” EX¬ CELLENT. Novelty HOLLYWOOD’S FAMOUS FEET. Co¬ lumbia — Screen Snapshots. 9m. A1 Jolson speaks the narration for this interesting issue, which features the famous Holly¬ wood custom of leaving identifying auto¬ graphs of film stars in the cement out¬ side Grauman’s. The imprinting of feet and hands is carefully demonstrated by various stars, and seen are Jolson, the late Sid Grauman, Tom Mix, the Marx broth¬ ers, the Ritz brothers, Edgar Bergen and Charley McCarthy, the late John Stahl, and Gene Autry and his horse. Some of the autographs of the 125 screen stars represented are viewed. GOOD. (2860). Sports RACING THRILLS W0™cra-Thc Sports Parade. 10m. Racing, via stock cars, ostriches, water skiing, the horses, etc., is covered, and while the material is more or less familiar, it should hold inter¬ est. The color enhances the subject matter, all of which is centered in Florida. FAIR. (6509) . THE BAUER GIRLS. RKO— Sportscope. 8m. Two sisters, 21-year-old Alice and 16-year-old Marlene Bauer, are trained, since childhood by their father, a golf professional, in the fine art of the sport with the result that they are standouts. They are shown going through their paces in practice and on the links. GOOD. (04309). Servisection 5 2883