Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1940)

(Continued from page 7) MY LITTLE CHICKAOEE-Universal Mae West is the little flower of the frontier, and W. C. Fields masquerades as a bold bad bandit and shoots Indians with a sling shot. The result is just about what you'd expect — ribald but genuinely comic, with both stars at top form. (Apr.) * MY SON, MY SON!-Small-U.A. Adapted from Howard Spring's best seller, this is a superb study of an adoring father who gives his son everything, and of the boy who ruins the lives of all those near to him. Brian Aherne, as the father, and Louis Hayward, as the son, are superb. Laraine Day's performance forecasts stardom for her. Madeleine Carroll, Henry Hull, Josephine Hutchinson, Bruce Lester and Scotty Beckett are all good in their roles. (May) • NORTHWEST PASSAGE-M-G-M The first half of Kenneth Roberts' book, the journey of Rogers' Rangers through the wilderness to attack the Indians at St. Francis, is filmed in Technicolor to bring you a picture so beautiful that it can be labeled epic. Spencer Tracy has never given a finer performance as the man whose indomitable will conquers all. Robert Young is excellent as his young aide. (May) * OUTSIDER, THE— Alliance Tearful but compelling is this story of the hopelessly crippled daughter of a brilliant London doctor who goes to a publicity-mad bone specialist as a last resort. Mary Maguire is the girl, George Sanders the specialist suspected of quackery, and the interplay of character is beautiful to watch. (Apr.) • PINOCCHIO-Disney-RKO Collodi's fable of the wooden puppet who learns how to become a real little boy and a kind son to woodcarver Ge petto comes to the screen as the finest animated cartoon feature ever made. Characterizations, from tiny voice-of-conscience Jitniny Cricket to enormous Monstro, the whale, compare favorably with the finest human talent. You can't afford to miss this! (Apr.) • PRIMROSE PATH, THE-RKO-Radio Not a pretty story, this, of a family whose nominal head has a weakness for gin, and a mother who supports her family by going on parties with men who can afford the money to buy groceries for her brood on February Hill. It's a shock, but a pleasant one to see Ginger Rogers' acting in this simple, honest story, and Joel McCrea is the most convincing he has ever been. (May) • REBECCA— Sclznick International-U.A. The main character. Rebecca, never appears in the film, but dominates the whole. She was the first wife of Laurence Olivier. After her death, Olivier marries Joan Fontaine, brings her to his country estate, Manderley, and there she discovers — but we can't spoil the story for its success depends on the surprise twists of the plot. The mood for haunting fear is magnificently contrived, aided by the superior work of Olivier, Miss Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders and Reginald Denny. (May) * ROAD TO SINGAPORE-Paramount One of the gayest, most amusing films of the season has Bing Crosby, son of a rich ship owner, desert his fiancee at the altar, root out his laziest pal (Bob Hope), and head for the South Seas where, when they team up with Dottie Lamour, peace goes chattering out the window. Crosby's grand and Hope has never been better. Don't miss this. (May) SAINT'S DOUBLE TROUBLE, THE-RKO Radio This latest in the modern Robin Hood series gives you plenty of excitement for your money — at least three murders, and George Sanders in a dual role (because a diamond-smuggler goes around impersonating him). Helene Whitney is the girl in the case. (Apr.) SEVENTEEN-Paramount Tarkington's famous story of teen-age love, with all the troubles left in — tuxedo, the horrid little sister (Norma Nelson), etc. — gives Jackie Cooper an opportunity to strut his stuff. Betty Field is perfect as the siren from Chicago. {May) SOUTH OF THE BORDER-Republic Popular singing cowboy Gene Autry breaks into the Big Time as a Federal agent who sets out to foil a foreign-inspired revolution in South America. It's the best picture Gene has ever made. (Apr.) * STAR DUST-20th Century-Fox Taken from a portion of Linda Darnell's own life — the story of a girl trying to get a break at the studios. John Payne lias a role worthy of his tall Dts. Roland Young, as an ex-star, and Charlotte Greenwood bring hearty laughs. (June) STARS LOOK DOWN, THE-M-G-M-British A grim subject — coal mines and miners. Michael Redgrave plays the idealistic schoolteacher who tries to combat social injustice. A countertheme is the sordid marriage of