Harrison's Reports (1944)

January 29, 1944 HARRISON'S REPORTS 19 Wallace Beery, owner of a small-town general store, and Marjorie Main, post-mistress and ration board supervisor, carry on an old feud that started with their broken romance years previously. The only tie between them was the romance between Tommy Batten, Beery's adopted son, and Dorothy Morris, Marjorie's daughter. To finance their marriage, Beery sells a half interest in his store to Howard Freeman, an unscrupulous person. Peeved and befuddled by the rules of rationing, particularly as administered by Marjorie, Beery goes to Washington to see Senator Henry O'Neill, an old friend. O'Neill to appease Beery, appoints him cosupervisor of the ration board. Meanwhile, during Beery's absence, customers crowd his store demanding meat. Freeman decides to take advantage of the situation. Without Beery's knowledge, he buys a cargo of condemned meat from black market operators. Butchers from towns nearby complain to Beery that he is monopolizing the meat business, and accuse him of abusing his authority. Beery, aroused, investigates and learns of Freeman's black market dealings. Despite the feeling against him, Beery does not defend himself lest it hurt his chances of smashing the black market. He compels Freeman to reveal the racketeers' hideout, and goes there all alone to capture them. Arriving there, Beery is slugged and bound. Meanwhile a wedding ceremony had been arranged for Dorothy and Tommy, and Beery's absence arouses suspicion. The wedding guests form a posse and go to the hideout, where they find Beery, who had freed himself, battling the gangsters. They help him to round up the gang. Beery and Marjorie forget their feud and agree to try marriage. William R. Lipman, Grant Garrett and Harry Ruskin wrote the screen play, Orville O. Dull produced it, and Willis Goldbeck directed it. The cast includes Donald Meek, Douglas Fowley, Gloria Dickson and others. Morally suitable for all. "The Voodoo Man" with Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and George Zucco (Monogram, February 21; time, 62 min.) Fair. As is the case with most horror melodramas, this, too, has an extremely far-fetched story, but the combination of a mad doctor, a weird voodoo priest, two half-wits, and a bevy of beautiful "undead" zombie women, makes it creepy enough to satisfy the followers of this type of entertainment. Intelligent audiences, however, will probably find the fantastic happenings more amusing than horrifying, particularly when George Zucco chants in a guttural tone while performing a weird voodoo ceremony. On the whole it is made up of familiar ingredients. A mild romance has been added to the story : — Bella Lugosi, a retired physician, seeks to bring back to normalcy his wife (Ellen Hall), who was an "undead" zombie. Lugosi hoped to accomplish this feat by means of voodooism, but in order to succeed he requires the aid of a woman whose mental plane had to be the exact mental plane that his wife formerly had. Aided by George Zucco, a voodoo priest, and John Carradine, a half-wit, Lugosi kidnaps numerous girls and subjects them to voodooism. The experiments fail, however, and the girls become zombies. The girls' disappearances mystifies the police. Michael Ames, a reporter, becomes involved in the case when Louise Currie, a cousin of Wanda McKay, his fiancee, disappears near Lugosi's home. Both Wanda and Ames report her disappearance to the police. Meanwhile Louise, who had turned into a zombie after an unsuccessful experiment, is inadvertently let out of the house by Carradine. The police find her walking on a lonely road and take her to Wanda's home. Lugosi, learning of Louise's whereabouts, visits Wanda's home and offers to treat Louise. He explains her illness as shock and orders that she be left alone in her room. Returing to his home, Lugosi orders Zucco to bring Louise back through voodooism. Zucco succeeds. He then orders Zucco to employ voodooism to place Wanda in a trance and to bring her to the house. Wanda responds to Zucco's chants and goes to Lugosi's home. Ames, hunting for Wanda, discovers evidence indicating that Lugosi had kidnapped her. Together with the police he rushes to the house, arriving in time to kill Lugosi and to save Wanda. Lugosi's death causes his wife to die, and her death releases the kidnapped girls from their zombie state. Robert Charles wrote the screen play, Sam Katz and Jack Dietz produced it, and