Motion Picture Reviews (1944)

tight MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS must have faith in life, accept its uncertainties and take its gifts on life’s own terms. The acting is excellent, and comedy balances the serious theme. Adolescents, 12 to 15 Children, 8 to 12 Needs adult No interest and evaluation unsuitable ❖ THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE O O Jon Hall, Alan Curtis, Evelyn Ankers, Leon Errol, John Carradine, Gale Sondergaard, Lester Mathews, Halliwell Hobbes. Original screen play by Bertram Millhauser. Suggested by "The Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells. Direction by Ford Beebe. Universal. Trick photography is the main interest of this fantastic picture. Returning to England from horrible experiences in South Africa, and five years he cannot remember, Robert Griffin finds that his fortune, acquired in a diamond field, has been lost by his old friend Jasper. He engages the services of a crazed doctor (Carradine) who, experimenting on dogs, has learned how to make creatures invisible. Through the doctor’s discovery, Griffin likewise becomes invisible and makes life unbearable for his former friend. The only way he can be restored to visibility is by blood transfusion and it takes a whole body’s content of that. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Passable No ❖ JOHNNY DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE Simone Simon, William Terry, James Ellison, Gladys Burke, Brady Sutton, Minna Gombel, Chester Clute, Froggy Laughlin. Chick Chandler, Bob Mitchum. From a Liberty Magazine story by Alice Means Reeve. Direction by Joe May. Produced by Maurice King. Monogram. When Kathic spills salt in the dining car en route to Washington, she releases a gremlin who hops in and out of her life for seven weeks of bad luck. Soon she meets Johnny and while insisting that he rent his apartment to her, fails to discover that he has given duplicate keys to various friends in the service and out. They begin to arrive. It is all quite funny, and even possible in this mixed-up world, a play with sufficient plot, amusing dialogue and enough sophistication to give it spice. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Amusing Too mature ♦ LADIES OF WASHINGTON O O Trudy Marshall, Ronald Graham, Anthony Quinn, Sheila Ryan, Robert Bailey, Beverly Whitney, Jackie Paley, John Philliber, Doris Merrick. Original screen play by Wanda Tuchock. Direction by Louis King. 20thFox. Of the many films set in wartime Washington, this is one of the least entertaining. In spite of an attractive cast and the current interest of the locale, the total effect is dis tasteful. The leading character, a pretty young woman, turns out to be not only an obnoxious gold digger, but a paranoiac as well, and the story is cheaply melodramatic. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No No ❖ MAKE YOUR OWN BED O O Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, Alan Hale, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Robert Shayne, Tala Birell, Ricardo Cortez. Screen play by Francis Swann and Edmund Joseph from a play by Harvey O'Higgins and Harriet Ford. Direction by Peter Godfrey. Warner Bros. Too many complicated situations spoil this farcical mystery story, which is embroiled with servant problems, Nazi intrigues, and marital discord. Although the cast is capable of carrying good comedy situations, the plot is developed with little originality and becomes too suggestive at times. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Confusing and in Poor questionable taste ❖ MAN FROM FRISCO O O Michael O'Shea, Anne Shirley, Ray Walker, Gene Lockhart, Tommy Bond, Dan Duryea, Ann Shoemaker, Stephanie Bachelor, Robert Warwick, Forbes Murray. Original screen story by George Carleton Brown. Direction by Robert Florey. Produced by Albert J. Cohen. Republic. A great shipbuilding plant such as that of Henry J. Kaiser at Richmond, Calif., makes a fascinating background for a story which is human in its appeal and has an interesting plot. Mat Braddock, masterful, utterly ruthless in his dealings, tries without success to introduce time-saving methods, until the disaster at Pearl Harbor changes the viewpoint of workers at the plant. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 Interesting Might interest ♦ MARINE RAIDERS O O Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Frank McHugh, Barton McLane, Edmund Glover, Russell Wade, Robert Anderson, Michael St. Angel, Martha MacVicar, Harry Brown. Screen play by Warren Duff from a story by Martin Rackin and Warren Duff. Direction by Harold Schuster. R.K.O. This is a story of war, showing the high standard of conduct expected of each Marine, the cruel toll of battle, and the treacherousness of the opposing enemy in the Pacific. However, the film has not the realism of a documentary, for the interest is centered on a war marriage, sudden, emotional and temporarily thwarted. It seems to encourage marriage on short acquaintance, and for this reason the picture’s social value is debatable. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 Doubtful No value