Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS SHORT SUBJECTS RELEASE CHART BY COMPANIES SHORT SUBJECTS CHART THE RELEASE CHART This department deals with new product from the point of view of the exhibitor who is to purvey it to his own public. The Picture of Dorian Cray MGM — Problem Picture This is a problem picture in so many applications of the term that they may as well be taken up in the order of their appearance. The strictly commercial problem, which may be attacked without looking at the picture, is how to sell a top-budget production to a profitable number of ticket-buyers without top_-budget player names to sell with. George Sanders, whose name means more on a marquee than any of the others, is cast in a secondary part, and Hurd Hatfield, who plays the title role, has appeared in but one other film (he was a Chinese youth in "Dragon Seed"). To complicate the exploitation problem additionally, the name of Oscar Wilde, from whose book the film was made, is not precisely a household word in the average American home, but may be a name to influence parents who do know his works toward keeping the children away from the theatre that's showing one of them. And it's by no stretch of judgment a picture for children anyway. A second problem, stemming only in part from the first, concerns the suitability of the picture for the various kinds of audiences and communities. The film is a finely, artistically and cunningly wrought study of the effects of the utter excesses of evil indulgence upon an individual, with no penalty but accidental death exacted of the evil-doer by way of indicating that he shouldn't have done what he did, and with no evidence to show that his dissipation follows any of the staple lanes of sinning (it's emphasized that he doesn't go for wine or women, although he does have a fondness for song) generally known about and recognized as acceptable for dramatic presentation. The corn belt and the deep South are areas, to name two that suggest themselves at once, where the customers could be expected to look up the theatre manager and ask him what, besides murder, the picture they'd just seen was all about — and to complain on behalf of their families if he told them. In sheer synopsis, which doesn't convey the import of the picture, Wilde's fiction is a whimsy about a London dandy (1886) who learns he can retain his youth (22) throughout life, unchanged and unblemished by time or by anything he does, while a portrait a friend has made of him undergoes the aging and changing which would affect him under normal conditions. He seduces a girl, to music, and she commits suicide. He murders a man and gets away with it (this item of "perfect crime" is tucked inconspicuously into a script preoccupied with other matters). Finally the portrait becomes so horrible to look at that he attempts to destroy it and is destroyed in the attempt, taking on the horrendous appearance of the portrait as the latter reverts to its original state. As fabricated with extraordinary craftsmanship by director-writer Albert Lewin for producer Pandro S. Berman, the picture exerts the fascination of the unfamiliar ingredients in the Wilde book without showing them explicitly — but emphasizing them tremendously by an accentuation of omissions— and contains some excellent acting. It also seeks to stimulate imagination by inciting inquiry and failing to provide answers — as when a character under unexplained enslavement to the murderer is compelled by threat of unexplained, but dire, consequence to dispose of the dead man's body, MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 3, 1945 and as when the debonair hero makes his way fastidiously past available wine and women into shunned recesses of degradation to debauch himself in punctiliously unexplained manner. Unconcealed from the plain public unversed in the ways of Wilde are such dialogue speeches as, "The charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties" and, "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it," these and more in the same vein being uttered with complete sincerity and considerable charm by a character (played by Sanders) who is never shown to change his views or pay off for propagating them. Problem picture is the word for "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Previewed at the studio. Reviewer's Rating: ? — William R. Weaver. Release date, not set. Running time, 111 min. PCA No. 10351. Adult audience classification. Lord Wotton George Sanders Dorian Gray Hurd Hatfield Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Lowell Gilmore, Richard Fraser, Douglas Walton, Morton Lowry, Miles Mander, Lydia Bilbrook, Mary Forbes, Robert Creig, Moyna Macgill, Billy Bevan, Renie Carson, Lillian Bond, Devi Dja. It's a Pleasure RKO Radio-International — Sonja Henie in Technicolor Always a creature of glamour when demonstrating the effortless virtuosity of her skating skill, Sonja Henie is