Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

SHOWMEN'S REVIEWS SHORT SUBJECTS ADVANCE SYNOPSES COMPAN Y CHART SERVICE DATA THE RELEASE CHART This department deals with new product from the point of view of the exhibitor who is to purvey it to his own public. The Homestretch 20th-Fox — Racing, Romance Just in time to cash in on the general interest stirred by the opening of the racing season, here is a picture that ought to make a hit with racing fans. Photographed in beautiful Technicolor, it shows 11 tracks in three countries and brings to the screen a series of racingevents. The story serves merely as a framework for the exciting racing shots. There are perhaps few other subjects which the Technicolor camera can record better than the, turbulent commotion of the racing crowd in the stands, the smart costumes, the excited prancing of well-groomed horses and, of course, the thrilling course of the race itself. All of this, as well as additional atmosphere color shots in both England and South America, should keep the fans happy. "The Homestretch" was produced by Robert Bassler and directed by Bruce Humberstone from an original screenplay by Wanda Tuchock. In the romance department, Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara look their handsome best. However, Wilde^ as the not-so-rich playboy, and Miss O'Hara, as the aristocratic beauty, get in some ardent love-making. Famous tracks shown in the picture include Ascot in England, Palermo in South America, and Churchill Downs, Jamaica, Aqueduct, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Belmont, Hialeah, Arlington and Saratoga in the United States. With the film's action laid in 1938, several Technicolor takes of the Coronation in London are included. The South American sequence features some pleasing Latin background music and calls on Mr. Wilde to converse in Spanish. Easy-going horse-lover Wilde swindles an old lady, Ethel Griffies. on the purchase of a horse and is found out by beautiful Maureen. He finds out that she's engaged to Glenn Langan, a young diplomat and follows her to London, entering the horse in the famed Ascot Gold Cup. The two fall in love. Already on the boat for South America. Wilde is visited by Maureen. They are married by the captain and are next seen arriving in Buenos Aires. There Miss O'Hara is jealous of Helen Walker, an old friend of Wilde's. Maureen wants Cornel to settle down on his old Maryland farm, but he has racing in hjs blood. They separate. Wilde gives the horse to his wife who wins race after race with it. Meanwhile Cornel, converted, takes a job and returns to his farm. The two get together after his horse loses bv only a head to his former racer. James Gleason, as the trainer, gives a good performance. Previezved at the home office projection room. Reviewer's Rating: Good. — Fred Hift. Release date. May, 1947. Running time, 96 min. PCA No. 11756. General audience classification. Jock Cornel Wilde Leslie Hale Maureen O'Hara Bill Van Dvke Glenn Langan Helen Walker. James Gleason. Henry Stephenson. Margaret Bannerman. Ethel Griffies, Tommy Cook MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 26, 1947 The Captive Heart U -I Prestige — War Drama The task of bringing to the screen the long days, months and years that filled the lives of men in the prisoner-of-war camps is at best a tempting and at worst an exacting one. In "The Captive Heart," director Basil Dearden happily has not confined himself to the changes wrought in men through their long confinement behind barbed wire enclosures, although there is enough in the picture to indicate that such changes do take place. In giving the story a thread of continuity that brings it to a logical, although not necessarily credible, conclusion, he has created the element of suspense coupled with a fine sense of the grim cycle of hope and despair that permeated the thinking of the prisoners. The plot of this British-made production, produced by Michael Balcon from a screenplay by Angus MacPhail and Guy Morgan, deals with a group of men, British soldiers, captured by the Germans in 1940. It is moving and tender in parts, exciting and realistic in others. At times its action drags and its dialogue lacks sparkle. British accents are heavy and even cause important lines to be lost. The art-theatre patron should love it. To explain the background of its characters, the picture uses the flashback technique in the beginning. All performances are flawless and, in some instances, deeply moving. There is the Scotch lad, Gordon Jackson, blinded in both eyes, taking it on the chin ; Michael Redgrave, as the Czech captain, an escapee from a German concentration camp, with fake British identification papers. He finds love by writing to the wife of a man whose name and rank he assumed and whom he eventually joins, barely escaping the clutches of the Gestapo ; and there is Jack Warner as the earthy British corporal. Eventually, all of these return to England and a new life. Previezved at the home office projection room. Rez'iezver's Ratine/ : Good. — F. H. Release date, not set. Running time, 86 min. Adult audience classification. Capt. Karel Hasek Michael Redgrave Celia Mitchell Rachel Kempson Mr. Mowbray Frederick Leister Pte. Evans Mervyn Johns Rachel Thomas, Jack Warner, Gladys Henson, James Harcourt, Gordon Jackson. Elliot Mason, Margot Fitzsimons. David Keir, Basil Radford Cheyenne Warners — Super-Western "Don't spare the horses" appears to have been the motto of producer Robert Buckner and director Raoul Walsh in making a Western which is longer, more elaborate and livelier than run-of-the mine rawhide opera. Certainly few Westerns come to mind which include so many and so frequent chase sequences, each climaxed by a stagecoach robbery. " Dennis Morgan. Jane Wyman. Janis Paige and Bruce Bennett are the principals. With the exception of Miss Paige, who brings great gusto to her portrayal of the dancehall girl, they move through their parts at a far slower clip than do the equine performers. Walsh's direction, in fact, leans heavily upon the chase sequences, and a tempestuous musical score by Max Steiner. Each robbery nets an unknown thief some $20,000, and to put a stop to this state of affairs Morgan is assigned to catch the culprit. His investigations involve him with both the young ladies mentioned above, but his affections soon center on Miss Wyman. She is somewhat handicapped by the fact that she is married — and to the stagecoach robber, at that — a circumstance which she overcomes by betraying her husband to Morgan. Fatally wounded, the thief is led off to die, leaving Miss Wyman and Morgan to find love in each other's arms. A substantial reward for the capture of Miss Wyman's first husband assures financial backing for a honeymoon with. her second. One of the song numbers offered by Miss Paige might be offensive to family audiences with respect to the lyrics of the song she sings, the costume that she wears, and the suggestive manner in which she is photographed. Alan LeMay and Thames Williamson wrote the screenplay. Seen at the studio. Reziezver's Rating : Average.— Thalia Bell. Release date, not set. Running time. 100 min. PCA No. 11668. General audience classification. James Wylie Dennis Morgan Ann Kincaid .. Jane Wyman Janis Paige, Bruce Bennett, Alan Hale. Arthur Kennedy, John Ridgely, Barton MacLane. Tom Tyler, Bob Steele. John Compton Dishonored Lady United Artists-Hunt Stromberg — Psychiatry and Crime Combining three familiar themes, this Hunt Stromberg production is designed for those people whose cinema tastes lean towards the psychiatric, the criminal and/or the romantic type of film fare. Produced by Jack Chertok, director Robert Stevenson has taken these individuals elements, has skillfully woven them and has emerged with a picture which should satisfy most audiences. Starring Hedy Lamarr, Dennis O'Keefe and John Loder, the story is an examination of the mental quirks of a nymphomaniac who fruitlessly seeks happiness in a series of swiftpaced romances. Consulting a psychiatrist before committing suicide, he persuades her to discontinue her old ways and begin life anew. This she does. She then meets and falls in love with a struggling young doctor from whom her past is kept a secret. In a moment of weakness she joins a former lover in his apartment, but resists his advances. Later she is charged with his murder. Her sympathetic psychiatrist convinces the young doctor that he should forget his injured pride and prove her innocence. The picture ends on a happy note when she is acquitted. Since it is a story of the frailties of human 3597