Harrison's Reports (1942)

126 HARRISON'S REPORTS August 8, 1942 "Pardon My Sarong" with Abbott and Costello (Universal, August 7; time, 83 min.) If the antics of Abbott and Costello please your patrons, this comedy will be to their taste. It is slapstick in its broadest form, and at no time does it pretend to be otherwise. The picture is so completely non-sensical, that one finds it difficult to remain consistently bored with it. What' ever there is of the story is not worth mentioning, for it merely serves as a background for the usual Abbott and Costello skits, most of which lack freshness, and for a few dance and musical numbers, none of which is outstanding. The children will love this picture, but discriminating audiences will probably shy away from it. It is two-reeler stuff stretched into feature length: — Lou Costello and Bud Abbott, Chicago bus drivers, accept an offer from Robert Paige, a playboy to drive him and some chorus girls to Los Angeles where Paige had entered his yacht in a boat race. William Demarest, a detective, follows them, seeking their arrest for the theft of the bus. They evade him and seek refuge on Paige's yacht. Paige immediately engages the boys to help sail the yacht, as his crew had left him. Responsible for the crew's walkout was Virginia Bruce. She felt that Paige had stolen the crew from her brother, who likewise was an entrant in the race. When Virginia comes aboard, Paige locks her in the cabin and sets sail. A hurricane blows the ship off its course and they drift ashore on an uncharted island. They become friendly with the natives, and Costello accidentally becomes a hero when he rings a sacred bell. Legend had it that whoever rang the bell would deliver the islanders from the spell of a tabu. This tabu was used by Lionel Atwill, the only other white man on the island, as a means of extortion. He informs the natives that, unless they delivered gold and jewels to the haunted temple of the volcano gods, the volcano, which rose above the village, would erupt and destroy the village. Costello is selected to carry the jewels to the temple. Upon reaching the temple he finds it haunted, not by spirits, but by a gang of thieves in Atwill's employ. With the aid of Paige and Abbott, Costello overpowers the gang. True Boardman, Nat Perrin, and John Grant wrote the screen play, Alex Gottlieb produced it, and Erie C. Kenton directed it. Included in the cast are Lief Erickson, Nan Wynn, The Four Ink Spots, "Tip Tap Toe," and others. "Somewhere I'll Find You" with Clark Gable and Lana Turner (MGM, no release date set; time, 107 min.) As a love team, Clark Gable and Lana Turner should undoubtedly draw at the box-office, but picture-goers will find this war drama, with comedy, to be no more than a fair entertainment, and a ribald one at that. Much of the dialogue is suggestive, and many of the situations are quite risque. At such times at the lovers manage to keep apart, the film concerns itself with the adventures of three war correspondents, two brothers and a girl, who form the inevitable love triangle. The disappearance of the girl in Indo-China brings the brothers to that locale just prior to the Japanese invasion. There is a little human interest, and a fair share of comedy and fast action. Exciting are the closing scenes where a small group of American soldiers on Bataan sacrifice their lives in an attempt to repel a Jap landing party: — ■ Displeased with the isolationist views of Charles Dingle, their editor, Clark Gable and Robert Sterling, brothers and war correspondents, quit their jobs when they return from Europe. Returning to his boarding house after an absence of three years, Gable learns that his room had been rented to Lana Turner, a girl reporter with whom he had failed to keep a date on the day he left for Europe. She embraces Gable. When Sterling arrives and informs him that Lana is the girl he intends to marry, Gable suspects her motives. He does not realize that Lana had tried to fall in love with Sterling to forget him. When Lana acknowledges that she and Gable were having dates and that she loved him, Sterling quarrels with Gable. Dingle assigns Lana to cover the news in Indo-China. Thinking that Gable will ask her to remain with him she is disappointed when he merely says goodbye and informs her that their love could not have a lasting quality. The brothers are reunited when Dingle appeals to them to go to Indo-China in search of Lana, who had disappeared. They find her taking groups of Chinese children to places of safety. Gable recognizes her fine qualities and loves her deeply. But believing that Sterling would make her a better husband, he leaves them and goes to Manila. They follow and find him just as war had been declared. Dingle