Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

Beware Astor — Swing Musical An all-Negro cast performs this feature length musical starring Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. There are 10 musical numbers presented in the jive style by Louis Jordan and his boys. Followers of modern swing will be pleased with the abundance of "hep" and "jumpin' and iivin'" tunes. There is a typical musical review story by John E. Gordon which is set in a college town. The college is in financial difficulties and Jordan, a graduate, solves the difficulties by putting on a dance and show. Frank Wilson as Professor Drury and Emory Richardson as Dean Hargraves give serious portrayals. Valerie Black is the educational director on the faculty. She, and Jordan renew an old romance. R. M. Savini was the executive producer of this feature, first produced by Astor Pictures. Bud Pollard produced and directed. There is an uneveness in the production and some of the dialogue is on the stilted side. In localities where swing music is in high favor and this type of film is acceptable, it offers much to please. Outstanding musical numbers are "Beware Brother, Beware," "Long Legged Lizzie" and "You've Got to Have a Beat." Seen at a New York projection ronm. Reviewer's Rating : Average. — M.R.Y. Release date, July, Running time, 55 min. Gen eral audience classification. Lucius Jordan Ixjuis Jordan Professor Drury Frank Wilson Dean Hargraves Emory Richardson Annabella Brown Valerie Black Milton Woods, Joseph Hilliard, Tommy Hix, Charles Johnson, John Frant, Walter Earle, Ernest Calloway, Dimples Daniels and the Aristo-Genes Girls Club and Louis Jordan's Tympany Band. Three Wise Fools Metro -GoldivynMayer — Drama and Comedy Every once in a while Hollywood breaks out with a. departure from movie formula. Of such stuff is made the progress of the art — the widening of the screen's horizon. In the natural order some of these worthy efforts do not quite come off when subjected to the exacting test of serving the tastes of the miscellaneous millions who are the motion picture's audience. But MGM's "Three Wise Fools," which is well off the beaten sound and image track, is not of experimental character. While those responsible for it dared to be different they made ample provision for that human warmth, pathos and flashing humor which showmen instinctively associate with happy days at the box office. "Three Wise Fools" is a brilliant setting for the talents of ■ that angelic genius, Margaret O'Brien. These talents are out in open competition in the acting part with such master performers as Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Edward Arnold, Thomas Mitchell and Jane Darwell, and each of these finds it necessary to offer his very best in order to avoid being dimmed behind the tiny shadow of little Margaret. The story is an adaptation of the Austin Strong play which was a noted Broadway success as staged by Winchell Smith and produced by John Golden. It was written for the screen by John McDermott and James O'Hanlon. It cornes to us as a witty and imaginative tale in which Margaret comes from Ireland to live with three great and prosperous bachelors of the town, the bachelors being Barrymore, Stone and_ Arnold. Margaret is the granddaughter of a girl who had been the object of the affections of all three but had rejected their suits and gone off to Ireland with a great and poetic character, The O'Monahan. _ There are recurring sequences about "the little people" — the fairies and the leprechauns. There is realistic drama and broad flourishes of humor but it is all played against a background of fantasy and make-believe. Margaret makes heart-warming use of a lilting Irish brogue and she reads with artistry lines which are of poetic beauty when, as sometimes happens, they are not snowerea over witn Gaelic bulls. Thomas Mitchell as the little girl's awkward and devoted manservant might have been a cartoon character but it becomes something more as handled by this competent performer. It is a story that needs the telling that only the artists and the magic of the motion picture can give it. It is an appealing and delightful change of screen fare which beckons to young and old and people of all kinds with promises of novelty, charm and — altogether— a happy time. Produced by William H. Wright and directed by Edward Buzzell, it evidences throughout a high order of craftsmanship, exemplified in many ways, especially in the handling of difficult story elements. Seen at sneak preview at a New York theatre. Revievjer'^ Rating : Excellent. — Martin QUIGLEY. Release date, September, 1946. Running time, 90 min. PCA No. 11463. General audience classification. Sheila O'Monahan Margaret O'Brien Dr. Richard Gaunght Lionel Barrymore Judge James Trumbell Lewis Stone Theodore Findley Edward Arnold Thomas Mitchell, Ray Collins, Jane Darwell, Charles Dingle. Harry Davenport, Henry O'Neill, Cyd Charisse, Warner Anderson, Billy Curtis. (Review reprinted from last week's Herald) The Bamboo Blonde RKO Radio — Musical Frances Langford in the title role, supported by half-a-dozen sterling players, makes of this minor musical a mighty pleasant hour. The film fills, snugly and without undue ambition, the category for which it was designed. Produced some time back by Herman Schlom, under the executive supervision of Sid Rogell, it has a war background which, fortunately, is not so stressed as to impair the picture's entertainment value. The hero is a lieutenant in the Air Force, and the plot structure includes a Bond-selling tour, as well as some scenes in the South Pacific. But these circumstances are kept strictly in the background. In