The Film Daily (1947)

uesday, December 23, 1947 IHE' DAILY: ^ f ILin DAILV REVIEWS Of hEUI f EflTURES i^ "Bill and Coo" public • 61 Mins. ENTHRALLING NOVELTY FOR THOSE HO APPRECIATE THE SCREEN'S FINE IINGS AND LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT. Review style of this paper is to list the ids ir-->iediately under the title. This time ice. 3S this an impossibility. However will'^rr' noted at this starting point that sre are 273 Love Birds. They belcng to 'lorge Burton. Jimmy the Crow, is the aperty of Curley Twiford. Also, there are sorted kittens, puppies, baby alligators, )nkeys, horned toads, chipmunks and a inea pig. All this minor scale menagerie js Trucolor. So much for all that. What evolves as "Bill and Coo" is a oroughgoing and delightfully different en rtainment. It should enthrall youngsters, ie them a keen, delightful time. If any ing was ever made to order for the Yule le film show for juveniles, this is it and 6 alert exhibitor will do well to double I'eck it with his red pencil. ij Here we have a spectacle that borders the amazing and is accomplished with I ste and imagination. It is a display of ,ird training the like of which has never ijjten seen. The concoc+ion of the piece is ijiiever all the way and comes off a refresh kigly bright entertainment. i In the birdtown of Chirpendale the fathered folk live as complete an exist ,lice as does their human counterparts. Bill !. a boy love bird, Coo is his sweetie. The ,;ript gads about the place makes introduciOns here and there, shows this and that, ihese bits are brief gems of the humorous, jihe only thing that scares the daylights out ,L the birds is a marauding crow. This crow ,|jids the town once and is thwarted. On his 3xt visit he is captured. The lovebirds put Operation Crowbait" into the works to I lin this end. Good deal of the footage is svoted to a circus performance in which le birds do some really remarkable stunts. s the concluding note, Bill and Coo marry. • is a delight constantly. Film springs from n idea in Ken Murray's "Blackouts." CREDITS: Produced by Ken Murray; Directed I Dean Riesner; Screenplay, Royal Foster, Dean iesner; Based on an Idea from Ken Murray's Blackouts"; Photography, Jack Marto; Music, ovid Buttolph; Musical director, Lionel Newfln; Songs, David Buttolph, Lionel Newman, oyal Foster, DeSylva-Brown-Henderson. • DIRECTION, Smart. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. 'Intrigue" LRi-Monogram Set Six ^■'or January Release Monogram and Allied Artists will elease six features during Janlary, 1948, according to an anlouncement by Steve Broidy, presilent. "Song of My Heart" is on the Lllied slate, while Monogram will lave a quintet embracing "Smart »olitics," "Song of the Drifter," Rocky," "In Self-Defense" and Panhandle." with George Raft, June Havoc, I Helena Carter i Star-UA 90 Mins. j ROUTINE RAFT NUMBER: RETARDED \ BY LONG-S(^ACIN(j OF ACTION SE ^ QUEiNCEi: JUST ADtQUATE FARE. Weakness in this one iies in concentrating a great deal of space, time and footage { to dull dialogue moments when the accent should have been on action of a violent nature and such trivia as builds for the promise in the film s title. The over all I story concerns the breakup of a black market ring in Shanghai. ~l he other story is the j vindication of George Raft, one-time Army pilot, of a court martial conviction that caused his dismissal from the service when contraband goods was found in his plane. Three fellow officers, also convicted, are dead. He is rather thoroughly shunned by Americans in the Chinese City until Helena Carter and Tom Tully come along. In the beginning the plot is airborne. This is exciting. At the end Raft breaks up the black market gang in a brawl. That too, is action. In between he goes from Miss Carter to Miss Havoc and back. The former is a lovely innocent girl, sister of a crewmember, also a social worker. Miss Havoc is a beauteous, sinuous, devastatingly dressed "Madame Baranoff," sort of