Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

Four MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS CLAUDIA O O Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Ina Claire, Reginald Gardner, Olga Baclanova, Jean Howard. Screen play by Morris Ryskin. Direction by Edmund Goulding. Twentieth Century-Fox. If you have not been fortunate enough to see Rose Franken’s stage play from which this is adapted, you may get the impression from the film’s publicity that Claudia is a zany nit-wit whose experiences provide only hilarious comedy. But actually underneath the fun, and it really is great fun, there is a serious and moving undertone, for Claudia is a lovely child wife who, when she learns simultaneously that she is to have a baby and that her adored mother is to die soon, takes her first steps toward maturity. It is deeply rewarding entertainment and so touchingly real that it leaves one knowing that the meaning of life has been somewhat clarified. Dorothy McGuire is a charming Claudia expressing the fresh, spontaneous inhibitions of youth and yet suggesting with entire conviction an inner depth which explains her husband’s devotion to her. Robert Young and Ina Claire are perfectly cast, and the support adds reality and verve to a production distinctly worth seeing. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good No; too mature ❖ CORVETTE K-225 O O Randolph Scott, James Brown, Ella Raines, Barry Fitzgerald, Andy Devine, Fuzzy Knight, Noah Beery, Jr., Richard Lane. Original screen play by John Rhodes Sturdt, Lieut. R.C.N.V.R. Direction by Richard Rosson. Produced by Howard Hawks. Universal Pictures. This is an exciting and informative dramatization of one of the most vital and perilous branches of the Navy. The story carries the Canadian Corvette K-225 on her maiden voyage guarding a supply convoy through hazardous seas and enemy attack, until, battered but victorious, the ship and her valiant crew are saluted by the convoy as they steam safely into port. The plot does not stress the personal stories of the crew and the proud tradition of the Navy as did the film “In Which We Serve.” This may be because the newy recruited crew are, for the most part, men for whom sea duty is merely the civilians’ answer to a great emergency. These men are, however, symbolic of many in the Allied navies today, and their courage and discipline are thus especially impressive. Photography, direction, musical score, and acting are noteworthy, and the film is well worth seeing. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good If used to war films. Exciting DESTROYER O O Edward G. Robinson, Glenn Ford, Marguerite Chapman, Edgar Buchanan, Leo Gorcey, Regis Toomey, Ed Brophy, Warren Ashe. Screen play by Frank Wead, Lewis Meltzer and Borden Chase. Direction by William A. Seiter. Columbia. If this was intended as a tribute to ships of the destroyer type, it is no epic, and even Mr. Robinson cannot make one feel that the ship " John Paul Jones" or the people on it are very important. The construction of this new destroyer, built to replace one sunk in battle, is the particular interest of Steve Boleslavski (Robinson) a former navy man, and when it is launched he joins up again with its crew and “gets into every man’s hair” enforcing his idea of discipline upon them. Unfortunately the ship’s imperfections are so apparent that the crew wish to transfer, but Bolcy manages to hold their loyalty in spite of the fact that the ‘‘John Paul Jones” is removed from combate service and sent to carry mail to the Aleutians. On this cruise they have a spectacular and successful brush with the enemy. The melodramatic action and the comedy will please a not too critical audience. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Yes ♦ THE FALLEN SPARROW Children, 8 to 12 If used to war films o o John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, Patricia Morrison, Martha O'Driscoll, John Banner, John Miljan, Hugh Beaumont. From the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. Direction by Richard Wallace. R.K.O. The extremely complicated plot may leave the audience striving to figure out some of its ramifications, but no one will brush it off as uninteresting. The psychological effect of fear is developed through the experiences of Kit, an idealistic young American who, while fighting for the Loyalists in Spain, has been captured and tortured. After his escape and convalence, he returns to Washington to investigate the death of a comrade, suspecting that Nazi agents are responsible. Later through a series of strange and exciting episodes he overcomes his fear of a sadistic Gestapo agent posing as a Hollander, and aids in capturing a spy ring. The play is well done by an excellent cast, and the ending is unusual. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Not recommended No <♦ FIRED WIFE O O Diana Barrymore, Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Walter Abel, George Dolenz, Rex Ingram, Ernest Truex, Alan Dinehart, Walter Catlett, Richard Lane, Samuel S. Hinds. Direction by Charles Lamont. Universal Pictures. In spite of smart styling and a good cast “Fired Wife” is too noisy and too obvious to be anything but just another bedroom