Motion Picture Reviews (1941)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Seven Then follows a series of murders which a newspaper columnist covers with keen interest. The denouement is exciting and the final scene is absurdly ironical. It is well directed and well cast. Miss Padden creates a very real and unsual character out of the role of Aunt Cassic, whose wealth causes the family friction. Wallace Ford is good as the columnist and Cassie’s neighbor and elderly suitor (J. Arthur Young) is an excellent foil. For light amusing thrills “Murder by Invitation" may be recommended. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Exciting THE PARSON OF PANAMINT O O Charlie Ruggles, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Joseph Schildkraut, Porter Hall, Henry Kolker, Janet Beecher, Clem Bevans, Frank Puglia. Screen play by Harold Shumate and Asrian Scott based on novel by Peter B. Kyne. Direction by William McGann, Produced by Harry Sherman. Paramount. Peter B. Kyne’s story has the action and locale of the usual Western, but in addition it has real substance. It tells the story of a minister who accepts his first church in a rough mining town. He is young, eager, sincere, without fear and not averse to using his fists to protect the weak. He lives his religion of brotherly love and gives aid and comfort to anyone who seems to need it. Although his sincerity is disarming, the hypocritical rich men finally see him as a menace to their security, especially when he announces that he has sent for a mine inspector because he thinks the mine is unsafe. They take advantage of an accident to bring him to trial for murder, but a friend saves him when he is threatened by a mob, and an accident destroys the mine, proving that greed and evil can ruin all that they have built. Panamint then becomes a ghost town with only memories to haunt it. Charlie Ruggles has an excellent role and handles it very well. We see him first as an old prospector looking down on the ghost town. He tells a young man the story as the town comes to life. Phillip Terry, a newcomer to the screen, is well chosen for the role of “Parson.” He is boyish, manly, sincere and convincing. Ellen Drew and Joseph Schildkraut are well cast. Clem Bevan plays a drunken old scalawag extremely cleverly. It is a good story, capably presented, and far above the usual Western because of its plot. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes No 4* RAIDERS OF THE DESERT O O Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Linda Hayes, Maria Montez, Lewis Howard, Turhan Bey, Ralf Harolde, Harry Cording, Sig Arne, George Carleto. Direction by John Rawlings. Universal Pictures. Dick and Andy (Richard Arlen and Andy Devine) are stowaways on a ship which lands them in Arabia at a model colony run by an American. The local chieftan is against progress and conspires to regain his power. The two adventurers join in the brawls and battles which finally put down the revolt. With faked Arabian settings and masquerade costumes, this melo-dramatic action comedy simply moves from the American West to another location. The improbable plot is bolstered somewhat by dialogue, but the film will appeal only to credulous fans who are not discriminating. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Waste of time No value ♦ SAN ANTONIO ROSE O O Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Lon Chaney, Jr., Eve Arden, Shemp Howard, Richard Lane, Luis Alberni, The Merry Macs. Direction by Charles Lamont. Universal. What plot this picture can boast merely serves as a handle on which to hang a few songs and dances of the restless jazz type. Two girls take illegal possession of a night club after gangsters have run its proprietor out of town. The show proceeds amidst showering water and the crash of broken crockery until the script writers run out of gag’ Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Matter of taste No ❖ SERGEANT YORK O O Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges, Margaret Wycherly, Ward Bond, Noah Beery, Jr., June Lockhart, Dickie Moore, Clem Bevans, Howard da Silva, Charles Trowbridge, Harvery Stephens, David Bruce, Charles Esmond, Joseph Sawyer. Original screen play by Abem Finkel, Charles Chanlee and Howard Kochand, John Huston, based on diary of Sergeant York as edited by Tom Skeyhill. Photography by Sol Polito, A.S.C. Musical Director Leo F. Forbstein. Direction by Howard Hawks. Warner Bros. -First Natl. Sergeant Alvin York is remembered by Americans as our National Hero of the last World War. He is the man who, almost single handed, brought in one hundred and thirty-two German prisoners, an achivement which won him the Congressional medal as well as highest awards from the Allied Armies. This film is his biography, adapted from his diary and from the Congressional Record, which verified his military exploit. It is a splendid human document, for York’s heroism was more than mere bravery. He had neither interest for nor sympathy with the heroics of war and his presence in the military forces came only after a spiritual struggle in which he had to decide whether there is any justification at all for war. While the picture may be called a war film, it arouses no flag waving hysteria. It is an engrossing analysis of the background and