Harrison's Reports (1946)

198 HARRISON'S REPORTS December 14, 1946 "The Time, the Place, and the Girl" with Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Janis Paige and Martha Vickers (Warner Bros., Dec. 28; time, 105 min.) A routine Technicolor musical, produced on a lavish scale. It has a thin backstage plot, but it should give satisfaction to those who do not pay too much attention to story detail. Although the song and dance sequences are pleasing, they are not extraordinary. A good part of the credit for its entertaining quality must go to Jack Carson and S. Z. Sakall, for it is their clowning that gives the picture a needed lift. The action is pretty sexy in spots; but since these situations have been handled from a comedy angle they are not offensive. On the whole, the story lacks human appeal and the actions of the characters do not awaken one's sympathy: — Dennis Morgan, a singer, and Jack Carson, an orchestra leader, prepare to open a night-club in a fashionable neighborhood only to find themselves opposed by Donald Woods, manager of an operatic family, whose members included Maestro S. Z. Sakall, his wife, Florence Bates, and their granddaughter, Martha Vickers, an opera singer; Woods objected to swing music near where the family lived and threatened to invoke an injunction forbidding cabarets in the neighborhood. With Carson's help, Morgan succeeds in making Martha's acquaintance and talks her into attending the opening with her grandfather. They enjoy themselves immensely, but Sakall's wife learns of their attendance and proceeds to close the club. Sakall, feeling responsible, offers to finance a musical show for the boys providing Martha is starred. He arranges for his wife to make a concert tour of Mexico in order to get her out of the way. Sakall soon finds himself snowed under by bills and is compelled to withdraw his support. Angela Greene, a "gold-digger" and old sweetheart of Morgan's, offers to finance the show provided she is given Martha's part. Not wishing to ruin Morgan's big chance for success, Martha graciously steps out, thus breaking up the romance that had started between Morgan and herself. Aided by Janis Paige, Carson's girl-friend, the boys try numerous tricks to get Martha back into the show. But Angela, learning of their trickery, withdraws her support and quits the show. When the boys threaten to sue her for breach of contract, Alan Hale, a wealthy oil man in love with Angela, settles her contract by writing a check to cover the show's expenses. It all ends with Martha scoring a success in the leading role, while her grandfather conducts the orchestra, and with the grandmother giving her approval of the family's changeover from opera to swing. Francis Swann, Agnes Christine Johnston, and Lynn Starling wrote the screen play from an original story by Leonard Lee. Alex Gottlieb produced it, and David Butler directed it. The cast includes Carmen Cavallero and his orchestra, the Condos Brothers and others. Unobjectionable morally. "The Falcon's Adventure" with Tom Conway (RKO, no release date set; time, 61 min.) This should get by as the second half of a double-feature bill wherever the "Falcon" melodramas are liked. The story is far-fetched and its treatment follows the formula used in the other pictures of the series; that is, Tom Conway, as the private detective, comes to the defense of a pretty woman and soon finds himself involved in a murder case in which he himself becomes the chief suspect before bringing the criminals to justice. Despite the plot's incongruities, it has enough excitement and suspense to please those who are satisfied easily. It has comedy, too, but most of it falls flat because it is forced : — About to leave New York on their vacation, Conway and his assistant, Edward S. Brophy, prevent an attempted kidnapping of Madge Meredith and restore her to her uncle, an inventor. Conway learns that the man had invented a new method for the making of industrial diamonds and that a mysterious gang was trying to steal the formula. Before Conway can resume his vacation trip, the inventor is found murdered. Circumstantial evidence points to Conway as the killer, and, while the police hunt for him, Madge entrusts him with the formula and begs him to deliver it to the dead man's partner (Ian Wolfe) in Miami. En route to the Florida city, Conway outwits an attempt by two of the gang (Myrna Dell and Steve Brodie) to steal the formula. But in Miami, he finds them in possession of Wolfe's apartment. They kill Wolfe and frame Conway for the murder after failing to get the formula from him, but Conway manages to get away before the police arrive. Madge comes to Miami and arranges to sell the formula to Robert Warwick, a wealthy manufacturer of industrial diamonds. Suspicious of Warwick, Conway investigates and tricks Myrna and Brodie into confessing that Warwick had hired them to obtain the formula, which threatened to ruin his business. He learns also that Warwick had induced Madge to take a trip on his yacht, and that he planned to murder her at sea after destroying the formula. Notifying the police, Conway, accompanied by Brophy, hurries to the yacht and arrives in time to rescue Madge from Warwick after subduing the crew in a hectic battle. Satisfied that the killings had been cleared up, the police absolve Conway. Aubrey Wisbcry wrote the original screen play, Herman Schlom produced it, and William Berke directed it. The cast includes Joseph Crehan, Jason Robards and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Blondie's Big Moment" with Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton (Columbia, no release date set, time, 69 min.) Where the "Blondie" comedies are still popular, this one should be considered a fair program entertainment. The story, of course, is on the silly side, and, as in the other pictures, the comedy is based on the hero's simple-mindedness and on his difficulties with his boss. The gags and situations are more or less carbon copies of those used in the previous pictures, but even though they are repetitious the players manage to make them amusing. The same players enact the different roles with the exception of Jerome Cowan, who has replaced Jonathan Hale as the boss. All in all, it will appeal mainly to the avid followers of the series: — Just home from a vacation and late for work. Arthur Lake swings onto a crowded bus munching a jelly doughnut. He smears jelly all over the coat of Jerome Cowan, a crochety gentleman, and later, at the office, discovers that he was his new boss. Cowan loses no time in demoting Lake and taking away his private office, and his wrath increases when Lake bungles the handling of an important client, who was prepared to hand the firm a huge construction contract provided a suitable building site could be found. Cowan has Lake drive him around town to find a lot, finally locating one that suited the client. A baseball batted by John Granath, a youngster playing on the lot, hits Cowan on the head and gives him a violent headache along with a desire to beat the child. Meanwhile Lake's wife, Penny Singleton, seeking to soften Cowan's feelings towards her husband, invites him to dinner, to which she had invited also Anita Louise, a pretty schoolteacher. Cowan's evening is aggravated by his discovery that little John, a friend of Lake's son, was a visitor at the house, and by the fact that the mysterious owner of the acceptable building lot did not want to sell. In the course of events, Lake, seeking to impress his son's schoolmates, gets Cowan out of the office by a ruse so that he could pose as an important member of the firm. Cowan returns unexpectedly and discharges Lake. Despondent, Lake returns home, where he learns that little John was the owner of the coveted lot and that he was willing to sell, but only to Lake. Cowan leai ns of this development and pleads with Lake to buy the property for the firm. Penny steps in and demands that Cowan first reemploy Lake at a substantial raise. Cowan hastily agrees. Connie Lee wrote the original screen play, Burt Kelly produced it, and Abby Berlin directed it. The cast include.-. Larry Simms and others. Unobjectionable morally.