Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Five not a living picture of an intrepid flier whose one weakness was a reckless charm for women. The film is an entertaining romantic adventure but not an important contribution to an understanding of the women who are making history with men today and who are equally capable of heroic sacrifice for their country. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Fair No value and little interest ❖ FOREVER AND A DAY O O Kent Smith, Reginald Gardiner, Victor McLaglen, Billy Bevan, Arthur Treacher, Ruth Warwick, Herbert Marshall, C. Aubrey Smith, Edmund Gwenn, Ray Milland, Dame May Whitty, Gene Lockhart, Anna Neagle, Claude Rains, Jessie Matthews, Reginald Owen, Ian Hunter, Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Anna Lee, Patric Knowles, Edward Everett Horton, Isabel Elsom, June Duprez, Wendell Hulett, Ida Lupino, Brian Aherne, Merle Oberon, Una O'Connor, Nigel Bruce, Elsa Lanchester, Robert Coote, June, Roland Young, Gladys Cooper, Robert Cummings, Donald Crisp. Screen play by R. C. Sheriff, John Van Druten, Alice Duer Miller, James Hilton, A. J. Cronin, C. S. Forrester, Sinclair Lewis, Donald Ogden Stewart and twenty others. Based on an idea by Sir Cedric Hardwicke and an unpublished novel by Robert Stevenson. Sequences directed by Frank Lloyd, Herbert Wilcox, Robert Stevenson, Victor Saville, Rene Clair and Edmund Goulchng. Produced by Sir Cedric Hardwicke. R.K.O. “Forever and a Day” is a composite work of many individual writers, actors and directors, unified by the traditions of England inherent in a great, old London house. It tells the story of this house from the time of its construction in 180+ until it is bombed in the present war. The cast is long and distinguished, one group appearing for a well rounded episode to be followed by another group equally effective. Because of the great diversification of characters, it does not build up a cumulative emotional effect of high intensity, although individual sequences are deeply moving. Through it all runs the hope and promise that the best which has stood for England, joined with the strength and vision of America, will endure for all time. Note: Services of the cast were donated and all money earned will be given to United Nations Relief. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Too complex * FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Patric Knowles, Ilona Massey, Dennis Hoey, Mario Ouspenskaya, Lionel Atwill, Rex Evans. Direction by Roy William Neill. Universal. Both the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s Monster are disinterred to engage in new horrors for the benefit of those movie fans who crave grisly, supernatural adventures. It is less disturbing than the first of the group because it is not so well done, and it is so far outside normal experience that the average adult will not be adversely affected. For younger people, especially the sensitive, it is not advised. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No Unhealthy ❖ HAPPY GO LUCKY O O Mary Martin, Dick Powell, Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, Rudy Vallee, Mabel Paige, Eric Blore, Clem Bevans, Rita Christiani, Sir Lancelot and His Calypso Songs. Screen play by Walter DeLeon, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. Direction by Curtis Bernhardt. Technicolor director Natalie Kalmus. Paramount. This gala musicale offers gaiety, song and colorful settings as rich relief from modern problems. A beautiful cigarette girl masquerading as an heiress arrives at a luxurious hotel in the South Seas intent upon marrying a rich man. With the aid of a beachcomber she attains her goal only to experience disenchantment. This plot is sufficient for comedy purposes. Rudy Vallee gives an amusing and convincing performance as the inhibited and wary millionaire; Eddie Bracken and the human bombshell, Betty Hutton, add to the fun, and Mary Martin and Dick Powell are charming vis-a-vis. The songs are bright and tuneful, the sets and costumes exquisitely lavish and colorful. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Over 14; somewhat Probably little sophisticated interest ❖ HENRY ALDRICH GETS GLAMOUR O O Jimmy Lydon, Chas. Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakene.y, Diana Lynn, Frances Gifford, Gail Russell, Vaughan Glaser. Direction by Hugh Bennett. Paramount. Henry Aldrich’s exploits carry him far afield from Centerville, when he becomes the recipient of a trip to Hollywood and visits some real moving picture studios. The same amusing small town viewpoint and the exaggerated problems of youth which have made these pictures popular with many audiences are present in this film. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Funny and inter Yes esting ❖ HITLER'S CHILDREN O O Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Otto Kruger, H. B. Warner, Lloyd Corrigan, Erford Gage, Hans Conreid, Gavin Muir, Nancy Gates. Screen play by Emmet Laverty based on book, "Education For Death," by Gregor Ziemer. Direction by Edward Dmytryk. Produced by Robert S. Golden, R.K.O. The subject matter in this film is familiar to anyone who has read the many eye-witness accounts of the education and treatment of impressionable youth under Nazi tutelage, but dramatized before our eyes, it becomes