Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

THE NATIONAL GUIDE TO MOTION PICTURES SAVES YOUR PICTURE TIME AND MONEY * CAREFREE-RKO-Rzdio I HAT team is back again, as light on their talented feet as ever. This time, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire don't have quite the material to work with, but they do their best. And it is good. Fred is a psychoanalyst who tries to use psychology on Ginger to induce her to marry his pal, Ralph Bellamy. Instead, she falls in love with her doctor. When, by hypnosis, Fred sets her free of all inhibitions, the riot begins. Through it all soar the lovely melodies of Irving Berlin's latest score and to this delightful music the Astaire-Rogers feet twinkle in the best dance numbers they have ever created. Bellamy does his usual good work as the frustrated lover, and Luella Gear is effective, too. * VALLEY OF THE GIANTS-Warners lUTTRESSED with magnificent natural scenery in Technicolor and heavy action in the way of fistic encounters, this is an example of how the simplest plot can carry all the elements of suspense and satisfying romance. Peter B. Kyne's sturdy story of the California redwoods adds up so — boy has lumber property, villain has mortgage, both want girl. Wayne Morris is the high-minded youth determined to keep his forests intact for future generations to love; Claire Trevor (lovely) is the girl with a past whom he reforms; Charles Bickford is the millionaire lumberman who thinks dead men are breakfast food until he comes in contact with Wayne's furious flying fists. Old-fashioned but good. THE BEST PICTURES OF THE MONTH You Can't Take It with You Carefree Three Loves Has Nancy I Am the Law Boys Town Valley of the Giants MY LUCKY STAR-20th Century-Fox IT'S just an ordinary college picture — until the plump little Sonja Henie gets on the ice. Then the screen becomes magic. For her ballets, for her exhibition skating, and for these things alone, "My Lucky Star" rates as acceptable cinema. Once more Cesar Romero is a playboy caught by a gold-digger, Louise Hovick. To get money from his father to pay off, he sends shop-girl Sonja to college, where she is to exploit clothes from Papa's store and thus increase Papa's business. She meets Richard Greene there. It's winter. She skates. There are complications when Hovick reappears. See it for Sonja. BEST PERFORMANCES OF THE MONTH Edward Arnold in "You Can't Take It with You" Lionel Barrymore in "You Can't Take It wit'n You" James Stewart in "You Can't Take It with You" Ginger Rogers in "Carefree" Fred Astaire in "Carefree" Franchot Tone in "Three Loves Has Nancy" Janet Gaynor in "Three Loves Has Nancy" Robert Montgomery in "Three Loves Has Nancy" Edward G. Robinson in "I Am the Law" Laurel and Hardy in "Block-Heads" Sonja Henie in "My Lucky Star" Joe E. Brown in "The Gladiator" Lew Ayres in "Rich Man, Poor Girl" Mickey Rooney in "Boys Town" Spencer Tracy in "Boys Town" • YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU-Columbia nT least the best thing Frank Capra has ever done, this is everything you could want from a motion picture. The adaptation from the great stage play is an improvement; the show is magnificently cast; production, direction, and every other phase of cinema creation is excellent. Here is the story of a family who, in the midst of this mad world, do as they like and live happily. Grandpa Vanderhoj, sympathetically played by Lionel Barrymore, just decided one day not to work any longer and retired to lead a family consisting of Spring Byington, who writes plays; an iceman who delivered ice one morning and stayed nine years; a ballet-dancing daughter; her husband who makes fireworks in the cellar; and any number of other wacky people. Jean Arthur is the only slightly conventional member of the family; she's in love with James Stewart, son of a munitions tycoon, Edward Arnold. Arnold, in completing a deal, wants Grandpa's house; and thereon hangs the tale. In the ensuing mess (because Grandpa won't sell), everyone ends up in jail, and Barrymore convinces Arnold that "you can't take it with you when you go." Stewart and Miss Arthur make a romantic pair and Barrymore is up to his high standard, but the finest portrayal is Arnold's. Mischa Auer gets laughs, Donald Meek is amusing, Spring Byington, Ann Miller, Harry Davenport and all the others are excellent. It is a field day for the character actors. There is something gentle in the philosophy expressed which will send you forth loving your fellow man — but you will be weak from laughter. You must not miss this. • BOYS TOWN— M-G-M A POWERFUL tribute to one man's ideals and the heartbreaking obstacles that stood in the pathway of those ideals is brilliantly pictured on the screen in "Boys Town," one of the finest pictures to come from Hollywood. The story, simple and touching, tells of one man's faith in boyhood and the amazing institution that grew out of that faith, with no effort toward preaching or moralizing. Father Flanagan, a courageous priest of Omaha, Nebraska, is the man. The selfsupporting institution known as Boys Town, a community inhabited and governed solely by unwanted or homeless boys who worship as they please, is the direct result of his belief that "there is no such a thing as a bad boy." Beginning with a handful of street waifs, Father Flanagan started his home. On almost every side he met discouragement but, his faith still undiminished, he carried on and today, twenty-one years later, his institution remains a monument to that faith. Spencer Tracy, playing the role of Father Flanagan, gives a restrained and brilliant performance. He is the only actor the real Father Flanagan would permit to portray him on the screen. Tracy puts forth all the spiritual conviction and dramatic feeling that the role calls for. Second honors go to Mickey Rooney as the incorrigible Whitey, who bitterly holds out against the kindly father until finally faith and trust win him over. The clash between the two is an emotional experience that won't soon be forgotten. Praise goes to Director Norman Taurog and the splendid supporting cast, which includes Henry Hull, Bobs Watson, Gene Reynolds and many others. (Continued on page 88) 49