Motion Picture Reviews (1941)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS DOWN MEXICO WAY O O Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Fay McKenzie, Harold Huber, Sidney Blackmer, Joe Sawyer, Andrew Tombes, Murray Alper, Duncan Renaldo, Paul Fix, Julian Rivero, Ruth Robinson, Thornton Edwards and the Herrara Sisters. Screen play by Olive Cooper and Albert Duffy, based on a story by Dorrell and Stewart McGowan. Direction by Joseph Santley. Republic Pictures. This is an agreeable action film in which popular Mexican and American tunes add to the enjoyment. Gene and Frog (Smiley Burnette) accompanied by a reformed bandit (Harold Huber) set out to follow two confidence men who have fleeced their townspeople out of $35,000 in a scheme to finance a motion picture glorifying the community. The trail leads them over the border, where a Mexican beauty (Fay McKenzie) is to be starred in a production by the same nefarious gang. After a mild love affair, a lovely fiesta, a dashing ride or two, all ends well. No wonder Gene Autry is a popular hero with the younger generation. He rides well, never drinks, has no “mushy’’ love scenes. They even adore his songs! Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Good ♦> GLAMOUR BOY O O Jackie Cooper, Susanna Foster, Walter Abel, Darryl Hickman, Ann Gillis, William Demarest, Jackie Searl, Edith Meiser. Direction by Ralph Murphy. Musical direction by Victor Young. Paramount. Two actors who were pleasing as children, Jackie Cooper and Jackie Searl, appear in a story describing the dilemma of such players at the “awkward age” before they emerge as grown-up actors. We even see amusing excerpts from films taken when they were child stars. Tiny (Jackie Cooper) works at a soda fountain, tries to coach a child prodigy, and concurrently with a new chance in pictures finds romance with a young singer called Joan (Susanna Foster). Musical numbers of great charm include “Love Is Such an Old-Fashioned Thing” and “Magnolias in the Night,” both featuring Miss Foster. An attractive, youthful cast, a light but sufficient plot, and good direction make this a pleasing comedy. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Yes ♦ GO WEST, YOUNG LADY O O Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford, Ann Miller, Charlie Ruggles, Jed Prouty, Onslow Stevens, Bob Wills, Edith Meiser, Bill Hazlet, Waffles. Screen play by Richard Flournoy and Karen DeWolf. Musical director, M. W. Stoloff. Dance director, Louis DaPron. Direction by Frank R. Strayer. Columbia Pictures. Penny Singleton as Belinda Perdergast, a recent graduate of a female seminary in the '60s, comes to visit her uncle “Out West.” Uncle runs the local gambling house and Belinda takes up housekeeping over the saloon. The good ladies of the settlement shun her, a dance hall hostess-performer starts a feud, and between these difficulties, marauding Indians, and a local gang of bandits, Belinda has a time orienting herself. It is a musical burlesque of slugging, fast shooting Westerns. Some of the satire is very clever and some pretty broad. Glenn Ford is a likable hero, but spends much of the time submerged in lemon chiffon pie, which Belinda finds a handy weapon upon provocation. The musical interludes are pleasing and different. It is entertaining but not outstanding. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No value No ♦ H. M. PULHAM, ESQ. O O Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn, Van Heflin, Fay Holden, Bonita Granville, Douglas Wood, Charles Halton, Leif Erickson, Phil Brown, David Clyde, Sarah Haden. Screen play by Elizabeth Hill and King Vidor from the novel by John P. Marquand. Direction by King Vidor. M.G.M. On the eve of his twenty-fifth college anniversary, Henry Pulliam sums up his life for his class book and realizes the significance of many events not entered in that chronicle. It is the life of a man who has grown to fit the pattern of existence to which he was born. Blue-blood Bostonian by lineage, entered at St. Swithin’s School the moment he drew breath, Harvard of course, engaged in substantial, humdrum business, married to a suitable girl whom he first met in dancing school, H. M. Pulham has done everything expected of him. Only once has he escaped from his orbit. On his return from France with the A.E.F. he worked for some months in a big advertising firm in New York, and there he met Marvin Myles, a girl with a radiant personality who swept him off his feet into a vital new world, more beautiful than anything he had imagined. But their tastes were too different. When his father died he went back to his old life. He ends by punctiliously attending to business, walking the dog at night, listening to the monotonous but reassuring beat of the clock. He decides that no one is really happy, takes satisfaction in feeling that he is where he belongs. The spirit of the Marquand novel pervades the entire film. The title role calls for a subtle understanding of character, and Robert Young performs it with intelligence and skill; he reveals a maturity he has never before reached. Although those who have read the book may cavil at Hedy Lamarr's foreign accent and mannerisms, her charm and unabashed joy in living belong