Redgrave to Margaret Lockwood. The photography is excellent. {June) STRANGE CARGO-M-GM This weird, allegorical preachment has to do with escaping convicts in the jungles surrounding a tropical prison camp. A deglamourized Joan Crawford turns in a superb dramatic performance as a brothel gal who is kicked off the island. Clark Gable seems a little embarrassed with his role, but Ian Hunter is praiseworthy as a Christlike figure who brings regeneration to these unfortunates. (May) • SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON-RKO-Radio Towne-andBaker's first production adds a new opening theme to the childhood classic, with Thomas Mitchell packing up his family (Edna Best, Freddie Bartholomew, el a!.) and moving them out of the London of Napoleonic days. But their famous adventures on the desert island on which they're shipwrecked are here in lolo. (Apr.) THREE CHEERS FOR THE IRISH— Warners Thomas Mitchell plays the blustering Irish cop, ready to fight at the drop of a pin. His beat is taken over by a young Scotchman, who falls for one of Casey's lovely daughters. A good hcmey comedy with plenty of laughs and a dig or two at the politicians. Dennis Morgan as the Scotty, Priscilla Lane as the daughter, and Alan Hale as Casey's righthand man take the other acting honors. • 'TIL WE MEET AGAIN-Warners Remember "One Way Passage"? This time George Brent and Merle Oberon are doomed from the first reel — he's an escaped murderer (Pat O'Brien's his captor), she has coronary thrombosis. After a symbolic beginning, a deathless love develops, each discovers the other's secret, each pretends. See it for a good cry. (June) if TOO MANY HUSBANDS-Columbia Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas worry over the problem of bigamy when Jean remarries, thinking her first husband has been drowned. But the fun begins when he returns and Jean can't make up her mind which she wants to keep. Full of fairly suggestive slap-happy scenes, played with flair. Dorothy Peterson is swell as the secretary. (May) if TWO GIRLS ON BROADWAY-M-GM A love of a musical — with George Murphy starting things by opening a wedge for his dance partner, Joan Blondell, to follow him on Broadway. But her young sister, Lana Turner, steps in and Joan is relegated to cigarette-girl status. Good music, good footwork, good story. (June) if VIRGINIA CITY-Warners A swell adventure film, with Errol Flynn the hero in the traditional manner. There's a chase, an attack on a wagon train, a hairbreadth rescue by the U. S. Cavalry, Miriam Hopkins (a Southern gal who falls for Northern Flynn) and Randy Scott, a Confederate captain. (June) VIVA CISCO KID— 20th Century-Fox Cesar Romero, sideburns and all, spends most of the footage rescuing Jean Rogers, who's pretty and extremely good in her role. The Kid's honorable Robin Hood attitude remains staunchly the same. (June) WOMEN WITHOUT NAMES-Paramount Plot revolves around a boy and girl convicted of a murder on circumstantial evidence. Robert Paige and Ellen Drew have top roles and Judith Barrett's a heavy. Plenty of suspense. (May) if YOUNG TOM EDISON-M-G-M A biographical film — the story of Thomas Edison during his early youth, up to the time he left home to become a telegraph operator, but with Mickey Rooney playing the role, the character could have been named John Smith, so warm, so sympathetic and completely entertaining is his interpretation of the great inventor. Fay Bainter, Virginia Weidler and George Bancroft are excellent. (May) Crisp white carnations on the hollow-crowned high hat — and white overcollar cut out to reveal the dress fabric of the wide collar beneath — accent Lillian MacMurray's costume, dining with husband Fred at Ciro's 7 ^t~HERE'S something about a Jantzen that makes the men sit up and take notice. There's a lilt in every line ... a lift in every color . . . and magic in three wonderful miracle-making, figure-molding fabrics. Water-Velva, "velvet-ly" lush in or out of water. Sea-Ripple, sleek, sophisticated all-way stretch at its best, wonderful even for problem figures. Velva-Lure, suave figure-control with a gardenia finish. There's glamour . . . there's gaiety in every Jantzen and enough excitement for a lifetime. For illustrated style folder, men's or women's, address Dept. 332. GLORIA BREWSTER, 20th Cenrury-Fox player, wearing the Jantzen "Sea Panelle" a flattering new model in Satin-Knit fabric that truly slenderizes. S4.95 in U. S. A. JANTZEN KNITTING MILLS, Portland, Ore. Vancouver, Canada JULY, 1940