Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1950)

Tuesday, February 21, 1950 Motion Picture Daily 3 NEWS in Brief . GOV. Thomas E. Dewey will make the presentation of awards to winners of the 14th annual photo exhibit of the Press Photographers Association of New York tomorrow at the 71st P»?'"ment Armory here. All metropolifcjgf newspapers and syndicates compded in the contest, with total entries of more than 450 prints. • Chicago, Feb. 20. — Paramount will seek an extended Loop run for Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah" and will offer the film to all Loop theatres under bidding. • Boston, Feb. 20. — A bill increasing license costs for motion picture operators from $5 to $20 for the initial issue and from $2 to $10 for each annual renewal has been passed by both the house of representatives and the senate. The bill now awaits the signature of the governor. • Hollywood, Feb. 20. — General and Mrs. George C. Marshall were guests of the Association of Motion Picture Producers at a reception this evening at the Beverly Hills Hotel. More than a hundred industry leaders and their wives attended. Louis B. Mayer and Y. Frank Freeman were the official hosts for the AMPP. • Minneapolis, Feb. 20.— The 1950 North Central Allied annual convention and election will be held April 3-4, with the board meeting taking place before the regular opening day session. • Chicago, Feb. 20.— Pat O'Brien, Ann Blyth, Jimmy Durante, Phil Regan and other celebrities are appearing tonight at the Chicago Stadium for the benefit of the Dominican Fathers' Seminary fund. • Washington, Feb. 20. — The cooperation of the motion picture industry in putting over "Brotherhood Week" was praised here today by John L. Sullivan, general chairman of "Brotherhood Week." Sullivan spoke at a "Brotherhood" luncheon of the Variety Club of Washington. 0 Chicago, Feb. 20. — Balaban and Katz have purchased the Garrick Theatre building and leasehold from the Northern Trust Company at a reported price of $300,000. The 1,000-seat house, under B and K operation smce 1935, will be remodeled and its seating capacity enlarged. Reviews yy "No Man of Her Own (Paramount) IN THIS Richard Maibaum production, Barbara Stanwyck has the role of a destitute, young unmarried woman who has become enciente, is cruelly rejected by the father of her unborn child, and is later misidentified among the survivors of a train wreck as a married woman who, with her husband, was among those killed in the accident. The dead girl she is mistaken for also was about to have a baby, and when shortly after the train disaster Miss Stanwyck's son is born, the well-to-do "grandparents" who had never met their daughter-in-law, take mother and child to their hearts and their richly appointed home. Upon the newcomers is lavished the affection that had been given the son lost in the railroad accident. It is for the well-being of her child that Miss Stanwyck permits the deception to continue. But she is haunted by the feeling that some day the error which has become a lie will be discovered. That Miss Stanwyck lends some measure of credibility to this coincidenceheavy stream of events is evidence of her stature as an emotional actress. The role might well have been a complete fiasco in the hands of a less capable performer. It goes without saying that "No Man of Her Own" is a woman's picture. And because it is, it should rank among the better grossers of the season. But it is too far-fetched in content, too obviously contrived, to qualify for a place among the more significant of Miss Stanwyck's recent vehicles. John Lund, co-starring as the elder brother of Miss Stanwyck's dead "husband," discovers more or less intuitively that she has been deceiving the family. However, he permits her lie to prevail for he discovers at the same time that he has fallen in love with her. Meanwhile, the real father of her baby emerges to blackmail her, touching off a melodramatic series of events embracing murder and police activity. Competent acting support is provided by Jane Cowl, Phyllis Thaxter, Lyle Bettger, Henry O'Neill, Richard Denning and others. Also competent is the direction by Mitchell Leisen, from a screenplay by Sally Benson and Catherine Turney which was based on a novel by William Irish. Running time, 98 minutes. Adult audience classification. For May release. Charles L. Franke "Captain Carey, U.S.A." (Paramount) WITH Alan Ladd in a role tailored precisely to his familiar poker-faced style, "Captain Carey, U.S.A." should satisfy to the hilt those customers who will be waiting for the actor's next screen adventure. The story