Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE Rooney Resumes Film Career; 51 Pictures Currently in Work Hollywood Bureau Production activity declined slightly last week, as 10 new films reached camera stages, and 12 others went to the cutting rooms. At the weekend, there was a total of 52 in work, as compared to 54 the previous week. Henry Blanke is producing "Deception" for the Warner studio, while Irving Rapper is directing. Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains head the cast. Sol Lesser started work on "The Red House," which he is producing for United Artists release. The picture stars Edward G. Robinson and Lon McCallister, with Allene Roberts, Rory Calhoun, Ruth Nelson, Julie London, Margaret Wells, Walter Baldwin, Arthur Space and Harry Shannon in supporting roles. Delmer Davis is directing. John Wayne's initial producing venture at Republic is titled "The Outlaw and the Angel," in which Wayne co-stars with Gail Russell. Irene Rich and Bruce Cabot have featured roles, and James E. Grant directs. MGM trained cameras on two: "Uncle Andy Hardy," and "The Mighty McGurk." The former marks Mickey Rooney's return to the screen after several years in the armed forces. Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Bonita Granville and Dorothy Ford head the supporting cast. Willis Goldbeck is the director ; Robert Sisk the producer. Wallace Beery to Have Role of Prizefighter "The Mighty McGurk," second film to start at MGM, stars Wallace Beery in the role of a prizefighter, with young Dean Stockwell cast as an orphan who idiolizes the pugilist. In the supporting cast are Edward Arnold, Aline MacMahon, Dorothy Patrick and Cameron Mitchell. The film is Nat Perrin's initial producing assignment, and John Waters is directing. "Decoy," first B&B Production for Monogram, went before cameras with Jack Bernhard and Bernard Brandt producing, and the former directing. The cast includes Jean Gillie, Eduardo Cianelli, Sheldon Leonard, Herbert Rudley, Marjorie Woodworth and Betty Lou Head. Columbia launched "His Face Was Their Fortune," a comedy drama concerning a group of girls who finance the career of an aspiring young actor. Anita Louise, Michael Duane and Ted Donaldson head the cast. Wallace MacDonald produces ; George Sherman directs. Three new films went into work at Universal. "Pirates of Monterey," in Technicolor, has a cast composed of Maria Montez, Rod Cameron, Philip Reed, Mikhail Rasumny, Gilbert Roland and Tamara Shayne. Paul Malvern is the producer ; Alfred Werker the director. "The Michigan Kid," in Cinecolor, is being produced by Howard Welsch and directed by Ray Taylor. Jon Hall, Rita Johnson, Victor McLaglen, Andy Devine, William Ching, Leonard East and Milburn Stone head the cast. "Oh Say Can You Sing" is, as its title implies, a musical, and features Sheila Ryan, Fred Brady, Paula Dr^w, Walter Catlett, Isabelita, Jack Marshall, Louis Da Pron, Moro and Yaconelli, and the Guadalajara Trio. Stanley Rubin is the associate producer ; Will Jason the director. Recent Studio Story Purchases Listed Toulouse-Lautrec, famous French artist of the Impressionist school, will be immortalized on the screen in "Flowers of Evil," an original story based on the artist's life by Leo Mittler. RKO Radio has purchased it and it is scheduled for immediate production. Michel Kraike will produce, with Sid Rogell executive producer. Zoltan Korda has acquired the screen rights to "The Giaconda Smile" from Aldous Huxley, who considers it one of his best short stories. It's written in a psychological vein, and concerns a modern English family. Seymour Bennett, the New York playwright, has been signed to write the screenplay. Diana Productions, the producing company composed of Fritz Lang, Walter Wanger and Joan Bennett, has placed on its 1946-47 production schedule an original story by Lang, titled "Superstition Mountain." The plot revolves around Arizona's famed "Lost Dutchman" mine. . . . United States Pictures recently have acquired two story properties, "Distant Drums," a play by Dan Tothero, and "Due Process of Law," an original screenplay by Lawrence Green and Russell Rouse. . . . Republic has pur chased "House of Shadows," a novel by George Kingsley, and assigned it to William J. O'Sullivan for production. Harry M. Popkin, West Coast independent theatre owner and operator, has been named president of Cardinal Pictures Corporation, newly-formed producing company, which will make three pictures during the 1946-47 season, with an announced overall budget of $4,000,000. The first film on the schedule is "Sheila," based on a new novel by Robert St. Clair. Cary Grant and Myrna Loy In Romantic Comedy Gary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple will be co-starred in "Bachelor and Bobby-Sox," a romantic comedy which Dore Schary will produce for RKO. . . . Richard Macaulay has been signed by Universal to write and produce a picture starring Abbott and Costello. . . . Henry Blanke will produce "The African Queen" for Warners. Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid have starring spots in the tropical adventure yarn. Annabella, actress-wife of Tyrone Power, will return to the screen after an absence of three years to play the feminine lead in "13 Rue Madeleine." Louis de Rochemont, who is scheduled to produce, has recently been given a new four-year contract by the studio. . . . David Bruce and Cleatus Caldwell will co-star in "Miss Television," which Reginald LeBorg will direct for Comet Productions. Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman have been engaged by Enterprise for starring roles in "Arch of Triumph," which David Lewis will produce and Lewis Milestone direct. Irwin Shaw is currently completing the screenplay. . . . David O. Selznick has signed Joseph Gotten to a new long term contract. . . . Paramount has exercised its option on the services of Veronica Lake. Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour Star in "Private Eye" Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour will be co-starred in "The Private Eye," which will be filmed by Hope Enterprises, and released through Paramount. The picture, a satire on the current crop of psychological melodramas, will be produced by Danny Dare and directed by Elliott Nugent. . . . Charles Coburn will star in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," which is to be produced by the newly-formed Douville Corporation. Mark Hellinger has concluded negotiations with Paramount for the services of Sonny Tufts in the title role in "Swell Guy." Ann Blyth will play opposite him. . . . Morgan Conway, who stars in RKO's "Dick Tracy" series, has been signed by the studio for another year. . . . Herman Millakowsky plans three independent productions for the current season, the first of which will be "Fear," based on the novel by Stefan Zweig. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ 38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD. MAY 4, 1946