Hollywood Motion Picture Review (1937-1940)

Page 6 HOLLYWOOD MOTION PICTURE REVIEW June 19, 1937 ANALYZING IMMEDIATE PRODUCT PICTURES NOW BEING FILMED BUDGET *** High Budget ** Medium Budget * Low Budget PRODUCER ttt Top Average ft Medium Average t Low Average STORY Great Prospects inj Ordinary Prospects If Doubtful Prospects DIRECTORIAL STAR VALUE §§§ Highly Recommended xxx Pretentious §§ Favorable xx Attractive § Inconsistent x Weak BOX-OFFICE PREDICTION * Means 25% greater ooo A Record Breaker oo Holds Its Own o Undervalue HOOSIER SCHOOLBOY Monogram Rating: **. ftt H1I §§§• xx °° Catchlines: "The town's playboy, bored at the small town attitude, is reformed by a pretty school marm. THE STORY: Anne Nagel, the new school teach er, goes to her hotel room where she finds Shields, the town's playboy asleep and very much intoxicated. Rooney is expelled from school because of a fight with Metcalf. Realizing that the principal favors Metcalf, Anne goes to Rooney's father, Pawley, a shell-shocked war veteran. Shields, who has meantime fallen in love with Anne, gets Pawley a job in his father's milk company. Hoping to end the milk strike between the farmers, Shields goes to his father Gould, but he is adamant. Pawley is given a load of milk to drive but doesn't know the farmers are blocking the road. His truck turns over and he is fatally injured. Gould realizes his mistake and the milk strike is settled. Anne and Shields decide to marry and take Rooney to live with them. CREDITS: The Cast: Mickey Rooney, Anne Na gel, Frank Shields, Edward Pawley, Bill Gould, Bradley Metcalf, Harry Hayden and Dorothy Vaughan. Associate Producer Ken Goldsmith. Directed by William Nigh. Original Screenplay by Robert Lee Johnson. HOPALONG RIDES AGAIN Paramount Rating: **. ftt HIT §§■ o° Catchlines: "Cassidy and his men again rout out the rustlers and rid the country of menace." THE STORY: Boyd, foreman of the Bar 20 Ranch, assisted by Hayden, Hayes and a number of cowboys is driving a herd of cattle to the railhead. The herd is stampeded by a gang of rustlers led by Worth. Hayden proceeds with the remainder of the herd and is instructed to return with the money in exactly a week. Boyd, meanwhile, through the connivance of Nora Lane, Worth's sister, acquaints the rustlers of Hayden's movements, and by so doing entices them out into the open. In a pitched battle Worth and his gang are exterminated and the Bar 20 Ranch is forever rid of the rustlers menace. CREDITS: The Cast: William Boyd, George Hayes, Russell Hayden, William Duncan, Lois Wilde, William King, Nora Lane, Harry Worth, John Rutherford, Ernie Adams, and others. Produced by Harry Sherman. Directed by Les Selander. Screenplay by Norman Houston. From an original by Clarence E. Mulford. ALCATRAZ ISLAND Warner Bros. Rating: **. ft Hi §§■ x. o. Catchlines: "Grim facts bared behind the walls of the most publicized prison. . . THE STORY: Because of the notoriety caused by her father Litel, a big shot racketeer, Mary Me Guire is released from a fashionable school. He makes plans to take her to Europe but is arrested for Income tax evasion. In prison he has a fight with Welden, and is transferred to Alcatraz. Welden, swearing revenge, manages to be sent to Alcatraz and when dying from a knife wound, accuses Litel. Mary obtains aid of Oliver, assistant district attorney, and they arrive for the trial. Apparently nothing can save Litel from the hangman's noose, but the story takes a sensational twist to a smashing, breathtaking climax. Mary and Oliver find love. CREDITS: The Cast: John Litel, Mary McGuire, Gordon Oliver, Ben Welden, Addison Randall, Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, Doris Lloyd, Ralph Dunn, Edward Keane, George E. Stone, and others. Produced by Bryan Foy. Directed by William McGann. Original Screenplay by Crane Wilbur. INSIDE STORY Warner Bros. Rating: *. ft H1I §§• x. oo. Catchlines: "A go-getter and idol of the air waves, made the political bosses sizzle under his scorching expose!" THE STORY: Reagan, top-notch news commenta tor, is forced to take over the Children's Hour program because he denounced the local political conditions. June Travis, Reagan's love interest, is only too glad to give up her announcing job to him. The head of a Co-operative Creamery disappears under circumstances that excite Reagan's suspicions and he sets to work to show up the political intrigue. Following many exciting clues, the villains are finally trapped. As the hero of the hour, Reagan becomes the favorite of his employer and discovers he has always been a favorite with June. CREDITS: The Cast: Ronald Reagan, June Travis, Robert Barrat, Addison