Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

by some and criticized by others. Essentially the story tells of the changed mental attitude of individuals directly affected by the war. It shows how, with the men gone, the women step in and take over responsibilities they have never been known to take on before and, finally, how difficult the adjustment is when normal times return. All this is dramatically demonstrated in terms of a happily married couple. The husband, played by Michael Redgrave, goes off to war and is reported dead. Actually, it turns out later, he's been on a secret mission. When he turns up four years later he finds, what the audience has meanwhile witnessed, that his wife, played by Valerie Hobson, has taken over his seat in Parliament. Also, she has almost married his friend, James McKechnie. Unable to fit himself into the changed scheme of things, he becomes cynical and the marriage, already rocked by his long absence, seems destined to end in divorce. Things are finally straightened out by a faithful housekeeper of the couple, movingly portrayed by Flora Robson. American audiences will identify themselves with many of the emotional experiences in the film. Redgrave's and Miss Hobson's names on the marquee should help. Seen at a New York projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Good. — F. H. Release date, not set. Running time, 85 min. General audience classification. Michael Michael Redgrave Diana Valerie Hobson Nanny Flora Robson Richard James McKechnie Felix Aylmer, Dulcie Gray, John Gilpin, Edward Rigby, Yvonne Owen, Wylie Watson, Esma Cannon, Muriel George, Lyn Evans Lost Honeymoon Eagle-Lion — Strictly for Laughs With Franchot Tone, Tom Conway and Ann Richards as names for the marquee, and a lot of laughs in store for customers attracted by them, this production by Lee Marcus, directed by Leigh Jason from an original screenplay by Joseph Fields, is a most useful item of entertainment. It asks of its beholders nothing but laughter, and provides plenty of reason for it, according to the response made by a Hollywood theatre audience to which it was submitted without advance notification. Mr. Tone portrays a Rochester, N. Y., architect who learns, on the eve of his marriage, that a young English woman with infant twins has arrived in the country and is on her way to join him as his wife. Having spent six months in England in a state of amnesia following a bump on the head, he cannot be sure that the lady is not indeed his wife, and the twins their children, but is inclined to doubt it and, if it be true, to seek a way out of the situation. Complications compounded strictly for laughs accrue steadily until, when it comes out that the twins are really his, although the woman is not his wife, but a friend of his wife who has died, matters work out to everybody's satisfaction. Handled in brisk, highly professional fashion, the picture generates a high degree of amusement as it plays. Previewed at the Village theatre, Westivood, where the picture drew hearty laughter. Reviewer's Rating : Good. — William R. Weaver. Release date, March 15, 1947. Running time, 69 min. PCA No. 12138. General audience classification. Johnny Grey Franchot Tone Amy Atkins Ann Richards Doctor Davis Tom Conway Frances Rafferty, Clarence Kolb, Una O'Connor, Winston Severn, Adele Davenport, Sandra Roger, John Wald The Lone Hand Texan Columbia — Western Adventure The Durango Kid, the masked rider on the white horse, in this picture again gives Western fans exciting outdoor action. Charles Starrett, in the dual role of the Durango Kid and Steve Driscoll, helps the oppressed. The film follows the general pattern in this series, but as ati innovation the villain is a middle aged widow. Smiley Burnette is on hand for his humorous 3526 antics and he sings a few Western ballads with the help of Mustard and Gravy, two guitar players. Driscoll is called upon to help a friend get an oil well started. His friend's efforts have been thwarted by a gang of racketeers. A widow, played by Mary Newton, employs the gunmen in order to get possession of the oil lands. The Durango Kid discovers the woman's scheme and brings her and her gang to justice. Colbert Clark produced and Ray Nazzarro directed. Ed Earl Repp wrote the original screenplay. Seen at a Neiv York projection room. Reviewer's Rating : Average. — M. R. Y. Release date, March 6, 1947. Running time, 54 min. PCA No. 12115. General audience classification. The Durango Kid ) n. . _. Steve Driscoll f Charles Starrett Smiley Smiley Burnette Mrs. Adams Mary Newton Fred Sears, Mustard & Gravy, Maude Prickett, George Chesebro, Robert Stevens, Bob Cason, Jim Diehl, George Russell, Jasper Weldon Danger Street Paramount — Melodrama William Pine and William Thomas, the producers, present a film which concerns a photographer-reporter and an editor of a picture magazine, with Jane Withers and Robert Lowery heading the cast. There is a great variety of incidents in the melodramatic story. Jane Withers, as a photographer-reporter, gets some scoop pictures of a gambling place and barely escapes with her films as she is pursued by the racketeer-manager. The publisher decides to sell the magazine. But the staff, headed by Lowery, as the editor, get money together and buy the publication. Miss Withers and Lowery decide to get some pictures of the never-photographed society queen. They stumble on a murder, identify the murderer, expose the girl's scheming fiance and get the pictures. Their financial