Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1947)

'THE EGG AND I' HILARIOUS COMEDY SURE TO PLEASE ALL AUDIENCES Rates • • • + generally, slightly less UniversalInternational 108 minutes Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Marjorio Main, Louise Allbritton, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long, Billy House, Ida Moore, Donald MacBride, Esther Dale, Elisabeth Risdon, John Berkes, Vic Potel, Fuzzy Knight, Isabel O'Madigan, Dorothy Vaughan. Directed by Chester Erskine. Exhibitors are being presented with a shiny, bright gold Easter egg by UniversalInternational. The movie version of "The Egg and I" follows closely the hilarious plot of Betty MacDonald's sensational best-seller and figures to match the tremendous popularity enjoyed by the book. It is laden to the brim with amusing incidents, gags and human interest that sum up to solid entertainment for all classes of audiences. Some carping critics may find an overabundance of gags and slapstick in the early scenes, but the spectators at the trade screening in New York seemed to be having a rollicking time almost every minute. Fred MacMurray delivers one of his top comedy roles as the embryo farmer, while Claudette Colbert lends sympathy, as well as humor, to the role of his game city-bred wife. Through in action spots out the supporting cast are people to add immensely to the hilarity of individual sequences, special mention going to Marjorie Main, Billy House, Percy Kilbride and Donald MacBride. "The Egg and I" will be happily received by standing-room, audiences in all situations, except, possibly, the action houses. The tremendous popularity of Miss MacDonald's book renders the film an exploitation natural as regards bookshop and library tie-ups. Garb theatre staff in farm costumes, dregs front and lobby to simulate county fair atmosphere. A simple but effective stunt is to display a quantity of live chicks in an incubator, with ticket prizes to patrons guessing the number of chicks displayed. Newlyweds Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert forsake city life to raise chickens on ,? hopelessly rundown farm. Following months of nightmarish existence, they convert the ramshackle place into an attractive farm, only to lose all but one of their buildings in a fire. Aided by friendly neighbors, they make a fresh start. The future looks bright, until Claudette, discovering she's pregnant and eager to tell Fred the glad news, learns he's apparently REVIEWS in This Issue The Egg and I 9 Carnival in Costa Rica f) Love and Learn 9 Great Expectations 10 StaUion Road 10 Time Out of Mind 10 Apache Rose 25 Backlash 2.t Tarzan and the Huntress 25 Hard-Boiled Mahoney 25 King of the Wild Horses 26 Code of the West 23 West of Dodge City 26 Range Beyond the Blue 26 two-timing her with attractive, predatory, wealthy lady-farmer Louise Allbritton. She immediately packs up and goes home to mother Elisabeth Risdon, returning Fred's letters to him unopened. The baby's arrival softens her toward Fred. She returns to their farm, is enraged to learn he's living at Louise's. Confronting him there, she learns he's living alone, having bought the place to enable her to live comfortably. Reconciliation follows. 'CARNIVAL IN COSTA RICA' LAVISH BUT BORING, TECHNICOLOR MUSICAL Rates ® • -| generally on name values 20th Century-Fox 95 minutes Dick Ha^Tncs, Vera-Ellen, Cesar Romero, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere, J. Carrol Naish, Pedro de Cordoba, Barbara Whiting, Nestor Paiva, Fritz Feld, Tommy Ivo, Anna Demetrio, Severo Lopez, Mimi Aguglia, William Edmunds, Soledad Jiminez, Julian Rlvero, Alfredo Sabato, Franco Corsaro, Martin Garralaga, Lecuona Cuban Boys. Directed by Gregory Ratoff. Despite such assets as the popularity of Dick Haymes, a well-balanced supportin-^ cast, lavish Technicolor, brilliant costumes, several lilting songs and native dances, this sums up to a boring film. Packed with all this production quality, it is handicapped by a repetitious and tiresome plot, hackneyed situations, banal dialogue and meaningless dance numbers. Cesar Romero is miscast, but, aided by Celeste Holm, manages to inject s'^^me much needed comedy into this dated and old fashioned extravaganza. Vera-Ellen and J. Carrol Naish are v/asted on their respective roles. Much of the blame for the film's deficiencies can be laid to Gregory Ratoff's direction, which lacks organization and even a modicum of imagination. Sti'ess the colorful Costa Rican locale, costumes and dances. Garb house staff in Central American costumes, dress front and lobby to reflect the film's carnival or fiesta atmosphere. Tie-up with music dealers and radio stations handling Dick Hiymes recordings. Arrange counter and window displays with I'arious types of shops whose merchandise shows a Latin-American influence. J. Carrol Naish and Anne Revere, parents of Vera-Ellen, arrange Pedro de Cordoba and Mimi Aguglia, parents of Cesar Romero, for a marriage between their respective offspring, who have never met. Terrified of risking his father's displeasure, Cesar dares not tell him he's in love with American entertainer Celeste Holm. Instead, he tries to queer himself with VeraEllen by feigning hypochondria. Dick Haymes, a tourist, arrives in Costa Rica for the fiesta, falls in love with Vera-Ellen. Complications result when the two pairs of parents see their offspring at the carnival paired off with Celeste and Dick. At end, Cesar elopes with Celeste, and Dick persuades Vera-Ellen's mother, a fellowKansan, to let him marry her daughter. 'LOVE AND LEARN' MEDIOCRE COMEDY BRIGHTENED BY SONGS Rates • • -| as double bill fare, except for action houses Warner Bros. 83 minutes Jack Carson, Robert Hutton, Martha Vickers, Jams Paige, Otto Kruger, Barbara Brown, Tom D'Andrea, Florence Bates, Craig Stevens, Angela Greene, Don McGulre, John Alvin, Herbert Anderson, Jane Harker, Lou Nova. Directe>d by Frederick do Cordova. Aided by a moderately popular cast and several lilting song numbers. Jack Carson does his comic best to put this one over. His efforts, unfortunately, are fruitless and worthy of a better vehicle. Frederick de Cordova's routine direction adds little to an unimaginative and hackneyed scenario, which i.*; brightened only by Carson's CTipering and the song numbers. Carson's popularity and success in previous comedies should insure fair returns, except in action spots where it v/ill be weak. Robert Hutton, Martha Vickers and, to a lesser degree, Janis Paige, should also prove helpful. On a double bill with a good dramatic or action feature, "Love and Learn" will please average audiences in most situations. Take advantajre of the popularity of costars Carson, Hutton. Vickers and Paige. Use the film's three pleasing song numbers as a basis for tie-ups with radio stations and music dealers. Coooerative newspaper ads may be based on the slogan: "You'll 'Love and Learn' to Shop Advantageously at Blank's." Struggling song-writers Jack Carson and Robert Hutton visit Danceland. meet wealthy Otto Kruger's impetuous and pretty daughter Martha Vickers, posing as a hostess and the bandleader's girl. Carson spurs Hutton into making a play for her and the two fall in love. Still incognito, she gives the boys jewelry to pawn to finance publication of their songs. Next day's headlines tell of a beautiful, blonde gem thief on the loose. They surmise she's the crook, are horrified until a later edition runs a picture of the just-apprehended thief. Martha now gives her father's $1,000 check to publisher Tom D'Andrea, saying she's Hutton's sister and secretly wants to guarantee publication of his music. Hutton rushes to her apartment, finds she's checked-out accompanied, according to the landlady, by a rich, elderly man. Unaware it's her father, Hutton angrilv returns to his midwest home. Carson tricks Hutton into returning. At end, Hutton learns Martha's and Kruger's true identity, prevents her elopement with former suitor Craig Stevens, weds her himself. MARCH 31. 1947 9