Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1945)

'THE JADE MASK' ROUTINE CHARLIE CHAN QUICKIE Rates • • — as supporting dualler in action and minor naborhood spots but even his Oriental philoso Monogram 66 minutes Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Edwin Luke, Janet Warren, Hardie Albright, Frank Reicher, Edith Evanson, Alan Bridge, Ralph Lewis, Dorothy Granger, Jack Ingram, Cyril DeLevanti, Lester Dorr. Directed by Phil Rosen. Handicapped by a stereotyped murder plot involving the accustomed set of shiftyeyed suspects, "The Jade Mask" leans almost entirely on Charlie Chan's calm-andcollected method of solving the crime to give the programmer its slight entertainment value. As always, Sidney Toler's semicomic portrayal of the Chinese sleuth is an amusing one, phies are beginning to wear thin and the comedy supplied by his Fourth Son and by his colored valet is feeble stuff and not often funny. Although such mystery ingredients as sliding panels, falling bodies, poison darts and a gas chamber are present, Director Phil Rosen has been unable to speed up the slow pace of a tale which seems to get nowhere. Only the last few minutes before the eventual denouement carry an appreciable amount of suspense. The Charlie Chan label undoubtedly still has some value for dyed-in-the-wool mystery fans, but not for long unless stronger stories are used for the series. A supporting dualler only. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is called in by the U. S. Government to investigate the murder of Frank Reicher, a scientist who had been working on a secret formula to make wood as durable as steel. Chan ques1 tions Hardie Albright, Reicher's assistant; Edith Evanson, his sister; Janet Warren, his niece, and several others in the household each of whom had a grievance against Reicher. As usual, Chan's No. 4 Son (Edwin Luke) and his chauffeur (Mantan Moreland) try to solve the crime, but only succeed in hindering Chan. Later, Miss Warren's sweetheart, a policeman, is found murdered and the butler is next to be killed. Chan is finally able to piece together various clues and pin the crimes on Jack Ingram, a former actor who had planned to steal the formula after gaining access to the house by donning the dead policeman's uniform. Ingram's cleverest move had been to murder Albright and pose as the latter by wearing a rubber mask and a wig. LEYENDECKER ON APPROVAL' BEATRICE LILLIE WASTED IN ENGLISH COMEDY Rates • • in class houses: weak dualle English Films, inc. 80 minutes Clive Brook, Beatrice Lillie, Roland CiUver, Googie Withers, O. B. Clarence, Hay Petrie, Lawrence Hanray, Elliot Mason, Marjorie Rhodes, Molly Monks. Directed by Clive Brook. Despite the presence of that sparkling stage comedienne, Beatrice Lillie, and Clive Brook, one-time Hollywood favorite, this British-made film vehicle has little to offer r elsewhere average American audiences. "On Approval" is certainly a tour-de-force for Brook, who also produced, directed and did the screen adaptation of this old Frederick Lonsdale play, but aside from a modicum of amusing dialogue, this is a rather dull drawing-room comedy woefully lacking in action. In an attempt to be original, the picture starts with some current war shots and then switches to its Victorian period story with the title and the credits not shown until the end. With almost no aid from the pseudo-comic lines and artificial situations, Beatrice Lillie manages to get laughs by employing her familiar sly expressions and her bantering style of delivery. Although he still looks well, Clive Brook gives a stuffy portrayal of a scheming poseur, the 10th Duke of Bristol, and Googie Withers is attractive but too British to play an American heiress. In the art houses and in the big cities where Miss Lillie's name is a draw, this will get by for short runs. Elsewhere it will make a weak dualler. LEYENDECKER THE CRIME DOCTOR'S COURAGE' RUN-OF-THE-MILL MYSTERY QUICKIE Rates • • — in action spots or as supporting dualler Latest in the series of programmers adapted from Max Marcin's radio serial, "The Crime Doctor's Courage" is run-of-themill mystery fara. Following the current vogue in crime films, both the motives and the characterizations are definitely psychological — a feature which slows down up the action and substitutes talky sequences. However, once the various strange characters are brought together and a baffling murder is committed, some shud Columbia 70 minutes Warner Baxter, Hillary Brooke, Jeronr: Cowan, Robert Scott, Lloyd Corrigan, Emorv Parnell, Stephen Crane, Lupita Tovar, Anthony Caruso, Charles Arnt, Dennis Moore Jack Carrington, King Kong Kashay. Directed by George Sherman. "Can anyone tell a lonesome bride what to do?" ve been fried 3 eeks haven* even»«» Hite, has decWedjne 7%&t COOKSON /lh£ute JUDGE fiwtt, JENKS Jewute COWAN 1 Produced by LINDSLEY PARSONS • Directed by PHIL KARLSTEIN Screenplay by Richard Weill * AdopUd bin At ploy by A. J. Kublan. Rob.rl Chopin and Morion P ANOTHER MONEY HIT f*OM MO N06R AM dery moments develop and the climax contains considerable suspense and, as usual, reveals that the least-suspected party is the killer. Although Warner Baxter, who plays the Crime Doctor, is his customary suave self, Jerome Cowan and Robert Scott give far more intense portrayals and Anthony Caruso and Lupita Tovar, as a Spanish dance team who are suspected of vampirism, are particularly effective. Hillary Brooke adds pulchritude as a frightened bride. Despite its slow pace, this will satisfy the avid mystery fans, as well as the followers of the radio serial, and make a fair supporting dualler. The Crime Doctor, Warner Baxter, is invited to a dinner party by Hillary Brooke, a bride who fears that her husband, Stephen Crane, is going insane. Crane is suspected of murder because his first two wives met violent deaths on their honeymoons. At the dinner, which is also attended by Jerome Cowan, a writer of mystery tales; Robert Scott, a studious young friend of Miss Brooke, and Anthony Caruso and Lupita Tovar, a broiher-sister team of Spanish dancers, Crane is shot despite the fact that the door is locked and the windows apparently barred. In the excitement, Miss Brooke disappears but is followed by Baxter to the home of the dancers, who, because they have been seen only at night, are suspected of being vampires. Knowing that Miss Brooke will be suspected of Crane's murder because his will makes her a $2,000,000 heiress, Scott pleads in vain for her to leave the country with him. Baxter trails Scott and prevents him from driving a stake into the hearts of the dancers as they lie sleeping in their coffins. It develops that the vampire business was only one of Cowan's publicity stunts but Scott, who was in love with Miss Brooke, first killed her husband and then tried to dispose of Caruso after he learned that she was in love with the latter. LEYENDECKER 22 FILM BULLETIN