Motion Picture Reviews (1942)

Six MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Middleton, Philip Merivale, Edith Barrett, Blanche Yurka) give excellent interpretations of their parts. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No Impossible LOUISIANA PURCHASE O O Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, Victor Moore, Dora Drake, Irene Bordoni, Raymond Walburn, Maxie Rosenblum, Phyllis Ruth, Frank Albertson. Story by B G. De Sylva. Screen play by Jerome Chodorov and Jo Fields from the musical comedy by Morrie Ryskind. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Direction by Irving Cummings. Paramount. The musical comedy which has delighted New Yorkers for many moons tops the list of gorgeous film spectacles made in Technicolor. The sheen of materials, the blending of rainbow hues, the sparkle of jewels worn by beautiful girls, reach their culmination in scenes of the Mardi Gras, which are something out of a fairy tale. The prologue states in jaunty rhyme that since the whole affair is fiction, you can call a crook a crook. Bob Hope as the president of a concern called the Louisiana Purchasing Company, has been made the scapegoat for his grafting colleagues, and his only recourse is to compromise the Senator (Victor Moore), who comes to conduct an investigation. Since th is is all done in the spirit of burlesque and the audience understands the hoax, it is not really shocking when show-girls pop up from all corners of the solon's bedroom. The jokes are quick on the trigger, usually very funny, occasionally off-color. Political cracks are particularly telling, with most of the brick-bats thrown at the Democrats, but since the butt of the main jest is a Republican, insults stand about even. Zorina is graceful and dances in perfect form and is a charming actress, and Bob Hope plays his part with zest, but it is Victor Moore who always holds the center of the stage with just the right mixture of innocent befuddlement and sharp, political acumen. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Funny but Too mature sophisticated MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN THE CARTER CASE O O James Ellison, Virginia Gilmore, Franklyn Pangborn, Paul Harvey, Lynne Carver, Spencer Charters, Douglas Fowley, John Eldredge, Eddie Acuff, John Sheehan, Bradley Page. Screen play by Sidney Sheldon and Ben Roberts based on Phillips Lord's radio program "Mr. District Attorney." Direction by Bernard Vorhaus. Republic Pictures. It is difficult to imagine that this is anything but a comedy burlesque of all pictures dealing with newspaper girl sleuths, district attorneys and murder cases. And yet, if so, it is not well enough done to be successful. The smart girl reporter won't give up her job to marry the attorney; she is sure that he has convicted an innocent man in a murder case and proves her point after many farcical situations which are neither sufficiently funny nor sufficiently realistic to hold undivided interest. There are two murders and a wild automobile chase which is impossibly fantastic. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 tc 1 2 No No PARIS CALLING O O Elizabeth Bergner, Randolph Scott, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Lee J. Cobb, Charles Amt, Edward Ciannelli, George Renavent, William Edmunds, Paul Leysaac, Adolph Millar. Screen story by Benjamin Glazer and Charles Kaufman from an original story by John S. Toldy. Musical score by Richard Hageman. Photography by Milton Krasner, A. S.C. Direction by Edwin L. Marin. Produced by Benjamin Glazer. Universal Pictures. The script of this story of espionage is better than its presentation on the screen, for a new phase gives it fresh interest. The heroine is a French girl whose attitude must typify that of many of her compatriots in the last days when France capitulated to the enemy. Completely unaware of her country's danger, carrying on her social life without interruption, uninterested in politics and unsuspicious of intrigue, she is caught by the debacle totally unprepared. But in her case, shock vitalizes her to desperate action. She becomes a member of the underground movement aiding England and proves her loyalty to the Free French. The director has failed to provide flowing action and whether intentionally or not, has not typed the different nationalities sufficiently clearly to create an illusion of reality, thus lessening the emotional impact. But in treating the psychology of several characters the writers have done well. There is the case of the youthful German aviator whose first revulsion against the saddistic bombing of innocent evacuees is later overcome by his regimented loyalty to the German cause. The American member of the R.A.F. has fought in Spain on the Loyalists’ side, in China against the Japanese, and against the Axis for England, because “it is the same war, and one which must be won.’’ These men paint a picture of reality with no concession to sentiment. The setting, too, is one not used before and it arouses sympathy for an embarrassed people.