Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

November, 1 945 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE 59 city, Robert Benchley’s drolleries, and the surprising complications that follow the acquisition of wealth, unite in making a motion-picture play that satisfies persons who are looking around for unexpected and friendly millionaires. RADIO STARS ON PARACE wifh "Truth or Consequences." Force. RKO. Leslie Goodwins, Director. Radio’s Truth or Consequences has won such outstanding popularity that everyone who likes slap-stick and sophomoric tomfoolery has the wish to see the action as well as to hear about it. That opportunity RKO now presents to everyone, with Ralph Edwards and Company using the age-old pie-in-the-face and push-into-the-mud methods that amuse those who like farce in heavy doses. Such satisfying of a kind of national curiosity excuses Radio Stars on Parade with Truth or Consequences, which otherwise has little to recommend it. The title promises somewhat more than the presentation fulfills, for one sees few “radio stars on parade” other than Skinnay Ennis and His Band, the Gappy Barra Boys, Frances Langford and, of course, Ralph Edwards and Company. Possibly that is enough for a “parade” and certainly some of the actors suffer enough physical indignities to satisfy the most ardent lovers of “philopena” or friendly penalty. The thread of plot tells the adventures of an impoverished comedy team that comes suddenly into management of a radio agency. To that agency comes a soloist from a gangster nightclub. After her come the chief gangster and his henchmen. Such results follow that only the eccentricities of a Truth or Consequences radio program save the pretended radio agents from utter disaster. At least, one feels that one has seen Truth or Consequences — and that is something. KITTY. Romontic comedy of 1780. Paramount', Mitchell Leisen, Director. For adults. A striking pageant of the London of 1780, the period of George III, appears in the romantic story of Kitty, a girl who, like the heroine of G. B. Shaw’s Pygmcdion, rose from the slums to become a leader in fashionable society. The story somewhat parallels the story of Forever Amber, for it tells how an ignorant and unschooled girl rose through a succession of husbands to wealth and high title but at the same time kept her heart fixed on a more or less worthless gambler and spendthrift. Paulette Goddard plays ii.e part of the dirty-faced, ragged, mistreated girl of Houndsditch who became a duchess and owner of estates and castles. She plays the part with spirit and understanding and makes a convincing presentation. Research and property men went to infinite pains to make this motion picture present outstanding details of the London of 1780. We find ourselves in narrow streets and lanes, with mud splashing across narrow sidewalks. We see the rank poverty and the wasteful wealth of the period. Here the great artist, Thomas Gainsborough exhibits his Blue Boy and quarrels with deaf, old Sir Joshua Reynolds. Sir This and Sir That, the Earl of Campton, the Duke of Malmunster, The Duchess of Gloucester, the Prince of Wales, move among crowds of great folk. From the humble people on the streets and from the rich and titled in their palaces, we learn the ways and costumes of the period. The details are superbly put together and make as convincing a picture of the past as one could wish. The story is sordid, but not too sordid. It avoids the animalism of Forever Amber and leads one to think of Oliver Twist and Becky Sharp of a later period, but most of all of the girl of Shaw’s Pygmalion. Dramatic episodes full of human interest show that painstaking care made them as well as the rich details of the setting. Certainly Kitty is a motion picture that presents vivid scenes of other days, a full canvas with much human-interest appeal. Biography of a Radio Program (Continued from Page 52) other top shows to his credit — We, the People, Mr. District Attorney, Counterspy — G a. n g Busters is, perhaps, his most famous. His infinite care as to detail is not only proof of what craftsmanlike radio can produce, but it has been rewarding in other ways. Through the presentation of the “clues” at the end of each broadcast, Gayig Busters has helped to bring 300 “wanted” criminals to justice. Thousands of letters and testimonials from law enforcement officers all over the country, show that the program has deterred many other criminals. Converted criminals have expressed their thanks to Lord for his campaign against vice. Juvenile delinquents constantly write to tell Lord that he has convinced them that “crime does not pay.”