Harrison's Reports (1948)

January 24, 1948 HARRISON'S REPORTS 15 "You Were Meant for Me" with Dan Dailey and Jeanne Crain (20th Century-Fox, February; time, 91 min.) Dan Dailey, whose work as the father in "Mother Wore Tights" won him much praise, comes through with another ingratiating performance as a popular dance band leader in "You Were Meant for Me," a charming, nostalgic entertainment that takes one back to the flapper age and the birth of the depression in 1929. Singing, dancing, or acting, Dailey displays remarkable versatility. Jeanne Crain, as the small-town girl who marries him and helps him overcome the setback caused by the Wall Street crash, is appealingly demure and reminds one of her performance in "Margie." The nimble wisecracks of Oscar Levant, as Dailey's manager, add much to the entertainment values. The story itself is light, but it has a pleasing romantic quality, good comedy touches, and considerable human interest. Moreover, it has a melodious musical score, featuring a number of song hits that were popular in 1929. It is a wholesome, satisfying picture, one that makes you leave the theatre humming a tune: Dailey, whose distinctive swing band was the rage with collegians throughout the country, plays a dance engagement in Bloomington, a typical small town. The dance is attended by Jeanne, one of his many ardent admirers, who finds herself holding the lucky number in the drawing for the door prize. She kisses Dailey impulsively when he hands her the prize, thus starting a romance that culminates with their elopement on the following night. Happily married and riding the crest of his popularity, Dailey remains oblivious to the impending stock market crash and spends his money freely. The crash finds him with a minimum amount of money and a cancellation of a season's contract at a large New York hotel. He is compelled to break up his band. Jeanne induces him to return to Bloomington to live with her parents (Percy Kilbride and Selena Royle) until the band business picks up again. He remains idle for many months, turning down several offers for small engagements because of his refusal to accept anything but top bookings. With her father struggling to support the family with his failing brick yard business, Jeanne becomes annoyed at Dailey's attitude and berates him for not accepting the engagements in order to make her father's lot easier. Peeved, he decides to return to New York without her, but he changs his mind at train time and goes to work in the brick yard. Levant, needing a job, joins him. The story ends several years later with Dailey once again on top as a band leader, and with Levant managing the brick yard. Elick Moll and Valentine Davies wrote the original screen play, Fred Kohlmar produced it, and Lloyd Bacon directed it. Suitable for the entire family. "Call Northside 777" with James Stewart and Richard Conte (20th Century-Fox, February; time, 111 min.) Skillfully produced, competently directed, and capably acted by a uniformly good cast, this is an absorbing dramatic offering, based on a true story about a man who was sentenced to life imprisonment on circumstantial evidence that was subsequently proved false, but not until after he had served eleven years in prison. There is a great deal of human interest in the faith the accused's mother has in his innocence, and in the efforts of a newspaperman to exonerate her boy. The many touches of simple pathos will find a quick response in almost every human breast. The documentary technique, which has been used successfully in other pictures, has once again been put to effective use in this film, with the factual backgrounds adding much to the authenticity of the story material. It has some minor defects, due seemingly to loose plot construction, but on the whole its intrinsic appeal outweighs its shortcomings: — The story, which opens in 1932, depicts the murder of a Chicago policeman in a speakeasy operated by Betty Garde. Police dragnets are set out for the killers and in the course of events Richard Conte and George Tyne, both having minor police records, are picked up as suspects and brought to trial. Betty positively identifies them as the killers and, despite their protests of innocence, both are sentenced to life imprisonment. The scene shifts to 1944, when an advertisement appears in the classified section of a Chicago newspaper offering $5,000 reward for information leading to the killers of the officer murdered in 1932. James Stewart, a reporter, is assigned by Lee J. Cobb, his editor, to check on the advertisement. He learns that it had been placed by Conte's mother who, believing in her son's innocence, had scrubbed floors for 11 years to raise the money offered as a reward. A human interest story written by Stewart about the mother attracts wide and sympathetic attention and, under the prodding of his wife (Helen Walker) and Cobb, Stewart agrees to investigate the case. Frankly cynical at first, Stewart soon finds reason to place credence in Conte's claim of innocence, and he eventually uncovers sufficient though not conclusive evidence indicating that the man had been rail' roaded to jail. He commits himself to a fight for Conte's freedom, winning it when he manages to prove conclusively that Betty had lied in identifying Conte as one of the killers. Jerome Cady and Jay Dratler wrote the screen play, based on articles by James P. McGuire. Otto Lang produced it, and Henry Hathaway directed it. Adult entertainment. "The Naked City" with Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff and Dorothy Hart ( Universal-lnt'l., February; time, 96 min.) Excellent! When the year's best melodramas are compiled, this one is sure to be high on the list, for it possesses values such as few pictures can boast of nowadays. To begin with, the picture, which was filmed entirely in New York City, is without question the finest example of documentary technique brought to the screen to date. Not only are the backgrounds authentic, but its depiction of life in the city, from highbrow to lowbrow, from the slums to the better class neighborhoods, is so realistic and it has been acted with such realism that one is made to feel as if he were watching a reallife occurrence in the teeming metropolis. The story, a murder mystery, unfolds in so fascinating a manner that one's attention is held glued to the sqreen throughout. Briefly, it opens with the murder of a young woman by two mysterious men. Barry Fitzgerald, a police lieutenant in charge of a Homicide Squad, takes charge of the case and organizes his forces for the solution of the crime. Piecing together the different clues and tracking down every possible lead, Fitzgerald and his men eventually get onto the trail of a small ring of jewel thieves, whose involvement with a prominent society doctor leads them to the murderer, who dies a violent death in a fall from the tower of the Williamsburgh Bridge, after being trapped there by the police. A brief synopsis cannot do justice to the many details that make this picture outstanding. For instance, the street scenes, the people and their habits, provide the film with some of its most interesting and engaging moments. The sequences involving the grieving parents of the murdered girl, who had left home against their wishes to seek a fast life, will tear at one's heartstrings. The chase towards the finish, where the murderer, panicky, dashes through back yard tenements and finally onto the bridge in an unsuccessful attempt to elude a police blockade, is one of the most exciting this reviewer has ever seen. Much is added to the taut proceedings by the exceptionally fine depiction of the methods employed by the police as they go through painstaking research and minute investigation of every possible lead, no matter how remote, in their efforts to solve the crime. Barry Fitzgerald turns in a top performance as the police lieutenant, and he is given able support by Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Ted De Corsia and House Jameson, all of whom appear in principal roles. There is not much marquee value in this cast, but, since it is the sort of picture people will talk about and recommend, it should do top box-office business. Albert Maltz and Malvin Wald wrote the very fine screenplay from a story by Mr. Wald. Jules Dassin did an expert job on the direction. The late Mark Hellinger, who produced it, leaves in this picture a fitting memorial to his genius. Adult entertainment.