The Exhibitor (Nov 1941-May 1942)

THE EXHIBITOR March 25, 1942 are drafted business flops. They at¬ tempt to enlist at the Army camp where they intend to operate a barbershop as a sideline, but they can’t pass the phys¬ ical. They live with Bennett’s grand¬ mother, whose house is close to the camp, and they organize a home defense guard, which gets much space in the newspapers. Florence Rice, Bennett’s girl friend, who works for a newspaper, comes to stay with Bennett’s grandmother while working on a feature story on the home defense army. A gang of murderers tries to hide out by joining the guard organized by the bar¬ bers, and one of the group, Forrest Tucker, falls for Rice. She learns who he really is. She tells Gleason, and, after a battle royal, the murderers are captured. Guard is praised by the law enforcement agen¬ cies. Bennett gets promoted to captain, is assigned to the Caribbean, and marries Rice. X-Ray: In the same vein as service comedies, this, however, doesn’t hit the same mark as the others. Stressing the home defense and comedy angles seems the best bet. There’s nothing novel in the presentation, but some fair comedy lines help. It will do for the lower half. Ad Lines: “You’ll Laugh Yourselves Sick At the Screen’s Funniest Comedy Team”; “The Hilarious Story Of a Couple Of Military Misfits”; “Forget the Head¬ lines . . . Laugh Your Cares Away”; “The Screen’s Newest Comedy Team . . . Glea¬ son and Durant ... In An Hour Of Howls.” Two Yanks In Comedy Drama Trinidad 83“ Estimate: Fast moving action show has lots of selling angles. Cast: Pat O’Brien, Brian Donlevy, Janet Blair, Roger Clark, Donald MacBride, Johnny Emery, Grant Jenks, Frank Sully, Veda Ann Borg; Clyde Fillmore, Dick Curtis, Sig Arno. Directed by Greg¬ ory Ratoff. Story: Running away from gangster Brian Donlevy, whose pal he has been until Donlevy finds out he has been pull¬ ing some fast ones, Pat O’Brien enlists, bound for Trinidad, with Donlevy enlist¬ ing later, following him there. O’Brien aids the laying of mines, likes entertainer Janet Blair in a cafe owned by John Emery, whose real racket is selling oil to enemy subs. Donlevy also likes Blair. He thinks he will quit the service because he has $100,000, and seeks the aid of Emery, who tells Donlevy the price to be paid is for him to get O’Brien on his boat. Here Emery wants information about the mines. The boys refuse, even though Emery gets rough. However, thanks to Roger Clark, they are rescued from the ship, which Emery has told his men to blow up. When Donlevy hears about Pearl Harbor, he is all out for Uncle Sam. The two combine to put out of commission mines planted by Emery so the fleet might be blown up. They save the fleet, and then blow up the oil ship. O’Brien rescues Donlevy, who has been injured. The boys are heroes. X-Ray: With the saleable title, lots of action, and topical angles, this deserves a strong campaign. It hasn’t star backing, but the type of story should be popular. Trinidad is in the news because of Uncle Sam’s lads being there, and proper sell¬ ing on headline angles will help. There is one song, “Trinidad.” Ad Lines: “The Riotous Story Of Two Gangsters Who Put Patriotism Before Profit”; “You’ll Howl . . . You’ll Roar . . . You’ll Be Thrilled With This Merry Mixup Of Melodrama and Mirth”; “One Of the Year’s Fastest Pictures.” METRO Fingers At The 'Melodrama Window 80m' Estimate: Satisfactory meller for the duallers. Cast: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone, Walter Kingsford, Miles Mander, Charles D. Brown, Cliff Clark, James Flavin, Russell Gleason, William Tannen, Mark Daniels, Bert Roach, Russell Hicks, Charles Wagenheim, Robert Homans. Di¬ rected by Charles Lederer. Story: While the police are willing to accept a series of murders as the work of several lunatics, Lew Ayres, down-and-out actor, is not. He saved Laraine Day once, and captured her attacker, only to have her attacked again. He gains admittance to a nursing home, where, posing as a rare case, he manages to examine the files. His theory is confirmed, along with the fact that the criminal must be a doctor. He takes Miss Day on a round of offices with him. One of the leading doctors, Basil Rathbone, substitutes his butler when they call, thus stopping identification, and then follows them, pushing Ayres under an ele¬ vated train. He falls to the street, and is taken to the hospital. Rathbone gains ad¬ mittance to his room, and gives him an overdose of insulin. Miss Day sees Rath¬ bone leave, and recognizes him as the man she was once eneaged to in Paris. She follows him. Rathbone captures her, and brings her to his home, telling her he has assumed the name of a man he worked for in Paris in order to collect an inheritance. All of the people who knew him in Paris have been victims. Miss Day realizes he is the criminal, and that she is slated to go next. However, the police arrive. A piece of paper found on the floor shows them