The Film Daily (1947)

wHldaily I Friday, December 27, 1946 ^flim DfllLV RCVIEUIS OF nEUJ KflTURCS-^' "The Man I Love" with Ida Lupino, Robert Alda Warners 96 Mins. GOOD WOMAN'S ANGLE YARN: JHOULD DRAW WITH THE SKIRT /•RADE: DONE WELL. Ida Lupino in this one is a handsomelydowned femme fatale. She's a West 52nd ftreet night club singer who takes a quick trip out to the Coast to visit with her sister and brother during the Christmas holidays. That's at the bottom of it all for she promptly proceeds to inject a dozen troublesome situations into their lives, jobs and romances. In due course of the footage she manages to restore some semblance of balance to the various domestic situations she becomes embroiled in, and even finds herself a true love. The tale has all the smoke of night clubs and about as much ignition. There is a good deal of attention paid music which has Miss Lupino, a keen listener of and appraiser of hot music. She sings, in the blues style, such standbys as "Why Was I Born," "Bill," "Body and Soul" and the title number. Her voice is on the flat side but she registers. Miss Lupino sets out to thwart the wolfish designs of Robert Alda on her sister, Andrea King. A number of other people become involved in what transpires and Dolores Moran, mother of twins and inclined toward the playful side, dies as a result of a boozy rendezvous with Alda. Meanwhile Miss Lupino carries a torch for Bruce Bennett, sailor-pianist, masquerading under the monicker of "San Thomas." He carries a slight smouldering facsimile of the same thing for his lately divorced wife. Miss Lupino securely hooks Bennett after a great deal of running around, getting nowhere. His ship is about to sail. They vow the usual vows. Finally the many faceted plot is strung up to manage a semblance of coherence. The affair closes with normal order and procedure coming into its own. The dialogue is pointed up to corral the attention of women. The dramatic business captures the directorial intent. CAST: Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Bruce Bennett, Andrea King, Martha Vickers, Alan Hale, Dolores Moran, John Ridgely, Don McGuire, Warren Douglas, Craig Stevens, William Edmunds, James Dobbs, Patrick Griffin. CREDITS: Producer, Arnold Albert; Director, Raoul Walsh; Screenplay by Catherine Turner, from the novel by Marltta Wolff; Cameraman, Sid Hickox; Film Editor, Owen Marks; Sound, Dolph Thomas, David Forrest; Set Decorations, Eddie Edwards. DIRECTION, Effective. PHOTOGRAPHY Good. Gruenberg to Resume Depinet Drive Tour "Murder in Reverse" with William Hartnell, Jimmie Hanley 4 Continents 80 Mins. STRANGE STORY TWIST RATES THIS IN THE "SLEEPER" CLASS: MERITS ATTENTION. A man cannot be punished for the same crime twice. That's the idea here. It's a good idea, too, and builds up to highly intriguing drama of legalistics and a series of unique events. Louis H. Jackson, the producer, must have gone into the lawbooks for his basic story. He found something distinctly novel which evolves a wry reflection on British jurisprudence. The crime is established as one cf the passion variety. A workingman in the Limehouse district of London learns his wife is deceiving him. One night she runs off with her lover. The husband catches up with them and pursues the man in the case along the waterfront. The hunted disappears after diving into the Thames. The husband is arrested and it is proven in court that he has killed a man. There is no body. The incriminating evidence is circumstantial. He is sent up for 15 years. This is established in flashback treatment. A London editor is trying to get a young reporter enthusiastic about the case. In setting forth the leads he is covering his own tracks. He had adopted the daughter of the supposed culprit. William Hartnell is released after serving his sentence and he tracks down his past via his wife, who has sunk to prostitution; his daughter who unwittingly is helping him and eventually to the "dead"' man. By a ruse he arranges to confront the prosecutor of his case with the man he was supposed to have killed. He does so. In a lengthy tirade he shakes the very foundation of his profession. Then he shoots the man who was supposed to have been dead all along. It is the murder of a man legally called dead. Hartnell had been punished for the crime. He has furnished the courts with the missing body and completed the file on the case. The question posed at the conclusion is: What can be done about it? The story is soundly set forth and played out intelligently. While the cast is not generally known here, they deliver effective performances. Production details lend sincerity to the plot. This one has "sleeper" possibilities. CAST: William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley, Chili Bouchier, John Slater, Brefni O'Rourke, Dinah Sheridan, Petula Clark, Ben Williams, Marie O'Neill. CREDITS: Producer, Louis H. Jackson; Directed by Montgomery Tully; Screenplay by Montgomery Tully based on a story by 'Seamark"; Music, Hans May; Cameraman, Ernest Palmer; Sound, Harold V. King; Film Editor, Eve Catchpole; Art Director, R. Holmes Paul. