Motion Picture Reviews (1944)

Ten MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS conductor whose income is limited but adequate. As the children pass through the normal stages of development, a rare sense of humor softens the trials of their parents who love but discipline their brood. They grow into fine normal young people and finally respond to the call to arms. Through perseverance they receive the unusual governmental permission to be placed together on a ship. Because the tragic event which ends their careers is not overdramatized, the general effect of the film is a happy, inspirational one which leaves a glowing impression of pride in America and respect for the stamina of those left with only memories to comfort them. The casting is remarkably sympathetic, and acting and direction are exceptional. It is a “must see" film. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Excellent Excellent TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY O O Johnny Weismuller, Nancy Kelly, Johnny Sheffield, Otto Kruger, Joe Sawyer, Lloyd Corrigan, Robert Lowery, Frank Puglia, Cheeta. Screen play by Ed. T Lowe from a story by Carrol Young, based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Direction by Wm. Thiele. Produced by Sol Lesser. RKO. Since the unique appeal of the Tarzan pictures is in their naivete and complete remoteness from present-day problems, when Tarzan and Boy encounter Nazi saboteurs, the series loses some of its allure. The current episode is, however, still a back-to-nature fantasy with wild creatures helping their human friends and Cheeta practically stealing the show. Tarzan’ s mate, Jane, writes from England, where she is nursing soldiers, and asks Tarzan to procure some “fever medicine.” While he and Boy are searching for the plant from which to distil the medicine, they cross a desert, become involved in a Nazi plot, and have various blood-curdling adventures which will prove sufficiently entertaining to Tarzan fans. Some of the sequences would probably terrify a sensitive child. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Questionable TENDER COMRADE O O Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Patricia Collinge, Mady Christians, Kim Hunter, Jane Darwelt, Richard Martin, Mary Forbes, Richard Gaines. Screen play by Dalton Trumbo. Direction by Edward Dymtryk. RKO. To many people this film will carry the significance of their own experiences and to them it will be an especially tender and moving drama. To others, the over-all effect may seem artificial. It tells the story of four wives of absent service men. The women work in a plane factory and pool their resources, hiring a housekeeper as part of their budget plan. Much of the film is given to flashbacks of the courtship and interrupted marriage of one of the girls (Ginger Rogers) The husband, played very beautifully bv Robert Ryan, is representative of many of our finest men in the service. The lighter scenes are entertaining, but at times the pathos is overstressed and the message of the film seems a little too obvious. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good No THREE RUSSIAN GIRLS O O Anna Sten, Kent Smith, Mimi Forsaythe, Alexander Granach, Paul Guilfoyle, Kane, Richmond, Manart Kippen, Jack Gardner, Marcia Lenack, Mary Herriot, Anna Marie Stewart, Dorothy Gray, Feodor Chaliapin. Screen play by Aben Kandel and Dan Talbot. Direction by Fedor Ozep and Henry Kesler. United Artists. The superb work of Russian Red Cross volunteer nurses at the front during the siege of Leningrad is treated in a singularly objective but effective manner. All the roles are well played, and the love affair between one nurse and an American aviation engineer is dignified and charming. The battle scenes on snow-capped hills are fascinating, and while the plot actually covers only a few incidents in a yet unfinished drama of epic proportions, it gives us added understanding of the men and women of an allied nation. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Good Possible ❖ TIMBER QUEEN O O Richard Arlen, Mary Beth Hughes, June Havoc, Sheldon Leonard, George E. Stone, Dick Purcell, Tony Hughes, Edmund MacDonald, Horace MacMahon. Screen play by Maxwell Shane and Edward T. Lowe. Pine-Thomas Production. Paramount. Scenes of logging operations with giant trees against the sky and great logs floating