Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS RELEASE CHART BT COMPANIES SHORT SUBJECTS CHART SERVICE DATA 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. ioughly Speaking arner— Life in These United States Rosalind Russell in fine fettle is the bright and juiding star of this paradoxically long yet swiftly hid story of one American woman's life in these •iPnited States from 1902 until after Pearl Harbor. I'he woman is Louise Randall Pierson, who lived le life and wrote it up in the book of the same ;tle, from which the picture is taken, and then (fent on to write the screenplay from which probeer Henry Blanke and director Michael Curtiz terived the production. The extent to which her Ife may have been typical is open to whatever juestioning her contemporaries or their juniors lect to venture — a circumstance likely to stimuite word-of-mouth publicity in behalf of the box ffice — but it was packed with excitement and was .ved during a half century of American history jiat furnishes its own powerful claim to the per'pnal interest of everybody now living within these orders.^ It's what may be termed, not only because it's long but because it contains so much of b many things, a whale of a lot of picture. ,;_The central character, portrayed by Cora Sue 'follins as a child of 12 and by Miss Russell from '8 on, is a daughter of wealth, reduced to modest leans after her father's death, who attempts to aply to the business of living her father's advice to shoot at the stars" and be content with no less lan the utmost in any department of existence, he becomes a stenographer when that was a veniresome undertaking, succeeds at it, falls in love ■ith a young man about to enter banking and mares him in a then advanced form of ceremony with Dbey" omitted and health certificates provided, he bears four children in swift succession and iyes her husband a divorce (sc«ne sectors may riticize the casualness displayed about this matt) because he's fallen in love with another girl, he meets another man, known as a waster, and ley marry almost immediately, the remainder of le story relating their up-and-down but altogether armonious and happy life together for many years ^ereafter. ^In the portrayal of this central character Miss Russell is presumed to age some 36 years— from ^ to 54 or thereabouts— but she and her studio ad the good sense to indicate this aging by no lach involved makeup and pretenses as have been sed for most actresses engaged in similar underikmgs, depending instead upon the simple deice of graying her hair progressively without owing her down, even momentarily, in her heading race through the part and the picture. It is y virtue of the fast tempo prevailing throughout lat the picture escapes the category of historical Id documentaries into which most films in kind •e thrust, as if instinctively, by the purchasing Jblic There are, by count, 124 minutes of picire, but never a dull one. Background events include both world wars the arket collapse of 1929, the New York Wo'rld's air, and others of lesser but colorful import oreground incidents include a potent sequence in hich infantile paralysis strikes down a child in e family, a party in the forthright tradition of e twenties, an exciting demonstration of a new rplane, and the final scenes in which the boys 1 their way to war, take leave of their parents! Jack Carson, as the second husband, and Donald 0T10N PICTURE HERALD, FEBRUARY 3, 1945 Woods, as the first, provide the better of many _ supporting performances. Previewed at Warners' Hollyivood theatre, Hollywood, where a midweek audience appeared generally pleased. Reviewer's Rating: Good —William. R. Weaver. ir,^^'^^^^ Running time, 124 min. PCA No lUiyo. General auaience classification. RnHn." ^r""^^" Rosalind Russel! Ann Doran, Hobart Cavanaugh, Eily Malyon, Alan Hale , .""^A^^ ^"t^V-J"''" "U^'"' ^^-"y Servoss, Francis Pierlot, M^art K.ppen George Carleton, George Meador Frank Pugha, John Qualen, Chester Qute, Irving B^con Barbara Brown, S.g Arno, Kay Collins, Kathleen LockCo."'ns, Ann Todd, Andy Clyde, Arthur Shields Helene Thim.g, Greta Granstedt, Ann Lawrence i^^^'nfn, Andrea King, Mickey Kohn. Johnny' Treul, Robert Hutton, John Calkins, Richard Wim^r, T^" c ,r''"^^"vJ'' Ann Marlowe, Patsy Lee Parsons Jean Sullivan, Gregory Muradian, John Sheffield. Here Come the Co-Eds Universal— Comedy at College The latest Abbott and Costello film is one of the funniest in which the boys have appeared for some time. All the tried and true laugh formulae are present, and some new ones that had the preview audience in stitches. Costello's attempt to eat an oyster stew m which there is a large and carnivorous oyster is