The Film Daily (1948)

Thursday, January 15, 1946 a f ILITI DIIILV REVIEWS Of IIEUI FEATURES ft "Tenth Avenue Angel" with Margaret O'Brien, Angela Lansbury, George Murphy M-G-M 74 Mins. SWELL GENERAL BOX OFFICE IN THIS MARGARET O'BRIEN NUMBER: SHOULD DO WELL FOR ITSELF. The gamut of juvenile emoting is fairly well run by Margaret O'Brien as she romps like a Peter Pan through this effort. It is for the exhibitor to assure his patrons — they that have laughed and cried and howled with the youngster — that they won't be let down. Surrounded by a collection of able players who prove good foils for her lines and situations, Miss O'Brien hauls another load of her particular type of appeal over the line and for effective result, too. Just hang out the "Margaret O'Brien Is Here Today'' sign and stand aside. In the various segments of the story Miss O'Brien is seen as helper to a blind newspaper dealer, played by Rhys Williams. Then she is fond of George Murphy who has been "away," up the river. Her mother tells her that mice turn to money when they are placed in a box. She forthwith catches a mouse. She caches it, a couple of hoodlums pull a switch with money stolen from Williams. Miss O'Brien finds it and is later terribly disillusioned. It is pre-war Tenth Ave. The time is the height of the depression. Miss O'Brien's father must hock his violin for Christmas. Murphy prevails upon him to try once more for a job. He gets it. Mama is expecting and has an accident. Premature birth results. It looks bad. But Miss O'Brien finds a kneeling cow on Christmas Eve and a miracle results. Her mother gets well. Everybody is happy. It's lachrymose, it's maudlin, it's all Margaret O'Brien and plenty of box office in the final evaluation. Roy Rowland directed. But, one final thought . . . when did an elevated railroad ever run on Tenth Ave.? CAST: Margaret O'Brien, Angela Lansbury, George Murphy, Phyllis Thaxter, Warner Anderson, Rhys Williams, Barry Nelson, Connie Gilchrist, Tom Trout, Dickie Tyler, Henry Blair, Charles Cane, Richard Lane. CREDITS: Producer, Ralph Wheelwright; Director, Roy Rowland; Screenplay by Harry Ruskin, Eleanore Griffin; Based upon a story by Angna Enters; From a sketch by Craig Rice; Photography, Robert Surtees; Art direction, Cedric Gibbons, Wade Rubottom; Film editors, Ralph E. Winters, George Boemler; Musical score, Rudolph G. Kopp; Recording, Douglas Shearer; Set decorations, Edwin B. Willis, Mildred Griffiths; Special effects, Warren Newcombe. DIRECTION, Okay. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Mandatory Stage Bills For Argentine Theaters? Washington Bureau of THE FILM DAILY Washington — A proposed bill has been introduced in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies which would oblige all motion picture theaters to include in their programs a stage performance in addition to the films now exhibited. PCCITO Trustees Meet Feb. 17-19 Seattle— PCCITO trustees will reveal its film rental formula at a meeting scheduled here on Feb. 17-19. Also on the agenda are survey reports on each of the nine states within PCCITO jurisdiction, discussion of the ASCAP decision made at the annual convention in May, and the Government trust suit. 'Women in the Night" | "The Main Street Kid" with Tala Birell, William Henry, Virginia Christine Film Classics 90 Mins. EXPLOITABLE MELODRAMATIC ELABORATION OF FACTS DRAWN FROM UNITED NATIONS FILES. Labeled "Official," the story recorded is supposed to come from United Nations files. This means actually that it is an exploitable elaboration of facts which bounces from good to poor with startling rapidity and with many melodramatic climaxes. A German officers club in Shanghai, the setting is a place of internment and variable treatment of women picked up by the Nazis. A newly captured crop is questioned in the death of a German officer. They are about to be sentenced when word comes that two high ranking Japs are to visit the club that evening. The girls are spared to "entertain" the officers. The real purpose of the Jap visit is to see a working model of the German Cosmic Ray, which in reality has not yet been perfected. To keep this from the Japs, the German colonel in charge sends for another officer who has been working on the model to give the Japs some fancy double-talk on why the experiment must wait. This officer turns out to be an OSS worker and husband of one of the girls held captive. The Japs discover his identity and inform the Germans, who seek him out. He and his wife, with the aid of the underground, escape and save all but one of the girls, who has blown up the club, the Ray, and the combined Axis chiefs of staff. A little heavy on the leer, "ach," "svine," and "kraut" side, the picture should provide reasonable good entertainment for those audiences which relish exploitation pix. it follows it will serve best in the hands of the exhibitor experienced in presenting that type of melodramatic entertainment. CAST: Tala Birell, William Henry, Virginia Christine, Richard Loo, Gordon Richards, Bernadene Hayes, Benson Fong, Frances Chung, Kathy Frye, Helen Mcwery, Philip Ahn, Iris Flores. CREDITS: A Southern California Picture; Produced by Louis K. Ansell; Directed by William Rowland. DIRECTION, Adequate. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. with Al Pearce, Adele Mara, Janet Martin, Alan Mowbray Republic 64 Mins. SOUND OFFERING FOR GENERAL AUDIENCE; HAS NOVEL TWIST IN PLOT TO SPARK INTEREST. It's unpretentious, but good. This is a program number with an imaginative, entertaining story idea that will be found easy to take by the general audience which makes up the foundation of the nation's weekly attendance figures. Pic also has tieup possibilities stemming from radio show. Storywise the life and times of small town folk is given another whirl. It has plenty variance, though. The new twist has to do with mind-reading and how Al Pearce really gets the "power" and hence the goods on a couple of connivers who are trying to do him out of a wealthy son-inlaw who also happens to be very much in love with his daughter. It is true love, but the man in the case, Byron S. Barr, has been dallying with Adele Mara, a showgirl, who is also in cahoots with Alan Mowbray, phoney telepathist. Douglas Evans is also in on the plot with Miss Mara. He wants to usurp Burr's presidency of a local publishing company. The mental "power" that Pearce accidentally acquires stands well for him. While he has it he learns plenty and later uses the information to bring about complete understanding by all principals concerned. R. G. Springsteen's direction maintains a snappy, always interesting pace that captures the essence of the yarn. Performances are competent and given with proper finish. It is a sound entertainment. CAST: Al Pearce, Janet Martin, Alan Mowbray, Adele Mara, Arlene Harris, Emil Rameau, Byron S. Barr, Douglas Evans, Roy Barcroft, Phil Arnold, Sarah Edwards, Earle Hodgins, Dick Elliott. CREDITS: Associate producer, Sidney Picker; Director, R. G. Springsteen; Screenplay, Jerry Sackheim; Additional dialogue, John K. Butler, Based on a radio play by Caryl Coleman; Photography, John MacBurnie; Art director, Frank Hotaling; Musical director, Morton Scott; Film editor, Tony Martinelli; Sound, Earle Cram, Sr.; Set decorations, John McCarthy, Jr., Charles Thompson; Special effects, Howard and Theodore Lydecker. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Good. Union Restrictions Retard Tele— Geddes (Continued from Page 1) of these restrictions, he added, means that the public will not be served nearly so rapidly by "what many in the industry believe will be an even greater new American service and industry than radio." Blumenstock to Coast For Confabs on Product Mort Blumenstock, Warners vicepresident in charge of advertising and publicity, leaves for Los Angeles today for conferences with Jack L. Warner on plans for "Treasure of Sierra Madre," "My Girl Tisa," "The Voice of the Turtle," "I Became a Criminal," and "April Showers," latter the company's Easter Week release. He will be gone about two weeks. Sees Studio Economy Drive as "Healthy" (Continued from Page 1) brought about by the foreign situation was a "healthy thing." "Not only will good pictures be made at less cost, but they will be better pictures because the people making them are working harder," the young producer added. Shooting on his next, "Strike It Rich," will begin May 1. It will be a Cinecolor production, has been budgeted at approximately $700,000, and will be distributed as an Allied Artists feature. To Show Olympic Feature The U. S. Olympic Committee will hold an invitational screening of "Kings of the Olympics," feature with commentary by Bill Slater, tomorrow in the Radio City Music Hall private projection room. Cocktails will follow at Toots Shor's. 'Relentless' farker H8 Mins ,TERN DRl:.rfA IN with Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman Willard Parker Columbia STRAIGHT WES TECHNICOLOR WITHOUT FRILLS: SHOULD GIVE PLENTY SATISFACTION. This is the ticket for the audience that likes its westerns without frills, but with a good plot well played out by a cast of first-rate competents. Too, they also get here an intelligently fashioned story that embraces most of the required western elements generally found in such scripts. As westerns go it is long in time but the material of the plot is well knit and brought out smartly with proper accompaniment of blood, thunder romance and the like. A word might be said for the outdoor photography in Technicolor. It contributes a great deal to the production bringing out and emphasizing the contribution of outdoor locations. Robert Young drifts into a desert town with a mare in foal. When he leaves he meets up with Marguerite Chapman and shortly thereafter is incriminated in a trio of murders. He did kill one man, justifiably. A hunted character, he is aided from time to time by Miss Chapman who has taken a fancy to him. She operates a rolling general store and gets about. The reward price on Young's head mounts from $100 to $500, but he manages to elude the law while he seeks out Barton MacLane. the real culprit. Wounded in a brush with Sheriff Willard Parker, Young falls into the clutches of Akim Tamiroff and Mike Mazurki, a couple of baddies. They know about a mine claim that is connected with the murders and tie Young in with it. He eludes them, again aided by Miss Chapman, and goes into the desert where he engages MacLane in a gunfight. Tamiroff and Mazurki also show up so does Miss Chapman and Parker. Before he dies MacLane clears Young. There's plenty of movement, skullduggery and some of the best western dialogue in ecent times in this one plus a romantic development that blossoms out at long length. George Sherman's direction has the know how. CAST: Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman, /Villard Parker, Akim Tamiroff, Mike Mazurki, Jarton MacLane, Robert Barrat, Clem Bevans, :rank Fenton, Hank Patterson, Paul Burns, ".mmett Lvnn, Will Wright. CREDIT'S: A Cavalier Production; Producer, Eugene B. Rodney; Director, George Sherman; Screenplay, Winston Miller; Based on a story by .(enneth Perkins; Photography, Edward Crontaeger; Film editor. Gene Havlick; Art directors, Stephen Goosen, Walter Holscher; Set decorations, Wilbur Manefee, James Roach; Montage, Donald W. Starling; Sound, Hugh McDowell; Musical score, Marlin Skiles; Musical director, M. W. Stoloff. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. Pi Nation-Wide Exchange System for Fairbanks Jerry Fairbanks Prods, will establish a nation-wide exchange system to service tele systems with pix, and the plans contemplate eventual expansion on a global basis. NBC affiliates will have first call on the Fairbanks pix under the five-year deal announced this week with the net, but they also will be available to other video stations, it is said. First pix to be made by Fairbanks under the deal will run 30 minutes. Two series will start the production activities.