Dragon Lady operator. In black market circles she's ebon. Tully figures as a newspaperman come to China to expose the illegal activity and of course he eventually finds out about Raft's participation. But Raft pulls a switch when he sees orphaned children faced with hunger. Tully is murdered. His dander up. Raft visits his Miss Havoc, makes her write a confession, throws open a warehouse full of food to the starving citizenry and after beating up Marvin Miller, walks off with Miss Carter. Yarn as displayed here is pretty feeble stuff most of the way. It has visual appeal — Miss Havoc. A good deal of unconvincing hokum lards the proceedings. CAST: George Raft, June Havoc, Helena Carter, Tom Tully, Marvin Miller, Dan Seymour, Phillip Ahn, Jay C. Flippen, Marc Krah, Charles Lane, Edna Holland, Michael Visaroff, Peter Chong Maria Son Marco. CREDITS: A Star Films Production; Producer, Sam Bischoff; Director, Edwin L. Martin, Screenplay, Barry Trivers, George Slcvin; Original story, George Slcvin; Photography, Lucien Andriot; Music, Louis Forbes; Art director, Arthur Lonergon; Film editor, George Arthur; Sound, William H. Lynch, Don Raubrere;; Aviation sequence, Paul Montz. DIRECTION, Average. PHOTOGRAPHY, Very Good. iobert Atkins Dead Robert W. Atkins, 58, president of he Hat Corp. of America, and a irector of Trans-Lux Corp. and its . peratine subsidiaries, died Sunday tH St. Luke's Hospital. Otis R. Campbell Dead El Paso, Tex.— Otis R. Campbell, >perator for the Plaza, Ellanay and 'alace for the past 25 years, is dead. "Heading for Heaven" with Siuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell Eagle Lion 71 Mins. WELL DONE UNPRETENTIOUS SERIOCOMIC NUMBER FOR THE AVERAGE FILMGOER. A pat exercise in domesticity deriving from the stage play by Charles Webb and Daniel Brown, this one makes the grade as a serio-comic offering for the average filmgoer who is satisfied with a few laughs here and there. It is unpretentious. Performances are capable, unfold with ease that comes from veteran skill. The humor content is of the warm, homespun, familiar variety, easy to take. Film is dual bill fare, might be able to stand alone in other situations. Third in line to inherit "Elkins East Acres," Stuart Erwin will not relinquish control of the undeveloped property unless it is to be the site of housing. The town of Elklnsville has always, according to the Elkins tribe, been expected to expand to the Eastward. Only offers Edwin gets are from prospective operators of cemeteries and golf courses. After a good deal of rigmarole Erwin falls afoul of a dirty deal contrived by Dick Elliott. He fakes a suicide. Glenda Farrell, playing Erwin's wife, is given to believing in phoney spiritualism purveyed by Russ Vincent who is in cahoots with Elliott. After a binge with a pair of hoboes, Erwin returns to find his wife about to sign away the real estate. He louses up the seance, scares Elliott off and winds up on the better side of the prospective deal. He sells to an airline. They will also build a housing project to quarter personnel. Laughter will come easily. As directed by Lewis D. Collins, content measures up well. CAST: Stuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell, Russ Vincent, Irene Ryan, Milburn Stone, George O'Han' Ion, Janice Wilson, Ralph Hodges, Dick Elliott, Charles Williams, Selmer Jackson, Horry Tyler, I Ben Welden, Betty West, Jack Del Rio. CREDITS: An Ace Production; Producer, George Moskov; Executive producer. Jack Schwarz; Director, Lewis D. Collins; Screenplay, Lewis D. Collins, Oscar Mugge; Based on a play by Charles Webb, Daniel Brown; Photography, George Robinson; Film editor, Marty Cohn; Sets, Frank Sylos; Set decorator, Earle Wooden; Sound, Ferol Redd; Music, Hal Borne. DIRECTION, Capable. PHOTOGRAPHY, Okay. Philly Variety Elects Felt as Chief Barker Philadelphia — Mike Felt was named chief barker of the local Variety Club. Others named were Sidney Samuelson, first assistant; Fred Mann, second assistant; Charles