Harrison's Reports (1945)

April 7, 1945 HARRISON'S REPORTS 55 "China's Little Devils" with Harry Carey and Paul Kelly (Monogram, April 27; time, 74 min.) This fanciful war melodrama may get by as a supporting feature in secondary houses, but as entertainment it will appeal chiefly to the juvenile trade; adults may find it all too far-fetched. The action revolves mainly around a small band of Chinese refugee children, who commit totally unbelievable acts of sabotage against the Jap military in occu' pied China, effect miraculous rescues of prisoners with the greatest of ease, and in other ways make complete monkeys of the Japs, even when it comes to battling it out with fire arms. The Chinese youngsters are appealing and their performances are good, but one cannot help feeling as though he were watching a school play. Not much can be said for the direction: — Paul Kelly, a Flying Tiger, lands his plane in the ruins of a Chinese village, where he finds Ducky L. Louie, a Chinese boy, wounded and orphaned by the war. The Flying Tigers adopt the boy and teach him commando tactics. But a few years later they decide that he needs an education, and they send him to a missionary school operated under the neutral American flag by Harry Carey, a kindly doctor. There, Ducky organizes and trains the other refugee children in commando tactics and, despite Carey's pleas, they steal out at night to prey on the Japanese. During one of their exploits, two of the youngsters are taken prisoners while blowing up a supply base. Carey pleads with the Japanese commandant to release the lads, only to be told that he himself was now a prisoner, because Japan had just declared war against the United States. Through a scheme devised by Ducky, the doctor is rescued by the children and taken to the hills. A few days later, Kelly's plane crashes in the vicinity and he is taken prisoner by the Japs. The youngsters, however, through Ducky's ingenuity, rescue him. After treating Kelly's wounds, they take him to a river to help him get back to the Chinese lines. A Japanese patrol converges on them in an effort to capture Kelly, but the children and Carey help him to escape, sacrificing their lives as they shoot it out with the Japs. William Hanley and Grant Withers wrote the screen play and produced it, and Monta Bell directed it. The cast includes Philip Ahn, Richard Loo and others. "The Scarlet Clue" with Sidney Toler and Manton Moreland (Monogram, April 20; time, 64 min.) While this may appeal to the followers of the "Charlie Chan" murder mystery melodramas, it is not up to the standard of the other pictures in the series, in that the action is slow and the mystery of the murders is not as absorbing. Moreover, most of the acting is stilted and, since the outcome is obvious, it holds the spectator in just fair suspense. The comedy, with the exception of a very amusing bit between Manton Moreland and Ben Carter, is not impressive. On the whole, the picture leaves one with the feeling that the producers are having a difficult time finding story material with which to continue the series: — While investigating a spy plot to steal secret radar plans, Government Agent Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) learns that the head of the spy ring was unknown even to his confederates. Chan traces the murder of one of the spies to Helen Devereaux, a radio actress, with whom the murdered man had been out on a date. Virginia Brissac, sponsor of Helen's radio show, openly resented Chan's interference with rehearsals in order to carry on his investigation. Shortly after, Janet Shaw, another actress, is killed by a mysterious gas in a crowded studio. Unknown to Chan, Janet had discovered that the station's manager (I. Stanford Jolley) was a spy, and she had tried to blackmail him. Later, when Chan's suspicions fall on Jolley, the mysterious spy leader lures him to his death by springing a trap door in an elevator. To snare the leader, Chan leaves the safe in a radar laboratory unguarded. Subsequent events lead to the murder of Jack Norton, another radio actor, and help Chan to discover that the murders were caused by an ingenious device that had been hidden in the studio microphones and which emitted an invisible gas. As a result of this discovery, Chan, aided by Benson Fong, his son, and Manton Moreland, his chauffeur, is enabled to track down the spy leader, who turns out to be Miss Brissac, the radio sponsor. She falls into her own elevator death trap in an attempt to escape arrest. George Callahan wrote the screen play, James S. Burkett produced it, and Phil Rosen directed it. The cast includes Robert Homans and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Identity Unknown" with Richard Arlen and Cheryl Walker (Republic, April 2; time, 71 min.) A fine topical drama, well directed and capably acted. Revolving around a returning soldier, stricken with amnesia, who endeavors to establish his identity, the story is novel, " has deep human interest, touches of sadness, and a pleasing romance. It has considerable suspense, too, for the action takes the soldier to four homes, in different parts of the country, and neither he nor the spectator knows which one of the families may welcome him as their own. The picture should appeal to most audiences because of the deep sympathy they will feel for the hero, who, despite his own bitter disappointments, understandingly gives aid and comfort to those who had lost loved ones. Richard Arlen, as the soldier, gives a very good account of himself, as do the other members of the cast: — Suffering from a total loss of memory, Arlen, learns that his identity was unknown to the army, because, at the time he and four other soldiers were bombed in an isolated French farmhouse, his dog-tag had been blown off. He learns also that he was the sole survivor, and that four dog-tags had been found in the debris. His commandant (Ian Keith) felt sure that one of the tags bore his name and, pending an investigation, he hands Arlen a list of the names to mull over. Determined to identify himself, Arlen decides to visit the homes of his dead buddies, and goes A.W.O.L. from a troop train. He first stops at the home of Cheryl Walker, who lost her husband. He discovers immediately that he was not her husband. After he explains, Cheryl invites him to stay at her home for a few days. Both fall in love, and he leaves her with a determination to establish his identity; he wanted to marry her, but had to be sure that no other woman was waiting for him. His next stop is a home in West Virginia, where Bobby Driscoll, a six-year-old boy, welcomes him as "Daddy." But Arlen soon learns that the boy was mistaken, and he leaves for Chicago, the next stop. There, in a dingy saloon, he meets John Forrest, younger brother of one of the dead soldiers, who was involved with a gambling syndicate. Satisfied that he was not the boy's brother, Arlen, after helping the young man to rehabilitate himself, heads for the last address, an Iowa farm, confident that it must be his home. But when Arlen arrives there, he soon learns that the elderly farm couple (Sara Padden and Forrest Taylor) were not his folks. He helps the downcast couple to adjust their lives and, shortly after, as he drives to the railroad station to meet Cheryl, he is picked up by military police and taken back to camp. During his absence, the army had learned his identity and, through applied psychology, help him recollect that, in civilian life, he had been a college professor. His amnesia gone, Arlen joyfully reunites with Cheryl. Richard Weil wrote the screen play, and Walter Colmes directed it. Mr. Colmes and Howard Bretherton were the associate producers. The cast includes Lola Lane, Harry Tyler, Roger Pryor and others. Unobjectionable morally.