Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1946)

to distinction as a concert violinist gives an audience no character to root for. The script presents the boy as a morose, acquisitive and conscienceless fellow, likeable only when he's fiddling, and then only to fiddle lovers. It presents the socialite who helps him on his way to the heights, with time out for helpings of amour, as an excessively dissolute woman whose suicide, at the picture's end, appears as plausibly an alcoholic inadvertence as an act of remorse or sacrifice. Neither for these nor for the others whose lives are touched by these does the script enlist sympathy, and the point of it all seems to be that parents whose children insist on playing the violin ought to take them to a psychiatrist instead of a music teacher. The bright spot in the picture, and bright it is, indeed, is a performance by Oscar Levant, portraying a pianist who acts, plays and talks like Oscar Levant, but it's a little difficult to exploit the picture as a comedy on account of this. And there is, of course, a wealth of classical music, proficiently executed. The nature of the relationship between the violinist and his sponsor, and what comes of it, limits the picture to adult suitability. Previewed at the Academy Awards theatre, Hollywood, where an all-press audience enjoyed Oscar Levant's comedy loudly and seemed depressed by the rest of the proceedings. Reviewer's Rating: Average. — William R. Weaver. Release date, January 25, 1947. Running: time. 126 min. PCA No. 11618. Adult audience classification. Helen Wright Joan Crawford Paul Boray John Garfield Sid Jeffers Oscar Levant J. Carroll Naish, Joan Chandler, Tom D' Andrea, Peggy Knudson, Ruth Nelson, Craig Stevens, Paul Cavanagh, Richard Gaines, John Abbott, Bobby Blake, Tommy Cook, Don McGuire, Fritz Leiber, Peg LaCentra, Nestor Paiva, Richard Walsh Alias Mr. Twilight Columbia — Cops and Confidence Men "Alias Mr. Twilight" is a film story of the various rackets worked on the unsuspecting by professional confidence men. It is a story that could have been extremely interesting because of its exposes, but it overreaches in trying to maintain the element of simplicity and thus becomes a slow moving and an uninteresting story of an elderly man trying to show his true love for his five-year-old granddaughter. Produced by John Haggott and directed by John Sturges, the story concerns the elderly swindler with the Jekyll and Hyde personality. At times he is the lovable old man providing his granddaughter with the simple luxuries of life. At other times he is the shrewd con-man who lets nothing stand in his way to attain his ends. Romance is also a part of the picture in that the young and pretty governess of the granddaughter falls in love with a police official, who finally puts the many clues together and exposes the grandfather's activities. Heading the cast is Michael Duane as the police officer, Trudy Marshall as the governess and Lloyd Corrigan as the grandfather. Reviewed in a New York projection room at a screening for the trade ' press. Reviewer's Rating: Average. — George H. Spires. Release date, December 24, 1946. Running time, 69 min. PCA No. 11986. General audience classification. Tim Quaine Michael Duane Corky Trudy Marshall Geoffrey Holden Lloyd Corrigan Rosalind Ivan, Alan Bridge, Gi-Gi Perreau, Jeff York, Peter Brocco, Torbean Meyer, Olaf Hutten Lady Chaser PRC— Melodrama Robert Lowery and Ann Savage have the top assignments in this melodrama which has enough exciting situations to hold the audience's attention. However, the script is encumbered with trite lines. An innocent young woman, played by Inez Cooper, is convicted of murder and her fiance attempts to find evidence necessary to free her. Lowery, the fiance, is successful and finds the person responsible for the murder. He leads the police to Miss Savage, who plays the cunning blackmailer, and to the murderer. Sigmund Neufeld and Sam Newfield, the producer and director, again have made a production which should satisfy the audience for which it was designed. The screenplay, by Fred Myton, is based on the original story by G. T. Fleming Roberts. Seen at the New York theatre. Reviewer's Rating: Fair. — M. R. Y. Release date, November 25, 1946. Running time, 58 min. PCA No. 12022. General audience classification. Peter Kane... Robert Lowery Inez Marie Polk Ann Savage Dorian Westmore Inez Cooper Frank Fergusen, William Haade, Ralph Dunn, Paul Bryar, Charlie Williams, Garry Owen, Marie Martino Jerich< Andre Lelarge— French Resistance Sensitive acting and thoughtful direction combine with an eloquent and moving story to make "Jericho," a Sacha Gordine production released here by Andre Lelarge, one of the better films to arrive here from France. While dealing with the French resistance movement during those desperate days of Nazi occupation, the story-telling never once bogs down into cheap melodrama. In its balanced presentation, it catches the human spirit in courage and cowardice along with more subtle and intermediate flashes into human emotions. Purportedly based on a true incident of the war, the film is the story of 50 hostages imprisoned by a German commander to insure the safety of a gasoline train. After struggling with the problem, the Maqui decide to send a train up in smoke, an objective they complete after first informing the British intelligence of the impending consequences to the half-hundred hostages. 