The Film Daily (1947)

Wednesday, July 2, 1947 iSiifi DAILY i^ film DfllLV REVIEWS Of REUJ FEATURES i^ "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" (with Van Johnson, Thomas Mitchell, Janet Leigh M-G-M 105 Mins. '; FINELY DIRECTED AND PLAYED STORY OF PO"^T CIVIL WAR PROBLEMS SHOULD BE G" 9' FOR LONG, PROFITABLE BOX OFFIC-^=flAUL. As worthy and sincere as they come ■when they concern themselves with the American scene, this story of post Civil War problems in Missouri is simple narration of earthy folk that generates high I'dramatic moments. ■ This again is the North against the "'South, the wearing of the blue and the ^'gray; vengeful nightriders, barn burners. j'There are no fancy touches. It is an honest 'portrayal of a period of reconversion and fthe bringing of understanding by both sides, not, however, before strife and bloodshed. Varying substantially in many respects, j the film has a soundly contrived screeni play based on a story by MacKinlay Kantor. Roy Rowland's direction is competent and he derived the essence from a plot that ris a blending of humanity and the complementing feeling of people beset by a problem not of their making. Jack Cummings' production is to be ■'esteemed. iNever once does it depart from ^'simple qualities inherent in the plot, the characters, dialogue, minor bucolic pleasure and realism in locale. The Van Johnson following will be amply rewarded. Janet Leigh has a fine role as ^'an understanding "Daisy Mae" torn bef.tween her love for Johnson, a Northerner, Pand the insufferable Southerness of Thomas Mitchell, her father. A newcomer, Miss 'Leigh admirably acquits herself. After the narrative hits high drama -moments it quickly simmers down to the ^revelation that the farmers who are hard 'put to get a crop in are not victims of pNorth-South meanness. Instead it is turned ^up that one of the respected citizens of nthe community is the responsible party hav ^|ing instigated the local strife. ■■ In straightforward sequences the story gets under way with visitation of Johnson at the Mitchell farmstead. They at first 'ithink him to be their soldier son. Instead he appears playing a harmonica and at once sets about making himself handy. He applies himself. His assistance is readily , accepted. Also, he is a school teacher ['anxious to set up a school. Meanwhile the ' valley stews in its prejudices. Johnson and . Miss Leigh develop their romance. Mitchell ,j: evinces more than casual interest in the I color of Johnson's pants — whether they i[ are blue or gray. ]> There is an interlude devoted to a ^: conciliatory "play-party" that begins on a somber note of threat, builds to an awk _ward climax between the two factions. It proves a fiasco. Johnson builds his school, leaves the Mitchell place. Miss Leigh leaves home to be with him. Mitchell becomes incensed, starts after the pair with his rifle. Johnson disarms him. The barn-burning nightriders come on the scene. Johnson kills four, captures the fifth and the truth comes out. Never once does the telling of this story become dull. Always there is a pleasant moment, a romantic bit of business or a "Kilroy Was Here" with Jackie Cooper and Jackie Coogan (HOLLYWOOD PREVIEW) Monogram 68 Mins. EX-GI COLLEGE STORY, WELL-DIRECTED, SIZES UP AS PRIZE EXPLOITATION OFFERING. Here is a prize exploitation offering centering around the phrase made so popular during the war. It marks the debut of a new producing team, Dick Irving Hyland, screen writer, and Sidney Luft, an agent. Phil Karlson did a good job with the direction. John J. Kilroy (Jackie Cooper) serves with his fellow Gl's in the Pacific and following his discharge from the service, returns to the States and tries to enroll in a college under the Gl Bill of Rights. He is about to be rejected because he lacks a half credit, when Wanda McKay, the school's publicity director, recognizing the value of the Kilroy phrase, arranges his acceptance. The Delta Omega, the school's snootiest fraternity, pledges Kilroy, but later turns on him without cause. Barton Yar'borough, a college professor-lecturer, turns the tables in favor of