Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1939)

60 MOTION PICTURE HERALD October 28. 1.939 IN THE CUTTING ROOM The Gay Days of Victor Herbert (Paramount) Musical Biography The music will be outstanding among the exploitation values in "The Gay Days of Victor Herbert." . The story framework follows a theatrical world theme, and at the same time is a family story. A promising singing star and a girl protege of Herbert marry. Both climb the ladder of fame, but when professional jealousy arises the wife retires from the stage. During the years, as the mother ekes out a slim existence for herself and daughter, the husband fails to live up to his early promise. Then Herbert petsuades his old star to return to the stage. On the night of her return performance, she is unable to go on and her daughter is substituted. The girl is panic stricken, but the down-and-out husband, passing the theatre, anxious for one last look at his wife, enters to see the child's terror. Donning a costume, he sings with her and a new star is born. In consequence the family is reunited. The picture, produced and directed by Andrew Stone from a play by Russel Grouse and Robert Lively which Stone and Lively adapted, will feature Walter GonnoUy in the title role. The members of the family are Allan Jones, Mary Martin and Susanna Foster, a 14-yearold miss. Jerome Cowan, Judith Barrett and John Garrick head the supporting cast. Release date : To be determined. Years without Days (Warner Bros.) Crime Drama "Years vrithout Days" is based on Warden Lewis E. Lawes' book, "20,000 Years in Sing Sing." The story was produced as a picture by First National in late 1932. Then Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis were starred. While this version, the screenplay for which was prepared by Robert Lord and Courtney Terrett, will stick to the fundamental drama of the book, some minor changes have been made in theme development and action to fit the talents of John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Jerome Cowan, Pat O'Brien and Burgess Meredith, the principals. It is the story of a New York thug who was sent to Sing Sing prison and soon reacts favorably to humane treatment. Refusing to participate in a break, he is given a day's reprieve to visit his sweetheart, injured in an auto crash. He learns a pseudo friend has been making advances to her — there is a fight and the chiseler is killed. The convict is torn between the desire to escape and keep his promise to the warden to return. He eventually gives himself up and during the trial both the girl and the convict plead guilty to the murder charge, but the cards are stacked against the jailbird and he goes to the chair for a crime the girl committed. "Years without Days" is being directed by Anatole Litvak, who among other films has made "The Sisters" and "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" for Warner Brothers. Release date : To he determined. The Farmer's Daughter ( Paramount ) Comedy Comedy which stems from the trials and tribulations of a play producer endeavoring to stage a summer show in a barn will be the entertainment and commercial essences of "The Farmer's Daughter." Between what happens as he tries to assuage the ruffled feelings of his temperamental leading lady while the star falls in love with a farmer's daughter as the cows and other barnyard denizens cannot be prevented from interfering, the producer is driven to the verge of nervous prostration. A summer storm lifts the roof off the barn, but as the panic-stricken animals run wild, the farmer's daughter, who has been rehearsing with the hero, puts the show on. Associate producer William Thomas seems to have rounded up a troupe of players who will put the show across in the amusing way it has been visioned. Heading the cast as the farmer's daughter is Martha Raye, with Charles Ruggles appearing as the producer. Leading man and real and make-believe romantic hero is Richard Denning, one of Paramount's Golden Circle set. William Frawley will be the press agent whose head is stuffed with exploitation ideas and Gertrude Michael is the temperamental professional star. The competent supporting cast for the film will include William Duncan, Ann Shoemaker, Benny Baker, Wanda McKay and Wilfred Roberts. Release date : To be determined. First Love (Universal) Romance In her brief but spectacular career, Deanna Durbin has been featured in five pictures, from comparative childhood to adolescence. "First Love" will mark the transition from adolescence to young womanhood. Still retaining her personal simplicity, she will be seen in an up-todate variation of the Cinderella story. She's an orphan for whom her relatives have no time, envied by her cousin, befriended only by the servants. But she gets her first kiss and her first fellow. Once again Miss Durbin will be guided by Joe Pasternak, who has produced all her pictures, and Henry Koster, who directed "Three Smart Girls," "100 Men and a Girl" and "Three Smart Girls Grow Up." Credit for the screen play has been given Bruce Manning, who had a hand in the preparation of four previous Durbin pictures. The supporting cast will feature Helen Parrish, with Miss Durbin in "Mad about Music" and "Three Smart Girls Grow Up" ; two newcomers, Robert Stack and Lewis Howard, also Eugene Pallette and Leatrice Joy, a star of the silents who is returning to pictures. Additionally the cast will include June Story, Charles Coleman and Frank Jenks. Miss Durbin has four singing numbers, "Home, Sweet Home," "Amapola," a medley of Strauss waltzes, and "One Fine Day," aria from "Madame Butterfly." Release date: October 20, 1939. Invisible Stripes (Warner Bros.) Crime Drama The subject is what happens to convicts when they have completed their prison terms and endeavor to become members of the society which refuses to accept them. One ex-convict wants to go right, the other never could be anything but wrong. Their adventures involve a third party, the brother of the one who had good intentions but found the lure of easy money a greater temptation than he could resist Society can do nothing with these men, but the two know how to pay each other off. In the picture, two of the foremost exponents of crime on the screen, George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, will be featured, and William Holden, the hero of "Golden Boy," will have much to do. They will be supported by Tully Marshall, Flora Robson, Lee Patrick, Paul Kelly, Marc Lawrence, outstanding in "Housekeeper's Daughter," Jane Bryan, Joseph Crehan and Henry O'Neill. The director, Lloyd Bacon, has been in charge of many of Warners' most vivid melodramas. The importance of the love interest has not been ignored. As a matter of fact, "Invisible Stripes" has two love stories, one of which ends happily and the other tragically. Release date : To be determined. Green Hell (Universal) Adventure Melodrama While the entertainment idea is not new, it is one that in the past has provoked unique public response. It is a weird, tense and actionpacked picturization of blood-curdling adventures of a little band on an archaeological expedition into the jungles of the upper Amazon River. And amid the horror stemming from the jungle fear, a love story is worked out The production is the initial picture for Harry Eddington, who in his two decades as an agent has handled the affairs of many of the screen's biggest stars. It is being directed by James Whale, whose record includes "Journey's End," "Hell's Angels," "Frankenstein," "Old Dark House" and "The Man in the Iron Mask." "Green Hell" will provide exhibitors with a list of wellknown screen names. Topping the cast are Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., now in "Rulers of the Sea," and Joan Bennett, often starred in Wanger pictures and presently in "Housekeeper's Daughter." In support will be seen John Howard, a fixture in many Paramount films, Alan Hale, George Bancroft, George Sanders, two newcomers, Vincent Price and Gene Garrick, Francis McDonald, Ray Mala and Peter Bronte. Release date : To be determined. Typhoon ( Paramount ) Adventure Romance Following her interlude in a fully clothed dramatic role in "Disputed Passage," Dorothy Lamour will be back in her sarong again in (Continued on page 62)