Hollywood Motion Picture Review (1944)

pix Parade _ By Bill James _ . LOTSA FOLKS ARE ASKING us about the looming London co¬ lossus of J. Arthur Rank. They wanta know if it’s true that he is slowly taking over Hollywood . . . and the rest of the world’s film industries. They wanta know if he’s really grabbing off all our talent and brains. IT’S A LONG AND START¬ LING STORY. Reports from Lon¬ don show that British theater grosses have dropped down almost to pre-war level. Yet England gets better than double the return on Yank pix that Hollywood gets on these same films. That’s one bigreason Britain is grabbing up Hollywood talent at any price. IN ADDITION TO THIS, there’s a statement by R. W. Allport, head of European MPPDA: “The Brit¬ ish government, in 1944, garnered $144,000,000 in entertainment tax¬ es from American pictures.” All of which points to a part of the pic¬ ture behind the scenes. Here’s an¬ other chunk of what lies behind present events . . . SAYS MR. HAVELOCK AL¬ LEN, chairman of the board of Cineguild Productions, a Rank subsidy: “We want to take Holly¬ wood producers, directors, players and technicians to England. From them we can learn much that we still need to know about turning out pictures aimed at the world wide market.” MR. ALLEN AMPLIFIES THIS frank declaration with a startling¬ ly candid admission that Britain simply hasn’t the Hollywood know¬ how on screen-scripting and must either import a huge number of local scripters or send the stories here for screen treatment. Obvi¬ ously Britain is out to capture craftsmen and match our product. BUT THIS WORRY IS NOT RESTRICTED TO ENGLISH grabs. We’ll go into this next week . . . Let’s look at the PREVIEWS THE HOODLUM SAINT. This is the MGM answer to Crosby’s “Father O’Malley” successes. But it’s a rather poor answer. The theme is noble and touchingly sentimental — to the point of be¬ ing somewhat absurd and unbe¬ lievable. However, the marquee and production values are sound and chances are that the grosses will reward Metro’s nice intentions. Yarn follows a pattern common to the 1930’s. A heavily hoked tale of a returned soldier of the first World War, disillusioned by the greed about him, who follows the golden path and wins his regen¬ eration thru the market crash and the inevitable moral and spiritual rebirth. The cast is extremely well chos¬ en and Taurog’s direction is tight on performances but weak on pace and mood. You’ll probably love it if you’re the deeply sentimental type. METRO-GOLD WYN-MAYER RELEASE — Director of Photography, Ray June, A.S.C. Film Editor, Ferris Webster. Musi¬ cal score, Nathaniel Shilkret. Recording di¬ rector, Douglas Shearer. Art direction, Ced¬ ric Gibbons, Harry McAfee. Set decorations, Edwin B. Willis. Special effects, Warren Newcombe. Costume supervision, Irene; associate, Marion Herwood Keyes. Men’s costumes by Valles. Makeup created by Jack Dawn. CAST — William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason, Lewis Stone, “Rags” Ragland, Frank McHugh, Slim Summerville, Roman Bohnen, Charles Arnt, Louis Jean Heydt, Charles Trow¬ bridge, Henry O’Neill, Wm. “Bill” Phil¬ lips, Matt Moore, Trevor Bardette, Addison Richards, Tom Dugan, Emma Dunn, Mary Gordon, Ernest Anderson, Charles D. Brown. FRONTIER GUN LAW. Newest in Columbia’s “Durango Kid” series, this Starrett starrer is even more assinine than usual, drawing laughs in all the wrong places from veteran kiddie audi¬ ences. Basic weakness is the fan¬ tastically poor marksmanship of our doughty westerners. Since even tenderfeet would eventually hit something after throwing a ton of lead, it becomes painfully obvious that the boys are bang¬ ing away with blanks. Producer Colbert Clark seems to forget that this production fact is not intend¬ ed to be transparent. The plot is standard, with Star¬ rett making a series of lightningchanges from simple rancher to Durango Kid, and thus ferreting out the leader of a criminal gang of night-raiders. Between songs from Tex Harding and A1 Trace’s Silly Symphonists, Starrett saves lotsa ranchers from being rustled into bankruptcy, saves mellow¬ voiced Harding from an unjust lynching, and rides off to seek more varmints for his target prac¬ tice, of which he obviously is badly in need. (Western with Music) COLUMBIA RELEASE— Producer, Col¬ bert Clark. Director, Derwin Abrahams. Screenplay by Bennett Cohen from an or¬ iginal story by Victor McLeod. Photog¬ raphy, Glen Gano. Film editor, Aaron Stell. Art director, Charles Clague. Set decora¬ tions, John W. Pascoe. Sound engineer, Ed Bernds. Assistant director, Wilbur McGaugh. CAST — Charles Starrett, Tex Harding, Dub Taylor, Jean Stevens, Weldon Heyburn, Jack Rockwell, Frank LaRue, John fink Duanll PAUL MIRABAL presents Hub bi dzil De Castro Sisters Direct from Waldorf Astoria 911 NORTH BROADWAY MANUEL LOPEZ Elliott, Robert Kortman, Stanley Price and A1 Trace and his Silly Symphonists. Studio Shorts SWING