Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1940)

52 MOTION -PICTURE HERALD April 6, I 940 (.Continued from preceding page) have allocated some of this player's pictures. I admit that once Jane Withers was up and coming, promising to be box office. But it certainly did not take this producer long to ruin her for good by putting her in poorly made pictures that did not try to exploit the talents of this youngster. Running time, 74 minutes. Played February 27-29.— Egon W. F. Wieselmann, Cactus Theatre, Limon, Col. Small town patronage. HIGH SCHOOL: Jane Withers, Joe Brown, Jr.— Strictly a high school picture and very good but did not have popular appeal. Poorest Sunday of the year. They like Jane here if they will give her box office stories. — C. L. Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa. General patronage. MAN WHO WOULDN'T TALK, THE: Lloyd Nolan, Jean Rogers — Only a fair picture in which Lloyd Nolan is very badly miscast and painfully noticeable in a role that doesn't suit him at all. Jean Rogers shouldn't have been in this one, either. Would personally say that the picture doesn't even belong under the Fox banner. Running time. 72 minutes. Played March 16-19.— W. C. Lewellen, Uptown Theatre, Pueblo, Col. General patronage. SWANEE RIVER: Don Ameche, Andrea Leeds, AI Jolson — A small town natural. One of the best crowds for a long time. Play it by all means. Running time. 86 minutes. Played March 23.— Harry L. Bubb, Sylvanian Theatre, New Freedom, Pa. Rural patronage. SWANEE RIVER: Don Ameche, Andrea Leeds, Al Jolson — The surprise draw in several months. Brought the rural folks to town. Third day bigger gross than first. Worth an extra day or two in rural sections. Running time, 84 minutes. Played February 19-21.— C. W. Davis, Rockingham Theatre, Reidsville, N. C. Small town and rural patronage. YOUNG AS YOU FEEL: Jed Prouty, Spring Byington — The Jones Family is back to where they started; in fact, I thought it must be a reissue. Played March 11-13.— W. O. Kemp, Victory Theatre, Poteau, Okla. Small own patronage. YOUNG MR. LINCOLN: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan — The picture was well received because it is packed full of historical fact. Henry Fonda's portrayal of Lincoln is a masterpiece and he deserves much praise. Fonda is given fine support by an able cast. Pleased 100 per cent. Running time. 101 minutes.— State Prison Colony Theatre, State Prison Colony, Norfolk, Mass. Prison patronage. United Artists CHUMP AT OXFORD, A: Laurel and Hardy— Glad to see Laurel and Hardy teamed again. Business fatbelow average in opposition to "Pinocchio," but don't think it is the picture's fault. This pair has been separated so long the public has grown cold to them and they will have to be sold all over again. Running time, 63 minutes. Played March 16-19. — W. C. Lewellen, Uptown Theatre, Pueblo, Colo. General patronage. MAN IN THE IRON MASK, THE: Louis Hay ward, Joan Bennett, Warren William, Joseph Schildkraut, Alan Hale — Everyone liked the picture. Louis Hayward plays both brothers and does an excellent job. Joan Bennett and every member of the cast deserves no end of praise. By all means see this picture. Running time, 112 minutes. — State Prison Colony Theatre, State Prison Colony, Norfolk, Mass. Prison patronage. OF MICE AND MEN: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr.. Betty Field — Greatly divided opinion among the few that turned out to see it. A good picture, but don't expect a small town public to get excited about it. Played March 10-11.— W. O. Kemp, Victor Theatre. Poteau, Okla. Small town patronage. PRISON WITHOUT BARS: Corinne Luchaire, Edna Best — A very ordinary picture with an English handicap. People don't go for English pictures here and you just can't fool them. A nice house the first night, but on the second night would have been further ahead to have been closed. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ontario, Canada. General patronage. RAFFLES: David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, Dame May Whitty — Played this on Sunday because we had to fill our time, but it is definitely not a Sunday picture. As a matter of fact would suggest that you swap it for a Goldwyn reissue. You will be better off. From a production standpoint it is not deserving of the Goldwyn reputation. Being too sketchy in its story, it did not develop the character of "Raffles" as it might have. Olivia de Havilland was wasted. Her rnle was too unimportant. The same goes for Dame May Whitty. Not a small town box office picture. Running time. 71 minutes. Played March 