The Film Daily (1942)

^Monday, August 17, 1942 ■3*S5 :< :< R€VI€UIS Of TH6 l)€UJ fILfnS :< :< 'Cairo' with Jeanette MacDonald, Robert Young, Ethel Waters, Reginald Owen M-G-M 101 Mins. FAIRLY ENTERTAINING ROMANTIC SPY MELLER WHOSE CHIEF APPEAL IS M.rijjMUSlCAL OFFERINGS. I **i the international situation's lighter ! side is this new romantic comedy -meller . which gives play to the lure and vocalizing I of the popular Jeanette MacDonald; the ■masculine charms of Robert Young; the exciting machinations of Mona Barrie, et al; and the socko, rhythmic blues warbling of sepia Ethel Waters. Above and beyond the eye and ear appeal, "Cairo" is not an especially strong attraction. Mostly given to travesty and occasionally amusing situations, it is something of a hybrid in that it mixes the elements of drama rather indiscriminately with the elements of comedy, and on neither count scores with particular force. Robert Young essays a role which can be described more or less accurately as a Mr. Smith Who Goes Into War-Corresponding. In the interests of a small-town California newspaper, he hies to Cairo, is a victim of torpedoing en route, and arrives at his destination with experience and the preface to the film's main plot under his life belt. In the metropolis of Egypt, he becomes both actually and fancifully a cog in spy and counter-espionage doings, holding until virtually the fade-out the opinion that the comely Miss MacDonald is an enemy agent. Climax of the offering depicts Young in the clutches of the Nazi ring, immediate aim of which is to send a radio-controlled plane against a transport bearing U. S. soldiers. Because of his snooping, the evil ones put him in the plane and dispatch him to expected destruction, following his seizure at one of the Pyramids, which is their (and the plane's) secret lair. But the heroic and distressed MacDonald gets on his trail by coming into possession of a map and other clues. Eventually he is saved; they win one another; and the Nazi ring is brought to justice. Cast does well with a so-so story, but the direction and photography are good. CAST: Jeanette MacDonald, Robert Young, Ethel Waters, Reginald Owen, Grant Mitchell, Lionel Atwill, Edward Ciannelli, Mitchell Lewis, Dooley Wilson, Larry Nunn, Dennis Hoey, Mona Barrie, Rhys Wiliams, Cecil Cunningham, Harry Worth, Frank Richards. CREDITS: Director, Maj. W. S. Van Dyke, II; Screenplay, John McClain, based upon an idea by Ladislas Fodor; Songs by Arthur Schwartz, E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen; Musical Score, Herbert Stothart; Musical Conductor, Georgie Stoll; Dance Direction, Sammy Lee; Cameraman, Ray June; Art Director, Cedric Gibbons; Film Editor, James E. Newcom. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Ditto. Rocky Mountain Outing Denver — The eighth annual outing of the Rocky Mountain Screen Club wil be held Aug. 27 at the Lakewood Country Club in Denver. Golf and bridge will occupy most of the time, with exhibitors and distributors again crossing bats in a softball game. "Hillbilly Blitzkrieg" with Bud Duncan, Edgar Kennedy, Cliff Nazarro (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) Monogram 63 Mins. SECOND IN SNUFFY SMITH SERIES IS RATED AS PASSABLE FILM ENTERTAINMENT. This second in the Snuffy Smith series based on the famous King Features comic strip character by Billy DeBeck should prove passable film fare for the strip's followers. The characterization of Snuffy Smith by Bud Duncan and the Barney Google caricature by Cliff Nazarro are believable and in line with the comic strip delineations, thus providing Director Roy Mack with plastic material in real life situations which he paces satisfactorily. In the Army now, Snuffy and a soldier contingent under Sergeant Edgar Kennedy come to "Hootin' Holler" to guard inventor Lucien Littlefield's radio-controlled rocket bomb. Running short on funds for its completion, Barney Google, part owner, stages a race between Spark Plug and P-40, an Army mule. Foreign agents enter the scene and almost gain control of the coveted bomb and the secret construction plans by doping Kennedy and attempting to fix the race. During a melee with the saboteurs the rocket is accidentaly touched off and Snuffy goes aloft with the bomb. Army officials flying to view tests of the new war instrument encounter the flying bomb and are soon sold on its merits. All ends swell. Edward Gross produced the opus, with Jack Dietz acting as associate. Marcel Le Picard should be credited with some fine photography. Ray S. Harris provided the screenplay, with Carl Harbaugh and Glen Lambert credited with additional comedy development. CAST: Bud Duncan, Edgar Kennedy, Cliff Nazarro, Lucien Littlefield, Doris Linden, Alan Baldwin, Jimmie Dodd, Frank Austin, Nicolle Andre, Manart Kippen, Jerry Jerome, Jack Carr and Teddy Mangean. CREDITS: Producer, Edward Gross; Associate Producer, Jack Dietz; Director, Roy Mack; Cameraman, Marcel Le Picard; Film Editor, Ralph Dixon; Musical Director, Paul Sawtell; Screenplay, Ray S. Harris; Additional comedy development, Carl Harbaugh, Glen Lambert. