Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1948)

Wednesday, June 30, 1948 Motion Picture Daily 3 Reviews Mystery in Mexico (RKO Radio) THE pursuit of a diamond necklace results in a series of melodramatic adventures in "Mystery in Mexico," a formula-mystery filmed at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. The story is a rambling affair, obvious in structure, but with sufficient excitement and interest to make it a satisfactory item in its category. William Lundigan plays the part of a special investigator who is sent to fexico by an insurance company to probe the disappearance, of another ..ivestigator who had been on the trail of the necklace. Also bound for Mexico on the same plane is Jacqueline White, sister of the missing man. Lundigan suspects she may be involved in the missing necklace and decides to watch her from a closer vantage point. Eventually the pair fall in love, but in-between there is a lot of melodramatic skullduggery, punctuated by scurrying cabs, nightclub scenes and automobile rides in Mexico's outdoor stretches. Suave villain of the piece turns out to be Ricardo Cortez, who is shot down in a nick-of-time entrance by the police. Some of the picture's best touches result from the use of local talent. Sid Rogell produced and Robert Wise directed, from a screenplay by Lawrence Kimble. Running time, 66 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, July 4. M. H. "Michael O'Halloran" ( Windsor Productions-Monogram) Hollywood, June 29 GOOD, solid entertainment with a special appeal to the family trade and interest for both old and young. From the first of four Windsor productions contemplated from Gene Stratton Porter novels, producers Julian Lesser and Frank Melford have fabricated a narrative which is spread generously with rich, warm and timeless values. John Rawlins' direction is commendable. Script was by Erna Lazarus. Allene Roberts portrays with simple charm the crippled girl whose young friend, Tommy Cook, intervenes when an accident to her widowed and alcoholic mother, Isabel Jewell, makes the child's placement in an institution imminent. He installs her in the room of his newsboy friend, Scotty Beckett, where she acts as housekeeper. The two eventually develop romantic interest, until gossips make trouble. Scotty learns from a doctor that the girl's crippled condition is due to mental cause, rather than organic, and when he is charged with abducting the girl and placed on trial this diagnosis proves correct as she walks from her chair without realizing what she is doing. Her mother, realizing that her way of life has been responsible for the girl's infirmity, vows abstinence. Others in the cast are Charles Arnt, Jonathan Hale, Gladys Blake, Roy Gordon, Florence Auer and William Haade. Running time, 76 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, not set. "Northwest Stampede" (Eagle-Lion) USING the colorful beauty of the Canadian Rockies as a backdrop, Eagle Lion here presents showmen with an excellent opportunity to cash in once again with a well-done and exciting outdoor film which utilizes all the stable ingredients that have spelled out "success" in the past. "Northwest Stampede" has an unusually good cast, headed by the talented Joan Leslie and James Craig, who here match wits and skills as the cowgirl and the rodeo star who knows all the angles. Jack Oakie is good for laughs as Craig's sidekick. Photographed in Cinecolor, the film is intelligently handled to combine all of its attractive elements into a story that sparkles with fine scenes from the rodeo ring, of Craig's pursuit of a wild white stallion, of an exciting chuck-wagon race, of the girl's love of the travel-happy cowboy and her determination to outdistance him in the accomplishments of ranch life. Taken altogether, producer-director Albert S. Rogell ; David Hersh, executive producer, and Art Arthur and Lillie Hayward who wrote the story and the script, have turned out a highly-exploitable package that ought to please a wide audience. The Canadian scenery and the quality of the performances contribute no little to the picture's appeal. Running time, 79 minutes. General classification. Release date, about Aug. 1. "The Betrayal" (Astor Pictures) OBVIOUSLY a labor of fervent conviction, "The Betrayal," an all-Negro production, wrestles with the problem of mixed marriage along with other racial questions. Written, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, it turns up some scattered moments of engrossing drama in the course of its three-hour wanderings, but for the greater part, unfortunately, the pace is slow, the direction crude and the story excessively detailed. It should be pointed out, nonetheless, that many a Negro audience may find in the film a reflection of their own problems and thereby be moved. The picture features Leroy Collins as Martin Eden, a young Negro who builds an agricultural empire in North Dakota. Falling in love with a white