Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

attack when the Japanese were scheminK to insure our helplessness after the initial blow. Two newspaper men learn part of the secret and are killed. A former Army man is approached by a Japanese friend and undertakes to obtain our plans for defense of the Panama Canal. Working with an attractive agent from Army Intelligence, he fools them long enough to discover their ringleaders, but loses his life. The scene shifts rapidly from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Panama, and the action is well paced. Interest lags a little toward the end when the climax has been reached, but credulity is rarely 1 strained too far. I Herman Schlom produced the film. Kenneth Garnet and Arbrey Wisberg wrote the screenplay. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Good. — E. A. C. Release date, Block 3. Running time, 82 min. PCA No. 10313. General audience classification. Eddie Carter Lee Tracy Peggy Harrison Nancy Kelly Richard Loo, Abner Biberman, Regis Toomey, Philip Ahn, Addison Richards, Bruce Edwards, Hugh Hoo, Sen Young, Roland Varno, Louis Jean Heydt, Jason Robards. Frisco Sal Universal — Barbary Coast Pacific Street on the Barbary Coast in the era of the Nineties is the setting for this musical drama, which includes several songs and dance routines, spectacular bar room fights, romance and ■ a dash of comedy. Susanna Foster's exquisite voice adds charm to the picture. The bar room brawls, with the typical smashing of chairs and tables and breaking of bottles, are swift and violent. The story is of a demure young girl with a New England background coming to the wild and wicked Barbary Coast in search of her brother, whom she has not seen in 12 years. Susanna Foster, as Sally, meets Dude, played by Turhan Bey, the owner of the "First Dollar", the leading night spot on the Coast, and her beautiful voice makes her the hit of the show. He falls in love with her, but Sally believes that Dude murdered her brother and refuses to accept his proposal of marriage. But eventually she marries him and finds out that Rio, the operator of a "mission" racket, is her brother. She seems to have brought goodness and light with her because Dude and Rio, formerly arch enemies become friends and plan to follow the straight and narrow. Excess footage detracts some from the effectiveness of the story. Musical numbers sung by Miss. Foster are excellent Especially worthy of note is her rendition of "Beloved". Collette Lyons, the leader of the chorus, sings "Percy" and "I Just Got in". She and Andy Devine add a spark of comedy. Curt Siodmak and Gerald Garaghty wrote the original screenplay. It was produced and directed by George Waggner. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating: Average. — M. R. Y. Release date, February 23, 1945. Running time, 94 min. PCA No. 10629. General audience classification. Sally Susanna Foster Dude Turhan Bey Rio Alan Curtis Andy Devine, Thomas Gomez, Collette Lyons, Samuel S. Hinds, Fuzzy Knight, Billy Green, Ernie Adams, George Lloyd, Bert Fiske. Having Wonderful Crime RKO Radio — Comedy with Crime Pat O'Brien, George Murphy and Carole Landis are the marquee names in this Robert Fellows production of a stage play by Craig Rice which had a long run on Broadway some seasons back. Although the three work hard to give the screen version animation and humor, and succeed in several sequences, the film as a whole suffers from a confused story line. Eddie Sutherland's direction keeps things moving, but with a general effect of jerkiness. Howard J. Green, Stewart Sterling and Parke Levy collaborated on the screenplay, which presents Miss Landis and Murphy as a pair of newlyweds whose hobby is crime detection. Together with their best friend — Pat O'Brien as a lawyer who loves the ladies — they become involved in the disappearance of a magician who later turns up, dead, in a trunk. The three friends, believing that the trunk in their possession may incriminate them, set to vvork to find the murderer. The locale is a lakeside summer resort, which allows ample opportunity for comedy episodes involving bathing beauties, overturned canoes, and Miss Landis sliding down a laundry chute. For those who are amused by such things and are not too much concerned about plot, "Having Wonderful Crime" ought to fill the bill satisfactorily. Seen at the Pantages theatre, Hollywood, where an audience which had come to see "The Woman in the Window" received the secondary offering with mild ammement. Reviewer's Rating: Average.— T. B. Release date. Block 3. Running time, 70 min. PCA No. 1012S. General audience classification. Michael J. Malone.' Pat O'Brien Jake Justus , George Murphy Helene Carole Landis Lenore Aubert, George Zucco, Anne Berens, Richard Martin, Charles D. Brown, William "Wee Willie" Davis, Blanche Ring, Josephine Whittel. The Chicago Kid Republic — Racketeer Melodrama The racketeering formula, which has not changed since prohibition days, is studiously followed in "The Chicago Kid" to its predestined end. A defiant young man looking for revenge joins a ruthless gang in robbery and murder and finds his wealth and power meaningless. The screenplay by Jack Townley, based on an original story by Albert Beich, strives for timeliness by including electrical equipment frozen by government order in the loot, but the plot remains familiar and somewhat dated. There's more than the usual amount of action, however, and in the beginning at least, a measure of suspense. The young man changes from a conscientious bookkeeper, buying a home for his father's return from prison, to a gang leader planning a series of warehouse holdups to ruin the man he considers responsible for his father's disgrace and death. The transformation is swift and complete in spite of the girl who loves him and