Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1940)

why the sale of government-owned Jewels has not been consummated, ["he attractive Melvyn Douglas convinces her that love Is more important than the Iniulit of tin in nation of In. i Claire is a 1 I he amusing per formance Gftrbo turns in. * NURSE EDITH CAVELL— RKO-Radio Remember the execution ol Edith Cavell, tiie English nurse who started an undercover systi-m of helping wounded Allies to safety during the World War? Vs that mirso, Anna Ne.ie.le turns in a performance worthy ol Academy \w.ud attention. Kdn. i May Oliver, ZaSu Pitts and May Robson contribute fine work, too. [No I *OLD MAID. THE— Warners A fine movie, good drama — but so long, so dreary. Bette Davis plays the young girl who loves George Brent, the man Miriam Hopkins discards. Alter Brent is killed in the Civil War. Bette gives birth to his daughter. Bette allows Miriam to adopt the child and turns herself into a sour old maid. The baby grows up (Jane Bryan), hating Bette. Miss Davis gives a superb portrayal, but Miriam Hopkins almost succeeds in matching it. (Oct.) SI. 000 A TOUCHDOWN— Paramount There's no sense to this, but it's funny. Martha Rave s broke, sells her house to keep the college open, discovers Joe E. Brown, descendant of a long line of actors, so she turns the place into a dramatic school, starts a football team and puts claustrophobic Joe in it. Guess who wins. (Dec.) OUR LEADING CITIZEN— Paramount Bob Burns tries hard in this, but it's certainly not fare for the intellectual audience. There's a lot of stuff about strikes, and more flag-waving than entertainment. Susan Hayward supplies the romantic interest. Elizabeth Patterson, Kathleen Lockhart and Charles Bickford do credible work. (Oct.) PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES— 20th Century-Fox Time: The last World War. Place: France. Plot: The Ritz Brothers, a vaudeville team, unable to get bookings because of their German name, join the army. In France they team up with Jane Withers, whose father, Joseph Schildkraut, is a spy. There's bombing and blasting — but little entertainment value here. (Dec.) + PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, THE— Warners You may feel that this is lacking in the fire that Queen Elizabeth's lusty to-do with Lord Essex might have inspired, but Bette Davis, as the eviltempered, enamored-of-power Queen delights in her role, and Errol Flynn, as Essex, is magnificent to look upon. The grandeur of that court, the vital color of a nation not yet effete called for Technicolor. Donald Crisp, Olivia de Havilland, Vincent Price, Henry Daniell and Alan Hale add to the high quality of the production. (Dec.) * RAINS CAME, THE— 20th Century-Fox Louis Bromfield's story of a'group of people caught in the flood and earthquake of India; the effect upon each when disaster, disease and death touch them, is transferred to the screen with compelling fidelity. Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy and George Brent give the top performances of their careers; with Maria Ouspenskaya, H. B. Warner, Joseph Schildkraut and Brenda Joyce following close on their heels. (Nov.) *REAL GLORY, THE— Goldwyn-U.A. Another blood-and-thunder epic. Locale: Philippines. Year: 1906. When the Moros, resenting the intrusion of the new government, use the dreaded cholera as their lethal weapon, Gary Cooper does an excellent job as doctor, soldier, organizer, and still has time for some tender love scenes with Andrea Leeds. David Niven and Broderick Crawford are excellent. (Oct.) RETURN OF DR. X., THE— Warners Wow! what a murder mystery — and with Humphrey Bogart thrown in as further nightmare material. Wayne Morris, reporter, finds actress Lya Lys murdered. She turns up later to sue his paper. Another person is found murdered by the -a me sort of wound, and no evidence of blood. Then Humphrey, as Dr. Xavier, turns out to have been electrocuted two years ago. Boo! (Nov.) SHOULD HUSBANDS WORK?