Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1944)

rHE HOLLYWOOD SCENE Completed SONOGRAM Muggs Meets a Deadline RC rwing Hostess IKO RADIO Fall in the Saddle :epublic Zode of the Prairie ^an Fernando Valley JNIVERSAL 3e It Ever So Humble Started lOLUMBIA Texas Rifles MONOGRAM Trigger Law Baby Shoes PRC When the Lights Go on Again PARAMOUNT Kitty Out of This World Double Exposure (Pine-Thomas) REPUBLIC Man of Mystery UNITED ARTISTS Tomorrow the World ( Cowan) UNIVERSAL The Frozen Ghost The Old Texas Trail WARNERS The Corn Is Green Shooting COLUMBIA Stalk the Hunter Tonight and Every Night M-G-M The Home Front Anchors Aweigh Airship Squadron 4 Music for Millions Son of Lassie The Thin Man Goes Home Ziegfeld Follies The Picture of Dorian Gray Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo National Velvet PRC Bluebeard PARAMOUNT A Medal for Benny Her Heart in Her Throat (formerly "Fear") Here Come the Waves Murder, He Says Two Years Before the Mast RKO RADIO The Girl Rush The Master Race My Pal, Wolf (formerly "The Pumpkin Shell") Farewell, My Lovely Having Wonderful Crime The Princess and the Pirate (Goldwyn) REPUBLIC My Buddy Brazil Atlantic City 20TH CENTURYFOX Thunderhead A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Laura Something for the Boys Winged Victory UNITED ARTISTS Dark Waters (Bogeaus) Story of G. I. Joe (Cowan) Three's a Family (Lesser) Guest in the House (Stromberg) UNIVERSAL Can't Help Singing My Baby Loves Music Queen of the Nile In Society Bowery to Broadway WARNERS Christmas in Connecticut Strangers in Our Midst Objective Burma Roughly Speaking Hollywood Canteen TOMORROW THE WORLD" IS STARTED; 58 IN WORK Hollywood Bureau Production activity increased last week, as 2 pictures went before the cameras and six to he cutting rooms. At the weekend, there were 58 features in work. Lester Cowan turned cameras on "Tomorrow the World," film version of the Broadway -uccess. It's about a refugee child who has jeen exposed to Nazi philosophy during his ormative years, with the result that when he is jrought to America and placed in the home of 'i professor he almost wrecks the household and ries to kill the professor's small daughter. Two members of the cast, "Skippy" Homeier md Edit Angold, play the same roles in the ilm version as they did in the New York play. rredric March and Betty Field are co-starred i.nd Leslie Fenton has been given the direcorial assignment. "The Corn Is Green," another filmization of i successful play, went into work at Warners, fit's about life in a small coal-mining town in '.Vales, and Bette Davis is starred. She plays 'he school teacher, a part which Ethel Barrynore created on Broadway. Others in the cast ire John Dall. Joan Loring, Nigel Bruce, Rhys Williams and Mildred Dunnock. Irving Rapier is directing the production for Producer ifack Chertok. Three New Pictures Are Begun at Paramount At Paramount, three new films were Hunched. "Kitty," a historical drama laid in London of he 1870's, presents Paulette Goddard as the orotege of Sir Thomas Gainsborough, famous portrait painter. Ray Milland, Cecil Kellaway, Constance Collier and Patric Knowles are in :he cast. Karl Tunberg is the associate producer and Mitchell Leisen directs. "Out of This World" is a musical presenting Eddie Bracken, Diana Lynn, Veronica Lake, Cass Daley and Robert Benchley. Hal Walker s directing and Sam Coslow is associate producer. "Double Exposure" is. a Pine-Thomas ventre which William Berke is directing. The MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JULY I, 1944 cast includes Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Phillip Terry, Jane Farrar, Richard Gaines and Charles Arnt. Republic launched "Man of Mystery," presenting June Storey, Edward Norris, John Abbott and Eddie Fields. George Blair is associate producer and director. "Texas Rifles," a Western with Charles Starrett, Tex Harding and Pat Parrish, went into work at Columbia. Colbert Clark produces; Derwin Abrahams directs. Two were started at Universal : a thrill film titled "The Frozen Ghost," with Lon Chaney, Evelyn Ankers and Martin Kosleck in principal parts, and Harold Young directing for associate producer Will Cowan ; "The Old Texas Trail," a Western whose cast includes Rod Cameron, Fuzzy Knight and Ray Whitley, which Lewis Collins directs for Associate Producer Oliver Drake. M-G-M Talent Roster At 20-Year Peak Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has 162 players on its contract list, the greatest number in the studio's history. Ever since its organization in 1924 the discovery and development of screen personalities has been the company's declared policy. Included in the list are 33 stars, also the largest number since the founding of the studio, which then had only six. The stars are Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Judy Garland, Irene Dunne, Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Katharine Hepburn, Lana Turner, Fred Astaire, Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Ann Southern, Lucille Ball, Abbott & Costello, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Young, Robert Donat, Red Skelton, Brian Donlevy, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, Laraine Day, Kathryn Grayson, Ginny Simms, George Murphy, Robert Walker, Susan Peters and Margaret O'Brien. Another studio which has pursued a policy of developing young talent is RKO Radio. Out of 25 girls who were placed under contract during the past year, 10 have been advanced to top roles in important pictures. Among the newcomers who have been given an opportun ity to demonstrate their ability in roles of moment are Barbara Hale, who has the ingenue lead in "Heavenly Days" ; Audrey Long, the second feminine lead in "Tall in the Saddle"; Marcy McGuire, who appeared in "Around the World" and "Higher and Higher", and Nancy Gates, soon to be seen in an important role in "The Master Race." Personnel Intelligence About Hollywood Henry Hathaway has been signed to a new long term contract by 20th Century-Fox. The same studio has borrowed John Hodiak from MGM to play opposite Anne Baxter in "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier." William Eythe, originally scheduled for the part, goes into "Czarina," opposite Tallulah Bankhead. . . . Paramount has added "Ambassadors in White," a story of the achievements of American doctors in the remote portions of" Central America, to its 1944-45 schedule. Kenneth MacGowan will produce. . . . Virginia Van Upp will produce "Road to Yesterday," formerly on Sol Siegel's schedule at Columbia. Subsequently, Miss Van Upp will produce "And Now Good'bye" and "War Sings a Lullaby." Walt Disney has signed Dinah Shore for a principal part in "Swing Street." The producer, on his return to Hollywood, disclosed his post-war plans, which include filming "Uncle Remus," "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland" as combination live action and cartoon features. Negotiating Sale of Rights To "Voice of the Turtle" Twentieth Century-Fox has extended Lynn Bari's contract for another year. The same studio also picked up Allyn Joslyn's option. . . . Alfred De Liagre, New York producer, is currently in Hollywood to negotiate the sale of the film rights of "Voice of the Turtle." . . . Sam Wood is making lend-lease arrangements with Columbia for the use of 12 glamor girls currently supporting Rita Hayworth and Janet Blair in "Tonight and Every Night." Wood wants them as dance hall girls for his forthcoming production, "Jubal Troop." Vanguard has purchased half of Edward Small's contract with Tony Devlin, strong contender for the title role in "The Life of Rudolf Valentino." . . . Lew Landers has been signed to direct a PRC musical, tentatively titled "I'm from Arkansas." The picture is scheduled to start in mid-July. 37