Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

July 3 , I 943 MOTION PICTURE HERALD In This Week: SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS ADVANCE SYNOPSES RELEASE CHART BY COMPANIES THE RELEASE CHART The Constant Nymph (Warner Bros.) Romantic Drama The romantic story which made Margaret Kennedy's novel a best-seller of the late Twenties emerges, under the skillful handling of Henry Blanke and Edmund Goulding, producer and director of the new screen version, with much of its original appeal intact. If the theme seems a bit dated at times, the moving performances of Charles Boyer and Joan Fontaine have a timeless quality which should insure an enthusiastic response, particularly among feminine patrons. The production has been elaborately conceived, with settings and musical background matching in quality a supporting cast including Charles Coburn, Brenda Marshall, Peter Lorre and Dame May Whitty. The music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold deserves special mention, forming as it does a secondary theme of unusual interest and beauty. Joan Fontaine is a charming adolescent, brought up in an undisciplined but musical household in the Swiss Alps, and in love with a composer. Never seeing her as other than a child, the man marries her English cousin and finds his dissatisfaction reflected in his music. The girl comes to live with them, widens the breach further by her presence and understanding, and finally confesses her love. The musician realizes the deep emotional bond between them, embodied in his successful symphonic poem, before her death provides the final tragedy. Charles Boyer's portrayal of "Lewis Dodd," the composer, is another of the suave and sensitive characterizations which his admirers have come to expect. But it is Joan Fontaine who essays the more difficult role and reaches, at times, the dramatic peaks. Expressing both the childish impulsiveness and emotional maturity of "Tessa," she achieves a unique appeal, of spiritual rather than physical beauty. Alexis Smith, as the girl whom Boyer marries, gives a striking impression of poise and confidence in the execution of a none too sympathetic role. Peter Lorre, Charles Coburn, Brenda Marshall and Joyce Reynolds all lend fine support. Goulding's direction admirably sustains the ethereal mood of the early mountain scenes, caught by Tony Gaudio's fine camera work, and strikes a more modern note in the final scenes than the original story seemed to allow. Credit for this should go also to Kathryn Scola, who wrote the screenplay from the novel and play by Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Excellent. — E. A. Cunningham. Release date, July 23, 1943. Running time, 112 min. PCA No. 8246. General audience classification. Lewis Dodd Charles Boyer Tessa Sanger Joan Fontaine Florence Alexis Smith Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, Dame May Whitty, Peter Lorre, Joyce Reynolds, Jean Muir, Montagu Love, Edward Ciannelli, Jeanine Crispin, Doris Lloyd. Reviews This department deals with new product from the point of view of the exhibitor who is to purvey it to his own public. Hit the Ice (Universal) Abbolt-Costello Laugh Jamboree It's for customers, not critics, to say which one if any of a series of comedies so successful as the Bud Abbott-Lou Costello collections is the best of the lot, but it's not outside the province of the exhibitor to tell the customers that this one did to and for the Hollywood press reviewers more than any since "Buck Privates" sprawled them in the aisles. The ladies and gentlemen of the press, of the profession, and the public, laughed loudly, unanimously and at length during and after the unreeling of this number inside a theatre, outside which newspaper vendors were hawking headlines about miners and their troubles, a war flaring on a variety of fronts and sundry disturbances in a turbulent world. "Hit the Ice" is Escapist Entertainment with two capital E's. The Number One Money-Making Stars of 1942 enter this tale as sidewalk snapshot men who promptly become enmeshed in the affairs of gangsters who rob a bank under circumstances which get the comedians into the newspapers as criminals sought for the deed. This leads to a general migration of the entire cast of characters, which includes a band, its songbird, a doctor and a nurse, to Sun Valley, where innumerable complications develop. The band in the picture is Johnny Long's and the girl who sings with it, also playing a part of importance in the story, is Ginny Simms. Any one of the four songs by Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster could be Hit Parade timber. Helen Young, Gene Williams, the Four Teens and SO skaters also figure in the picture on the song-and-dance side. Alex Gottlieb, gone from Universal after producing this and other Abbott & Costello hits, touched top with this one. Direction by Charles Lamont is smooth. Robert Lee, Frederic Rinaldo and John Grant participated in the writing of the screenplay, as full of switches as a railroad yard, from an original story by True Boardman. Previewed at the Pontages theatre, Plollyzvood, to a resounding response from all sections of an audience made up preponderantly of persons who had paid their way in to see "This Land is Mine," but including a substantial turn out of press and profession. Reviewer's Rating : Excellent. — William R. Weaver. Release date, not set. Running time, S2'/2. min. PCA No. 9184. General audience classification. Flash Fulton Budd Abbott Weejie McCoy Lou Costello Ginny Simms, Patric Knowles, Elyse Knox, Joseph Sawyer, Marc Lawrence, Sheldon Leonard, Johnny Long and his orchestra, Helen Young, Gene Williams. Best Foot Forward (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1943-44) 'Teen-Age Musical Taking its cue from the youngsters who provide much of the entertainment in this sprightly musical comedy, M-G-M has planted Harry James and his Music Makers solidly in the foreground. Closely following are Lucille Ball, playing a motion picture star of the same name, and a great set of young performers led by Virginia Weidler, Tommy Dix; and Nancy Walker. The central idea and music of last season's Broadway musical of the same title have been translated into screen entertainment which should delight the younger set and amuse their elders as well. Songs by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, dances arranged by Charles Walters, Technicolor and swing in the James manner are arranged in succession and combination around a plot which has Miss Ball accepting an invitation to a prep school prom to the consternation of all but the stag line. The surprised senior who invited her tries to pass her off as his girl friend, Virginia Weidler, hoping to escape the notice of the school authorities and straighten things out with his dream girl at a later date. But Miss Ball is there to make the headlines, and her spectacular presence does not go unobserved. The very proper senior prom rapidly becomes a brawl, with souvenir hunters attacking en masse and Lucille retreating in her underwear. She manages, however, to clear things up with the major, the colonel and assorted girl friends before serious damage is done. Before this, too, Harry James has set heels tapping with swing rhythms and solo specialties including "Buckle Down, Winsocki," "The Flight of the Bumble Bee," "The Three B's" and "Wish I May"; the young people have moved through some intricate choral and ensemble numbers, and young Nancy Walker, who made quite a hit in the stage play, has almost stolen the show with a jaunty personality and gift for comedy. The latter is no small achievement in competition with the undeniable appeal of Virginia Weidler and Tommy Dix, or the skillful performance of Lucille Ball, who holds up the adult section with a slight assist from William Gaxton. Arthur Freed produced the show with an eye to its prospective audience and the present popularity of light screen fare. Direction by Edward Buzzell sustains the mood and tempo throughout. The screenplay is an adaptation Product Digest Section 1401