The Exhibitor (Nov 1941-May 1942)

THE EXHIBITOR April 22, 1942 TOO LATE TO CLASSIFY Features The Man Who Melodrama Wouldn't Die (243) 65m (20th Century-Fox) Estimate: Shayne series entrant for the lower half. Cast: Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Helene Reynolds, Henry Wilcoxon, Richard Derr, Paul Harvey, Billy Bevan, Olin Howland, Robert Emmett Keane, LeRoy Mason, Jeff Corey, Francis Ford. Directed by Herbert I. Leeds. Story: Lloyd Nolan (Michael Shayne) poses as the husband of Marjorie Weaver, daughter of rich tycoon Paul Harvey, in order to straighten out some mysterious doings, including an attempt on her life. After another murder and mysterious attacks by an unidentified figure, Nolan proves that Harvey was about to be framed by his second wife, Helene Reyn¬ olds; his doctor, Henry Wilcoxon; his sec¬ retary, Robert Emmett Keane, in league with LeRoy Mason, a vaudeville magician. Mason is killed during a chase, but his body is used by Shayne to bring about the solution. Meanwhile, Richard Derr, Weav¬ er’s real husband, also shows up for the windup, leaving Shayne to go on his way. X-Ray: This isn’t up to the usual Shayne series pictures. It will suffice for the duallers, but that is about all. The title is similar to many seen around in the past, but it may intrigue the thrill-follow¬ ers. Ad Lines: “Mike Shayne Meets Some¬ thing New In Thrills and Chills”; “Can the Dead Return to Kill . . . Decide For Your¬ self”; “Mike Shayne Turns Honeymooner to Trap a Killer”; “He Played Gin Rummy On His Wedding Night . . . That’s Mike Shayne.” My Gal Sal (224) (Technicolor) Musical 103m. (20th Century-Fox) Estimate: Eye-filling, sentimental mus¬ ical should account for itself nicely. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Victor Mature, John Sutton, Carole Landis, James Glea¬ son, Phil Silvers, Walter Catlett, Mona Maris, Frank Orth, Stanley Andrews, Mar¬ garet Moffat, Libby Taylor, John Kelly, Curt Bois, Hermes Pan, Gregory Gaye, Andrew Tombes, Albert Conti, Charles Arnt. Directed by Irving Cummings. Story: Victor Mature, (as Paul Dresser, brother of celebrated novelist Theodore Dreiser) runs away from his Indiana home rather than be a minister. He loves music, and teams up with a medicine show owned by Walter Catlett, in which Carole Landis is the feminine angle. But when actress Rita Hayworth stops by and laughs at him, he decides to go to New Yoi-k. Arriving there, he discovers Hayworth is using the music from his song, but has added words, and the song is a hit. This brings the two together, with Jimmy Gleason as Mature’s business manager. Hayworth and Mature fall in love, he continues to write hits, and they plan to marry. But just before the wedding, Mona Maris, a countess, gets him to a party, and Hayworth sees him coming home early in the A. M. This splits Mature and Hayworth. Eventually, through “My Gal Sal,” they are reunited Time is ai'ound the turn of the century. X-Ray: Pleasing to the eye, tuneful, and well mounted, this should account for itself nicely. It runs a bit long, but the songs are pleasant, and audiences gener¬ ally should like it. Story is nothing but a framework for lots of songs, which in¬ clude: “Come Tell Me What’s Your An¬ swer, Yes or No,” “I’se Your Honey If You Wants Me, Liza Jane,” “On the Banks Of the Wabash,” “The Convict and the Bird,” “My Gal Sal,” “Mr. Volunteer,” “On the Gay White Way,” “Me and My Fella,” “Oh the Pity Of It All,” “Here You Are.” The sentimental songs, plus Technicolor, with the star appeal, guarantee okay returns. Ad Lines: “Tuneful, Delightful, With the Songs You Love to Hear”; “Victor (What a Man) Mature and Rita (How She Can Dance) Hayworth In the Season’s Gayest Hit”; “Now ... In Gorgeous Tech¬ nicolor . . . The Musical Sensation Of the Season”; “Filled With Songs . . . Color . . . and Lovers.” Whispering Ghosts Comedy (246) 75m. (20th Century -Fox) Estimate: Comedy who-done-it for the lower half. Cast: Milton Berle, Brenda Joyce, John Shelton, John Carradine, Willie Best, Ed¬ mund MacDonald, Arthur Hohl, Grady Sutton, Milton Parsons, Abner Biberman, Rene Riano, Charles Hal ton, Harry Hay¬ den. Directed by Alfred Werker. Story: Milton Berle is “The Man Who Lifts the Veil,” radio slicker who recon¬ structs and furnishes the solution to un¬ solved crimes. He becomes interested in the case of a long murdered sea captain, whose estate consisting of the rotting and spooky hulk of the “Black Joker” beached at “Hurricane Point,” is inherited by his grandniece, Brenda Joyce. Police inspector Arthur Hohl calls Berle’s bluff, and de¬ mands he name the captain’s murderer in advance of next week’s broadcast. To avoid arrest for obstructing justice and withholding evidence, Berle makes his statement; but it is exploded by Hohl, who tells him the party he names and the murdered