Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1948)

T h e S t a ^ e A reliable guide to recent pictures. One check means good; two checks, very good; three checks, outstanding ^ Deception (Warners) DAT ole debbil Deceit rears its horrible head in this one with Jealousy, Fear and Revenge trailing in its wake. Handsomely gowned Bette Davis is at her most dramatic as a talented musician whose past catches up with her, driving her to invent one lie after another in a desperate effort to save her marriage. In the role of a diabolically clever composer, Claude Rains plays a cat-and-mouse game with Bette, taunting her to distraction and arousing the jealousy of Paul Henreid, a European ’cellist, finally reunited with Bette in America after their long wartime separation. Bette wants to get Paul started on his musical career in this country, but distrusts Claude’s seemingly magnanimous offer of assistance. One moment she believes her former benefactor when he says he hasn’t any intention of revealing their true relationship, the next she doesn’t. Her nerves grow increasingly taut under the strain, and what happens when they reach the breaking point furnishes the climax of a gripping story. While Henreid’s is the more romantic role, the contradictory character portrayed by Rains is by far the more spectacular; that he vastly enjoys playing it is quite evident. The inconclusive though logical ending may disappoint some moviegoers; still, they’ll find this picture an engrossing one. Your Reviewer Says: Pulse-quickening drama. ^ Margie (20th Century -Fox) HEAR ye, hear ye! This refreshing, chucklesome comedy, set in the Thrilling Twenties and fairly loaded with talent, is guaranteed to give you a lift. As teenage Margie, Jeanne Crain’s joys and sorrows are something to smile and sigh over. Whether she’s losing her best bloomers right out in public (did they wear those things in 1928?) or longing for a date with “Johnnykins,” who is hot stuff with his red roadster and raccoon coat; or dreamily dancing with the handsome young French teacher to the envy of the other kids, she’s adorable. Jeanne is surrounded by a coterie of newcomers who drolly demonstrate that they know their business. First and foremost, there’s Glenn Langan as the French teacher. No doubt about it — today’s bobbysoxers, as well as yesterday’s flappers, would welcome the chance to be taught French, or anything else, by a guy like Glenn. Fast-stepping, pert-looking Barbara Lawrence scores as the belle of Central High. Alan Young and Conrad Janis are a pair of comical classmates. Among the film’s more familiar players, there’s Lynn Bari as the school librarian out to win teacher for herself; Esther Dale plays Jeanne’s grandmother, Hobart Cavanaugh her somewhat peculiar father. To liven things up, there are the top tunes of that period, around which this charming picture is built. Your Reviewer Sayt: It’s a honey! Bette Davis and Claude Rains in the gripping drama of a woman’s deceit Glenn Langan and Jeanne Crain in a nostalgic film of not so very long ago ^ The Yearling (M-G-M) Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman in an artistic production of early America O effort or expense has been spared to make this an artistically perfect production. Florida of 1870 is the locale of this Technicolor treatment of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s Pulitzer Prize novel. Penny Baxter (Gregory Peck) does his best to provide for his wife and son, but marauding beasts, thieving neighbors and bad weather constantly conspire against him. Contrary to the novel, there’s a fine understanding between him and his boy Jody who learns the hard way what it means to love something very much only to lose it. In Jody’s case, it’s a baby fawn found in the forest and raised with loving care. Claude Jarman Jr. gives a poignant portrayal of the dreamy-eyed, backwoods youngster. Lean and lanky Gregory Peck is easy on the eyes and ears. ( Continued As Jody’s crippled playmate, Don Gift turns in a sensitive performance. Chief acting honors, however, indisputably belong to Jane Wyman as Ma Baxter. Devoid of glamorizing make-up, Jane doesn’t play, she is a care-worn, embittered woman with one goal in life: Food and shelter, and maybe a well outside her door so she needn’t trek a mile for every drop of precious water. The photography at moments is a little too lush and so are some of the sentimental passages between father and son. Some sequences are overlong. Yet, every child who ever pleaded for a pet and every parent who heeded or denied that plea will find this a memorable picture. Your Reviewer Says: Colorful Americana. on page 6) For Best Pictures of the Month and Best Performances See Page 8 For Complete Casts of Current Pictures See Page 102 For Brief Reviews of Current Pictures See Page 102