San Antonio (Warner Bros.) (1945)

neat, Warners’ ‘San Antonio’ Moving Technicolor Hit (Prepared Review) The southwest of yesteryear, majestic in its beauty and alive with excitement, adventure and romance, lives again on the screen of the Strand Theatre where Warner Bros.’ newest outdoor drama, “San Antonio,’ filmed in glorious Technicolor, opened last night with a superb cast of players headed by stars Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. As translated by the camera lens from an original screen play by Alan LeMay and W. R. Burnett, “San Antonio’ emerges as a colorful western film that is just right in every detail. Briefly, the story is concerned with an era in Texas history when her great nomadic cattle herds were being preyed upon by highly organized bands of night raiders, in an effort to decimate the herds and ruin the men who owned them. Barbed wire and fences had not yet made their appearance on the free range of Texas and it was left to the ranchers themselves to defend both their lives and their lands from the predatory outlaws. Stars Errol Flynn As Clay Hardin, stubborn and embittered cattleman, Errol Flynn convincingly characterizes a man who has sworn to avenge an injustice only to find himself hindered by his love for a beautiful woman. His performance bears the stamp of a fine actor who not only understands his role but relishes playing it, as well. Clay Hardin, in Flynn’s hands, comes to hardy life in the first reel of “San Antonio” and, aided. by flawless pacing on the actor’s part, remains a life-like | character throughout the film. It’s a roughriding, fast-shooting role and just Errol Flynn’s meat. But the west would never be quite believable without a pretty girl, so Alexis Smith is also present to handle the film’s love interest with charm and sincerity. Her Jeanne Starr, a Texas-born beauty who poses under a false label as a New York stage actress is a restrained and finished characterization that more than fulfills Miss Smith’s earlier promise in such films as “The Adventures Of Mark Twain,” “Conflict”? and “Rhapsody In Blue.” Supporting Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith are a _ topnotch company of featured players who can always be relied on to make any role their own. Heading the list is that much-bewildered funny man, §S Z. ‘“‘Cuddles” Sakall, who make the part of Sacha Bozic a gem of comedyrelief. Victor Francen as Legare, a treacherous music hall owner, is his usual poised, capable self and John Liteél, one of screenland’s hitherto little-heralded character actors, is excellent as a rough-shod cowman. Additional laurels are also due Paul Kelly who shares the final spotlight with Errol Flynn in an exciting gun-fight filmed in an authentic reproduction of the famed Alamo ruins. Directed with vigor and good taste by David Butler under the Technicolor color direction of Natalie Kalmus, assisted by associate Leonard Doss, “San Antonio”’ was scored by Max Steiner and produced by Robert Buckner. Mat 107 — 15c S. Z. Sakall 458 Extras Give Makeup Men Mass Production Job Working with and handling a crowd of four hundred and fiftyeight extras presents many headache-inducing problems, not the least of which are difficulties experienced by make-up experts of the motion picture industry. These difficulties become doubly involved when the picture is being made in Technicolor, as was Warner Bros.’ Errol Flynn-Alexis Smith starring film, “San Antonio,” currently playing at the Strand. While on location at Calabasas for ten days, a crew of fourteen experts, seven men and seven women, from Pere Westmore’s department were rushed to prepare the four hundred and fiftyeight costumed men, women and children in readiness for the first morning’s shots. Working under the direction of veteran Ward Hamilton, the beautifiers had many duties, especially in view of the fact that Technicolor pictures require every member of the huge cast to be made up with special facial coloring. Another duty, which required vast quantities of tact, was persuading the ladies to remove their lipstick. “This was necessary for two reasons,” Hamilton explained. “First, because lipstick, of course, was not used in the 187778 period of the picture, except in those rare instances where the woman was really a ‘painted lady’ and, second, because the usual modern lipstick colors photograph a brilliant reddishpurple in Technicolor. If lipstick must be used a very light pink shade is used to create the proper coloring. Mat 104 — 15¢ Errol Flynn, popular screen actor, is starred with Alexis Smith in Warners’ new Technicolor drama of the west, "San Antonio," which arrives Friday at the Strand Theatre. Still 635-168 ‘San Antonio’ Opens Friday At Strand Theatre (Advance Reader) The roaring west, in the days of Wild Bill Hickok, the Dalton boys and Poker Alice, with its colorful cowmen, its turbulent cattle towns and its legendary history, lives again in Warner Bros.’ moving Technicolor drama, “San Antonio,” which arrives Friday at the Strand Theatre. Starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith and featuring S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall, Victor Francen, John Litel and Paul Kelly, the film tells an exciting story of range war and cattle rustling on the open prairies of Texas. Adapted for the screen from an original screenplay by Alan LeMay and W. R. Burnett, “San Antonio” paints a lavish picture of adventure and romance against a background of breathtaking scenic beauty. Spectacular cattle stampedes, dangerous