Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1944)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD February 26, 1944 in the Pacific. But the purpose of the film is splendidly achieved, and with a dignity that should set a standard for the films to follow in its general course. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Excellent. — E. A. Cunningham. Release date, March, 1944. Running time, 99 min. General audience classification. Captain Harvey Ross Dana Andrews Lieutenant Angelo Canelli Richard Conte Sergeant Howard Clinton Farley Granger Sergeant Jan Skvoznik Kevin O'Shea Lieutenant Wayne Greenbaum. Sam Levene Lieutenant Kenneth Bayforth Charles Russell Lieutenant Peter Vincent Donald Barry Sergeant Martin Stoner John Craven Trudy Marshall, Tala Birell, Richard Loo, Peter Cheng, Gregory Gaye, Torben Meyer, Kurt Katch, Martin Garralaga, Erwin Kaiser, Igor Delgaruki, Nestor Paiva, Alex Papana, H. T. Tsiang, Benson Fong, Key Chang, Allen Jung. The Navy Way (Paramount) Service Story Stepping forth in the direction of bigger-andbetter things, producers William Pine and William Thomas present here an armed-service picture which is not a melodrama, as most of their pictures have been, but accounts for its 74 minutes of running time with more entertainment than the company's 65-minute enterprises have averaged. The film introduces Robert Lowery as a P-T star, whose performance stacks up with the best, and surrounds him with dependables who round out a smoothly functioning cast. The setting is the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and the script, an original by Maxwell Shane, tells the stories of four sailors who react to discipline in various ways. Lowery plays the nonconformist, who learns the hard way what the Navy stands for, but, for a switch, doesn't get the girl. The picture deals with training but not with warring, concentrating on training methods and on the personal story running through the presentation rather than on the enemy or battling. Heroics are held at a minimum and points are allowed to register without flagwaving underscoring. It's a trim job. William Berke directed competently, with L. B. Merman serving Pine and Thomas as associate producer. Previewed at studio. Reviewer" s Rating : Good— William R. Weaver. Release date. Block 4. Running time, 74 min. PCA No. 9791. General audience classification. Johnny Jersey Robert Lowery Ellen Sayre Jean Parker Bill Henry, Roscoe Karns, Sharon Douglas, Robert Armstrong, Richard F'owers, Larry Nunn, Mary Treen. Cowboy Canteen ( Columbia ) Musical, Western Style Columbia here effects a merger between the minor musical formula and the Charles Starrett Western series, which leans heavily on the first component and may prove a disappointment to followers of the second. Plot interest and gun battles are replaced by the close harmony of Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys and the comedy of Vera Vague. On the musical .side, however, the presence of Jane Frazee and the Mills Brothers can be exploited profitably. Charles Starrett emerges as little more than the romantic foil, playing a ranch owner who is called into the Army while a group of vaudeville performers takes over operations. Of course, he falls for the pretty blonde who had stood up to him, and leaves for duty with her promise to wait for him. The ranch, meanwhile, has been transformed into a canteen for soldiers from a nearby camp. A gala opening provides a setting for the talents of the Mills Brothers, Max Terhune and "Eliner," Jimmy Wakely and the Tailor Maids. Miss Frazee and the Smoky Mountain Boys sing at regular intervals, often without any excuse but the catchy songs of Saul Chaplin and Walter G. Samuels. Jack Fier produced the film and Lew Landers directed from a script by Paul Gangelin. Seen at Loeix/s 42nd Street theatre in New York. Reviewer's Rating : Fair. — E. A. C. Release date, February 8, 1944. Running time, 72 min. General audience classification. Steve Charles Starrett Connie Jane Frazee Vera Vera Vague Tex Tex Ritter Max Terhune, Dub Taylor, Guinn Williams, Edythe Elliott, Emmett Lynn, the Mills Brothers, Jimmy Wakely, Roy Acuff, Bill Hughes, the Tailor Maids and Buck, Chickie and Buck. The Million Dollar Kid (Monogram) East Side Kids Item By way of varying the wave length on which the East Side Kids have been broadcasting their wares, producers Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz have introduced moments of pathos into this item in their series. These throw the young men out of step, so to speak, and let the picture down toward the finish after a typical beginning, possibly not enough so to dent their popularity but hardly to their profit. This time the tough guys with hearts of gold meet a man of wealth who gives them the liberty of his home. They discover that his son is engaging with minor mobsters in a series of stickups, out of boredom or something, and they proceed by the method they know best to put him back on the path of respectability. On this thread are strung secondary happenings of various kinds and qualities. Barney Sarecky served as associate producer and Wallace Fox directed from a story and screenplay by Frank H. Young. Previewed at the Campus theatre, Hollywood, to a Thttrsday night audience which laughed heartily at the East Side Kidfs characteristic passages and booed some of the film's intendedly serious sequences. Reviewer's Rating : Fair. Release