Goldfine, treasurer, and Harry Pennys, Samuelson, Mann and Meyer Adelman, Jack Beresin, Harold Cohen, Henry Friedman, Ted Schlanger and Dave Supowitz. George Blakeslee Dead Denver — George L. Blakeslee, 77, builder and owner of the Grand, Lander, Wyo., died in a Denver hospital after a long illness. Wilshire Plans 6 Action Films Within 2 Years "Shakuntala" with Jayashree Mayer-Burstyn 75 Mins. SHOULD BE WATCHED: A DISTINCT FOREIGN FLAVORED NOVELTY: MIGHT BE SOMETHING. First India-produced film to be offered commercially in this country, "Shakuntala" reveals that V. Shantaram, its producer, has the equipment, the technicians and just about all the appurtenances including some ancient cutting tricks. What is offered in the way of story is a consummate display of naivete in writing and acting. All of which might be satisfactory to the great audience in India but to the American audience accustomed to coherence and a realism deriving from previous conditioning, it is something else again. "Shakuntala" is a decided novelty. It will probably be found interesting by the clientele that turns out for all foreign product. There are English subtitles to translate the Hindustani dialogue and the strong religious flavor of the scenario has much interest. With serious overtones of mysticism the script deals with the romance and marriage of Shakuntala witth Dushayant. For a brief period they are connubially happy when she is the victim of a curse that causes her husband, who is a native king, to forget her. She becomes pregnant and seeks her spouse who has left. When she finds him he does not recognize or remember their romance. She repairs to the woods. Their son is born. After a few years the king comes upon the child and there is recognition. A happy reconciliation follows. Tale is based on a play by the Indian poet, Kalidasas, written 15 centuries before Shakespeare. All this reviewer knows about films in India is what he reads in "filmindia," a sort of Bombay version of The Hollywood Reporter. That organ is frequently impassioned, vehement and peculiarly funny. This film is all of that, too, and more. CAST: Jayashree, Chandra Mohan, Nimbalkar, Zohra, Shantarin, Vidya, Kumar, Gonesh, Raja Pandit, Villas, Amino, Nana Palsikar, Madan Mohan, Ratanpiya. CREDITS: Produced and directed bv V. Shantaram; Screenplay, Dewan Sharar; Chief technician, B. M. Tata; Songs, Dewan Sharar, Pt. Ratanpiya; Musical director, Vasant Desai, Art director, Bal Gajbar; Sound, A. K. Parmar; Dances, Prof. More. DIRECTION, No Comment. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Wilshire Picture Prods., Inc., has been formed to produce a series of six action pictures in two years, it is announced. Officers of the company include James Doane, president; Arthur Desser, vicepresident; H. B. Garfield, board chairman, and David H. Garfield, treasurer; George McCall is in charge of production, with W. M. Collins in charge of sales. Offices are in the Guaranty Bldg. "Furia" Follows "Panic" "Furia," Italian pic released by Film Classics, will follow "Panic" into the Rialto. Opening date has not been set. NSS will handle acces Ernest MoUison Dead Temple, Tex. — Ernest Mollison, former exhibitor of Alpine and Raymondville, died in a local hospital. Brentlinger, Chief Barker Of Indianapolis Variety Indianapolis — Russell Brentlinger was named chief barker of the Variety Club of Indianapolis. Earl Hernden and A. C. Zaring were named first and second assistant barkers, respectively. Thomas McCleaster was chosen secretary and Albert Blocher was named treasurer. Elected to the board of directors were Boyd Sparrow, Trueman Rembusch, Burdette Peterson, Milton Krueger, Sol Greenberg, Richard Frank, Guy Craig, Sam Switow, Ken Collins, Irving Fendrick and Marc Wolf. SG Minn. Franchise Sold Minneapolis — Julius A. Collier, owner of North Star Films, Shakopee, has taken over the Screen Guild franchise from Joseph Wolf. Latter recently disposed of his Film Classics ' franchise.