Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

HE HOLLY WOOn SCENE. )MPLETED |LUMBIA Love a Mystery fe Wandering Daughters bmen's Army ONOGRAM Ifin Dillinger ;6co Kid Comes flThrough \g Island !o RADIO irzan and the iAxnazons (Lesser) REPUBLIC Phantom Speaks UNIVERSAL Frisco Sal She Gets Her Man WARNERS God Is My Co-Pilot STARTED COLUMBIA Thousand and One Nights Untitled "Crime Doctor" MGM Weekend at the Waldorf PARAMOUNT Alake Way for Kelly The Virginian Scared Stiff (PineThomas) RKO RADIO Invisible Army REPUBLIC Three's a Crowd UNIVERSAL It's Never Too Late Romance, Inc. SHOOTING COLUMBIA Leave It to Blondie One Against Seven MGM Without Love Our Vines Have Tender Grapes Hold High the Torch Son of Lassie Valley of Decision PARAMOUNT Lost Weekend Love Letters Affairs of Susan Duffy's Tavern PRC Crime, Inc. RKO RADIO Body Snatcher Enchanted Cottage Wonder Man (Gold wyn) REPUBLIC Jealousy Swingin' on a Rainbow (formerly "Moonlight and Roses") Earl Carroll Vanities 20TH CENTURY-FOX Bell for Adano Molly, Bless Her Circumstantial Evidence Royal Scandal Where Do We Go from Here? Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe UNITED ARTISTS Walk in the Sun (Bronston) Blood on the Sun (Cagney) UNIVERSAL Song of the Sarong Here Come the Co-Eds Salome — Where She Danced WARNERS Big Sleep Pillar to Post Nobody Lives Forever San Antonio 13 Features Now Shooting; Fwo Pictures Suspended Hollywood Bureau 'Production activity remained constant last Week, as 11 features were completed, and 10 hers reached the camera stage. Indications iive that work on RKO Radio's "Isle of the ead" and 20th Century-Fox's "Bon Voyage" ould not be resumed for some time to come, lese titles, therefore, have been dropped from e accompanying production chart. The total imber of features in work as of the weekend as 43. MGM launched "Weekend at the Waldorf," spy story whose setting is the famed New prk hostelry. Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, falter Pidgeon and Ban Johnson head the I St; Robert Z. Leonard is directing, Arthur f ornblow producing. \ At Paramount, work started on two new feaires. The first is "The Virginian," a film krsion of the Owen Wister classic of the west, 'tiel McCrea, Brian Donlevy and Sonny Tufts '1e in the cast, and for feminine interest there |-e Barbara Britton, Fay Bainter and Nona Tifl5th. Paul Jones produces, Stuart Gilmore rects. The second Paramount venture is "Scared tiff," a Pine-Thomas production starring Jack aley and Ann Savage. Veda Ann Borg, Gger Pryor, Barton MacLane and Victor .ilian also are in the cast. Frank McDonald the director. WO Start at Columbia; ne Baghdad Fantasy Columbia also had two entries. "A Thou! md and One Nights" is described by the stu: -0 as a fantasy of old Baghdad, with modern .^ertones. Cornel Wilde, Evelyn Keyes, Adele ;rgens, Phil Silvers and Dusty Anderson are T.ong the players. Alfred E. Green is directig for Sam Bischoff, producer. Another in Darmour Productions' "Crime 'octor" series is also under way at Columbia, o title has yet been chosen for the feature, hich Rudolph C. Flothow is producing and eorge Sherman directing. Among the players re Warner Baxter, Stephen Crane, Military rooke, Dennis Moore, Jerome Cowan and nory Parnell. P RKO Radio's new venture of the week is 3«OTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 18, 1944 I "The Invisible Army," with Robert Fellows producing and Edward Dmytryk directing. It's a story of the liberation of the Philippines with John Wayne, Philip Ahn, Richard Loo, Abner Biberman and others. Monogram trained cameras on "Make W^ay for Kelly," a melodrama presenting Jackie Moran, Sidney Miller, Wanda McKay and Jan Wiley. William Strohbach is the supervisor ; Phil Karlstein the director. Republic launched a comedy called "Three's a Crowd," with Gertrude Michael, Charles Gordon, Pamela Blake, Virginia Brissac and John Eldredge in the cast. Walter