The Film Daily (1948)

DAILY Wednesday, June 9, 1! MPEA to Finalize Clearing House Plan (Continued from Page 1) this paper's British bureau that the project was waiting the New York okay. At the same time, McCarthy also confirmed The Film Daily's Monday disclosure that he had been temporarily designated as the MPEA's rep. on the Control Committee provided for in the film agreement. Further discussing aspects of The Film Daily's exclusive story, McCarthy said that American Embassy reprepresentation on the clearing house operational board of three had not as yet been settled. Harold Wilson, president of the Board of Trade, is expected to announce the British members of the Control Committee before the week ends. In addition to the clearing house project, Friday's meeting of the MPEA board is expected to consider overtures from the British ACT for a deal governing the number of Hollywood technicians permitted to work in British studios. The ACT has okayed Alfred N. Knopf and George Cukor for a Metro stint, but the company is not seeking other permits, it is understood, pending MPEA consideration and action. The ACT has a standing agreement with the British Film Producers Association for the working there of seven each U. S. producers and directors. "Superman" Serial Being Booked by First Runs Columbia's serial, "Superman," is being sold to first run houses which never previously played chapter plays, A. Montague, general sales manager, said yesterday at the company's sales meeting in the Hotel Warwick. Many of the contracts received in the first two weeks of sales call for extra playing time, he said, and a number of important first runs have booked the serial for a full week. Montague also announced "The Jolson Story" will remain available to exhibitors for an additional 90 days, until Sept. 1. Film was to be taken out of release on June 1. REUI POSTS JERRY SEGAL, manager, Lyric, Asbury Park. PAUL LEATHERBY, salesman, Columbia, Des Moines. TONY FURSEE, salesman, Universal, Des Moines. HAROLD PERLMAN, Hygienic Production ad-publicity department, Wilmington, 0. GLEN BONER, Fox Midwest manager, Centralia, III. HAROLD TEEL, manager. State, Roseland, III. GENE LANGENFELD, manager, Orpheum, Terre Haute, Ind. WILLIAM SMITH, salesman, Film Classics, Dallas. TED KRAFT, manager, Drive-In, Kokomo, Ind. ROLLIE MOORE, relief manager, Texas, San Antonio, Tex. :< REVIEW Of THE IIEUJ f I LUIS i "Romance on the High Seas" with Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don Defore, Doris Day, Oscar Levant. (Technicolor) Warners 99 Mins. DEVASTATING DORIS DAY SOCKO IN FIRST STANZA; THIS ONE WILL HAVE THEM BUYING HEAVILY INTO RICH SHARES OF SUMMER ENTERTAINMENT; AND SHOULD' GO $ PLACES. In the first place it must be reported here that Doris Day, making her initial screen appearance in this musical comedy, travelogue, song and dance production and what have you is no less than devastating as a comedienne and singer. Not only is she the Warner answer to the effect of Summer meteorology on the box office and its attendant slump but her next, and the still more to come — appearances, that is — are undoubtedly going to be eagerly awaited and well patronized. Day is going to be spelled dough at the box office, from here on out. The whole show has been draped around Miss Day and she not only looks good in it but she is good. Completely at ease in the Michael Curtiz show, Miss Day makes her every appearance register and gives the impression that she's out to devastate the proceedings. And she does, too. It is a bright, gay, comical and colorful business that drives this light yarn along from New York to Rio de Janeiro, with stops along the way. Supporting players who are featured with La Day have lent themselves skillfully to the task and almost equivalent laurels should be dealt out all 'round First a singer and then a gal with a glib tongue, Miss Day occupies a solo singing spot from time to time delivering lines and lyrics with equal zip and punch. If it be probed to its rock bottom the basic theme of the story might not prove a gem of high originality but it has been polished, spiked and stimulated with a wealth of the light touch to set it off anew on a delightful whirl. Once aboard the cruise ship after things get perking in the matter of plot development the narrative is studded with interludes that include a rhythmic Cuban do, a session of Calypso and of course Miss Day meeting and having a session with the Page Cavanaugh Trio. She's smooth, that girl is, and she makes the reaction tick at the right time and place. Well, what it's all about is that Janis Paige, married to Don Defore, a drugstore magnate, wants to go on a belated honeymoon every year but the press of business keeps her spouse tied to his desk. Conniving with S. Z. Sakall, uncle to Defore, she engages travelstruck Miss Day to take a cruise to SA while she has a looksee at her husband for she thinks he has been playing around with his secretary, Leslie Brooks. Defore in turn suspects Miss Paige so he hires Jack Carson to trail her. So Carson trails Miss Day who plays at being "Mrs. Elvira Kent." First thing you know they get more than warm as they romance through the tropics and at Havana Oscar Levant, frustrated piano playing sweetie to Miss Day comes aboard, having hocked his shirt for passage. As they roll down to Rio no one tells the other the truth and once in Brazil the proceedings boil up into a potable brew of bedroom farce and kindred elements which "Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'" with Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Penny Edwards U-l 78 Mins. SOUNDLY CONTRIVED COMEDY YARN HAS MUSIC ANGLE TO FOCUS REMUNERATIVE EXPLOITATION PROGRAM; GOOD HANDLING IN VARIOUS DIVISIONS. The formula is sound. Take a popular song and drape it around a Collier's Magazine story that is somehow moulded to fit into the narrative and with the talents of Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, plus