Dangerously They Live (Warner Bros.) (1941)

PUBLICITY—‘DANGEROUSLY THEY LIVE’ RAY. MASSEY STARS IN NEW ACTION DRAMA Most cosmopolitan actor in the world is Raymond Massey. Considered by American movie-goers an Englishman, he is actually a Canadian, hailing from Toronto, Canada. In England, where Massey has made many pictures, notably “Drums” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” he is considered an American type. On the New York stage, Canadian-born Raymond Massey made the greatest success of his career playing Abe Lincoln. His portrayal of the Great Emancipator in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” ranks as one of the classic roles of the stage. Another famous American part he played on Broadway was the Vermont farmer, Ethan Frome, in the play of the same name. In Hollywood, where Massey is generally cast as a “heavy,” he has generally played characters with a dubious international tinge, although in “Santa Fe Trail” he gave a rousing portrayal of the American John Brown. In his current Warner Bros. picture, “Dangerously They Live,” in which he shares Mat 101—15c RAYMOND MASSEY starring honors with John Garfield, Massey plays an American doctor with Nazi sympathies. What next, he wonders? ‘Nifty To Be Thrifty’ Says New Starlet If you ask Nancy Coleman, costarring with John Garfield in Warner Bros.’ “Dangerously They Live,” what has helped her most in her career, she answers with a single word—‘Thrift.” When Nancy decided _ she wanted to be an actress, she came down to San Francisco from her native Everett, Wash., and worked as an elevator operator in The Emporium, a big department store. She lived as thriftily as a church-mouse so she could start out on an acting career with at least one thousand dollars. The day the old bank book reached the figure Nancy packed her grips and was off to Manhattan. “As luck would have it, I got a job right away in New York with Gertrude Lawrence in ‘Susan and God.’ I did so well that I concluded I didn’t have to save any more, and when the run was over I’d spent all my money. Didn’t have a job or a savings account. So I started all over again. Saved my money and got the lead in the Theatre Guild show, ‘Liberty Jones’.” So by now Nancy Coleman figures it’s gotten past the coincidence stage. Mat 202—30c DARING ESCAPE is engineered by John Garfield, who is out to track down some enemy spies in “‘Dangerously They Live,” the new Warner Bros. picture which goes into the Strand Theatre on Friday. New Kind of Hero in ‘Dangerously They Live’ Any minute now a new shortage is going to stare the nation in the face, and we might as well be prepared for it. This is one lack that won’t be placed at the door of defense. The burden of responsibility will fall on a group of actors with a hankering to mend their ways. The shortage will be one of screen tough guys, menaces and hard-hitting, hard-talking men. And now that John Garfield has left the ranks of the muggs and the toughies, the news is that the decimation in the ranks of screen villains is practically complete. Johnny’s new picture, opening Friday at the Strand, “Dangerously They Live,” finds him an upright, honest young . Mat 102—15c JUST ORDINARY AMERICANS who go all-out for Uncle Sam— Nancy Coleman and John Garfield as they appear in “Dangerously They Live.”’ citizen who only gets tough when he runs up against a batch of enemy spies who are trying to stab Uncle Sam in the back. But this time John is working with the law, instead of against it. In changing character so completely Johnny is following recently established precedent. Most recently Humphrey Bogart, who. has to his credit a list as long as your arm of thugs and plug-uglies, threw a complete change of pace. In “The Maltese Falcon” he appears on the side of law and order as a detective and while, it is true, he is himself suspected of everything in the book by the cops, Bogey is actually a_ spotless, blameless, though tough, hero. Edward G. Robinson, who used to be famous for the way he could chew a cigar and talk out of the corner of his mouth, is another of the screen’s tough guys who have forsaken their old ways. He started going straight in “Dr. Ehrlich” and in his last picture, “Manpower,” he was still cleaving to the straight and narrow. That same picture starred another ex-tough guy. George Raft, after a career of gun-toting and pineapple-tossing, threw all that into