Richards, Ben Weldon, George E. Stone, Eddie Acuff, and others. Produced by Bryan Foy. Directed by Nick Gri nde. Original by Roy Chanslor. Screenplay by Morton Grant. MR. DODD TAKES THE AIR Warner Bros. Rating: **. fft HH §§§■ xx. oo. Catchlines: "He took himself to parts unknown when faced with marriage to two women — so he married the third one — the girl he loved!!" THE STORY: Baker becomes an overnight sensa tion on the radio, and is exploited as a man of mystery. Tiring of this suppression, he takes Jane Wyman on a date and reveals to her he has a radio invention which will startle the world. Gertrude Michael and Eldredge learn of this and set about to get the gadget. Almost forced into marriage with Gertrude, Baker takes his troubles to Jane, whom he really loves. Suspecting foul play, she has the Invention patented In her own name. Tiring of the mix-up. Baker leaves New York but when Jane finds him, everything has been straightened out and they embrace at the final fade-out. CREDITS: The Cast: Kenny Baker, Jane Wyman, Gertrude Michael, Alice Brady, Frank McHugh, Henry O'Neill, John Eldredge, Cliff Soubier, Sybil Harris, Craig Reynolds, and others. Produced by Mervyn LeRoy. Directed by Alfred E. Green. Original Story by Clarence Budington Kelland. Screenplay by William Wister Haines and Elaine Ryan. THE MYSTERY OF THE HOODED HORSEMEN Grand National Tj Rating: *. ftt U §§■ xx. oo. Catchlines: "Secure from terrors of the past, she found love with a fast riding cow puncher. . . ." THE STORY; Hearing a dying man's last words which concern a gold mine and his partner Girard, Ritter vows to capture his murderer. While breaking the news to the dead man's daughter,. Iris Meredith, hooded horsemen attack the mine. Ritter defeats the terrorists and is elected captain of the vigilante organization. In a desperate gun battle all the horsemen are killed or captured and the "big boss" is revealed as Girard, Iris' pretended protector, whose real aim was to possess the mine. Iris and Ritter ride away to future happiness. CREDITS: The Cast: Tex Ritter, Iris Meredith, Horace Murphy, Charles King, Earl Dwire, Forrest Taylor, Joseph Girard, Lafe McKee, and others. Produced by Ed Finney. Directed by Ray Taylor. Original Screenplay by Edmund Kelso. THE BRIDE WORE RED M.G.M. Rating: ***. ftt HH §§• xxx. oo*. Catchlines: "Her bitterness toward life was changed by love, after she found material things were of no importance. . . ." THE STORY: Contending that 'all men are cre ated equal,' Zucco, an eccentric nobleman, meets Joan Crawford, a cabaret entertainer. As a test of his equality theory he makes Joan a gran^ lady for a month. Joan meets Tone, the town's postman and telegraph operator, and also Young, who Is attracted to her immediately. Countess Billie Burke suspects the deception and telegraphs Zucco. Joan discovers this and knowing Tone would receive the answer, goes to him and they realize they are in love. She cannot bring herself to sacrifice her material happiness and as she and Young prepare for marriage. Tone delivers Zucco's telegram. Happy the deception is over, Joan and Tone drive off together. CREDITS: The Cast: Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young, Reginald Owen, Billie Burke, Lynne Carver, George Zucco, Dickie Moore, and others. Produced by Joseph Mankiewicz. Directed by Dorothy Arzner. From the Ferenc Molnar story "Girl From Trieste." Screenplay by Tess Slesinger and Bradbury Foote. ON SUCH A NIGHT Paramount Rating: **. ftt HH §§• xx. oo. Catchlines: "He was a tough guy with his gang behind him but he couldn't cope with the forces of nature. . . ." THE STORY: Karen Morley, stage star, admits that she and Richards, a gambler on trial for murder, have been secretly married for some time. Richards is convicted and sentenced to death, but on the night of the execution, floods imperil the prison and he disappears. Karen finds him in a refugee camp where, also, is Ciannelll, one of Richards' associates. Karen, attempting to spirit the injured Richards away, is followed by Ciannelli and they are forced to take shelter in an old Southern mansion, where Ciannelli admits he framed Richards on the murder. Richards risks his life to blow up a levy imperiling the house, and when the danger passes, Ciannelli's confession wins freedom and new happiness for Richards. CREDITS: The Cast: Karen Morley, Grant Rich ards, Roscoe Karns, Alan Mowbray, Mllli Monti, Eduardo Ciannelli, Robert MeWade, John Wray, and others. Produced by Emanuel Cohen. Directed by E. A. Dupont. Screenplay by Doris Malloy and William Lipman. Original story by Morley F. Cassidy, S. S. Field and John D. Klorer.