Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

The Topeka Terror Republic — Western Allan Lane is the star of this smooth Western drama, the plot of which is credible and the cast competent. Teamed with him are Linda Stirling, Earle Hodgins, Twinkle Watts, Tom London and others, while opposing is a menacing trio consisting of Roy Barcroft, Bud Geary and Frank Jaquet, all old hands at villainy. The screenplay by Patricia Harper and Norman Hall, based on a story by Miss Harper, had its foundations in the facts of American history. It is laid in Oklahoma Territory at the time of the land rush, and its participants are, homesteaders hoping to settle in the west. By the falsification of Government records, the villains contrive to lay claim to the best land, leaving the settlers to shift for themselves. Lane, as a Government investigator, comes to the aid of the dispossessed. After a good deal of gunplay, he forces a confession from one of the trio and thereby convicts the others. Stephen Auer was the associate producer, and Howard Bretherton directed. Seen at Hollywood's Hitching Post theatre, where a matinee audience manifested approval. Reviezver's Rating : Good. — Thalia Bell. Release date, not set. Running time, 55 min. PCA No. 10509. General audience classification. Chad Stevens ..Allan Lane June Hardy Linda Stirling Earle Hodgins, Twinkle Watts, Roy Barcroft. Bud Geary, Tom London. Frank Jaquet, Tack Kirk, Eve Novak, Bob Wilke, Hank Bell. Thoroughbreds Republic — Sport of Kings Much in the pattern of the recent film successes about horses. Republic has chosen the story of Sireson, an army cavalry horse, as its contribution to the equine category. With George Blair directing, the action is swift and entertaining ; the plot compact and varied. When the regiment becomes mechanized, Sireson is discharged from the service. At the same time, Tom Neal, the sergeant who rode the steed in the army, is returned to civilian life because of an injury. Lacking the necessary funds to buy the horse at a public auction, Neal does the next best thing. He acquires part interest in it, goes to work as its trainer and conditions it for the popular Brookside race. Complications develop when he encounters the proud and arrogant Adele Mara, whose wealthy father owns the horse. Further dramatic moments arise out of the activities of a trio of race track followers who have a prejudice against races being conducted honestly. The finale of the film sees Neal not only riding Sireson to a dramatic victory, but winning the girl, too. Horse enthusiasts will delight in scenes of the animals going through rigorous cavalry routines Rs well as the training involved in the conditioning of racetrack horses. Wellyn Totman wrote the screenplay, and Lester Sharpe was associate producer. .')een at the Fox theatre in Brooklyn, where an early evening atidience registered excitement. Reviewer's Rating : Average. — M, H. Release date. December 23, 1944. Running time, 55 min. PCA No. 10422, General audience classification. Rusty Curtis Tom Neal •■^ally Crandall Adele Mara Roger Pryor, Paul Harvey, Gene Garrick. Doodles Weaver, Eddie Hall, Tom London, Charles Sullivan, Alan Edwards, Sam Bernard, Buddy Gorman. The Jade Mask Monogram — Murder Mystery The object of Charlie Chan's latest sleuthing adventure is a murderer who uses a poison-tipped dart small enough to confuse the coroner as to the cause of death, yet swift and deadly enough to claim five victims before he is tracked down. Murders are not the only things that are abundant in George Callahan's fantastic but enjoyable original screenplay. As the Oriental criminologist goes about piecing together the jigsaw fragments of evidence, he echoes sage utterances in tireless profusion, most of which fall pleasantly on the ear. Motive of the multitple murders is a desire to get a scientific formula for making wood as durable as steel. Charlie Chan, again played by Sidney Toler, moves through the drama with poise and deliberation, overcoming such obstacles as the directorial hand of Phil Rosen has placed in his path — secret panels, doors that open and close at the soimd of a mysterious password, gas-filled chambers, etc. Additional encumbrance comes from the assistance of his enthusiastically blundering No, 4 son. Laughs are derived from many sources, but mostly from Mantan Moreland, whose big eyes often dance rumbas of fear, as the chaufTeur, James S. Burkett produced. Seen at the Strand theatre in Brooklyn, where an afternoon audience was impassive. Reviewer" s Rating: Fair. — M. H. Release date, January 26, 1945. Running time, 66 min PCA No. 10467, General audience classification. Charlie Chan Sidney Toler Birmingham Mantan Moreland Edwin Luke, Janet Warren, Edith Evanson, Alan Bridge, Ralph Lewis, Frank Reicher, Hardie Albright, Cyril De Levanti, Dorothy Granger, Tack Ingram, Lester Dorr, Henry Hall, Tahiti Nights Columbia — South Sea Satire The Vagabonds provide occasional diverting moments in Sam White's production, and both Jinx Falkenburg and Dave O'Brien are given ample opportunity to display their considerable physical charms in a state of semi-nudity. Some tuneful songs enliven the proceedings, but suggestive dancing might better have been eliminated. The 'screenplay is by Lillie Hayward, and any resemblance between it and reality is purely coincidental. It is laid on a tropic isle whose natives speak in a wide variety of dialects and have the strange grammatical habit, moreover, of using the Biblical forms "thee" and "thou" interchangeably with "you," all in the same sentence. There's a