woman, he rejects her, feeling that inter-marriage would be unwise. He marries a colored woman and there follow years of marital misunderstanding, combined with other strife, famine and hardship. Finally, it is learned that the white woman is colored after all, and thus a happy marriage is consummated. Others in the cast are Myra Stanton, Verlie Cowan, Harris Gaines and Yvonne Machen. Running time, 3 hours. Adult audience classification. Release date, June 24. M. H. TunesmithSoundsSourNote; Sues Those Ascap 'Pirates 9 Ascap and others have plagiarized his 72 songs in the past 15 years, including "Nature Boy," in a "gigantic swindle and fraud," composer Ira B. Arnstein charges in a suit filed in New York Supreme Court. Among other things Arnstein demands that Ascap and the Music Publishers Protective Association pay to him "all money collected for the 72 piracies" — this he figures will amount to more than $50,000,000. Incorporated in tne complaint, written by the plaintiff, are "defamation-ofcharacter" charges hurled at Louis Frohlich, Ascap's litigation counsel ; Herman Finkelstein, resident counsel ; Deems Taylor, former president, and Sigmund Spaeth, known as the. "Tune Detective." Arnstein wants $100,000 from each of them. The plaintiff alleges that Ascap and its members "steal 90 per cent of their publications" from both living and deceased composers. He says that Taylor "was hired by them as a front or stooge ... to pull their chestnuts out of the fire, to come to court to perjure himself, to lie about the obvious facts and to deny any plagiarism by Ascap members." Spaeth, Arnstein has decided, is a "notorious faker." He asserts further that Frohlich and Finkelstein assisted in spreading lies, including that he, Arnstein, is an alien, a Communist traveler, intemperate and mentally ill. More New Drive-Ins (Continued from page 1) Mary's, O. ; Grand Rapids, Mich. ; Asheville, Statesville and Charlotte, N. C. ; New Kensington, Pa.; Midland, Tex. : Elkins and Meadowbrook, Va.; Lansing, Ont. National Theatre Supply reports it recently equipped drive-ins at Wyandotte, Mich. ; San Diego, Cal. ; Denver ; Troy, N. C. ; Greenville, O., and Dodge City, Kan. Omaha's first drive-in has opened under management of Bernard Dudgeon. Tri-States Theatres promoted Dudgeon from manager of the Oil City at Falls City. Sandusky Drive-in, Sandusky, O., has Application has been made to the San Francisco council for permission to build a new drive-in east of Mayfair Village, Cal. Leslie Kessler and Albert H. Kessler of Berkeley, Cal., in partnership with Herbert Rosener of Oakland, have incorporated under the name of Vallejo Drive-in Theatre, Inc., to construct an outdoor theatre near the Napa junction on the NapaVallejo highway. From Fresno, Cal., comes word that application has been made to the County Planning Commission by Lloyd C. Miller for permission to construct a $1,000,000 drive-in. M. H. Sparks and Ray Coleman, operators of the Strand, Edmonton, Ky., have joined in a drive-in enterprise and have announced plans foi construction of one in Hopkinsville, Ky. Louis Weithe, operator of seven neighborhood houses in Cincinnati, has acquired the 650-car Park-In Theatre at nearby Mt. Healthy. A new 500car drive-in is under construction on the Harrisburg pike, near Columbus, O., with completion set for late this month. Frank Yassenoff, associated with Harold Schwartz in operation of the Riverside and Eastside, Columbus, is the owner. Drive-in will cost between $60,000 and $75,000, and it will be the third theatre in western Franklin County. Six Pre releases for Columbia's 'Carmen' Pre-release engagements have been set for "Loves of Carmen" in six cities this fall by A. Montague, general sales manager, who has returned from a branch and district branch manager's meeting in Chicago. The six are Detroit, Buffalo, Houston, San Francisco, Baltimore and Cincinnati. Theatre Manager Shifts Ottawa, June 29. — Isser Singerman, manager of the Rideau and Imperial theatres here for the past 12 years, is leaving to manage the Lake Theatre in Toronto. Don Watts succeeds him. Ernie Taylor, assistant manager of the Elgin replaces Watts at the Park, with Leslie Jefferies replacing Taylor at the Elgin. UA Labor Hearing: (Continued from page 1) a Federal Court labor case wherein NLRB's right to set such elections had been challenged. The decision has been made meanwhile, and it has upheld NLRB's right. H-63 had asked for the election, claiming an "overwhelming majority" of UA workers whose contract, under SOPEG aegis, expired last May 31. UA management refused to negotiate with SOPEG on the ground that the union failed to comply with the nonCommunist affidavit provisions of the Taft-Hartley Law. Among those expected to be at tomorrow's NLRB meeting are Russell Moss and James Rogers from H-63, Sidney Young from SOPEG, UA vice-president Harry D. Buckley, and attorneys representing all three principals. Lift up this corner please. . .