Motion Picture Reviews (1941)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Nine sembles are spectacular and the production lacks the sparkle of other Astaire pictures. Two students who have spent seven years in college living on the income from their college band are finally graduated much against their wills. They go to New York and after various unsuccessful attempts to find employment with Artie Shaw’s band, manage through the aid of a girl and an eccentric patron of music to get an engagement. The comedy is developed through the repeated efforts of the two musicians to double-cross each other and in Charles Butterworth’s characterization of the music patron. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Entertaining if they like music THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO O O Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, Florence Bates, Lionel Royce, Montagu Love. Screen play by George Bruce. Direction by Roland V. Lee. Music by Edward Ward. Edward Small Productions, Inc. Although this is named for Dumas’ hero, the lineage of the story is direct from Graustark. Moreover, let no references to present dictators confuse the issues of the case; this is as far removed from present day affairs as any fairy tale, and one can sit back and view with a clear conscience the tribulations of a princess held in durance vile by a gigantic villain and know that she will be rescued by the noble and agile hero. Gurko Lanan, a military dictator, takes over the small Balkan kingdom of Lichtenstein and keeps the Grand Duchess a virtual prisoner until Monte Cristo rallies the oppressed citizens to his aid in overthrowing the usurper. Louis Hayward makes this Monte Cristo a sprightly chap, and the character calls for the pretense of foppish stupidity which is always an added fillip of amusement. Joan Bennett is decorative, and George Sanders plays objectionable parts as efficiently as anyone in recent years; he is a very capable actor. The action is so fast and furious that at times it almost fails to make connections. Costumes, carriages and castle interiors of an elaborate, glittering court make the picture a joy to the eye. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Too exciting ❖ THIS THING CALLED LOVE O O Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Binnie Barnes, Allyn Joslyn, Gloria Dickson, Lee J. Cobb, Gloria Holden, Paul McGrath, Leona Maricle, Don Beddoe, Rosina Galli Sig Arno. Screen play by George Seaton, Ken Englund, P. J. Wolfson. Based on a play by Edwin Burke as produced by Patterson McNutt. Directed by Alexander Hall. Columbia. The subject of “This Thing Called Love” is one which requires a masterly touch to avoid being crude: a young, attractive wife wishes to keep her marriage on a platonic basis and not to have children until she is sure that they will not be involved in a possible divorce action. Unfortunately the needed subtlety in direction is lacking, and the director seems to feel that the audience will miss the implications if they are not obvious. Mr. Douglas and Miss Russell strive hard to make it smartly sophisticated, but the film is only boisterous farce with a few comical scenes to save it from oblivion. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No .♦ ♦ THE TRAIL OF THE VIGILANTES O O Franchot Tone, Broderick Crawford, Mischa Auer, Andy Devine, Peggy Moran, Warren William, Porter Hall, Chas. Trowbridge. Screen play by E. E. Paramoro. Direction by Allan Dwan. Universal. It is a frequent occurrence of late for young actors who have been identified with other types of plays to take a fling at a Western. This is Franchot Tone’s turn, and while it isn’t one of the best, it is quite good fun. The story follows the familiar lines of plundering and profiteering which must be overcome by brave, right-thinking men, and Franchot Tone is the young newspaper represenative sent out from Kansas City to apprehend the ring-leaders. Sometimes the action is so riotous that one wonders if this is a sort of a burlesque on all Westerns. Mischa Auer and Andy Devine are the comedians, each humorous in his own way. As usual, the mountain photography is beautiful. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Too exciting for some VICTORY O O Fredric March, Betty Field, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Jerome Cowan, Sig Rumann, Margaret Mycherly, Fritz Feld, Lionel Royce. Based on the novel of Joseph Conrad. Screen play by John L. Balderston. Direction by John Crombell. Paramount. The fact that Conrad’s story which leads step by step to inevitable tragedy is altered to permit the survival of the main characters, keeps this from being a big picture and places it in the class of good melodrama. Much of Conrad has been retained. Those who remember the novel will find themselves in the atmosphere of the book, at a cheap hotel in the Dutch East Indies and a few days later on a remote island, far away in time and space, but not far enough to save the inhabitants from the murderous cupidity of three fantastic cut-throats. The characters come straight from the pages of the book. This is not Fredric March but Axel Heyst whose relations with other men have been so unfortunate that he seeks the existence of a hermit. This frail, big-eyed child is not Betty Field, but the pitiful little pianist of a