The Exhibitor (Nov 1939-May 1940)

Servisection 3 THE EXHIBITOR Thomas Mitchell is the king of thieves, to whose band belong poet Edmond O’Brien and persecuted gypsy Maureen O’Hara, whose momentary kindness to the hunchback wins her his slave-like devotion, that later saves her from death. Walter Hampden plays the part of the archbishop of Notre Dame and Henry Davenport does a good job as the king of France. In an exciting climax, thousands of extras storm the cathedral as Quasimodo hurls beams, blocks of stone, and molten lead down upon their heads. He finally repulses their attack and hurls the villainous Hardwicke from the bell tower atop Notre Dame, saving Miss O’Hara from not only death but a fate worse than death. Estimate: Immense production, worthy of elaborate exploitation. Married and in Love (014) Family Melodrama 58m. Alan Marshal , Barbara Read, Patric Knowles, Helen Vinson, Hattie Noel. Gerald Oliver-Smith, Frank Faylen, Carol Hughes, Mike Lally. Directed by John Farrow. Director John Farrow and Producer Robert Sisk, both of whom have recently been upped to “A”-picture schedules, bid adieu to the comparatively low-budget field with this fairly entertaining story of love which was almost thwarted. A dualler for most situations, this can receive top billing in the smaller spots where the customers like their hearts and flowers. Doctor Alan Marshal and wife Barbara Read almost have their idvllic romance shot to bits when excollege sweetheart Helen Vinson and Marshal get together again. Read utilizes women’s wiles to win back her husband and send Vinson willingly back to Patric Knowles’ waiting arms. Flashbacks are used to show how Vinson, Read, and Marshal first met. Estimate: Program dualler; chiefly for women. Mexican Spitfire (016) Family Comedy 67m. Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods, Linda Hayes, Elisabeth Risdon, Cecil Kellaway, Charles Colman. Directed by Leslie Goodwins. With fast action, snappy dialogue, and plenty of slapstick comedy, this one should, garner a lot of laughs from the paying customers. The story concerns Velez, married to Donald Woods, just back from their honeymoon, with Elisabeth Risdon plotting with Linda Hayes to break up the marriage and Leon Errol planning to frustrate the scheme. Donald has a big' business deal on the fire, expects Lord Epping (Leon Errol) to sign the contract. Velez comes to the office and she is introduced to the nobleman as Wood’s secretary. The nobleman is invited to dinner and, fearing he might be offended if the fraud is discovered, Linda poses as the wife. My Lord fails to show, so Errol dons a wig and moustache to impersonate him. In pops the real Lord and then the fun begins. Velez is disgraced and leaves with Errol, who believes the cops are after him for the impersonation, and they go to Mexico where Velez applies for and gets a divorce. More comedy complications occur, with Errol’s finally getting the signed contract for Donald, Lupe’s divorce proved illegal. All ends well with plenty of cake flying in all directions. Audience reaction was good. Estimate: Good slapstick comedy. REPUBLIC Days of Jesse James (953) Family Western 63m. Roy Rogers, George Hayes, Doyiald Barry, Pauline Moore, Harry Woods, Arthur Loft, Wade Boteler, Ethel Wales, Scotty Beckett. Michael Worth, Glenn Strange, Olin Howland, Monte Blue, Jack Rockwell, Fred Burns. Directed by Joseph Kane. The latest cinematic version of Jesse James’ adventures provides Roy Rogers with his meatiest role to date, and the personable singing buckaroo smashes through with his stand-out performance of a meteroic oatie career. “Days of Jesse James” clicks as one of the best western films of the year, and should get above-average receipts wherever horse operas are the rule of the day. Bank detective Rogers is assigned to track down Jesse James (Donald Barry), suspected of robbing the bank in which George (“Gabby”) Hayes had deposited his life savings. Hayes and Rogers team together and become friendly with Barry, discover the outlaw didn’t commit the robbery, and finally pin it on bank president Arthur Loft. Barry does a corking job as Jesse James and Pauline Moore is one of the most attractive femme leads we’ve seen in a horse opera in a long while. Rogers gets off with a couple of songs, catchiest of which is “Echo Mountain.” Estimate: Rogers’ best. Thou Shalt Not Kill (916) Family Drama 64m. Charles Bickford, Owen Davis, Jr., Doris Day, Paul Guilfoyle, Granville Bates, Charles Waldren, Sheila Bromley, George