Motion Picture Reviews (1944)

Ten MOTION PICTURE REVIEWS details the arrival of patients at one of the big hospitals, Mill Hill, the mental and physical tests, the various medical and psychological methods used, the progress made. It is not a film for enjoyment, but it offers the sort of education we, the public, must have if we are to understand the returned soldiers. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 If sufficiently No interested ❖ SECRET COMMAND O O Pat O'Brien, Carole Landis, Chester Morris, Ruth Warrick, Barton MacLane, Tom Tully, Wallace Ford, Howard Freeman, Erik Rolf, Nat McHugh, Frank Sully. Screen play by Roy Chanslor from Saturday Evening Post story, "The Saboteurs." Direction by Eddie Sullivan. Columbia Pictures. “Saboteurs,” when it ran as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post, was a more complicated mystery than the screen adaptation. The reader was held in suspense for a longer time concerning the real significance of the character of Sam. In the film version suspense depends entirely upon exciting episodes of sabotage and threats of death or discovery. However, the action, set in a modern ship building plant speeding up war deliveries, is rugged and thrilling, the acting is good, and the dialogue natural. It is above average melodrama of its type, though there is a lack of adult supervision in the film which does not conform with actual facts, the actors are wholesome, lively youngsters, singing, dancing, romancing during free hours and performing useful tasks in the daytime. Jane Powell is an attractive girl with a lovely voice. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Entertaining No objection ❖ THE STORY OF DR. WASSELL O O Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thirston, Carl Esmond, Paul Kelly, Elliott Reid, Stanley Ridges, Renny McEvoy, Oliver Thorndike, Philip Ahn, Barbara Britton. Based on the story related by Dr. Wassell and fifteen wounded soldiers and on the story by James Hilton. Photography by Victor Milner and William Snyder. Musical score by Victor Young. Producer-director: Cecil B. De Mille. Paramount. In the heartbreaking retreat through Java, when Allied forces were so pitifully inadequate that they could only fight a delaying action, Dr. Wassell, a plain country doctor from Arkansas, was put in charge of a group of wounded men from the ship Marblehead. Those who were not walking cases were rated expendable by the Army, but with grim, dogged bravery and endurance the doctor brought them out alive. Gary Cooper is exceptionally good as Dr. Wassell because Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 Matter of taste Too violent for many SENSATIONS OF 1945 O O Eleanor Powell, Dennis O'Keefe, C. Aubrey Smith, Mimi Forsythe, Lyle Talbot, Eugene Pallette, Hubert Castle, W. C. Fields, Sophie Tucker, Dorothy Donegan, Cab Calloway and his Band, etc. Screen play by Dorothy Bennett from an original story by Frederick Jackson. Direction by Andrew Stone. Produced by Andrew Stone. United Artists. A certain type of audience in search of sensation, boogie woogie, and constant acrobatic movement may find this picture to its taste, but others will find it enervating. It is crowded with extravagant variety acts, some outstanding in their class, as the circus performances; some grotesque, as that of Dorothy Donegan at the piano. The dance sequences fall short of distinction, and the emphasis throughout seems to be more on specialties and jazz than is usual. While the acts are an integral part of the story, the plot holds little interest. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 1 2 Matter of taste No ❖ SEVEN DAYS ASHORE O O Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Marcy McGuire, Dooley Wilson, Gordon Oliver, Virginia Mayo, Amelita Ward, Elaine Shepard, Marjorie Gateson, Alan Dinehart. Screen play by Edward Verdier, Irving Phillips and Lawrence Kimble based on an original story by Jacques Deval. Producer-director: John H. Auer. R.K.O. The old burlesque comedy slogan, “A sailor has a girl in every port,” is the basis of a particularly insipid and distasteful plot. When a trio from the Merchant Marine lands in San Francisco, one of their number, Dan, sends letters to two chorines and a girl of whom his family approves, professing mad love for each of them. To teach him a lesson the “nice girl” has the two show girls sue him for breach of promise, and seven hectic days ensue for Dan until he is rescued by his buddies. The three men are unattractive, dispensing dialogue from ancient joke books, character roles are stereotyped, and the musical specialty numbers will appeal only to uncritical jive audiences. Adolescents, 12 to 16 Children, 8 to 12 No. Waste of time No ♦ SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD O O Jane Powell, Edward Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, W. C. Fields, Bonita Granville, Peggy O'Neil, Jackie Moran, Bill Christy, Reginald Denny, Regis Toomey, Rose Hobart, Sammy Kaye. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon. Produced by Charles R. Rogers. United Artists. While this picture is not of stellar proportions, it is a nice program musical with rather a novel theme about a teen age girl who joins a group of young people engaged in fruit-picking. They live in youth hostels, which the average American may not realize