Showmen's Trade Review (1939)

July 8, 1939 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 21 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. A DAY AT THE CIRCUS MCM Comedy Not Set Selling Names: Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, Florence Rice, Kenny Baker. Director: Eddie Buzzell. Producer: Mervyn LeRoy. Story Idea: The Marx Brothers try to help Kenny Baker, a disinherited playboy, retain the managership of a circus. Nat Pendleton, strong man in the circus and half owner, gives Baker just twenty-four hours to get the money due him or he'll take the whole show. Groucho arranges a hysterical show for Society; gets the money and everything is straightened out with Baker marrying Florence Rice, a performer. Catchline: "The Marx Brothers on the flying trapeze." BLONDIE TAKES A VACATION Col. Comedy Not set Selling Names: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms. Director: Frank R. Strayer. Producer: Robert Sparks. Story Idea: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake and Larry Simms arrive at Lake Canobie for their vacation and discover that the hotel is heavily mortgaged and about to be foreclosed. They do odd jobs and chores and even spend their own saving in paying overdue bills. Larry turns the tide when he chases a family of skunks into the ventilating shaft of the rival hotel. Vacation has been too strenuous, and they go home for a good rest. Catchline: "Baby Dumpling turns the tide, with the aid of a few skunks." HEAVEN WITH A BARBED WIRE FENCE 20th-Fox Drama Not set Selling Names: Jean Rogers, Glen Ford, Raymond Walburn, Eddie Collins. Director: Ricardo Cortez. Exec. Producer: Sol M. Wurtzel. Story Idea: While hopping freight cars to reach his ranch in Arizona, Glen Ford runs into Jean Rogers, a Spanish refugee. A sheriff discovers that Jean is wanted by the immigration authorities, and Glen marries her as the only solution. They arrive at the ranch and discover a shack set inside a barbed wire fence, that encloses twenty acres of wasteland. Glen wants to leave but Jean pleads with him to stay and conquer the land. Catchline: "They made a 'Heaven' out of the wastelands." IN OLD MONTEREY Rep. Drama Selling Names: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, June Storey, George Hayes. Director: Joe Kane. Associate Producer: Armand Schaefer. Story Idea: Resentment of ranchers against the 'U. S. Army, because of confiscation of their land for military proving grounds, is high, due to a clever plot by a local borax company. Sergeant Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette discover the plot and point out to the ranchers, with the aid of newsreel war films, why the Government wants and needs the land and also proves that the Army was not responsible for the damage. Catchline: "Autry rides the range for Uncle Sam." WB KID NIGHTINGALE Comedy-Drama Not Set Selling Names: John Payne, Jane Wyman, Walter Catlett, Ed Brophy. Director: George Amy. Producer: Bryan Foy. Story Idea: John Payne, singing waiter turned fighter, never faces a man who isn't paid to take a dive, but Payne never suspects it. He sings from the ring after each scrap as his manager, Walter Catlett, and the promoter, Ed Brophy, want to keep him happy concerning his operatic career. However, they don't fool Jane Wyman, and when he is knocked cold, the fight game loses him but Jane and opera take him over. Catchline: "A 'sock' on the jaw was his short-cut to opera.' MCM BLACKMAIL Drama August 11 Selling Names: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Hussey, Guinn Williams. Director: Henry C. Potter. Producer: John W. Considine, Jr. Story Idea: Sent to prison for a crime he did not commit, Edward G. Robinson escapes, takes another name, and builds up a lucrative business putting out oil well fires. The real criminal finds Robinson and offers to confess if he receives $25,000. Instead he turns him over to the police, where, with the aid of Guinn Williams, he escapes again in time to save his own well and torture the confession out of the guilty man, in the heat of the flames. Catchline: "His only purpose was to escape and win revenge." FURY OF THE TROPICS Not Set Univ. Drama Not Set Selling Names: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Beverly Roberts. Director: Christy Cabanne. Producer: Ben Pivar. Story Idea: Richard Arlen goes to the Amazon to investigate rubber plantation conditions, when he meets Beverly Roberts, searching for her father. Two men attempt to poison Arlen's drink, but are caught by Andy Devine. They join forces and head for the plantation where they discover Beverly's father is held a prisoner. Meanwhile Arlen, working at the camp, gains the information he is seeking, and in a revolt led by Devine, they all escape. Catchline: "A modern Napoleon was no match for a modern American." RKO CONSPIRACY Drama Not Set Selling Names: Allan Lane, Linda Hayes, Robert Barrat. Director: Lew Landers. Producer: Cliff Reid. Story Idea: Allen Lane, American radio operator, is accidentally hurled into the struggles of a dictator nation, when he jumps overboard rather than face arrest. Linda Hayes, a member of an organization trying to overthrow the tyrannous government, helps him escape with the aid of Robert Barrat and Charles Foy, fellow Americans, but Linda remains to work for her country. Catchline: "A glimpse of the under-cover fighting of a dictator nation." RAIDERS OF THE WASTELAND Rep. Western Not Set Selling Names: John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, Phjdlis Isley. Director: George Sherman. Associate Producer: William Berke. Story Idea: The Three Mesquiteers and their rancher friend are tricked into giving up their valley land for a new water reservoir, on the promise that a pipe line will be run to the desert acreage they have just purchased. They discover that the pipe line was never completed, and that they cannot exist there. The Mesquiteers fight their way to the wheel which controls the flood gate and after a bitter battle, close the gate and save the valley. Catchline: "One case where fists were stronger than a court order." THESE GLAMOUR GIRLS MCM Comedy-Drama August 18 Selling Names: Lew Ayres, Lana Turner; Anita Louise, Tom Brown. Director: S. Sylvan Simon. Producer: Sam Zimbalist. Story Idea: Lew Ayres and Tom Brown leave college for a night in New York and wind up drunk at a Dime-a-Dance palace where they meet Lana Turner. Ayres takes Lana home and invites her to the College house party. She arrives with the sub-debs, and when Ayres sees her, he apologizes and tells her to leave. Although she is humiliated by Anita Louise, Lana stays on, does her stuff, and the boys flock to her side. Ayres realizes that he's really beginning to like her. Catchline: "Joe College and his girl friends at their best." THE DEAD END KIDS IN MILITARY SCHOOL WB Drama Not Set Selling Names: The "Dead End" Kids, John Litel. Director: Williams Clemens. Associate Producer: Bryan Foy. Story Idea: Leo Gorcey, terror of the neighborhood, is tricked into entering Military School, but he refuses to subscribe to the discipline, and when told he was framed, severely injures Billy Halop, trying to escape. Halop begs John Litel, head of the school, to permit Gorcey to remain, and although ostracized by the cadets, he sticks and becomes an honor student. Badly burned saving another cadet, he recovers and his heroism erases all past debts. Catchline: "A dramatic story of American youth of today." I STOLE A MILLION Univ. Drama July 14 Selling Names: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Dick Foran, Victor Jory. Director: Frank Tuttle. Associate Producer: Burt Kelly. Story Idea: George Raft, after escaping from the police, gets mixed up with Victor Jory and is the fall-guy in several robberies. While waiting for his cut from Jory he meets Claire Trevor and they fall in love, marry, and live happily for a }rear, when the police trail again gets hot. Determined to get enough to keep Claire while he is in prison, Raft starts a series of petty thefts winding up with a million dollar robbery. He then gives himself up, but makes a suicidal attempt to escape and is shot down. Catchline: "He paid his debt to society . . . but in his own way."