The Film Daily (1940)

Tuesday, October 29, 1940 :< :< REVIEWS OF TH6 ITCUI FlLmS :< :< 1% "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" with Marjorie Rambeau, Alan Hale, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan 'Hullabaloo' MILD MARITIME MELLER WHICH LACKS SUFFICIENT PUNCH TO TAKE IT OUT OF SO-SO CLASS. There's a fair amount of entertainment of the simple and direct type in this humaninterest meller which finds the veteran actress Marjorie Rambeau in the role of Tugboat Annie, but the picture cannot be classed beyond a run-of-the-mine feature as programmers go. Essentially it is geared for the smaller, unsophisticated stands where patrons are not particularly attuned to complex scripts and involved situations. The plot and the dialogue are primary in structure. Even the element of spectacle is virtually absent except in the collision of an ocean liner with the dry dock which Annie's tugbot is towing from a West Coast port to one in Alaska. Such heart-strings as are attempted to be tugged in the opus are presented to audience sympathy in the guise of the elderly femme mariner being in imminent danger of losing her job because of her gender, age, and lack of trust on the part of her employers and their customers. The heavy in the proceedings is Alan Hale in the role of Capt. Bullwinkle. It is he who tries to drive Annie from the seas, first-off being the cause of her going on a wild goose chase to aid a beached vessel which turns out to be a whale. However, a real salvage job is encountered when a vessel is aground on a bar. This she succeeds in floating off. Subsequently, her nemesis claims salvage when Annie's tow is rammed and stranded, but she wins out through her long memory of maritime law which decrees that a dry dock is not a vessel and not subject to salvage payment. At the finale, she is riding high with her opponents in the eclipse of defeat. There is a wisp of a romance 'twixt Annie's protege, Ronald Reagan, and a shipping solon's daughter, Jane Wyman. The cast does the best it can with the material which is as shallow as some of the water on the besetting reefs. Lewis Seller's direction is good, and photography up to snuff. CAST: Marjorie Rambeau, Alan Hale, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Clarence Kolb, Charles Halton, Paul Hurst, Victor Kilian, Chill Wills, Harry Shannon, John Hamilton, Sidney Bracy, Jack Mower, Dana Dale, Josephine Whittell, Neil Reagan. CREDITS: Director, Lewis Seiler; Music by Max Steiner; Original Screenplay, Walter DeLeon; Based on characters created by Norman Reilly Raine. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. with Frank Morgan, Virginia Grey, Dan Dailey, Jr. Metro 77 Mins. FAIRLY AMUSING COMEDY HAS A RAGGED STORY, BUT FRANK MORGAN IS AT HIS BEST. A combination vaudeville bill, musical review and one-man show with Frank Morgan as star, this picture should please the Morgan fans and provide some laughs for average audiences. Picture lacks any "names" beside Morgan and the story is ragged at the edges. On the plus side is Morgan at his best, although his material is not too good; Charles Holland, a Negro with a beautiful voice who puts over two songs nicely; and a pleasing cast of able veterans and engaging youngsters. Morgan is supported by Virginia Grey, attractive and pleasant, Dan Dailey, Jr., Billie Burke, Nydia Westman, Ann Morriss, Donald Meek and Reginald Owen. Curt Bois and Barnett Parker will draw some laughs in two small roles. Edwin L. Marin directed from a screenplay written by Nat Perrin. Morgan is trying to get a job on a radio show. He is making a play for Miss Westman, half owner of a big company, when his three previous wives and children descend on him because of a broadcast he makes which ribs the Orson Welles show that started a small panic because of its realistic nature. Faced with three previous wives seeking alimony and rent for the whole bunch, Morgan and his children, Miss Grey, Leni Lynn and Larry Nunn, go into a huddle. With the contrivance of Dailey they manage to put a show on the air which is a hit. CAST: Frank Morgan, Virginia Grey, Dan Dailey, Jr., Billie Burke, Nydia Westman, Ann Morriss, Donald Meek, Reginald Owen, Charles Holland, Virginia 0 Brien, Curt Bois, Sara Haden, Larry Nunn, Barnett Parker. CREDITS: Producer, Louis K. Sidney; Director, Edwin L. Marin; Screenplay, Nat Perrin; Based on an idea by Bradford Ropes and Val Burton; Cameraman, Charles Lawten; Editor, Conrad A. Nervig. DIRECTION, Adequate. