The Exhibitor (Nov 1941-May 1942)

March 25, 1942 THE EXHIBITOR The Man With Melodrama Two Lives 65m Estimate: Okay chillerdiller for family trade. Cast: Edward Norris, Mario Dwyer, Eleanor Lawson, Frederick Burton, Addi¬ son Richards, Edward Keane, Hugh Sothern, Tom Seidel, Elliott Sullivan, Anthony Warde, Ernie Adams, Kenneth Duncan, George Dobbs, Lois Landon, Frances Rich¬ ards, Jack Buckley, Jack Ingraham, George Kirby. Directed by Phil Rosen. Story: Edward Keane, medical research doctor believes he can restore life to per¬ sons killed if operated on in time, and if his theory of heart dilation, successful on animals, will apply to humans. Edward Norris, on the night his engagement to marry Eleanor Lawson is announced, is killed. In the laboratory, the doctor, us¬ ing his method, dilates the heart. No re¬ sponse occurs until midnight, the hour a cruel gangster is electrocuted. Norris re¬ covers, but seems to suffer from amnesia. Instinctively, he goes to the haunts of the dead gangster, assuming command of the mob. Then a series of murders and rob¬ beries occurs. He meets Mario Dwyer, former sweetie of the dead gangster, and they fall in love, but he strangles her be¬ cause she has learned his identity. Then he leads his gang to a big haul, but the police have been tipped off. All the gang are killed, he escapes, and is traced home by Addison Richards, police lieutenant whom Norris kills. Then Norris is in a hospital coming out of a four-day coma. It is all a dream. X-Ray: This has plenty of suspense. Basis of the theory of restoration of life, and the arguments in the first part of picture slow it up, but it becomes a fast moving gangster opus thereafter. It will serve on the duallers. Ad Lines: “Can a Man’s Life Be Re¬ stored After Death? . . . See ‘Man With Two Lives’ “A Kind Man Becomes a Cruel Murderer . . . Why? . . . Did the Soul of Another Enter His Body?”; “Do You Believe the Soul Can Be Transferred From One Person’s Body Into Another?” PARAMOUNT The Great Romantic Drama Man's Lady 90m Estimate: Tear jcrker has names to help selling. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea Brian Donlevy, Thurston Hall, Lloyd Cor¬ rigan, Katherine Stevens, Lillian Yorbo, Helen Lynd, Mary Treen, Etta McDaniel, Bill Davidson, Lucien Littlefield, George Irving, Frank M. Thomas. Directed by William A. Wellman. Story: Barbara Stanwyck, an old wo¬ man, refuses to tell the newspapers the story of her life with Joel McCrea. How¬ ever, pitying young Katherine Stevens, doing his biography, she relents, revealing that she had eloped with McCrea years ago, and had gone west to help fulfill his dream of founding a city. When McCrea has lost his last dollar to professional gambler Brian Donlevy, she gets the money back, and the two start off for the gold fields. With Stanwyck’s aid, McCrea dis¬ covers silver, but when she refuses to help him mine it, McCrea accuses her of an affair with Donlevy who has followed them, and leaves, vowing never to return. Truth is that Stanwyck is to have a child, and won’t tell McCrea, fearing he won’t leave her to go after the silver. After the birth of twins, Donlevy sends her after McCrea, but the stage in which she is riding is swept into the river, the children drowned. Thinking her dead, Donlevy goes to tell McCrea, who shoots him. McCrea remarries, and Stanwyck goes to San Fran¬ cisco with Donlevy, who has recovered. Years later, she hears McCrea has aban¬ doned his dream. Returning to his city, she urges him on, at the same time re¬ maining in the background. He builds his city, goes on to become a great man, and returns to die in her home. Her story over, Stevens knows her biography will never be written if his memory is to re¬ main meat. Staowvck destroys her mar¬ riage license, and the secret remains hers forever. X-Ray: Using the theme that behind each great man is a woman’s help, this has its moments but remains essentially a tale that has been retold often. Donlevy does the best acting by far. Its appeal lies in its ability to follow the formula to the letter, and it will have to be sold as a woman’s picture. The transition of Stan¬ wyck to old age also can be used in the selling. All in all, this will need careful attention. Ad Lines: “Behind Every Great Man Stands An Unselfish Woman”; “She Sacri¬ ficed Even Her Love For His Greatness”; “Never Before Such a Gripping Story Of a Woman’s Devotion”; “Whose Was the Vic¬ tory of Success?” “The Surprise Emo¬ tional Drama Of the Year”. Henry and Dizzy CoI70m Estimate: Family comedy for the nabe, twin bill trade; sell radio appeal. Cast: Jimmy Lydon, Mary Anderson, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney. Maude Eburne, Vaughan Glaser, Shirley Coates, Olin Howland, Minerva Urecal, Trevor Bardette, Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, Warren Hymer, Noel Neill, Jane Cowan. Directed by Hugh Bennett. Story: Jimmy Lydon (Henry Aldrich) keeps getting into trouble, and is forced to sign a confession that he has stolen a motor boat