'As the hour of execution nears, a number of unforgettable delineations emerge, which, enhanced by excellent camera work, become vivid and realistic experiences. In what is termed "Operation Jericho," RAF bombers, in a painstakingly rehearsed and carefully timed mission, reach the prison walls and send them tumbling down with some well-directed bombs. The ensuing escape is executed without any melodramatic frills which could have easily cheapened the production. The pithy, direct dialogue is translated with satisfactory English subtitles. Direction by Henri Calef was from a scenario by Claude Heyman, adapted by Charles Spaak. Among those in the superb cast are Pierre Brasseur, Larquey, Jean Brochard, Santa Relli and Genin Palau. Foreign film patrons should find this a highly pleasing motion picture. Seen at a New York projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Excellent. — M. H. Release date, December 14, 1946. Running time, 139 min. General audience classification. Pierre Brasseur, Larquey, Jean Brochard, Santa Relli. Genin Palau Green for Danger Launder-Gilliat ( Individual) — G.F.D. Skilful Sleuthery Practitioners normally in the pseudo-philosophic fields of film making, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat — widely regarded as the British counterpart of the Hecht-MacArthur team — herein deliberate essay to concoct an honest-togoodness Whodunit. Right well do they succeed, thanks to a well-devised script, immaculate acting, suspenseful direction. But thanks mainly to the cheerful exuberance with which the whole thing unfolds itself. To Britons with recollections of those still recent, terrifying doodle-bugs, the emergency casualty hospitals, all the rest of the paraphernalia of the bombings, the picture might well have developed disturbingly. That it doesn't is due to the shrewd tincture of laughs and quiet smiles which Launder and Gilliat injected into the piece. Locale of the picture is the operating theatre of a wartime hospital, in which mysterious killings occur. The surgeon concerned, the anaesthetist, the nursing sisters, all successively come under suspicion as the slayer. There's an undertone of frayed nerves until the aforesaid slayer is unmasked in as pretty a piece of nerve-tingling sleuthery as we have lately seen. It was a hazardous project, the making of such a thing; for, one actor putting one foot wrong would have made a shambles of the whole proceedings. Those actors don't; for the very good reason that the surgeon is played by Leo Genn and the anaesthetist by Trevor Howard. Selective American audiences saw Leo Genn in "Henry V."; Howard as the doctor in "Brief Encounter." They know the impeccable quality of both men's work. Then there's Alistair Sim, the Scotland Yard sleuth who neatly calls the turn on the slayer. The chiefs of the real Scotland Yard would cock a surprised eye at Mr. Sim's methods in the picture. Nevertheless, the performance is sheer joy. So much so that British producers will be falling over themselves to prevail upon Mr. Sim to undertake a whole series of Inspector Cockrill parts. Which, in the opinion of this reviewer, would be a pity, seeing that Sim is far too good an actor to be typed. A comfortable, diverting piece. Seen in a Wardour Street, London, projection room. Reviewer' s Rating : Good — P. B. Release date, not set. Running time, 91 min. British adult audience classification. Mr. Eden Leo Genn Mr. Purdy Henry Edwards Dr. Barnes Trevor Howard Dr. White Ronald Adam Sister Bates Judy Campbell Sister Carter Wendy Thompson Nurse Sanson Rosamund John Nurse Linley Sally Gray Nurse Woods Megs Jenkins Inspector Cockrill Alistair Sim Moore Marriott, Frank Ling, John Rae, George Woodbridge Stars. Over Texas PRC— Western This is a Western with the usual amount of action scenes and Western tunes sung by Eddie Dean. Dean as a stalwart representative of the Cattlemen's Association tracks down a group of cattle thieves and murderers. Musical numbers are occasionally interspersed throughout the film. "Stars Over ' Texas," "Sand of the Old Rio Grande" and "Fifteen Hundred and One Miles of Heaven" are sung by Eddie Dean, with the assistance of the Sunshine Boys. Eddie Dean's friend and companion, Soapy, played by Roscoe Ates, supplies a dash of humor. Shirley Patterson is the heroine. Jerry Thomas was the associate producer. Robert Emmett Tansey was the producer and director. Frances Kavanaugh is responsible for the original screenplay. Seen at a New York projection room* Reviewer's Rating : Fair. — M. R. Y. Release date, November 18, 1946. Running time, 57 min. PCA No. 12026. Eddie Dean Eddie Dean Soapy Roscoe Ates Shirley Patterson, Lee Bennett, Lee Roberts, Kermit Maynard, Jack O'Shea, Hal Smith, Matty Roubert, Carl Mathews, Bill Fawcett, Sunshine Boys The Story of the Pope Chapel Films — Pastor Angelicus This is the American version of "Pastor Angelicus," produced in Italy in 1942 by the Centro Cattolico Cinematografico which had the privilege of photographing many scenes of the Pope and of the Vatican. "Pastor Angelicus" has been a popular subject in several \ European countries. Important additions made in the American editing are a splendid commentary by Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, widely known Catholic speaker, a brief introduction by His Eminence Francis Cardinal Spellman, and a few newsreel shots of the Vatican Consistory, at which Archbishop Spellman was made a Cardinal. The sub 3386 PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, DECEMBER 28, 1946