10-11. — Egon W. G. Wieselmann, Cactus Theatre, Limon, Col. Small town patronage. RAFFLES: David Niven, Olivia de Havilland— Held this one two weeks. Good gross for the first week. Not so hot on the second week. Good story but light and entertaining. Running time, 71 minutes. Played February 1-14. — State Theatre, Oklahoma City, Okla. Downtown patronage. REAL GLORY, THE: Gary Cooper, David Niven. Andrea Leeds — This picture should not have been made, at least not in the manner it was made. It is as gory and bloody a picture from beginning to end as one can imagine, And people — women, particularly "Decided to join the scores of exhibitors contributing reviews to this department and shall appreciate your forwarding a supply of your convenient report blanks. "Enclosed herewith find reports on pictures we recently played in one of our situations." — Egon W. G. Wieselmann, Cactus Theatre, Limon, Colo. — must have known that in advance. They certainly stayed away from it. In my mind that sort of thing is not entertainment and never can be box office. Even those of our Saturday customers that enjoy a shoot 'em up western thought this too cruel. Gary Cooper and David Niven both were wasted in this picture. All they had to do through tout the film was to dodge knives, spears, bullets and swords. Running time, 96 minutes. Played February 23-24. — Egon W. G. Wieselmann, Cactus Theatre, Limon, Col. Small town patronage. SLIGHTLY HONORABLE: Pat O'Brien, Ruth Terry, Edward Arnold, Broderick Crawford — Comedy murder mystery -in which the plot is so involved that it distracted the audience's attention from the many gags that make this picture. Thus those who tried to figure the story out did not enjoy it, whereas those who did not give a darn about "who done it" sat there and enjoyed themselves. Could have been a swell picture had the plot been less confusing. Business much below average. Gags too clever for the weekend small town patrons. Ruth Terry not what she was hailed to be. Running time. 85 minutes. Played March 15-16. — Egon W. G. Wieselmann, Cactus Theatre, Limon, Col. Small town patronage. SLIGHTLY HONORABLE: Pat O'Brien, Ruth Terry. Edward Arnold, Broderick Crawford — A surprise picture that will sell by word of mouth. Let them know you're playing it. You'll be proud of its cleverness. Business better than average. Running time, 83 minutes. Played February 23-29. — State Theatre, Oklahoma City, Okla. Downtown patronage. Universal CHARLIE MCCARTHY, DETECTIVE: Edgar Bergen, "Charlie McCarthy," "Mortimer Snerd," Robert Cummings. Constance Moore — Best McCarthy picture to date. Universal is making good pictures all the way. No bad ones so far. Fair rentals. Conditions bad here. Played February 16-17— H. Ford Taylor, Ritz Theatre, Ballinger, Texas. Small town patronage. CHARLIE MCCARTHY, DETECTIVE: Edgar Ber gen, "Charlie McCarthy," "Mortimer Snerd." Robert Cummings. Constance Moore — Drew some extra patronage and believe it pleased generally, although do not believe "Charlie" is liked in pictures nearly as well as on the radio. Running time. 75 minutes. Plaved March 8-9.— Horn & Morgan, Inc.. Star Theatre, Hay Springs, Neb. Small town patronage. DOUBLE ALIBI: Wayne Morris, Margaret Lindsay — Ran this picture at greatly reduced prices on Bargain Night and had the smallest gross since Bargain Night was installed. Still, I think it is a better than average program picture. Played March 12. — W. O. Kemp, Victory Theatre, Poteau, Okla. Small town patronage. GREEN HELL: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Joan Bennett, John Howard. Alan Hale. George Sanders, George Bancroft. Vincent Price — This is an excellent picture, trood story and good acting. Give it good playing time. Running time. 87 minutes. Played February 5-6. — Morris Littman. Sylvan, Rutherfordton, N. C. Small town patronage. GREEN HELL: Douglas Fairbanks. Jr., Joan Bennett, John Howard. Alan Hale, George Sanders, George Bancroft, Vincent Price — A very nice show, but did average business for Sunday-Monday showing. Running time, 87 minutes. Plaved February 25-26. — C. O. Kintz. Kickapoo Theatre, Gays Mills, Wis. Farming community patronage. GREEN HELL: Douglas Fairbanks. Jr.. Joan Bennett, John Howard. Alan Hale, George Sanders, George Bancroft, Vincent Price — Name value plus exploitation, radio, etc.. and theatre front on this one resulted in exceptional business. Exhibitors should not pass up this opportunity for showmanship. Running time, 87 minutes. Plaved February 15-21.