Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1943)

Two "talked-abouts" — Margaret O'Brien and James Craig — in "Lost Angel" .INDICATES PICTURE WAS RATED "GOOD" WHEN REVIEWED / / INDICATES PICTURE WAS RATED "VERY GOOD" WHEN REVIEWED SS\/ INDICATES PICTURE WAS RATED "OUTSTANDING" WHEN REVIEWED ^y ABOVE SUSPICION— M-G-M — A^ wellrounded, well-constructed movie, with Joan Crawford and Fred Mac Murray a pair of honeymooners who land in Germany seeking the one man who can reveal to them a secret code of vital importance to the British. With elements of excitement and suspense, it's good, absorbing movie stuff. (July) y^ACTWN IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC— Warner Brothers: A splendid exciting picture about the experiences of a Merchant Marine convoy to Russia, dogged by submarines. Raymond Massey is the captain of one of the ships, Humphrey Bogart, his hist mate. All the crew is perfectly cast. It's packed with action and suspense and is a fine salute to the heroism of the Merchant Marine. (Aug.) AERIAL G UNNER— Paramount: The enmity between Richard Arlen and Chester Morris is intensified when they find themselves in the same gunnerv school, Arlen as a student, Morris an instructor; and they both court the same girl. But when they both go into action on the same plane, their heroism heals all hatred. (July) \/AlR RAID WARDENS— M-G-M: You'll laugh steadily as you watch Laurel and Hardy try to enlist in every branch of the service, only to be turned until they return home to become air-raid wardens. Every possible blunder known to man is committed by the boys until, on their own, they finally round up a gang of saboteurs and emerge heroes. Stan and Ollie are in rare form. (June) ^ASSIGNMENT IN BRITTANY— M-G-M: An interesting new personality, Pierre Aumont proves himself a hit as the Free French soldier who impersonates a native (pro-Nazi) of a Brittany village in order to locate a Nazi sub base for the English. His betrothed, Susan Peters, is fooled by the impersonation, but he's exposed by the flirtatious Signe Hasso. It's an exciting story. (June) y^BATAAN — M-G-M: This story of thirteen men in a Bataan fox hole, ready to give their lives to prevent the Japs from rebuilding a bridge, is living testimony of the courage of Americans in their desperate struggle for freedom. Robert Walker is outstanding; Bob Taylor, Lloyd Nolan, George Murphy, Desi Arnaz, Thomas Mitchell and the others are also excellent. (Aug.) \/\/BOMBARDIER— RKO-Radio: Both instructive and entertaining, this tells how boys are trained to bombardiers. Pat O'Brien gives a swell show as the bombsight devotee who wins his right over Randy Scott, a pilot who believes his job superior to the bombardier. Eddie Albert, Barton MacLane, Robert Ryan and Anne Shirley are very good and the climax is a whiz-dinger. (Aug.) BUCKSKIN FRONTIER— V. A.: This Western telling of the early fights for railway supremacy out West stars Richard Dix, who is fresh, believable and handsome. Lee Cobb is outstanding. Albert Dekker very good, and Jane Wyatt is a lovely heroine. The flow of wagon trains across the Western plains is beautifully photographed. (June) CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN— Universal: A mad scientist transforms an ape into a gorgeous girl. The transformed being has strange powers to subdue animals in a circus into submission, but the old gorilla habits return to possess the girl. Acquanetta is stunning as the ape girl, Evelyn Ankers is the heroine, and John Carradine plavs the cracked scientist. (July) CHATTERBOX— Republic: Joe E. Brown deserves better than this silly tale of a radio cowboy who fails to make good masquerades as a woman in order to lure Judy Canova into films, and finally plays hero in a teeter-totter mountain cabin. Rosemary Lane, John Hubbard, Gus Schilling and the Mills Brothers are tangled up in the mess. (July) yyCHINA — Paramount: Alan Ladd is the oil agent in China who refuses to take sides in the life and death struggle between the Japs and Chinese until he comes face to face with the Japs' atrocities. Loretta Young is a schoolteacher who, with her brood of Chinese children, is rescued by Ladd