Harrison's Reports (1940)

May 18, 1940 HARRISON'S REPORTS 79 "Flight Angels" with Virginia Bruce, Dennis Morgan, Ralph Bellamy and Wayne Morris (First Natl., May 18; time, 73 min.) A fair aviation program picture. There's nothing in it to set it apart from other pictures of its type, for the story is familiar, the two air scenes, although thrilling, have been done before, and the romance is routine. These two air scenes are exciting : one of them shows the hero piloting his passenger plane through a thick fog, and the other shows the hero losing consciousness while taking a nose dive during the test of a new plane, reviving in time to straighten out the plane. Aside from that, most of the action is tiresome, for it consists of bickering amongst the hostesses and of romantic squabbles : — Dennis Morgan, crack pilot for a commercial airline, is in love with Virginia Bruce, one of the hostesses working for his company, but she refuses to take him seriously because of his reputation as a "lady-killer." A periodic medical checkup by the company doctor discloses the fact that Morgan's sight was impaired. As a result, Ralph Bellamy, the manager, is compelled to ground Morgan. Morgan takes his grounding as a personal offense. In order to bolster up his courage, Miss Bruce marries him ; he settles down to a ground job — that of teaching the hostesses the rudiments of flying. But their stupidity gets on his nerves and he resigns. Disconsolate because another pilot had been chosen to test the new plane on which he had worked with Wayne Morris, Morgan steals the plane out of the hangar and takes it up himself. He completes the test successfully. Before landing, however, his eyes go bad and he smashes into telegraph wires ; but he is unhurt. Bellamy takes away his license, and orders him off the field. In disgust, Morgan decides to go to China to fly war planes, and asks Miss Bruce to get a divorce. But Bellamy prevents Morgan from carrying out his purpose by having him drafted into the U. S. Army, in which he was a reserve officer. His job was to teach army pilots. To his surprise, he finds that he liked the work. He and Miss Bruce are reconciled. Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay wrote the story, and Maurice Leo, the screen play ; Lewis Seiler directed it, and Edmund Grainger produced it. In the cast are Jane Wyman, John Litel, Dorothea Kent, and others. Suitability Class A. "The Crooked Road" with Edmund Lowe, Irene Hervey and Henry Wilcoxon (Republic, May 10; time, 65 min.) Just a fair program melodrama. The story is rather sordid, for it deals with characters who use blackmail, murder, and double-crossing to gain their ends. Even though it is established that the hero had been innocent of the charge that had first sent him to the prison from which he had escaped, the fact that he would stoop to murder the man who had been trying to blackmail him and then try to place the blame on some one else deprives him of audience sympathy. The story is developed in a routine fashion, with action that is at times far-fetched and at other times a little exciting. There is a romance : — ■ Edmund Lowe, a prominent, wealthy attorney, engaged to Irene Hervey, is shocked when he is approached by Arthur Loft, who tries to blackmail him. Loft, who had framed Lowe on a murder charge for which he had been sent to prison and from which he had escaped, demands $100,000; otherwise he would go to the police. Lowe gives him $5,000 on account and promises to bring the rest in a few days. Learning that Loft's wife had been having an affair with another man ( Paul Fix), Lowe plans to kill Loft and place the blame of Fix. In the meantime, Fix, who had learned about the money Loft had received, plots with Loft's wife to do away with him. He substitutes poison tablets for those Loft had been taking. Lowe shoots Loft, not knowing that he was already dead from the poison. Fix is arrested, tried, and sentenced to the death penalty. His attorney interests Henry Wilcoxon, a noted lawyer and friend of Lowe's, in the case. Wilcoxon proves that Fix could not have done the shooting ; continuing the investigation he finds out the truth about Lowe. He is heartbroken, Lowe is arrested, tried and sentenced to the death