Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS SHORT SUBJECTS CHART RELEASE CHART BY COMPANIES THE RELEASE CHART This department dealt with new product from the point of view of the exhibitor who it to purvey it to hit own public. It's in the Bag UA-Manhattan Prod. — Fred Allen Entertains Starting with the opening flash of title on the screen — after which he takes over to address the audience in a riotous kidding of the people named in the credit titles as they are run off — and ending with a final word of wit spoken into the camera at the close of the picture, Fred Allen and guests provide herewith the laughingest 90 minutes experienced here this year. The picture's sure-fire for everywhere films are seen or radio is heard. It's Allen's picture, conforming at all points to the Allen blueprint for laughter, but present and accounting for much of the merriment and a wealth of billing-power are Jack Benny, William Bendix, Robert Benchley, Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee, Victor Moore, Jerry Colonna, Binnie Barnes, John Carradine and one Minerva Pious, who is the "Mrs. Nussbaum" of the Allen radio programs and even more effective on the screen than on the air. Under Jack H. Skirball's production and Richard Wallace's direction, and using a script accredited to Jay Dratler and Alma Reville based on a treatment by Lewis R. Foster and Allen plus an assist by Morrie Ryskind — all these parties taking a round ribbing from Allen — the stars, guest stars and supporting players have the time of their lives and impart the same to the audience. The tale, utilized as a framework for the unbroken succession of gags that proceed without letup, concerns a murder and a will and five chairs, bequeathed to Allen, one of which contains $300,000 in currency. Allen sells the chairs before he knows about the money, then goes out to retrieve them from respective buyers, shadowed and frequently caught up with by the actual murderers. Allen's sequence with "Mrs. Nussbaum," who explains why she bought one of the chairs, is among the funniest footage ever filmed. His visit to Benny's home, masquerading as president of the Jack Benny Fan Club of Nutley, N. J., is better fun than the two comedians have purveyed in any of their radio meetings. His dressing-room sequence with Ameche, Vallee and Moore, who portrayed themselves as reduced from past greatnesses to membership in a bar-room quartette, is a classic in the field of personalized humor. These three are highlights — other witnesses may select others from the dozens of hit bits — of a picI ture that is wish-fuUfiUment for (1) radio fans I who've wanted to see Allen in action, (2) listeners I who've wished his 30-minute program were thrice ' as long, and (3) anybody and everybody anywhere j who wants to laugh, with mind as well as belly, I until he's no longer able to raise a chuckle, j Previewed at the Ambassador Hotel theatre, Los , Angeles, to a press and trade audience lifhich I hozt'led. Reviewer's Rating: Excellent. — Wilxiaivi j R. Weaver. I Release date, not set. Running time, 90 min. PCA No. 10575. General audience classification. Fred Floogle Fred Allen Jack Benny, William Bendix. Dbn Ameche, Rudy Vallee. Binnie Barnes, Robert Benchley, Jerry Colonna, John Carradine, Gloria Pope, William Terry, Minerva Pious, Sidney Toler, George Cleveland, John Miljan, Ben Walden, Emory Pamell. MOTION PICTURE HERALD. FEBRUARY 17, 1945 The Enchanted Cottage RKO Radio — Triumph in Escapism Escapism — not the tinsel thing the word has come to mean in trade usage, but that emotional state for which psychologists use the term — is the theme and essence of this superlative picture into which its ofif-screen and on-screen creators have poured not only all the ingredients of realistic romance, but also the prerequisites of commercial success. It is a natural, both as box office merchandise and as entertainment, for all types of theatres and audiences. For the marquee there are the names of Robert Young, Herbert Marshall and Dorothy McGuire, and a showman may go as far as he likes in comparing the present work of these with their past best. For certain sectors of the audience there may be billing value, also, in the name of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, who wrote the play. Other interest attaches to the name of Harriet Parsons (daughter of Louella O.), whose first feature production this is. But the picture is not one to be judged by marquee strength alone ; it is of the kind that grows as it goes, prospering