Harrison's Reports (1939)

6S HARRISON'S REPORTS April 29, 1939 pany to deliver the quality pictures it asserts in the beginning of each season that it is going to deliver. And it seems as if, with the exception of United Artists, no other company has such confidence. It is the duty of every exhibitor to give United Artists his support. If the United Artists system should prove a '•howling" success, there is no question that the others will adopt it without much coaxing. BOX-OFFICE PERFORMANCES OF 1938-39 SEASON'S PICTURES— No. 4 Twentieth Century-Fox "Submarine Patrol," with Richard Greene, Preston Foster, and Nancy Kelly ; produced by Gene Markey and directed by John Ford, from a screen play by Kian James, Darrell Ware, and Jack Yellen: Good-Fair. "Road Demon," with Henry Armetta and Henry Arthur ; produced by Jerry Hoffman and directed by Otto Brower, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan : FairPoor. "Up the River," with Preston Foster, Arthur Treacher, Phvllis P»rooks, and Tony Martin; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Alfred Werker, from a screen play by Lou Brcslow and John Patrick: Good-Poor. "Down on the Farm," with Jed Prouty, Spring Byington and Louise Fazenda : produced by John Stone and directed by Malcolm St. Claire, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan : GoodPoor. "Thanks for Everything," with Jack Haley, Adolphe Menjou, Jack Oakie and Arleen Whelan; produced by Harry Joe Brown and directed by William A. Seiter, from a screen play by Curtis Kenyon and Art Arthur : GoodFair. "Kentucky," with Loretta Young, Richard Greene, and Walter Brennan ; produced by Gene Markey and directed by David Butler, from a screen play by John T. Foote and Lamar Trotti : Excellent-Good. "While New York Sleeps," with Michael Whalen and Jean Rogers ; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by FI. Bruce Humberstone, from a screen play by Frances Hyland and Albert Ray : Good-Poor. "Charlie Chan in Honolulu," with Sidney Toler, Phyllis Brooks, and John King ; produced by John Stone and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, from a screen play by Charles Belden : Good-Poor. "Mr. Moto's Last Warning," with Peter Lorre, Ricardo Cortez, and Virginia Field; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Norman Foster, from a screen play by Philip MacDonald and Norman Foster : Good-Poor. "Smiling Along," with Gracie Fields and Roger Livesey ; produced by Robert T. Kane and directed by Monty Banks, from a screen play by William Conselman : Fair-Poor. "Jesse James," with Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Randolph Scott, and Nancy Kelly ; produced by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Henry King, from a screen play by Nunnally Johnson : Excellent. "Arizona Wildcat," with Jane Withers and Leo Carrillo ; produced by John Stone and directed by Herbert I. Leeds, from a screen play by Barry Trivers and Jerry Cady : Good-Fair. "Tail Spin," with Alice Faye, Constance Bennett, and Nancy Kelly; produced by Harry Joe Brown and directed by Roy Del Ruth, from a screen play by Frank Wead: Good-Fair. "Three Musketeers," with Don Ameche, The Ritz Brothers, and Binnie Barnes ; produced by Raymond Griffith and directed by Allan Dwan, from a screen play by M. M. Musselman, William A. Drake, and Samuel Hellman : Good-Fair. "Pardon Our Nerve," with Lynn Bari, June Gale, and Michael Whalen; produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, from a screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan: Good-Poor. "Wife, Husband and Friend," with Warner Baxter, Loretta Young, and Binnie Barnes; produced by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Gregory Ratoff, from a screen play by Nunnally Johnson : Very Good-Poor. "Inside Story," with Michael Whalen and Jean Rogers, produced by Howard J. Green and directed by Ricardo Cortez, from a screen play by Jerry Cady : Fair-Poor. "The Lady Vanishes," with Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, and Paul Lukas ; directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screen play by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder : Very GoodPoor. Thirty-four pictures, including "The Lady Vanishes," a Gaumont-British picture, have been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings from the beginning of the season, we get the following results: Excellent, 2; Excellent-Good, 1; Very Good-Goud, 2; Very Good-Fair, 1; Very Good-Poor, 2; Good-Fair, 12; Good-Poor, 7; Fair, 3; Fair-Poor, 4. The first thirty-four pictures in the 1937-38 season were rated as follows : Excellent, 1 ; Excellent-Very Good, 2 ; Excellent-Good, 1 ; Very Good-Good, 4 ; Very Good-Fair, 2 ; Good-Fair, 1 1 ; Good-Poor, 3; Fair, 7; Fair-Poor, 2; Poor, 1. Universal "Mars Attacks the World," with Larry Crabbe and Jean Rogers; directed by Ford Beebe and Robert Hill, from the original story by Alexander Raymond : GoodPoor. "Little Tough Guys in Society," with Mischa Auer, Mary Boland, and Edward Everett Hortou ; produced by Max H. Golden and directed by Eric C. Kenton, from a screen play by Edward Eliscu and Mortimer Offner: Very Good-Fair. "Strange Faces," with Dorothea Kent. Frank Jenks, and Andy Devine ; produced by Hurt Kelly and directed by Enrol Taggart, from a screen play by Charles Grayson : FairPoor. "Secrets of a Nurse," with Edmund Lowe, Helen Mack, and Dick Foran ; produced by Burt Kelly and directed by Arthur Lubin, from a screen play by Tom Lennou and Lester Cole: FairPoor. "Ghost Town Riders." with Bob Baker and Hank \Yarden ; produced by Trem Carr and directed by George Waggner, from a screen play by Joseph West : Fair. "Swing Sister Swing," with Ken Murray, Johnny Downs, and Ernest Trucx ; produced by Burt Kelly and directed by Joseph Santley, from a screen play by Charles Grayson: Fair-Poor. "Newsboys' Home," with Jackie Cooper, Wendy Barrie, and Edmund Lowe ; produced by Ken Goldsmith and directed by Harold Young, from a screen play by Gordon Kahn : FairPoor. "The Last Warning," with Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, and Frances Robinson; produced by Irving Starr and directed by Al Rogell, from a screen play by Edmund L. Hartmann: Fair-Poor. "Son of Frankenstein," with Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atvvill. and Josephine Hutchinson; produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee, from a screen play by Willis Cooper: Good-Fair. "Gambling Ship," with Robert Wrilcox and Helen Mack ; produced by Irving Starr and directed by Aubrey Scotto, from a screen play by Alex Gottlieb : Fair-Poor. "Pirates of the Skies," with Kent Taylor, Rochelle Hudson, and Regis Toomey ; produced by Barney Sarecky and directed by Joe McDonough, from a screen play by Ben G. Kohn : Fair-Poor. "Phantom Stage," with Bob Baker and Marjorie Reynolds ; produced by Trem Carr and directed by George Wraggncr, from a screen play by Joseph West : Poor. "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man," with W. C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, and Constance Moore ; produced by Lester Cowan and directed by George Marshall, from a screen play by George Marion, Jr., Richard Mack, and Everett Freeman : Very Good-Good. Twenty-eight pictures, including Westerns, have been released. Grouping the pictures of the different ratings from the beginning of the season, exclusive of one Wrestern on which reports have not been obtained, we get the following results : Very Good-Good, 1 ; Very Good-Fair, 1 ; Good-Fair, 4; Good-Poor, 2; Fair, 7; Fair-Poor, 11; Poor, 1. The first twenty-eight pictures in the 1937-38 season, including Westerns, were rated as follows : Excellent-Very Good, 1 ; Excellent-Good, 1 ; Very GoodGood, 1 ; Good-Fair, 3; Fair, 10; Fair-Poor, 11 ; Poor, 1.