— State Theatre, Oklahoma City, Okla. Downtown patronage. HONEYMOON DEFERRED: Edmund Lowe. Margaret Lindsay — A good program picture which will please your customers if you can get them to come and see it. Lowe does a good job and so does Mar garet Lindsay. Running time, 59 minutes. Played March 13.— Morris Littman, Sylvan Theatre, Rutherfordton, N. C. Small town patronage. HONEYMOON DEFERRED: Edmund Lowe, Margaret Lindsay — Average program fare for murder mysteries. Played with "Man from Dakota." Business above average for season. Running time, 59 minutes. Played March 9-12.— W. C. Lewellen, Uptown Theatre, Pueblo, Col. General patronage. MAN FROM MONTREAL: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine— A very good little action picture. Played March 14-16— W. O: Kemp, Victory Theatre, Poteau, Okla. Small town patronage. MY LITTLE CHICADEE: Mae West, W. C. Fields, 1 Dick Foran. Joseph Calleia— Same old disgusting Mae West and bilious Bill Fields. Nothing changed but the title. Played March 17-18.— W. O. Kemp, Victory Theatres Poteau, Okla. Small town patronage. RIO1: Basil Rathbone, Sigrid Gurie, Victor McLaglen, Robert Cummings, Leo Carrillo — Poorest midweek business on this in months. In fact, we didn't take in feature film rental. And it didn't please those who came, either. Running time, 75 minutes. Played March 6-7.— Horn & Morgan, Inc., Star Theatre, Hay Springs, Neb. Small town patronage. UNDER-PUP. THE: Gloria Jean, Nan Grey, Robert Cummings, C. Aubrey Smith. Beulah Bondi, Virginia Weidler — You will make a mistake if you do not play this picture. It is full of good entertainment. The title is misleading. Running time, 88 minutes. Played September 11-12.— Morris Littman, Sylvan. Theatre, Rutherfordton, N. C. Small town patronage. UNEXPECTED FATHER: Baby Sandy, Mischa i Auer— A program picture. Baby Sandy very good ! but picture would not draw. Should have been doubled. Running time, 78 minutes. Played March 2. — Harry L. Bubb, Sylvanian Theatre, New Freedom, Pa. Rural patronage. [ YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN: W. C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, "Charlie McCarthy"— A fair \ picture, some laughs, but something seemed to be miss I ing. Running time, 75 minutes. — State Prison Colony Theatre, State Prison Colony, Norfolk, Mass. Prison patronage. Warner Brothers BROTHER RAT AND A BABY: Priscilla Lane, { Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert, Jane Wy ; man, Ronald Reagan— Not so hot. Too much Morris , who tries to be a comedian and fails miserably. Do , not expect too much. Running time, 90 minutes. — I A. J. Inks. Crystal Theatre, Ligonier, Ind. Small town patronage. CHILD IS BORN, A: Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George, Johnnie Davis — A rehash of "Life Begins" with some changes in story and a new cast. Struck very bad weather or think this would | have been a top grosser. Cast is excellent but Gladys George and Johnnie Davis walk off with the laurels. They should be given bigger and better roles. The babies acted like veterans and the picture pleased. [ It is the type show the cash customers like. Running time, 79 minutes. Played March 1-3.— Gladys E. McArdle, Owl Theatre, Lebanon, Kansas. Small ! town patronage. INVISIBLE STRIPES: George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden. Humphrey Bogart — Good cast and ' the picture well done but it is just another crime 3 story. Nearly one-half of this company's releases ' this year are crime stories and we can't make any money with them. — N. E. Frank, Wayland Theatre, Wayland, Mich. Small town patronage. INVISIBLE STRIPES: George Raft, Jane Bryan, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart — Another good one from Warner; business not so hot. — Sammie Jackson, Jackson Theatre, Flomaton, Ala. General patronage. State Rights TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS: Herman Brix — This was well liked and business away over average. Don't overlook this one. Played Novem-' ber 26-27.— H. E. Fulgham, Ideal Theatre, Fort Worth. Texas. Family patronage. Short Features Columbia CHARM BRACELET, THE: Phantasies Cartoons — A little out of season. Good for next Christmas. — Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ontario, Canada. General patronage. NAVY CHAMPIONS: Sport Thrills— An interesting trip around the home of our future officers of the sea, which depicts them engaged in such manly activities as boxing, gymnastics, football, etc. Very well liked here, especially the scenes of the ArmyNavy football game. Running time, 9l/2 minutes.— J. A. Reynolds, Director of Education and Recreation, Prison Theatre, New Jersey State Prison, Trenton, N. J. Prison patronage.