Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS cated boy, who returns to his naitve land, learns horrible savagery in the war in China, and becomes embued with the viewpoint of world domination; and the father who has held positions of great importance in the New Order and in the end realizes what he has done to ruin his own son. The film gives an illuminating picture of Japan as Americans saw it before Pearl Harbor with many charming incidents of home life counterbalanced by the war drama with all its horrors culminating in the raid on Tokyo. Whether one is convinced by the reasons given for Japan’s acceptance of extreme militarism or not, the production gives an insight into Japanese psychology and the social upheaval which led to the war. The total impression builds up a concentrated hatred of the Japanese. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Very strong fare No ♦ BEST FOOT FORWARD O O Lucille Ball, William Caxton, Virginia Weidler, Tommy Dix, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Kenny Bowers, Gloria DeHaven, Jack Jordan. From the stage production presented by George Abbott, book by John Cecil Holm, music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Direction by Edward Buzzell. Musical direction by Lennie Heyton. M-G-M. In this adaptation of a stage success Lucille Ball plays herself. When she is invited to a prom at Winsocki Prep School, her manager persuades her to accept for the sake of publicity, but her young swain’s ’teen age sweetheart turns up and Miss Ball is given cavalier treatment. The story is filmed in beautiful Technicolor, lavishly costumed and brightened by fresh young girls and boys. For the fans of name bands, Harry James is a big drawing card. If one can overlook the incongruity of unrestrained boogie-woogie and unchaperoned rowdyism in the atmosphere of a strictly conventional Eastern institution, the picture is entertaining, but it would appeal to a more discriminating audience if appropriate social patterns had been used. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 All right Of doubtful interest ♦> COLT COMRADES O O Wm. Boyd, Andy Clyde, Jay Kirby, Geo. Reeves, Gayle Lord, Earl Hodgins, Victor Jory, Douglas Fowley, Herb. Rawlinson. Screen play by Michael Wilson. Cameraman, Russell Harlan. Direction by Leslie Selander. United Artists. Spectacular scenery of the High Sierras, magnificent riding, and a good traditional western plot make “Colt Comrades” a particularly good specimen of the “Hopalong Cassidy” series. California, the lovable old comic played by Andy Clyde, becomes a hero in an amusing way. The righteous and the unrighteous are represented by Hopalong' s crowd and a cattle-rustling, water-monoply combine operating under the guise of vigilantes. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Yes, for those who are fans ♦ THE CONSTANT NYMPTH O O Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, Dame May Whitty, Peter Lorre, Joyce Reynolds, Jean Muir, Montagu Love, Edward Cianelli, Jeanine Crispin, Doris Lloyd, Joan Blair, Andre Chariot. Screen play by Kathryn Scola, from the novel by Margaret Kennedy. Photography by Tony Gaudio, A.S.C. Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Direction by Edmund Golding. Produced by Henry Blanke. Warner Bros. While the subtle charm of Margaret Kennedy’s book is difficult to recapture in another medium, director, writer and an unusually well-selected cast have united to make this a beautiful and sensitive picture. Into “The Sanger Circus,” the menage of an aging musician and his naive and original flock of daughters, comes Lewis Dodd, a musical genius whose intelligent but cynical viewpoint has resulted in an output of brilliant, dissonant compositions without depth or melodic beauty. He marries a woman whose desire for a conventional social life hampers his career, but through the influence of little Tessa Sanger, who has grown up in a musical atmosphere and is endowed with a mature, spiritual understanding beyond her years, he is able to develop into a great composer. At length he realizes that he has always loved Tessa as a child and now that she has become a woman he needs her, but her physical strength is too slight to surmount the great emotional crisis. The play ends on a melancholy note. Acting by Charles Boyer and all members of the cast is excellent, production values are high, and the musical score is especially beautiful. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Older ones will enjoy Little interest CREME DOCTOR O O Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel, Ray Collins, Harold Huber, Don Costello, Leon Ames, Constance Worth, Dorothy Tree, Vi Athens. Screen play by Graham Baker and Louis Lantz, adapted by Jerome Odium from the radio program "Crime Doctor" by Max Marcin. Direction by Michael Gordon. Columbia. In the opening scene a man is hurled from an automobile driven at terrific speed. When the victim regains consciousness he is found to be suffering from amnesia. In his new life he becomes a doctor, specializing in brain surgery and particularly in the mental quirks which turn normal human beings into felons. When his earlier associates come back into his life, they turn out to be criminals