Screenland (July–Dec 1947)

i DREADED MS i CM BE ACTIVE DAYS RELIEVES FUNCTIONAL PERIODIC PAIN CMMPS-HUBMHl --BLUES" Then one Sunday night I got a chance to get away for a few hours. I went to see the picture, "Till the Clouds Roll By," and when Judy Garland sang "Look for The Silver Lining," oh, my, what it did for me ! I left the theater feeling like I had a new lease on life. It did me so much good. No sermon at church could have done more for me than the way Judy put over that song. It sure has made me look on the brighter side of life and I feel so much better. Keep singing, Judy, for others may be helped as much as I was. GENEVA McCOY, Alton, III. REMODEL WESTERNS #1.00 My six year old boy, like so many other youngsters his age, is an ardent Roy Rogers and Red Ryder fan. Indeed, I have accompanied him to so many Roy Rogers pictures that I think I could close my eyes from beginning to end of one of these Western shows and conjure up a fair reproduction of what is being enacted on the. screen. I ardently wish that the movie producers who release these cowboy pictures would remember that, in addition to the juveniles who comprise the whistling, cheering and hooting section of the audience, there are many of us adults who must sit stolidly through a performance so familiar that at times we are positive we have seen the picture before. The story is invariably only a slightly altered version of the same hackneyed theme that should have been put in moth balls long ago. Now, I appreciate the fact that a picture of this nature must be jammed full of action — cattle rustling, gun play and the inevitable wrestling bout in which the virile hero, locked in the arms of his bitterest foe, overturns tables, hurtles, still locked to his adversary, from a balcony and leaves the saloon, where these contests unfailingly take place, in a complete shambles. This dynamic, he-man stuff understandably appeals to the youngsters and holds them in a state of enchantment throughout the entire picture ; but, Mr. Producer, the fact remains that it is pretty old stuff to us grown-ups. However, we will concede the point that a Roy Rogers or Red Ryder show minus scenes of this sort would impel all the youngsters to stay at home on Saturday nights, content to listen to their cowboy favorite on the radio. Our major objections lie in the fact that the plot, which many a youngster doesn't understand anyway and which is seemingly designed for the more mature members of the audience, would stand an overhaul job. MRS. AGNES REHDER, Portland, Ore. MOVIE CRITICS #1.00 My husband and I and another young couple were among the lucky first-nighters at the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's newest picture, "Monsieur Verdoux," and from the rest of the audience's, as well as our own enthusiastic reception of it, I truly expected rave notices from the critics. Frankly, I was both disappointed and thoroughly disgusted by their unison in agreeing that it should be panned more than praised. Personally, I am grateful that I am never too influenced by their blase and destructive general criticism. I have seen too many pictures raved about by critics that have bored me ; I have seen too many thoroughly enjoyable pictures and plays lose their audiences or close down because the critics have opened their often too big and wrongopinioned mouths. I go to the movies for enjoyment, tor genius such as Charlie Chaplin no doubt has always given us, and am fair enough to know that the enthusiasm and applause I heard that representative first-night audience give meant that tht picture was good and enjoyable despite what any critic might later say. The critics, in their aftermath, have likened themselves to a selfish mother (she is in the minority but nevertheless exists in lamentable cases) who wants her son or daughter to stay a child always, so that he or she might need her and remain with her instead of maturing and living his or her own happy life. For, in lamenting only the disappearance of Chaplin's trick derby, mustache and cane ; his funny trousers and slapstick comedy, is to overlook tr?e fact that these are grown-up, serious days, that Chaplin has changed only in that he wants to be permitted to grow up, too. Surely his comedy was clever and funny as ever; his story entertaining, his acting genius displayed in an incomparable manner. That he took it upon himself to say some ugly truths in. a subtle way should not be frowned upon. For what he said was true and ably presented. Instead of not forgiving him for saying some timely truths and giving us all something to think about along with a lot of fun, I urge the critics to admit that perhaps some of what Chaplin said was just a bit over their heads and that they were not big enough to understand it, or his intentions in giving it. RUTH BRACKER STONE, New York, N. Y. THE BERLIN STORY #1.00 While the vogue is on for musical biographies, why doesn't Hollywood film the life of Irving Berlin? Here is our favorite rags-to-riches theme : the poor boy who sang for pennies in the Bowery and rose to become America's No. 1 popular song writer. Here is tearjerking pathos : the early death of his first wife, after which he wrote the beautiful song, "When I Lost You." Here is the masculine version of Cinderella : the boy from the east side of the tracks who wooed and won the lovely society girl, Ellen Mackay. For her he wrote "Always." Singing his ageless songs could be a galaxy of Hollywood's big-name songsters ; and the title role could be played by Larry ("Jolson Story") Parks which would be a worthy successor to his first triumph. Hollywood, why are you waiting? This would be a picture with everything! MARION C. SCHULTZ, Los Angeles, Calif. DURBIN-SINATRA TEAM? #1.00 The critics are agreed that Deanna Durban's films would benefit by a change of plot. I concur, and would further suggest that a leading man whose popularity equals or surpasses her own would be a welcome change. One who could join her in song would be even better. I think Mr. Frank Sinatra would fill the bill very nicely ! His roguish, relaxed screen personality would also be a perfect foil for Deanna's demure and rather prim one. MISS M. L. DAILEY, Los Angeles, Calif. RETURN OF "THE SHEIK" #1.00 It seems to me that Hollywood producers are running out of material for stories ! They are turning plays into movies, and rewriting every novel on the market for the same purpose. Why don't they take the really old pictures, the silent films, and remake them? I am sixteen, and of course I 14 S C R E E N L AN D