by wordof-mouth and expanding its sphere of interest each time it passes through the projector. As brought up-to-date in the script by Dewitt Bodeen and Herman J. Mankiewicz, the play presents the case of a discharged soldier, facially disfigured, who seeks to hide himself from the pitying eyes of family and fiancee. Accepting only the friendship of a girl who is herself unbeautiful, and finally of a musician who is blind, he undergoes psychic regeneration which culminates in his marriage with the girl, after which each sees the other as fair and believes that love has effected physical change. When disillusionment comes, they survive 'it and enter upon normal lives no longer embarrassed by their appearance. It is no narrative to be judged by synopsis, but a splendid one as presented by the camera. Performances by all — somewhat especially by Mildred Natwick, Richard Gaines and Spring Byington, in addition to the principals — are superb individually and superbly coordinated by Director John Cromwell. Jack J. Gross is executive producer. Previezved at the Pautages theatre, Hollywood, where a Tuesday night audience loved every minute of it. Revieivcr's Rating : Excellent.— W . R. W. Release date, Block 3. Running time, 92 min. PCA No. 10533. General audience classification. Laura Dorothy McGuire Oliver Robert Young John ..v.'.'.".'.'.' Herbert Marshall Mildred Natwick, Spring Byington, Hilary Brooke, Richard Gaines, Alec Englander, Mary Worth. Bring on the Girls Paramount — Shore Leave in Technicolor Start with a sailor worth $200,000,000 who is looking for a girl to love him for himself alone, give him a personable guardian who's not so exacting and ■ allow them enough shore leave to find two beautiful girls in a plush night club m Florida. This is the nub of the joke in "Brmg on the Girls," but it fails even to suggest the extravagant color and lavish production of the film. These, and the cast headed by Eddie Bracken, Sonny Tufts, Veronica Lake and Marjorie Reynolds, are the picture's principal assets, and should be quite strong enough to insure its success. The audience at New York's Paramount theatre, where this film was previewed, promised with sighs and squeals that Sonny Tufts would be another idol of the teen-age brigade. He shuffles through his part as legal guardian of the millionaire with ease and humor and tosses in two songs which set up more than a murmur in the Broadway home of Frank Sinatra. Not the crooning type, he switches from song to patter in easy style, hitting a good swing beat and pointing up the words with a twist of the shoulders and a nod of the head. Eddie Bracken is again the butt of the comedygullible, shy and not especially notable for either brains or brawn. He's almost taken over by the cigaret girl but finally decides that the heiress is a safer bet. They have so much in common. Throughout the film, in the night club, at the sailor's palatial Florida home or in the recreation hall, dances and songs have a way of cropping up more or less unexpectedly. A standout in the dance department is Johnnie Coy whose toes tap out an intricate rhythm while his body twirls with firm grace and amazing speed. The tunes by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson are a big help, too, matching fast swing with clever lyrics. Production and direction, by Fred Kohlmar and Sidney Lanfield, point up comedy and spectacle with about equal emphasis and effectiveness. Karl Tunberg and Darrell Ware wrote the screenplay from an original story by Pierre Wolff. Seen at an afternoon sneak preview in the Paramount theatre. New York, where the younger^ members of both sexes were highly amused. Reviewer's Rating: Good.—E. A. Cunningham. Release date, Block 4. Running time, 92 min. PCA No. 9970. General audience classification. Teddy Collins Veronica Lake Phil North Sonny Tufts J. Newport Bates ....Eddie Bracken Sue Thomas Marjorie Reynolds Grant Mitchell, Johnnie Coy, Peter Whitney, Alan Mowbray, Porter Hall, Thurston Hall, Lloyd Corrigan, Sig Arno, Joan Woodbury, Andrew Tombes, Frank Faylen, Huntz Hall, William Moss, Norma Varden, Spike Jones and his orchestra. Circumstantial Evidence 20th Century-Fox — Home Style Melodrama William Girard and John Larkin, producer and director, respectively, have turned out a sound piece of merchandise, trimmed down to 67 minutes of story and solid enough to serve as the mainstay of the bill of fare. For marquee billing it has Michael O'Shea and Lloyd Nolan giving even, likeable performances, and for exploitation there's 2317