Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

MEET MR. MISCHIEF (Columbia) All Star Comedy (8436) Harry Von Zell, radio announcer, seems bent on driving everyone wild with his practical yokes. It takes a humor-provoking strategem of his wife finally to frighten him out of the habit. Release date, January 23, 1947 \7l/2 minutes SKI SKILL (NFB) Sport Subject Produced and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada, in the Canada Carries On series, the subject offers an inviting picture of winter skiing. The scenic views are excellent as the camera records several difficult movements and concludes with a breath-taking downhill run. Release date, March, 1947 10 minutes BORROWED BLONDE (RKO Radio) Leon Errol Comedy (73,701) There is nothing to distinguish this latest Errol comedy from its predecessors. It's goofy and it's funny and Errol does his usual best to tickle the funny-bone. Paul Maxey and his wife, Vivian Oakland, are not too happily married. Errol has a deal on with Maxey, who feels that by associating with a happily married couple, like the Errols, his own marriage could be straightened out. Before the visitors arrive, Errol gets in a mixup with a neighbor, Peggy Maley, and is forced to introduce her as his wife. Mrs. Errol, Dorothy Granger, arrives late and, unable to appreciate the situation, teaches Leon a lesson on "the equality of the sexes." Release date, March 7, 1947 17 minutes PLAYTIME'S JOURNEY (20th Century-Fox) Sports Reviezv (7353) A series of sports events are described by Mel Allen in this Technicolor subject. Events included are springtime fishing in Nova Scotia, a visit to a Palomino farm in Pennsylvania, and skiing in the snow-packed hills of Alta, Utah. Release date, December 13, 1946 8 minutes SKI CHAMPION (RKO) Sportscope (74,306) Rudolf Rominger, world champion skiier, demonstrates his technique and art in scenes filmed in the Swiss Alps. Release date, February 10, 1947 8 minutes TWO DECADES OF HISTORY (Para.) Two-Reel Special (37) From more than 14,000,000 feet of newsreel film in the library of Paramount News, a pictorial history of the last two decades has been made into a stirring document. Release date, January 4, 1947 22y2 minutes DO OR DIET (RKO) Edgar Kennedy Comedies (73,403) Edgar gets a few days off from work as a reward for being promoted to a better position. His family believes that he has been fired and thinks he has been fired because he is too fat. His wife and his brother-in-law put Edgar through a strenuous reducing program and Edgar thinks he is being killed. Release date, February 10, 1947 18 minutes KEYSTONE HOTEL (WB) Featurette (3105) Featuring many comedians of the early motion picture days, "Keystone Hotel" is a slapstick comedy ofZZa bathing beauty contest with Ben Turpin as the judge. When the contest doesn't come out to the liking of the contestants and their husbands Turpin becomes involved in a pie-throwing fight but is finally rescued by Keystone cops. In addition to Turpin there is Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Marie Prevost, Hank Mann and others. Release date, February 8, 1947 18 minutes THE DOG IN THE ORCHARD (WB) Featurette (3104) Based on a murder story by Mary Roberts Rinehart, "The Dog in the Orchard" is concerned with a man who murders his wife so he may be free to marry another. However, the barking of the dead woman's dog is a source of constant irritation and finally results in the murderer revealing his guilt. Howard da Silva is starred. It was originally released in 1941. Release date, January 11, 1947 20 minutes SELLING THE SUN (Para.) Sportlight (R6-6) Florida is the subject of this Grantland Rice Sportlight and the camera visits such places as Miami Beach, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Ocala, Daytona, Cypress Gardens and other beauty spots. Of course the reel wouldn't be complete without several shots of the bathing beauties of the state. Release date, January 31, 1947 10 minutes STYLE OF THE STARS (20th-Fox) Sports Reviews (7302) Champions of the golf course, the baseball diamond and the water carnivals perform for the camera while Mel Allen handles the narration. Among those seen are Patty Berg of golf fame ; many stars of baseball at the AllStar game in Boston, and a quintet of aquatic performers. Release date, February 7, 1947 10 minutes JUMPING JACKS (Para.) Sportlight (R6-5) Tracing the many sport champions who have come from Texas the camera then focuses on a group of tumbling youngsters from Dallas and catches them going through their skilled and intricate