Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1947)

OUOIfS What the Neiuspaper Cntks Say About Neiu Films ''Carnegie Hair ' Soundly Panned, Called 'Bore' If one may judge by the opinions of the New York film critics, it seems that FILM BULLETIN was too kind to "Carnegie Hall" when its review called it "a treat for classical music lovers." Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., Herald Trifoune, finds it "likely to tax the patience of even the hardiest of music-lovers, and to drive all others out into the nigrht." He terms the picture "a misuse of the moiion-picture form" • . . "sheer sound, welling from the screen in relentless progression until the sense of hearing is dulled and exhausted." Bosley Crowther of The Times bemoans the fact that he W-.s required to review the film, instead of the paper's music crit.c, only because producers Boris Morros and William LeBaron "use J the mediiun of film, plus a trite and foolish movie stoi\, . ' H..^ coniments are echoed by Alton Cook, World-Telegram, who adds thai "the very musical and the very unmusical may find it one long bore;" albeit "the most impressive bo're ever as.semb)e !." Perhaps the kindest words said for "Carnegie Hall" are those by the N. Y. Post's Aicher Winsten, who finds it "feeble" as a movie, but as "a parade of famous musical personalities, organizations and compositions, it might be regarded as your money's worth in its verj' special way. You'd c*.'rtainly have to pay ten times as much to hear all these stars in person." 'THE EGG AND I' UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL " A rtful heralding in advance and the prestige of the best selling book are sure to fill the Music Hall for a while. Customers with a relish for very broad fun will enjoy themselves but many another will find the picture a long way from what he thought he was buying." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. ' ■pair plus ... Wildly improbable slapstick burlesque. . .MacMur ray and Colbert, constant victims of inanimate objects of slapstick and stale piot additions, do as well as possible under adverse conditions. . .This is not to say that whole-hearted devotees of slapstick, who will be witli us always, are to be disappointed. "The Egg and I" is for them; not for the readers of the book; not for the discriminating moviegoers." — WINSTEN, N Y. POST. "f^eaders of "The Egg and I" had better forego the expectation of finding any of the original's earthy tang in the so-called movie version . . Most of the humor is derived from sure-fire situations. .. Oid time bumpkin burlesque." — CROWTHER, N. YTIMES. "T_Jas rewarding moments, but they do not build into a sustained and beguiling screen comedy." — BARNES, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "^~'rabs at anything whenever the sturdy slapstick loses its sting ^ . . .All of its hilarity has come up the hard way, tested by audience ordeal... Has no aspiration to be memorable, or distinguished, or provocative, or any of that stuff. All it aims to do is sell millions of tickets at the box office in the simplest, the most tried-and-true way." — AGER, PM. •CALCUTTA* PARAMOUNT "TThe kind of adventure melodrama which, while it may not ruin a star's reputation, certainly does not help to enhance same and causes audiences to mutter, 'we've seen this before and it seemed much better then.' " — PRYOR, N. Y TIMES. "Artificial, flimsy melodrama. . .Wanders through a monotonous maze of plot contrivances . .Since few of the performances ring true in a suspenseless screen play, 'Calcutta' is merelv a tedious, pretentious whodunit." — GUERNSEY, N. Y. HER.\LD TRIBUNE. "Oji" all its saving graces — mysterious atmosphere, picturesque characters, capable performances and surprising denouement, Alan Ladd's 'Calcutta' is just another who-done-it . . . Storv i«! mediocre and Farrow in generating suspense pulls all the old routine tricks out of moth balls." — HALE, N. Y. NEWS "A Ian Ladd slaps Gail Russell around quite a bit which should teach her a lesson about getting messed with such trash... If you take your visits to the movies seriously, you may learn a lesson, too. about getting to such a picture as 'Calcutta.' " — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "T add has played it before, you have seen it before. It's beginning to pall now, to slow down badly" — AGER, PM. 'THE MACOMBER AFFAIR' UNITED ARTISTS '"Tir/ithout their beginning and ending, which are easy to detect " and detach, it makes for a tight and absorbing study of character on the screen .The currently contrived co-iclusion is completely stupid and false. It is plainly a sentimental fixture which has no place in the film and which detracts from an otherwise commendable hate-and-jealousy yarn." — CROWTHER, N. Y. TIME'S. "T Infortunately its original values are badly blurred in a con^■"^ fused and shapeless screen translation. It hir.ts at the hT-ted emotional conflicts, but it never brings them to a boil." — GUERNSEY, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Qome of the HemingTvay flavor remains ... It's hard to work yourself up very much over 'The Macomber Affair,' though its well-acted, well-written and well everything else." — WINSTEN, N Y. POST. "^harged with as much of Hemingway's tough, terse qualities ^ as can be conveyed under the movie's self-imposed rules of censorship." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Dresents the ideal of the He-Man straight, with proper rever^ ence and respect. . .Offered up with a gravity that often compels a like response ... 'The Macomber Affair' may not l estore the He-Man, but it is good, and enlightening, and kind of endearing — • as well as splendid movie sport — to meet that nice, uncomplicated, grown-up boy again." — AGER, PM. 'ODD MAN our UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL "Qavagely arresting melodrama .. .A man hunt with suspense and ^ variety. . .Full-bodied and authentic characterizations as well as violent action ... Inevitably it will be compared with 'The Informer'... James Mason is altogethei splendid." — BARNES, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. " A picture to see, to absorb in the darkness of the theatre and then to go home and talk about. . .Terrifically tense and dramatic on a purely visual-emotional plane.. Latter phases of picture, while peculiarly challenging to thought, lo'e the compactness and impetus of this prime and precise portion." — CROWTHER. N. Y. TIMES. '■Oritish studios unveiled the most impressive of their recent set of movie triumphs. . .Likely to continue casting its spell of supressed excitement over audiences at Loew's Criterion for a long time to come... Mason magnificent ... Every single detail of 'Odd Man Out' ranks with the greatest of all motion picture achievements, something to rouse an audience into cheers." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. '•Rivets attention to its parts more firmly than to the whole... The end is implicit in the beginning; no overall suspense is possible, and so, inevitably, and despite the philosophic and mystic lasnes it receives, it runs down hill." — AGER, PM. •THE HOMESTRETCH' 20TH-CENTURY FOX "fjace track pictures stick pretty close to a standard pattern but ■'^ not often as close as does 'The Homestretch' .. .A racetrack travelogue, a male-female strip tease, a fashion show, lots of hugging and kissing, some Coronation scenes — just about everything that could be crowded in except a good motion picture." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "As standard as most of the regulation turf dramas .. Chromatic Cook's Tour of tracks from Santa Anita to Buenos Airr-s while spinning a dull and obvious yarn as bereft of twists as a home-stretch." — CROWTHER, N Y. TIMES, "■pair plus... In spite of its certain costly, careful production, and the several really exciting racing scenes, 'Homestretch' doesn't truly keep you guessing as to outcome. . .Reminiscent of ri,anv earlier vehicles mingling heart with handicap." — THIRER, N. Y. POST. "T ovely, but lifeless creatures grouped in various pretty tableux." * ' — AGER, PM. "■Qomantic problems of an impetuous young sportsman and a sedate Boston lady are treated shallowly and at length and relief comes only at those times when thev stop talking in order to watch the horses run " — GUERNSEY, N. T. HERALD TRIBUNE. MAY 12. 1947 27