Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1940)

Acril 6. 1940 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 39 SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS This department deals with new product -from the point of view of the exhibitor who is to purvey it to his own public. It All Came True (Warner-First National ) Urban Comedy-Drama Treated lightly in the main and with emphasis on the humorous side, *hig Louis Bromfield novel of coincidence yields 95 minutes of solid entertainment well off the beaten path. In it Ann Sheridan gives her best performance to dale, reminding of the latter day Jean Harlow.. successful casting, but there is plenty of acting strength in supporting performances fay Zasu Pitts, Una O'Connor, Felix Bressart, Grant Mitchell and the others. The story opens in a brownstone mansion turned boarding house by two genteel ladies whose modern son and daughter, respectively, are a musician in circumstantial thrall of a ganr=:tr ar.i a *:rr:i virr-iius ar.L ur.e~ployed cafe singer. The gangster forces the boy to hide him out in the boarding house, where plausible and amusing developments influence him to refinance the home as a "Gay Nineties" night club which succeeds to the point of retiring an overhanging mortgage. At the close of the picture he surrenders to the police without going musky about it but getting everybodv else's happiness provided for nevertheless. Mark Hellinger served Hal B. Wallis as associate producer and the film bears his Broadway imprint in many a particular. It is directed by Lewis Seiler from a screen play by Michael Fessier and Laurence Kimble which misses no opportunities. Miss Sheridan sings two or three new songs and a medley of old ones with much effectiveness. Previewed at Warners Hollywood theatre jo a highly responsive audience of press, profession and public. — Wtw.vm: R. Weaves. Produced and distributed by Warner Brothers. Director. Lewis Seller. Screen play, Michael Fessier and Lawrence Kimble. Based on tie story by Loins Brrrrdrld. Fhttt rrathtr. Emit Hal'.er. Art iirettDr. vY pir'-:fr. Dia'-true direct :r. Rcr-ert rt-di ril— editor. Thomas Bichards. Sound, Dotoh Thomas. -.-r.ns H-s-i-i ci-r. Dm;e director. Dave Gould. Orchestra:" arrangers. "Bay Eeiniori and Frank Perktns. Musical directtr. Lee ± err stern. Makeup artist, Perc WestnKHe. P.CA Certificate No. 6074. Bimmig time, when seen in Hollywood. 95 minutes. Release date. April &, 3940. Adult audience CAST Sal Ann Sheridan Tommy Jeffrey Lynn "ChipV' McGuire Humphrey Began Miss" Pant Zasn Pitts Maggie Ryan Una O'Connor Mrs. Taylor Jessie Bnsley The Great Boldini Felix Bressart Mr. Boberts John Litel Mr Van Diver Brandon Tvnan Bene Salmon Grant Mitchell Henri Pepi de Bordeaux Charles Jndels Mr. Prerttrgasr rat— Ltd irirkmau TMVinVg Herbert Vigran Son of the Navy (Monogram ) Comedy-Drama Jean Parker, i comedy drama high above studio average. Not since the early Shirley Temple pictures has Mr. Dunn had so congenial casting as enjoyed and made the most of in the sailor role given him here. These three, ably supported, supply clean, brisk and stimulating entertainment in the best traditions of the American movie. Directed without waste of opportunity by William Nigh, the screen play by Marion Orth and Joseph West is a business-like adaptation of a story by True Boardman and Grover Jones, first performed on the radio. At bottom it is the amusing and sometimes touching story of an 11-year-old orphan boy who "adopts" a sailor as his father and another sailors daughter as his mother. The scene is San Pedro and San Francisco, with the fleet and its personnel supplying authentic Navy background Grant Withers, recently come from a long acting career to the ranks of associate producer, rates high credit for an impressive job of marshaling worthwhile materials into a soundly worthwhile whole. Previewed at the studio. — W. R. W. Produced and distributed by Monogram Pictures. Associate producer, Grant Withers. Director, William Nigh. Photographer. Harry Neumann. Sound recorder, Karl Zini Film Editor, Bussell Schoengarth. Screenplay, Marion Orth and Joseph_ West. Original story. True _ Boardman and Grover Jones, P. C. A Certificate No. 61S1. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 72 minutes. Belease date, March 30, 1940. General audience classification. CAST Malone James Dunn Steve Jean Parker Tommy *. Martin Spellman Captain Moore William Boyle Contain Parker Selmer Tackson Nelson Dave O'Brien Mrs. Baker Sarah Padden Brad Wheeler Craig Reynolds Johnson Charles King 3uras Gene Morgan perscr.ab'.e ^ar. 1 a talented boy ilayer responsibil olaces this lieht Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me (Universal) Comedy wifh Music An unpretentiously entertaining comedy, this production tells the story of an advertising man for a class dress shop in New York who popularizes the garments by creating a "Miss Manhattan" to demonstrate them and who, after creating a "Mr. Manhattan," gets the crowning idea to have them marry. However the advertising man at the last moment realizes that he loves the model and enacts the role of bridegroom himself Tom Brown is the advertising man and Constance Moore the model. In support are Richard Carle, Anne Nagel, Jerome Cowan, Elizabeth Risdon. Fritz Feld, Larry Williams, Frank Mitchell Peggy Chamberlan, Vivien Fay and Marie Greene and her Merry Minstrels. Harold Schuster directed the Joseph G. Sanford production from a screen play by Charles Grayson and Edmund L. Hartmann. It is an Ed Sullivan story. The finale is a show put on by the employees of the shop, and the vaudeville turns introduced met hearty audience approval. Miss Moore sings "Ma. He's Making Eyes At Me." hit song by Con Conrad and Sidney Clare now being revived, and "Unfair to Love" by Frank Skinner and Sam Lerner. Carle sinsrs "A Lemon in the Garden of Love" with music by him and lyrics by M. E. Rourke. Previewed at the Alexander theatre in Glendale, where the audience greeted it approvingly. — V. K. Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. Screen play. Charles Grayson and Edmund L. Hartmann. Story, Ed Sullivan. Cameraman, Elwood BredelL Director, Harold Schuster. Associate producer, Joseph Saniord. P.CA Certificate No. 6117. Punning time. 61 minutes, Belease date, March 15, 1940. General audience classification. • CAST Tommy Shaw Tom Brown Connie Curtiss Constance Moore C. J. Woodbury Richard Carle Miss Lansdale Anne Nagel Ted Carter Jerome Cowan Minerva Elisabeth Risdon Forsythe Fritz Feld Joe Porter Larry Williams And One Was Beautiful (MGMj Mirth and Melodrama Returning to the screen after an absence of two years, Jean Muir appears here in the title role, one of two sisters in love with the same man. Her beauty, however, is overshadowed by a core of selfishness so that she lets the man be imprisoned for a crime she committed. The younger of the sisters, portrayed by Laraine Day, the "Maeve" of "Mj" Son, My Son," proves her loyalty and love by unearthing the fact of her sisters guilt and doing all in her power to aid the convicted man. The young man is depicted by Robert Cummings, the girls' mother by Billie Burke. The screen play is by Harry Clork, based on an Alice Duer Miller story. Robert B. Sinclair directed. All point up the romantic and comedy elements. Frederick Siephani produced. Previewed at the Uptown Theatre, Hollywood, to javorable audience response. — Walter Selden. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Distributed by Loewrs, Inc. Prodnced by Frederick Ste-hani. Directed by Robert B. Sinclair. Screenplay by Harry Clork. Based on the story by Alice Duer Miller. Director of photograohT, Rav Tune. Film editor. Conrad A. Nervig. P. £ A Certificate No. 6125. Release date, April 5. 1940. Running time, when seen in Hollywood, 70 minutes. General audience classification. CAST Ridley Crane Robert Cnmraings Kate Lattimer Laraire Day Helen lattimer Jean Muir Mrs. Lattimer Billie Burke Gertrude Hunter Ann Morriss Margaret Esther Dale Stephen Harridge Charles Waldron George Olcott Frank Milan Joe Havens Rand Brooks Arthur Prince Paul Stanton Zillah Torrinsrton Ruth Tobey Star Dust (20th Century-Fox) Hollywood Success Sfory Telling of a little known side of Hollywood, the constant hunt for new talent and the heartbreaks facing the screen-struck, "Star Dust" is a human interest document on the production community, its work and its glamour. It is not of the same school of fiction as "Once in a lifetime" or "A Star is Born." It contains (.Continued or. page 42)