Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1939)

46 MOTION PICTURE HERALD October 21, 1939 IN THE CUTTING ROOM Hitler-Beast of Berlin . (Producers Pictures Corp.) Topical Melodrama The topical nature of this production, rather than the screen importance of the persons featured, looms as the selHng approach for "Hitler —Beast of Berlin." It is described by the producer, Ben Judell, as "an eloquent and timely pictorial drama of courageous German humanity struggling with true patriotic zeal under the iron heel of Nazi despotism." Mr. Judell further says that it will be a sincere, unbiased and accurate reply to the question on everybody's lips at this critical period in world affairs. Not a newsreel, not propaganda nor hate inspired, it will propose the question ; "Are all the German people solidly behind Hitler?" The basis of the story is Shepard Traube's novel, "Goose Step." This was adapted by a corps of screen playwrights and is being directed by Sherman Scott. , The principal name players will be Roland Drew, Steffi Duna, Greta Granstedt and Alan Ladd. There are 30 speaking parts in the large cast and among the more familiar personalities are Lucien Prival, Vernon Dent, George Rosener, Bodil Rosing, Hans Toby, Dick Wessel, Paul Panzer and Frederik Vogeding. Briefly, the story has to do with the startling adventures of an "heroic little group banded in opposition to Nazism. The hero, though he has a chance to escape with his wife, elects to remain in Germany , as the present war starts and try again to save the fatherland from disaster. Release date : Oct. 22, 1939. The Farmer's Daughter (Paramount) Comedy Along about the time when most of this temperate zone is snowed in, when the Palm Beach season is in full swing and southern California again boasts of its wonderful climate, many persons probably will be laughing at Paramount's picture, "The Farmer's Daughter." It will have Martha Raye, Charles Ruggles and William Frawley in it for fun ; Richard Denning a Golden Circle habitue, that there may be a semblance of love interest, Gertrude Michael for divers reasons but mostly to be the menace, and to back up this coterie — William Duncan, Ann Shoemaker, Benny Baker, Wanda McKay and Wilfred Roberts. The whole thing will have to do with what happens when a threadbare but comically resolute Broadway producer tries to stage a local talent show, helped by a temperamental headline actress, in a barn during the summer lull on the White Way. He overlooks what meandering Jersey cows and moonlight over the hayfields will do to the farmer's daughter, who, among other things, is romantically inclined, and the stage star, who, despite all her pomp and pride, still wears dresses. The boy who wants to become an actor is overcome by love. William C. Thomas is the associate producer. The pictures he has bossed have been directed largely toward workaday folk. Release date : To he announced. Little Accident ( U nicer sal ) Comedy Hugh Herbert, whose whimsical comedy antics have made him the favorite of many, and Baby Sandy, Universal's infant star of "East Side of Heaven" and "Bringing Up Baby," will be the headline names in "Little Accident." The principal supporting personalities will be Florence Rice, who has appeared in many MGM productions, and Richard Carlson, recently in "Duke of West .Point" and "Winter Carnival." Carrying the story's romance, they also participate in the comedy and are involved in its burlesque melodrama. Joy Hodges, Peggy Moran, Anne Gwynne, Ernest Truex, Charles D. Brown, Kathleen Howard and Fritz Feld represent other name values. Transcribing the Floyd Dell-Thomas Mitchell stage play, screen playwrights Paul Yawitz and Eve Greene took advantage of dramatic license. Universal selected Charles Lamont, who discovered Shirley Temple's talent when he directed the Educational "Babj^ Burlesks" and guided Baby Sandy in "Unexpected Father," to produce and direct. Herbert, editor of a "better baby" column, forces his daughter and her fiance to pose as the parents of abandoned Sandy. Release date: Oct. 20, 1939. A Call on the President (MGM) Comedy The story on which this production is based, Damon Runyon's "A Call on the President," which appeared more than a year ago in the Saturday Evening Post, is regarded as one of the best short stories ever published in the weekl)'. Its two chief characters, "Joe" .and "Ethel Turp," have become the heroes of Runyon's Sunday Hearst feature, "The Brighter Side." In theme the piece is a blend of comedy and down-to-earth human interest. "Jim," the Brooklyn neighborhood mailman, loses his job for destroying a letter. Heartless postal regulations do not take into consideration that the letter would have been a cruel blow to the elderly woman for whom it was intended. To .get the old man's job back, "Ethel" and "Joe" go to Washington to call on the President and tell him the true story of "Jim," "Johnny Cusper" and his mother. The President assures the pair that "Jim" will be exonerated. William Gargan and Ann Sothern ("Maisie") will play the roles of "Joe" and "Ethel." Walter Brennan is "Jim," Lewis Stone the President ; Marsha Hunt is "Kitty," who becomes "Mrs. Crusper," and Tom Neal is her boy who turns out bad. Other important parts have been assigned newcomer Don Costello, James Bush, Muriel Hutchison, Jack Norton and Aldrich Bowker. An Edgar Selwyn production, "A Call on the ■ President" is being directed by Robert Sinclair, who was brought to Hollywood after he had staged "The Women" and "Babes in Arms" on Broadway. Previously he had directed MGM's "Woman against Woman" and "Bridal Suite." Release date : To be determined. The Honeymoon's Over (20th Century-Fox) Domestic Comedy "The Honeymoon's Over" will co-star Stuart Erwin and Marjorie Weaver. Previously they appeared together in "Second Honeymoon." Erwin subsequently has appeared in "It Could Happen to You" and "Hollywood Cavalcade." Miss Weaver has been featured in several productions, including "Young Mr. Lincoln," and both were in the "Three Blind Mice" cast. Jack Carson, Patric Knowles, Russell Hicks, Hobart Cavanaugh, June Gale and E. E. Clive occupy the principal support niches. The basis of the story is W'illiam Anthony McGuire's stage play, "Six Cylinder Love," which also has been filmed. The up-to-date adaption is credited to Hamilton MacFadden, Clay Adams and Leonard Hoffman. A Sol M. Wurtzel production, it is being directed by Eugene Forde, who has made many light entertaining pictures for 20th Century-Fox the last several years. In idea the story details what happens to a young married couple when it becomes "society" conscious. In a general way it follows the "It Could Happen to You" plot. The ambitions of the pair lead them into squabbles and troubles that -threaten disaster, but the wife comes to his rescue. Release date: To be determined. First Kiss (20th Century-Fox) Comedy Romance Here are some of the things with which exhibitors may excite patrons when "First Kiss" comes to town. The show will co-star 20th Century-Fox's two "hottest" name players — Tyronne Power, whose career has been marked by appearances in a long succession of Box Office Champion pictures, and Hollywood's number one Cinderella girl, Linda Darnell, the sensation of "Hotel for Women." Then there are Wendy Barrie, Binnie Barnes, Joan Davis, Warren William and Mary Boland. The story is a smartly written, deluxe produced, merry marital mixup. It is 1939-plus in tone and romantic punch. All that happens in it will be what happens after a wife (Miss Darnell) catches her husband (Power) dead to rights fooling around with his secretary, and she, secretly, gets a secretary's job to find out just what it is the secretaries have that the wives haven't got. The story will have Power in a gay, debonair, happy-go-lucky role for the most part, though he becomes flabbergasted a time or two. "First Kiss" is being made by Raymond Griffith, associate producer, and Gregory Ratoff, director, the team which turned out "Hotel for Women." Since then Ratof¥ has directed Selznick's "Intermezzo." Release date : To he determined. Monogram's "Mutiny in the Big House" was shown Wednesday to the 800 delegates attending the 69th Annual Congress of the American Prison Association at the Hotel New Yorker in New York. The delegates represented 40 states, Canada and Mexico.