Motion Picture Reviews (1944)

Ten MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS action is rugged and exciting, but the loosely plotted story lacks conviction. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Contusing ethically, No and no value TUNISIAN VICTORY O O American music by Dmitri Tiomkin, Army Air Force Band, Santa Ana, Calif. British music written by William Alwyn, London Philharmonic Orchestra. M-G-M. release. This is a great documentary picture, taken by many unnamed cameramen, often at the risk of their lives, and finally edited and assembled by an American and a British director, Frank Capra and Col. Hugh Stewart. It is a satisfaction to be told what really happened, the careful charting of the battle plan known as “Acrobat,” the sudden landing on the North African coast, the tactical use of paratroopers, tank, planes, infantry. Many things make this a living production: the faces and mannerisms of boys, eager, young, like those we know; comments by the American private and the English Tommy; the expressive music which complements the action. Men fall, and we know they have fallen in death, but the horror is not stressed. There is a feeling of elation as our armies move forward to victory in the belief that they are fighting for a better day, expressed in simple words by a soldier at the end, “What a job, bringing back the smiles to kids' faces!” Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Very tine No Too violent ❖ TWO SISTERS AND A SAILOR O O June Allyson, Gloria De Haven, Van Johnson, Tom Drake, Henry O'Neill, Henry Stephenson, Ben Blue, Frank Sully, Donald Meek, Carlos Ramirez, Albert Coats, Amparo Novarro, Jose Iturbi, Jimmy Durante, Gracie Allen, Lena Horne, Virginia O'Brien, The Wilde Twins, Harry James and his Orchestra with Helen Forrest, Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra with Lina Romay. Original screen play by Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman. Direction by Richard Thorpe. Produced by Joe Pasternak. M-G-M. This musical may in all honesty be said to be “packed” with entertainment. In fact, it gives more than one’s money’s worth, but no one should object, for it offers diversified acts to meet every taste. The story catches our hearts from the first as it follows the careers of two lovely sisters from babyhood to maturity and shows the intriguing relationship betwteen them. Jimmy Durante has his best screen role to date and carries it expertly. The picture is excellent diversion. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Excellent Long, but matter of taste UNCENSORED O O Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, Griffith Jones, Raymond Lovell, Peter Glenville, Frederick Culley, Irene Handle, Carl Jaffe, Stuart Lindsell. Screen play by Rodney Ackland and Terence Rattigan based on book by Oscar Millard. Direction by Anthony Crabtree. British-Gaumont Production. 20th Century-Fox. Here is a tense and realistic story of underground newspaper activities in Belgium. It tells of the secret publication of “La Libre Belgique,” a news sheet which caused headaches to the Germans in the last war and resumed its activities in this after the occupation. A music hall entertainer collects bits of information from Nazi patrons, passes them on to the publisher, and distributes some of the copies, until the chase gets hot on his trail. Photography and technique are typically British and lack Hollywood glamour, but the story is well told, holds suspense. It gives the realistic viewpoint of those who live close to war and know that events are only fragments of a larger pattern, that while one episode may turn out well, it is only because luck is with them and that the survivors in such dangerous work may have to hand the torch to others for fulfillment Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Exciting entertain No objection ment ❖ UNCERTAIN GLORY O O Errol Flynn, Paul Lucas, Jean Sullivan, James Flavin, Lucille Watson, Douglas Dumbrille, Dennis Hoey, Sheldon Leonard. Original screen play by Joe May and Lazio Vadnay. Direction by Raoul Walsh. Music by Adolph Deutsch. Photography by Sid Hickox, A.S.C. Warner Bros. Although the theme of patriotic sacrifice by an unworthy individual is not new, the treatment in this film is unusual. The focus of interest is not the fate of the French convict Picard (Errol Flynn), who remains unregenerate to the last and chooses the right path only by a hair’s breadth, but the psychological struggle of the inspector (Paul Lucas) who stakes his whole career on the oath of a murderer that he will give himself up to save the lives of a hundred hostages. The picture is slow moving, and the love affair is not convincing, but characterizations are very interesting, and the photography is beautiful in dark, rich tones reminiscent of the old masters. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Too heavy No. Unsuitable ❖ UP IN MABEL'S ROOM O O Marjorie Reynolds, Dennie O'Keefe, Gail Patrick, Mischa Auer, Charlotte Greenwood, Lee Bowman, John Hubbard, Binnie Barnes. From play of the same name by Otto Harbach and Wilson Collison. Direction by Allan Dwan. Edward Small-United Artists. An old bedroom farce is revamped with