Polynesian prince — and Dave O'Brien never manages to look very Polynesian — who has been betrothed since bovhood to the daughter of a neighborhood chief. He has never seen the girl and so, when he meets and falls in love with a beautiful stranger, he does not realize that she is really his fiancee. The truth dawns upon him, fortunately, in the last reel and everybody may be presumed to live happily ever after. Harry Owens wrote the music and lyrics of three of the songs. Will Jason directed. Reviewed at the Pontages theatre, Hollywood, where an audience which had come to see "The Woman in the Windnzv" received the secondary offering in silence. Reviewer's Ratina: Fair. — T. B. Release date, Dec. 28, 1944. Running time, 63 min. PCA No, 10531. General audience classification, Luana Jinx Falkenburg Jack Dave O'Brien Mary Treen, Florence Bates, Cv Kendall, Eddie Bruce, Pedro de Cordoba, Hilo Hattie, Carole Mathews. Madonna of the SevenMoons Gainsborough -Eagle-Lion — Melodrannatic Schizophrenia A phenomenon familiar to practitioners of forensic medicine and the more elegant psychiatrists— they call it schizophrenia ; otherwise split personality — is here elevated to the status of melodrama. The trouble is that you just don't believe it; mainly, it is to be surmised,, because the makers of the piece have approached it with such inordinate awe, forgetting that you only get away with incredible melodrama in a spirit of rich gusto. Locale of the story is the sunny, fabulous, Florence of the pre-war vears. Ataddalena is a good mother and a devout Catholic. But. so we are told, she had had a horrible experience when she was a girl in a convent. Inhibitions and dark fears haunt her constantly. Ultimately she disappears from her serenely quiet home ; turns up later as the mistress of the leader of a gang of vicious thugs. There is murder and music, all the generally recognized trappings of reputedly romantic melt drama. But producer R. J. Minney and director Artht; Crabtree — it's their first eflfort together — are goin to do better than this. There are no two wore about the sincerity and earnestness with which the have treated the slightly doubtful theme. Alsi praise is due them for their attempt to escape tlj hackneyed mode of the everyday film story. Phyi lis Calvert turns in a workmanlike job as tit "split personality" woman, but chief honors go t;' the young and lovely Patricia Roc as Maddalena daughter. Stewart Granger contrives to invest tl] character of Thug Number One with a quite r^ niarkable gentility. Persons of critical standard may look upon th whole endeavor as a slightly phoney adventuri They simply won't be convinced of the odd happefl ings. But the picture will have an undoubted at! peal to masses of women in Britain's industrij towns, as was clearly evidenced by its reception d the opening night. | K similar fate will meet it in .'\merica ; alwaji supposing it rates a PCA seal. Seen at the opening at the Gaumont theatri London. Revieiver' s Rating : Fair. — Peter Bui NUP. Release date, not set. Running time, 100 min, Adu audience classification (British), Madonna (Maddalena and Rosanna) Phyllis Calve! Nino Stewart GrangJ Angela Patricia R( Peter Glenville, John Stuart, Reginald Tate, Nancy Pric! .lean Kent, Amy Veness, Peter Murray-Hill, Dulcie Grai .■\l.in Haines, Hilda Bayley, Evelyn Darvell. i SHORT SUBJECTS PLEDGE TO BATAAN (WB) Technicolor Special (1003) The story of the Philippines, inspiring in it heroism and as an object lesson in democratic go-y crnment, is reviewed in this 20-minute subject i color. Dedicated to the late president of the Is lands, Manuel Quezon, the film combines historic^ scenes, past and current, with a camera survey c the lands and people before Japanese occupatior General MacArthur's arrival in Philippine terrj tory last autumn makes a stirring climax. Release date. February 17, 1945 20 minute^ THE SCREWY TRUANT (MGM) Technicolor Cartoon (W-543) j The squirrel is playing hookey when the truaii cifficer almost catches up with him. But the slow moving and slow-thinking bloodhound is no mato for him. The chase is interrupted for a few mij^ utes with Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, an the squirrel is finally cornered. With complet nonchalance he removes himself from the pictur and then there's the question of whether this end the picture or not. Release date. January 13, 1945 7 minute REPORT ON ITALY (20th-Fox) i March of Time "Report on Italy," the latest March of Tim release, pictorializes current happenings in Ital' in an interesting and thought-provoking manner The subject will assist audiences in reaching ■ clearer understanding of Italian problems. ' This film has a lively commentary, intersperse with the emotional comments of an Italian womaj rendered in broken English. Scenes are shown (] the mob action in the case of Carretta, the jailei and Caruso, the police chief, including shots whicl it is claimed, are shown for the first time, Thes are the men who were charged with the responsi bility of turning over to the Nazis three liundre innocent Italians, who were murdered. The short registers the fact that onnosing politi cal factions are striving to control Italy, and tha the nation itself does not know which way to tiir but is searching for a peaceful and constructiv wav of life. Despite evidence of poverty, hunge and destruction, the film closes with the hope of brighter outlook for future Italian generations art for Italy.— M. R. Y. ! Release date, January 26, 1945 17 minute 2290 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, JANUARY 27, 194