The Film Daily (1940)

Thursday, November 14, 1940 :< .V REVIEWS OF THE nEUI FlLfTlS :< -V "The Letter" with Berte Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson rarners 95 Mins. SPLENDID DRAMATIC STORY BRILLIANTLY ENACTED BY A FINE CAST, WITH PRODUCTION AND DIRECTION TOP NOTCH. Keyed by a brilliant performance by Bette Davis, Somerset Maugham's splendid dramatic story has been brought to the screen with fidelity and gripping emotional power by Warners, the cast and director William Wyler. The production is opulent, the direction deft, performances by the entire cast excellent, and the technical work is way above par. Certainly exhibitors have a wealth of material to use in merchandising the picture, marquee "names," a lustrous tropical setting and a highly dramatic story by a noted author. Audiences generally should give the picture a warm reception, particularly women. It should have a strong appeal for women as the story is one that conceivably has happened to many women, although most likely in more drab surroundings, and certainly without the dramatic fireworks provided by Maugham. Director Wyler's crafty hand is apparent throughout the picture, guiding the players skilfully, making the most of every tense situation offered by the script and getting Miss Davis to play one important and fairly long scene with her back to the camera. Miss Davis enacts her role with consummate skill, sympathetic to the part and smoothly shading her lines to get the most from every sentence. Herbert Marshall perfectly fits his role. But James Stephenson in a juicy characterization runs the two topbilled stars a close race for acting laurels, giving a sparkling Derformance that leaves nothing to be desired. Gale Sondergaard, Frieda Inescort, Bruce Lester, Sen Yung and Willie Fung are valuable additions to the cast. A corking job of photography is turned in by Tony Gaudio, with the camera work adding much to the picture's lustre. Max Steiner also rates a hand for a moving musical score, and the entire technical crew. The story itself opens on a note of savage drama. Miss Davis shoots a man. Her husband, Marshall, and friends believe her story that he had made advances, but Stephenson, family friend as well as their lawyer, suspects her story is untrue. He discovers it is, but compromises himself to get back a letter she had written the murdered man. Finally, after being acquitted by a jury, Miss Davis admits to Marshall she loved the dead man, and with another savage burst of drama Miss Davis is murdered by Miss Sondergaard, wife of the murdered man. Possibly the pace in between may seem leisurely, but the undertone of things to come is always there, and Wyler skilfully keeps the story semi-suspenseful, maintaining audience interest. Picture should rate high among the best offerings of the year, and it should be a winner at the box office for all concerned. CAST: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort, Bruce Lester, Elizabeth Earl, Cecil Kellaway, Sen Yung, Doris Lloyd, Willie Fung, Tetsu Komai. CREDITS: In charge of production, Jack L. Warner; Executive producer, Hal B. {.Continued on Page 7) 'FANTASIA' WALT DISNEY with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra Walt Disney 120 Mins. NOT MERELY ONE CINEMATIC MILESTONE, BUT SEVERAL OF THEM: AND AS CERTAINLY, IT IS BOX OFFICE FOR CLASS AUDIENCES. Walt Disney's "Fantasia" is not merely one cinematic milestone; it is several of them. This wedding of immortal melodies, glowing multiplane Technicolor and cartoon witchery is as breath-taking as the first glimpse of majestic Niagara. It is as unforgettable as Nature's own masterpiece in color, the Colorado Canyon. It is as satisfying as the personal discovery of Schubert . . . and Disney crowns "Fantasia" with Schubert's magnificent "Ave Maria." It is as thrilling and stirring as the touchdown which wins the game while the final whistle blows. And as certainly, within the exhibition confines which Disney himself has prescribed, it is box office. Indeed, only time, and the experience which comes with time, will determine the extent of its potential audience. Disney, himself cautious, well may be pleasantly surprised — most pleasantly surprised. Weighed critically as a motion picture, and fundamentally that it is, "Fantasia" charts two courses as an industry guide for things to come. Through RCA's Fantasound, with its amazng third dimensional effect, and tonal purity, it opens new vistas in the recording and reproducing field. Here, you find the startling, uncanny illusion of sound moving with the screen's action. But it is not in this respect alone that the art and the technique of the motion picture stride forward in the proverbial seven league boots. Disney and those associated with him in the enterprise have interpreted Bach and Tchaikowsky, Dukas and Stravinsky, von Beethoven and Ponchielli, and Moussorgsky and Schubert on the screen with all the brilliancy, all the understanding and all the exquisite mastery of shading that distinguishes Conductor Leopold Stokowski's reading of the respective scores. This is not to say that the melodic works selected for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Disney collaborative effort form the perfect program; musical taste and appreciation are highly personal. But if Disney's objective was to establish and demonstrate the range of which the new medium is possible — and it is to be assumed that was the case — then the selected program appraises as ideal. And, bearing on the box office value of "Fantasia," the picture is virtually ageless. So long as prints can be struck, so long as the theatrical equipment required can be manufactured, there will be a market for "Fantasia." Further, it must be an ever-growing market, thanks to continuing marked progress in