Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Six MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS GET GOING O O Robert Paige, Grace McDonald, Vera Vague, Walter Catlett, Lois Collier, Maureen Cannon, Milburn Stone, Frank Faylen, Jennifer Holt, Nana Bryant. Original screen play by Warren Wilson. Direction by Jean Yarbrough. Universal Pictures. Here as in “The More the Merrier” the crowded living conditions of Washington are highlighted, but the film is far from being as successful. It is, however, gay and fast moving with funny gags, catchy songs and several good comedy situations, sometimes a shade too boisterous. Grace McDonald as Judy becomes the roommate of Vera Vague (T'lllie), and in order to attract eligible men who are scarce in the capital, they invent a spy ruse calling for a male investigator. Grace McDonald gets her man, and what is more of a novelty, Vera Vague lands one too. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Fair No ♦ HEAVEN CAN WAIT O O Don Ameche, Gene Tierney, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Spring Byington, Allyn Josslyn, Louis Calhern, Helen Reynolds. Based on play ''Birthday'' by Bus-Fekete. Produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Twentieth Century-Fox. Ernst Lubitsch has created a delectable confection for adult consumption in “Heaven Can Wait,” leading the excellent cast to give just the correct lightness to their performances and earning again his right to the comment, “It’s the Lubitsch touch.” Don Ameche plays the role of an aged gentleman of the gay, coquettish 90’s who, in arriving at the gates of Heaven is under the impression that he will be barred because of a lifelong weakness for the feminine sex. Satan, played superbly by Laird Cregar, reviews his past only to find that, while he had eloped with his stuffy cousin’s fiancee, his devotion to her throughout the years had actually kept him on a fairly straight and narrow path of proper behavior. Charles Coburn, the grandfather, whose life spent in building up the family fortune left him no time for fun, is always cheering him on and getting him out of trouble in a most engaging fashion. Gene Tierney plays the wife delightfully. Photographed in Technicolor, the film is beautiful to see, and the music is reminiscent and melodious. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Sophisticated and No little interest ❖ HERS TO HOLD O O Deanna Durbin, Joseph Cotten, Charles Winninger, Nella Walker, Gus Schilling, Ludwig Stossel, Irving Bacon, Nydia Westman. Screen play by Lewis R. Foster, based on a story by John D. Klorer. Musical direction by Charles Previn. Direction by Frank Ryan. Universal. Deanna Durbin has a more mature part in this picture than in anything she has done before, and although the play has many novel and clever situations which give free rein to her talent for comedy, there is a deeper undercurrent in her love for a flier whose life is dedicated to his country. Joseph Cotten is outstanding as the aviator who has been with Flying Tigers in China, living on nerve and high excitement, hesitant to let any girl care for him too much because the romance may culminate in tragedy. It is very much a story of the times we live in, beginning in a blood bank and going on to realistic scenes in the great Lockheed Vega plant where both are employed for a time. The music is an essential part of the film with the songs woven naturally into the production. “Pale Hands I Loved Beside the Shalimar” runs through it all as a melodic theme. Photography is good and the direction very smooth. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Too mature ❖ LET S FACE IT O O Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, Dona Drake, Cully Richards, Eve Arden, Zasu Pitts, Marjorie Weaver, Raymond Walburn, Phyllis Povah, Joe Sawyer, Dave Willock, Nicco and Tanya. Screen play by Harry Tugend, based on musical play by Dorothy and Herbert Fields and Cole Porter. Direction by Sidney Lanfield. Paramount. Bob Hope and Betty Hutton are the only bright spots in an incredibly dull and tawdry plot. The film tells the story of three middleaged women who suspect that their husbands’ “fishing trip” is a camouflage for less innocent pleasures, and who hire the impecunious Hope and two other soldiers to join them where they rightfully expect to find the husbands. The soldiers’ sweethearts unexpectedly appear also, and the fur flies. The best part of the action is when the fleeing soldiers trap a Nazi submarine. The old farce “Cradle Snatchers” has been rejuvenated for this opus, but let’s face the truth — even stars need good vehicles. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No ❖ MEXICAN SPITFIRE'S BLESSED EVENT Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Walter Reed, Elizabert Risdob, Lydia Bilbrook, Hugh Beaumont, Aileen Carlyle, Alan Carney, Marietta Canty, Ruth Lee, Wally Brown. Original story by Charles E. Roberts. Direction by Leslie Goodwin. R.K.O. An ambiguously worded message sent by Carmclita to announce the arrival of kittens, leads Lord Epping to suppose that Carmeliia herself is a new mother. There is of course a new contract in the offing, and when Lord Epping refuses to sign this contract before he sees the baby, the family try to keep the truth from him in a series of confusing episodes.