more than ever that as seen here for the first time through the loving lens of a Technicolor camera. All that color commonly does for a personable performer it seems to do doubly for this blandly miraculous mistress of an icy art, imparting to her presence a warmth that gives her new and more intimate appeal. The skating sequences in which she displays her principal talent are similarly enhanced by the color camera, and there are enough of them to satisfy the most ardent of the star's admirers. It's easily Miss Henie's top picture. In addition to the production numbers in which Miss Henie displays her artistry against magnificent backgrounds and in excellent company, producer David Lewis provides similarly fascinating sequences presenting hockey matches, and an extra one, so to speak, in which Miss Henie dances instead of skating. The production numbers are, of course, the principal content of the picture, which is what Henie fans expect. In evident endeavor to strengthen the star's appeal by giving her a more mature story than most she's had, Elliot Paul and Lynn Starling constructed a script concerning a hockey star addicted to strong drink at the wrong times, and an ice-show promoter with a heart of gold and a wife who goes all-out for the hockey star both before and after he becomes married to the heroine. This is no great shakes as a story, in itself, and can be taken or let alone by the customers who come in to see Miss Henie do her stuff. They aren't required to get engrossed in the narrative to like the spectacle which is, in the main, the attraction. Michael O'Shea, Bill Johnson and Marie McDonald do all right by the roles indicated above, although it doesn't much matter. Don Loper is down as associate producer and also appears in the dancing sequence as Miss Henie's partner. William A. Seiter directed. Previewed at the studio. Reviewer's Rating: Good.—W. R. W. Release date, not set. Running time, 90 min. PCA No. 10523. General audience classification. Chris Linden Sonja Henie Don Martin Michael O'Shea Bill Johnson, Gus Schilling, Iris Adrian, Cheryl Walker, Peggy O'Neill, Arthur Loft, Marie McDonald. Hotel Berlin Warner Bros.. — Inside Germany, 1945 Since the German capital is certain to be in the news as long as this film is playing out its run, exhibitors can count on a highly exploitable title on another timely drama from Warner Bros. The cast contains many attractive names, including Helmut Dantine, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre and Faye Emerson, who recently became Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt. And the story, from a novel by Vicki Baum, offers a combination of plots and subplots, action and talk, which hold interest throughout although they do not avoid confusion. Louis Edelman and Peter Godfrey, who produced and directed, establish their theme at the start — the crumbling of the once solid Nazi machine in the face of defeat. Within a bomb-scarred but still luxurious hotel in Berlin, Gestapo officials, army officers and a handful of Underground workers make their plans for survival. The central story is that of a young doctor who has escaped from internment to join the Underground forces and is cornered in the hotel. He falls in love with an actress, friendly to the Nazis, who shields him for a time but tries to betray him when she is in danger. He kills her. Other characters and stories are sketched around this. Some are brief and have elements of humor, like the case of the former clerk who has been investing his loot abroad but is found out in time to finance the submarine mission. Others, like the old-line Nazi officer, who acts on his belief that generals and not corporals should rule Germany and is found out, and the hotel hostess who is motivated by her love for a Jew and her need for a pair of shoes, are treated more fully. The screenplay by Jo Pagano and Alvah Bessie permits each of them to voice some of the popular sentiments about the German people. The doctor, who has been pounded into submission at Dachau, says the only good Germans are dead Germans, but he belies it by his own loyalty to the Underground. The general who insists that Germany can survive only by its armed might is forced to commit suicide. The words of President Roosevelt, expressing his faith in the potential good of all people and his belief that Germans may earn their way back into the family of nations are presented at the close, presumably to express the intent of the film. They have, unfortunately, little bearing on the events portrayed. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating: Good. — E. A. Cunningham. Release date, March 17, 1945. Running time, 98 min. PCA No. 10643. General audience classification. Martin Richter Helmut Dantine Lisa Dorn Andrea King Arnim Von Dahnwit Raymond Massey Tillie Weiler Faye Emerson Peter Lorre, Alan Hale, George Coulouris, Henry Daniell, Peter Whitney, Helen Thimig, Steven Geray. 2337