Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1941)

uesJav. December 2, 1941 Motion Picture Daily 3 Clearance Verdict In Jersey Upheld Bv Appeals Board in A reduction to seven days of the 21av clearance of the Cort Theatre, .. itnerville, N. J., over the Raritan playhouse, Raritan, N. J., by Paul L. '•tzpatrick, arbitrator, at the New local board in September, was L|d on appeal in a decision handed yesterday by the Appeal Board. The original award, however, set even days as the maximum "availhility" for the Playhouse after the ."\>rt, and the appeals board modified it by making the award read "clear\nce" instead of availability. Of the original award, the board taid: "The arbitrator filed an able analysis of the evidence. His findings J kre amply supported by the record. •JtHis conclusions from these findings J ire well reasoned and persuasive. We .jrtp'ncur with him that seven days is a -I -<.asonable clearance between the Cort md the Playhouse." ~(; The complaint involved Loew's, "\ Paramount, Yitagraph and 20th Centtnry-Fox, and the appeal was taken >y the intervenor, Sompru Theatre O4V0., operator of the Cort. Costs were 1 divided equally among the parties inB&ohed. Four Buffalo Complaints #! Four complaints were filed yester day in Buffalo, all on phases of some " run and clearance. They are: Ryan's •' Ithaca Theatre, Ithaca, naming the Strand, State and Temple theatres, on some run and clearance ; Clyde Playhouse, Clyde, naming Schine's Capital, Newark, and the Ohman, Lyons, ion clearance; Cuba Theatre, Cuba, , charging the State, Palace and Haven, Si Olean, are favored, and the Astor Theatre, naming the New Family, , , Batavia. All consenting companies ... are named in all complaints, except . 20th Century-Fox in the Batavia ac-.. tion. Dallas Case Dismissed A complaint dismissed at Dallas was the clearance case of B. R. McLendon, operator of the Texan and State theatres, Atlanta, Tex., against I.oew's, RKO, 20th Century-Fox and : Vitagraph. The Paramount-Richards' Strand and Paramount Theatres at | Texarkana, Tex., were named as in[ terested parties and the case attracted vide attention when E. V. Richards, ':■ head of Paramount-Richards Theatres, refused to submit to the proceeding. J. B. Adone was arbitrator. Murphy Named Aide To Braden at AAA James J. Murphy, former regional ■ lirector for motion picture tribunals West of the Mississippi for the American Arbitration Association, yesterday was appointed assistant to the executive director, J. Noble Braden, and will be in charge of all tribunals throughout the country. Samuel S. Perry, former Eastern regional director of the film tribunals, has been named a regional director of the AAA's defense program and will handle general commercial and industrial disputes. The AA also announced that Harold D. Conners, St. Louis attorney, has been named clerk of the local board in that city, succeeding C. W, Hudson, resigned. Reviews "Ball of Fire" ( Samuel Goldwyn-RKO ) OAMUEL GOLDWYN has compounded a highly entertaining motion ^ picture from a comic romance which embodies as implausible a collection of characters and incidents as playwrights are likely to devise for as competent a producer in this or any other year. It provides Gary Cooper with a role which theatregoers will compare with the best of his comedy portrayals, that of a young professor who is, compiling a section on American slang for a new encyclopedia on which he is working with seven other professors. In his search for the latest in slang he is brought into contact with Barbara Stanwyck, as Sugarpuss O'Shea, night club singer, at the moment at which she is forced to hide out from the police to avoid questioning in the case involving the demise of a gangster. Her boy friend is suspected of being a factor in the case. She takes refuge in the professional sanctum, maintained by a charitable foundation. In the four days she spends in the place engaged in aiding Cooper in his research work in slang, love blossoms and the guns of gangdom are unable to keep them apart thereafter. A numerous and uniformly excellent cast contribute rich humor, moments of sentiment, incidents of suspense and even excitement, but never quite succeed in making themselves or their freak lives entirely plausible. However, the result is one that should provide a full measure of entertainment for all audiences and with it, profit for the exhibitor. Outsanding is Howard Hawks' direction, the performances of Cooper and Miss Stanwyck, those of Richard Hayden, as the gangster; Dan Duryea and Ralph Peters as his aides, Allen Jenkins and the six professors. Running time, 107 mins. "G."