penalty. But again Wilcoxon comes upon information proving that I^oft had died from the poison. Lowe is freed on that charge, but is taken back to the prison from which he had escaped to finish his term. Miss Hervey and Wilcoxon, who loved each other, bid Ix>we goodbye. E. F. Paramore, Jr., and Richard Blake, wrote the story, and Garnett Weston and Joseph Krutngold, the screen play ; Phil Rosen directed it. and Robert North produced it. In the cast are Claire Carleton, Charles Lane, and others. Not for children or adolescents. Adult fare. Class B. PICTURES NOW IN PRODUCTION (Concluded from back page) Republic "WAGONS WESTWARD," with Chester Morris and Anita Louise. Perhaps an exciting western. "GRAND OLD OPRY," with the Weaver Brothers. Perhaps an amusing program picture. RKO "LUCKY PARTNERS," with Ginger Rogers and Ronald Colman, directed by Lewis Milestone. Good to very good. "$1,000 MARRIAGE," with Leon Errol, Dennis O'Keefe, Adele Pearce, and others. Program. "CROSS COUNTRY ROMANCE," with Gene Raymond, Wendy Barrie, Hedda Hopper, and Berton Churchill, produced by Cliff Reid. Fairly good. "HAVE IT YOUR OWN WAY," with Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Mary Carlisle, Edward Brophy, Ernest Truex and others, produced by Erich Pommer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. Fairly good box office. "MILLIONAIRES IN PRISON," with Lee Tracy, Linda Hayes, and others, produced by Howard Benedict. Program. "DREAMING OUT LOUD," with Lum 'n' Abner, Frank Craven, Robert Wilcox, Bobs Watson and others, directed by Harold Young. Program. "DR. CHRISTIAN No. 3." A program picture. Twentieth Century-Fox "THE BRAT," with Jane Withers and Kent Taylor. Fairly good. "ELSA MAXWELL'S PUBLIC DEB No. 1," with George Murphy, Mischa Auer, Brenda Joyce, Charlie Ruggles, Elsa Maxwell, Ralph Bellamy, Berton Churchill, Franklin Pangborn and others, produced by Gene Markey and directed by Gregory Ratoff. Good. "PIER 13," with Lloyd Nolan and Lynn Bari. Program. "STREET OF MEMORIES," with Guy Kibbee, Lynne Roberts and others. Program. "BRIGHAM YOUNG," with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Brian Donlevy, Mary Astor, Tully Marshall and others, produced by Kenneth Macgowan and directed by Henry Hathaway. Good to very good box office possibilities. "THE GIRL FROM AVENUE A," with Jane Withers, Kent Taylor, Laura Hope Crews and others, produced by Sol Wurtzel. A program picture. "THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES," with Henry Fonda, Andrea Leeds, Jackie Cooper, J. Edward Bromberg, Henry Hull, Donald Meek and others, produced by Kenneth Macgowan, and directed by Fritz Lang, to be photographed in technicolor. It is manifest that Twentieth Century-Fox, in producing this picture, hopes to duplicate the success of "Jessie James," but experience has demonstrated that very seldom does a sequel make the success of the model. In this particular case, the lead is not as good a drawing card as the lead in the first picture, even though the cast on the whole is good. Perhaps it will perform well at the box office if the story should prove appealing. Universal "THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE," with Allan Jones. Joe Penner, Martha Rave, Rosemary Lane, Irene Hervey, Alan Mowbray, Eric Blore, Charles Butte rworth, and Samuel S. Hinds, produced by Jules Levey, and directed by Edward Sutherland. This is the first picture that Jules Levey (formerly "Levy"), erstwhile general sales manager for RKO, under Ned Depinet, has produced. The plot has been founded on the George Abbott, Richard Rodeers and Lorcnz Hart musical success. The cast is good and the picture should turn out from good to very good, with lx>x-officc results of a similar degree. "BLACK DIAMONDS," with Richard Arlen. Andy Devine, Kathryn Adams and others, produced by Ben Pivar and directed by Christy Cabanne. Fairly good. "A MODERN MONTE CRISTO" with Victor MeI.iglen and John Loder, produced by Marshall Grant and directed by Harold Sinister. Marshall Grant was once in the Universal story department and understands story material well; therefore the picture should turn out gotxl from a quality point of view, its Ixvx-oftice results deluding on the drawing powers of Victor McLiglcn.