Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1946)

HER SISTER'S SECRET" PRCS BEST BOXOFFICE BET TO DATE Rates • • O if exploited, in all except d PRC Pictures 83 minutes Nancy Coleman, Philip Reed, Margaret Lindsay, Felix .Bressart, _R*gis Toomey, Fritz Feld, Henry Stephenson. Winston Severn, George Meeker, Helen Heigh, Rudolph Anders, Charles King, Bess Flowers, Frances Willams. Directed by Edgar E. Ulmer. ThN drama of frustrated mother love has been given a first-rate independent production and will hold strong appeal for the feminine trade - which mee^s good boxoffice. "To Each His Own," which also dealt with an unmarried mother and the offspring she let another woman raise, was a box office smash and "Her Sister's Secret" can be exploited in like fashion. As PRC's most ambitious production and best boxoffice bet to date, this has excellent production values and fair name values. An adaptation of Gina Kaus' novel, "Dark Angel." the film is melodramatically effective and has several eluxe houses intensely moving scenes which are guaranteed to bring out the handkerchiefs. However, some of the dialogue dates back to the "ten, twenty, thirty" days and neither Director Edgar G. Ulmer or the capable performances can make it sound believable. Nancy Coleman handles her dramatic role without ever resorting to obvious theatrics which is more than can be said for Margaret Lindsay. Philip Reed does a fine job as the personable soldier-hero and Regis Toomey also contributes a quietly-convincing portrayal. Such dependables as Henry Stephenson, Felix Bressart and Fritz Feld add acting strength far above the usual PRC release. The Mardi Gras crowd scenes are colorful and the Hans Somer musical score deserves special mention. At a New Orleans Mardi Gras, Nancy Coleman leaves her escort to dance with Philip Reed, a soldier on leave, and, they spend the night together. Although Reed suggests marriage, Miss Coleman tells him to wait until his next furlough when they will meet at Felix Bressart's cafe. Reed is shipped overseas and, when his special delivery letter to Miss Coleman goes astray, she is heartbroken. About to have a baby and believing that Reed has deserted her, Miss Coleman confesses all to her sister. Margaret Lindsay, childless wife of Regis Toomey, a naval officer in the Pacific. When the baby is born, Miss Lindsay wires Toomey it is his child and she insists Miss Coleman not attempt to see the boy for three years. After two years, Miss Coleman goes to New York and gets acquainted with the boy and his nurse in the park. Meanwhile, Reed, back from overseas duty and searching for Miss Coleman, is sent to see Miss Lindsay. The latter is surprised that her sister is in New York and, when Miss Coleman arrives demanding her child, she is accused of breaking her promise. But, when she learns that Reed has been searching for her, Miss Coleman realizes that the babv is devoted to his foster-parents. Learning that Toomey is aware of the truth but understands, she leaves the boy with him and his wife and goes away to marry Reed. LEYENDECKER 'CRIME DOCTORS MAN HUNT' GOOD ENTRY IN MYSTERY SERIES Rates • • as dualler in action soots and Columbia P* r»imite'' Wafer Baxter Ellen Dri>w. William Fraw ley. Frank Sully. Claire Carleton, Bernard Nedel'. Francis Pierlot, Olin Howlin, Jack lee Ivan Triesault Paul E. Burns, Mary Newton, Myron Healy, Minerva Urecal, Leon Lenoir. Directed by William Castle. Thi= well-developed murder mystery, with the currentlv-popular schizophrenic (split personality) angle to keep who-dun-it fans guessing, is above-average for the series. It should satisfy either in action spots or as a supporting dualler in naborhoods. While naborhoods the p'cture is slow in getting uid°r ww, the usual shuddery doings start with Dr. Ordway's search of a deserted house anl the denouement w'll come as a surprise to all but a few armchair detectives. There is no romantic interest to s'ow up matters and the comedy relief is slight. Warner Baxter gives his usual capable portrayal of the Crime Doctor and William Frawlev injects a few laughs into the formula role of th^ skeptical, blundering: police inspector. Although her disguise of blonde wig and dark glasses fails to fool the aud:ence, Ellen Drew does a good acting job as the girl with the split personalitv — one sweet and sacrificing, the other cold and ruthless. Shortlv after talking to a returned veteran (Myron Healy) who has fits of am nesia during which he drifts into honkytonks