Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Nine SAHARA O O Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Rex Ingram, J. Carrol Naish, Dan Duryea, Richard Nugent, Patrick O'Moore, Kurt Krueger. Screen play by John Howard Lawson and Zoltan Korda. Direction by Zoltan Korda. Columbia. When Tobruk is about to fall into the hands of the Germans, three Americans escape with their tank “Lulubelle” across the desert to the south, taking on board a British medical unit, a Sudanese and his Italian prisoner and later a captured Nazi flier. Arriving at a water hole, they organize a defense against several companies of Germans, facing with high courage and resourcefulness a terrifying and apparently hopeless situation. The trek across the difficult desert terrain through sand storms and intense heat is an absorbing experience, but the film is chiefly notable for the characterizations of men of the different nationalities. The director has handled his material with a restraint which makes it convincing, and while the ending may seem to overstep the bounds of the wildest imagination, it is probably no more miraculous than some of the recorded exploits of the war. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes No. Some of it too grim ❖ SALUTE TO THE MARINES O O Wallace Beery, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen, Keye Luke, Ray Collins, William Lundigan, Noah Beery, Sr., Dick Curtis, Russell Gleason, Rose Hobart. Screen play by George Bruce. Direction by S. Sylvan Simon. M-G-M. The part of Sergeant Major Bailey is one which fits Wallace Beery like an old shoe. He is the tough, capable Marine officer, turning out well-disciplined fighting men, overlooking no detail in drill and equipment. His one ambition is to get into real action. Stationed in the Philippines, he is retired after thirty-five years of service and finds life in a small, coastal village among a group of pacifists dull and distasteful. Even his wife shares the views of the townspeople. On December seventh the church is bombed, and it is then that he gets his chance to serve, heading a small group of Marines and natives and heroically stemming the Japanese advance until reinforcements arrive. It is not a great picture, but it is worth seeing especially for those who enjoy Beery. Technicolor adds to the pictorial value, and the martial music of the Marines as they pass in review is stirring. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes No. Too strong THE SEVENTH VICTIM O O Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Kim Hunter, Evelyn Brent, Erford Gage, Ben Bard, Hugh Beaumont, Chef Milani, Marguerita Silva. Original screen story by Charles O'Neil and De Witt Bodeen. Produced by Val Lewton. Direction by Mark Robson. RKO-Radio. Like “Cat People,” the first of the psychological horror films produced by Val Lewton, this film deals with mystery and tragedy resulting from the influence of wierd and unhealthy beliefs on the mind of a neurotic young woman. In this case a horrible cult of devil worshipers is brought to light when an attempt is made by a school girl to discover the whereabouts of her older sister. The photography is interestingly novel as well as artistic, and in the beginning the atmosphere of dread and mystery is cleverly created, but as the complications of the plot multiply interest diminishes. The film, like some surrealist paintings, leaves the impression that artistic effort has been wasted on a repulsive subject. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Unhealthy Certainly not ❖ SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH O O Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Milburn Stone, Arthur Margetson, Halliwell Hobbes, Dennis Hoey, Gavin Muir. Direction by Roy William Neill. Universal. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are ideally cast as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in this well-constructed detective tale written by Bertram Millhauser in the tradition of Conan Doyle. The setting is an old English manor house where the ancestral dead are buried in an underground crypt. The place has been converted into a convalescent hospital for war casualties and becomes the locale of mysterious murders which are solved by the great detective with the help of Dr. Watson and various other sleuths. The film is first class entertainment of its kind. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining No SHRINE OF VICTORY O O Vrassidas Capernaros and Officers and Men of the Greek Navy. Story by M. Danischewsky. Direction by Charles Hasse. Twentieth Century-Fox. This is a very beautiful picture about heroic Greece. It shows the peaceful prewar days, the lovely countryside, the rugged coast line, the villages and cities. We see the citizens at their daily tasks and enjoy their spirit at the festival culminating in the harvesting of the grapes. Then comes the invasion with the mobilization of the army, and its stubborn resistance broken at last by the Germans. Throughout runs the story of Leonidas who, after the fall of Greece, escapes to England where he joins other