Motion Picture Reviews (1944)

Six MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS terpiece in picturing old age with its dignity, its pathos, and its humor. Bing Crosby gives to his role the power of a profoundly natural performance. The story deals with juvenile delinquency, the raising of the church debt, and other matters which could easily have been stereotyped, but the film has a religious quality that makes it a rare and beautiful picture of American life of which we may be justly proud. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Fine, and very enter Yes taining ♦ HAT CHECK HONEY O O Grace McDonald, Leon Errol, Walter Catlett, Ramsay Ames, Richard Davis, Lee Dennett, Freddy Slack and his orchestra, Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiians. Screen play by Al Martin. Direction by Edward F. Cline. Universal Pictures. In order to give his son the chance for a big-time singing career, a carnival comedian breaks up the act in which the two are teamed. His son is heart-broken, thinking that his father prefers to be alone, but he finally gets his chance for success, only to find it complicated by his father’s blunders. The Hollywood setting, modern music, and a story which builds a nice relationship between father and son, should please young folk particularly. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining If interested ♦ HER PRIMITIVE MAN O O Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Robert Benchley, Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Ernest Truex, Nydia Westman, Louis Jean Heydt. Original story by Dick Hyland. Direction by Charles Lamont. Universal Pictures. This gay farce differs enough from the run-of-the-mill to sustain interest. The author of a supposedly authentic book, “Love and Death Among the Lupari Head Hunters,” is exposed as a fraud by a young woman anthropologist. His ego is deflated. When he learns that she plans an expedition to bring a real head hunter into her home in order to study his responses to civilization, he is ready for her and, disguised as a savage, has a lot of fun. Robert Paige and Louise Allbritton are a bright and brittle team. Robert Benchley and Edward E. Horton amuse by just being present. It is light escapist fare which will delight the children and won’t bore their elders. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining Good ❖ HI, GOODLOOKIN' O O Harriet Hilliard, Kirby Grant, Roscoe Karns, Milburn Stone, Betty Kean, Eddy Quillan, Frank Fenton, Mary O'Brien. Screen play by Paul Smith, Bradford Ropes and Eugene Conrad. Direction by Edward Lilley. Universal Pictures. This story of an unkown girl who came to Hollywood to try for a radio career is entertaining and has a touch of novelty in the fact that the girl does not, in order to further her career, “go Hollywood.” The specialties are amusing and the scenes reveal interesting information about the technique of broadcasting. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes May not be inter THE HITLER GANG O O Robert Watson, Roman Bohnen, Martin Kosleck, Victor Varconi, Luis Van Rooten, Alexander Pope, Alexander Granach, Reinhold Schunzel, Sig Ruman, Fritz Kortner, Gene Stutenroth, Poldy Dur, Helene Thimig. Screen play by Albert and Francis Hackett. Direction by John Farrow. Paramount. Exceptional casting gives this picture strength and reality. The director has used restraint in picturing Hitler, whose character is drawn in detail, emphasizing his emotionalism, his egotism and lack of originality, but also showing shrewd intelligence and knowledge of psychology by which he adapts the ideas of others and holds his followers in line. It is informative rather than entertaining, but the fact that it is supported by documentary proof makes it important in our understanding of the origin and growth of the National Socialist Party. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Interesting as history Too mature ♦ THE HOUR BEFORE THE DAWN O O Franchot Tone, Veronica Lake, Binnie Barnes, John Sutton, Henry Stephenson, Philip Merivale, Leslie Dennison, Nils Asther, David Leland, Edmond Brion, Donald Stuart, Viola Moore. Adapted from novel by Somerset Maugham. Direction by Frank Tuttle. Paramount. This film offers another good, but not notable, story of the Nazi spy, this time feminine and working as housekeeper in a middle class English family. There are certain implausibilities in the plot, but the charactrizations are so lifelike and the interest so well sustained that these may be easily overlooked. Veronica Lake makes a convincing spy, but Franchot Tone is a bit too negative even for his role of pacifist. The message of the story, the realization of the conscientious objector that freedom must and should be rewon, would have been more vital two years ago than now. However, the picture is impressive and affords good, though sombre, entertainment. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Yes Too mature