Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

turning to his Texas home after serving in World War II, hears his father tell how their ancestor, "Corpus Christi Jim," was forced into banditry because the government failed to provide for returning veterans of the War Between the States. The story is told in flashback, with Lane playing both the bomber pilot and the bandit. Eventually the bandit wins $25,000 in a card-game, reforms, and marries the girl he loves. DON JUAN QUILLIGAN (20th CenturyFox) PRODUCER: William LeBaron. DIRECTOR: Frank Tuttle. PLAYERS: William Bendix, Joan Blondell, Phil Silvers, Anne Revere, Mary Treen, B. S. Pully, John Russell, Roy Roberts, Rene Carson. COMEDY-DRAMA. The captain of a canal boat making the regular run between Brooklyn and Buffalo gets himself so involved with a girl in each town that he finds himself married to both of them. In a desperate attempt to get out of this situation, he only succeeds in complicating things still further and finds himself charged with his own murder. Eventually he proves his innocence and matters are straightened out. SING YOUR WAY HOME (RKO Radio) PRODUCER: Sid Rogell. DIRECTOR: Anthony Mann. PLAYERS: Jack Haley, Anne Jeffreys, Marcy McGuire, Glenn Vernon, Lawrence Tierney, George Holmes, Nancy Marlow, Patti Brill. COMEDY WITH MUSIC. A young girl, member of a troupe of entertainers returning from overseas, falls in love with the newspaper man in charge of the troupe. An erroneous addition is made to one of his cables, which gets his paper in trouble with the State Department. Eventually, the matter is cleared up and the girl and boy are wed ONE EXCITING NIGHT [Paramount Pine-Thomas) PRODUCERS: William Pine and William Thomas. DIRECTOR: William Thomas. PLAYERS: William Gargan, Ann Savage, Leo Gorcey, George Zucco, George E. Stone. COMEDY-MELODRAMA. Two rival reporters, a man and a woman, compete with each other, the police and a gang of racketeers in at attempt to locate the body of a murdered jewel thief. The body has been concealed in a waxworks museum. After numerous complications, the body is found and the murder solved. THE SCARLET CLUE (Monogram) PRODUCER: James S. Burkett. DIRECTOR: Phil Rosen. PLAYERS: Sidney Toler, Benson Fong, Mantan Moreland, Helen Devereaux. MYSTERY-DRAMA. The Chinese detective, Charlie Chan, is investigating a plot to steal radar plans from the Government. One of the suspects is murdered and, as Charlie acquires clues to the identity of the , plotters, others are murdered as well. Charlie's life is several times in danger, but eventually he traps the villains and escapes unscathed. STRANGER IN THE FAMILY (PRC) PRODUCERS: Martin Mooney, Al Herman. DIRECTOR: Al Herman. PLAYERS: J. Edward Bromberg, Frank Jenks, Eric Sinclair, Lorell Sheldon, Charles Coleman, Ed Waller, Ben Weldon, Isobel Randolph. MELODRAMA. Rival newspaper publishers, one of whom is a racketeer using his paper for blackmailing purposes, are involved in a feud. The blackmailer is killed, and his body is found in the other publisher's car. Eventually it is revealed that the blackmailer was killed by one of his own associates, and the body planted in the innocent man's car to divert suspicion. THE HARVEY GIRLS (MGM) PRODUCER: Arthur Freed. DIRECTOR: George Sidney. PLAYERS: Judy Garland, Ann Sothern, John Hodiak, Edward Arnold, Ray Bolger, Virginia O'Brien, Selena Royle, Marjorie Main, Mary Mullen. MUSICAL. This is the story ofthe Fred Harvey eating houses which were established along the route of the Santa Fe Railroad in the '90s. Most of the action takes place in New Mexico, and the principal actors portray members of the Harvey personnel. ROUGH RIDIN' JUSTICE (Columbia) PRODUCER: Jack Fier. DIRECTOR: Derwin Abrahams. PLAYERS: Charles Starrett, Jimmy Wakely, Miss B. J. Graham, Butch and Buddy, Jimmy Dean, Al Sloey. WESTERN. Charles Starrett rides into a western frontier town posing as a range rider seeking a job. He ties up with a band of rustlers, becomes one of their top men, and discovers the mysterious power behind the band is generated by one of the town's leading citizens. In a final expose, he captures the band and reveals its master-mind. THE PHANTOM SPEAKS (Republic) PRODUCER: Donald Brown. DIRECTOR: John English. PLAYERS: Richard Arlen, Lynn Roberts, Stanley Ridges, Ralf Harolde, Charlotte Wynters, Tom Powers. PSYCHOLOGICAL MELODRAMA. A professor interested in mental telepathy makes telepathic contact with the mind of a murderer recently electrocuted. The mind, seeking revenge on those responsible for his death, influences the professor to commit several murders. The professor's daughter and the