Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Any story of this sort accepts the premise that two men can so closely resemble each other that even close relatives are deceived. It is a wise choice to have Pierre Aumont, a newcomer to the American screen, play the role and he makes it very convincing. Signe Hasso gives an alluring performance as the adventuress, Susan Peters is an excellent contrast as the lovely, demure French girl, Richard Whorf plays the crippled schoolteacher with distinction, and Margaret Wycherly is splendid as the mother of Corlay. The backgrounds are unusual and very well done, adding interest to the film. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Over 1 5 No BEHIND PRISON WALLS O O Alan Baxter, Gertrude Michael, Tully Marshall, Edwin Maxwell, Jacqueline Dalya, Matt Willis, Richard Kipling, Olga Sabin, Isabelle Withers, Lane Chandler, Paul Everton, George Guhl. Direction by Steve Sekely. Producers Releasing Corporation. This novel and quite successful satire leaves one with no conclusions, as the subject capitalism vs. socialism is left in the air for the next experimenters to argue out. The direction cleverly manages to give the impression of action, checking what might otherwise have been static dialogue. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Mature and no No interest interest ♦> CHINA O O Loretta Young, Alan Ladd, William Bendix, Philip Ahn, Iris Wong, Sen Yung, Marianne Quon, Jessie Tai Sing. Screen play by Frank Butler based on play by Archibald Forbes. Direction by John Farrow. Paramount. Possibly it is considered necessary occasionally to show in detail the truth about the bestial brutality of our adversaries, the Japanese, but nothing is left to the imagination in this film, and it is a harrowing experience. The action takes place in China where an American girl, at the point of a gun, commandeers a truck to carry Chinese girl students from the danger zone. The truck driver is also an American who is supplying oil to the Japs, and who thinks the war is none of his business. But during the hazardous days he gets a personalized view of what war means to innocent civilians, which makes him an active participant in an effort to delay the enemy’s advance. Alan Ladd and William Bendix are especially good in their roles, and the Chinese characters lend a semblance of reality to the scene. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Not recommended No CITY WITHOUT MEN O O Linda Darnell, Edgar Buchanan, Billie LaRue, Michael Duane, Sara Allgood, Glenda Farrell. Screen play by W. L. River from an original story by Budd Schulberg and Martin Berkeley. Direction by Sidney Salkow. Columbia Pictures. When Tom Adams (Michael Duane) is unjustly sent to prison on the charge of smuggling Japanese aliens into the States, his fiancee (Linda Darnell), joins the colony of prison widows in the penitentiary town. The plot is unpleasant melodrama, and the characters are stylized rather than real people with the exception of the role played by Edgar Buchanan, that of a once brilliant lawyer, now a drunken sot, who preys on newscomers with promises of getting their men freedom. The film has no value but manages to hold moderate interest. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 No No ❖ COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN O O Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Robert Coote, Ray Collins, Rosemary DeCamp, Alexander Knox, Elizabeth Fraser, Richard Derr, Erville Alderson, Ann Carter, Barbara Everest, Rod Cameron, Louis Jean Heydt, George Macready, Arthur Margetson and Capt. V. S. Godfrey, Commander C. M. Bree, R.N.N.; Brigadier R. A. Fraser, C.R.A.; Commander C. T. Beard, R.C.N.; Sergeant-Major L. E. Kemp, C.R.A.; SergeantMajor Mickey Miquelon, C.R.A. Screen play by Irwin Shaw from story by C. S. Forester. Direction by John Farrow. Produced by Lester Cowan. Musical score by Louis Gruenberg. Columbia Pictures. The great appeal of this picture lies in the understanding of the oppressed Norwegians, steadfast, peace-loving people who emerge as individuals driven to fight for a principle greater than themselves. The minister who joins in acts of sabotage vindicates them in words of scripture: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The central figure of the story is Torenson, native of a small village, a widower with a small child. Prior to the war a warm friendship has grown up between him and the daughter of a British admiral vacationing in Norway. She returns home, and before another summer comes, the forces of the Nazi invasion have swept all before them, enveloping the little village, placing harsh restrictions on the inhabitants, depriving them of food and blankets, punishing those who are reported uncongenial to the New Order. The brutality is not shown on the screen,