William Beaudine directed it. Barney A. Sarecky was the associate producer. Children may find it a bit too frightful. "The Song of Bernadette" with Jennifer Jones and Charles Bickford (20th Century-Fox, no release date set; time, 157 min.) Excellent! Adopted from the widely read novel by Franz Werfel, this production is a profound achievement, one that Twentieth Century-Fox, as well as the entire industry, can well be proud of. It assuredly takes its place as one of Hollywood's greatest pictures. The production, direction, and acting are of the highest order. The story deals with the life of Bernadette Soubirous, the simple peasant girl of Lourdes, France, who became Sister Marie Benarde and was canonized by Pope Pius in 1933. It is interesting and stirring, not only because of its spiritual values, but also because of its deep human interest. Considering that it deals with a delicate theme — religion — it has been handled with such good taste and understanding that no one can raise objections to it. A foreword to the picture reads: "For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible." It is doubtful that even a firm unbeliever will fail to be moved deeply by the honesty, sincerity, and sweetness of the simple little peasant girl, who despite the disbelief accredited to her statements and the persecutions brought against her by both public and church officials, irrevocably maintained to her dying day that she had been visited by an apparition she called "The Lady." The story, which takes place in 1858, traces Bernadette's career from the time she was a fourteen-year-old girl to the time she died in a nunnery while still a young woman. The eldest of four children living in a poverty-stricken home, Bernadette, a frail, backward child, goes to the dump at Massabielle to collect firewood, and there, in a cave in a hill, sees a Vision — a beautiful woman, garbed in flowing white raiment, and bathed in golden radiance. Bernadette's terror turns to adoration when the Vision smiles at her. The townspeople are amazed upon hearing her story and consider it incredulous. Bernadette's family accompanies her to the grotto on the following day, and once again Bernadette sees the Vision, although the others cannot. Bernadette tells her family that the "Lady" asked her to come to the grotto each day for fifteen days. Each time she goes the Vision gives her a different message. The news of Bernadette's experiences spreads all over France, much to the dismay of the town's authorities, who feared that Lourdes would become a laughing stock. Church officials, believing Bernadette's story was an ingenious scheme to bring wealth and glory to her poor family, ignore the incident. The authorities have her examined for traces of insanity, and she is persecuted by unbelievers in many devious ways, but all fail to shake her firm belief in "The Lady." When a spring with curative water forms near the grotto, peasants and noblemen alike flock to Lourdes to partake of its healing powers. The Dean of Lourdes, impressed by this miracle and baffled by Bernadette's unshakable story, induces the Bishop of Tarbes to convene a Commission to investigate the happenings at Lourdes. After four years of exhaustive investigation, a lingering doubt still remains. When Bernadette reaches the age of twenty, the Dean of Lourdes, convinced that she is a Saint, persuades her to become a Sister at Nevers. There she contracts tuberculosis and, after a brief illness, dies protesting that she did see "The Lady." Jennifer Jones, in her first major role, gives an unforgettable performance as Bernadette. Charles Bickford, as the doubting Dean of Lourdes, who eventually becomes her staunchest defender; Vincent Price, as the cynical prosecutor, who fails to shake her story; Charles Dingle, as the blustering police commissioner, who, too, persecutes her unsuccessfully; Ann Revere and Roman Bohnen, as her hardworking, devoted parents; Lee J. Cobb, as the sympathetic local doctor; and Gladys Cooper, as the doubting nun, who envies her, are among those in the large supporting cast who portray their characterizations with great skill. Although the film's running time is quite long, it holds one's attention throughout. George Seaton wrote the screen play, William Pcrlberg produced it, and Henry King directed it. The cast includes Patricia Morison, Sig Ruman, Blanche Yurka, Marcel Dalio, William Eythe, Jerome Cowan, Tala Birell, Edith Barrett and many others.