trick riding and a moving love story, all have been incorporated into the thundering motion picture. Under the production aegis of Robert Buckner, “San Antonio” was directed by David Butler and scored by Max Steiner. All Technicolor color direction was handled by Natalie Kalmus, assisted by Leonard Doss. Technicolor Film Opens Tonight At Strand Theatre (Opening Day Reader) Lush with terse melodrama, boisterous action and breathtaking scenery, Warner Bros.’ latest outdoor drama in glorious Technicolor, “San Antonio,” opens tonight at the Strand Theatre. Starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith and featuring a capable company of supporting players including). “S53. Ze --sCuddles:’ Sakall, Victor Francen, John Litel and Paul Kelly, the film is a page of turbulent Texas history come to life on the screen. Adapted from an_ original screenplay by Alan LeMay and W. R. Burnett, “San Antonio” traces the stirring adventures of an embittered cowman who undertakes a one-man range war to save his cattle herds from the ravages of organized gun-hands and rustlers. Painstakingly directed by David Butler and scored by Max Steiner, “San Antonio” was under the Technicolor camera direction of Natalie Kalmus and was produced by Robert Buckner. Dodges Bullets For Eight Hectic Weeks After eight full weeks of dodging fists, bullets, knives, flying bottles and chairs during the production of Warner Bros.’ Technicolor film, “San Antonio,” now at the Strand, Errol Flynn was finally injured when a steel guitar string snapped while he was tuning up to practice the romantic ballad he sings in the picture. His left hand was badly cut as a result. Also starred in the film, a rousing tale of adventure and romance, is Alexis Smith. Showdown Stall os Sees Mat 209 — 30c Errol Flynn and Paul Kelly exchange words, as a prelude to blazing action, in the above scene from Warners’ stirring Technicolor drama, "San Antonio," now playing at the Strand Theatre. Alexis Smith is co-starred in the film. Technicolor Warner Hit Now Playing At Strand (Current Theatre Story) In 1877, the Mississippi River divided a nation. Eastward was civilization; and westward, stretching for thousands of miles, were the badlands of the Dakotas, the roaring, brawling cattle towns of Cheyenne and Abilene and the free range of Texas. Free, that was, for men strong enough to stand the rigors of range wars in a land overrun by lawless hordes of hired gunmen and robber barons. The great longhorned herds were plundered at will and their owners killed or driven into exile in Mexico. Today America has lost her western frontier but the legend of that handful of cowmen and ranchers who fought organized rustling on the plains has been recorded forever in countless ballads and stories of the west. It is to these men that Warner Bros.’ latest Technicolor drama of the great outdoors, “San Antonio,” which is currently playing at the Strand Theatre, has been dedicated. Starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith in the leading roles, “San Antonio’ is a turbulent and lusty tale of Texas when it was young’; when San Antonio was no more than a cluster of adobe huts, a fistful of one-armed saloons and the shattered ruins of her citadel of liberty, the Alamo. After a series of recently successful roles in modern dress, Errol Flynn is cast in “San Antonio” as Clay Hardin, an embittered cattleman who seeks to pin a charge of brandchanging and rustling on treacherous Roy Stuart (played by Paul Kelly), the owner of San Antonio’s notorious Bella Union Music Hall. With a cattle tally book in his possession that is conclusive proof of Stuart’s guilt, Hardin runs a gauntlet of outlaws across the _ Rio Grande, from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico to San Antonio. Reaching San Antonio, Hardin is in Mat 112 — 15c¢ Victor Francen a position to force a showdown between himself, Stuart and Stuart’s equally vicious partner, Legare (played by Victor Francen.) For safekeeping, Hardin gives the tally book to Charlie Bell (John Litel), a friend of long standing. That evening, as Clay Hardin is watching. singer Jeanne Starr’s (Alexis Smith) muchheralded opening night at the Bella Union, Charlie Bell is ambushed and murdered by Legare. The all-important tally book changes hands’ and Hardin’s plea for justice, supported by a flimsy testimonial coaxed out of Jeanne Starr’s manager (S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall), is laughed out of a military court. Fights Back It is for Clay Hardin to decide whether he will accept this mockery of justice or fight back, singlehanded if need be, against the robber barons. He decides upon the latter and corners Stuart, Legare and their henchmen in the Bella Union. Featured in the supporting cast are a company of competent players including Florence Bates and Robert Shayne. Scripted by Alan LeMay and W. R. Burnett and directed by David Butler, “San Antonio” was under the Technicolor color camera direction of Natalie Kalmus. The film was produced by Robert Buckner. Popular Novelist Featured In Western Al Hill, character actor cur rently featured in Warner Bros.’ “San Antonio,” the Technicolor film which stars Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith at the Strand, has just completed his third novel, ‘“‘For Those With Courage,” a fictionized story based on the life of Nick the Greek. Hill’s other books were “Easy Pickings” and “There’s' No Eseape.” His latest novel is scheduled for spring publication, having taken two years to complete. v<