the truth. Rathbone is killed trying to es¬ cape. X-Ray: First part of the picture is sus¬ penseful enough until Rathbone is in¬ dicated as the criminal. After that, im¬ probabilities of the story cause it to fall apart. Rathbone is properly sinister as the murdering doctor. Miss Day is decorative enough. Ayres, however, seems uncom¬ fortable, and does little to help a weak story long. This will do for the duallers. Ad Lines: “Death at Every Turn . . . They Outwit One Of The Nation’s Most Cunning Criminals”; “Who Was Respon¬ sible For the Ax Crimes?” “Chills and Horrors As He Fought To Save The Girl He Loved From a Nameless Horror.” Rio Rita Comedy with Music 91m. Estimate: Typical Abbott -Costello show should get into better grosses. Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kathryn Grayson, John Carroll, Patricia Dane, Tom Conway, Peter Whitney, Barry Nelson, Arthur Space, Dick Rich, Eva Puig, Joan Valerie. Mitchell Lewis, Eros Volusia. Di¬ rected by S. Sylvan Simon. Story: Kathryn Grayson, owner of a Texas hotel, is thrilled by the arrival of her childhood sweetheart, John Carroll, who has been invited down by her house manager, Tom Conway. What she doesn’t know is that Conway is head of a group of Nazi saboteurs which includes Peter Whitney and Patricia Dane, who plan on giving code instructions to agents through¬ out the country on Carroll’s coast-to-coast broadcast. Arriving with Carroll are Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, a couple of down-and-outers, who stowed away in his car. Conway’s first plans are accidently spoiled by the boys, and the whole plot comes into the open with the murder of Barry Nelson, radio announcer. Boys now conspire with Carroll to foil the gang, and succeed when Costello leads a string of donkeys who have swallowed midget radios into the broadcast room, all of them with The Rangers Song coming from them, making them sound like a troop of Texas Rangers. The Nazis escape, but a time bomb meant for the boys has been attached to one of them by Costello, and the whole gang is destroyed. X-Ray: Bearing little similarity to the original “Rio Rita” except for the title song and the Rangers song, this is strictly an Abbott and Costello vehicle. Getting little help from story and cast, the pic¬ ture’s strength lies in their antics. Kath¬ ryn Grayson is just as lovely to look at as she is to listen to while she sings the famous “Shadow” aria. Songs are: “Rio Rita,” “The Rangers Song,” “Long Before You Came,” in addition to “The Shadow Song,” sung by Miss Grayson, who also delivers an operatic aria. Ad Lines: “The Greatest Comedy Team In the Entertainment World Are Here In ‘Rio Rita’ ”; “See Abbott and Costello In a Streamlined Version of the Smash Musical Hit, ‘Rio Rita’ ”; “See the Greatest Gloom Chasers of All Time . . . Abbott and Cos¬ tello”; “Lavish Musical Numbers, Hilari¬ ous Fun, and Abbott and Costello.” MONOGRAM Klondike Fury Melodrama 68m. Estimate: Well made independent pro¬ grammer. Cast: Edmund Lowe, Lucille Fairbanks, Bill Henry, Ralph Morgan, Robert Middlemass, Jean Brooks, Mary Forbes, Vince Barnett, Clyde Cook, Marjorie Wood, Ken¬ neth Harlan. Directed by William K. Howard. Story: Edmund Lowe, eminent brain surgeon, performs a delicate operation on the brain of his best friend, who dies be¬ cause his rallying powers are insufficient. Lowe is accused of letting the friend die because of his affection for the man’s wife. He resigns from the hospital staff; his pa¬ tients desert him; and he is desperate at the thoughts of his unjust persecution. With a friend he planes to the Klondike, the plane crashes, the friend is killed, and Lowe is save by some trappers. He finds he has been treated by Ralph Morgan, local doctor, and Lucille Fairbanks, adopted daughter of Robert Middlemass, whose son, young Bill Henry, is crippled by a falling tree. Lowe pretends he is someone else, discusses Henry’s case with Morgan, who sees Lowe’s picture in a medical Journal, reads all about the operation, and then tells Lowe he must operate. Operation is a success. Henry thinks Lowe has stolen Lucille’s love, but Lowe straightens him, goes back to his former hospital with Mor¬ gan, where he is exonerated, and again honored. X-Ray: A neat independent entrant, this has an action title to help, in addition to an okey production job. Story holds interest, and the cast is better than that seen in many independent releases. Selling this as a rugged story of the Klondike should result in satisfactory returns. Picture was made by the King Brothers, who turned out “Paper Bullets”. Ad Lines: “A Rugged Story Of the North. . . . And a Great Surgeon Who Found Salvation In His Own Ideals” ; “A Tense Drama Of the Two Battles . . . Ele¬ ments and Ideals”; “Tense . . . Thrilling . . . And Tremendous ... A Drama Of the Rugged North”. Carry Your Office Under Your Arm! The Exhibitor’s Service Kit! Every¬ body’s Talking About It! 972 Servisection 2