The Movies ... and the People Who Make Them (1940)

"The MOVIES 1940” Allan Jones Irene Hervcy “THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE” turn over a new leaf. As a reward for their efforts, the Weavers witness the sharecroppers' better lot. Thurston Hall as the millionaire, Marjorie Gateson as his wife, and Mildred Shay as Cheechec, a French cabaret dancer, lead the supporting cast. THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE: Produced by Jules Levey for Universal Director: A. Edward Sutherland Screenplay: Leonard Spiegelgass, Charles Grayson Play: George Abbott, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart Music Score: Charles Previn Photography: Joseph Valentine Editor: Milton Carruth Antipholus of Ephesus Allan Jones Antipholus of Syracuse Allan Jones Luce Martha Raye Dromio of Ephesus Joe Penner Dromio of Syracuse Joe Penner Phyllis Rosemary Lane Duke Charles Butterworth Adriana Irene Hervcy Angelo Alan Mowbray Pinch Eric Blorc Aegon Samuel S. Hinds Merry madcap comedy-with-music based on the Broadway play about the two sets of Greek city twins and all the trouble they had. (Adults) (Running time, 72 minutes) Shakespeare was never like this. The screenplay borrows its plot from “A Comedy of Errors,” but there the similarity ends. The screen adaptation is an almost literal translation of the Broadway production with all the latter's broad satire and nonsense taken over intact. The gags and comedy situations, in fact, are even wilder than in the Abbott production the wader scope afforded by screen presentation has been fully used. Costumes, backgrounds, and appurtenances are elaborate and expensive, and of course the ludicrous anachronisms deliberately introduced into the stage show have been retained. To even attempt to introduce coherence into the riotous nonsense seems a brash impertinence, but for the sake of the record and those few who may be interested, the plot — it's really irrelevant — is roughly as follows: When Ephesus, city of ancient Rome, defeats its neighbor Syracuse at war, Antipholus of Ephesus decrees that any Syfacusean caught in Ephesus shall lose his head. Soon after, one Acgcon of Syracuse comes to Ephesus in search of his son who had become separated from him years before. Aegeon is actually the father of twin sons, who had twin slaves. Shortly Antipholus of Syracuse and his slave Dromio of Syracuse arrive in Ephesus in search of Aegon. Eph and Dro of Syracuse, of course, are twins to Eph and Dro of Ephesus, although neither side knows it. Well, anyway, there’s a mix-up when the wives of the Ephesusians mistake the Syracuseians for their husbands and take them home. Finally, after all sorts of horseplay, alarums, escapes, pursuits and whathaveyou, the twins meet and the tangle is straightened out. That’s the plot, and yet it doesn’t even take into account some of the central characters, such as Martha Raye, who is Ephesus of Antipholus, or rather Antipholus of Ephesus' wife's, Adriana's, that is, slave. Seriously though, the plot isn't really involved at all, and it's the excuse for no end of good insane fun. Allan Jones and Joe Penner in dual roles as the twin brothers handle the chief male assignments with howl-rising competence, while Martha Raye, besides singing swingingly, serves up sure comedy. Jones and Penner also, by the way, manage a hefty share of warbling. Alan Mowbray and Eric Blore as a pair of comic tailors, and Charles Butterworth as the trumpetheralded Duke of Ephesus score heavily on nonsense, and Irene Hervey and Rosemary Lane furnish quite effective feminine allure by dextrous manipulation of cleft togas. The Rogers and Hart numbers included are: “This Can’t Be Love,” “Falling in Love With Love,” “Sing for Your Supper,” “He and She,” “Who Are You," and 'The Greeks Have No Word For It.” PIONEERS OF THE FRONTIER: Produced and distributed by Columbia Director: Sam Nelson Screenplay: Fred Myton Photography: George Meehan Editor: James Sweeney " HU UU1 kid LI 1 1 Lit 1 o .... loan Darcey Linda Winters Matt Brawley Dick Curtis Cannonball Dave Bart Ordinary guiifight western with Elliott foiling the vill a in. (Adults 5c Young People) (Running time, 78 minutes) Pioneers of the Frontier, second in the Wild Bill Saunders series, should squeeze by as an average western. A little more action would have helped a lot, but what there is is delivered with the expected aplomb. When Saunders, a kindly rancher, is killed by outlaw Matt Brawley, Joan Darcey calls back Wild Bill to protect the holdings which she has inherited. Soon after he arrives, Wild Bill finds that Brawley has ambitions to become a sort of outlaw lord of the prairie. Wild Bill wins hands down, of course, but for a while it looks like touch-and-go. Bill Elliott, properly tight-lipped and loose-fingered, turns in a standard portrayal as Wild Bill. Dub Taylor supplies minor comedy, Linda Winters makes a trim Joan Darcey, and Dick Curtis is nicely nasty as the villain. 131