Croetz is the associate producer, and Lesley Selander directs. Universal started two : "It's Never Too Late" and "Romance, Inc." The former has Bonita Granville, Noah Beery, Jr., Irene Ryan and Sarah Selby, with Charles Barton as associate producer-director. The latter has Allan Jones, Grace McDonald, Vivian Austin and Raymond Walburn. Reginald LeBorg is the director. Story Purchases Of the Week Paramount has purchased "Feature for June," an unproduced play by Graeme Lorimer and Eileen Tighe. It has been in the hands of George Abbott for Broadway production, but Paramount's deal means that it will reach the public first as a motion picture. . . . Booth Tarkington's new novel, "Josephine," has been purchased by MGM, and will be produced by Leon Gordon. . . . Columbia has acquired the screen rights to Joe Eisinger's mystery novel, "The Walls Came Tumbling Down." Sam Bischoff has been assigned to produce. Personnel Intelligence About Hollywood Lieutenant-Commander Robert Montgomery, now on inactive duty, will return in a starring role in "They Were Expendable," MGM's version of the book by W. L. White. John Ford, another veteran of the Pacific campaign, will direct the picture. . . . Alfred Hitchcock has signed a new contract with Vanguard Films, according to the terms of which the producerdirector will make one Selznick International picture a year for five years. . . . Jane Russell, whose sole appearance so far has been in How ard Hughes' production, "The Outlaw," has been borrowed by Hunt Stromberg to star in a film based on the novel, "Young Widow," by Clarissa Fairchild Cushman. . . . The PRC producing unit consisting of Bernard Roth, Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse is at work on a comedy titled "Out on a Limb," to star Freddy Batholomew and Jimmy Lydon. Lou Smith, former studio publicity director for Columbia and Universal and eastern publicity head for MGM in New York, has become a partner in Margaret Ettinger's publicity organization in Hollywood. . . . Edwin L. Marin has been signed by RKO Radio to a deal for two pictures a year. His first assignment under the new pact will be to direct "Johnny Angel," which stars George Raft. . . . MGM has signed Ilona Massey to a long term contract. Her first role under the new deal will be the lead in "Holiday in Mexico." Pivar Developing New Horror Characters Ben Pivar, Universal production executive, has been named by that studio to create and develop a new series of horror characters. The first of these is "The Creeper," who will be introduced to the public in a film tentatively titled "The House of Horrors." . . . Monogram has signed Lambert Hillyer to direct "Stranger from Santa Fe," the next Johnny Mack Brown starring vehicle. . . . William Wilder, who recently completed "The Great Flamarion" for Republic release, has left for New York on a business trip. . . . Henry Daniel will play opposite Phyllis Thaxter in MGM's "Alter Ego." Claire Trevor has been assigned a co-starring role with George Raft and Signe Hasso in RKO Radio's forthcoining adventure film, "Johnny Angel." . . . June Allyson, one of the winners of the Motion Picture Herald's "Stars of Tomorrow" poll, was voted the outstanding new screen personality of 1944" in a reader poll conducted by a leading fan magazine. . . . Freddie Steele, former middleweight champion, has signed for a leading role in Lester Cowan's production, "G. I. Joe." . . . Errol Flynn will have eight leading women in Warners' "The Adventures of Don Juan." . . . Lumsden Hare has been added to the cast of the Hal Wallis production, "The Love Letters," now shooting at Paramount. . . . Robert Hutton has arrived to prepare for his role in "Janie Gets Married," which Alex Gottlieb will produce on the Warner lot. . . . Herbert Kline, who directed the W. R. Frank production, "A Boy, a Girl and a Dog," is planning to produce the Lewis E. Browne novel, "See What I Mean." 41