Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1940)

August 3, 1940 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 11 seeing bus driven around the streets with your show copy on the side banners. If there is a Chinese section in your city, check with the police and see if there are any cases on record where a blow-gun and poisoned dart have been used to kill. If so, interest your newspaper editor in a story by his police reporter covering the differences between the real killing and the one shown on your screen. Another store window display which can arouse curiosity is a set of surgeon's instruments and a card telling how these in the hands of a clever man can convert a "dead" criminal into a living menace, with your picture showing what this can mean. (FAMILY) Catchline: "Charlie Chan chases a live killer through a houseful of wax murderers' figures." AUDIENCE SLANT: LESS THRILLING AND ACTION FILLED THAN MOST OF ITS PREDECESSORS. BOX OFFICE SLANT: BELOW THE AVERAGE FOR THIS SERIES. I Married Adventure Columbia Travelogue 78 mins. (National Release, July 24) Credits: Produced by Osa Johnson. Based on the Book-of-the-Month Club Selection. Edited by Ralph Dixon. Narration written by Don Clark and Albert Duffy. Narrator, Jim Bannon. Plot: Based on Osa Johnson's book of the same title, this film is a compilation of adventures and hair-breath escapes in the explorations of the author and her husband. It starts when the couple embark on a South Sea Island cruise in 1913, follows their treks into Borneo and Africa, and ends with their return home about 25 years later. Comment: For old-timers, this travelogue will revive high spots of the Martin Johnsons' explorations; for the younger generation, it will reveal for the first time the contributions made by this couple to the spirit of adventure. The most unusual, the most humorous and exciting moments of past films made by the Johnsons have been assembled into one pictorial record, a smooth-running continuity being provided by the inclusion, apparently, of "staged" scenes. Anyone who thrills to adventure, and that should include pretty nearly everyone, will find their interest sustained during almost every moment of this picture. Ralph Dixon's editing is highly creditable, while the narration of Jim Bannon and the musical score by M. W. Stoloff amply describe and lend the proper atmosphere, respectively, to the various sequences. Book tieups, window displays, appeals to specialized groups, special stunts and ballyhoos are only a few of the exploitation avenues opened to exhibitors playing "I Married Adventure." (FAMILY) Catchline: "From swank Park Avenue to Timbuctoo . . . the fabulous story of a fabulous life," AUDIENCE SLANT: SHOULD HOLD THE AHENTION OF ANY AUDIENCE. BOX OFFICE SLANT: BACKED BY "CIRCUS"TYPE SHOWMANSHIP IT SHOULD ROLL UP NEAT GROSSES. The Tulsa Kid Republic Western 57 mins. (Prod. No. 71— Nat'l Release, Not Set) Cast: Don "Red" Barry, Noah Beery, Luana Walters, David Durand, George Douglas, Ethan Laidlaw, Stanley Blystone, John Elliott, Jack Kirk, Snowflake, and Jimmy Wakely and his "Roughriders." Credits: Associate Producer-Director, George Sherman. Original screenplay by Oliver Drake and Anthony Coldeway. Director of photoggraphy, John MacBurnie. Film editor, William Thompson. Musical director, Cy Feuer. Plot: Barry, alienated from his foster father. Beery, resolves never to carry a gun again after seeing Beery involved in a killing. When the two meet again, Beery is one of Douglas' henchmen, and Douglas is trying to steal the rights to a water hole on a ranch belonging to Durand and his sister, Luana Walters. In an argument with one of Douglas' men, Blystone, Durand shoots him in self defense. Douglas tries to have Durand convicted of murder, but Barry's eye-witness account of the killing causes them to acquit him. Pitted against each other, Barry and Beery each try to persuade the other ,to quit, but both vow to carry on. In a showdown, the two meet and in the fray Douglas attempts to shoot Barry, but before he can do so he is shot dead by Beery. The villains are rounded up, and Barry and Beery are again reunited. Comment: What it takes to make a western logical, absorbing, actionful entertaining. Republic puts into its outdoor dramas, and "The Tulsa Kid ' is one of that ilk. 'i he story starts out entertainingly enough and maintains a smooth-running pace until the end. The remarkable thing about it all is that even though most westerns seem too exaggerated, this one manages to make every situation convincing and believable — a feat that has been accomplished by capable direction on the part of George Sherman and consistently good performances by Don Barry, Noah Beery, David Durand, Luana Walters and George Douglas. Barry again clinches his right to western stardom, while the appearance of Noah Beery seems like "old home week" ; he is still a splendid actor. Here is an outdoor melodrama that should leave the fans fully satisfied. Make cutouts of the action posters for lobby and front displays. Dress a man in cowboy uniform, mask him, and let him walk the streets carrying a "Tulsa Kid" sign. (FAMILY) Catchline: "They were as father and son — yet bound by codes that made them mortal enemies." AUDIENCE SLANT: JUST WHAT THE WESTERN FANS ORDERED, AND BELIEVABLE ENOUGH FOR OTHER TYPES OF AUDIENCES. BOX OFFICE SLANT: IF THIS NEW WESTERN STAR IS SOLIDLY ESTABLISHED IN YOUR TOWN, HIS LATEST RELEASE SHOULD GET ITS SHARE OF BUSINESS. (More Box Office Slants on Page 16) JUDY TaNOVA THf JENNr lIND OF THE OZARXS ALAN MOWBRAY • RUTH DONNELLY EDDIE FOY, JR. • JOSEPH CAWTHORN WALLACE fORD . ISABEL JEWELL • LUIS ALBERNI BILLY GILBERT • EMMETT LYNN . JIMMY STARR GAL SHRUM S GANG ond MATTY MALNECK AND HIS ORCHESTRA • GUS ME/NS— D/recror