PARADE OF 1946. It’s above the Mono average and stacks up favorably with musical secondaries from the majors. Story slided swiftly into gear, with Gale Storm looking desperately for work, having been evicted from her lodgings. Music, Phil Reagan and a slickly syncopating cast take it from there. After the usual slices of corn and crises, Phil wins his own nite club, his Pappys blessing and Gale. Harry A. Romn’s fine musicalproduction touch is evident in the smooth staging, and Lindsley Par¬ sons’ mounting matches with strong technical effects. Phil Karlson sustains the tempo with care¬ ful megging. It’s a natural for the Mono market. MONOGRAM RELEASE — Producers, Harry A. Romm, Lindsley Parsons. Di¬ rector, Phil Karlson. Photography, Harry Neumann. Time, 75 minutes. CAST — Gail Storm, Phil Reagan, Connee Boswell, Larry Fine, Jerome Howard, Moe Howard, Ed Brophy, Mary Treen, Will Osborne orchestra, Leon Belasco, John Eldredge, Russell Hicks, Louis Jordan or¬ chestra. ROMANCE OF THE WEST. PRC’s second song-studded cinetinter revives the early type of Cowboy-Indian hoss drama so dear to young America. The script is forthright but suffers from elocu¬ tionary dialogue. Action is sharp altho thinly spaced and interlarded between corn and song. Dean foils a trio of varmints who try to grab off the silver-filled land of the noble redmen, and has time left over to romance Joan Barton, adopt cute little Injun Don Rey¬ nolds and plug three new songs. Mounting and direction are han¬ dled by Robert Emmett, whose production talents far exceed his capabilities with the megaphone. But it’ll thrill the kids. PRC PICTURE RELEASE— Original screen play by Frances Kavanaugh. Musi¬ cal director, Carl Hoefle. Color supervision, W. T. Crespinel. Director of Photography, Marcel LePicard, A.S.C. Production Man¬ ager, Raoul Pagel. Assistant director, Wil¬ liam L. Nolte. Art director, Edward C. Jewell. Set decorator, George Montgomery. Director of makeup. Bud Westmore. Sound engineer, Frank W. Webster. Film editor, Hugh Winn. CAST — Eddie Dean, Joan Barton, Em¬ mett Lynn, Forrest Taylor. Robert McKen¬ zie, Jerry Jerome, Stanley Price, Chief Thundercloud, Don Reynolds, Rocky Camron, Lee Roberts, Lottie Harrison, Don Williams, Jack Richardson, Matty Roubert, Forbes Murray, Jack O’Shea. MUSIC — Songs: “Indian Dawn,” by Zamenick; “Ridin’ the Trail to Dreamland” by Sam Franklin; “Love Song of the Waterfall” by Bob Nolan, Bernard Barnes, Carl Winge. Garson a Trouper Greer Garson again has proved herself a good trouper. She ap¬ peared as honor guest at two luncheons given in her honor, a radio show, and the Gallup Poll award banquet, with a fever of 104! The star is now confined to her home for a complete rest before re¬ porting to metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for her stellar role in “Beloved Stranger,” opposite Robert Mont¬ gomery Joan Crawford, who wore most¬ ly gingham and aprons in “Mil¬ dred Pierce,” blossoms out in the most sumptuous wardrobe of her entire career in “Humoresque” with John Garfield . . . Ronald (just out of the army) Reagan and wife Jane Wyman have gone to New York for a long delayed honeymoon . . . Joan Leslie, just turned 21, reverses the usual cos¬ tum by appealing to the court to make her father her legal busi¬ ness manager in charge of all her earnings . . . Dick Powell and June Allyson, the “travelingest” new¬ lyweds, back from Arizona . . . Dennis Morgan given Doctor of Fine Arts degree from his alma mater, Carroll College . . . Rumor in Hollywood is that Norma Shearalong the come-back trail by mak¬ ing another picture . . . Eleanor Parker, following her surprise marriage to Bert Frieblob, has deeded her Toluca Lake home near her Warner Bros, studio, to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Park¬ er .. . Janis Paige has received numerous wedding presents in the form of gift orders, “when avail¬ able” which she shows her friends on the sets of “Two Guys From Milwaukee.” Cooper Ideal Screen Mate For I. Bergman Ingrid Bergman declares that she “loved making love” to Gary Cooper in “Saratoga Trunk,” “be¬ cause it was s-o natural!” Miss Bergman, who’s every inch a beauty and has more inches of stature than most, usually has to doff her high-heeled shoes for ro¬ mantic close-ups with the average leading man. For Cooper’s six-foot-three in elevation, however, the tall Ingrid not only got to wear her shoes but on many occasions had to stand on a box, which, according to the Swedish star, “is really the thing to do.” “Women,” says she, “should always reachup for their kisses, and never, never stoop.” \OW IS THE TIME . . . To cash in on that inflated priced car you are driving. Call AL HERD for Buyer HO-8131 HO-8131 7077 SUNSET BLVD., AT LA BREA HOT6L D€lmflR ENGLISH lljji COTTAGES Phone Del Mar 88 fart RATES .and RESERVATIONS HOWARD M. RAND MGR. i DEL MAR 20 MILES NO. OF SAN DIEGO HIGHWAY 101 Friday, February 8, 1946 Page Five