Showmen's Trade Review (1939)

July 1, 1939 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW fage 15 Dates Shown Are Release Dates This department is primarily intended to convey important information regarding product on which no press book or ad material are available. Showmen who run pictures pre-release will find it a valuable source. Listings will appear but once. NINOTCHKA MCM Drama Not Set Selling Names: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire. Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Producer: Sidney Franklin. Story Idea: Ina Claire, a Russian Grand Duchess living in Paris, sends Melvyn Douglas, a French Count to represent her at the sale of her jewels, which the Soviet Government had taken and were selling. Greta Garbo is the woman commissar representing the government and Douglas and Garbo fall in love with each other when they meet. Although Ina separates them by her intrigue, they manage to remain together. Catchline: "Love performed a miracle." THUNDER AFLOAT MCM Drama Not Set Selling Names: Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Virginia Grey, Regis Toomey. Director: George Seitz. Producer: J. Walter Ruben. Story Idea: Wallace Beery, master of a tug boat, enlists for sub chaser duty during the World War and is dismayed to find Chester Morris, a rival skipper, his Commander. Reduced to the rating of an ordinary seaman because of insubordination, he regains his commission when he saves the lives of all on board when their sub is sunk by an enemy boat. Catchline: "Today's headlines brought to the screen." COAST GUARD Col. Drama July 31 Selling Names: Randolph Scott, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy, Walter Connolly. Director: Edward Ludwig. Producer: Fred Kohlmar. Story Idea: Ralph Bellamy is lost in a polar blizzard. Frances Dee appeals to Randolph Scott, her husband, to fly north and search for him. He finds Bellamy badly injured, and after many dangers, the two are rescued by a fellow Coast Guard officer. Back home, Scott finds Frances waiting for him, her love reassured by his heroism. Catchline: "He loved 'em and left 'em until the right one came along." MIRACLES FOR SALE MCM Mystery-Drama July 28 Selling Names: Robert Young, Florence Rice, Henry Hull, Frank Craven. Director: Tod Browning. Story Idea: Robert Young, former stage magician and now manufacturing illusions, plans to expose the mystic Gloria Holden, when stopped by Florence Rice. They both get mixed up in several murders, weird spiritualistic seances and odd circumstances before the murders are solved and the guilty party caught. Catchline: "He fought magic with magic to solve a crime." $1 ,000 A TOUCHDOWN Para. Comedy Not Set Selling Names: Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye. Director: James Hogan. Associate Producer: William C. Thomas. Story Idea: Joe E. Brown, a frustrated Shakespearean actor who has never seen a football game, reads a book on "How to train a football team" and promptly or Cood Plug for "Juarez" An excellent tieup was used by John T. Woodward of the Liberty Theatre, Zanesville, Ohio, to plug Warner Bros.' "Juarez." The banner was strung in front of the exposition tent of the Amrou Grotto Merchants and Manufacturers Exposition. Thousands of people visited the tent which resulted in a widespread plug for the film. ganizes the world's greatest eleven, to save the mortgage on Martha Raye's college. With only one minute to play, Joe gets into the game and scores the only touchdown that didn't cost Martha a thousand bucks, and wins the game. Catchline: "One minute to play . . . and 'Oh Boy,' what a touchdown." THEY ALL COME OUT MCM Drama July 14 Selling Names: Rita Johnson, Tom Neal. Director: Jacques Tourneur. Producer: Jack Chertok. Story Idea: Tom Neal joins Rita Johnson and a gang of bank robbers who are hunted by G-Men. They fall in love, and when they return after hiding the loot, the police close in on them. Both are sentenced to the Federal Penitentiary, and later paroled. G-Men ask Tom where the loot is hidden, but fearing the rest of the gang, refuses to tell, until Rita arrives in time to help the police. Catchline: "The methods of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, filmed with the co-operation of the Government." THE MAN FROM TEXAS Mono Western Not Set Selling Names: Tex Ritter. Director: Al Herman. Producer: Edward Finney Story Idea: Tex Ritter gets a job on Kenneth Duncan's ranch to help him find the gang that is trying to ruin him. A neighbor hires Charles Wood to do away with Tex so that he can secure the ranch cheap and then sell it to the railroad, but Wood is indebted to Tex for his life, and turns around and joins him against the swindler. Catchline: "A 'trouble shooter' who really ran into trouble." OUR LEADING CITIZEN Para. Drama Not Set Selling Names: Bob Burns, Susan Hayward, Joseph Allen, Gene Lock'hart. Director: Al Santell. Producer: George Arthur. Story Idea: Kindly old Bob Burns is joined in his law practice by Joseph Allen, son of Bob's dead partner. Joseph ties up with Gene Lockhart, a ruthless, big-businessman. It takes Bob several weeks to show Joseph the real purpose of Lockhart's friendship, but not before the town is almost wrecked. Joseph remorsefully admits to Bob that he has been a fool, and with Bob's daughter, Susan Hayward, nominates him for Senator. Catchline: "Meet Senator Bob Burns, our leading citizen." Univ. UNEXPECTED FATHER Comedy July 7 Selling Names: Mischa Auer, Baby "Sandy", Shirley Ross, Dennis O'Keefe. Director: Charles Lamont. Assoc. Producer: Ken Goldsmith. Story Idea: Dennis O'Keefe and Shirley Ross take care of "Sandy" after the death of his parents. They cannot leave him alone, so they take him to the theatre where they work with Mischa Auer. Dennis hides Sandy on a big chair, which turns out to be a Throne for one of the acts. When the curtain opens, Sandy is the hit of the show. Sandy is sent to an orphanage, but when he refuses to eat, the officials decide to let Dennis adopt him. Catchline: "Was it measles or only hives? . . . ask 'Sandy'." MY FIFTH AVENUE GIRL RKO Drama Not Set Selling Names: Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, James Ellison, Tim Holt. Producer-Director: Gregory La Cava. Story Idea: Walter Connolly returns to his mansion hoping someone in the family will remember his birthday, but they haven't. Discouraged, he goes for a walk and meets Ginger Rogers, a working girl, and persuades her to go to a night club to celebrate. The household is shocked when they hear of father's spree, and find Ginger in the guest room. But after a few days, she gets the family straightened out. Connolly and his wife leave for a belated honeymoon. Catchline: "What happened when a 'oneman-mint' and a working girl put their heads together?" CHICKEN WAGON FAMILY 20th -Fox Comedy Not Set Selling Names: Jane Withers, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Weaver. Director: Herbert I. Leeds. Associate Producer: Edward Kaufman. Story Idea: When Leo Carrillo loses his wife's savings, the family consisting of Spring Byington, his wife, and their two daughters, Jane Withers and Marjorie Weaver, take their chicken wagon to New York and move into a deserted fire station. Jane tricks cousin Henri into buying the mules, at auction, on the chance that it would please Spring, and the family get both the money and the mules, and a partnership in Henri's business. Catchline: "From chickens to big business, engineered by Jane."