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Denver — Len S. Gruenberg, RKO district manager, will resume his tour of the company's Rocky Mountain exchanges after the holidays, as captain of the 1946 Ned Depinet drive. Gruenberg will open his meetings in St. Louis on Jan. 3 and will cover Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit the following week. He will be accompanied by Harry Gittleson, assistant to Walter E. Branson, RKO Western division sales manager. "Stars Over Texas" with Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates PRC 59 Mins. AVERAGE EDDIE DEAN OATER SHOULD PLEASE THE GENERAL RUN OF AUDIENCES. Here we have Eddie Dean once more against the western, outdoor scene with all the required elements of such offerings in evidence. The piece unfolding with little distinction, is a routine tale of rustlers and how they are undone. Dean and the Sunshine Boys have some good musical numbers that they render effectively. Roscce Ates makes with the comedy. The only novelty in the telling is a dual role performance of one of the leads. Dean and Ates represent the Cattlemen's Association and they come upon the precarious situation looming on the ranch f Shirley Patterson. It seems a gang of crooks led by Jack O'Shea have been rustling beef in the vicinity. Miss Patterson's ranch is next to be invaded. O'Shea, however, is thwarted by the appearance on the ranch of Dean, in order to eliminate Dean from the scene he has some of his own cattle planted in Miss Patterson's corral. He engages a phoney judge to lo;k into the matter. The judge orders Dean's arrest. Dean makes off to town. Aided by Lee Bennett they locate incriminating evidence. O'Shea and his cohorts dash after Dean intending to wipe him out. Ates holds them at bay with recrackers until Dean can liquidate most of the attackers. The gang, what remains of it, is duly brought to justice and Dean and Ates once again ride off to new adventures. The story wends its average way involving gunplay, fisticuffs, riding and the other "musts" of westerns. The production by Robert Emmett Tansey is up to par. CAST: Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, Shirley Patterson, Lee Bennett, Lee Roberts, Kermit Maynard. Jack O'Shea, Hal Smith, Matty Roubert, Carl Mathews, Bill Fawcett. CREDITS: Producer and Director, Robert Emmett Tansey; Orginal screenplay by Frances Kavanaugh; Cameraman, Ernest Miller; Art Director, Edward C. Jewell; Set Decorator, Vin Taylor; Sound, Ben Winkler; Film Editor, Hugh Winn; Musical Director, Karl Hajos. DIRECTION, Average. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. N. S. Labor to Request Anti-Discrimination Law SHORTS New Glasgow, N. S. — The Nova Scotia Federation of Labor has decided to draft and submit a bill aimed at color discrimination at theaters and other amusement places in Nova Scotia province. The bill will be presented at the 1947 session of the provincial assembly, to open in February. Oil City, La., Strand Wins Clearance's End New Orleans — In the matter of arbitration here between L. W. Watts and T. F. Keasler, operators of the Strand Theater, Oil City, La., and the five major companies, arbitrator has prohibited fixing of any clearance between any theaters located in Shreveport, La., and Strand. Request of complainant for decree ordering distributors to make product available within 10 days of national release was dismissed by the arbitrator without prejudice. ChL Xmas Day B. O. Does Well Chicago — Christmas Day business was good here, with all Loop theaters opening new shows with plenty of advertising behind them. Theater managers reported satisfactory results. "Nobody's Children?" JEv 20th-Fox (MOT) 17 lH^ Universal Appeal In the same vein as "Life With Baby," this latest March of Time spotlights infants, this time orphans. Some little known facts are presented: One couple in every seven is childless; in some sections of the country there are ten offers for every parentless child; it sometimes takes two years to acquire one of these babies; many people have turned to the dubious baby "black market." Rate it a moneymaker with universal appeal that also is an interesting and factual accounting of a national situation. "A Diary for Timothy" English Films, Inc. 40 Mins. Dated Narrated by Michael Redgrave, this footage focuses on Timothy Jen '< kins, born September, 1944, and tells ' in documentary form some of the events which preceded his birth, and accompanies him through the first six months of his life. The ups and downs of the war, naturally, have the greatest effect on the course of his life and the people around him. The camera catches a soldier recovering from a leg injury, a Welsh miner hurt while working, John Gielgud, the actor, and pianist Myra Hess, and flashes back to them several times during Tim's progression. Presented at a time when people are thinking ahead, not back, its production doesn't help to raise it above mediocrity. Para. Selling Minority Interest In Fla. Houses Leonard H. Goldenson, Paramount !J vice-president in charge of theater' operations, announced this week that the company will dispose of the minority interests it holds in several Florida theaters at the end of this year. Houses concerned are located in Eau Gallic, Melbourne, Cocoa, Winterhaven, Lake Wales, Mt. Dora, Umatilla and Tallahassee, Florida. M. C. Talley and B. B. Garner will sever their association with Para. but will continue to manage the theaters concerned as well as other Florida houses now operated by them and in which Para, has had no interest. Frank Rogers will still be in charge of Paramount's remaining theater interests in that state and Fred H. Kent is to continue his association with Rogers. All other Para, personnel are unaffected. Release "Beast" Feb. 8 i "The Beast With Five Fingers" has been set for national release Feb. 8.