and Bill Bendix is Ladd's truck driver. All their performances are excellent. (June) 1^1/ 'CONEY I LAS ND— 20th Century-Fox: Plenty of entertainment in this Technicolor musical, with Cesar Romero owner of a Coney Island cafe and Betty Grable his star entertainer. Then George Montgomery becomes Romero's partner. Both men are in love with Betty, and they doublecross each other consistently till the final clinch. The songs are gay and tuneful. (July) CORREGIDOR—V. R. C.: Elissa Landi, a woman doctor, arrives on the island of Manoi to marry scientist Otto Kruger, but then Pearl Harbor is bombed and they make their way to Corregidor where Elissa meets her former fiance Donald Woods. Together they give all possible aid to the wounded under terrific bombings until Kruger is killed. (June) EF REVIEWS COWBOY FROM MANHATTAN — Universal: Walter Catlett talks a group of Texas hotel men into angeling a Broadway show with Frances Langford as its singing star. When Robert Paige comes along attempting to sell cowboy songs, Catlett grabs him for a wild exploitation stunt. Frances sings delightfully and Leon Errol provides some comical moments. (July) V'V'CRASH DIVE— 20th Century-Fox: Dana Andrews is the commander of a submarine and Tyrone Power his chief officer in the exciting picture which shows the work of the submarine in warfare. The climax, in which the sub steals into a Nazi base, and destroys it, is magnificent. Anne Baxter is the girl who causes the rivalry between the two men. (July) y'YV'DESERT VICTORY — 20th Century-Fox: The most superb factual picture to come out of the war thus far, this was filmed by the British during actual combat in Africa. Starting in El Alamein. it gives you a complete picture of how the Eighth Army routed Rommel and shows you the magnitude of the African effort. It makes your newspaper headlines come excitingly alive. (June) ^DESPERADOES, THE— Columbia: Beautifully filmed in technicolor, this story tells of Glenn Ford, a bad man of the early 1860's, who rides into town to rob a bank but finds someone else had already done the job, so he stays in town to see more of Evelvn Keyes. When the town decides Ford is really guilty, Sheriff Randy Scott warns him and the result leads to a rousing climax. (June) \^DR. GILLESPIE'S CRIMINAL CASE— M-G-M: Lionel Barrymore, always splendid as Dr. Gillespie, takes intern Van Johnson with him to a prison to visit homicidal maniac John Craven, former suitor of Donna Reed. They get there just in time to become involved in a jail break. Keye Luke is another intern, Margaret O'Brien a patient in the children's ward and Bill Lundigan a war veteran. (Aug.) //Ol' BARRY WAS A LADY— M-G-M: Comedy and music in Technicolor with Red Skelton a hat check boy who dreams he's King Louis XV and Lucille Ball is Du Barry. Rags Ragland, Virginia O'Brien, Zero Mostel, and Gene Kelly all add to the gaiety and nonsense and the dream sequences are so funny. The music's provided by Tommy Dorsey's band and Cole Porter's songs. (July) ]/EDGE OF DARKNESS— -Warner Brothers: Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan are Norwegian leaders of a revolution against their Nazi oppressors. When arms arrive from England the revolt flares into action after rape and murder have made life unbearable for the Norwegians. Helmut Dantine is verv good as the Nazi leader and the excellent cast includes Ruth Gordon. Nancy Coleman and Charles Dingle. (June) FALCON STRIKES BACK, THE— RKO Radio: Tom Conway plays the amateur sleuth who becomes the victim of a brawl in a phony barroom, which leads to thieves using his car to effect a huge bond theft and leaving Conway in a fine spot. But with the help of Jane Randolph, reporter, and his stooge. Cliff Edwards, Conway digs in and solves the crime. (June) (Continued on page 22) SHADOW STAGE Pictures Reviewed in This Issue Page Alaska Highway 31 All By Myself 31 Background To Danger 31 Best Foot Forward 32 Colt Comrades 32 Constant Nymph, The 28 Dixie 32 Get Going 31 Ghosts On The Loose 31 Heaven Can Wait 32 Henry Aldrich Swings It 32 Hers To Hold 28 Hitler's Madman 31 Hit The Ice 31 Kansan, The 31 So Proudly We Hail 28 Submarine Alert 31 Two Tickets To London 31