The Film Daily (1946)

l3f^ UlVf: Thursday, July 18, 19^ 7^ Film DfllLV REVIEUIS OF nEUI PICTURES i^ 'Lady Luck' with Robert Young, Barbara Hale, : Frank Morgan RKO Radio 97 Mins. WELL-ACTED ROMANTIC COMEDY IS RATED AS GOOD ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL TYPES OF AUDIENCES. Warren Duff, working under Executive Producer Robert Fellows, must be given credit for producing a romantic comedy that is loaded with amusement. "Lady Luck" should prove Lady Bountiful to the exhibitor who elects to play the show, which has been handled in a way that constantly keeps the interest alive. For spirited fun the film can be highly recommended for all types of audiences. The picture takes up the gambling fever, treating the subject in as entertaining a fashion as possible. Every laugh has been squeezed from the footaae under the smart direction of Edwin L. Marin. Lynn Root and Frank Fenton crowded a lot of good material into the screenplay they devised from the Herbert CIvde Lewis original. Robert Young and Barbara Hale comprise the romantic pairing. The former is a gambler riding high. The latter is the descendant of a family of gambling fools who has no use for gamblers. Her main concern is seeing to it that Frank Morgan, her grandfather who lost his fortune in the 1929 crash, keeps his gambling urge under control. Young and Miss Hale fall in love, the latter marrying the guy on his promise he'll give up gambling. A misunderstanding that threatens to wreck their marriage arises when the wife spies him at a gambling table in Las Vegas, unaware he's just trying to help out a guy who lost his dough by taking his advice. Unbeknown to him, gambler friends of Young, including James Gleason, Harry Davenport and Lloyd Corrigan, hatch a plot to induce the gambling fever in Miss Hale. The plot backfires with highly amusing results. Suffice it to say that everything is satisfactorily explained at the finish, and Young and Miss Hale are loveydovey again. The playing of the cast contributes much to the acceotability of the story. CAST: Robert Young. Barbara Hale, Frank Morgan, )ames Gleason, Don Rice, Harry Davenport, Lloyd Corrigan, Teddy Hart, Joseph Vitale, Douglas Morrow. CREDITS: Executive Producer, Robert Fellows: Producer, Warren Duff; Director. Edwin L. Marin; Screenplay. Lynn Root, Frank Fenton; Based on story by Herbert Clyde Lewis; Cameraman. Lucien Andriot; Musical Score, Leigh Harline; Musical Director. C. Bakaleinikoff ; Film Editor, Ralph Dawson; Art Directors, Albert S. D'Agostino. Field Cray; Set Decorators, Darrell Silvera, lames Altwies; Sound, John L. Cass, Clem Portman. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Bowlers WUl Play Golf Detroit — The annual srolf tournament of the Film Bowlinjr League will be held at the Tarn O'Shanter Country Club on Ausr. 5. Jack Zide, manager of Allied Film Exchange, and William (Boots) Scharun of Universal Theater Premiums are handling the ticket sales. "Step By Step" with Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys RKO 62 Mins. TIERNEY AND JEFFREYS IMPRESS IN POST-WAR SPY THRILLER MARRED BY TOO FAMILIAR MATERIAL, FAULTY D | RECTION. I Acting and sloppy directicn prone to slip mar this post-war spy thriller. Lawrence Tierney, a budding Bogart, and Anne Jeffreys, however, are not to be blamed; they try, with the emphasis being a little strong ! er on the masculine side. { Senator Remmy, investigating post-war Nazi activities, hires Evelyn Smith as his secretary, and takes her to his beach home where he is supposed to get a secret list of Nazi names from a Federal agent, Blackton. Evelyn goes swimming and meets Johnny Christopher, and dcg, Bazooka. Johnny follows Evelyn back to the house and is mystifield when Gretchen, one of three secret agents who have followed and killed Blackton, tied up the Senator and Evelyn, says she is Evelyn Smith. As the trio leave, Johnny breaks into the house and rescues the real Evelyn. They start to phone the police but find that Vinson, the chauffeur has denounced them as the killers, and get away just