The Film Daily (1941)

•ursday, May 22, 1941 Y V R€VI€UI5 Of THE R€UJ FILfllS ik ft ^ "Shining Victory" th James Stephenson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp garners 80 Mins. DRAMATIC STORY WITH FINE CAST IRST-RATE PRODUCTION SHOULD L TO GENERAL AUDIENCES. This new Warner release has all the ecessary elements which appeal to general diences, romance, drama and tragedy, but s difficult to appraise its exact box office awing power for several reasons. Unquestionably it is ably enacted by a splendid st, handsomely produced and endowed with lied technicians and an able director, but issibly some audiences will be let down by Q rather trite and overly sentimental con usion. The story itself could have been eeded up in several places and the third de of the eternal triangle theme seemed perfluous, due to a rather clumsy introiction in this instance. 1 1 Picture should have a strong appeal for •omen. The cast is excellent. James Stephenson ves an effective and beautifully reserved -formance in the lead role, holding himself check in a part that could have been ined if it was overacted. Geraldine Fitz rald is charming, capable and lovely to ok at, registering nicely as the love in rest. A corking performance is conibuted by the always effective Donald risp, and Montagu Love, Sig Rumann, George Huntley, Jr., and a long string of other | ipable players contribute fine supporting naracterizations. Barbara O'Neil has a :y supporting part, but the characteriza ion seems shallow principally because of s forced introduction into the story. Irving Rapper's direction is skillful, and le medical world in which the story takes ace is carefully reproduced on the screen > give it authenticity. The screenplay was ritten by Howard Koch and Anne Froelick on a play by A. J. Cronin. The story concerns Stephenson principalA brilliant research man in the brain eld, specializing in treating insanity and ental disorders by injections, he has his ork stolen by Rumann, professor of an initute in Hungary, and is thrown out of the juntry without any of his records. He :es to work in a private sanitarium in Scotnd run by Montagu Love, where his old :acher and friend, Crisp, is also a staff ember. His work is ridiculed, but his ssistant, Miss Fitzgerald, believes in him. bout to be married and on the verge of access, Miss O'Neil, slightly unbalanced nd in love with him, attempts to destroy is papers in a fire, but at the cost of her n life Miss Fitzgerald rescues them. Exhibitors have a number of points that an be merchandised effectively to sell the icture. It is a Cronin play, the cast is ell-known, the story itself contains plenty f drama and other elements interesting to ie average audience, and the picture is sry definitely a class production. CAST: James Stephenson, Geraldine Firzerald, Donald Crisp, Barbara O'Neil, Monsgu Love, Sig Rumann, George P. Huntley, r., Richard Ainley, Alec Craig, Bruce Lester, eonard Mudie, Doris Lloyd, Frank Reicher, ermine Sterler, Billy Bevan, Clara Verdera, rauford Kent. CREDITS: In charge of production, Jack Warner; Executive Producer, Hal B. Wal5; Associate Producer, Robert Lord; Di ' "Blood and Sand" with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, Nazimova 20th Century-Fox 123 Mins. (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) SUPERB DIRECTION, BRILLIANT ACTING, LAVISH PRODUCTION, PLUS "NATURAL" TECHNICOLOR MAKE "BLOOD AND SAND" SMASH B. 0. HIT. They can now stop talking about Rudolph Valentino in "Blood and Sand." This is stated with no disrespect or irreverance for Valentino or his picture. Darryl Zanuck's version, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell, is almost perfection in motion picture entertainment. Technicolor was invented for "Blood and Sand." There is no question but that much of this tremendous spectacle would have been lost on black and white film. Beauty, gripping drama, tender, eloquent love scenes and suspense — such as you've never experienced before — parade in beautiful sequence under the expert guidance of Director Mamoulian. Sets, lavish and splendrous, photographed in part in low key lighting, are breath-taking; thanks to Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan, cameramen, and Art Directors Richard Day and Joseph C. Wright who were ably assisted by Technicolor's Natalie Kalmus. Fox's