date, February 28, 1944. Running time, 65 min. PCA No. 9638. General audience classification. Muggs Leo Gorcey Glinipy Huntz Hall Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict, Louise Currie, Noah Beery, Iris Adrian, Herbert Hayes, Robert Greig, Johnny Duncan, Stanley Brown, Patsy Moran, Mary Gordon, Al Stone, Dave Durand, Bud Gorman, Jimmy Strand, Pat Costello. Voodoo Man (Monogram) More About Zombies The zombies in this melodrama are feminine, fair and attired in frills, which is a change of menu for followers of scare films and the chief distinguishing difference between this and most of them. Where names like Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and George Zucco sell tickets, this Sam KatzmanJack Dietz production belongs. The setting of Robert Charles' screenplay, based on his own story, is a doctor's house near a lonely road where young ladies driving their cars unaccompanied disappear in steady sequence. Lugosi plays the doctor who abducts them, mesmerizes them into a zombie condition and tries to transfer their minds into the body of his wife, dead these 22 years but still walking around. A Hollywood scenarist blunders into the situation and recruits a sheriff who, at the picture's end, kills the doctor and thus liberates a bevy of lovely zombies who've survived the doctor's experiments. William Beaudine directed the picture, which contains no comedy, and Barney Sarecky was associate producer. Previewed at the studio. Reviewer's Rating: Fair—W. R. W. Release date, February 21, 1944. Rimning time, 62 min. PCA No. 9765. General audience classification. Dr. Marlowe Bela Lugosi Job John Carradine Nicholas George Zucco Michael Ames, Wanda McKay, Ellen Hall, Louise Currie, Henry Hall, Dan White, Pat McKee. Terry Walker, Ethelreda Leopold, Claire James, Dorothy Bailer. Whispering Footsteps ( Republic ) Fear Complex "Whispering Footsteps," produced by George Blair with Howard Bretherton directing from a script by Gertrude Walker and Dane Lussier, fails to provide horror, mystery, or opportunity for its competent players to prove their worth. In a dragging story, based on the fear complex which has a young bank teller in its grip, a series of girl murders are committed. All evidence points to him until — unexplained and with jarring suddenness — the radio blares forth news that a man, who has not appeared in the story at any time, has *been arrested for the crimes and has confessed his guilt. John Hubbard as the teller, and Rita Quigley as the banker's daughter in love with the teller and believing in him, struggle through some moments as trying on the audience as they apparently were on the players, as she tries to bolster his courage. Joan Blair has a bit as a hardened young business woman carrying on an affair with the banker, while the others in the cast are handicapped by the flimsy story. Seen at Grauman's Chinese theatre, Hollywood, where it was second on a bill topped by "Song of Russia." Reviewer's Rating: Poor. — Jack Cartwright. Release date, December 30, 1943. Rimning time, 55 min. PCA No. 9694. General audience classification, Marcus Borne John Hubbard Brooke Hammond Rita Quigley Toan Blair, Juanita Quigley, Cy Kendall, William Benedict, Matt McHugh. Marie Blake, Dick Elliott, Mary Gordon, Elizabeth Valentine, Madeline Gray. SHORT SUBJECTS WITH THE MARINES AT TARAWA (Univ.) War Activities Committee In two Technicolor reels the Marine Corps shows the death, sweat and destruction required to win the pink and blue beachheads of Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands. It is the most vivid official screen battle report yet released. Beginning with embarkation day Marine cameras follow the attack through planning, convoy, bombardment and landing stages to the final mop up of Jap snipers. For the first time, in glimpses of the wounded and of American bodies in the sand or face up in the surf the cost of victory is brought home to theatre audiences. It should make Americans think, and keep bond booths busy. The 15 men of the Marine camera crew were in the fore of the attack and their 5,000 feet of color film showed it. So did the casualty records, for Lieut. Ernest E. Matthews, Jr. of Dallas and Staff Sgt. Wesley Lee Kroenung, Jr., died in action. This official release is distributed without profit bv Universal for the War Activities Committee. Scoring and editing were done at the Warners studio. Exhibitors should feel an obligation to show it. — J. S., Jr. Release date, March 2, 1944. 19 mirmtes POST-WAR JOBS? (20tli-Fox) March of Time The widespread fear of unemployment at the close of the present war is recognized in the latest March of Time issue, and no attempt is made to show that it is without foundation. Instead the editors suggest that consciousness of the problem may be the first step in solving it. Public and private agencies are already at work planning for the transitional stage when war contracts are no longer supporting expanded industrial plants and the transfer to consumer goods has not yet been made. Industry also views the problem with alarm from the viewpoint of idle shops and shrinking profits. In spite of the shortage of materials, many plants are already devoting time and money to developing new products and new techniques for post-war manufacture. The material preserited should prove to be of interest throughout the country. Release date, February 25, 1944 19 minutes I 774 Product Digest Section