Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1946)

'SHE-WOLF OF LONDON' JUST FOR THE HORROR FANS Rat es • • — in action spots or as supp Universal 60 minutes June Lockhart, Don Porter, Sara Haden, Dennis Hoey, Jan Wiley, Martin Kosleek, Eily Malyon, Frederic Worloek, Olaf Hytten. Directed by Jean Yarbrough. The spine-chilling title, "She-Wolf of London," gives promise of gory thrills which this slow-moving and generally unexciting programmer fails to deliver. Although cast names are decidely weak, the picture will satisfy as part of a dual horror bill (Universal is coupling it with "The Cat Creeps") in action houses. The story, laid in the gasit era at the turn of the century, is fairly well developed and Director Jean Yarbrough orting dualler achieves some suspense merely by suggestion rather than by actually showing the were-wolf murders. However, picture-wise patrons will quickly recognize the fact that the mild-mannered aunt, instead of the innocent heroine, is behind all of the she-wolf killings. The only outstanding performances are those of Sara Haden, as the aunt, and Eily Malyon, as a gaunt housekeeper. June Lockhart, an heiress who lives with Sara Haden, her supposed aunt, and the latter's daughter, Jan Wiley, fears she has inherited the curse of her family, said to be haunted by the spirits of wolves. Just before her marriage to Don Porter, Miss Lockhart is terror-stricken by the murder of a child near her London home and she breaks her engagement. When Miss Lockhart becomes ill, her aunt keeps Porter away from the house and tries to interest him in Miss Wiley. Two other similar crimes are committed and Miss Lockhart awakens each time to find ?vidence that she had committed the crime. When Miss Wiley tells Porter about his fiancee's fears, he starts an investigation on his own. Miss Lockhart finally decides to give herself up to the police but she is stopped by Miss Hayden who reveals herself as the murderer who had drugged the girl and left evidence of the crime at the bedside. Before Miss Haden can kill Miss Lockhart, the family servant rushes to call the police. As Miss Haden runs after the maid, she trips and falls on the knife she is carrying. Miss Lockhart is then reunited with Porter. YORK 'HOME ON THE RANGE' MILD WESTERN IN MAGNACOLOR Rates • • — for naborhood and action house duals Republic 55 minutes Monte Hale, Adrian Booth, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, Tom Chatterton, Bobby Blake, LeBoy Mason, Roy Barcroft, Directed by Robert Springsteen. A routine outdoor programmer with th" use of color partially compensating for its lack of name value. "Home on the Range" is as well suited to minor naborhood and small town houses as action spots. The formula, easy-to-follow plot and numerous shots of wild animal life make it ideal fare for the younger fans. Magnacolor is still far inferior to Technicolor, especially in the close-ups which make the complexions appear yellowish and the faces blurred in out line. However, the long-shots, which are a cross between sepia and faded-out Technicolor, are soothing to the eyes. The story, which carries a fair share of chases and fisticuffs, is juvenile stuff and Monte Hale, Republic's new singing cowboy, gives an amateurish performance. Most of the warbling is pleasingly handled by Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers (on a busman's holiday from Roy Rogers' westerns) who score in such cowboy melodies as "Over the Rainbow Trail" and the popular title tune. Monte Hale, young Forestry Service Ranger, arrives to visit his old friend, Tom Chatterton, a gallant old man who is struggling to preserve his land as an animal sanctuary despite the efforts of LeRoy Mason, an unscrupulous land manipulator, to force him to sell at a loss. His niec°. Adrian Booth, who owns the adjoining land, has none of Chatterton's ideals concerning animals. Calves are being killed by vicious bears every day and Miss Booth and the cattlemen have been convinced by Mason that Chatterton's animals are the killers. Hale suggests Chatterton deed his land over to the Government to be used as a park preserve, but, before the deed can be recorded, the old man is killed and the deed stolen. Hale, suspicious of the way Chatterton died, investigates the scene of the tragedy and finds evidence proving Mason to be the murderer and instigator of the cattle-killing. The deed is recovered and a memorial park is dedicated to the late Chatterton and his animal life. DENLEY 'THE CARAVAN TRAIL' MINOR WESTERN HAS COLOR, BUT LACKS NAMES Rates ® • — n minor action houses only PRC Pictures 61 minutes Eddie Dean, Al LaRue, Emmett Lynn, Jean Carlin, Charles King, Robert Malcolm, Directed by Robert Emmett. Cinecolor is definitely a selling item in "Caravan Trail," but there is little else to attract business. One of PRC's new western series starring a cowboy singer Eddie Dean, this has no marquee values. The new color process enhances the natural and soothing Spanish Jack was the roughest . . . toughest two-fisted terror of all! 16 effect of the prairie backgrounds, but the close-ups are not as sharp as they would be in Technicolor or black-and-white. The picture has riding and shooting action aplenty and even an original twist to the formula outlaw plot, elements that will satisfy in the lesser action houses. Eddie Dean and this side-kick, Emmett Lynn, act as guides for a caravan of homesteaders heading west to stake out land claims. When Al LaRue, an outlaw who has been terrorizing the locality in the hopes of getting revenge on a man who framed him for a murder he didn't commit, holds up the caravan. Dean persuades him to let them continue unmolested. Arriving in Red Rock, Dean learns that his friend, the town marshal, has been killed and that the local judge Forrest Taylor, has been fraudulently recording the land in his name and then making the homesteaders rent the land and pay exorbitant tribute to him. When Dean is appointed marshal he selects LaRue and His two outlaws to act as his deputies. Taylor then becomes desperate and hires a gang of cut-throats to exterminate Dean and LaRue. But the latter finds that he enjoys working on the side of the law and. when he learns that Taylor's cut-throats are headed by the man who once framed him. he insists on a show-down. LaRue agrees not to use firearms, but when Taylor makes a vicious attempt to kill him, the shooting starts. After Taylor and the cut-throats are brought to justice. Dean asks the governor to recommend a full pardon for LaRue. LEYENDECKER FILM BULLETIN