in time. They take refuge in an auto-camp owned by Captain Simpson who sympathizes with them, unaware that the Nazi trio is in the same camp. They are finally taken prisoners by the Nazis who discover the list they were after in the lining of Blacktons coat, which Johnny has been wearing, unaware of its contents. They are taken to a dock to be towed out to sea and drowned, when the police, summ:ned by Johnny's SOS from the tail-light wire of the trunk where he had been crammed, arrive and capture the Nazis. Johnny and Evelyn then decide its the Real Thing and start out for a preacher. The footage is marred by some too-familiar material but manages to come through with occasional bright spots. Tierney and Jeffreys are sure to please and seem to be destined for better things. CAST: Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, George Cleveland, Jason Robards, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Addison Richards, Ray Walker, John Hamilton. CREDITS: Produced by Sid Rogell; Director, Phi! Rosen; Screenplay, Stuart Palmer; Based on an original story by George Callahan, Director of Photography, Frank Redman, A S.C, Special Effects, Russell A. Cully, A. S.C. Clifford Stine, Art Directors, Albert S. D'Agostino, Walter E. Keller; Set Decorations. DarreM SiWera. Claude Carpenter; Edited bv Robert Swink; Sound by Jean L. Soeak. Roy Granville; Music, Paul Sawtell; Musical Director, C. Bakaleinikoff: Gowns, Renie; Assistant Director, James Casey. DIRECTION, Poor. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Africa Gets Pic Premiere Dar Es Salaam, Africa — Premiere of Two Cities' "Men of Two Worlds" at the Avalon Theater marked the first world motion picture premiere in East Central Africa. Parts of the film were photographed in the Moshi and Mount Kilimanjaro district of Tanganyika. Stokowski in "Carnegie Hall" Boris Morros and William LeBaron have signed Leopold Stokowski to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in "Carnegie Hall." Picture goes into production on Aug. 5, with Edgar Ulmer directing. Myers Succeeds Pressley Chicago — William H. Myers has been named chief engineer of the Farnsworth Television Corp., succeeding J. H. Pressley who remains with the company as consultant. "The Cockeyed Miracle" I with Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway M-G-M 81 Mins. HOKEY FANTASTIC COMEDY, SPOTTED WITH V/HIMSICAL DIRECTION AND EXCELLENT ACTING. S. Sylvan Simon performed a "cockeyed iTiiracle" by cementing an incredible hocus pocus story and an amiable cast with "spirited" whimsical direction. Yes, there were several high spots during the film, such as Gladys Cooper's superb warmth and sincerity in her role as the devoted wife of Frank Morgan; the comedy teamwork of Frank Morgan and Keenan Wynn, who 'milk' their roles to the film's advantage — thanks again to Sylvan Simon. The film's chief premise lies in the belief of man's uncontrollable aptitude for supporting his own selfishness.. This is borne out in the peak of the film by Cecil Kellaway who has a battle with his conscience. Prefaced with a buildup of the characters, however stupid and unreal some of them appear, the film gets underway when Frank Morgan, in his fifties, dies cf a heart attack and is greeted by his father, Keenan Wynn, who died when he was 36. The physical appearance and the difference of ages, with Morgan calling Wynn "father" and Wynn commanding the respect due him, despite his youth (which is preserved after death) establishes the comedy. Wynn wants to take Morgan to the stratosphere, but Morgan prevails on his father to wait until he is sure his beautiful daughter, Audrey Totter, marries Richard Quine; and that Kellaway will give his wife his rightful share of an investment which was made profitable by Wynn's power of creating lightning and thunder storms. Kellaway draws a check in gcod faith to Cooper but reconsiders when he knows that if he pocketed the item no one would be the wiser, since he was the only one who knew of Morgan's investment. Wynn's power is put to use