Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Nine of a film requires little plot, but the raison d’etre consists of an ingenious situation wherein a gate-keeper of the studio, who has posed as a producer in letters to his son, is confronted by the boy and a host of his sailor comrades and has to make good by putting on an elaborate show for them. Individual successes are too numerous to mention, and it all adds up to corking entertainment. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good fun Would enjoy it ♦ TARZAN TRIUMPHS O O Johnny Weismuller, Johnny Sheffield, Frances Gifford, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman, Pedro Cordoba, Phillip Van Zandt, Stanley Brown, Rex Williams, Cheta, the Chimpanzee. Based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Direction by William Thiele. RKO. With all the world in turmoil it is not surprising that the Nazis should finally reach Tarzan’s Shangri-La. Jane is in England but has written T arzan and Boy about the war. Tarzan, shocked that men fight each other, asserts that nothing would make him take up arms except the ferocity of wild beasts. But the brutal Nazis convince him that they are worse than jungle enemies, and he is aroused to fight for the rights of those oppressed. He comes to the rescue in true Superman form. It is a very entertaining picture in which Cheeta plays an important role with his usual canny sense of comedy adding thrills and fbn. It is especially good for children as it may clarify for them the reasons why it is sometimes necessary to abandon appeasement to fight for fair play and decency. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Good except for those easily frightened ♦ TIME TO KILL O ^ Lloyd Nolan, Heather Angel, Doris Merrick, Ralph Byrd, Richard Lane, Sheila Bromley, Morris Ankrum, Ethel Griffies, James Seay, Ted Hecht, William Pawley. Screen play by Clarence Upson Young based on novel by Raymond Chandler and the character "Michael Shayne" created by Brett Halliday. Direction by Herbert I. Leeds. Produced by Sol M. Wurtzel. Twentieth Century-Fox. “Wherever Michael Shayne goes there’s sure to be a murder,” and as he covers a lot of ground in this story, there are many corpses. This series, featuring Lloyd Nolan as the private detective, is always entertaining, and “Time To Kill” has an unusually good plot which offers baffling clues for those who like to test their skill in solving murder mysteries. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good of type No THEY GOT ME COVERED <> O Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Lenore Aubert, Otto Preminger, Edward Ciannelli, Marion Martin, Donald Meek, Phyllis Ruth, Philip Ahn, Mary Treen, Bettye Avery, Margaret Hayes, Mary Byrne, Wm. Yetter, Henry Guttman. Direction by David Butler. Musical direction by Leigh Harline. Bob Hope fans will wax enthusiastic over anything in which he appears, but confidentially this is not his best. Perhaps there are too many realistic touches bringing to the surface, if only for a moment, the tragic background of the war; perhaps the vaunted Hope “timing” is not up to par. As an ex-foreign correspondent he tangles with a group of Nazi spies, escaping from dangerous situations with moronic indifference and a large order of slapstick. Production values are high, and acting by Phyllis Ruth, Lenore Aubert and several others in the cast is excellent. Naturally some of Hope’s lines are very funny, but the film is long, and towards the end it becomes tedious. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 All right Not recommended ♦ THREE HEARTS FOR JULIA O O Ann Sothern, Melvyn Douglas, Lee Bowman, Richard Ainley, Felix Bressart, Marta Linden, Reginald Owen, Marietta Canty. Story and screen play by Lionel Houser. Musical score by Herbert Stothart. Directed by Richard Thorpe. Produced by John W. Considine, Jr. M-G-M. When a foreign correspondent subordinates an attractive wife to his career, the wife tosses off her marriage as an item less important than her interest in music and a couple of ardent suitors. It requires plotting, near kidnapping and various degrees of persuasion to win her back. Melvyn Douglas is more effective in his brisk comedy and out-and-out buffoonery than in the heavy love-making scenes; Ann Sothern is well cast, and Felix Bressart is memorable as the Czech musician reduced to the status of a women’s orchestra. The film is embellished by some good musical numbers. It is frothy, slightly risque entertainment in a frankly escapist vein. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Passable; very Too sophisticated frivolous view of marriage ♦% WE KILLED HITLER'S HANGMAN O O Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Gene, Lockhart, Dennis O'Keefe, Alexander Granach, Margaret Wycherly, Nana Bryant, Billy Boy, Hans V. Twardowski, Tonio Selwart, Jonathan Hale, Lionel Stander, Byron Foulger, Reinhold Schuenzel, Virginia Farmer, Louis Donath, Sarah Padden, Edmund MacDonald. Produced and directed by Fritz Lang. Musical score by Hanns Eisler. Arnold Pressburger Film. General Service Studios. The events which led up to and followed the assassination of Heydrich, the Nazi