Harrison's Reports (1945)

May 26, 1945 HARRISON'S REPORTS 83 questionable repute, who persuades them to appoint him their manager. Hall coaches the pair to talk and act like Southerners, in preparation for an audition on a radio program that specialised in Southern atmosphere, and he gives Lynn the name of an esteemed but extinct Southern family. The young folk win a place on the program, and get so much publicity that Lynn is "discovered'1 to be the long lost heiress to the Southern family's estate. To stop Lynn from confessing her duplicity, Hall, seeking to get his hands on the fortune, arranges with Matt Willis, a confederate, to pose as another lost heir and to claim a share in the estate. They learn, however, that only a woman can inherit the estate. Stanton, unaware that Willis was a fake relative, suggests that Lynn marry him to collect the money and avoid unfavorable publicity, then divorce him. Meanwhile the real heir to the estate is found and Willis is exposed as a fake. Angered because Stanton had suggested she marry Willis, Lynn, suspecting his motive, leaves him on the eve of their radio debut. Stanton locates her and, after convincing her that he, too, had been victimised by Hall, induces her to rejoin him. Their radio debut is a huge success. Erna Lasurus wrote the screen play, Ted Richmond produced it, and Del Lord directed it. The cast includes Mary Treen, Byron Foulger and others. Unobjectionable morally. "The Frozen Ghost" with Lon Chaney and Evelyn Ankers (Universal, June 29; time, 61 ruin.) The followers of psychological murder melodramas should find this program picture to their liking. The action, which revolves around a professional hypnotist who becomes obsessed with the idea that he is a murderer, unfolds in a fairly interesting manner and, though the story is far-fetched, it is mystifying and has considerable suspense. Much of the action takes place in a wax museum, giving the picture an effective eerie atmosphere. The mood of the story is one of brooding terror, with no comedy to relieve the tension : — Lon Chaney and Evelyn Ankers, his fiancee, are teamed in a radio act in which she, through hynotic treatment from him, reads the minds of members in the studio audience. When a drunkard in the audience questions Chaney 's hypnotic powers, Chaney agrees to put him in a trance. The man drops dead just as Chaney starts to work on him. Although a coroner's jury finds that the man had died of a heart condition, Chaney believes that he had caused the death. Brooding, he disbands the act and breaks his engagement to Evelyn. Through Milburn Stone, his manager, Chaney obtains employment in a wax museum owned by Tala Birell, hoping the work will help him to rehabilitate himself. Martin Kosleck, Tala's eccentric assistant, a doctor in disrepute, hates Chaney because of a belief that he was in love with Elena Verdugo, Tala's niece. When both Tala and her niece disappear, Chaney, who had been suffering lapses of memory, fears that he might have killed them. Douglas Dumbrille, a detective, suspects Chaney because of his inability to account for his movements. In desperation, Chaney goes to Evelyn for help. He puts her in a trance and, through her psychic powers, learns that Kosleck and Stone were plotting to declare him insane in order to gain control of his fortune. To this end, they had planned the disappearance of the two women, and were trying to pin the guilt on him. Tala had been murdered, but Elena was still alive. On Evelyn's direction, and with the help of Dumbrille, Chaney manages to save Elena just as Kosleck prepares to burn her alive. Kosleck dies in the flaming furnace himself, and Stone is apprehended by the police. His obsession gone, Chaney reunites with Evelyn. Bernard Schubert and Luci Ward wrote the screen play, Will Cowan produced it, and Harold Young directed it. Rather horrifying for children. CANCEL A CONFUSING SHORT SUBJECT "Two Down and One to Go," the War Department short subject dealing with the point system under which soldiers will be released from the army, is being criticized severely by newspapers, exhibitors, and the general public throughout the country, on the grounds that it is spreading confusion among relatives of soldiers who, guided by the information contained in the picture, cannot figure out whether or not their loved ones are eligible for discharge from the army. The trouble with the picture is that it was produced many months before V-E Day, and the demobilisation system as then planned has since been changed. Consequently, those viewing the picture come out of the theatre utterly confused by what they have seen and heard. Criticism of the picture has been so pronounced that Bob O'Donnell, general manager of the Interstate Circuit in Texas, cancelled all showings of the picture, following a conference with War Department heads who unofficially expressed their disappointment in the picture and agreed that it was not suitable for public consumption. Meanwhile many exhibitors have taken steps to cancel their bookings of the picture. For instance, Pete Wood, secretary of the ITO of Ohio, issued a bulletin last week urging the members of his organisation not to play the short subject "because the antiquated point system will prove confusing to your patrons." This paper has learned from an official of the War Activities Committee that the War Department, although informed .that the picture is being criticized as obsolete, and that many exhibitors are cancelling bookings, has made no move to withdraw the picture from public exhibition. Harrison's Reports suggests that you do not wait for the picture to be withdrawn officially. If you have not yet played "One Down and Two to Go," you should not hesitate to cancel your booking at once. While all of you realise that the exhibition of Government information shorts is a patriotic duty, you must consider that, in this particular case, the exhibition of this short subject will serve, not to enlighten your patrons, but to confuse them. A new two-reel subject titled, "On To Tokyo," has just been rushed to completion by the War Department, and the War Activities Committee has announced that the new picture will serve to supplement "One Down and Two to Go," in that die information it contains about the demobilization and redeployment of troops is up to date and accurate. The picture will be released on May 31 through the Universal exchanges. You will do your patrons a service by booking "On to Tokyo" rather than "One Down and Two to Go."