Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

A reliable guide to recent pictures. One check means good; two checks, very good; three checks, outstanding ^ Great Expectations IET your expectations rise as high as they want — you’ll not be disappointed for even a single moment in this film that’s based on the Dickens novel. It has all the Dickensian moods and turns and twists of plot that you’d expect; you’ll relish them all right up to the last exciting moment. This is about Pip, a “young man of great expectations,” who falls heir to a fortune from an anonymous patron and goes to live in London. He’s just a blacksmith’s apprentice, but he takes to London life with the greatest of ease and sees in it the chance to win the fair hand of his (Universal-International ) childhood playmate Valerie Hobson. The mystery of his patron — as well as the mystery in Valerie’s life— will take you from the foggy English marshes to life m the Temple, the London courts and a gruelling scene in a deserted old English country house. The first scene sets the mood and when we tell you that most of the audience screams involuntarily you’ll get a good idea of the very excellent type of filmmaking you’ll find in this laurel-winner. Your Reviewer Says: You’ll hold on to your seat. Valerie Hobson, John Mills — enchanting couple in a thrilling, suspenseful film Best fun in years : Betty Hutton and John Lund in the saga of nickelodeon days Triple shot: Harold Lloyd, Frances Ramsden, Arline Judge in reel fun fest ^ Perils of Pauline (Paramount) TAKE along a bag of peanuts and the biggest laugh you own. The laugh you’ll need almost constantly; the peanuts are just to put you in the mood of the picture — a marvelous mood that takes you back to the old nickelodeon days when Pearl White as the serial heroine Pauline got rescued once a week from the wicked villain as the piano played madly on. Pauline is back again and Betty Hutton has her. It’s this bundle of blonde energy that takes over the role of Pearl, the little stage-struck girl who walks right into the lead of the famous early-day thriller. This is Hutton’s meat; she does it up brown with every trick in her raucous category going to make for some of the best fun you’ve ever had at a movie. Backing her up are Billy De Wolfe, a genuine sort of a gagster, John Lund and veterans William Demarest and Constance Collier to flavor this old-time dish. Pauline does just about everything and the movie has just about everything, too. Its scenes of the first films in the making are something to paste up in your album with great big gold stars. If this one doesn’t make you laugh, you’re lost. Your Reviewer Says: Go yourself and take everybody. ^ The Sin of Harold Diddlebock ( Calif ornia-UA) HAROLD LLOYD and his horn-rimmed glasses come out of retirement and set up active business again as motion-picture entertainers. How entertained you’ll be depends on how you react to Lloyd and his impetuous solemnity; also to the idea of people dangling from skyscrapers attached to a lion. Yes, that’s what we said — attached to a lion. His name is Jackie and he’s Lloyd’s most efficient prop. Forget common sense and you may have an uncommonly good time if you can imagine one Harold Diddlebock, a wornout bookkeeper, taking to the bottle and buying a circus. There are some funny scenes, some not so funny and some down right silly, but Lloyd’s there all the time, playing away for dear life. One Frances Ramsden, a new and provocative personality, is the heroine, but she doesn’t have much to do. Jimmy Conlin, Raymond Walbum and Franklin Pangborn fill in some comedy spots and Arline Judge adds her bit to the fun. The rest is all handled by the maestro himself and if you feel as silly as he looks, the picture’s all yours. Some scenes drag, but one is a bellringer— the opening shot, lifted right out of Lloyd’s old picture, “The Freshman.” Your Reviewer Says: Sin without punishment. ( Continued on page 6) BY MARIAN QUINN KELLY p 4 For Best Pictures of the Month and Best Performances See Page 11 For Complete Casts of Current Pictures See Page 122 For Brief Reviews of Current Pictures See Page 13