Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

This department deals with new product from the point off view of the exhibitor who ii to purvey it to hii own public. 'A Tree Crows in Brooklyn ^Qth Century-Fox — Survival of a Family I The most popular first novel since "Gone with the Wind" has been adapted for the [Screen while the story and characters are still fresh in the minds of a tremendous read fng audience. Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" has been filmed with sensitivity preserving enough of the spirit of the book to satisfy its admirers and presenting a storv jwhich depends in no way on a knowledge of the book for complete enjoyment I It is not necessary, either, to have known Iprooklyn of several decades ago, for the set Ipng is any city where children grow up on .:rowded streets knowing the buying power of a penny, while men and women spend their junnny youth and dreams in the daily struegle for Francie .survival. " ' But the forceful screenplay written by Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis is generally neither hntimental nor depressing. Its drama is in the intimate relationships of people, of husband ■jand wife, mother and daughter, which exist on any ■locial level at all times and places. And the acting of Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn and Peggy \nn Garner so often touches living truth that the :onventional story patterns of hero and heroine, omance and melodrama, will not be missed by lany. The theme might be stated as the triumph of the luman spirit over misunderstanding, weakness, loverty and death, handled with sympathy and fre"jquent touches of humor. Katie Nolan, watching her youthful hopes fade, fiardens herself against the charming dreamer gne married, who cannot provide for their two phildren. Her husband drinks to forget his failure )Bnd tries to impart some of his love of beauty to iknsitive, 12-year-old Francie. It is he who ig(hores the zoning laws and has her transferred to f. new school in a better neighborhood, and it is |to him that she confides her ambition to become a writer. I His death leaves Katie alone with her problems, and unable to establish any intimacy with her daughter. But the birth of a child, named "Annie |4^aurie" in memory of her singing father, brings them to an understanding of themselves and each I other. . These are not all the characters of the book or the film. There's Katie's sister, gaily played by Joan Blondell, who takes life and husbands as they come; McShayne, the policeman on the beat, who watches Katie admiringly and promises to take over some of the family burdens at the picture's lend, and young Neeley, who enjoys a childhood juntouched by the complexities that make life difficult for Francie. All are sharplv delineated characters woven into the fabric of the story un|der the skillful direction of Elia Kazan. Louis D. Mghton handled the difficult production job competently. I That the_ picture will make its greatest .ippeal to women is clear, for it is a storv of women's problems seen through the eyes of a woman. But it is above that a story of people, told at somelength, (fet absorbing all the wav. Seen in the home office projection room Reviewers Rating: Excellent.— E. A. Cunningham. Pr a'T^ m^.fi February, 1945. Running time, .128 min. r{^A Mo. 103J6. General audience classification KrNV^n-\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\V.\\\\\\\\----Te^Xa?dtn James Gleason, Ruth Nelson, John Alexander, B. S Fully" Venice Boros, J. Farrell MacDonald, Adeline De Walt Reynolds, George Melford, Mae Marsh, Edna Jacksoti? Objective, Burma Warner Bros.— The War in Burma This is a war picture in the full and complete meaning of the term, a precise and powerful presentation of the experiences of a company of American paratroopers dropped into the Burmese jungle to destroy a Jap radar station as a detail of preparation for the reconquest of the territory taken from General Stillwell. It is a man-sized undertaking, and the picture, employing an all-male cast deals with it candidly, slighting none of the ruggedness, the hazard and hardship which face fightin<^ men pitted against iungle and Jap with no quarter asked or given. There is death and bloodshed aplenty, ambush and escape, fortitude and sacrifice and there is heroism only of the quiet, line-of-duty kind, with no idle waving of flags or glorious speeches. The effect of the picture is as of footage shot by service photographers accompanying the rnission and, if 144 screen minutes of it is more than most audiences may care to experience it must be noted that the audience which witnessed the Hollywood preview took it with manifestly intense interest. Essentially a recording of a kind and way of war the film depends for its purelv commercial cxploitability on the names of Errof Flynn, William Prince, James Brown, George Tobias, Henry Hull. Warner Anderson, John Alvin and the others in a large and balanced cast. There are no women in it, and there is no romantic storv thread to sugerest a woman or women in the background of the_ lives of the men who share the dangers of their Jong return afoot from accomplishment of their jungle mission. Grimness, not alamor, is the kevnote of the entertainment, and the kevnote is maintained, with only brief bits of humorous dialogue for momentarv relief, from opeiiins to close Producer Jerrv Wald, director Raoul Walsh and =creennlaywriohts Ranald MacDougall and Lester Cole, working from an original storv by Alvah Bessie, concentrated throughout on the stern and unornamented realism of their subject matter and brought forth a film as rugged as its title promises. The story is as simple as the military order from which it springs. Flynn is placed in command of paratroopers assigned to destroy a jungle radar station. They do so, without casualty, but are prevented from escaping by plane as planned. Forced to "walk back" through ISO miles of jungle, they set out in two parties, one of which is wiped out. The other is re-directed to a hill top, where it is attacked by the enemy, some of the men dying, before being rescued by the air-borne troops of reinvasion. That is all there is to the story, but it is, in potent specimen, the whole brutal story of jungle warfare. Previewed at Warners' Hollywood theatre, Hollyivood, where a midzveek audience present to see "Hollywood Canteen," sat through the previewed production imth reaction as noted. Reviewer's Rating: Good. — William R. Weaver. Release date, February 17, 1945. Running time, 144 min. PCA No. 10098. General audience classification. Major Nelson Errol Flynn Lieut. Jacobs William Prince Gabby Gordon George Tobias Mark Williams Henry Hull Warner Anderson, John Alvin, Stephen Richards, Diclc Erdman, Tony Caruso, Hugh Beaumont, John Whitney, Joel Allen, Buddy Varus, Frank Tang, William Hudson, Rodric Red Wing, Asit Koomar, John Sheridan, Lester Matthews. Wildfl MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JANUARY 27. 1945 ower Clasa-Mohme — Mexican Tragedy The_ uprising of Mexican peons against the Porfirio Diaz government and the consequent wave of organized banditry forms the background of this new Mexican importation. Although the picture runs an hour and a half, which is shorter than the usual Mexican product, more compact directing and editing would have made the film still more entertaining. Dolores_ Del Rio, fresh and beautiful, relates retrospectively the story of her life, of her love for the son of an hacienda owner, the cruelties inflicted by a society believing in social inequalities, and finally the loss of her husband to a bandit's vengeance. Miss Del Rio acts with a skill and restraint which is in refreshing contrast to the usual Mexican tendency to overact. Emilio Fernandez has handled commendably the difficult directorial task of bringing out the personal tragedy of one family against the sweeping and chaotic background of a nation convulsed in rebellion. A touch of beauty is given the film by many flashes of landscape photography. Native songs by l.ucha Reyes and the Trio Calaveras are an additional attraction. Although there is an insufficiency of English sub-titles, the graphic action is easily intelligible to one lackin? a knowledge of the language. Seen at the Behnont theatre. Nezv York, where a predominantly Shnnish-spcakinff audience re.■iponded zi'armty. Revirzt'er's Rating: Good. — Mandel Herbstman. Release date, January 15. 1945. RuniiinR time. 90 min. General audience classification. Esperanza Dolores Del Rio lose Luis Castro Pedro Armendariz Emih'o Fernandez. Miguel Angel Ferriz, Chiocto, Mimi Dcrha. Edouardo Arozomona. 2289