difficulties are solved and everyone is happy. Lew Landers directed from a screenplay by Maxwell Shane, Winston Miller and Kae Salkow from an original story by Winston Miller and Kae Salkow. The supporting players include Lyle Talbot, Charles Quigley and Bill Edwards. Seen at a New* York projection room. Receiver's Rating : Average. — M. R. Y. Release date, not set. Running time, 66 min. PCA No. 11612. General audience classification. Pat Marvin Jane Withers Larry Burke Robert Lowery Bill Edwards, Elaine Riley, Audrey Young, Lyle Talbot, Charles Quigley, Lucia Carroll, Nina Mae McKinney, Vera Marshe, Roy Gordon The Imperfect Lady Paramount — Scandal The value of this one lies more in the marquee names, Ray Milland, Teresa Wright, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, than in the story: an English period piece which details in broad A's and dropped H's the story of a girl who admits to having spent the night in a gentleman's chambers, thus saving him from being convicted of murder charges, and ruining her husband's political career. Despite this surface sensationalism, there is nothing in the picture to get the censors excited. The picture is placid, polite, leisurely and bland. The story, written by producer Karl Tunberg, has Miss Wright as pretty Millicent Hopkins touring in a dancing troupe in the English Midlands in 1892. She has been cast out of the parental home for daring to go on the stage. When Millicent meets Clive Loring (Milland), who is campaigning for Parliament, she gives up the stage and returns home to be nearer to Clive. But then Clive's brother (Sir Cedric) comes along muttering about an English Lord marrying a shopkeeper's daughter, which is just what Millicent is, and Millicent returns to the stage. One day Millicent and a girl friend are walking home from the theatre late at night, unescorted and with their stage makeup still on, and they bump into a young man. A policeman doesn't believe the bump was an accident and attempts to arrest the two girls for accosting men. The girls flee; Millicent, unfortunately, running right back into the arms of the young man and accepting his invitation to hide from the police in his apartment. Turns out the guy is a pianist and he and Millicent play Chopin, drink sherry and discuss matters of law. Later Millicent and Clive marry. Just as Clive is about to introduce a woman's suffrage vote in Parliament, Millicent learns that her pianist-host has been accused of committing a murder on the night he was so helpful. Mayfair is at her feet by this time, but she can't let a man die for a murder he didn't commit. Lewis Allen directed. Seen at the home office. Reviewer's Rating: Fair. — Ray Lanning, Release date, April 25, 1947. Running time, 97 min. PCA No. 10852. Adult audience classification. Clive Loring Ray Milland Millicent Hopkins ....Teresa Wright Lord Belmont Sir Cedric Hardwicke Virginia Field, Anthony Quinn, Reginald Owen, Melville Cooper, Rhys Williams Before Him All Rome Trembled Superfilm — "Tosca" and Resistance Produced in Italy by Excelsa Film and currently released in this country by Superfilm as one of their 20-odd pictures this year, "Before Him All Rome Trembled" is a combination of two stories of the occupation of the Eternal City in two different eras. With Anna Magnani, star of "Open City," in the leading role, the picture is primarily concerned with the underground movement against the Germans in Rome before it was liberated 'by the Allies. At the same time about half the picture is devoted to the presentation of Sardou's opera "Tosca," which is also concerned with the city's occupation, but during the Napleonic era. Taking the two identical themes director Carmine Gallone has woven a 1944 plot around a group of opera singers who are part of the Italian resistance movement while continuing their duties of delivering performances of "Tosca." Unlike "Tosca" and "Mario" of the opera, they live through their underground experience to present the stage musical before the Allied troops. Although the current theme is interesting, the highlight of the picture for opera lovers will be the presentation of "Tosca," for which the whole opera company was employed. It is filmed in its original setting with the incomparable music of Puccini directed by Maestro Luigi Ricci. In supporting roles are Gino Sinimberghi, the singer sought by the Germans for aiding the underground movement ; Guido Notari, a Polish refugee doctor, and Steffan Bode-Wab as the German officer in command. Reviewed at the Republic theatre in New York. Reviewer's Rating : Very good. — G. H. S. Release date, February 21, 1947. Running time, 103 min. General audience classification. Ada Ana Magnani Franco Gino Sinimberghi Lena Edda Albertini Franz Steffan Bode-Wab Carlo Duse, Joop Van Julsen, Guido Notari. Tino Scotti, Guglielmo Sinaz, Giuseppe Varni Range Beyond the Blue PRC — Western Opening with a burst of gunfire aimed at a galloping stagecoach, this sagebrush drama maintains its energetic pace throughout. As a notable little departure, it is a girl, attractive Helen Mowery, who does the stagecoach driving in the original screenplay of Patricia Harper. Eddie Dean is the hero of the piece, and when not pressing hard against villainy, he is usually lifting his voice in song. The heavy of this one is out to take over the stagecoach line, so, to make it difficult for Miss Mowery to operate, he has it held up every time it carries a gold shipment. It takes some PRODUCT DIGEST SECTION, MARCH 15, 1947 \