captain are one and the same person. Berle, faced with having to make good on naming the murderer, with his valet Willie Best, goes to the ship where they tangle with several ham actors hired by radio confreres for a rib; Joyce and her boy friend, John Shelton; a boatswain, Ab¬ ner Biberman, believed dead, but who is seeking hidden treasure on the old tub, and other characters who drop in out of the fog for no good purposes. Wind up has Berle finding stones, which prove to be worth $100 at most, but not before plenty creepy business, three or more murders. The murderer of the old sea captain was Hohl. X-Ray: This has quite a few bright lines; but the plot is rather fantastic and old stuff. Good photography of the musty, rotting old ship is pretty dark most of the time for effects. Berle and Best turn in capable performances as do several of the supporting cast, while Joyce makes a pretty heroine, without much to do. Ad Lines: “Milton Berle Says They Made Him a Star, So What Happens? — A Bunch Of Ghosts Cop the Title Role!”; “Strictly From Laughter, Folks . . . Picture Your Berle -Friend, Milton, As a Dippy Radio Dick On a Creaky Old Ghost Ship!”; “It’s Screwy — It’ll Shiver Your Timbers.” Hoffman, Alee Craig, Harry Shannon, Dick French, Jack Chefe. Directed by A1 Werker. Story: Alan Mowbray, slightly daft ar¬ chitect, is father and mother to his two daughters, Marjorie Weaver and Jane Withers. Mowbray owes plenty of money, including a mortgage. Withers sells the house furnishings while he is away, to get cash. Mowbray, who has bought a val¬ uable painting (which Withers also sells)., gets Steve Geray as a partner because Geray wants the painting. Byron Barr, nephew of crusty Kathleen Howard, is about to propose to Weaver, but withdraws when he learns she is flighty. Windup finds Howard coming to the financial rescue, everything straightened out, and Withers apparently now the sweetheart of Barr. Time is around the turn of the century. X-Ray: This is a lightweight. It will fit on the lower half, where the succession of weak Withers vehicles hasn’t completely destroyed her value. Jimmy Lydon, as Withers’ beau, may help the draw on his Henry Aldrich appeal. Ad Lines: “If You Think Jane’s Goofy . . . See Her Family”; “Wild and Wacky . . . That’s the Martindales”; “Jane Gets Her First Sweetheart Kiss . . . and O My”; “Was She Loony Or Just Plain Wacky?” Four Flights to Love Melodr7Xa (English Films) (French-English titles) Estimate: So-so French film. Cast: Fernand Gravet, Elvire Popesco, Robert Le Vigan, Micheline Presele, Mon¬ ique Rolland, Alereme. Directed by Abel Gance. Story: Fernand Gravet, young Paris art¬ ist, turns to designing clothes to please his young wife, Micheline Presele. With the advent of the first world war, Gravet is called. While in the trenches, he hears his wife has died in childbirth. Embittered, he volunteers for a suicide mission and is seriously wounded. Years later, when he has recovered, his love for the dead wife makes him refuse to see the daughter, whom he holds responsible for her death. He returns to designing, and when Elvire Popesco, with whom he has fallen in love, rejects him, he turns to his daughter. As she grows older, she becomes an exact duplicate of the dead mother, and for this reason Gravet falls in love with her. When her happiness is threatened because Gravet is to marry the sister of the young man she is engaged to, he gives up his own life so that she may be happy. He lives only long enough to see the ceremony that makes his daughter the wife of the man she loves, a ceremony strangely reminiscent of his own wedding of many years ago. X-Ray: Here is a tale that is more a series of character studies than anything else. Gravet does well enough in his part, but the whole tenor of the tale is depress¬ ing. For those theatres that make a spe¬ cialty of French films, this will have to be considered one of the lesser efforts. Ad Lines: “An Appealing Story of Father Love”; “Fernand Gravet ... In His Fin¬ est Achievement”; “The Heart-Rending Story Of a Man Who Put Love Before Life.” The Mad Martindales comedy Shorts (245) 64m> GLACIER NATIONAL PARK AND (20th Cenlurv-FoxI WATERTON LAKES. Metro— Fitzpatrick , , , , „ Traveltalks. 9m. Exquisitely beautiful Tech Estimate: Minor effort for the lower half. nicolor visit to the above mentioned nat Cast: Jane Withers, Marjorie Weaver, ural beauty spots shows some of the many Alan Mowbray, Jimmy Lydon, Byron Barr, glaciers, numberless lakes, Blackfeet InGeorge Reeves, Charles Lane, Kathleen dians, tourists, squirrels, gorgeous Swiss Howard, Robert Grieg, Brandon Hurst, patterned chalets, etc. It ends with a Steve Geray, Sen Yung, Emma Dunn, Hal friendly tribute anent the unguarded U. S. K. Dawson, Don Dillaway, Ton Yuen, Otto Canadian border. GOOD. (T-320). 998 Serviaection 8