Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1944)

ADVANCE SYNOPSES and information DANGEROUS PASSAGE (Paramount) PRODUCERS: William Pine, WilUam Thomas. DIRECTOR: William Berke. PLAYERS: Robert Lowery, Phyllis Brooks, Jack LaRue. ACTION DRAMA. A young couple meet in a night-club in a South American seaport, and decide to join forces to try to get back to the United States. If they succeed, it will mean an inheritance for the man, and a new and happier life for the girl. They board a tramp steamer bound for Galveston, and after many adventures, including a murder and a deliberately wrecked ship, they arrive home safely. TAHITI NIGHTS (Columbia) PRODUCER: Sam White. DIRECTOR: Wm Jason. PLAYERS: Jinx Falkenburg. Dave O'Brien, Mary Treen, Carole Mathews, Eddie Bruce, Four Vagabonds. COMEDY WITH MUSIC. A bandleader who is the son of a Maori princess decides to take his band back to his native island. There he discovers that his mother has betrothed him to a girl he has never seen. He meets her, but is unaware of her identity, and she of his. They fall in love and try to avoid the projected marriage until finally the misapprehension is cleared up, and the two wed. HIS BROTHER'S GHOST (PRC Pictures) PRODUCER: Sigmund Neufeld. DIRECTOR: Sam Newfield. PLAYERS: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Charlie King, Ray Brent, Frank McCarroll, Dick Alexander, Bud Osborne, Bob Gason. WESTERN. A group of land-grabbers attack sharecroppers on farms of the old West and attempt to drive them from their homes. Two cowboys come to the rescue and by trickery expose the villains. When peace is restored, one of the cowboys is elected sheriff of the district, thereby guaranteeing an era of law and order. MAIN STREET AFTER DARK (M-G-M) PRODUCER: Jerry Bresler. DIRECTOR: Edward Cahn. PLAYERS: Edward Arnold, Selena Royle, Hume Cronyn, Audrey Totter. MELODRAMA. Edward Arnold is cast as a detective lieutenant who has been assigned to investigate the robbing of service men by B -girls. He puts a special powder on wallets which he gives to service men, with instructions that they proceed to their usual haunts. When the men are robbed, the powder can be detected on the girls' hands. Using this method, Arnold not only cleans up the community, but tracks down a murderer as well. DANCING IN MANHATTAN (Columbia) PRODUCER: Wallace MacDonald. DIRECTOR: Henry Levin. PLAYERS: Fred Brady, Jeff Donnell, William Wright, Ann Savage. COMEDY DRAMA. A confidence man and woman have been blackmailing a wealthy man. He informs the police, who tell him to mark the money, and give it to the crooks as directed. When the crooks recognize police officers in the crowd, they hide the money in a bowl of salad. Later the garbage collector finds it and proceeds to spend much of it. His actions cause him to be suspected by the police as well as the crooks, and after he is almost killed by the crooks, the police step in and recover the money. 2186 THE WHISPERING SKULL (PRC Pictures) PRODUCERS: Max Alexander and Alfred Stern. DIRECTOR: Elmer Clifton. PLAYERS: Tex Ritter, Dave O'Brien, Guy Wilkerson, Denny Burke. 'WESTERN. A night-rider calling himself "The Whispering Skull" has been terrorizing the neighboring ranchers. The local sheriff is murdered and, in order to find the murderer, one of the cowboys assumes the disguise of the "Skull." After many adventures, he tracks down the murderer and brings him to justice. FIREBRANDS OF ARIZONA (Republic) PRODUCER: Lou Gray. DIRECTOR: Lesley Selander. PLAYERS: Smiley Burnette, Sunset Carson, Peggy Stewart. WESTERN. Smiley plays a hypochondriac cowboy who, with his friend Sunset, is employed on the Circle C ranch. A desperado who is a dead ringer for Smiley sets in motion a train of events which brings the cowboy perilously close to a hanging. At the last minute Sunset outwits and traps the impostor. GUN SMOKE [Monogram) SUPERVISOR: Charles J. Bigelow. DIRECTOR: Howard Bretherton. PLAYERS: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Jennifer Holt. Frank Ellis. WESTERN. An archeologist, having discovered valuable gold Indian relics in a sparsely populated part of the old west, tries to get them safely to