The Exhibitor (Nov 1942-May 1943)

February 24, 1943 Too late To Classify FEATURES Haunted Ranch (Monogram) Estimate: Below the series average. Cast: John King, David Sharpe, Max Terhune, Rex Lease, Julie Duncan, Glen Strange, Charles King, Bud Osborne, Tex Palmer, Steve Clarke, Budd Buster, Snow¬ flake. Directed by Robert Tansey. Story: The Range Busters, John King, David Sharpe and Max Terhune, are seeking money stolen from the Denver mint and investigating several killings re¬ sulting therefrom. Julie Duncan, niece of gang head who instigated the robbery and cached the money on his ranch, is search¬ ing for its hiding place, as is Glen Strange, leader of a gang responsible for. the mur¬ ders. Strange has scared away all hired hands by having his men “haunt” the ranch. However, King, Duncan and Terhune do not scare so easily, and remain at the ranch. King adds to the “haunted” aspects of the place by posing as one of the dead men. Sharpe enlists in Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, and sends Rex Lease, his friend, to aid King and Terhune in his stead. Duncan learns that to find the hidden money one must play a certain tune on an organ installed in the house. King takes the sheriff into his confidence, and reveals his true ident¬ ity. With the sheriff’s aid, Strange and his gang are engaged in a gun battle, which frustrates their plans to blow up the organ in order to find the money. Duncan finally hits upon the song, plays it on the organ, causing it to open and reveal a safe stocked with the money. X-Ray: This follows the usual cowboy formula with the average amount of rid¬ ing, fighting, and shooting sequences, but is not one of the best in this series. Sub¬ stitution of Lease for Sharpe in the middle of the picture doesn’t make much differ¬ ence one way or the other. Featured song THE EXHIBITOR is “Where the Prairie Hills Meet the Sky,” written by King. Ad Lines: “ ‘The Range Busters’ Ride Again In a Thrilling Adventure Of the Frontier”; ^Romance, Comedy, Drama With the Range Busters In Action Again”; “Real Ghosts Round Up An Outlaw Gang In This Breezy Western.” The Mysterious Doctor melodrama (218) 57m. (Warners) Estimate: For the lower half. Cast: John Loder, Eleanor Parker, Brace Lester, Lester Matthews, Forrester Har¬ vey, Matt Willis, Art Foster, Clyde Cooke, Creighton Hale, Phyllis Barry, David Clyde, Harold de Becker, Frank Mayo, Hank Mann, DeWolf Hopper, Jack Mow¬ er, Crawford Kent. Directed by Ben Stoloff. Story: Lester Matthews, a doctor on a walking tour of England, stops at inn of a lonely mining village on the moors of Cornwall, and hears the legend of the mine’s headless ghost and of Matt Willis, the village idiot, who is the only person ever to enter the mine and return alive. The innkeeper, Frank Mayo, who wears a hood over his disfigured face, substantiates the story, and Matthews decides to visit the mine. Mayo’s niece, Eleanor Pai’ker, tells Willis, the idiot, to follow and see that nothing happens to Matthews, and he does. Matthews does not return, and headless body is found by Brace Lester, Parker’s fiance, and the county squire, John Loder. Willis is arrested as the “ghost” and murderer who has terrorized the village. He escapes, and takes Parker to the mine, to a secret stairway which leads up to the living room of John Loder’s castle. Lester, searching fox his sweet¬ heart, finds Parker and Willis in the living room, but they are interrupted by Loder, gun in hand, who boasts that it was he who has kept the English from working the mine, and that he is a descendant of German nobility. He forces Parker and Lester back into the mine, and locks them in a powder room. A man who appears to be the innkeeper, for he is wearing his hood, enters the mine, and captures Loder. During a straggle, the hood is pulled off, and he is revealed as Matthews. He re¬ leases Parker and Lester, who explains that Willis is the rightful heir to Loder’s castle, and that Matthews had been posing as her uncle, the hooded innkeeper, after Loder had murdered the innkeeper. X-Ray: This is inexpensively made with dialogue that is hardly brilliant. Although light in name value, the cast gives cap¬ able performances, and the direction cre¬ ates the proper mystery mood. It’s best point is the horror angle. Ad Lines: “More Chills, Creeps, Mystery Than Ever Before”; “Can You Solve the Mystery Of the Headless Ghost of Morgan Head?”; “A Horror Picture That Will Chill You To the Very Bones.” SHORTS SINCE PEARL HARBOR. WAC. Free. Paramount. 6m. Made by March of Time, this is a review of the first year of war from viewpoint of the Red Cross. Intelli¬ gently presented, it shows the work of this humane organization, and, although it will be used in connection with the Red Cross drive, it does not make a plea for funds nor contributions to the blood bank. It is a strict reporting job, and very effec¬ tively done. GOOD. POINT RATIONING OF FOOD. OWIWAC — Free (Columbia). 6m. This is a cartoon showing the need for rationing of food. The manner in which it will be accomplished is very intelligently pre¬ sented. The reel is short, and concise enough, and yet gets the message across remarkably well. GOOD. CITY OF COURAGE. RKO— America Speaks. 9m. Photographed while the city of Moscow was under fire, here is a vivid portrayal of what it means to live in a city besieged by the enemy. Forceful and earnest, it ranks with the better war shorts. GOOD. (34202). Servisection 5 1217