The Film Daily (1939)

10 ©'•'V DAILY Monday, March 20, 193' ■V :< REVIEWS Of TH€ n€UI FILMS .V A "Three Smart Girls Grow Up" with Deanna Durbin, Charles Winninger Universal 90 Mins. WILL PLEASE THE HIGH SCHOOL TRADE WITH DEANNA IN HER FIRST LOVE. A nice concoction of young puppy love that will please the high school kiddies no end, with Deanna Durbin almost grown up and into her first love affair. She meets the lad (Robert Cummings) at a singing school where he plays in the orchestra, falls violently in love, and invites him to come to her fashionable home that evening for dinner. When he arrives, the fun begins, for she has two sisters (Nan Grey and Helen Parrish) who are a few years older than Deanna and who do not approve of some of the things she does. Especially falling in love at her tender age. Her mother (Nella Walker) is a wise lady, and handles the situation very diplomatically, making the lad feel right at home when he calls, but determined nevertheless to break up the affair. But it turns out to be all on Deanna's side, for he falls hard for Nan. The latter is also intrigued by the boy, but happens to be engaged. Deanna flies into a rage when she sees her beau paying all his attention to her blonde sister. It remains for the girl's dad (Charles Winninger) to straighten everything out eventually. After devious windings, Deanna realizes that her parents are right and that she must stand aside and wait till she is a little older. At the finale, it looks like her sister is going through wih her marriage to her fiance, but dad cleverly switches the bride into the waiting arms of Deanna's almost-beau and Deanna has been doing a little work for Cupid also, and helps to bring the jilted youth into the arms of her other sister, for they find they are really in love with one another. It is all pretty mixed up and highschoolish, but the picture was mads to appeal to the younger crowds, and they will no doubt go for the mixed love affairs in a big way. Deanna sings four songs very acceptably. Selling Angles: Deanna in her first love, and her singing. CAST: Deanna Durbin, Charles Winninger, Nan Grey, Helen Parrish, Robert Cummings, William Lundigan, Ernest Cossart Nella Walker. CREDITS: Producer, Joe Pasternak; Director, Henry Koster; Authors, Bruce Manning, Felix Jackson; Cameraman, Joe Valentine; Editor, Ted Kent. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY Fine. Court Reserves Decision on Goldberg M of T Suit Supreme Court Justice Ferdinand Pecora, following three-day trial, on * riday reserved decision in the action brought by Lou Goldberg against Time, Inc. Plaintiff claimed he originated the idea of adapting to the screen the dramatized radio programs presented as "The March of Time," and that the defendant used the idea without compensation to him, and instituted the films known as The March of Time. "The Mystery of Mr. Wong" with Boris Karloff, Grant Withers Monogram 67 Mins. SUSPENSE WELL SUSTAINED IN CLEVER MURDER MYSTERY WITH BORIS KARLOFF AS THE SLEUTH. A murder mystery that winds a devious path, with Boris Karloff in the role of Mr. Wong, the private investigator. The crime Involves the Eye of the Daughter of the Moon, a famous Chinese stone that has been stolen by an American art collector (Morgan Wallace). He gives a party at I his home, attended by the Chinese detecI tive, an art collector (Holmes Herbert) and | other guests. The suspense is built up with mysterious goings and comings of Oriental figures and the fact that the owner of the jewel has received a threat of death. Wallace shows Mr. Wong the jewel, and a letter in which he has written the name of the person he suspects may do away with him according to the threat. He is murdered in the course of a game that the guests play, and then Wong takes charge and starts with the help of the police to run down the clues. There are the usual number of suspects, involving the dead man's own wife, his secretary who is in love with the wife, and a Russian (Ivan Lebedeff). Then comes another murder as an Oriental maid is killed. After some clever deductions, Wong assembles them all in his home, tells them he has the missing letter that gives the name of the murderer, and finally pins the crime on ' Holmes Herbert, the other collector, who killed in order to possess the jewel and be; cause he was in love with the victim's wife. j Boris Karloff is convincing in his role, and I the supporting cast is adequate. Selling i angle: The name of Karloff in the role of the famous Chinese detective, and the ! strong murder mystery suspense. CAST: Boris Karloff, Dorothy Tree, Grant Withers, Lotus Long, Morgan Wallace, Holmes Herbert, Craig Reynolds, Ivan Lebedeff, Hooper Atchley. CREDITS: Producer, William T. Lackey; Director, William Nigh; Author, Hugh Wiley; Screenplay, Scott Darling; Editor, Russell Schoengarth. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Okay. U. S. Films Draw Criticism of Ex-Australian Official Melbourne (By Cable) — American films were criticized sharply here on the week-end by the recently-resigned Commonwealth Attorney General R. G. Menzies. He said U. S. features gave Australians a wrong impression of American life since footage suggested that Americans either lived in slums or in a state of "splendid immorality," and added that there is little wonder the Australians fail to understand that majority of Americans are honest, hard-working people like themselves. 