frequented by shady characters. Dr. Ordwav (Warner Baxter) visits the same place late at night and sees two men carrying the corpse of the dead veteran. Because William Frawley, the police inspector, scoffs at his story, Baxter goes alone to visit Ellen Drew, from whom he reconstructs Healy's past life. Miss Drew, who had been engaged to Healv, tells Baxter that she believes her twin sister, missing for three vears, to be an accomplice of the men seen carrying the body. With Miss Drew. Baxter goes to an abandoned mansion near the scene of the crime and. while she is supposedly phoning the police, her missing sister appears and threatens to kill B^x*er. DENLEY OVERLAND RIDERS' RUN-OF-MILL BUSTER CRABBE WESTERN p*^ * • f. 'Ot(( nrwn »*■ PRC Pictures 54 minutes Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Patti McCarty, Slim Whitaker. Bud Osborne. Jack O'Shea, Frank Ellis, Al Ferguson, George Chesebro, John L. Cason, Lane Bradford. Directed by Sam Newfield. This is a run-of-the-mill western, cheaply produced but containing a fair amount of shooting and fistic excitement, which will sati=fv avid cowbov fans. Buster Crabbe, a handsome two-fisted hero, and Al St. John, a be-whiskered old codger, are both better than their "old hat" material and give the picture some name value. Buster Crabbe rescues Al St. John and Patti McCarty from a stagecoach hold-up and takes two of the outlaws prisoner. After turning the outlaws over to the town sheriff, Crabbe rides out to the ranch owned by Slim Whitaker, Miss McCarty's father, and pays him money for his cattle. Whitaker plans to use the money to pay off a mortgage held bv Jack O'Shea. who is actually the leader of the outlaw gang and had ordered the holdup. After O'Shea has Whitaker killed and his money taken, St. John is arrested for the crime. Miss McCarty is about to sign her ranch over to O'Shea when Crabbe. who has learned that the railroad is going to run through her property, arrives to stop her. After Crabbe battles with O'Shea, the latter confesses murdering Miss McCarty's father and he is turned over to the sheriff. TRAFFIC IN CRIME' MINOR GANGSTER MELLER FOR ACTION FANS Pr-ttr>< • • *s dualler in action spots Republic 5t minutes Kane Richmond, Adele Mara, Wilton Graff. Anne Nagel, Roy Barcroft, Arthur Loft, I>ick Curtis, Wade Crosby, Harry Cheshire, Syd Saylor, Bob Wilke, Ernie Adams. Directed by Les Selander. A fast-moving gangster melodrama running less than an hour in length, "Traffic in Crime" is strictly for the action duals. Made on a low budget without cast names, the lurid title is the sole selling angle. The picture is loaded with racketeers and double-crossing gangsters and, not until near the climax, is the audience made aware that the central figure is working on the side of the law. The story has a goodly quota of suspense and shooting thrills and. 12 before the fade-out, the small California community is rid of all its lawless men. The romantic interest is slight and seems to have been added as an after-thought. Kane Richmond, a familiar figure in Republic and Monogram B's, gives his usual suave, two-fisted portrayal and Wilton Graft. Rov Barcroft and Dick Curtis are appropriately cast as racketeers. Adele Mara, who gives an obvious portrayal of a b'.onde gun-moll, and Anne Nagel, as a crusading newspaper girl, suffer the most from the poor lighting and dark outdoors photography. Posing as an itinerant fruit picker. Kane Richmond arrives in a small California community and becomes involved in a barroom brawl and, after being thrown in jail and robbed of his money by Roy Barcroft, a crooked detective, he is run out of town. However, Richmond returns and goes to Wilton Graff, the boss racketeer, who notices a resemblance to himslf. He hires Richmond to impersonate him as part of his scheme to double-cross Dick Curtis, a rival racketeer. Richmond plays one against the other to create open strife and, at the same time, cause suspicion between Graff and Barcroft, his henchman in the police department. Enlisting the aid of Anne Nagel. daughter of the crusading newspapei publisher whom Graff has been dominating by force, Richmond causes all three racketeers to scheme against each other. When Graff's wife, Adele Mara, makes a play for Richmond, he encourages her in order to further his own game. After Miss Mara and all the racketeers are killed off. Richmond reveals that Arthur Loft, the town's police chief, had hired him to expose the racketeers. DENLEY FILM BULLETIN