Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

rHE mPLETED .UMBIA 's Go Steady I lispering Skull 1 Sister TED ARTISTS in the Bag (Skir MD JVERSAL Itpect "ARTED -UMBIA it^ve a Mystery HOLLYWOOD SCENE PARAMOUNT Lost Weekend Love Letters Affairs of Susan PRC Fog Island Marked for Murder RKO RADIO Body Snatcher REPUBLIC Earl Carroll's \'anities 20TH CENTURYFOX Circumstantial E v i dence UNITED ARTISTS Walk in the Sun (Bronston) UNIVERSAL Here Come the CoEds SHOOTING COLUMBIA Our Wandering Daughters One Against Seven (formerh^ "Counterattack") MGM Without Love Our Vines Have Tender Grapes Hold High the Torch Women's Army Son of Lassie Valley of Decision MONOGRAM John Dillinger PARAMOUNT Duffy's Tavern Salty O'Rourke Miss Susie S 1 a g 1 e (formerly "Golden Years") RKO RADIO Enchanted Cottage West of the Pecos Isle of the Dead (temporarily suspended) Wonder Man (Goldwyn) Tarzan and the Amazons (Lesser) REPUBLIC Phantom Speaks Daring Holiday 20TH CENTURY-FOX Bon Voyage (temporarily suspended) Royal Scandal Where Do We Go from Here? Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe Hangover Square UNITED ARTISTS Blood on the Sun (Cagney) Hold Autumn in Your Hand (PAC) UNIVERSAL Salome — Where She Danced Frisco Sal She Gets Her Man WARNERS Big Sleep God Is My Co-Pilot Pillar to Post Nobody Lives Forever San Antonio Production Spurts, with 45 4ew Pictures in Work \)llywood Bureau .''roduction, which has been in the doldrums late, took a slight spurt forward last week 11 new features went into work. Five others ■e completed, bringing the shooting index to 45 as compared with 39 the week before. Paramount was the most active among the iios. Three major features were launched, I of which are Hal B. Wallis productions. third, "The Lost Weekend," is being proed by Charles Brackett and directed by [y Wilder. It's based on the best seller of same name, which tells the adventures of hronic drunkard on a weekend spree. The ': includes Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, PhilTerry, Doris Dowling and Howard da Vallis' two are "The Love Letters" and le Affairs of Susan." The former concerns Ipung war widow whose life is affected by i letters her husband wrote before his death 'he battlefront. Jennifer Jones, Joseph CotAnn Richards, Cecil Kellaway and Derek jj'per are in the cast. William Dieterle is j:cting. \ifTairs of Susan" Is Wallis l^medy Production The Affairs of Susan" is a comedy about unsophisticated girl thrust unexpectedly in.heatrical surroundings. Williar^ Seiter is ■cting, and the cast includes Joan Fontaine, •rge Brent, Dennis O'Keefe, Walter Abel, ^1 DeFore and Rita Johnson. I'or United Artists release, Samuel Bronston ted "A Walk in the Sun," based on the k by Private Harry Brown. It's about a con of soldiers, isolated from their comions, who set out to destroy a bridge of strac importance. Lewis Milestone is the prosr-director, and the all-male cast includes la Andrews, Huntz Hall, Richard Conte, Idy Yarus and Luis Rosado. .epublic's new venture is "Earl Carroll's lities," a pictorial version of the famous :e show. Albert J. Cohen is producing, ■ph Santley directing. Among the players Dennis O'Keefe, Constance Moore, Eve Arden, Alan Mowbray, Pinky Lee, Woody Herman and his orchestra. At 20th Century-Fox, work started on "Circumstantial Evidence," a melodrama which presents ]\Iichael O'Shea, Lloyd Nolan, Trudy Marshall, Ruth Ford, Reed Hadley and Roy Roberts. William Girard produces, John Larkin directs. Columbia's entry is also a melodrama. It's titled "I Love a Mystery," and based on the radio program of that name. Wallace MacDonald is the producer, Henry Levin the director. The cast includes Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready, Barton Yarborough and Carole Mathews. Universal Starts Another Abbott and Costello Film Universal launched an Abbott and Costello comedy called "Here Come the Co-Eds," with Martha O'Driscoll, Peggy R^an, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Dingle and Donald Cook. John Grant is the producer, Jean Y'arbrough the director. PRC trained cameras on two: "Marked for Murder" and "Fog Island." The first is a Western presenting Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien and Guy Wilkerson. It's an Alexander-Stern production with Elmer Clifton directing. The other is a melodrama laid on a remote island off the Carolina coast. Leon Fromkess is the producer, Terry Morse the director, and the cast includes Lionel Atwill, George Zucco, Jerome Cowan, Sharon Douglas and Beda Ann Borg. RKO Radio's new venture of the week is "The Body Snatcher," based on Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of the Edinburgh grave-robbers of the early 19th century. Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Russell Wade, Henry Daniell, Sharyn Moffett and Edith Atwater are among the players. Jack Gross is the producer, Robert Wise the director. Joseph Tushinsky Turns To Picture Medium Music circles, seldom vocal with respect to films save in criticism, are manifesting keen expectancy regarding the Charles R. Rogers productions, "Delightfully Dangerous'' and "My Wild Irish Rose," due to the fact that Joseph S. Tushinsky makes his Hollywood debut as associate producer on these two screen undertakings. Mr. Tushinsky, producer of several Broadway musicals and light operas, is esteemed in music circles for the high quality of his stage productions, and is particularly noted for having converted Carnegie Hall to theatre purposes, in the summer of 1942, for production of a series of light operas. Selznick Purchase and Other Story Buys of the Week David O. Selznick has purchased the Reverend Edward F. Murphy's prize-winning novel, "The Scarlet Lily," the story of Mary Magdalene, and will produce it personally some time in the spring. Ingrid Bergman will be starred, and the picture will be filmed in Technicolor. The producer plans to form an advisory council, composed of distinguished names in modern religion, to supervise every phase of the project. "The Scarlet Lily" was the prizewinning manuscript in the Bruce-Extension novel contest, and has been chosen by the Catholic Literary Foundation as its November selection. The author, Father Murphy, is pastor of the Blessed Sacrament Church and professor of philosophy and religion at Xavier University in New Orleans. "The Wings of the Dove," by Henry James, is another Selznick acquisition. It will be used as a vehicle for three stars still unselected. . . . Israel Zangwill's "The Big Bow Mystery" has been purchased by Warners, and assigned to Mark Hellinger for production. Personnel Intelligence About Hollywood Jack ■ Chertok, Warner producer who made "Northern Pursuit," "The Conspirators," and "The Corn Is Green," will leave the studio upon completion of "Stolen Life," the Bette Davis film upon which he is currently engaged. The producer has not yet announced his future plans. . . . Richard Whorf has been assigned to direct "The Hidden Eye" for MGM. . . . Peggy Ann Garner and Monty Woolley will have the top roles in "The Enchanted Voyage," a dramatization of the Robert Nathan novel which Walter Morosco will produce for 20th Century-Fox. . . . Lillian Fontaine, the mother of Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, will make her screen debut in Paramount's "The Lost Weekend." riON PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 4. 1944 53