belonging to Trevor Bardette, even though it had only been borrowed before it sank in the lake. From then on, Lydon, assisted by pal Charles Smith, tries to earn money to pay for the boat before the confession is turned over to the police, and only gets into more trouble. His last chance to come through occurs at a picnic where the winner of the father-and-son races will get a motorboat as prize. Ly¬ don finally gets his father, John Litel, to race with him. They win. It turns out that Bardette had already collected money for the lost boat from the insurance com¬ pany, and the confession had been obtained under duress, so Lydon is cleared. X-Ray: Inasmuch as the radio Aldrich Family series is still hot, this will benefit, but, on the whole, it is nothing more than an entrant for the lower half. Many houses have been cashing in on this type of show, however, and this may do the same kind of business. Ad Lines: “Henry Aldrich Is In Trouble Again . . . And How”; “Two Heads Aren’t Better Than One . . . When They Belong to ‘Henry and Dizzy’ ”; “The Royal Family Of the Air Waves In Another Hilarious Farce.” My Favorite Blonde 77^ Estimate: Hope-Carroll starrer will get into the better grosses. Cast; Bob Hone, Madeleine Carroll, Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco, Victor Varconi, Lionel Royce, Crane Whitley, Otto Reichow, Charles Cain, Walter Kingsford, Erville Alderson, Ed Gargan, James Burke, Directed by Sidney Lanfield. Story: Bob Hope, a vaudeville comedian with a trick penguin, finds Madeleine Car¬ roll, British agent fleeing a group of Nazi spies in this country, in his dressing room, and teams up with her on his trip to Holly¬ wood where his penguin is to be in films. Carroll possesses a scorpion which is a key to a valuable message regarding a flight of bombers from California to Brit¬ ain, and which the Nazis want. Hope un¬ wittingly carries the scorpion, which makes him the prey of the agents, too. From then on it is a chase, which takes Hope and Carroll to an apartment in Chicago, to a union picnic, to a women’s club meeting on babies, and finally by plane to California where the agents are apprehended, and Carroll gets the scorpion to the right party, thus saving the bombers, which would have been intercepted by Nazi planes when nearing Europe. X-Ray: Backed by names, and plenty of laughs, etc. this will get into the better grosses. The story is familiar, but it serves as an adequate vehicle for the high rating comedian. Carroll proves an able partner. With a good title, and the people wanting to laugh, they should be satisfied. There are two gags worth mentioning, one in which Bing Crosby plays an uncredited bit, and Hope says, “It can’t be”, and an¬ other where Hope listens to himself (as Hope) on the air, and says, “I can’t stand that guy”. Ad Lines: “Actor Meets British Agent. . . . And How the Gags and Knives Do Fly”; “Bob Hope Was Never Funnier . . . Madeleine Carroll Never More Beautiful”; “So Big a Picture That Even Bing Cros¬ by Plays a Bit Part”; “The Year’s Funniest Film . . . And How You’ll Roar”. This Gun For Hire Estimate: Topical meller has plenty of selling angles. Cast: Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Alan Ladd, Tully Marshall, Mikhail Rasumny, Marc Lawrence, Pamela Blake, Harry Shannon, Frank Ferguson, Bernadene Hayes, James Farley, Virita Campbell. Directed by Frank Tuttle. Story: Alan Ladd, known as the Raven, professional killer, is hired by Laird Cre¬ gar, executive of Nitro Corporation and owner of a night club, to kill Frank Fer¬ guson, exemploye who has a secret poison gas formula, stolen from Nitro, to sell or give to the Government. Back of Cregar is Tully Marshall, aged, ill head of Nitro. Cregar pays Ladd off in hot money, which is traced, and the police start after Ladd. Veronica Lake, a night club songstressmagic entertainer, is hired by a U.S. Sena¬ tor to get the goods on Cregar, suspected of spy activities. Lake’s path crosses with that of Ladd, and stays that way through¬ out the picture, Lake after the goods on Cregar, Ladd out to kill him. Complicat¬ ing the situation is Robert Preston, a po¬ lice officer, out to solve a phony Nitro paymaster holdup, with Ladd named as responsible. The chase continues on train, in Cregar’s house, in a gas plant, train yards, and finally in Marshall’s office, where Ladd, on patriotic motives, gets Marshall and Cregar to sign confessions of guilt. Ladd kills Cregar, Marshall dies of a heart ailment, and Ladd is killed. X-Ray: A meller with feature names and plenty of selling angles, this has an okay title for action houses, the fifth column¬ ist background, the Lake allure, and move¬ ment. As such it will fit nicely into the action groove. It ranks with the better product of its type. Ladd is an ace killer, and makes a good impression. The others are competent. There are two songs: “Now You See It, Now You Don’t,” and “I’ve Got You.” Ad Lines: “Tracking Down America’s Foes . . . Who Deal With the Japs”; “Ex Servisection 3 973