the man who trusts him. When he discovers that his father was guilty of the original crime and more, he is too deeply entangled to break away and recovers some shreds of honor in the final gunplay. Donald Barry, lately of Republic's Western series, plays the title role energetically, but arouses little sympathy. Otto Kruger gives a good performance as his employer. Frank McDonald directed the film and Eddy White was associate producer. Seen in the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating: Fair. — E. A. C. Release date, not set. Running time, 66 min. PCA No. 10528. General audience classification. Joe Ferrill Donald Barry John Mitchell Otto Kruger Tom Powers, Lynne Roberts, Henry Daniels, Chick Chandler, Joseph Crehan, Jay Novello, Paul Harvey. Addison Richards, Kenne Duncan. Sagebrush Heroes Columbia — Western with Songs To those who like their Westerns packed with action, this one may seem a trifle slow. The customary gunplay is missing, but punch is supplied by several hand-to-hand fights in which Charles Starrett, as the "Durango Kid," comes off victorious. The story, on the other hand, is novel for this type of drama. Luci Ward's original screenplay is laid in the present, and concerns an unscrupulous character who runs what is purported to be a ranch for the rehabihtation of delinquent boys. When Starrett becomes friendly with one of these boys, however, he discovers that the ranch is merely a cover for a prosperous cattle-rustling racket which the rancher has set up and that the boys, far from being treated with kindness and understanding, are being systematically starved and maltreated. Aided by his companions. Cannonball and Jimmy, portrayed by Dub Taylor and Jimmy Wakely respectively, the "Durango Kid" plants microphones around the ranchhouse, thereby tricking the rancher into damaging admissions which lead to his arrest and imprisonment. Several song numbers have been so spotted that they do not interfere with the telling of the story. Jack Fier produced, and Benjamin Kline directed. Seen at the Hitching Post theatre, Hollywood, ■where a Small matinee cmdience took it sitting down. Reviewer's Rating: Average. — T. B. Release date, Feb. 1, 1945. Running time, 54 min. PCA No. 9889. General audience classification. Steve Randall Charles Starrett Cannonball Dub Taylor Constance Worth, Elvin Eleld, Bobby Larson, Forrest Taylor, Jimmy Wakely, Ozie Waters, Joel Friedkin, Lane Chandler, Paul Zaremba, Eddie Laughton, Johnny Tyrell. The Spelf of Amy Nugent PRC — Spiritualism, Watered Intellectually pretentious, rather confused, and acted erratically, this inexpensively mounted English picture has few aspects of attraction for American audiences. Possibly the selling point is spiritualism, about which it revolves, but there is no conclusion. It is neither an "expose" nor a vindication. It is a simple story, involving characters in the English country upper classes, and of somewhat limited appeal. Derek Farr, horsy, handsome and adored by his mother, Winifred Davis, loses by death his fiancee, Diana King ("Amy Nugent"). Even the silent love of his mother's favori'ie. Vera Lindsay, fails to compensate; and he turns to spiritualism, of which Frederick Leister is a most persuasive, and successful practitioner. Mr. Leister evokes for Farr the voice of his beloved; and, later, her fugitive, shimmering materialization. These manifestations in some unexplained manner, however, are said to be bad for Farr; his manner changes from pleasant to surly ; his school professor friend, Felix Aylmer, calls for advice an authority on spiritualism. Hay Petrie, and Mr. Petrie fears it is a devil which has possessed Farr. Petrie fails to cast out this devil. But Miss Lindsay, calm, unafraid, and intense in her love, one night talks Farr back to sanity. The spell of his dead fiancee seems to have been broken, and the picture ends. Petrie, English character actor, is ineffective. Aylmer does his usual quiet, convincing job, and has some excellent lines on spiritualism. Miss Lindsay and Mr. Farr are just too English. The speech of all the players is difficult to understand. The Irish gardener, Gibb McLaughlin, is a caricature. Miles Malleson wrote the screenplay. R. Murray-Leslie produced for Pyramid Amalgamated Pictures, Ltd., with Keith Drayson as associate, and John Harlow directed. Reviewed in a New York projection room. Reviewer's Rating: Fair. — Floyd Elbert Stone. Release date, February 10, 1945. Running time, 60 min. PCA No. 03371. General audience classification. Laurie Baxter Derek Farr Diana Hilton Vera Lindsay Frederick Leister, Hay Petrie, Felix Aylmer, Marion Spencer, Diana King, W. G. Fay, Winifred Davis, Enid Hewit, Gibb McLaughlin, Joyce Redman, Cameron Hall, Irene Handl, Stafford Hilliard. SHORT SUBJECTS FIVE STAR BOWLERS (RKO) Sportscope (54,305) The five champions demonstrating their skill on the alleys are Nelson Burton of St. Louis, Mo. ; Ned Day of West Allis, Wis.; Buddy Bomar of Chicago; Harold Asplund of Denver, and George Young of Malverne, L. I. Their expert form and perfect timing are caught by the slow motion camera as they illustrate the champion's approach to common bowling problems. Release date, December 29, 1944 8 minutes BIRTHDAY BLUES (RKO) Leon Errol (53,703) It was just one of those days. Errol arrives home with a crate of fruit which earns him an introduction to the blonde next door and then discovers it is his wife's birthday. He's without present or excuse and dashes out on a pretext only to be met by a salesman offering a fur coat for $80. He grabs it first and finds out about it later. It was stolen from the blonde neighbor. Trying to return it without fuss, he's caught by her husband and has to make explanations all around. Release date, February 16, 1945 17 mimites MOTION PICTURE HERALD. FEBRUARY 17. 1945 2319