Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

yyMY FAVORITE BRUNETTE— Paramount: Words and facial expressions by Bob Hone who falls all over himself running to aid damsel Dorothy Lamour. He meets up with Peter Lorre and a murder charge. Hope really has himself a time and you will too. (May) NEW ORLEANS — Levey-UA: Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday perform, but other than that this has nothing to offer. Jazz gets born in New Orleans with the help of Arturo De Cordova, Dorothy Patrick, Louis and Billie. Louis and the music are good, the rest bad. (May) l /NORA PRENTISS — Warners: Ann Sheridan comes into the life of successful doctor Kent Smith and before it’s over you have a gruesome picture of where a back street can lead. Strong point of the film is the dilemma faced by Nora in the climax. (Apr.) yyyODD MAN OUT—J. Arthur Rank: A pretty prize from England with James Mason playing the hunted head of an “organization” in Ireland. It’s the story of the eight hours in which he’s hunted down by the police, of the people who try to help him and of Kathleen Ryan who waits for his return. Excellent picture with excellent acting. (May) yy PURSUED — Warners: Expert treatment of the life of Robert Mitchum who’s pursued by a childhood memory in which Judith Anderson figures. Teresa Wright tries to help him; Dean Jagger tries to kill him. It’s hate and love on the wild plains of New Mexico set to Max Steiner music. (Apr.) RAMROD — Enterprise-UA : Here’s another wicked lady — Veronica Lake — who makes strong-minded heroes of the West weak in the head. Joel McCrea is the guy who doesn’t catch on until it’s almost too late that she’d just as soon murder as wink. Veronica’s her sizzling self and it's a Lake special. (June) yi/RED HOUSE. THE-Lesser-UA : A study in introspection to keep you in a high state of tension. Lon McCallister is warned by a farmer Edward G. Robinson to keep clear of Oxhcad Woods, enters them instead, finds out about the red house and Rory Calhoun with the help of Judith Anderson and Allene Roberts. (Apr.) SAN QUENTIN — RKO: This starts out by pointing up the work in federal prisons of the inmates’ league for self-discipline but ends up disappointingly as a routine gangster film with grim-faced Lawrence Tierney chasing his killer prey. (Apr.) yySEA OF GRASS, THE — M-G-M: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn get emotional about life on the cattle range in the eighteen-hundreds. Their marriage runs into complications, one of whom is lawyer Melvyn Douglas; the years bring children Robert Walker and Phyllis Thaxter as well as plenty to keep you interested. (May) ySHOCKING MISS PILGRIM, THE — 20th Century-Fox: This had a big opportunity in a brand-new plot — a female “typewriter" who walks into a staid Boston office in 1874. It could have been a diverting comedy, but it peters out instead into a love duet between Betty and her crooning boss Dick Haymes. Fair enough, but could have been better. (June) ySINBAD THE SAILOR — RKO: Fabulous Sinbad played by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. sails in search of treasure. Done in rich Technicolor, with a fanciful atmosphere, plenty of action, wicked Anthony Quinn and beauteous Maureen O’Hara. (Apr.) yy SMASH-UP : THE STORY OF A WOMAN— Universal-International: Susan Hayward turns in a fine picture of an alcoholic woman married to Lee Bowman and resentful of his secretary Marsha Hunt. When time hangs heavy on her jeweled fingers she takes to the bottle. It’s a shocker. (May) SONG OF SCHEHERAZADE. THE— UniversalInternational: Dreamed-up stuff with Jean Pierre Aumont as composer Rimsky-Korsakov beaming his way through colorful happenings in a Moroccan port. Yvonne De Carlo dances, there’s lots of music, a fight with bull whips and nonsense involving Brian Donlevy. (May) TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS— RKO: Some hunters (one’s Patricia Morison) invade Johnny Weissmuller’s jungle in search of zoo specimens, but they’re defeated before they ever start. Brenda Joyce, Johnny Sheffield, Cheta and some refreshing jungle scenes make this a foregone winner in the Saturdayafternoon line-up. (June) TIME OUT OF MIND — Universal-International: The novel was a best-seller, but the film fell flat on its high minded nose. Phyllis Calvert is good as the housekeeper’s daughter who tries to make a musician of Robert Hutton, with Ella Raines in there plugging, too. Eddie Albert is featured. (June) yTWO MRS. CARROLLS, THE — Warners: Mr, Carroll is Humphrey Bogart and Mrs. is Barbara Stanwyck. They seem an ideal married couple until you and Barbara begin to find out what happened to the first Mrs. Carroll. There’s roaring wind, beating rain and suspense; everything’s dandy except that tough Bogie cracks up unbelievably under the strain. (June) y WELCOME STRANGER — Paramount: Everyone takes it easy — Bing sings genially, Barry Fitzgerald’s Cupid and Joan Caulfield acts the pretty foil. The plot lallygags pleasantly along the route of a city doctor’s sojourn in a Maine village. (June) wllM KegiaaM Itettov • Douglas Durahrille • dtuvttce Kolh . Dennis Hoe John Lite! • Walter Sand* ■ Joe Sawyer * Konstantin Shame Screenplay by Laurence Stalling/Adapted from original stories by Laurence Stallings ami Richard H. Landau ! Produced by BENEDICT BOCEACS * Directed by Edwin L. Marin I Relen-ed thru UNITED ARTtsT^