Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

20 Volume XII, No. 3 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE RECOMMENDED PHOTOPLAYS Reviewed by Dr. Frederick Houk LaWf Editor, Educational Department, The Readers Digest 18 MILLION ORPHANS. The March of Time. Strongly recommended. Why do the millions of Asia eagerly watch the ways of the United States in the Philippines? What have we done for the Philippines ? What more should we — and can we — do? Those thought-provoking questions come to mind when one sees the latest issue of The March of Time, 18 Million Orphans, a series of wonderfully well chosen, well edited pictures of the Philippines as they were before the war and as they are today. March of Time cameramen made such striking pictures that they come close to what newspaper men call “scoops.” How close to today’s news interests are the pictures of General MacArthur in his office as Commander of American forces in the Philippines, with General Eisenhower standing at his side, and the picture of General MacArthur addressing the Philippine Congress! How pat to present conditions are the pictures of the pre-war training of an army of Filipinos ! In fact, seeing this issue of The March of Time is like journeying to the Philippines before the war and again today, like moving about among all kinds of peoples in those islands and seeing all conditions. For camera work alone, and for remarkably effective editing and presentation of the shots. The March of Time’s 18 Million Orphans is worth seeing. For thought-provoking nature it is worthy of high praise. FALLEN ANGEL. 20th Century-Fox. Mystery melodrama. Otto Preminger, Director. Generally recommended. “Love alone can make the Fallen Angel rise. For only two together can enter Paradise.” That is about all that the motion picture. Fallen Angel, has to say about angels. The narrative tells about a very hardboiled, brazen, and masterful young man (Dana Andrews) who finds his way into a small California village. There he falls in love with a wilful waitress in a roadside diner (Linda Darnell), thrusts himself upon a wandering spirit-raising faker, and shows that person how really to make money by playing upon the emotions of griefstricken person s. Finding a young woman who is about to inherit a small fortune (Alice Faye), he wheedles her into becoming his wife, although he continues to love the waitress. Such a personage and such events make Fallen A^igel a rascal story — picaresque, if you prefer the term. Other events that give pitch and point to the series of happenings make the story a mystery story — and a good one, too, that holds the audience guessing and wondering until the end. The mystery creeps up on one, as it were, and changes an ordinary rascal story into a story of crime detection. Perhaps one of the reasons why the events move along so surely and, in rather surprising manner, lead to a strong climax, is that the plot comes from a novel by Marty Holland. The producer-director, Otto Preminger, made the most of the material that he had, built up a goodly amount of realism, and developed events with skill. Just as Mark Twain did in telling about the King and the Duke in Huckleberry Finn, he softened the rough parts of the story and thereby made them even more interesting and emphatic. One may question whether the “fallen angel” remained permanently raised or whether he returned to his brazen, self-reliant method of life, but the Hollywood ending at least gives a pleasant flip to the story. A WALK IN THE SUN. Realistic picture of war in Italy. 20th Century-Fox. Lewis Milestone, Director. Recommended. Perhaps you would like to go to war, to feel the frightful anxiety of coming battle, to know the interminable waiting, to feel lost and helpless, to feel doubt about the wisdom of orders, to see your friends die miserably, to wonder why you should suffer so much for so little gain, to feel gripped and crushed by fate. If so, you can come close to having all these experiences by seeing A Walk In the Sun, one of the most realistic and agonizing pictures of war, a film story so intensely real that it exhausts you with its emotional effects, a picture that grows upon you long hours after you have seen it. Here there are no romance, no false heroics, no love affair, no one outstanding hero, no plot, no glimpses of beauty, no touches of humor. Here there is only the stark reality of war.