The Movies ... and the People Who Make Them (1939)

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"The MOVIES • • • • 1939" ON BORROWED TIME: Produced by Sidney Franklin for MGM Director: Harold S. Bucquet Screenplay: Alice D, Miller, Frank O'Neill, Claudine West Play: Paul Osborn Novel: Lawrence Edward Watkin Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg Music Score: Franz Waxman Editor: George Boemler Julian Northrup (Gramps) Lionel Barrymore Mr. Brink Sir Cedric Hardwicke Nellie (Granny) Beulah Bondi Marcia Giles Una Merkel Pud Bobs Watson Mr. Grimes Nat Pendleton Dr. Evans Henry Travers Mr. Pilbeam Grant Mitchell Demetria Riffle Eily Malyon Sheriff Burlingame James Burke Reverend Murdock Charles Waldron Charles Wentworth Ian Wolfe Bill Lowry Phillip Terry James Northrup Truman Bradley An unusual and fascinating film combining imaginative fantasy with a realistically human story and spiritual tenderness with salty earthiness; the beautifully told tale of an old man who keeps Death up a tree while he saves his grandson from a scheming aunt. (Adults dC Young People) (Running time, 99 minutes) Bobs Watson Lionel Barrymore ‘ON BORROWED TIME” This screen version of Paul Osborn’s play has been given the benefit of one of MGM’s finest productions. Skill and care and intelligence are evident in almost every aspect of its making. The action of the stage play has been revised into a smoothly flowing screenplay and its curious combination of philosophical fantasy and very human characters has been presented primarily in movie terms. On Borrowed Time has become, that is, not simply a photographed play, but a motion picture. Yet it has resolutely followed the outline of the play's story and has retained the warm human and spiritual qualities of the original. Death, in the person of the quietly able and pleasant Mr. Brink, comes often to the Northrup family. Standing at the roadside he refuses all offers of rides until Dr. Jim Northrup and his wife drive along. Their bodies are found soon after where the car has crashed through a fence and into a ravine. When Aunt Demetria hears that their little boy Pud has inherited a small fortune from his father, she begins her hypocritical campaign to become the boy’s guardian. Mr. Brink calls for grandfather Julian Northrup, a lovable old grouch with a soft heart and a flavorous vocabulary and affectionately known to young Pud as “Gramps.” But the old man has work to do — protect the boy from the predatory Demetria — and he refuses to accompany Mr. Brink. Granny is Mr. Brink’s next assignment and, finding her in her room, he allows her to finish her knitting before taking her away. Meanwhile Gramps and Pud have made a wish come true — anyone who climbs the old apple-tree in the yard can not come down until Gramps gives permission. When Mr. Brink calls again and is quite persistent, Gramps tricks him into climbing the tree. He is held there by the wish and Death is thus treed. No one can die until Gramps releases him and there is now time to fight for Pud. No one else, however, except Gramps and Pud can see or talk to Mr. Brink and Demetria thereupon tries to prove Gramps insane. The old man triumphs over them all, the aunt, the sheriff, the town doctor, the smart lawyer and the expert from the state institution. But young Pud tries to climb the tree, falls and is crippled. Gramps realizes that life, including death, must go on. He tells Mr. Brink to come down and take him and Pud to whatever lies beyond. His dialogue has, by movie necessity, been toned down, but there is more than enough left for Lionel Barrymore to make Gramps a colorful and very human individual. He is, of course, merely Lionel Barrymore with new lines to speak and all his familiar mannerisms to remind regular movie goers that this is not Gramps Northrup, but Lionel Barrymore doing an impressive job of acting as Gramps Northrup. Sir Cedric Hardwicke plays Mr. Brinks with superb restraint and a quietly restful manner. Little Bobs Watson as Pud, who adores and tries to imitate his grandfather, should satisfy even those who saw Peter Holden in the play. The others fill in the neighbor background with natural and convincing performances. The underlying tone of the entire picture is sombre, but the treatment is tender and at times almost gay. On Borrowed Time will probably be hailed as an artistic success by critics and class audiences. But it will also prove unusual and engrossing entertainment for general patronage. TIMBER STAMPEDE: Produced by Bert Gilroy for RKO-Radio Director: David Howard Screenplay: Morton Grant Story: Bernard McConville Photography: Harry Wild Editor: Frederick Knudtson Scott Baylor George O'Brien Ann Carr Marjorie Reynolds Whooper Hatch Chill Wills Foss Dunlap Morgan Wallace Jay Jones Guy Usher Henry Baylor Earl Devine Lyman Robert Burns Matt Chaflin Robert Fiske Jake Monte Montague Good action western with George O’Brien leading fellow ranchers in a fight aga nst crooked railroad and lumber invaders. (Adults 8C Young People) (Running time, J9 minutes) Villains Jay Jones, railroad president, and Foss Dunlap, lumber baron, are perpetrating a swindle in the grand manner. By pretending to build a new railroad, they have obtain a twenty-mile right of way through the richly timbered Wagon Wheel Pass and are planning to make a fortune in lumber. They are also sending fake nesters to stake out homesteads along the right of way and thus acquire even more good land. And in addition they bring pretty newspaperwoman Anne Carr to smooth the way with fine stories about the proposed road. But Scott Baylor happens to be one of the ranchers who will be hard hit by this scheme and Scott Baylor is a fast-riding, quick-shooting, fist 181