the discard and has become one of the screen’s most sought-for leading men. Brian Donlevy used to be the kind of gentleman who rated hisses at the Children’s Matinee. But since “The Great McGinty” he, too, has switched sides and is now playing ball with the heroes. But Johnny Garfield says there is one actor who is really responsible for it all. “You can blame it all on Jimmy Cagney,” he explains. “If ever anyone writes a history of the movies, you can bet he’ll talk about those expert tough-guy characterizations of Jimmy’s. Then Jimmy stopped being a gangster. The public not only accepted the new Cagney, but they rocketed him to even greater heights. My hope is that if they were so nice to the new Cagney, maybe the public won’t mind the new Garfield. Here’s hoping.” ‘Dangerously They Live’ Has Big Cast of Stars The Northwest is thrice represented in Warner Bros.’ “Dangerously They Live.” This is the picture, coming to the Strand which marks John Garfield’s return to the cameras after his one-man campaign to give up tough-guy roles. John’s leading lady is young Nancy Coleman, who hails from Everett, and who, after only one picture, is already on her way to stardom. Raymond Massey, well-known star of stage and screen completes the starring trio. Nancy is the red-haired lass who a few season back broke into show business as Gertrude Lawrence’s daughter in “Susan and God.” She was approached at that time with a number of picture offers, but followed the advice given her by Steve Trilling, Warner casting chief, to wait till she had gained more stage experience. It wasn’t so easy for Nancy to follow the advice. For one whole winter she was “at liberty,” as actors politely call the state others know as “unemployed.”’ She supported herself by occasional bits in radio shows. Finally she got a break almost through accident. Nancy heard that the New York Theatre Guild was doing a play called “Libery Jones” which needed a young and very competent actress. She sought out the author, Phillip Barry, who started her on the series of auditions that finally got Nancy the leading role. In “Dangerously They Live” Nancy plays an agent of the British Intelligence who carries in her head vital information concerning the movements of convoys England-bound. Her chief adversary is another actor well-known in the Pacific Northwest where he toured for almost ten years with a stock company of his own. Moroni: Olson, who was the first actor young Nancy Coleman ever saw on a stage, enacts the role of a Nazi agent who pretends he is Nancy’s father so he can get hold of the tell-tale information. Olsen still remembers with considerable pleasure those years he spent with the Moroni Olsen Players touring the Northwest. He admits he’s grown soft, and a little older, and finds picturemaking: a lot easier than hitting the road with his company. Olsen is one of Hollywood’s most outstanding character players, and is constantly in demand for picture work. Nancy can’t quite bring her self to address Moroni with the often he asks her to call him by his first name, Nancy can’t get it out that way. “When I was a little girl I Mat 103—15c NANCY COLEMAN informality which is a Hollywood custom. It’s still Mr. Olsen to Nancy and no matter how used to regard Mr. Olsen with such awe,” says Nancy, “that I could no more call him Moroni than I could call Charles Evans Hughes ‘Chuck.’ It wouldn’t fit.” The third member of the Northwest contingent appearing in “Dangerously They Live” is Mary Jo James, daughter of Burton and Florence James who run the Seattle Repertory Playhouse. In this, her first picture, Mary Jo has a comparatively small role, that of an assistant to John Garfield, but she is grateful for the chance to work before the cameras even in a minor part. “It'll give me the experience I need,” Mary Jo says sagely. As One Doc to Another Errol Flynn needled John Garfield with this when they met in the Warner Bros.’ Green Room: “T see you’re playing a doctor now, my friend. No wonder they call the picture ‘Dangerously They Live.’” “Sure, sure,” grinned Garfield. “And after you played a doc in ‘Dive Bomber’ they . Starred you in ‘They Died With Their Boots On’.” Mat 203—30c INQUISITION—Christian Rub and Nancy Coleman (center) are being grilled by Raymond Massey and Moroni Olsen, who portray -enemy agents in ‘‘Dangerously They Live,’”’ the timely exciting new drama opening Friday at the Strand. 13