Harrison's Reports (1942)

January 3, 1942 HARRISON'S REPORTS 3 Ordinarily, one would not expect the husband, impersonated by Ray Middleton, to drink the poison; he is so endeared to the spectator, and his personality is so sympathetic, that a producer, or an author, would hesitate to kill him out of a regard for the reaction his death might have had upon the spectators. But his death is the natural outcome of what precedes, and helps what follows. But the novelty ends right there; the end unfolds in a routine manner — the heroine is saved. But the manner by which her innocence is proved is hackneyed — the sister of the poisoner, although browbeaten by her poisoner sister, gathers enough courage to stand up and inform the court, almost after the passing of sentence, that it was her sister who had put the poison in the drink. A better way to have treated this situation would have been to have the weakling sister stand up with the intention of informing the court of what she knew of the poisoning and then have her drop dead. To avoid making this part laughable to the audience, it could have been shown that all along she was suffering from a heart ailment, and her end had been accelerated by the grief she had been feeling by the death, not only of her sweetheart, whom, as said in the review, her sister had poisoned, but also of her brother. You may imagine, then, how much the suspense would have been enhanced, for the heroine would then be in a real predicament. As a further development, so as to avoid a hackneyed ending, it could have been shown that the guilty sister, after admitting that it was she who had poisoned her brother, had gone raving mad. To avoid making this situation laughable, traces of insanity in her could have been shown all along. In such a case, her insanity would have been acceptable to the audience as a natural consequence, and not as an arbitrary act of the author's. The judge then could have dismissed the case on the ground that, what had taken place in the courtroom, had almost proved the heroine's innocence, or at least had raised a great doubt, as to her guilt. Such a treatment would, in the opinion of this reviewer, have made the picture more gripping. Even then, the picture could not have been considered as containing all the elements that go to make a picture a great box-office attraction unless care were taken to have some of the action appeal deeply to the emotions of sympathy. In plain words, there should have been also some gulps in the throat. These are, of course, off-hand views just to show that there were greater possibilities in the story; a trained writer could, perhaps, have taken these views and elaborated on them with much greater results. Despite these criticisms, however, you will do well to book this picture, not only because the picture is, as said, meritorious, despite these comments, but also as an encouragement to the heads of a company that have been trying their best to serve you with entertaining pictures. * * * METRO GOLDWYN MAYER has made changes in "Two-Faced Woman" and now the Legion of Decency has removed the picture from the "C" classification and placed it on the "B" list — "objectionable in parts." The Legion has been criticized for not voicing its objections to MGM before announcing its condemnation of the picture. Since the removal of the objectionable parts have now removed the reason for placing the picture on the "C" list, the removal of these parts could have been done just as well before the condemnation. MPICC SUBCOMMITTEES (Appointed to carry out the outlined industry unity program) Sub-Committee on Point (1) CO-ORDINATION OF POLICY AND ACTION IN REFERENCE TO TAXATION: Spyros Skouras, National Theatres, Chairman; H. A. Cole, Allied States Association; E. L. Kuykendall, M.P.T.O.A.; Harry Brandt, Unaffiliated Organizations; Leonard Goldenson, Paramount; Joseph Vogel, Loew's, Inc.; Harry Kalmine, Warner Bros.; George J. Schaefer,, RKO. Sub-Committee on Point (2) CO-ORDINATION OF POLICY AND ACTION IN PROTECTING THE GOOD NAME AND INTEGRITY OF THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE: George J. Schaefer, RKO, Chairman; Sidney R. Kent, 20th Century-Fox Film; Barney Balaban, Paramount; H. A. Cole, Allied States Association; E. L. Kuykendall, M.P.T.O.A.; Harry Brandt, I.T.O.A.; Robert Poole, Pacific Coast Conference. Sub-Committee on Point (3) FORMULATION OF PLANS FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVERTISING AND OTHER GOODWILL ACTIVITIES: Howard Dietz, Loew's, Inc., Chairman; the Advertising and Publicity heads of all National Distributing Organizations. (Representing Allied States Association) P. J. Wood, Ohio; Don Rossiter, Indiana; M. A. Rosenberg, Western Pennsylvania. (Representing M.P.T.O.A.) Fred Wherenberg, Missouri; Lewen Pizor, E. Penna., So. New Jersey 6? Delaware; Leonard Goldenson, Paramount, representing affiliated theatres. (Representing Unaffiliated Organizations) Bob White, Oregon; Leo Brecher, New York; Lionel Wasson, Iowa. Sub-Committee on Point (4) PROTECTING THE NECESSARY SUPPLIES OF THE INDUSTRY BY SECURING PROPER PRIORITY RATINGS: Joseph Bernhard, Warner Brothers, Chairman, and Present committee selected by Motion Picture Committee Cooperating for National Defense: George J. Schaefer, RKO; Sidney E. Samuelson, Allied States Association; Carter Baron, M.P.T.O.A.; Wm. Crocket, Unaffiliated Organizations. Sub-Committee on Point (5) FORMULATION OF A PROGRAM PROVIDING, IF POSSIBLE, FOR THE ADJUSTMENT, OR MODIFICATION OF THE POLICIES OR PRACTICES OF ONE BRANCH OR MEMBER THEREOF WHICH ARE OPPOSED BY ANY OTHER BRANCH OR A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION THEREOF: The Motion Picture Industry Conference Committee as a whole.