— Republic Here's the Biggins bunch again, played by James, Lucile and Russell Gleason. All the fuss is about Pa's job, because there's going to be a merger and Ma messes things up. Marie Wilson is her usual dumb-bunny character. (Oct.) RIO— Universal The story of what happens to the trusted wife of a French convict has Victor McLaglen as the friend of Basil Rathbone, who is the French capitalist under conviction. Sigrid Gurie is the wife, and Robert Cummings the young American she falls for in Rio. There's a good escape sequence and some bloody killing. (Dec.) ROARING TWENTIES, THE— Warners Those mad, prosperous, Prohibition Twenties! The story starts when World War veteran Jimmy Cagney looks up a girl who has been writing to him and discovers she is Priscilla Lane. Circumstances draw him into the liquor racket, take him through the market crash, and into the depression when Priscilla finds happiness with his buddy, Jeffrey Lynn. Gladys George, Frank McHugh and Humphrey Bogart have supporting roles. (Dec.) RULERS OF THE SEA— Paramount A rousting story of the first Atlantic crossing in a steam-driven boat, with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. playing the young mate who has faith in steam. Will Fyffe is superb as the Scots inventor of steam motors. George Bancroft plays a die-hard sailing skipper, and Margaret Lockwood is appealing. (Dec.) SPELLBINDER, THE— RKO-Radio A natural for Lee Tracy. He's a fast-gab lawyer verging on the shady side. Plot: Tracy defends murderer; freed rascal woos and weds Tracy's daughter, Barbara Read; Tracy kills him. Patric Knowles and Allan Lane struggle hard. (Oct.) JUNE in JANUARY Polka dot and plain fabric combine in Catalina's satin lastex one-piece, frontskirted 1940 bathing suit WHY all the to-do about bathing suits and shorts, cottons and ginghams at this time of year? Why? Because Photoplay is the first with fashion news and California is knee-deep in playtime. Yes, it's resort season, so here's news about play clothes you'll want to pack in your old kit bag for your travels toward the sun! You can't go? Well, this news is just as important to you as it is to wanderers, for it will soon be time to start planning an early vacation wardrobe. You've probably noticed that the clothes on this page are not posed on your favorites of the screen. Why? Our apologies to you and the stars, because we snapped these pictures on the models during the recent showing of California resort clothes which was held at Palm Spring's famous Racquet Club. The charming frock on the left of the double photo (above right) is Agnes Barrett's rayon and cotton seersucker model that is belted with royal blue silk jersey to match the wooden buttons that march up the front. The stripes are red, white, royal blue and green. Irene Bury's sport coat-frock of blue and white striped synthetic linen is shown on the right. The horizontal stripes of the front under slip contrast the bias styling of the fabric of the coat-frock which is closed at neck and waist with self-fabric ties. The crushed crown of the white toyo hat is of blue grosgrain ribbon — the bag also combines these two fabrics. Louella Ballerino made the white cotton pique play dress (right) and styled it in ballerina fashion with a circle skirt, wing shoulders and a ruffle edged corselet that laces up the front with navy blue cord to match the trim. Polka dot and plain fabric combine in Catalina's satin lastex one-piece, front-skirted 1940 bathing suit (top). The body of the suit is wine red — the 'Von a w'nter , ^e, c lin *n<* i,L?°« l(Jl 3dr A white cotton pique pla dress, styled in ballerina fashic with circle skirt and wing sr jlders brassiere top and belt, powder b e with white dots. A summary of resort and crui fashion news places particular st ss on color, not only the brilliant hue of last year, but also an abundance of astels. White holds its supremacy as t leading fashion color. Red finds ) ice on every other costume as trim onccent. In general, you'll see your favorss well represented— white and navy, wite and brown, green, blue, yellow and pk. * STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE-20th Century-Fox Inspiring and dignified, this story of Henrv M Stanley's safari into darkest Africa in search of Dr Spencct 84 Livingstone, famous British missionary Tracy and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, as Livingstone an sensitively the title roles. Nancy Kelly and Richard Greene are seen briefly as lovers, while Chari. Coburn and Walter Brennan furnish wis™ „ comedy. (Oct.) v* m STAR MAKER, THE— Paramount Bing Crosby's newest vehicle is no bargain darn it! It's the story of Gus Edwards, kiddie impresa „ Bing plays the poor songwriter who marries Lou » Campbell, refuses to take an ordinary job and crm ceives the idea of offering children to the nubh> as entertainment. This introduces sonsstromii-j Ware; Walter Damrosch leads aSymph^ orchestra; Bmg sings; Ned Sparks and Laura Hope Crews contribute comedy. (Nov.) STOP. LOOK AND LOVE— 20th Century. Fox * "Marrying daughter off" is cleverly exploited here. Minna Gombell plays