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. "The Trail Blazers" with Robert Livingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis Republic 58 Mins. RATES WITH THE BETTER WESTERNS, NEW PRINCIPALS IN MESQUITEER SERIES AGAIN CLICKING. Second release in the Mesquiteer series with the new cast comprised of Bob Livingston, Bob Steele and Rufe Davis, picture measures up favorably to its predecessors which means it is one of the better westerns. Action is plentiful, the story is okay, and the cast is able. Technical aspects of the picture are up to par and the locations are good. Livingston and Steele batter the villains with abandon. Rufe Davis adds some good laughs to the picture. Pauline Moore is an attractive decoration for the western landscape, and a fine crew of villains led by Weldon Heyburn make plenty of trouble until they are snuffed out in the last reel. George Sherman directed. The Mesquiteers are devoting their time and energy to helping a friend, Carroll Nye, establish a telegraph line that will hook up the army posts and make the territory safer to live in. Heyburn, a newspaper publisher, is the leader of the gang working 'against the telegraph. Nye is murdered and his efforts come to naught. It is not until Miss Moore gets her father, head of the army in the territory, to back the telegraph that it is really pushed through and Heyburn and his gang put behind bars. CAST: Robert L'vingston, Bob Steele, Rufe Davis, Pauline Moore, Weldon Heyburn, Carroll Nye, Tom Chatterton, Si Jenks, Mary Field, John Merton, Rex Lease, Robert Blair. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Harry Grey; Director, George Sherman; Screenplay, Barry Shipman; Original Story, Earle Snell; Cameraman, William Nobles; Editor, Tony Martinelli. DIRECTION, Fast. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. * SERIAL * "The Green Hornet Strikes Again" Universal 21-minute episodes Lots Of Action The dramatic radio story, "The Green Hornet," is brought to the screen in this new Universal serial. Story concerns the battle of a newspaper publisher who masquerades as The Green Hornet when he fights the underworld. Warren Hull, Wade Boteler, Keye Luke and Ann Nagel head the cast. Serial starts off with a bang and maintains a fast pace, with the early episodes winding up on a climactic note that should bring the customers back for more. * SHORTS * Eugene T. Crall Expires Newport News, Va. — Eugene T. Crall, 57, prominently identified in the motion picture industry here for the past 25 years, died at a local hospital after an illness of about two months. He was a native of Norfolk, but came here about 25 years ago and became associated with his father, William F. Crall, who died in August. M-G-M Castings West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Metro has cast Connie Gilchrist and Edward McNamara for "Ziegfeld Girl"; Chill Wills and Morgan Conway for "Bad Man"; and Mary Nash, Lee J. Cobb and Henry O'Neill for "Men of Boys' Town." Coyne Heads Metro Pep Club Cleveland — John Coyne, booker, has been elected piesident of the Metro Pep Club for the coming year. Elected with him were Sara Shellew, vice-president; Sadie Meckler, treasurer, and Gertrude Shaw, secretary. Tone for Durbin Picture West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Universal has signed Franchot Tone to appear in Deanna Durbin's next picture, "Nice Girl." Robert Stack will also be in the film which William Seiter will direct. Richard Connell is making the adaptation from a story by Phyllis Duganne. Warners Acquires Sennett Pix West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Warner Bros, has acquired rights to the old Mack Sennett comedies and will re-edit and reissue most of them. Two of the films have been re-cut and will be released as "Love's Intrigue" and "Happy Faces." "Recruiting Daze" Universal 6 2/3 mins. Fair Cartoon Punchy, a slightly wacky recruit, joins up as the government calls for conscripts. The generals are in a dither and Punchy wanders aimlessly about the camp with a wheelbarrow full of munitions. Modern mechanized Indians, big berthas, little berthas and beebe guns are displayed; a pursuit plane slices sausage off a sausage balloon and bombs fall all over the landscape. Punchy comes to an untimely end when he falls into a big bertha after loading it. Yorke Back from New England Emerson Yorke, short subjects producer, and a camera crew returned !o New York on the week-end from location in New England where they completed footage for the first reel of a two-reeler in Cinecolor which the Yorke Studio is making for national release. Burgi Contner, ASC, handled the cameras on the job, assisted by Sid Zucker. "Red" Angeven is production contact on the film. Chicago Theater Bookings Chicago — Max Turner, B & K booking manager, reports the booking of the Merry Macs and Abbott and Costello for the Chicago theater for the week of Nov. 15 to be followed by Cugat orchestra and Ray Bolger the week of Nov. 22, while for the week of Dec. 6 Orrin Tucker and Bonnie Baker will headline. Korda Signs Burgess Meredith _ _ . _„, , | West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Repubhc Casts Dennis O Keefe | Hollywood-Alexander Korda has West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY ' signea" Burgess Meredith to appear Hollywood — Republic has cast Den ! opposite Ilona Massey in "New I claims of the Commissioner of Innis O'Keefe and Jimmy Lydon for | Wine." Ladislaus Bus-Fekete is mak ternal Revenue for deficiencies ii "Bowery Boy" from a story by Sam I ing the adaptation from his own | gift taxes of $4,586.15 for 1932, 1933 Fuller. William Morgan will direct, story. ' and 1935. Jack Warner Wins Tax Case Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington— The U. S. Board of Tax Appeals handed down a decision favor of Jack L. Warner against