Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

ADVANCE SYNOPSES and information CROSS MY HEART (Paramount) PRODUCER: Harry Tugend. DIRECTOR: John Barry. PLAYERS: Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, Ruth Donnelly. COMEDY-DRAMA. A chorus girl who is a habitual liar confesses to the murder of the proI ducer of the show in which she is working. She does this so that the man she loves, a criminal lawyer, will be able to make a reputation by defending her in court. He does so, and the girl is acquitted. When he discovers, however, that the girl's confession was a lie, he is so incensed that he quarrels with her. The two are reconciled after die girl has uncovered the real murderer. MAIN STREET GIRL (Monogram) i PRODUCER: Joe Kaufman. DIRECTOR: Christy Cabanne. PLAYERS: Doris Merrick, i Eddie Quillan, Wanda McKay, Constance Worth, Robert Lowrey, Isabel Jewell, Byron i Foulger, Maurice Murphy, Janet Shaw, Minerva i Urecal, Hella Crossley. MELODRAMA. A misguided young woman 1 leaves the shelter of her home to take a job as a chorus girl in a nightclub. There she meets a number of unscrupulous characters, with one of whom she falls in love. Their circumstances ; grow so desperate that eventually she kills him and he kills her. YOU CAN'T DO WITHOUT LOVE (Columbia) , PRODUCER: Ben Henry. DIRECTOR: Walter Forde. PLAYERS: Vera Lynn, Donald Stewart, Mary Clare, Frederick Leister, Phyllis Stanley, Cyril Smith, Richard Murdoch, Mavis Villiers, Peggy Anne, Jeanette Redgrave. MUSICAL COMEDY. This is a British import set in wartime London. Its heroine is an English service club hostess ambitious for a theatrical career. She meets a theatrical producer, the owner of a valuable painting, who avoids all her attempts to give an audition. Finally the thieves interested in the painting give her an opportunity to be of service and a charity concert offers the time and place for a successful debut. i I SENORITA FROM THE WEST (Universal) i ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Phil Cahn. DIi RECTOR: Frank Strayer. PLAYERS: Allan Jones, Bonita Granville, Jess Barker, Rene I McEvoy. COMEDY-DRAMA. An 18-year old orphan runs away from her guardians, three elderly pros, pectors, to seek a career in New York. She gets , a job as elevator operator in a building which , houses a broadcasting studio and there meets a i young man who is a famous singer. He hides his , identity from her for a time, but eventually it is \ revealed. Through his good offices, the girl gets . a job as a singer. She is successful and marries , tne young man. 1 MAN FROM OKLAHOMA , (Republic) ' PRODUCER: Lou Gray. DIRECTOR: Frank McDonald. PLAYERS: Roy Rogers, Dale | Evans, George "Gabby" Hayes, Sons of the Pioneers. WESTERN. The cowboy and his singing friends are attempting to get a radio job in New York, where the cowboy's girl has landed a job as a nightclub singer. They are all called home to Oklahoma by their families, and it devolops that oil has been discovered on the property of the girl's family, unknown to its owners. Unscrupulous characters attempt to obtatin the land, which is put up as a prize in a race, by foul means. Photographs reveal that the cowboy actually won the race, and he and the girl are married and live happily ever after. BEHIND CITY LIGHTS (Republic) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Joseph Bercholz. DIRECTOR: John English. PLAYERS: Lynne Roberts, William Terry, Esther Dale, Joan Cowan, Grant Withers, Tom London. COMEDY-DRAMA. A young unsophisticated farm girl is about to marry a neighboring farmer when a car is wrecked at her gate. She nurses the driver, a city fellow, back to health and falls in love with him. She goes to New York with him, only to discover that he is a notorious jewel-thief. She returns to the farm and the boy who loves her, a sadder but a wiser girl. RUSTLERS OF THE BADLANDS (Columbia) PRODUCER: Colbert Clark. DIRECTOR: Charles Vidor. PLAYERS: Charles Starrett, Sally Bliss, Tex Harding, Walter "Dub" Taylor, Ted Mapes, Edward Howard, Ray Bennett, Carl Sepulveda. WESTERN. Charles Starrett is a civilian scout attached to the U. S. Cavalry. He is assigned to investigate the murder of an Army lieutenant, and discovers that the crime was committed by a band