assigns Lana and Sterling to Australia, while Gable remains in Manila. On Bataan, Gable finds Sterling a soldier in the front ranks. He learns that Lana had joined the Red Cross, and that they had never left for Australia. In a skirmish with a party of Japs, Sterling heroically dies. Lana and Gable are reunited, and together they write the story of Bataan's heroes. Marguerite Roberts wrote the screen play, Pandro S. Berman produced it, and Wesley Ruggles directed it. Morally objectionable for children. "Sabotage Squad" with Bruce Bennett, Kay Harris and Edward Norris (Columbia, August 27; time 64 min.) Just another program spy melodrama; its most receptive audience should be those patrons who demand action and a few thrills, regardless of story values. The action concerns itself with the tracking down of a spy ring by the police, aided by a petty gangster attempting to clear himself of involvment with the spies. Both the story and the action of the players follows a set formula for pictures of this type, offering little that is novel. The direction and the acting are fair: — Refused enlistment in the army because of a bad heart, Edward Norris, a gambler, is jailed when he attacks the recruiting officers. He is bailed out by Police Lieutenant Bruce Bennett, his rival for the attentions of Kay Harris, a manicurist. As chief of a "Sabotage Squad," Bennett seeks the head of a spy ring. His only clue is a medal known to be carried by the head. With George McKay, his pickpocket friend, Norris goes to the barber shop where Kay worked to inform her of his new job in a gambling "joint." While Norris talks to Kay, McKay steals a wallet from Sidney Blackmer, secret head of the spy ring and a customer in the shop. The wallet contains the medal and some money, but it means nothing to Norris, who plans to return it. But before he can find Blackmer, Norris is arrested in a police raid on the "joint," and the wallet found on his person. Bennett grills Norris and McKay without results. He allows Norris to "escape," hoping that he would lead him to Blackmer while attempting to clear himself. When Blackmer returns to the barber shop in search of his wallet, McKay recognizes him as the man from whom he had stolen it. He notifies Bennett who arrives with a squadron of police. Using Kay as a shield, Blackmer escapes. His men capture Norris and McKay and bring them to a soap factory where he is holding Kay. While Blackmer supervises the loading of trucks with explosives to wreck an airplane plant, the three captives escape and hide in one of the trucks. During a stop on the highway Norris sends Kay and McKay to warn the police. Holding Blackmer at gun-point, he takes command of the truck. To avoid hitting a truck load of soldiers, Norris swerves off the road, and with Blackmer, is killed in the explosion that follows. Bennett presents Kay with a posthumous award for Norris. Bernice Petkers, Wallace Sullivan, and David Silverstien wrote the screen play, Jack Fier produced it, and Lew Landers directed it. Suitable for all. "Journey Into Fear" with Orson Welles, Dolores Del Rio and Joseph Cotten (RKO, no release date set; time, 70 min.) A fairly good program spy melodrama. Throughout its seventy minutes running time, Orson Welles' latest production builds up an interest that holds one deeply engrossed, and always tense, but all this is torn down by a weak ending. The many confusing characters keep one guessing as to their intent, but the weak ending clears up little, and one is made to feel as if the story had no point. The highly suspensive action revolves around the efforts of an American naval gunnery expert to escape Axis agents, who seek his death because of information he possessed about the Turkish Navy. Orson Welles and Dolores Del Rio are cast in secondary parts, while Joseph Cotten plays the lead. The direction and the performances are very good : — Enroute to the United States, Joseph Cotten, naval gunnery expert representing an American firm, arrives in Instanbul, Turkey, with Ruth Warwick, his wife. Everett Sloane, Turkish agent of the firm, induces Cotten to go to a cafe where they could talk. There, he becomes acquainted with Dolores Del Rio and Jack Durant, adagio dancers. During the entertainment, Cotten is persuaded to assist in a magician's act involving the transference of two people. As the lights are dimmed, the magician is shot dead. Orson Welles, head of the secret Turkish police, informs Cotten that Nazi agents were attempting to kill him, because of his knowledge regarding the re-armament of the Turkish Navy. Welles secretly puts Cotten aboard a small Greek steamer bound for Batumi, Russia, and assures him that he would personally see to it that his wife met him there. Aboard the