FilmIndia (1945)

f 1LM1ND1A J>ecember, 1945 Xavier Cugat's Orchestra furnishes some pleasant music, highlighted by the singing of Lina Romay. Cugat and Miss Romay also take part in the action, provoking some good comedy. The sets depicting the different lobbies and suites of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel are magnificent, and their detailed reproduction is nothing short of amazing. Life in the huge hotel is depicted vividly; the producers have worked into the plot subtly the different services and advantages it has to offer. As a matter of fact, the picture is a huge advertisement for New York's Waldorf-Astoria, but it should prove of interest to many movie-goers whc have never visited the big city. Sam and Bella Spewak wrote the screen play, Arthur Hornblow, Jr. produced it, and Robert Z. Leonard direct ed it. Unobjectionable morally. "LOVE LETTERS" (Paramount, no release date set; time, min.) Fairly good. It is a strong romantic drama, with a particular appeal for women. The story, which concerns itself with the unusual romance between an honorably discharged British officer and his best friend's widow, an amnesia victim, is slow-moving and somewhat involved, and at times not too convincing, but it manages to hold one's attention throughout, mainly because of the fine performances. A number of the situations are warm and appealing, and others are strongly emotional. The main characters are sympathetic, and the love the hero and heroine have for each other is so genuine that one is moved deeply by their unhappiness. The direction is intelligent, and the settings are good: — As a favour to Robert Sully, a gay, irresponsible fellow officer in Italy, Joseph Cotten reluctantly writes beautiful love letters to Jennifer Jones, a girl in England, sign ing Sully's name to them. Sully, granted leave, returns to England and marries Jennifer, who believed him to be the author of the letters. Months later, Cotten, wounded, returns to England to recuperate. There he learns that Sully had been murdered under mysterious circumstances. Cotten meets Jennifer at a house party and learns that she was an amnesia victim, the result of her husband's murder. Checking through newspaper files, he learns that her marriage to Sully had been an unhappy one, and that Sully had been stabbed to death while in a drunken mood, during which he had tried to beat Jennifer. The shock had caused her to lose her memory, and because she could not testity in her own behalf she had been sentenced to a one year prison term for manslaughter. The only other witness to the murder had been Gladys Cooper, her foster mother, but a paralytic stroke suffered at the time of the murder had left her speechless. Cotton and Jennifer fall in love. He marries her, fully realizing that she might one day regain her memory, and that her love might turn to hate when she learns that he had written the love letters that had brought tragedy into her life. They lead an idyllic life together, but different incidents soon cause Jennifer'; amnesia to recede. She eventually regains her full memory, but is disturbed by her inability to recall if she had her husband. Her foster mother, who had by this time regained her speech, confesses that she had stabbed Sully to death to stop him from beating Jennifer. Hex innocence 58 Ran j it DHANNA_ Starring : KAMAL ZAMINDAR KAMLA CHATTERJI N. KABIR, BABY MUMTAZ. Shortly at — ROYAL OPERA HOUSE