Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1941)

'MANPOWER' ROWDY, NOISY FILM WITH H:GH-Y0LTAGE STARS Rates • • • on name value of stars Warner Bros. 105 Minutes. Edward G. Robinson, Marlen« Dietrich, George Raft, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Eve Arden, Ward Bond, Joyce Compton, Egon Brecher, Lucia Carroll, Anthony Quinn, Barbara Pepper, Joseph Crehan, Ben Welden, Dorothy Appleby, CMff Clark. Directed by Raoul Walsh. "ivranpower" is going to give lots of people a lieadache. It is a rowdy, two-fisted melodrama, with Edward G. Robinson, IVIarlene Dietrich and George Raft each cast as to type. But the story is very, very familiar stuff and director Raoul Walsh tried a bit too strenuously to camouflage that fact by making it one of the noisiest films we've witnessed in a long time. There are numerous arguments and fist fights among the high-voltage line-men and the incessant raia during the high-tension wire repairing scenes create a constant din in the spectator's ear. Action fans may like that noisy excitement, but others may be bothered by it. What they will enjoy are the typical performances of the three stars and the racy dialogue. Robinson, Dietrich and Raft on the marquee spells good grosses, even though the word-of-mouth reac ion won't help the subsequent runs. The story opens as Edward G. Robinson is injured while repairing broken power lines during a driving rain and concludes with his fall to death from a high tension tower during another storm. In between, he meets and falls in love with Marlene Dietrich, hostess in a clip-joint, to the disgust of his lineman-pal, George Raft, who knows about the girl's recent jail term. However, Dietrich settles down after marriage and makes Robinson happy until an accident to Raft brings him into their home to recuperate. She then falls in love with Raft, although the latter refuses to shatter Robinson's happiness. It is when he misunderstands and pursues Raft with intent to kill that Robinson meets his death. Miss Dietrich gives the hard-luck gal role the cheap, hard-boiled qualily it deserves with her foreign accent proving only a minor handicap in a faithful portrayal. Raft is the cold-blooded lady-killer to the life and Robinson is effective in a more human part. Alan Hale and Frank McHugh' supply roughand-tumble action and laughs when they are needed and Eve Arden, Joyce Compton and Barbara Pepper are all convinc ng as dames — • not a good girl in the cast. LEYENDECKER 'NEVADA CITY' EXCITING. WELL-ACTED ROGERS WESTERN Rates • • wherever westerns are vavored. Republic. 51 Minutes. Roy Rogers, George "Gabby" Hayes, Sally Payne, George Cleveland, Joseph Crehan, Billy Lee, Fred Kohler, Jr., Pierre Walkin, Rex Lease, Jack Ingram. Directed by Joseph Kane. Boasting an interest-holding and exciting semi-historical story and an above-average cast for a western, "Nevada City" makes entertaining fare for action lovers. The star, Roy Rogers, retains his place among the leaders in the western field both by his fistic ability and his capable acting and his side-kick, George "Gabby" Hayes, can always be depended upon for some down-toearth comedy. Director Jo:eph Kane takes too much time to develop a trled-and-true railroad vs. stagecoach line plot but the action speeds up about half-way and is climaxed with a barg-up chase to stop a dynamite-laden train. Just right for the wsstern fans. The story is built around the battle between a long-established stage coach line and Che California Central Railroad and the unscrupulous methods used by a financ er (Pierre Watkin) to keep the feud alive. Watkin's purpose is to bankrupt both companies and gain control of them. Roy Rogers en ters the scene as a stage-coach driver, who, although suspected by both sides, turns detective and eventually traps Watkin and h s smooth-talking henchman and thus paves the way for the railroad and coach 1 ne to work together. In addition to the capable Pierre Walkin, who is excellent as the suave banker, the supporting cast includes Billy Lee, as the likeable heir to the stage line, and Fred Kohler, Jr., who contributes a first-rate portrayal of a poetryspouting dandy who is actually Black Bart, villainous desperado. The hoydenish Sally Payne also supp ies some amusing romantic interest. LEYENDECKER 'SAN ANTONIO ROSE' WEAK FARCE WITH GOOD SINGING Rates • + generally as secondary dualler Universal. 63 Minutes. The Merry IVIacs (Mary Lou Cook, Joe, Ted and Judd McMichael), Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Eve Arden, Lon Chaney, Jr., Shemp Howard, Richard Lane, Luis Albemi, Louis DaPron, Charles Lang, Ferris Taylor, Peter Sullivan, Roy Harris. Directed by Charles Lamont. The singing is top-notch, but the story is third-rate in "San Antonio Rose," a minor musical for summer release. One of Universal's series based on popular song titles, this suffers more from a make-shift story and an over-dose of Shemp Howard's crude comedy than from its lack of marquee names. Approximately half of the footage is devoted to song numbers and no one will deny that the delightful harmonizing of the Merry Macs and the warbling of Jane Frazee is pleasing to the ear. In fact four of the songs (the popular "Hut Sut Song," a new arrangement of "The Old Oaken Bucket," a lively novelty, "Mexican Jumping Bean" and the title tune) will have patron's feet tapping. It's only the constant recurrence of the flimsy, shop-worn gangster plot with its slapstick gags that drags the film down to a low entertainment level It will furnish mild support on duals. What passes for a plot concerns a couple of stranded showgirls lEve Arden and Jane Frazee) who hitch-hike to a roadhouse hoping to land a job. They arrive just as the place is folding up due to pressure from gangsters employed by a rival roadhouse. When a new orchestra, headed by the Men-y Macs, arrives the performers all get together, reopen the place and, despite considerable rough stuflf from the gangsters, the venture is a huge success. The Merry Macs (Mary Lou Cook and the three McMichael Bros.) are leaders in the field of harmonizing and eacli of their numbers would be a show-stopper if given on the stage or in a night club. The pertly attractive Jane Frazee, who is one of the most promising ingenues of the season, warbles duets and furnishes a mild romantic interest with Robert Paige. Shemp Howard has several St. Vitus Dance comedy routines which are outrageously un-funny and Eve Arden, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Richard Lane are handicapped by their poor material. LEYENDECKER WHAT THE NEWSPAPER CRITICS SAY TIGHT SHOES (Universal) ". . .Sreamingly funny ... Perfect entertainment fit ... Delightful nonsense... Always ridiculously inventive." — Reel, Chicago Herald American. "...Thoroughly Runyon and, therefore, a complete delight ... Full of amusing situations." — Dana, .N. Y. Herald Tribune. ". . .Clever, neatly turned bit of entertainment." — ]Vins:en, N. Y. Post. ". . .Spictd with amusing situations ... Absolutely screwy and ludicrous ... A right funny movie."^ — A. B., Phila. Record. SHE KNEW ALL THE ANSWERS (Cclumbia) "...A proper and inconsequential little comedy which one may take or leave." — T. S., N. Y. Times. "...A comedy that is singularly unfunny for the most part... Has a few funny passages but they arc poor reward for the rest of the picture."— Dana, N. Y. Herald Tribune. "...Feeble and fumbling." — lioehnel, N. Y. World-Telegram. "...Ceaseless struggle for laughs results in consistent overacting... Blunted and ancient." — Winsten, N. Y. Post. JULY 2 6, 1 9 4 1 23