maneuvers. Release date, January 10, 1947 9l/2 minutes I BIG TIME REVUE (WB) Melody Master Band (3603) Featuring such vaudeville performers as Nick Lucas, Aunt Jamima, Eddie Peabody. The Rio Brothers and Chaz Case, this one-reel subject contrasts the vaudeville of yesteryear with that of today. Release date, January 25, 1947 10 minutes AIR-BORNE PASTURES (Para.) Popular Science (J6-3i) Produced in Magnacolor, this subject deals with the latest in kitchen aids ; turning sheep wool into persian lamb coats ; the reclamation of the vast desert wastelands into farming territory through the use of seeds sowed from airplanes. Release date, February 28, 1947 11 minutes ADVANCE SYNOPSES LAND OF THE LAWLESS (Monogram) PRODUCER: Barney A. Sarecky. DIRECTOR: Lambert Hillyer. PLAYERS: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Christine Mclntyre., Tristram Coffin. WESTERN. A cowboy agrees to help clean up a town in which his friend has been mysteriously killed. A plot to ship a hoard of money stolen from the miners and settlers is thwarted and the perpetrators of the murder are brought to justice. THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (Warners) PRODUCER: Mark Hellinger. DIRECTOR: Peter Godfrey. PLAYERS: Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Nigel Bruce. MELODRAMA. A wife whose husband is infatuated with another woman finds herself suffering from a mysterious malady. Her hus band's first wife pays her a visit, during the course of which she reveals that she, too, suffered from such a malady prior to divorcing her husband, and discovered that the husband was trying to poison her. When the husband finds that his second wife is aware of his attempt to poison her, he tries to kill her by more direct means, but is prevented by a loyal friend and former suitor of his second wife. BANJO (RKO Radio) PRODUCER: Lillie Hayward. DIRECTOR: Richard Fleischer. PLAYERS: Sharyn Moffett, Jacqueline White, Walter Reed, Una O'Connor, Louise Beavers, Lanny Rees. DOG STORY. A little orphan girl and her bird dog are sent north to live with the child's aunt. There the dog is kept penned up. He escapes and makes trouble for the aunt, whe ships him back down south. The little girl runs away to join him ; the dog saves her life, and all ends happily. HONEYMOON (RKO Radio) PRODUCER: Warren Duff. DIRECTOR: William Keighley. PLAYERS: Shirley Temple, Guy Madison, Franchot Tone, Lina Romay. ROMANTIC COMEDY. A young girl journeys to Mexico City to meet and marry a soldSer to whom she is engaged. The two miss connections, and she appeals to the American Consul for aid. This arouses not only the jealousy of her fiance, but that of the Consul's fiance as well. After many complications, matters are happily resolved. LAW OF THE CANYON (Columbia) PRODUCER: Colbert Clark. DIRECTOR: Ray Nazarro. PLAYERS: Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, George Chesebro, Nancy Saunders, Buzz Henry. WESTERN. The "Durango Kid," planning to open a store in Jackson City, is held up and robbed of a wagonload of merchandise. He discovers that the leader of the bandits is the town physician, who keeps the sheriff drugged in order to prevent him from acting. "Durango" tracks the bandits to their hideout, smokes them out, and turns them over to. the law. BUSH PILOT (Screen Guild-Dominion Productions) PRODUCER: Larry Cromien. DIRECTOR: Sterling Campbell. PLAYERS: Rochelle Hudson, Jack LaRue, Austin Willis, Frank Perry, Joe Carr, Gordon Adam, Michael Lambert. MELODRAMA. A Canadian bush pilot, in love with a school teacher, encounters trouble when his half-brother muscles in on his territory and his girl. During their feud, the school teacher's brother is killed in an air crash. The teacher, believing the pilot is to blame, leaves town. When the pilot's half-brother is chosen for a dangerous mission, the girl volunteers to guide him. They crash and the half-brother, dying, confesses his responsibility for his brother's death. A search ensues, and the pilot and school teacher are reconciled. BOB, SON OF BATTLE (20th Century-Fox) PRODUCER: Robert Bassler. DIRECTOR: Louis King. PLAYERS: Peggy Ann Garner, Lou McCallister, Edmund Gwenn, Cara Williams. DOG STORY. Two young people, a boy and a girl, each own shepherd dogs. At the sheep-herding trials, the girl's dog wins the competition. Subsequently, her dog is accused of being a sheep-killer. Eventually, however, the real killer is located and put to death. Tha girl and the boy, meanwhile, find romance. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MARCH 22, 1947 3539