Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1944)

and even lesser parts are distinguished by sharp portrayals. Seen in the home office projection room.. Reviewer's Rating : Good. — E. A. C. Release date, not set. Running time, 90 min. PCA No. 10041. Adult audience classification. Hank William Bendix Mildred Susan Hay ward John Loder, Dorothy Comingore, Roman Bohnen, Tom Fadtlen, Alan Napier, Charles Cane, Raphael Storm, Charles La Torre, Don Zolaya, Mary Zavian, George Sorrel, Paul Weigel. Make Your Own Bed Warner Bros. — Light Fare The synopsis of this picture is superior to its execution. It's a farce and fails to maintain a farcical tempo. It is not without its laughs. In fact, there are a number of good laughs, but there are long interludes cluttered with cliches and slow action. Jack Carson plays the role of a not too intelligent private detective. He is employed by Alan Hale, ostensibly as a detective but in reality to fill a household breach, there being a shortage of domestic help and Hale and Irene Manning, playing his wife, are without a butler and a cook. Jane Wyman, in the role of Carson's sweetheart, goes along as the cook, passing herself off as his wife, all of which was Carson's idea, not Jane's. Hale has promised Carson there are all sorts of problems for a detective to solve, including his neighbor and a gang of Nazi spies. He employs a radio act to appear on the scene with guttural accents and disturbing innuendoes. And he tells Carson his neighbor is out to make away with his wife. The alleged actors prove actually to be saboteurs. Hale is the president of a cosmetic manufacturing concern which has transformed its face .powder into gunpowder, and the saboteurs plan to blow it up. But they don't, Carson lending a hand in bringing them to justice, much to the surprise of his sweetheart, his employer and himself. The cast is uniformly good, in fact wholly adequate, but the screenplay is too drawn out and Peter Godfrey's direction fails to make the most of the material on hand, Alex Gottlieb produced. Jack Carson's name on the marquee should draw radio fans. Previewed in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Fair. — Bert Hicks. Release date, June 10, 1944. Running time, 82 min. PCA No. 9977. General audience classification. Jerry Curtis Jack Carson Susan Courtney Jane Wyman Walter Whirtle Alan Hale Vivian Whirtle Irene Manning George Tobias, Robert Shayne, Tala Birell, Ricardo Cortez, Marjorie Hoshelle, Kurt Katch, Harry Bradley, William Kennedy. Ladies of Washington 20th Century-Fox — Melodrama Reaching perhaps for new wrinkles in minor melodrama, producer William Girard based this one on a war-important executive jilting a young woman who attempts revenge by methods injurious to some and fatal to two. They had to wind it up, to square with the Production Code, by abruptly declaring her a mental case. Implausible up to then, and showing signs of hurry, the film fizzles completely at the finish. Wanda Tuchock's screenplay has a vengeful girl fake suicide, planting a death note damaging to the executive, but a doctor thwarts this try. Next time she gives an enemy agent the key to the executive's office, where he kills the watchman. She then summons a doctor friend to treat the wounded killer, unsuccessfully, and finally tries to involve the doctor in the latter death. A tinge of background comedy is achieved by reference to Washington's housing shortage. Louis King directed Trudy Marshall, Sheila Ryan, Robin Raymond, Ronald Graham, Anthony Quinn and the others skillfully through this material. Previewed at the studio. Reviewer's Rating: Fair.—W. R. W. Release date, June, 1944. Running time, 61 min. PCA No. 9929. Adult audience classification. Carol Trudy Marshall Dr. Maybury Ronald Graham Sheila Ryan, Anthony Quinn, Robert Bailey, Beverly Whitney, Jackie Paley, Carlton Young, John Philliber, Doris Merrick, Robin Raymond. Yellow Rose of Texas Republic — Western Musical Trigger — "the smartest horse in the movies" — stays in his stall through most of "Yellow Rose of Texas," while his master furthers his singing career. This seriously hampers the action of the film, placing it in the class of musicals with Western trimmings. As such, it has borrowed several lively performers, including Dale Evans and Janet Martin, from Republic's studio players to alternate with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, and it boasts an assortment of dance ensemble routines which leaves little room for the old staples of riding and shooting. A more or less standard Western plot has been grafted on to a showboat setting, coming to the fore in brief intervals between performances. Roy Rogers, investigating an old payroll robbery for an insurance company, hires out as a minstrel, gives the man jailed for the crime a chance to prove his innocence and solves the plot before an eager and paying audience. There are several riding sequences on land and a climactic battle under water for the action fans. Comedy is meager, but songs are plentiful, ranging from the romantic ballad "Lucky Me, Unlucky You" to an amusing comedy number "Down in the Old Town Hall." The team of Harry Grey, associate producer, and Joseph Kane, director, has made a smooth transition to the musical style, but the youngsters may be somewhat disappointed. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Fair. — E. A. C. Release date, June 24, 1944. Running time, 69 min. PCA No. 9893. General audience classification. Roy Roy Rogers Betty Dale Evans Grant Withers, Harry Shannon, George Cleveland, William Haade, Weldon Heyburn, Hal Taliaferro, Tom London, Dick Botiller, Janet Martin, Brown Jug Reynolds, Bob' Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Beneath Western Skies Republic — Western Ware Producer Louis Gray and Spencer Bennet, director, deciding that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, went from opening to closing shot of this picture omitting romance. The omission has greatly enhanced the action, and because romance in Western fare is always according to formula and only indirectly concerned with the business of bringing the ubiquitous villains to justice, its absence will be apparent only to the inveterate romanticists. Bob Livingston, the hero, comes to the rescue of the town of Stokesville, which is being overrun by a gang of outlaws. He is made sheriff but keeps the fact a secret while he enters the camp of the enemy. He is found out, escapes, is later led into a trap, and in escaping once more rides head first into a branch of a tree, is knocked out and when he recovers is the victim of amnesia. The outlaws take advantage of his condition to tell Bob he is in reality a famed killer, wanted and hunted, playing the role of sheriff. While the accident has destroyed his memory it has failed to destroy his character, and though believing he is an outlaw, his better nature prevails. He finally regains his senses and his memory, and runs the outlaws out of town just at the point when they have moved in to take over. Seen at the New York theatre in the company of a not too enthusiastic mid-day audience. Reviewer's Rating: Fair. — B. H. Release date, March 3, 1944. Running time, 56 min. PCA No. 9838. General audience classification. Johnny Revere Bob Livingston Frog Millhouse Smiley Burnette Effie Laird, Frank Jaquet, Tom London, Charles Miller, Joe Strauch, Jr., Leroy Mason, Kenne Duncan, Charles Dorety, Jack Kirk, Bud Geary. Tucson Raiders Republic — Screen Comic Strip First of Republic's series based on the widely syndicated Red Ryder comic strip comes to the screen in "Tucson Raiders" with Wild Bill Elliott, the hero, ably supported by Bobby Blake (Little Beaver), Alice Fleming (The Duchess), and George "Gabby" Hayes as himself, lifelong suitor of the Duchess. Associate Producer Eddy White gave it solid western action values and background while Spencer Bennet directed from Anthony Coldewey's script based on Jack O'Donnell's original story to obtain the utmost in outdoor punch, color and comedy with Red Ryder adhering closely to the formula two-fisted hero. Painted Valley is threatened by the skulduggery of a crooked sheriff under orders of a wealthy banker and territorial governor. The Duchess sends for her friend, Judge Wayne, to investigate. Crooks plan to waylay him but kill a preacher by mistake, placing the blame on Ryder, who is arrested. Little Beaver helps him escape and, together with Gabby, they trap the crooks, who are killed in a blast of dynamite Ryder planted in the gold box stolen from the stage in a holdup. Peggy Stewart winsomely carries the feminine end of a slight love interest with John Whitney, foreman for the Duchess, while LeRoy Mason, Ruth Lee, and Ed Cassidy lead the evildoers. Seen at Hitching Post theatre, Hollywood, ivhere an afternoon audience sprinkled with youngsters and grozvnups, including some servicemen, gave approval. Reviewer' s Rating : Good.-^J ack Cartwright. Release date, May 14, 1944. Running time, 55 min. PCA No. 9892. General audience classification. Wild Bill Elliott, Bobby Blake, George (Gabby) Hayes, Alice Fleming, Peggy Stewart, LeRoy Mason, Ruth Lee, Ed Cassidy, John Whitney, Stanley Andrews, Bud Geary, Tom Steele, Tom Diatterton, Marshall Reed. Coyescas RKO — Spanish Musical This first major importation from Spain in many!' years is evidence that film production still flourj ishes there. Producers, technicians and actresses (i have lost none of their technical competence. They, make "Goyescas" a large, lavish and pretentious musical. But it is still below Hollywood standards and is no serious competition for the better Mexican or Argentine productions. The plot is in opera bouff e pattern with early 19th Century costumes. It provides a double opportunity for Imperio Argentina, Spain's foremost actress, to display her coquetry in a dual role. She ! plays both a countess and peasant singer with al'» verve that makes both characters distinct, and:] prompts fireworks on the occasions when, by good process technique, they meet face to face. The loves of both women center on the same men and before the entanglements are resolved and the rivals become friends there is much sword play, mob scenes, a fiesta and frequent interludes of music and dancing for the display of Argentina's versatility. There is no political reference in the story. Benito Perojo, a successful film maker under the Franco regime, directed the original story by Fernando Periquet. They take much of the music, but little plot, from Granados' opera of the same^ name. The U. S. market appears limited to theatres specializing in Spanish language film, but prospects for Latin American sale would appear bright. Reviewed at a New York trade show. Review-, er's Rating : Fair. — John Stuart, Jr. Release date, May 22, 1944. Running time, 110 min. PCA No. 03779. General audience classification. Petrilla and Countess Guadda Imperio Argentina Captain Pizarro Rafael Rivelles Luis Alfonso Armando Calvo Ramon Martori, Jose Latorre, Eloisa Muro, Antonio Casas, Manuel Moran, Manuel Requena, Marta Flores, Juan Calvo, Antonio Bayon, Marina Torres, Maria Vera. THE BATTLE OF EUROPE (UA) World in Action Some of the best shots of bombing raids over Europe highlight this latest release in the World in Action series. It tells of tremendous preparations for invasion, carried through by battles in the air to destroy the Luftwaffe, by the gutting of German industrial plants and the bombing oi fortifications defending the continent. The photographs are remarkably clear, often thrilling and sometimes of an unusual beauty. The commentary is not up to the informative standard of the Canadian National Film Board releases, borrowing a bit from its stentorian predecessors in the field but the pictures tell the story. And they matcl the best that the war has thus far brought to the public eye. Release date, not set 17 minutes 1 898 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION. MAY 20, 194'