newspaperman with whom she is m love try to save the professor from the evil influence, but are unable to do SO and eventually he kills himself. IN OLD NEW MEXICO (Monogram) DIRECTOR: Lambert Hillyer. PLAYERS: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Beatrice Gray, Jack Ingram, Ray Elder, Jimmy Martin, Lewis Hart, Bud Osborne. WESTERN. _ A U. S. Marshal is captured by a group of bandits and forced by them to cooperate in a stagecoach holdup. A price is put on his head. Aided by a faithful friend, he is able at last to collect sufficient evidence against the bandits to convict them. THE LADY CONFESSES (PRC — Alexander-Stern) PRODUCER: Alfred Stern. DIRECTOR: Sam Newfield. PLAYERS: Mary Beth Hughes, Hugh Beaumont, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald, Emmett Vogan, Edward Howard, Dewey Robinson, Carl Andrews, Ruth Brande, Barbara Slater, jack George, Jerome Root. MELODRAMA. On the eve of obtaining a divorce, a young wife disappears. She turns up years later just in time to prevent her husband from marrying again. The girl whom he had planned to marry is murdered. The wife gets a job as photographer in the night-club in order to find the killer. She discovers that her husband is the murderer, and he is killed while resisting officers who came to arrest him. YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (MGM) PRODUCER: Arthur Freed. DIRECTOR: Vincente Minnelli. PLAYERS: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, Leon Ames, Mildred Natwick, FANTASY. A naive South American girl is returning from her convent school to take over her| inheritance when she meets two confidence men| from the United States. Convinced that one of] them is her guardian angel, she entrusts him with ) a large sum of money. The money is temporarily r lost, but the man eventually recovers it, reforms, ( settles down and marries the girl. SCARED STIFF (Paramount-Pine-Thomas) PRODUCERS: William Pine and WiUiam Thomas. DIRECTOR: Frank McDonald. PLAYERS: Jack Haley, Ann Savage, Barton ', MacLane, Veda Ann Borg, Roger Pryor, Victor Kilian, Buddy Swan. COMEDY-MELODRAMA. The chess-editor of a small-town paper is sent to cover a festival ; in a winery. The girl he loves, who runs an antique shop, accompanies him. Through her he be ,; comes interested in the recovery of a valuable antique set of chess-men. The two are involved in a series of murders, but the editor solves them and recovers the chess-men. BEYOND THE PECOS (Universal) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Oliver Drake. DIRECTOR: Lambert Hillyer. PLAYERS: Rod Cameron, Eddie Dew, Fuzzy Knight, Jennifer Holt. WESTERN. The scions of two families of ranchers, the Remingtons and the Randalls, battle it out for the hand of the heroine, and the oil rights of certain properties. After a series of complications, the villain and his henchmen, who sought to obtain the properties illegally, are exposed. TWICE BLESSED (MGM) PRODUCER: Arthur Field. DIRECTOR: Harry Beaumont. PLAYERS: Lee and Lyn Wilde, James Craig, Gail Patrick, Jean Porter, James Lydon, Marshall Thompson, Arthur Walsh, Ethel Smith. COMEDY-DRAMA. Two girls, identical twins, are singers. One of them sings classical music; the other concentrates on jazz. Through a mixup, one of them is called to replace the other at a concert. Further complications result from the fact that two young men, suitors for the girls' hands, cannot tell the twins apart. Everything is disentangled at the end of the picture. ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES (Columbia) PRODUCER: Colbert Clark. DIRECTOR: Vernon Keays. PLAYERS: Mary Beth Hughes, Jay Kirby, Tim Ryan, Gladys Blake, Spade Cooley and his Band, Hoosier Hot Shots, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Cappa Barra Boys. WESTERN WITH MUSIC. Two girls, employed as singers in a cafe in a small western town, meet a young ranch owner and his cousin. When they are fired, the girls move out to the ranch. They meet a Broadway producer and invite him to the ranch for a rest. When he arrives, the girls put on a show which so impresses him \ha.t he takes the entire troupe to Broadway. YOU CAME ALONG (Paramount— Hal Wallis) PRODUCER: Hal Wallis. DIRECTOR: John Farrow. PLAYERS: Robert Cummings, Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore. POSTWAR DRAMA. A returned aviator is suffering from an incurable disease, and knows he has^ but a short time to live. He falls in love, but; hesitates to marry. The girl eventually persuades him to do so. The aviator dies, and the girl is left to face life alone. 2354 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, MARCH 10, 1945