Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1948)

Driftin’ River (PRC) IT’S law versus crime in a place called Dow City, crawling with tough hombres whose fingers start itchin’ the moment they clutch a gun. And when the bullets run out, they can always fall back on old-fashioned fisticuffs. The Army sends Eddie Dean to this cozy little corner to inspect horses for sale by one J. C. Morgan (Shirley Patterson). J. C., it turns out, is a right pretty critter, running the ranch left to her by her father. When Eddie sizes up the situation he and his sidekick (Roscoe Ates) decide to stick around awhile. It’s just as well because, among other dastardly deeds, the herd is stolen and some soldiers are killed. In between the fighting, Eddie Dean croons a couple of hill-billy ballads. He has a pleasant enough voice but his singing can’t change this horse opera from being anything but stale stuff. Your Reviewer Says: Thumbs down, pardner! Gas House Kids (PRC) AS the title suggests, this is full of desedem-dose characters against a slum setting. Billy Halop is the leader of the neighborhood gang who, despite their tough talk, are softies at heart. When they learn that a former policeman on their beat is back from the war hopelessly crippled and about to break his engagement, they put their heads together to see if they can hit upon a solution. Billy finds a wad of dough which seems to come from heaven until the rent collector is found murdered. Then a lot of questions are asked with Billy becoming Suspect No. 1. In the romance department there’s good (Continued from page 6) looking Robert Lowery as the vet and Teala Loring as his girl. They lend a sentimental touch to a film that isn’t too good nor yet too bad. Story and acting are adequate even if the humor is as subtle as a baseball bat. Your Reviewer Says: Take it or leave it. Best Pictures of the Month Deception Margie The Yearling Humoresque Best Performances Bette Davis, Claude Rains and Paul Henreid in "Deception” Jeanne Crain in "Margie” Jane Wyman in "The Yearling” John Garfield, Joan Crawford and Oscar Levant in "Humoresque” Home in Oklahoma (Republic) IIFE is cheap at a place called Hereford Heaven, which is anything but heavenly for the blokes at the wrong end of a gun. It’s here that newspaper editor Roy Rogers and girl reporter Dale Evans check the possibility that a millionaire ranch owner didn’t die accidentally, as first assumed, but met with foul play. Why did the deceased man’s niece (Carol Hughes) only receive a paltry few thousand, with the bulk of his holdings going to twelve-year-old Lanny Rees? And where does Carol’s foremansweetheart (George Meeker) come into the picture? Roy and Dale race each other to find out the answers. Aided by Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers, Roy strums and sings some cowboy ditties, delivered in his usual easydoes-it manner. While “Home in Oklahoma” moves at a fairly fast clip, it’s short on the sort of surprises that keep you on the edge of your seat. Your Reviewer Says: Murder on the range. F' Children of Paradise (Tricolor Films-UA) ECIDEDLY off the beaten path is this serio-comic French picture presenting a so-called “slice of life” — and a very generous slice, too, inasmuch as it runs for two hours and forty minutes. There are ragged edges where the shears were applied, the original version having taken four hours. Paris’s “Boulevard of Crime,” in the Nineteenth Century, attracts a motley assortment of characters, each unique enough to challenge an artist’s brush. At the not so grand Grand Theatre, noisy throngs gather nightly to voice their approval or disapproval of the actors. Out of this kaleidoscope emerges a provocative beauty (Arletty) whose mocking maimer and Mona Lisa smile arouse the admiration of four men. Before this fascinating femme fatale makes her final choice and the cur Word is Spreading: THE GREATEST MOTION 2