again, and Kellaway struck by lightning joins his friend Morgan in the "hereafter." with Morgan happy in the knowledge that the check which will be discovered en Kellaway's earthly body will be turned over to his wife. CAST: Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, Cecil Kellaway, Audrey Totter, Richard Quine, Gladys Cooper, Marshall Thompson, Leon Ames, Jane Green. Morris Ankrum, Arthur Space. CREDITS: Producer, Irving Starr; Directors, S. Sylvan Simon; Screenplay, Karen de Wolf; Based on play by George Seaton; Cameraman, Ray June; Film Editor, Ben Lewis; Musical Score, David Snell; Sound, Douglas Shearer; Art Directors, Cedric Gibbons, Richard Duce Set Decorators, Edwin B. Willis, Mildred Griffiths. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Sure, Blame "The Movies!" Detroit — A booth fire at the Lyric Theater, downtown house operated by S. T. Congress and Harry J. Cokinos, was blamed on "hot love scenes" in the feature, "Jealousy." Damage was confined to the film. New One-Berth Solution West Coast Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — Photographic Chemical Research, Inc., has announced Unidel, a one-bath solution said to develop, stop, fix and harden film, with no possibility of overdevelopment. "Sunset Pass" with James Warren, Nan Leslie RKO 58 Min FAIR WESTERN WITH SEVERAL GOO ACTION SEQUENCES; CAMERA WORK NOTEWORTHY. ^^^ The camera work is noteworthy inVco Zane Grey film tale and several good actio sequences put this on the okay list for filk on the neighborhood programs. Some of th acting gets a bit hammy at times, but winds up as a satisfactory film. The story centers on the effcrts of Jame Warren, special agent for an express com pany who is on a mission to stem the sourc of several train robberies. He gets wounde while rounding up Robert Clarke, one the suspects. Clarke takes him home whe his sister, Nan Leslie, nurses him back t health. In appreciation, Warren allows Clarke av opportunity to clear himself of a murdel charge and help recoup some of the stolei money. John Laurenz, Warren's sidekick, ani comedy relief in the film, discovers the stol en money, and together with Clarke ar the aid of Robert Barrat and his men, the capture the leaders of the gang who an I about to make a getaway with another bi I o' cash. CAST: James Warren, Nan Leslie, John Lai renz, Jane Greer, Robert Barrat, Harry Wood; Robert Clarke, Steve Brodie, Harry Harvey. CREDITS: Producer, Herman Schlom; Directc William Berke; Screenplay, Norman Houston Story, Zane Grey; Cameraman, Frank Redman Music, Paul Sawtell Musical Director, C. Bakaleinikoff; Film Editor, Samuel E. Beetley; Ar' Directors, Albert S. D'Agostino, Lucius 0. Croxton; Set Decorators, Darrell Silvera, Williarri Stevens; Sound, Jean L. Speak, Roy Granville. DIRECTION, Fair. PHOTOGRAPHY, Very Good WJZ Airs Part of Vicar's Biblical Play Today A portion of the play, "The Hand, That Drove The Nails," which was written by Rev. Brian Hession, vicar of Holy Trinity, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, will be presented today over Station WJZ at 1:15 p.m. Rev. Hession, now visiting NewYork, will leave for the Coast Monday to negotiate for a film deal on his script which is the story of Jesus" and the Crucifixion. While in Holly-: wood, he will also consult with Rev. James K. Friedrich, head of Cathedral Films, for the continuation of a' series of purely biblical films. In an interview yesterday Hession pointed out that too much sentiment and propaganda for Catholicism has been poured into recent films, such as "Going My Way," "The Song of Bemadette" and "The Bells of St. Mary's," and that Catholic as well as other religious leaders are attempting to restrain producers from overdoing it. He said that "the day has come when a film should be made which would offer a true picture of religion for the general viewpoint." Mason Pic Into Winter Garden "They Were Sisters," British pic starring James Mason and Phyllis Calvert, released here by Universal, opens at the Winter Garden next Tuesday, following "Dead Of Night."