Harrison's Reports (1945)

110 HARRISON'S REPORTS July 14, 1945 "Road to Alcatraz" with Robert Lowery and June Storey (Republic, July 10; time, 60 min.) A fair program murder mystery melodrama. Parts of it are too far-fetched to he plausible; but persons who arc not too particular about such defects should be entertained, for the action moves at a steady pace, and it has considerable suspense. The story revolves around a young attorney, who, suspected of murdering his law partner, doubts his own innocence because he walked in his sleep and could not account for his movements on the night of the crime. The manner in which he traps the murderer and clears himself holds one's interest throughout. Unlike the title suggests, the picture is void of gangster doings: — Robert Lowery, an attorney, and June Storey, his wife, are elated when they receive word that their investment in a business deal shared by Lowery, William Forrest, his partner, Charles Gordon, a college friend, and Clarence Kolb, a financier, would result in handsome profits. Lowery, a sleepwalker, awakes on the following morning and finds that the condition of his clothes indicate that he had visited Forrest during the night. Bewildered, he goes to Forrest's apartment, where he finds the man murdered amid evidence that points to him as the killer. Recalling that, by the terms of the deal, the death of one of the partners would increase the profits of the others, Lowery conceals the evidence and decides to invctsigate. He communicates with Gordon and, through him, finds reason to suspect Kolb of the murder. He visits Kolb's home and discovers what he considers conclusive evidence of the man's guilt. Meanwhile the police decide that Lowery was guilty and hurry to his home to arrest him. Lowery, seeking a chance to talk with Gordon, escapes from the police and, in the basement of his home, picks up what he believes to be his dropped fraternity pin. In Gordon's hotel room, while analyzing the crime, Lowery notices that he was wearing his pin and realizes that the pin he had found belonged to Gordon. Quickly, he concludes that Gordon had committed the murder and had planted the evidence against him. Gordon, unmasked, tries to kill Lowery, but the young attorney is saved by the timely arrival of the police. Dwight V. Babcock and Jerry Sackheim wrote the screen play, Sidney Picker produced it, and Nick Grinde directed it. The cast includes Grant Withers, Iris Adrian and others. Unobjectionable morally. "And Then There Were None" with Barry Fitzgerald, Louis Hayward and Walter Huston (20th Century-Fox, September; time, 97 min.) Based on Agatha Christie's widely-read story of the same title, which was produced as a Broadway play under the title, "Ten Little Indains," this murder mystery melodrama is a good entertainment of its type. The story unfolds in an interesting manner, and excitement and suspense are well sustained throughout since all the characters are cloaked in an air of mystery, and one does not learn the murderer's identity until the very end. The story has its setting in a lonely house on an isolated island, and it contains all the eerie effects generaly employed in thrillers. The second half, in which the mystery thickens, is the most exciting, particularly in the closing scenes, where Louis Hayward, through a clever ruse, traps the murderer. It is the sort of picture that should be seen from the beginning, and exhibitors should urge their patrons not to disclose the ending to their friends so that they, too, may enjoy the surprise climax. The acting is good, and the picture has been produced well. The story revolves around ten assorted people, unknown to each other, who are tricked into visiting the home of a stranger on a lonely island off the English coast. Once on the island, they find their mysterious host absent, but at dinner the ten guests are startled by a voice, which identifies itself as that of the host and which announces that each of them is to be punished by death, because specific crimes each had committed were unprovable by the rules of legal evidence. Shortly after the accusations, the guests institute a search for their mysterious host. Their search proves fruitless, and they soon learn that there were no means by which they could leave the island. They find a statue of ten little Indian figures and, on the piano, they also find a copy of the "Ten Little Indians" nursery rhyme. One by one, each of the guests meets sudden death mysteriously, each dying in accordance with the words of the nursery rhyme, and after each death one of the Indian figures disappears. Gripped by fear, the remaining guests suspect one another until all are murdered but two — Louis Hayward and June Duprez, who loved each other. Hayward, through a clever ruse, clears up the mystery by trapping one of the guests, Barry Fitzgerald, an erratic judge with a distorted sense of justice, who had feigned his own murder in order to commit the other killings undetected. He dies by his own hand. Dudley Nichols wrote the screen play, and Rene Clair produced and directed it. The cast includes Roland Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, Mischa Auer, Richard Haydn, Queenie Leonard and others. It is a Popular Pictures, Inc., production. Unobjectionable morally. "The Beautiful Cheat" with Noah Beery, Jr. and Bonita Granville (Universal, July 20; time, 59 min.) Just a mildly amusing program comedy, with some music. There is very little to the plot, which concerns itself with a professor who studies a wayward girl in preparation for a book on sociology, without realizing that his subject was masquerading as a delinquent. A few of the situations are amusing, but for the most part the comedy is dull. The love interest is ineffective, and there is no human interest since none of the characters are presented in an appealing manner. The outcome is quite obvious, an there is nothing to the story to really hold one's interest: — Noah Beery, Jr., a young professor, asks Edward Fielding, an associate, to find a wayward girl who would consent to reside in his home so that he could study her in preparation for a new book on sociology. Unable to find a proper subject, Fielding facetiously arranges with Bonita Granville, a secretary in a detention home, to pose as a delinquent. Bonita, pretending to be a youthful miscreant, upsets Beery 's household and infuriates his spinster sisters (Margaret Irving and Sarah Selby) , as well as Irene Ryan, his middleaged secretary. Beery becomes fond of Boruta and de