Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Twelve MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS STORMY WEATHER O O Lena Horne, Bill Robinson and his Band, Katherine Dunham and her Troupe, Fats Waller, Nicholas Brothers, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson, The Tramp Band, Babe Wallace, Ernest Whitman, Zutty Singleton, Mae Johnson, Flourney E. Miller, Johnnie Lee, Robert Felser, Nicodemus Stewart. Original story by Jerry Horwin and Seymore B. Robinson, adapted by H. S. Kraft. Screen play by Frederick Jackson and Ted Koehler. Dances staged by Clarence Robinson. Musical numbers supervised by Fanchon. Music directed by Emil Newman. Direction by Andrew Stone. Produced by William LeBaron. Twentieth Century-Fox. This is an all colored review which keeps in character all the time and has a pleasant story to hold together the specialty acts of the skilful performers. In the introduction, Bill Robinson displays to a group of small picaninnies an issue of a theatrical magazine celebrating the contribution of the colored race to the entertainment field in the last twenty-five years. When they question him, the story of Bill's life unfolds. As “Corky” he marches in the Victory Parade down Fifth Avenue in 1918 with his regiment, and that night he meets the beautiful and talented sister of a former buddy who died in France; from then on their lives are linked, although their conflicting ambitions on the stage tear them apart for a time. The acts are typical of the characteristic rhythm of the colored race. Some of the sequences are very spectacular. Even if Bill Robinson does not retain all of his old acrobatic ability, he still exhibits great talent, especially in his elaborate dance on the drums. Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Jr., Katherine Dunham and her fine troupe, Ada Brown and the Shadrack Boys are all exceptionally gifted and well trained, and the film is good entertainment. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes, enjoyable Too mature ❖ SWING SHIFT MAISIE O O Ann Sothern, James Craig, Jean Rogers, Connie Gilchrist, John Qualen, Kay Medford, The Wiere Bros., Jacqueline White, Betty Jaynes, Fred Brady, Marta Linden. Original screen play by Mary C. McCall, Jr., and Robert Halff, based upon the characters created by Wilson Collison. Direction by Norman Z. McLeod. Music by Lennie Hayton. M-G-M. Maisie, as interpreted by Ann Sothern, is an original and attractive character, blessed with little education but plenty of quick wits, a strong feeling for fair play and a colorful sense of humor. In this timely story of work in an airplane factory and life in a hectic boarding house, where workers return to sleep at staggered hours, a glamorous movie extra whom she befriends ensnares the man in whom Maisie is interested, but Maisie discovers that the girl has no loyalty to him or to anyone else and employs resourceful methods to win him back. Poetic license is used in respect to the acquisition of a birth certificate through chicanery in a manner quite impossible in a hard-boiled war plant. The film offers light and amusing entertainment. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Of doubtful interest ❖ THEY CAME TO BLOW UP AMERICA O George Sanders, Anna Sten, Ward Bond, Dennis Hoey, Sig Ruman, Ludwig Stossel, Robert Barrat, Poldy Dur, Ralph Byrd, Elsa Janssen, Rex Williams, Charles McGraw. Original story by Michael Jacoby. Screen play by Aubrey Wisberg. Director of photography, Lucien Andriot, A.S.C. Direction by Edward Ludwig. Music by Hugo W. Friedhofer. Produced by Lee Marcus. Twentieth Century-Fox. This interesting melodrama offers a fictional explanation of the leniency granted two of the Nazi saboteurs who landed in the U. S. last year from a U-boat off Long Island. While the actual facts of the case are sealed in the F.B.I. records, the story ties in sufficiently well with what has been divulged to make most of the events seem plausible. George Sanders, always an able actor, plays the part of Carl Steelman, a GermanAmerican actually loyal to this country, who, impersonating a deceased Bund member, returns to Germany for training in sabotage and is assigned the post of leader of the demolition group. In the trial he aids the F.B.I. by giving evidence against the criminals, Ludwig Stossel and Elsa Janssen are good as Steelman’s parents, while Anna Sten is efficient in a dramatic role as the German wife of the dead Bundist. Adolescents, 1 2 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good melodrama Too mature ,♦ TWO SENORITAS FROM CHICAGO O O Joan Davis, Jinx Falkenburg, Ann Savage, Leslie Brooks, Ramsay Ames, Bob Haymes, Emory Parnell, Douglass Leavitt, Muni Seroff, Max Willenz, Stanley Brown, Frank Sully. Screen play by Stanley Rubin and Maurice Tombragel, based on a story by Steven Vas. Direction by Frank Woodruff. Musical direction by M. W. Stoloff. Columbia. A light and fairly amusing comedy with music is highlighted by the acting of Joan Davis who is spontaneous and has a brand of