concerns a former O.S.S. officer who returns to Italy after World War II to ferret out the betrayers of his hideout in the cellar of an island palace during the Italian campaign. Disclosure of the hideout resulted in Ladd's capture by the Germans and in the death, he concluded, of his Italian sweetheart, played agreeably by Wanda Hendrix. So deeply in love was he with Miss Hendrix that he is impelled to avenge her death at all cost. A fair amount of suspense and movement is generated under the direction of Mitchell Leisen, who worked from a script by Robert Thoeren, based on a novel by Martha Albrand. The action is embellished with sundry characters representing Italians in all walks of life but for the most part they are loosely drawn and tend to suggest caricatures of ItalianAmericans. Upon his arrival at the little North Italy town, Ladd discovers that the partisans with whom he worked during the war believe for some obscure reason that he was the man who did the betraying. He learns, too, that Miss Hendrix is still alive, but is now married to a politically ambitious baron (Francis Lederer). She had supposed Ladd was killed in the raid on the cellar. It is obvious that the lady and Ladd still love one another. She joins him in his sleuthing for the betrayer, who turns out to be the baron himself. The climax comes in the palace cellar, with Ladd, the baron and one of the latter's henchmen engaging in a furious gun-and-fist battle among ancient wine casks. In supporting roles are Celia Lovsky, Angela Clarke, Richard Avonde, Joseph Calleia, Roland Winters, Frank Puglia, Luis Alberni and others. Richard Maibaum produced. Running time, 83 minutes. General audience classification. For April release. C. L. F. Bagnall to Quit As U A Production Head Hollywood, Feb. 20. — George Bagnall, United Artists vice-president in charge of production, dispatched a letter of resignation to UA president Gradwell Sears and the board of directors at the weekend. The resignation is to become effective when mutually agreeable. Bagnall joined UA in 1941. Notification of his resignation came as a surprise to associates and is believed to be a result of recent interference in his duties with respect to lining up producer deals. In New York yesterday, Gradwell Sears could not be reached for comment on Bagnall's resignation. Jay Witmark, 77, An Ascap Founder Private services were held here on Friday for Jay Witmark, 77, last surviving founder of the music publishing firm of M. Witmark and Sons, and founder of Ascap. Witmark, who died at his home here on Thursday, had not been connected with the firm, which was sold to Warner Bros, in 1928, for the past 19 years. A sister, Mrs. Joseph A. Klein, survives. Edwin Eron, 53, WB Theatre Executive Milwaukee, Feb. 20. — Edwin F. Eron, 53, state real estate manager for Warner Theatres, died Feb. 15 from a heart attack at the Warner Theatre here. He had been with Warners 16 years. ABC to Air Awards Program on Mar. 23 Hollywood, Feb. 20.— The annual Academy Awards presentations will be made March 23 at the Pantages Theatre here and will be broadcast over the ABC network, Charles Brackett, Academy president, announces. C. Kenneth DeLand, Paramount studio unit manager, has been appointed business manager of the Academy Awards presentation program. 20th's 'Three' Opens In Glitter at Astor A gala world premiere of 20th Century-Fox's "Three Came Home" was held at the Astor Theatre here last night. With Broadway's lights at a minimum due to the coal shortage, and the first major freeze of the winter, society notables, stars of the entertainment world, and survivors of the Bataan "Death March," trooped to the Broadway house to see the Darryl F. Zanuck production starring Claudette Colbert. The Astor entrance was decorated to simulate a tropical prison camp. Among the celebrities attending were Robert Patterson, Mrs. Ogden Reid, Winthrop Rockefeller, Herbert Bayard Swope, Winthrop Aldrich, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, William Randolph Hearst, Jr., Sol Rosenblatt, Robert Kintner, Elsa Maxwell, Jane Wyatt, Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers, Princess DeScaffa, Ted Husing, Albert Goldman, Ken Murray, Aline McMahon, Mary Boland, Farley Granger and Geraldine Brooks. N. Y. Offices to Close New York offices of virtually all film companies and the Motion Picture Association of America will be closed tomorrow to observe Washington's Birthday. i You can combine the fun of PARKS with your business in LONDON on the same trip via For information, call your local TWA office or your travel agent. i Produced by Benedict Bogeaus