a museum, but is attacked and robbed by bandits. Two cowboys come to his rescue, trap the bandits, and restore the relics to their rightful owner. NOTHING BUT TROUBLE (M-G-M) PRODUCER: B. F. Zeldman. DIRECTOR: Sam Taylor. PLAYERS: Laurel and Hardy, Mary Boland, Henry O'Neill. COMEDY. Because of the womanpower shortage, the two comedians hire out as domestic help. They meet a king who is travelling incognito, and become involved with him in a number of comedy situations. ROGUES' GALLERY (PRC Pictures) PRODUCER: Donald McKean. DIRECTOR: Albert Herman. PLAYERS: Frank Jenks, Robin Raymond, Ray Walker, Jack LaRue. M YSTERY DRAMA. A young newspaper man and woman are sent by their paper to get a story on the invention of a new listening device. Their assignment involves them in three murders. Many complications ensue before the police, aided by the newspaper couple, are able to track down the criminals. STRANGE ILLUSION (PRC Pictures) PRODUCER: Leon Fromkess. DIRECTOR: Edgar Ulmer. PLAYERS: Jimmy Lydon, Sally Eilers, Warren William, Regis Toomey. MELODRAMA. A boy whose father has been murdered dreams that he knows the murderer and some of the circumstances of the killing. When he awakens much of the dream fades, but the slender memory of it that is left leads him along paths of inquiry which result in discovery that a man, now a suitor for his mother's hand, is the man who killed his father. NAVAJO TRAILS [Monogram) SUPERVISOR: Charles J. Bigelow. DIRECTOR: Howard Bretherton. PLAYERS: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Jennifer Holt. WESTERN. A band of cattle rustlers is causing commotion among the settlers of the old West. Two cowboys arrive in the territory and soon expose the leader of the rustlers. He and his band are eventually captured. OATH OF VENGEANCE (PRC Pictures) PRODUCER: Sigmund Neufeld. DIRECTOR: Sam Newfield. PLAYERS: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Mady Lawrence, Karl Hackett, Marin Sais, Jack Ingram, Charlie King, Kermit Ma)aiard, Frank Ellis. WESTERN DRAMA. Fuzzy invests all his money in a small ranch while Bob sells his ranch and buys a small store. Soon they become involved m a range war caused by rustlers. A rancher is murdered and suspicion thrown on an innocent man, but the two cowobys apprehend the killers. THE THREE CABALLEROS (Disney RKO Radio) PRODUCER: Walt Disney. PLAYERS: Donald Duck, Jose Carioca, Panchito, Aurora Miranda, Dora Luz, Carmen Molina. LIVE ACTION-ANIMATION FEATURE. As a gift on his 13th birthday, Donald Duck receives a roll of film depicting life in Latin America, with particular emphasis on the rare birds to be found south of the border. Upon seeing the film projected, Donald decides to go to South America and explore its wonders at first hand. THE OLD TEXAS TRAIL (Universal) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Oliver Drake. DIRECTOR: Lewis Collins. PLAYERS: Rod Cameron, Fuzzy Knight, Ray Whitley and his Bar-6 Cowboj^. WESTERN. Rod Cameron and Fuzzy Knight help a young woman get her stagecoach line through Texas before the option rights expire. Numerous obstacles are placed in their path by the villains, but the latter are exposed by the cowboys. GENTLE ANNIE* (M-G-M) PRODUCER: Robert Sisk. DIRECTOR: Andrew Marton. PLAYERS: James Craig, Donna Reed, Marjorie Main, Barton MacLane. WESTERN DRAMA. A pioneer woman, living in the Oklahoma territory in 1900, has two sons who are train-robbers. A U. S. marshal is sent to trap the boys. Concealing his identity, he worms his way into the family confidence and thus is able to expose the criminals and bring them to justice. SHE'S A SV/EETHEART (Columbia) PRODUCER: Ted Richmond. DIRECTOR: Del Lord. PLAYERS: Jane Darwell, Larry Parks, Jane Frazee, Ross Hunter, Loren Tindall, Carole Mathews, Jimmy Lloyd. ROMANTIC DRAMA. A serviceman wanders into a canteen and falls in love with a singer. Later he learns she has given pictures of herself to numerous other servicemen, which causes him to doubt her love for him. They are reunited through the good offices of the girl's mother, after the soldier has been wounded overseas. PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, NOVEMBER 18, 1944