Harrison's Reports (1945)

14 HARRISON'S REPORTS January 27, 1945 "Thoroughbreds" with Tom Neal and Adele Mara (Republic, Dec. 23; time, 55 mm.) A moderately entertaining program melodrama, suitable for neighborhood and small-town theatres. The story, which revolves around a young cavalry officer's devotion for his horse, is a familiar one, and it offers no new angles, but it has been told in a pleasant way. Moreover, it has some human interest as well as a few horse-racing thrills. The closing scenes are fairly exciting even though they depict the usual ending— the hero's horse winning the big race. The love interest is mild but pleasing: — Tom Neal, a sergeant in the Cavalry, is given a medical discharge just as orders arrive to mechanize the Cavalry and to sell the horses at public auction. Eager to own Sireson, his Cavalry horse, Neal bids for the animal at the auction but is outbid by Adele Mara, socialite fiancee of Gene Garrick, his barracksmate. A feeling of antagonism springs up between Adele and Neal, but Paul Harvey, Adcle's father, who liked the young man, offers him a half interest in Sireson if he would train the horse to run in the Brookside Sweepstakes against Princess, Adele's favorite mount. Neal accepts the offer. When an injury forces Princess out of the race, Adele and Neal are drawn closer together in a mutual determination to see Sireson win the race. On the eve of the event, Garrick, who was visiting Adele on furlough, overhears Roger Pryor, a gambler, offer Neal money to lose the race. Unaware that Neal had rejected the offer, Garrick becomes suspicious. A series of other incidents increase his suspicions and, ten minutes before post time, Garrick accuses Neal of trying to doublecross Adele and demands to ride Sireson himself. Neal, to protect Sireson 's chances, reluctantly knocks his friend unconscious and rides the horse to victory. Sincerely sorry that he had misjudged his friend, and aware of the fact that he and Adele were in love, Garrick gives them his blessing and gallantly bows out of their lives. Wellyn Totman wrote the screen play, Lester Sharpc produced it, and George Blair directed it. Unobjectionable morally. "Objective Burma" with Errol Flynn (Warner Bros., February 17; time, 142 min.) Very good! It ranks with the best of the war melodramas yet produced. From the moment a group of American paratroopers are dropped behind the Japanese lines in Burma, to destroy a radar station, until they work their way back to their home base, the spectator is kept on the edge of his seat. The action is fraught with suspense throughout as the men, stalked by Japanese patrols, fight their way through jungles and swamp lands against overwhelming odds and despite extreme hardships suffered during days of gruelling, exhausting marches. The encounters between the Americans and the Japs are, not only highly exciting, but also extremely informative, for the methods employed for both attack and defense are shown in great detail. What impresses one is the expertness with which the producer has depicted the jungle scenes; they are so realistic that one feels as if he were in Burma. Errol Flynn, as the Captain in charge of the men, makes a plausible leader. One admires his resourcefulness in leading his men to safety, as well as his sympathetic understanding of their hopelessness. While the action holds one's interest all the way through, a cut of ten to fifteen minutes in the running time would not affect its dramatic punch. There is no romantic interest, and the cast is all-male. In the development of the story, Flynn and a group of fifty paratroopers are dropped 1 80 miles behind the Jap lines to destroy a secret radar station. After wiping out the garrison and demolishing the station, the men head for an abandoned airfield for a rendezvous with their transport planes. Jap patrols, searching for the invaders, make it inadvisable for the planes to land. Flynn radios the pilots to meet the men at another rendezvous two days later. Dividing his men in two columns, Flynn arranges for them to travel separate ways but to meet at the designated spot in two days. Flynn's column reaches the rendezvous without incident, but the other column is waylaid by the Japs and wiped out. A supply plane, flying over the rendezvous, radios Flynn that there are no available landing fields and that he and his men must walk out through 1 50 miles of Jap-infested jungle. After days of gruelling marches and countless skirmishes, Flynn receives orders from the supply plane to change course and travel away from the home base to a designated hilltop. The men, stunned by these strange orders, doggedly obey and fight their way to the spot. There, after an all-night battle with the Japs, which reduces their ranks to only eleven survivors, they see thousands of parachutes billow the air as the Allies begin their invasion of Burma. Among those playing principal roles are Henry Hull, as a middle-aged newspaper reporter who fails to survive the ordeal; George Tobias, as a talkative paratrooper ; and William Prince, as Flynn's second in command. Ronald MacDougall and Lester Cole wrote the screen play, Jerry Wald produced it, and Raoul Walsh directed it. The cast includes James Brown, Dick Erdman, Warner Anderson and others. "The Jade Mask" with Sidney Toler (Monogram, ]an. 26; time, 66 min.) Average program fare. It is another in the "Charlie Chan" scries of murder mystery melodramas with comedy, and on about the same entertainment level as the other pictures. The story and treatment adhere to the series' formula, with "Chan," played by Sidney Toler, called in to solve the mystery. As in the other pictures, the comedy is provoked by "Chan's" son (Edwin Luke) and by his colored valet (Manton Moreland), who alternate at helping and hindering him in the solving of the crime. Since several persons are suspected, each having had a motive for murdering the victim, one's interest is held fairly well. The manner in which the murderer is finally exposed is farfetched to the extreme, but it will probably satisfy the non-discriminating followers of the series: — Chan, investigating the murder of Frank Reicher, a scientist, who had been working on a secret formula, questions Hardie Albright, the scientist's assistant; Edith Evanson, his sister; Janet Warren, his niece; Dorothy Granger, his housekeeper; and Cyril Deleranti, his butler. All lived in the scientist's mysterious home, and each had an apparent grievance against him. Unknown to Chan, Janet's boy-friend, a police