of cattle rustlers who have been stealing cattle as they are being driven to Army posts for sale. Starrett and his friend Tex Harding bring the criminals to justice. EASY TO LOOK AT (Universal) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Henry Blankfort. DIRECTOR: Ford Beebe. PLAYERS: Gloria Jean, Kirby Grant, Eric Blore, George Dolenz, J. Edward Bromberg, Mildred Law. COMEDY-DRAMA. A girl with ambitions to be a designer lands a job in a dress shop. One of her designs is credited to the night watchman, who used to be a designer himself. He is promoted. The girl continues to make designs for which he gets credit, until she sells one to a rival shop. Accused of stealing the design, the girl runs away. Her boss, who has been falling in love with her, goes after her, establishes her innocence and brings her back. APOLOGY FOR MURDER (PRC) PRODUCER: Sigmund Neufeld. DIRECTOR: Sam Newfield. PLAYERS: Ann Savage, Hugh Beaumont, Charles D. Brown, Russell Hicks, Pierre Watkin, Bud Buster, Norman Willis, Archie Hall, Elizabeth Ballentine. MELODRAMA. A young woman, married to an elderly man, meets and falls in love with a newspaper reporter. The two plot to kill her husband, who is later found dead in his mountain lodge. Blame is attached to an innocent man, but the city editor for whom the _ reporter works becomes suspicious. His investigations trap the guilty pair. SPRINGTIME IN TEXAS (Monogram) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: William Strohbach. DIRECTOR: Oliver Drake. PLAYERS: Jimmy Wakely, Lee 'Lasses' White, Dennis Moore, Marie Harmon, Budd Buster, I. Stanford Jolley, Pearl Early. WESTERN. An unscrupulous mayor has gainer control of a small western town. Under his regime, all sorts of rackets are allowed to flourish. The town's better element appeals to Jimmy Wakely who, assisted by his cowboy friends, cleans out the crooks and sees to it that an honest man is elected mayor by honest methods. THE DANGEROUS INTRUDER (PRC Martin Mooney) PRODUCER: Martin Mooney. DIRECTOR: Vernon Keayg, PLAYERS: Charles Arnt, Veda Ann Borg, Richard Powers, Fay Helm. MELODRAMA. An unemployed actress, hitchhiking across the country, is injured by an automobile driven by a wealthy collector of antiques. He takes her into his home, where she meets his wife and step-daughter. Later, the wife is killed under mysterious circumstances. The actress turns detective, traps and exposes the killer, who turns out to be the antique-collector. ROAD TO ALCATRAZ (Republic) ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Sidney Picker. DIRECTOR: Nick Grinde. PLAYERS: Robert Lowery, June Storey, Grant Withers. MELODRAMA. A young attorney, who is happily married, is an habitual sleep-walker. His partner is murdered under circumstances which cause suspicion to fall upon the attorney. Both the attorney and his wife are haunted by the fear that he may have killed his partner while walking in his sleep. They join the police in the search for conclusive evidence, and uncover the real murderer after a long chase. CONGO PONGO (PRC) PRODUCER: Sigmund Neufeld. DIRECTOR: Sam Newfield. PLAYERS: Richard Fraser, Lionel Royce, Maris Wrixon, Egon Brecher, Jack Collins, Milton Kibbee. MELODRAMA. Two Scotland Yard men join a South African safari, in order to keep an eye on the party's guide whom they suspect of murder. Complications arise when the guide attempts to desert the party, which, in turn, is attacked by a huge white gorilla. Eventually the gorilla is killed, the murderer apprehended, and the party returns to civilization. HERE COMES TROUBLE (Monogram) PRODUCERS: Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. DIRECTOR: Mitchell Leisen. PLAYERS: Maxie Rosenbloom, Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard. COMEDY-DRAMA. A cabdriver is sent to prison when a diamond necklace is found in his cab. Among his friends are a prize-fighter, his manager and his trainer. The manager writes a fictionalized version of a finding of the necklace. Thereupon the real thieves, believing he knows the whereabouts of the necklace, attack him and his friends. The thieves are eventually trapped, sent to prison, and the innocent cabdriver released. 2418 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, APRIL 21, 1945