Kilroy and he remains in school. Jackie Cooper and Jackie Coogan, as a pal who gets Kilroy in and out of trouble, do excellent work. Wanda McKay, Norman Phillips, Rand Brooks, Frank Jenks, Barton Yarborough and Joe Forte are among the principals. CAST; Jackie Cooper, Jockie Coogan, Wanda McKay, Frank Jenks, Norman Phillips, Rand Brooks, Barton Yarborough, Frank Scannell, Patti Brill, Robert Coogan, Joe Forte, Allen Mathews, Sidney Melton, Pat Goldin. CREDITS: Producers, Dick Irving Hyland and Sidney Luft; Director, Phil Karlson; Authors, Louis Quinn; Cameraman, William Sickner, ASC; Editor, Jodie Caplan; Musical Director, Edward J. Kay; Technical Director, Dave Milton; Sound Recording, John Carter; Set Decorations, Raymond Boltz, Jr. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Smith, Atwater Theaters Named in Fraud Actions (Continued from Page 1) Cosmo, Vogue and Showshop Theaters in Glendale, and the Atwater and York in Los Angeles. Action, similar to those brought in other parts of the country were filed by Paramount, RKO, Loew's, Columbia and 20th-Fox. Suits mark the fourth group of actions brought on the West Coast and the second in the Los Angeles area. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Gordon L. Files and the law firm of Freston & Files of Los Angeles, with Sargoy & Stein of New York also of counsel for each of the plaintiffs. moot bit of music. Agriculture can be exciting, too, it is brought out. CAST: Von Johnson, Thomas Mitchell, Janet Leigh, Marshall Thompson, Selena Royle, Charles Dingle, Dean Stockwell, Guy Kibbee, Elisabeth Risdon, Jim Davis, Russell Simpson, 0. Z. Whitehead, James Bell, Joyce Arling, William Bishop, Paul Langton. CREDITS: Producer, Jack Cummings; Director, Roy Rowland; Screenplay, Lester Cole; Based on a story by MacKinlay Kantor; Photography, Sidney Wagner; Art direction, Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu, Richard Duce; Film Editor, Ralph E. Winters; Sound, Douglas Shearer; Set Decorations, Edwin B. Willis, Elliot Morgan; Songs, Earl Robinson, Lewis Allan; Musical Score, George Bassman; Dances, Jack Donohue. DIRECTION, Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY, Very Good. "The Magic Bow" with Stewart Granger, Phyllis Calvert Univ.-lnt. 105 Mins. LIFE AND LOVES OF PAGANINI; VERY GOOD BET FOR ART SPOTS, MUSIC AUDIENCE. This cinematic biography of the musical life of Nicolo Paganini in the Napoleonic era is a good bet for the art house and other spots with audiences appreciative of the musical content. Almost wholly concerned with Paganini, there is also Tartini and the well-known Beethoven Violin Concerto Opus 61. While Stewart Granger mimes through the motions, its Yehudi Menuhin on the soundtrack supplemented by the National Symphony Orchestra. That is a moot selling point for the audience ' that knows its music. It's a good, capable cast that emotes with a creditable role I performed by Granger, Miss Calvert is all right and Jean Kent and Cecil Parker supply lighter touches. The J. Arthur Rank Production from the Gainsborough Studios is somewhat on the slow-moving side but musical interludes ably serve as diverting punctuation. The period is capably reproduced. Story is based I on a novel by Manuel Komroff. Beginning in Genoa where the rising i composer is hired by Miss Calvert to play out side a jail where her father is incar i cerated, the story gets off on a somewhat jocular note. Violin notes drown out the escaping jailbird's sawing through the bars. i Miss Calvert, who is of the French aristocracy, has Granger play a concert in her home in Parma. They fall in love and it becomes a grand passion that is thwarted by Napoleon. Nappy wants her to marry a nobleman, if she don't Granger will be roughed up, maybe done in. She deserts Granger. Later, after a highly successful tour on the continent they meet in Paris. A duel is fought by Granger and his rival. Miss Calvert being still unmarried. To save Granger she pretends affection for the other man. Still later Cecil Parker connives an engagement where Granger is to play before the Pope in the Vatican. During this, which