Motion Picture Reviews (1943)

MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS Three MOTION * PICTURE * REVIEWS Published bi-monthly for LOS ANGELES COUNTY BRANCHES, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN Cooperating Branches Women’s University Club of Los Angeles Glendale Santa Monica EDITORS Mrs. Palmer Cook Mrs. J. Allen Davis Mrs. Laura O. Vruwink Mrs. Chester A. Ommanney, Preview Chairman Mrs. E. P. Fleming, Business Manager Address all communications to Motion Picture Reviews, P. O. Box 9251, Los Angeles, California 15c Per Copy $1.00 Per Year Vol. XVIII NOVEMBER DECEMBER, 1943 No. 9 Copyright 1 943 by Motion Picture Reviews FEATURE FILMS THE BATTLE OF RUSSIA O O Produced by the Army Special Services Division for the O.W.I. by Lt. Col. Anatole Litvak. Music conducted by Dimitri Tiomkin. 20th Century-Fox. Largely documentary in form, this film of the powerful resistance and the great resurgence of the Russian people and the Russian Army may well leave the audience deeply stirred and awe-struck. The judgment-like words of Alexander Nevsky, “He who comes to us by the sword shall perish by the sword,” sweep through it like a mounting paean. From the days when the German hordes in armor laid waste their country and massacred their people, through succeeding invasions up to the present war, when the same merciless foe indulged in barbaric atrocities, the Russian people’s iron stamina and inborn love of the land gave them strength to strike back and at length to break the myth of German invincibility. It is a remarkably clear picture, bringing out salient facts on Russia’s tremendous resources and industrial expansion, the military strategy of her great generals, the outline of the huge territory lost and regained. Music taken from the Russian classics begins to sound the triumphant note when the front holds before Moscow and is very inspiring All phases of the fighting are covered. Perhaps the most striking are the pictures of the house to house battles in the ruined, firegutted cities and of Leningrad under siege. It is full of death and horror and suffering, but no one can comprehend the greatness of Russia as an ally or as a nation unless one realizes that her people have come back from the depths to conquer. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Better not. Many Decidedly not horrible details. ❖ CRAZY HOUSE O O Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Martha O'Driscoll. Cass Daley, Percy Kilbride. Original screen play by Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo. Direction by Edward Francis Cline. Universal. “Crazy House” is one of those things. Either you like it or you don’t. Like “Hell’s A Poppin’,” it is insane comedy with smashing and banging and guns going off under your nose when you expect it least. No team is ever so perpetually in motion as Olsen and Johnson who have a monopoly on their particular brand of funny stuff. The picture includes many glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes in the studios, good dancing by the De Marcos, excellent music, elaborate ensembles, and a really surprise ending. Plot: Olsen and Johnson make a film and auction it off to the highest bidder. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes, if they like Yes. Harmless fun slapstick