Chandler, Charles Middleton, Emmett Vogan, Leona Roberts, Ethel May Halls, Edmund Elton Elsie Prescott. Directed by John H. Auer. Sombre and sordid, this offering moves at a slow pace, with little to recommend it other than some capable performances in the closing reel. Story concerns a small-town Presbyterian minister and his problem of straightening out the town’s bad boy. He is about to accomplish this and set the boy right with the townspeople when he is accused of murder. The minister substitutes for a Catholic priest who is unable to attend the confession of the real murderer who thinks he is going to die. It is then within his power to save the innocent boy but he considers the laws of Catholicism which he must uphold and he refrains from breaking the case. Following an attempt on the minister’s life, the real murderer comes through with a confession. Charles Bickford handles the role of the minister with exceptional finesse. Owen Davis, Jr., is fine as the bad boy, and Emmett Vogan a good district attorney. Audience reaction was fair. Estimate: Dualler. 20th CENTURY -FOX Family Everything Happens Comedy At Night (029) Dr7a7“a Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings, Maurice Moscovich, Leonid Kinsky, Alan Dinehart, Fritz Feld, Judy Gilbert. Directed by Irving Cummings. The Cummings boys — director Irving and actor Robert — provide the extra little something that saves Sonja Henie’s latest starrer from being just another can of celluloid. Although billed below Henie and Ray Milland, actor Cummings is the center of all the comic goings-on and is good enough in that spot to make “Everything Happens At Night” one of the more pleasing offerings of the season. Cummings and Milland are rival newspaper reporters who travel to Switzerland to track down hunches that a famous pacifist is alive despite reports of his death. Both fall for Henie, the daughter of the pacifist, Maurice Moscovich. Cummings scoops Milland on the story, and the latter unscrupulously swipes it from him. As soon as the yarn breaks, the Gestapo comes along to take pot shots at Moscovich, but the two reporters help Henie and her pop escape to America (with Cummings in tow). Henie gets one opportunity to skate and she makes the most of it in a beautifully impressive setting. Estimate: Can be sold. The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk Family Melodrama 74m. Lloyd Nolan, Jean Rogers, Richard Clarke, Mae Marsh, Joan Valerie, Douglas Wood, Onslow Stevens, Eric Blore, Irving Bacon, Paul Stanton. Directed by David, Burton. Once made (by Fox in 1929) as “The Valiant,” with Paul Muni, this new version emerges as a gripping, interestholding melodrama which will fit nicely into the duallers. It is devoid of names to sell, but filled with dramatic situations and a mystery element that can’t help but satisfy. Lloyd Nolan is the man arrested for a murder. He refuses to tell who he is, but when faced by the girl who believes he is her long-lost brother, he inadvertently lets drop a clue which, followed up, leads to the solution of the mystery. The story gets back to the 1918 war period, through flashbacks, with the murdered man revealed as a German spy, a sergeant in the U. S. Army, who placed the blame on Nolan. The latter escapes, and, after 20 years, comes back to kill. Wind-up finds the murderer declared innocent. He is re-united with his sister and invalid mother. Slight is the contribution by Jean Rogers, as his sister, and by Richard Clarke, the young attorney who fights for Lloyd Nolan’s life. Estimate: Well-made dramatic dualler. UMIflBSM Family Comedy Detective Melodrama 78m. Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Robert Cummings, Constance Moore, John Sutton, Louis Calhern, Edgar Kennedy, Samuel S. Hinds, Harold Huber, Warren Hymer, Ray Turner. Directed by Frank Tuttle. A fast-moving mystery thriller loaded with hokum and comedy situations this should please the Charlie McCarthyEdgar Bergen fans. Louis Calhern, magazine publisher, who pays off a killer to get rid of his antagonists, is himself bumped off, providing the premise for the murder mystery. Reporter John Sutton, fiance of Constance Moore, is one of the suspects, and it looks like curtains for him until Bergen and his mouthpiece prove him innocent, finally pinning the crime on Robert Cummings another reporter. In the interim, there are plenty of gags mingled with melodrama resulting in plenty of belly laughs. Mortimer Snerd gets a bigger part than heretofore Charlie McCarthy, 441