* Sherwin A. Kane "The Body Disappears" ( Warners) THE novelty of bodies dissolving on the screen through the use of camera tricks is employed in "The Body Disappears," and the film is dependent to a large degree on that device for its comedy. The general production effort is creditable, especially in the amusing performances of Edward Everett Horton and Willie Best. Jeffrey Lynn and Jane Wyman are the top names in the cast. Lynn's is the body of the title and although heard a good deal he is seldom seen. D. Ross Lederman directed, Bryan Foy was associate producer and Ben Stoloff associate producer. The yarn is light but serves adequately, telling of the college professor (Horton), whose serum restores life to the dead, and his experiences with the wealthy benedict-to-be (Lynn). The patient, who at the outset was intoxicated and not dead, is revived but suddenly disappears. He thereupon goes about as the invisible man, learns that his fiance is interested only in his wealth, meets the professor's daughter (Miss Wyman), and romance blossoms. Horton, who must administer an antidote within a certain time to Lynn, is suspected by his colleagues of suffering a mental disturbance and is taken to an institution. Lynn and Miss Wyman, who also takes it in the arm and is unseen thereafter, release him after some harumscarum sequences. Horton proves his sanity and the efficacy of his serum when Lynn and Miss Wyman are returned to physical being. Best is Horton's frightened assistant. Running time, 72 minutes. "G."* Eugene Arneel Sealed Lips (Universal) Hollywood, Dec. 1 TT'RESHNESS of idea distinguishes this melodrama of crime, detection " and journalism from the welter of product exploiting these three institutions of topical melodrama. Seed of the story is a situation, suspected at the start of the picture and verified subsequently, which has a notorious gangster who is completing a prison sentence turn out to be in fact a double coerced into serving the time for the criminal, who has continued his nefarious activities meanwhile without interruption from the police. The idea is worked out adroitly with such angles as fingerprinting and other expedients of identification effectively taken care of. Players in the film are John Litel, doubling as gangster and prisoner, William Gargan as the detective, June Clyde as the girl reporter, Anne Nagel, Mary Gordon, Ralf Harolde, Joe Crehan, Addison Richards, Russell Hicks, Ed Stanley and many others rounding out a cast which performs ably for the most part, but shakily in some instances. George Waggner, accountable for the original screenplay from which the film derives its chief strength, also directed the picture. Jack Bernhard was associate producer. Running time, 62 minutes. "G"* Roscoe Williams 'G" denotes general classification. BVay Weekend Is Strong; 'Suspicion,' 'Flying' Out Front The new Abbott and Costello comedy, "Keep 'Em Flying," at the Criterion, is repeating the box-office performance of their previous screen effort, "In the Navy." Leading the Broadway parade, the picture brought an estimated $17,900 since its opening Wednesday, through Sunday. This is about equal to the "In the Navy" business. Broadway generally had a good weekend with holdover films dominating. Three pictures are now in a second week will be held over for a third. These are "Skylark" at the Paramount, "Suspicion" at the Radio City Music Hall, and "They Died With Their Boots On" at the Strand. "How Green Was My Valley" at the Rivoli goes into a sixth week tomorrow, while "Swamp Water" starts a fourth week Saturday at the Globe. 'Purchase' Opens Dec. 31 The Paramount has already set its New Year's Eve show. The show, which is the first ever to open on Dec. 31, will include the Bob HopeVera Zorina musical, "Louisiana Purchase," with Gene Krupa's band on the stage. "Suspicion" with a stage show drew an estimated $57,000 Thursday through Sunday and starts its third week Thursday. "They Died With Their Boots On" with Woody Herman's orchestra grossed an estimated $24,600 Thursday through Sunday and also starts a third week Thursday. The second week of "Skylark" with Harry James' orchestra and Ray Bolger ends tonight with an estimated $43,000 expected. 'Belong to Me' Big A new film, Columbia's "You Belong To Me" with a stage show at the Roxy, went over big with an estimated $26,800 for its first three days beginning Friday. The picture will play only one week in spite of this, to be succeeded on Friday by "Rise and Shine." "How Green Was My Valley" garnered an estimated $13,600 Friday through Sunday. The Saturday and Sunday business at the Globe with "Swamp Water" amounted to an estimated $3,800. "A Date With the Falcon" finished a week's run at the Rialto with an estimated $4,200 and was replaced yesterday by "A Kid from Kansas." The Music Hall has booked Columbia's "The Men in Her Life," starring Loretta Young, to open Dec. 11. Frosch Will Head Club in Twin Cities Minneapolis, Dec. 1. — Maitland Frosch succeeeds Ben Blotcky as chief barker of the Variety Club of the Twin Cities. M. Frank McCormick is first assistant, Arthur Anderson second assistant, Charles Rubinstein treasurer, and Lowell Kaplan secretary. Directors are the officers and Max Torodor, William Elson, W. A. Steffes, Blocky, Eddie Ruben, Ben Berger, Roy Miller and Paul H. Mans. Induction is planned for about the middle of December. Retiring officers will make their final reports at that time.