a little gem of that kind of dafnonsense which first made the boys famous Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra add pleasant moments in a quieter mood, and Peggy Ryan Martha O'Driscoll and Lon Chaney provide the light romantic touch. Jean Yarbrough's direction achieves a precise balance between hilarity and calm. John Grant produced and collaborated with Arthur T. Herman on the screenplay, which is based on a story by Edmund L. Hartmann. It starts out m a dance hall where, reversing the usual order of things, the boys are employed as taxi-dancers tor the benefit of unescorted women. From there the action moves to a girls' college where the boys working as caretakers, take care of everything in such fine style that the end sees the college out of debt true love triumphant, and Costello acclaimed as the world's best basketball player. Seven songs by Jack Brooks and Edgar Fairchild, four of which are sung by the Spitalny girls and three by Peggy Ryan, give the audience a chance to get its breath back between laughs. Prezneived at the Pantages theatre, HoUvwood tvhere the laughter of the audience zvas almost incessant. Reviewer's Rating : Good.~TiiAL.iA Bell. KT^^wIn "^A^^ ^f^ \ Kenning time, 88 min. PCA INo. 10680. General audience classification. ^l?*^ Bud Abbott ^'7" Lou Costello Molly .v;;;:;;.;;:;-:;::::-::;:::;;::::m^^^^^ June Vincent, Lon Chaney, Donald Cook, Charles Dingle, Richard Lane, Joe Kirk. Thunderhead, Son of Flicka 20th Century-Fox— A Happy Sequel There may have been some early doubts about the reception of "My Friend Flicka," but for Thunderhead" there is an audience ready and waiting to take it to their hearts. Mary O'Hara's sequel to the original story of a boy and a horse promises a treat for the youngsters and pleasant entertainment, set in magnificent Technicolor, for all ages. The screenplay by Dwight Cummins and Dorothy Yost picks up the characters — played once again by Roddy McDowall, Preston Foster, Rita Johnson and Diana Hale — on the early summer evening when Flicka has her colt. The young horse is a throw-back, in coloring and temperament, to the wild white stallion who had sired Flicka. He runs like the wind but refuses to be broken. His master's hopes of racing him are dashed in the first trial when he breaks away while leading in the home stretch and jumps the barrier into the fields. When the boy is threatened by the wild "Albino," who has been raiding the herd and driving off the mares, Thunderhead kills the stallion, but it is obvious that the horse will never again be confined. This story, combined with a thread of plot about the financial problems of the ranch, is told simply enough to be followed by the very young. It has several dramatic highlights— the breaking of the colt, the race, the life-and-death struggle between the two white horses— to sustain interest, and the natural splendor of the western canyons and plains, alive with color from dawn to sunset, to delight the eye. Robert Bassler and Louis King, producer and director, have depended as much on the beauty of the scene and the sleek grace of the animals as on the able performances of the principals to support the story. Charles Clarke's photography is an important element in their success. Seen in the home office projection room Revieimrs Rating: Good.—E. A. Cunningham. M^^!^^?^ "^r^^^ Running time, 78 min. PCA JNo. 10436. General audience classification. Ken McLaughlin Roddy McDowall Rob McLaughlm Preston Foster Diana Hale T ■ ^ ,V Rita Johnson James Bell, Carleton Young, Ralph Sanford, Robert Filmer, Alan Bridge. Moscow Skies Artkino-Sovlei Air Drama Glowing tribute is paid in this latest Russian importation to the Soviet air force, through whose exploits the skies over Moscow were kept in Russian hands during the grim autumn of 1941. The story, simple and documentary-like, focuses attention on one pilot, following his military career from the completion of flight school through numerous engagements with the Luftwaffe, culminating m his becoming a seasoned ace. Woven skillfully into the film is a romance between the flyer and an army nurse. The film unfolds in a light, almost buoyant manner, in contrast to the Russian tendency to exact the last ounce of drama in an effort to achieve realism. Peter Aleinikov commandingly plays the flyer but in an attempt to cover him with valor, the picture often inclines toward excessive heroics, with the result that occasionally he emerges as a sort of Paul Bunyan of the skies. Containing satisfactory English titles, the film offers much to American audiences. Especially noteworthy is the photographic authenticity of some of the combat scenes which seemingly were fitted 2297