is easily the best musical session, Miss Calvert has an emotional disturbance and decides Granger is for her so she sticks around and the pair are finally united. CAST: Stewart Granger, Phyllis Calvert, Jean Kent, Dennis Price, Cecil Parker, Henry Edwards, Frank Veilier, Mary Jerrold, Betty Warren, Anthony Holies, Dovid Home, Robert Speaight, Charles Victor, 0. B. Clarence, Felix Aylmer. CREDITS: Producer, R. J. Minney; Director, Bernard Knowles; Screenplay by Roland Pertwee; Based on a novel by Manuel Komroff; Violin solos, Yehudi Menuhin; Music, Beethoven, Paganini, Tartarini, Phil Green; Conducted by Basil Cameron; Photography, Jack Cox; Film Editor, Alfred Roome; Set Designs, John Bryan; Art Director, A. Mezzei; Sound, B. C. Sewell; Film Editor, H. Ostrer. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Average. Marine Capt. Largey To Join RKO's L. A. Sales 'Ned Depinet, executive vee-pee, announced the affiliation of Capt. Louis R. Largey, USMC, with RKO Radio's sales organization. Captain Largey will be retired from the armed service as a Major on Aug. 1 and will join the RKO sales staff in Los Angeles. Captain Largey participated in the Sixth War Bond Drive in connection with Depinet and Harry Brandt. "The Crimson Key" with Kent Taylor, Doris IXowling 20th-Fox 76 Mins. FAIR WHODUNIT: SHOULD GIVE GENERAL AUDIENCE SATISFACTION. A further excursion into the life, times and cases of another private investigator is the sum total of this Sol M. Wurtzel production. While on the lengthy side and with just a bit too much gab in its makeup, it manages to sustain interest and involve many characters. In homicidal content there is a trio of murders. Kent Taylor as the investigating party gets about plenty, becomes involved with an assortment of amorous blondes, a phoney psychiatrist, doctors, stage folks, pluguglies, an artist and the like. All seem to have some connection with the hunt for a key to a public locker which is the crux of the whole matter. In this case he is also very friendly with the police and they are on hand at the conclusion to set things to rights. Bernadene Hayes engages Taylor to trail her husband who is soon done in at the studio of Ivan Triesault. The key comes up about this point and various interested characters soon make it hot for Taylor. He is picked up, given a going over but escapes. Miss Dowling enters at about this point. She's an alcoholic. Soon there's another murder— in her home. Some dialogue about Miss Dowling's first husband brings out the fact that the first dead man was a blackmailer. A bit of evidence is brought forth and the killer shows his/ her hand. Police are handily about. A confession is obtained. Story, as directed by Eugene Forde stands up well, sustains interest. CAST: Kent Taylor, Doris Dowling, Dennis Hoey, Louise Currie, Ivan Triesault, Arthur Space, Vera Marshe, Edwin Rond, Bernadene Hayes, Victoria Home, Doug Evans, Ann Doran Victor Sen Yung, Milton Parsons, Marietta Canty. CREDITS: A Sol M. Wurtzel Production Director, Eugene Forde; Original Story and Screenploy, Irving Elman; Photography, Benjamin Kline; Art Director, Eddie Imazu; Set Decorator, Al Greenwood; Musical Score, Dale Butts; Musical Direction, Morton Scotf Film Editor, Frank Baldridge; Sound, Robert Cowan DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good Eldorado Repeals 3-Cent Tax on Theater Tickets Eldorado, 111. — An ordinance placmg a special three-cent tax on theater tickets has been repealed by the City Council. Move followed the issuance of a temporary injunction in the Saline County Circuit Court at Harrlsburg, on a plea by Delbeit Wagner, owner of the Nox Theater, and Turner-Farrar of Harrisburg, which has the Grand and Orpheum Theaters, here. Court indicated it regarded the measure as unconstitutional and it was apparent that the injunction would be made permanent. Mayor John Upchurch said that a new tax measure will he introduced. 80% of Mexican Playing Time Goes to U. S. Films Mexico City (By Air Mail)— Mexican theaters require 650 featurelength pix annually. U. S.-made films comprise 80 per cent of the total.