musical appreciation. It would be foolhardy to hail "Fantasia" as Disney's crowning achievement; his bag of tricks is too prodigal for that, and who can say of the future? Yet this may be said: Never has his imagination had fuller play, never have his creative faculties been as fully employed. There is a tip-off in the very opening of the picture. Cast aside are the conventionalities — the title, sub-title, array of credits. Instead, against the drapes, not the screen, move the forms of musicians, in silhouette. You sense that the Philadelphia Orchestra is taking the stage. The curtain is drawn. More silhouetted movement. Then flashes of color to spot instruments, and with this, the sound of tuning, with Fantasound the while working its first magic. Deems Taylor, the perfect commentator, appears, has his say; Stokowski mounts the podium, the concert begins. First number is Bach's "Toccata and Fugue," an example of absolute music. Disney provides the only seemingly possible interpretation — kaleidoscopic, sans story. The designs, some geometric, are infinite in their variety. From Bach, Disney and Stokowski turn to the entrancingly beautiful "Nutcracker Suite" of Tchaikowsky, and the former gives full rein to his amagination. Purest fantasy, this, with the ballet music inspiring Dewdrop Fairies, Hop Low and the Mushroom Dancers (one of the outstanding delights of the program), the Blossom Ballet, the Water Ballet, the Thistle Boys and Orchid Girls, not to mention the Autumn Fairies, Milkweed Ballet, Frost Fairies and Snowflake Fairies. As was perhaps inevitable, Mickey Mouse is the piece de resistance of Disney's highly amusing concept of Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." In Stravinsky's revolutionary "Rite of Spring," which follows to conclude the first part of the program, Disney found inspiration for a daring treatment of the story of creation. Longest of the compositions, Disney uses the 20 minutes to picture earth's first two billion years. Call it explosive, call it dynamic, call it grimly awesome; with its monsters and dragons and horrific flying creatures, it is all of that. For the second half of the program, there are Beethoven's ever-lovely "Pastoral Symphony," Ponchielli's light "Dance of the Hours," Moussorgsky's weird "Night on Bald Mountain" and Schubert's glorious "Ave Maria." Disney fills the first named with winged horses, fauns, cupids, centaurs, centaurettes, then adds, for generous measure, Zeus, Vulcan, Iris, Apollo, Diana and Morpheus. To many, what Disney achieves here will be outstanding in the program. "Dance of the Hours" is a genial travesty, more or less effective in execution. (Continued on Page 7) "You'll Find Out" with Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre, Beta Lugosi, Boris Karloff RKO 97 Mins. MYSTERY MUSICAL COMEDY IS NOVEL AND HIGHLY AMUSING; SWELL POP ENTERTAINMENT. Liberally sprinkled with hokum, lots of good laughs and the "smooth" music of Kay Kyser and his orchestra, this new RKO offering emerges as a surprise package of swell popular entertainment. It should get a very good reception from audiences generally. Picture has a fast head start at the box office via the medium of radio and other engagements which has brought Kyser a large following of fans, and certainly in three bogey men of Hollywood and a combination musical-comedy-mystery, exhibitors have a wealth of exploitable material to work on. There are laughs aplenty from beginning to end and the picture even kids itself before it is over with amusing results. The story is an amusing fable that audiences won't take too much stock in although a sufficient amount of mystery and menace has been injected into the script to keep people tense and hold their interest, but comedy sequences smartly break up the more chilling scenes. Presenting a band leader and his orchestra to advantage in a full-length movie presented a task in itself, and the chore has been turned out in a highly satisfactory fashion. Kyser appears to advantage in the picture, playing himself and acting natural, something some actors never can learn to do. Lorre, Lugosi and Karloff fill their roles ably; Dennis O'Keefe is a personable addition to the cast, and Helen Parrish, Alma Kruger and Joseph Eggenton are helpful additions to the cast. Ginny Sims, Kyser's attractive female vocalist, puts over several numbers in a pleasing fashion, Harry Babbitt and Sully Mason contribute some more songs, and Ish Kabibble ork member and comedian of the crew, will get a lot of heavy laughs. David Butler gets credit for fashioning the picture into a smoothly geared film that has entertainment value plus. Story is laid in a huge house where Kyser goes to play for the twenty-first birthday of Miss Parrish. The villains are attempting to kill her because of a secret will which would give her the entire estate and end their confidence game. From there on the boys stumble around in secret passages and everything happens that the script writers could think of, with Lorre and company getting their just deserts at the fadeout. CAST: Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Helen Parrish, Dennis O'Keefe, Alma Kruger, Joseph Eggenton and Kay Kyser's Band featuring Ginny Simms, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble and Sully Mason. CREDITS: Producer and Director, David Butler; Screenplay, James V. Kern; Story, David Butler and James V. Kern; Assistant Director, Fred A. Fleck; Art Director, Van Nest Polglase; Musical Director, Roy Webb; Special Effects, Vernon Walker; Cameraman, Frank Redmond; Editor, Irene Morra. Special Sound and Musical Effects by Sonovox. DIRECTION, Smart. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Starts Tuesday Openings Boston — The Trans Lux theater has shifted to Tuesday from Thursday openings.