The Film Daily (1940)

1H ^Wednesday, December 11, 1940 W\.M11Y: ft ft REVICUJS OF TH€ R€UI fILmS ft ft "Comrade X" with Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Felix Bressart, Oscar Homolka Metro 90 Mins. SPARKLING COMEDY SHOULD BE SMASH B.O. HIT; CAST, STORY, DIRECTION AND PRODUCTION EXCELLENT. From the foreword to the finale, this new Metro offering is packed with laughs and funny situations. It is a sure-fire box office smash and a nice Christmas present for exhibitors, with Metro's prestige and reputation certain to be further enhanced. It's a picture that every audience will like immensely, and what is better, will advertise by word of mouth and in a number of cases probably go back for a second helping of the same. _j Certainly no exhibitors could ask for two bigger "names" to splash on his marquee, and no exhibitor could ask for anything more in the way of a supporting cast, direction, story or production value for the purpose of selling the picture. And the picture itself is pure entertainment, satire at its funniest, with the general public definitely more interested now than ever before in pictures that are purely entertaining. Some flag waving and pointed jabs at the Bolos are adroitly injected into the proceedings, but not at the expense of undermining the comedy. Gable is bluff, capable and well cast in the role of a newspaper reporter for the Topeka Bugle, also being the unknown Comrade X who is continually getting embarrassing stories out of the country to a big newspaper syndicate. Miss Lamarr essays a comedy role with swell results. Her acting talents assume a new stature and she definitely proves her ability as a comedienne. In juicy supporting roles, Felix Bressart, Oscar Homolka, Eve Arden, Sig Rumann, Natasha Lytess and Vladimir Sokoloff give expert characterizations. Remainder of the cast is equally good. Director King Vidor handled the players and story with a sure touch, making the most of every gag and laugh line, injecting plenty of amusing business into the picture and maintaining a smooth pace from start to finish. Producer Gottfried Reinhardt leaves nothing to be desired in production value. The screenplay concocted by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer is a winner in any league. Original story credit goes to Walter Reisch. All the technical work is top notch, with Joe Ruttenberg turning in a neat job of photography. Gable finds out that Bressart, a porter in the Moscow hotel where he lives, knows his identity as Comrade X when he demands that he take his daughter out of the country before she is shot as a "Communist" or be turned over to the police. Gable meets the daughter, Miss Lamarr, a street car conductor renamed Theodore because only men can drive street cars, and lays his plans to get out of the country. Miss Lamarr calmly announces they will be married and then everything happens at once. The police catch them, Gable gets them out of jail and then they make a perilous escape, finally getting into Rumania in a Russian general's tank in a sequence that will bring howls of laughter. It's not necessary to say that by this time Gable has sold Miss Lamarr on Democracy, the Dodgers and "Go West' with Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis Metro 81 Mins. WILD FARCE IS ENTERTAINING SCREENFARE FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES; COULD STAND LITTLE EDITING. The Marx Brothers are back again. They clown, cavort and make faces at each other and all and sundry, get in their usual inextricable jams and upset everything and everybody, and with amusing results for general audiences to view. Picture is wildly runny in some places, amusing for the most part and dead in one or two spots that a uttle edit.ng could improve. Harpo and Chico display their musical talents on the harp and piano, and the supporting cast is good. Exhibitors shouldn't have any trouble selling the picture. It can stand on its own feet as a top attraction in the nabe houses, makes a whale of a second attraction tor some super-super bill, and it should go over big with the dyed-in-the-wool Marx fans. In addition to the Marx freres, John Carroll, Diana Lewis, Walter Woolf King, Robert Barrat and June MacCloy prove helpful to the proceedings. Edward Buzzell directed, making the most of the gag situations lively at all times where the script doesn't slow it down. Story framework for the picture concerns the Marx Brothers' trek to the West. They become involved in a transaction for property rights a railroad wants and everything happens from there on. The windup sequence is one of the best they have ever nad and it will get heavy laughs from any audience. It might be noted in passing that Groucho is known as S. Quentin Quale in the picture. CAST: Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis, Walter Woolr King, Robert Barrat, June MacCloy, George Lessey, Tully Marshall. CREDITS: Producer, Jack Cummings; Director, Edward Buzzell; Original Screenplay, Irving Brecher; Cameraman, Leonard Smith; Editor, Blanche Seweil. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. McKinney to Nassau As Wometco Manager Miami Beach — Ira McKinney has been promoted to head Wometco's three Nassau houses. He formerly managed the Grove here. Replacing is his former assistant, Guy M. War Gable. (Reviewer's aside: I think I'll go see it again myself.) CAST: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Felix Bressart, Oscar Homolka, Eve Arden, Sig Rumann, Natasha Lytess, Vladimir Sokoloff, Edgar Barrier, George Renavent, Mikhail Rasumny. CREDITS: Producer, Gottfried Reinhardt; Director, King Vidor; Screenplay, Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer; Original Story, Walter Reisch; Cameraman, Joseph Ruttenberg; Editor, Harold F. Kress. DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent. "Let's Make Music" with Bob Crosby, Jean Rogers, Elizabeth Risdon, Joseph Buloff, Joyce Compton RKO Radio 84 Mins. FAST, ENTERTAINING COMEDY SPIKED WITH HIT MELODIES AND TOP-FLIGHT CHARACTER ACTING. Bob Crosby makes an impressive debut as a film luminary in this his initial feature vehicle, — a picture which is laden with bright comedy, warm human interest, and spiked generously with songs rendered in the best spirit of modern swing. The new star (as far as cinemaland is concerned, although he has a grand national following by virtue of his radio croonings and as maestro of his ork) plays his role with commendable reserve, surety and charm, which augurs well for his Hollywood career. His singing, whether solo or as the voice augmented by that rhythmic quartette, The Bobcats, is standout, and much of the appeal he carries in "Let's Make Music" springs from Leslie Goodwins' intelligent direction and the clever dialogue penned by Helen Phillips and Bernard Dougall. It is subtracting nothing from the effectiveness of the Crosby performance to call attention to the fact that Producer Howard Benedict has seen well to it that the young star would not be performing without very substantial histrionic co-operation. This is provided in chief and resounding measure by Elizabeth Risdon, who turns in a grand job as the central character in the story, — the elderly lady who teaches musical appreciation to the all-too-bored pupils of Newton High School, but who sheds her academic cloak completely via becoming a pop song writer whose composition "Fight On For Newton High" wins a number of things: fame, fortune and the enjoyment of life for herself, and a husband for her school-teaching niece, Jean Rogers, who captures the Crosby heart. Audiences will enjoy immensely the laughpacked situations, the natural acting and action, and four splendid melodies, "You Forgot About Me," "The Big Noise From Winnetka," and "Fight On For Newton High." It's a picture for all situations, ages and types, although it is conceivable that some inflexible devotees of classical music may be holdouts, and term it esthetically "gross." But it's plenty gross for box offices. Even added snap might be given the footage by editing-down the New York City sequences; but that's a very minor matter. CAST: Bob Crosby, Jean Rogers, Elizabeth Risdon, Joseph Buloff, Joyce Compton, Bennie Bartlett, Louis Jean Heydt, Bill Goodwin, Frank Orth, Grant Withers, Walter Tetley, Benny Rubin, Jacqueline Nash, Donna Jean Dolfer, and Bob Crosby's Orchestra featuring The Bobcats. CREDITS: Executive Producer, Lee Marcus; Producer, Howard Benedict; Director, Leslie Goodwins; Screenplay, Nathanael West; Special Dialogue, Helen Phillips, Bernard Dougall; Musical Director, Roy Webb; Director of Photography, Jack Mackenzie; Art Director, Van Nest Polglase; Associate, Albert D'Agostino; Gowns by Edward Stevenson; Recorded by P. J. Faulkner, Jr.; Editor, Desmond Marquette. DIRECTION, Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY, Skillful. "The Lilac Domino" with Michael Bartlett, June Knight, S. Z. Sakall Select Attractions 65 Mins. MUSICAL COMEDY HAS GOOD PRODUCTION VALUE, BUT SUFFERS FROM TECHNICAL FAULTS. There are a number of pleasant things about this British-made picture, but it has an equal number of faults. As a program offering for the nabe trade, it has possibilities, but only as a supporting attraction. On the plus side of the picture is an elaborate and handsome production value, the handsome and personable singer, Michael Bartlett, and some pleasant music. But Bartlett's fine voice suffers from poor recording, and the picture suffers from mediocre direction and poor photography. With the exception of Bartlett, Athene Seyler, S. Z. Sakall and Miss Knight, the cast is only adequate. Bartlett and Miss Knight put over several numbers pleasingly, but director Frederick Zelnik has failed to give the picture a smooth pace or any real moments of action or excitement even in the romantic interludes. Fred Emney contributes a good bit, but with a Hungarian background the British accents are overly thick at times. Adaptation by R. Hutter of the operetta of the same name and the script dialogue, which is static and uninspired, by Basil Mason and Neil Gow, is to blame for the scrambled continuity and weak lines. Bartlett, soldier and lady killer, is broke. He and his friends gamble away what is left, but in the meantime Bartlett meets Miss Knight, whom he falls in love with but does not recognize as the daughter of the richest man in Hungary. Masquerades and mistakes crop up until Bartlett gets the girl. CAST: Michael Bartlett, June Knight, S. Z. Sakall, Athene Seyler, Richard Dolman, Cameron Hall, Fred Emney, Paul Blake, Jane Carr, M. Harvey, Robert Nainby. CREDITS: Director, Frederick Zelnik; Screenplay, R. Hutter; Dialogue, Basil Mason and Neil Gow; Based on an operetta by E. Gatti and B. Jenbach; Cameramen, Roy Clarke and Bryan Langley; Editor, Lynn Harrison. Para. Withdraws "Wings, Set for March Release Paramount's "I Wanted Wings," which had been scheduled for release on March 21, 1941, has been withdrawn from release, according to Neil Agnew, general sales manager. No reason for the withdrawal was given. "I wanted Wings" was to have been an elaborate aviation picture co-starring Ray Milland, William Holden, Wayne Morris and Brian Donlevy. Astor Has Xmas Film "Springtime in the Holy Land," a two-reel subject in Dufaycolor, is being released nationally by Astor Pictures as a special Christmas week attraction.