the mother who married to \\ llham Frawley, expends her energy to find a husband for daughter Jean Rogers Ipan finds Bob Kellard. but Mama almost ruins the romance. (Nov.) • THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS— M-G-M Youth scintillates against a college background Anita Louise, Jane Bryan and Ann Rutherford are three lovely debs, and you know Lew Ayres is a college senior without being told. A crack showsinl his sophisticated coating, however, when Lata i Turner, honky-tonk hostess, shows up at his i school's veddy exclusive houseparty. Marsha Hunt J makes a fine college widow. (Oct.) THREE SONS— RKO-Radio It's the story of a man whose consuming interejB in life is his department store, and his boys to follow in his footsteps. Only they don't. There isn't much to keep you fascinated.' Edward Ellis plays the father, Kent Taylor J Robert Stanton and Dick Hogan the offspring' (Dec.) THUNDER AFLOAT— M-G-M Captain Wally Beery lives on a tugboat with ■ daughter, Virginia Grey, until a Boche sub puts them off and sinks the tug. Beery joins the Navy so he can get revenge but his former rival, Chestejl Morris, is now his superior officer and Beery doesn't! take kindly to discipline. So he takes his sub-chaser off on a solo hunt for the enemy. It's a persomM battle between Beery and the subs. (iVoti.) TORCHY PLAYS WITH DYNAMITE j Warners Jane Wyman takes Glenda Farrell's place in thill romantic finale of the Torchy Blane series, when she] walks off with detective Allen Jenkins. There'* prison stuff, and a chase. Tom Kennedy and Bruce MacFarlane trot along with the story. (Nov.) TWO BRIGHT BOYS— Universal Freddie Bartholomew and Melville Cooper, s and father, live by their wits, get in the clutches ofl Alan Dinehart. who u-es them to make a grab atl oil lands owned by Jackie Cooper and his mothea Dorothy Peterson. The boys do_nice jobs. (Dec.j| UNDER-PUP, THE— Universal Cinema history is made in this with the discovery^ of a new singing star — eleven-year-old Gloria Jean.' The story is a simple one: A poor girl wins a contest and is taken to a rich girls' camp. All the pampered darlings snoot Gloria — except little Virginia Weidler, but Gloria works out her problems with the aid of Billy Gilbert, Kenneth Brown and Billy Lenhart. Nan Grey and Robert Cummings supply romance. See this. (Nov.) UNEXPECTED FATHER— Universal Reminiscent of Shirley Temple's "Little Miss Broadway," this, with Sandy Henville playing Shirley's role of a child in danger of being put in an institution and vaudeville folk rallying round. Shirley Ross, Dennis O'Keefe and Mischa Auer stooge for the charming Sandy. (Oct.) WAY DOWN SOUTH— Principal— RKORadio Bobby Breen's latest has better interest than its predecessors. Everything happens in Louisiana when Ralph Morgan, playing Bobby's father, is killed and Edwin Maxwell, the attorney, tries to rob the boy of his inheritance. (Oct.) •k WHAT A LIFE— Paramount An amusing picture in which Jackie Cooper, an adolescent trying to make adjustments peculiar^ his particular age, walks away with a difficult assignment. Betty Field, Cooper's sweetheart; James Corner, his rival; John Howard and Kathleen Lockhart all deliver good performances. (Dec.) WHEN TOMORROW COMES— Universal Tragedy and trouble stalk Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer in this. It all starts when Charles, a famous pianist, drops into the restaurant where Irene is a waitress. It takes a hurricane to show them that they love one another, but love is not for them. Charles can't desert his irrational wife, Barbara O'Neil. You may like this, if you enjoy suffering in charming company. (Oct.) WOMEN, THE— M-G-M Clare Boothe's Broadway success is an uncompromising story of the eternal battle ot women for males and money. Norma Shearer is excellent as the devoted mother and wife, ana Joan Crawford is in there slugging as the hardbitten clerk who uses every w. . _■ to catch Norma s husband. The fat part fell to Roz Russell and she made capital of it. Mary Boland and Joan hontaine are grand. Both sexes will have fun at tins. (Nov.) • WIZARD OF OZ, THE— M-G-M This superb fantasy of a little girl transported by cyclone to a magic wonderland is a "must tor cniidren and adults alike. The cast alone— "ans Morgan in the title role. Judy Garland as »'« ; Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion: Ray Bolg«. "* Scarecrow: Jack Haley, the Tin Woodman: » Burke, the Good Fairy: and Margaret Hamilton, lie ' —itch; might have been dreamed into oeins lis picture. In Technicolor. (Oct.) „