the foreground there's Miss Langford, looking very lovely and singing in satin-smooth style. There's Russell Wade, and Iris Adrian, both contributing comedy in the roles of a nightclub entrepreneur and his fiancee. Villainess of the piece — and lending villainy an unexpected glamour — is Jane Greer, who does her best to make the course of true love even rougher than it is generally reputed to be. She is unsuccessful of course, and after the usual number of misunderstandings. Miss Langford wins the wealthy, young Army officer. Anthony Mann directed. Olive Cooper and Lawrence Kimble wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Wayne Whittaker. Seen at the Alexander theatre, Glendale, ivhere an audience attracted by "Gilda" seemed to derive amusement for the secondary offering. Reviewer's Rating: Average. — Thalia Bell. Release, Block 6. Running, time, 67 min. PCA No. 11052. General audience classification. Louise Anderson Frances Langford Eddie Clark Ralph Edward Patrick Ransom, Jr Russell Wade Montana : Iris Adrian Jim Wilson Ric'^ard Martin Eileen Sawyer Jane Greer Glenn Vernon. Paul Harvey. Regina Wallace, Jean Brooks. Tom Noonan, Dorothy Caughan (Review reprinted from last week's Herald) Lover Come Back Universal — Comedy Concerning Divorce Producer-writers Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano dipped deep into the book of Broadway farce for this sophisticated comedy dealing fast and loosely with divorce and the ingredients thereof, all treated lightly and in the manner customarily referred to as adult. With George Brent, Lucille Ball, Vera Zorina and Charles Winninger in the top roles, and directed by the dependable William A. Seiter, the picture supplies a showman with plenty of exploitation ammunition, doubtless to be supple mented by advertising copy in the recently cultivated "hot" vein, since the dialogue containb many lines appropriate to that use. It's a polished job, professionally, and got a goodly count of laughs in its Hollywood preview run, but it is strictly not for kiddies and may encountei objection from adults who do not think divorce is funny. Miss Ball, the central character, is a fashion expert whose husband, a war correspondent, arrives home after two years overseas and is immediately shown to have disported himself romantically, with a large number of girls, including his journalistic associate. Brent, as the husband, attempts to carry off the situation with some explanations implying defense of tiie double standard of morals, but objects strenuously to what he interprets as similar deportment on his wife's part. After many complicating incidents, some bordering on the risque and otiiers uivading it, she goes to Las Vegas to get a divorce, is followed not only by her husband but also by her most persistent suitor, the husband's girl associate, and ultimately his father and mother. It's quite a while before the producer-writers manage to wangle a reconciliation between husband and wife, but they manage it. Taken strictly as farce, in the Broadway meaning of the term, the picture provides considerable amusement. Unlike most films in general kind, however, it neglects to establish in its conclusion that what have appeared to be infidelities were not infidelities in fact, and by this neglect it achieves the effect of being a smiling but positive statement of the case for the double standard. Previewed at the Pantages theatre, Hollywood, where it was well received for most of the distance but encountered a stretch of apathy in the final minutes. Reviewer's Rating: Good. — William R. Weaver. Release date, June 21. Running time, 90 mm. PCA No. 11661. Adult audience classification. Bill Williams George Brent Kay Williams Lucille Ball Madeline Laslo Vera Zorina Paul Millard Carl Esmond Jimmy Hennessey William Wright Pa Williams Charles Winninger Elizabeth Risdon, Raymond Walburn, Louise Beavers, Wallace Ford (Review reprinted from last week's Her.\ld) Crack-Up RKO — Surprise Package Art forgeries and murder are common enough ingredients of many pictures, but as put together by director Irving Ries, tney make in "CrackUp" a surprisingly suspenseful melodrama that will often chill audiences to their seats. Writers John Paxton, Ben Bengal and Ray Spencer have taken a rather familiar outline for plot : an art lover steals the originals of famous paintings, substitutes forgeries for them, destroys the forgeries and says they were real, and then commits murder to cover up his tracks. But the story time and time again deviates from the expected — both in plot and in character studies — so that interest is kept at a high pitch throughout. Ries, known for his direction of certain of the "Falcon" series, plays each story twist to the hilt, underscoring every point effectively. Pat O'Brien, playing the role of the terrorized victim of the art lover and murderer, turns in a solid performance that ranks with his very best. In support, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall and Ray Collins all contribute their best. The picture gets off to an exciting start when O'Brien, in a seemingly crazed condition, breaks into the museum in which he is a lecturer and insists that he has been in a train wreck. The flashback of the supposed accident and a later re-enaction of the train ride preceding the accident are staged in breath-taking style. The whole thing — the subsequent chase through the docks, the fires, the escape from the police — is done in such a realistic and crisp manner that even the cops-and-robbers flash finale is acceptable. Once one audience sees "Crack-LTp," it's 3054 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, JUNE 22, 1946