Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS ivitc/i. When orders are unsealed they learn that they are to proceed to Newfoundland to join a great convoy en route for Murmansk. At the meeting place, seventy-two vessels flying the flags of the Allied Nations make a stimulating picture of the united effort put forth to get supplies to the front. The high spot of the action follows an attack on the convoy by a Nazi wolf pack during which the Seaviitch becomes separated from the other ships and fights a lonely, courageous battle for survival. The actors are excellent throughout, playing their roles with dignity and restraint and giving us the impression that we are spectators at an actual drama of the present war. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Excellent and Not recommended informative ALL BY MYSELF O O Patric Knowles, Evelyn Ankers, Rosemary Lane, Neil Hamilton, Grant Mitchell, Louise Beavers. Screen original by Dorothy Bennett and Link Hannah. Direction by Felix Feist. Universal. A “quadrangle” story displaying an irresponsible attitude towards marriage concerns a career girl, her partner, a night club singer, and a young doctor. Treatment is light and the film is fairly entertaining. The name arising from a song by Rosemary Lane in one of the final scenes is irrelevant, since no one is very much by himself. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No Too mature BACKGROUND TO DANGER O O George Raft, Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Osa Massen, Turhan Bey, Willard Robertson, Kurt Katch, Daniel Ocko, Pedro de Cordoba, Steve Geray. Screen play by W. R. Burnett from a novel by Eric Ambler. Direction by Raoul Walsh. Warner Bros. The background of Nazis inciting Turkey against Russia gives promise of a distinctive picture, and the opening scene of the attempted assassination of Von Papen sets the stage dramatically, but the use of familiar situations as the hero becomes involved in a series of hairbreadth escapes dissipates our expectations. A female Nazi agent poses as a girl in trouble on a train entering Turkey and requests that Raft, posing as an American salesman, carry a package of money over the border for her and into Ankara. When he attempts to return the package to her he finds her murdered, and opening the package he finds maps outlining an invasion of Turkey by Russia. He then is not only a murder suspect wanted by the Turkish police but also is hunted by both Nazi and Russian agents to whom the maps are dynamite. But Raft plays superman in a cat and mouse game of international politics and escapes to carry on elsewhere in American Secret Service. The local color is interesting and the cast is good. It is an escapist melodrama. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes, if interested Too complicated to interest ❖ BATAAN O O Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan, Lee Bowman, Robert Walker, Desi Arnaz, Barry Nelson, Phillip Terry, Roque Espiritu, Kenneth Spencer, J. Alex. Havier, Tom Dugan, Donald Curtis. Screen play by Robert D. Andrews. Direction by Tay Garnett. Produced by Irving Starr. Music by Bronislau Kaper. Photography by Sidney Wagner, ASC. M-G-M. Reaction to “Bataan” depends upon how much the observer knows of actual conditions of that phase of the war and of the military strategy used, and up to date not a great deal has been divulged. It is not documentary in any sense, although the conditions under which the men live and fight undoubtedly parallel actual experiences. The action takes place during the evacuation of Bataan when thirteen expendable men are left to blow up a bridge, prevent the enemy from rebuilding it, and hold the area as long as possible. One by one they are sacrificed under grim and horrifying circumstances. The characters are highly individualized, and their behavior is probably typical under the stress of combat. While all the acting is impressive, the most memorable part is the one of Purckctt, taken by Robert Walker, a ’teen age sailor who joins the patrol “to kill a Jap” and whose buoyant enthusiasm keeps him from believing that death for him is a possibility. Atmosphere is strong, heavy with the luxuriance and heat of the tropics, and the music of strings and wood-winds is used to give an uncanny feeling of impending danger. The tragedy of Bataan is so recent that no one can see a picture based upon it objectively. For many this will be an agonizing experience, and whether it is worth the cost to see a film which emphasizes the struggle of individuals in an isolated sector instead of a more factual presentation of the entire field of operations is a matter of opinion. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Not recommended No ❖ BOMBARDIER O O Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, Anne Shirley, Eddie Albert, Walter Reed, Robert Ryan, Barton MacLane, Leonard Strong. From a story by John Twist and Martin Rackin. Written for the screen by John Twist. Music by Roy Webb. Musical direction by C. Bakaleinikoff. Direction by Richard Wallace. RKO-Radio. Col. “Paddy” Ryan of the U. S. Army, originator of the first training school for