Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1941)

Page 22 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW February 15, 1941 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. STRANGE ALIBI Warner Brothers Gangster Not Set Selling Names: Arthur Kennedy, Joan Perry, Minor Watson, Florence Bates. Director: Ross Lederman. Producer: William Jacobs. Story Idea: Arthur Kennedy, young sergeant of detectives, is permanently removed from the force by his chief, Minor Watson. Cliff Clarke, captain, and his lieutenant, Stanley Andrews, witness the proceedings. Kennedy then meets Watson, secretly, and there they arrange for him to join the gambling ring and in this way help Watson clean up the city. When Watson is killed, Kennedy is held for murder, until he finds a way to clear his name and bring the real killer to justice. Catchline: "Forced to reveal a dead man's secret when accused of murder." THEY MET IN ARGENTINA RKO-Radio Drama with Music April 25 Selling Names: Maureen O'Hara, James Ellison, Alberto Vila, Buddy Ebsen. Director: Leslie Goodwins. Producer: Lou Brock. Story Idea: James Ellison first meets Maureen O'Hara, Argentine heiress, in Buenos Aires, where he had gone to close a deal for some oil property. The deal falls through, so Buddy Ebsen, trying to prevent Ellison from losing his job, suggests that he work through Maureen to buy a very fast racehorse that his employer has long coveted. From then on it's the story of love and romance in South America, with Ellison ending up by remaining to marry Maureen and taking over the running of the estancia. Catchline: "Fireworks start when a shy Texan meets a Queen of the Argentines." THE MAN WHO LOST HIMSELF Universal Drama April 25 Selling Names: Brian Aherne, Kay Francis, S. Z. Sakall, Henry Stephenson. Director: Edward Ludwig. Producer: Lawrence Fox. Story Idea: Brian Aherne, penniless, wakes up in a lavish bedroom after a drinking bout with a stranger, to find himself in a strange home being ministered to by S. Z. Sakall, his butler. He finds the situation quite difficult when he discovers that he also has a wife and is the head of a socially prominent and wealthy family. The other man (Brian Aherne), has in the meantime, been found dead with all of Aherne's identification papers on him. Aherne tries to straighten out the mess, but finds himself declared insane. Kay Francis, his wife, finally realizes the truth and comes to his assistance. Catchline: "In love with another man's wife ... he made her dream of happiness come true." MR. DYNAMITE Universal Spy Drama March 7 Selling Names: Lloyd Nolan, Irene Hervey, Robert Armstrong, Ann Gillis, Elisabeth Risdon, Frank Gaby. Director: Jack Rawlins. Assoc. Producer: Marshall Grant. Story Idea: Lloyd Nolan, sightseeing on New York's Carnival Street, is attracted by Irene Hervey and follows her into a ventriloquist theatre. There he sees her steal a notebook out of a dead man's pocket, so he decides to catch up with her. She tells him that she is an undercover agent working on counter-espionage work and that the dead man was her colleague. Nolan then decides to help Irene, and when they round up the sabotage ring, plan their future together. Catchline: "He risked his life to preserve our Democracy." BACK IN THE SADDLE Republic Western Not Set Selling Names: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Edward Norris, Arthur Loft, Jacqueline Wells. Director: Lew Landers. Assoc. Producer: Harry Grey. Story Idea: Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette return from New York with Edward" Norris, the heir to the ranch of which Gene is foreman, to find that during their absence copper has been discovered and the town has become a boom town. Gene's hopes of bringing peace to the community are quickly dissipated, when he learns that Arthur Loft's miners are dumping copper sulphate into the stream, killing hundreds of cattle. Loft's dirty dealings are finally disposed of when Burnette stampedes a herd of cattle onto Loft and his followers, in order to save Gene's life. Catchline: "Gene brings peace to a boom town." THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. Warner Brothers Comedy-Drama Not Set Selling Names: Bette Davis, James Cagney, Stuart Erwin, Jack Carson. Director: William Keighley. Producer: William Cagney. Story Idea: Bette Davis, heiress daughter of oil tycoon, Eugene Pallette, notifies her father of her plans to elope with Jack Carson, Hollywood band leader. Pallette then contacts James Cagney, pilot-owner of the plane that is going to fly the couple to Las Vegas, and promises to pay him handsomely if he will deliver Bette back to him . . . unwed. The plane is forced down in Death Valley, so Cagney sends word to Pallette. Then everybody arrives, including newspaper reporters whose papers have been carrying a story of Bette's kidnapping. But all the excitement ends when Bette and Cagney discover they love each other. Catchline: "Bette laughs . . . and you will too ... in her first comedy in years." AIR DEVILS Monogram Spy Drama March 10 Selling Names: Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Donald Haines, David Gorcey, Bobby Stone, Joan Barclay, George Pembroke. Director: William West. Producer: Sam Katzman. Story Idea: Leo Gorcey accidentally stumbles into a sabotage plot when he overhears George Pembrooke, owner of a hospital plane kept at Eugene Francis' father's airport, plan to take stolen blue prints across the Mexican border. Bobby Jordan is then substituted for the pilot, but when they arrive in Mexico, they fall into the hands of the enemy. In the meantime Francis has discovered their absence, so he charters another plane and arrives in time to save the boys and capture the spies. Catchline: "A headstrong youngster stumbles into a sabotage plot." FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS Universal Comedy-Drama April 11 Selling Names: Marlene Dietrich, Bruce Cabot, Roland Young, Mischa Auer, Andy Devine, Laura Hope Crews. Director: Rene Clair. Producer: Joe Pasternak. Story Idea: Marlene Dietrich, continental adventuress, inveigles Roland Young, wealthy bachelor, with her impersonation of a European noblewoman into a proposal. But Bruce Cabot, roughneck river skipper, is the man she really loves. Further complications follow when she accidentally shows her real nature to Young, but this she blames on a non-existent girl "relative." Cabot finally wins her, in spite of the fact that she is already facing the priest for the wedding ceremony before she decides to duck and marry Cabot. Catchline: "Her adventure became a struggle between wealth and romance." DEAD MEN TELL 20th Century-Fox Mystery March 28 Selling Names: Sidney Toler, Sheila Ryan, Robert Weldon, Sen Yung. Director: Harry Lachman. ' Assoc. Producers: Walter Morosco and Ralph Dietrich. Story Idea: Sidney Toler joins the members of a treasure hunting expedition, when he learns of a murder on board their ship. The map giving the location of the treasure had been divided in four parts by the murder victim, and no one knows who has the portions. Toler exposes himself to the killer; first giving his son Sen Yung instructions to trail him and in this way captures the killer. Catchline: "The ghost of Black Hook challenges Charlie Chan." THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES RKO-Radio Drama March 14 Selling Names: Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn. Director: Sam Wood. Producer: Frank Ross, Norman Krasna. Story Idea: Charles Coburn, a bachelor reputed to be the world's wealthiest man, decides to investigate the labor agitation in his department store. Incognito, he gets a job in the shoe department and Jean Arthur, a young salesgirl, seeing how helpless he is, devotes herself to protecting the poor old clerk. She takes him to a secret meeting of the employees and there he learns enough to plan a new system of enormous benefit to the entire personnel. He also promotes Robert Cummings, Jean's boy-friend, making it possible for them to wed. Catchline: "The Devil turns Cupid'"