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. SOEG-Home Office Parley Continues Today Unable to conclude wage negotiations for studio clerical workers over the week-end, representatives of the Coast's Screen Office Employes Guild and home office executives have set another conference for today. Negotiations, which were switched from the Coast when failure to reach an agreement resulted in threat of a strike of white collarites at the studios, have been in progress at the office of Pat Casey, producers' labor representative, since Wednesday. "Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns" with Buster Crabbe, Al St. John PRC 58 Mins. WESTERN FULL OF NOISE AND VIOLENT ACTION FROM OPENING SHOT TO LAST. Billy the Kid (Buster Crabbe) does his Boy Scout deed again in this bust-up western, which opens with a bang and keeps up its breathless pace right up to the finish line. The amiable bandit performs his good work to an accompaniment of barking guns and flying fists that knows no end. Western fans can thank him for keeping them awake and on the alert every moment of the footage. The boss villain this time is a trusted medico (Milton Kibbee) whose racket is to seize the property of the ranchers for nonpayment of bills run up at the co-operative store operated by him and his stooges. The doc puts the ranchmen at his mercy by denying them further credit at the store and making it impossible for them to get their supplies elsewhere. He accomplishes the latter by interfering with the efforts of the ranchers to run their own supplies into town. There are a number of murders committed before Billy the Kid, with the assistance of his buddies Jeff (Dave O'Brien) and Fuzzy (Al St. John), takes over the job of getting to the bottom of the dirty work and bringing the villains to boot. Some of the fights the three get themselves into are sure to make the kids plenty excited. Crabbe, St. John and O'Brien carry the leading roles well. St. John is good for loads of chuckles. Kibbee, John Merton and Ted Adams play the chief villains in acceptable style. Sigmund Neufeld served as producer, with the direction credited to Sherman Scott. George Milton did the screenplay. CAST: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Dave O'Brien, John Merton, Milton Kibbee, Ted Adams, Karl Hackett, Frank Ellis, Slim Whitaker, Budd Buster, Joel Newfield, Joan Barclay. CREDITS: Producer, Sigmund Neufeld; Director, Sherman Scott; Screenplay, George Milton; Cameraman, Jack Greenhalgh; Film Editor, Holbrook N. Todd. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. RKO Reports Smash Biz At Opening of 3 in N. Y. C. Despite a heavy, all-day downpour, three RKO Radio new season pictures, premiering simultaneously in New York, chalked up smash opening day business on Thursday with Walt Disney's "Bambi" at Radio City Music Hall, Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" at the Capitol, and "The Big Street" at the RKO Palace. GWTW Third-Runs Big Chicago — M-G-M reports that "Gone With the Wind" third-runs in the Chicago territory are bringing in record business. Twenty Class C houses will show the film this week. "Call of the Canyon" with Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, The Sons of the Pioneers Republic 71 Mins. VERY SUCCESSFULLY MERGING MUSIC, ACTION AND ROMANCE, THIS IS SWELL ENTERTAINMENT, — ONE OF AUTRY'S BEST. Probably a satisfactory and accurate review of this latest Autry opus is a descriptive line which exhibitors will find on promotional material sent out by Republic in behalf of this feature. We quote: "Action, excitement, comedy, music, blended into ace entertainment." This is no idle appraisal, for "Call of the Canyon" is easily one of the very best vehicles in which the western star has come to theatermen and the public. The picture has a swift moving, suspenseful story, dovetailing neatly with lilting, logically-occurring melodies, rendered chiefly by Autry, but prominently, too, by the refreshing Ruth Terry, who has the femme lead, and the Sons of the Pioneers, the musical aggregation which cuts harmonic capers on the screen as well as cutting Decca records. Film's lighter side is handled by Smiley Burnette; his pintsized counterpart, Joe Strauch, Jr.; the double-talking Cliff Nazarro and comedienne Dorothea Kent, — and consequently there are plenty of bright moments to vie with such song favorites as "Boots and Saddles," "When It's Chilly Down in Chile," "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place," etc. Against these ingredients is built a solid yarn of the great open spaces whose principal episodes recount how Autry saves his cattlemen cronies from financial loss by having them refuse the underhanded offer made by the crooked representative of a meat packing baron; how the big packer business man comes virtually incognito to the small prairie town and helps, with the copious aid of Autry, to bring the villainous agent to justice (and incidentally to acquire real ranch talent for his own proposed radio program; and how, at the climax, a great herd of cattle is saved from destruction in a tunnel at the hands, or more exactly the wheels, of a runaway train, — halted in the nick of time by gallant Gene. Joseph Santley has extracted more meat out of this yarn than there appears on the hoof in any or all the sequences. Autry's many fans will like it all immensely, and, through the picture, should add appreciably to his devoted following. CAST: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, The Sons of the Pioneers, Ruth Terry, Thurston Hall, Joe Strauch, Jr., Cliff Nazarro, Dorothea Kent, Edmund MacDonald, Marc Lawrence, John Harmon, John Holland. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Harry Grey; Director, Joseph Santley; Screenplay, Olive Cooper; Original Story, Maurice Rapf, Olive Cooper; Cameraman, Reggie Lanning; Film Editor, Edward Mann; Art Director, Russell Kimball; Musical Supervisor, Raoul Kraushaar. DIRECTION, First Rate. PHOTOGRAPHY, Skillful.