'Crisis' Mayer-Burstyn 95 Mins. IMPRESSIVE DOCUMENTARY FILM OF THE SUDETEN CRISIS FINELY PHOTOGRAPHED. A very fine and workmanlike job in the camera reporting of the crisis in the Sudetenland up to the time when the Nazi army moved in and occupied the Czech territory. The producer and director, Herbert Kline, worked with his crew for many months in close co-operation with the Czech authorities, who gave him every facility to get any material desired. And so the camera report is very detailed and complete, covering all phases of the life of the people, their hopes and fears, and the final overturn as the Munich treaty left the Czechs without the support of their former allies, and helpless to stop the taking over of the Sudeten territory by the Nazis. The commentary by Vincent Sheean is very well done, with Leif Erickson doing the narration. The photography is excellent. Here is a really excellent documentary film that should prove of great historical importance, for it contains phases of the world-stirring crisis that have not been caught by the newsreels. The propaganda is of course all on the side of the Czechs, but it strikes the observer as honest propaganda that tries to truthfully report the facts as the producer saw them. A least the camera cannot lie, and here are many scenes that will serve to give the intelligent historical student a clearer grasp of many phases that may have escaped his attention, or which the newspaper accounts have not covered. With the present new crisis now occurring in the Czech territory, this film takes no a new importance and interest. CREDITS: Producer, Herbert Kline; Director, same; Commentator, Vincent Sheean; Co-directors, Hans Burger, A. Hackenschmid; Narrator, Leif Erickson; Cameraman, Alexander Hackenschmid. Met. M. P. Council Flays N. Y. State's Censorship "The Farce of New York State Censorship of Motion Pictures" is highlight of most recent issue of the monthly Bulletin published by the Metropolitan Motion Picture Council, affiliate of the National Board of Review. The 10-page symposium, attacking legal censorship of motion pictures in practice as essentially un-American, brands it an aspersion upon public morality; an insult to American intelligence; an excuse for indirect taxation of the film industry; an opportunity for dispensing of political patronage; an obstacle to the production of truly entertaining adult films; a violation of the American Bill of Rights by means of impairment of freedom and artistic expression and public communication; and an ideal instrument for the promotion of bigotry and intolerence, and a possible implementing of the agents of Communism, Fascism and Nazism. ; "The Puritan" with Jean Louis Barrault, Viviane Roma Lenauer Films ( V,M FINE DRAMATIC PSYCHOLOGIC FILM BEAUTIFULLY ACTED BUT THE! IS CONTROVERSIAL. This French production from the st by the Irish playwright, Liam O'Flahe is a beautifully produced and acted p chological study of a religious fanatic vj finds his entire life and philosophy tur topsy-turvy as he falls madly in love w girl and kills in jealousy. The actingg Barrault is superb, and you almost feel workings of his distraught mind as gropes around trying to rationalize his tions as his world falls to pieces arc him. His search is for peace of mind a desire to justify the murder of the to himself. The police inspector patie and tirelessly keeps on his trail, with putting him under arrest, convinced he is the murderer, and waiting for moment when he feels the man will br under the strain of his own religious f aticism. The work of the entire casl exceptionally fine, the direction notewor but the theme is only suitable for hi; sophisticated audiences, and could n be shown to mixed audiences of the a age motion picture type. It is a pity, here is grown-up fare, beautifully done' story, directing and acting. Pix isP French with superimposed English titl CAST: Jean Louis Barrault, Pierre F nay, Viviane Romance, Alia Donell, L milla Pitoeff, Frehel, Rosita Montene Marcel Vallee, Genevieve Sorya, Boucol CREDITS: Director, Jeff Musso; Aut Liam O'Flaherty; Produced by Derby Fill DIRECTION, Excellent. PHOTOGRAP \ The Best. 1 Shapiro Hints Pa. Senate May Not Confirm Cens Harrisburg, Pa. — Possibility t Pennsylvania may not have a r censor board for some time vfl foreshadowed here Friday wl Sen. Harry Shapiro, Democrat" leader, asserted that the Sen would not confirm appointments a new board if the dismissal of old board was a "wholesale remo for political purposes." Office staff of the board in Ph:i|« delphia meanwhile is awaiting appointment of a new board. As an average of 45 reels are \|v viewed daily by the board, exhibit feel that the pictures awaiting view will pile up so rapidly that hibitors will be unable to obtain releases. Patrick A. Duffy, vice-chair of the board, who, with Mrs. Hes Frye, secretary, refused to resig: the Governor's request, stated: just couldn't walk out. The bo is a necessity for the motion pict' industry and we couldn't leave board without censors." They w| then dismissed bv the Gove: Mrs. A. Mitchell Palmer, chairm resigned as demanded.