the sweetness and charm of Penny Edwards, the resultant concoction becomes an entertainment that the general audience on the lookout for something in the line of serio-comic song and dance fare will find to their liking. To the above ingredients might be added a couple of boy-girl routines wherein such pleasantly familiar numbers as "Me and My Shadow," "S'Posin'," and the title tune, considerably complement the screenplay by D. D. Beauchamp, author of the magazine piece It's a yokel sort of yarn with a 90's background. Once in a while Miss Main and Kilbride get off a couple of wry, flavored cracks and the slapstickery of the concluding business adds to the hinterland heynonnyo. The towns of Rimrock and Big Bend in Bench County vie with each other to see who can put forth the fastest footrunner each year. The populace bets its collective shirts and Miss Main, Mayoress of the former hamlet, seizes and incarcerates Donald O'Connor, a hair oil drummer, who inadvertently gives evidence of his fleetfootedness. After a passable assortment of events in which boy meets girl and loses her, O'Connor finally races Fred Kohler, Jr., and overcomes any number of trials to be finally stimulated over the finish line by a bottle of his hair stuff. Kilbride later makes him Mayor of Rimrock, ousting Miss Main and it stands he will hold the post and marry Miss Edwards. Miss Edwards is a pleasant newcomer. The cast, majors and minors, run through the yarn with ease. George Sherman directed. CAST: Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Penny Edwards, Joe Besser, Harry Shannon, Fred Kohler, Jr., Howard Chamberlin, Edmund Cobb, Joel Friedkin, I. Stanford Jolley. CREDITS: Producer, Leonard Goldstein; Director, George Sherman; Screenplay and original Collier's story, D. D. Beauchamp; Photography, Irving Glassberg; Art, Bernard Herzbrun, Frank A. Richards; Editor, Edward Curtiss; Sound, Leslie I. Carey, Richard De Weese; Sets, Russell A. Gausman, Ray L. Jeffers; Dances, Louis DaPron; Music, Leith Stevens. DIRECTION: Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. conclude with all the principals meeting at a hotel and an understanding by all concerned. Not, however, before the Technicolored setting erupts in a wild kaleidoscope of song, dance and general merriment. CAST: Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don Defore, Doris Day, Oscar Levant, S. Z. Sakall, Fortunio Bonanova, Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn, Leslie Brooks, William Bakewell, Johnny Berkes, Kenneth Britton, Avon Long, Sir Lancelot, The Samba Kings, The Pace Cavanaugh Trio. CREDITS: Producer, Alex Gottlieb; Director, Michael Curtiz; Screenplay, Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein; Additional dialogue I. A. L. Diamond; From a story by S. Pondal Rios, Carlos A.OIivari; Photography, Elwood Bredell; Art, Anton Grot; Editor, Rudi Fehr; Sound, Everett A. Brown, David Forrest; Sets, Howard Winterbottom; Music, Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn; Orchestrations, Ray Heindorf; Musical numbers. Busby Berkeley; Musical director, Leo F. Forbstein. DIRECTION: Tops. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. "Portrait of Innocenc (French Cast) Siritzky 90 Ml FRENCH IMPORT STANDS TO ACHIi1 LENGTHY TENANCY IN RIGHT *P! WELL DONE. (*r) Demonstrating again their flair for f dling youngsters in a story that gener, a fine, human warmth, the French produ of this number have delivered a cleverly c ceived and executed entertainment 1 should flood the theater with patron once erudite lay press pundits get t! comment out. It is a simple yarn of child life, psycl ogy, and it is told with understanding sight. The kids who people this script are fa uninhibited given to imitating the act content of U. S. western dramas seen the screen and calling each other Tom K etc. However, when one of their num is in a hot spot, presumably facing refc school or, at worst a hiding from papa, t rally to his aid and therein lies the t. A school window is broken. Its value 1,800 francs and it looks bad for the respi sible individual who accidently kicked a fo ball through it. Applying themselves copains find all sorts of comical and • jobs, even "creating" some shoe shin business when the trade falls off. T stanza of the proceedings is done with m, of the finely thought out Gallic touches t keep bringing the aficionados of the gei enthusiastically back for more. Pierre Larquey plays an amateur deft tive who tries to aid the children when th money is stolen by a couple of loafers m have been observing the proceedings. Tl get their money back and when ready pay for the window they learn the he; master was only pretending so they fori with have another football game and ; other window is smashed. A thread of mance is woven in the plot Footage v mostly shot in a rundown suburban Pa location which gives it much realism. CAST: Louise Carletti, Gilbert Gil, Pierre L quey, Andre Brunot, Emile Genevoix, Bussier Coedel, Jean-Pierre Geoffroy, Georges Reygni Jean Buquet, Bernard Dayde. CREDITS: A Pathe Film; Director, Louis I quin; Scenario, Hilero and Gaston Modot; Mus Marius-Francois Gaillard; Photograph, Bachel English titles, Charles Clement. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPF Fairly Good. Judge Maguire to Speak At AMPA's Installation Judge Edward C. Maguire, coorc nator of Mayor O'Dwyer's city m , tion picture committee, will be guest speaker at AMPA's 32nd a nual installation luncheon in tl North Ballroom of the Hotel Ast> tomorrow. Judge Maguire will describe tl progress made by the city in tl field of attracting and stimulatir motion picture production here. Max E. Youngstein, Eagle Lie vice-president and ad-publidity-e: ploitation director, heads the slate candidates who will be inducted. WE Directors Set $1 Div. Western Electric's directors ye terday declared a $1 dividend, pa; able June 30 to stockholders of r«: ord June 24.