announced plan of regular release for the film is a break for exhibitors. Here is a roadshow hit if we ever saw one. There are many fine performances in this picture. You'll see Rita Hayworth prove once again her right to the place she is rising to in pictures. Outstanding are John Carradine, as Power's faithful, uneducated, philosophy spouting assistant; J. Carol Naish, as his dresser, a former star of the bull ring; Laird Cregar, Spain's foremost critic of the matador, and Nazimova who plays Power's mother. The stars — Power and Darnell — are excellently cast. They play their roles with feeling and sincerity. Seen in the earlier sequences Rex Downing and Ann Todd, playing the lovers as youngsters, show great promise. Also not to be forgotten in praisegiving is Zanuck's Associate Producer Robert f. Kane, who has given his boss what is certain to be one of his greatest hits. There is drama and excitement in bull fighting — there is also brutality. The latter has been completely deleted — expertly handled by the master screen writer Jo Swerling. Tyrone Power, born of a champion of the Sanded Arena, lives in poverty in the slums of Seville. At night he steals from a nearby ranch to learn the profession he loves. An altercation with Laird Cregar, who is slandering his father in a bar-room, forces him to run away to Madrid. He is accompanied by his youthful band of expectant toreadors. He has pledged himself to his sweetheart Carmen. Ten years later he returns, a fifth-rate bull fighter — still surrounded by his henchmen — none of whom can read or write. He rises to the position of the "First Man of Spain." He is adored by rector, Irving Rapper; Screenplay, Howard Koch and Anne Froelick; From a play by A. J. Cronin; Cameraman, James Wong Howe; Editor, Warren Low. DIRECTION, Able. PHOTOGRAPHY, Top Notch. the crowds, loved by his wife and sought after by other women. Rita Hayworth proves to be the only one who can turn his head. She does so — beautifully, and he winds up, still on top, but because of the loss of his former recklessness pointed down the ladder. His wife leaves him, his creditors hound him, and he then realizes that Linda is truly "the only honest one in the world." He meets his wife in the chapel before he goes to meet his last bull, then his blood is spilled on the sands of the arena for the first and last time. The picture ends on a courageous rather than a tragic note despite Power's death. The crowd cheers for a new idol. Blood and Sand are what Spain wants. This picture needs no support. It will hold and bring back audiences of every age. CAST: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, Nazimova, Anthony Quinn, J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar, Vicente Gomez, William Montague, George Reeves, Pedro De Cordoba, Fortunio Bonanova, Victor Kilian, Michael Morris, Charles Stevens, Ann Todd, Cora Sue Collins, Russell Hicks, Maurice Cass, Rex Downing, John Wallace, Jacqueline Dalya, Cullen Johnson, Larry Harris, Ted Frye, Schuyler Standish. CREDITS: Producer, Darryl F. Zanuck; Associate Producer, Robert T. Kane; Director, Rouben Mamoulian; Based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez; Screenplay, Jo Swerling; Photographed in Technicolor; Directors of Photography, Ernest Palmer, and Ray Rennahan, ASC; Technicolor Director, Natalie Kalmus; Associate, Morgan Padelford; Musical Director, Alfred Newman; Art Directors, Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright; Editor, Robert Bischoff. DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent. Hold Rites Saturday For J. V. "Jack" Smith Funeral services for John Vincent "Jack" Smith, 56, New York JournalJAmerican drama editor, who died early yesterday, will be held from his home, 546 W. 150th St., at 9:30 am. Saturday and at 10 a.m. from St. Catherine of Genoa Church. Two sisters survive. Smith, widely known both in stage and screen circles, collapsed in the Hotel Astor Tuesday night and was rushed to the Medical Center where death occurred. $$ BR0** NVM»es BINNIE BARNES • GILBERT ROLAND MARY LEE BILLY GILBERT ■ JANE f RAZEE ■ EDWARD NORRIS KATHARINE ALEXANDER ■ LEO GORCEY LOIS RANSOM LENI LYNN ■ MARILYN HARE BiRNASD VORHAUS, Director < B.o-n and e/odfc-'d "oPe, ■ 0''9>n .toy by Geeig y George Cart l REPUBLIC PICTURE GILBERT ROLAND He's t* <*¥*> • • He's a • •