Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1940)

Page 14 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Blackout (Continued from page 9) up in modern settings such as the black-out. Even without the topical angle, it is fine dramatic entertainment which is not lacking in suspense, thrills and action. Conrad Veldt as the neutral who thinks for himself is excellent while Valerie Hobson is so invariably the perfect counter-espionage agent that the British Secret Service should give her a Commission. Other roles are competently played. Sell the picture for all you have got. All the old spy gags can be used. Concentrate on its timeliness. Plaster the town with official looking teasers like "Do not discuss the blackout in public. Walls have ears." Catchline: "A neutral uncovers Nazi spies in blacked-out London." Triple Justice RKO Radio Western 66 mins. (Prod. No. 86, Natl Release, Sept. 27) AUDIENCE SLANT: (FAMILY) TYPICAL WESTERN WHICH SHOULD PLEASE THE O'BRIEN FANS. BOX OFFICE SLANT: OKAY WESTERN BUSINESS. Cast: George O'Brien, Virginia Vale, Peggy Shannon, Harry Woods, Paul Fix, Leroy Mason, Glen Strange, Malcolm McTaggert, Robert McKenzie, Wilfred Lucas and Lindeman Sisters. Credits: Produced by Bert Gilroy. Directed by Dave Howard. Screenplay by Arthur V. Jones and Morton Grant. Story by Arnold Belgard and Jack Roberts. Musical director, Paul Sawtell. Director of photography, J. Roy Hunt. Art director, Van Nest Polglase. Edited by Frederick Knudtson. Plot: O'Brien, on the way to attend the wedding of Mason, witnesses a holdup and is unjustly suspected of complicity in it. He is arrested but escapes and then sets to work to find the real culprits. There are four of them, including a deputy sheriff. O'Brien winds up the case satisfactorily. Comment: This is a typical George O'Brien Western but slightly modest in one respect. Although he rounds up four thieves the title modestly claims credit for only three. But aside from that it is full of incredibilities, etc., such as one expects to find in Westerns. The period is somewhat vague but it evidently antedates the automobile and should be somewhere in the nineties although some of the sets look mighty modern. Sell it in Western style with cowboy equipment in the lobby and a cowboy riding the street. Catchline: "A fightin' fool with the odds at three to one." World in Flames Paramount Documentary 60 mins. (Natl Release, Oct. 25) AUDIENCE SLANT: (ADULT) POWERFUL CAMERA RECORD DRAMATICALLY INTERESTING TO THOSE WHO WISH TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES EVENTS LEADING UP TO AND OCCURRING IN THE PRESENT WAR. BOX OFFICE SLANT: GOOD FOR DOWNTOWN CITY LOCATIONS ESPECIALLY AND WITH STRONG EXPLOITATION A BUSINESS BUILDER FOR HOUSES WHOSE PATRONAGE IS CHIEFLY ADULT. Credits: Produced by Albert J. Richard. Written and Documented by William C. Park. Voices by Gregory Abbott, Gilbert Martyn and Tom Chalmers. Comment: The subtitle given this film: "A Picture for Free People," tells the story of an amazing newsreel record of happenings from the lush prosperity clays of 1929 up to the Battle of England. This is the record, the camera's recording of scenes which have highlighted the World's trend to war, and is a devastating indictment of those responsible for the present war as could be produced on stage, screen, lecture platform or on the printed page. It is, also, a rousing call to the peoples of lands where men still are free of tyranny and conquest to be on guard. For a public which has shown some disposition to react adversely to the powerful but repetitious scenes of destruction sent to America's screens from abroad, there is the question as to the widespread popular appeal of this film. Yet it is something which, having seen, you must admit to be a picture that had to be produced. Every scene is a newsreel shot, every flash an illuminating revelation of significant events which contributed importantly to the history of this War. While free peoples worked toward greater freedom, the men who turned other peoples into instruments of aggression and despoilers of their neighbors' lands and lives were moving steadily forward to the attack. The picture should be seen by all adult Americans. Stress that fact in the advertising, let that be a factor in your consideration as to whether you will play the attraction. In exploitation, avoid the controversial, stress the point that this is a factual picture; that Truth is stranger than Fiction. Catchline: "Drama drawn from life unmasks the menace which America's defense program won't let happen here." Tugboat Annie Sails Again Warner Bros. Comedy 77 mins. (Prod. No. not set, Natl Release, Oct. 26) AUDIENCE SLANT: (FAMILY) IF YOUR AUDIENCE WILL REFRAIN FROM COMPARING IT TO THE MARIE DRESSLER PICTURE THEY WILL LIKE IT FOR ITSELF. BOX OFFICE SLANT: A GOOD COMEDY WHICH SHOULD DO AN AVERAGE BUSINESS. Cast: Marjorie Rambeau, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale, Granville Bates, Clarence Kolb, Paul Hurst, Victor Kilian, Chill Wills, Sydney Bracey, Jack Mower, Harry Shannon, Frank Hagney, John Hamilton. Credits: Associate Producer, Edmund Grainger. Directed by Lewis Seiler. Screenplay by Walter de Leon. Based on the Saturday Evening Post stories by Norman Reilly Raine. Director of photography, Arthur Edeson. Art director, Ted Smith. Film editor, Harold McLernon. Plot: Marjorie Rambeau, captain of a tugboat, after several introductory adventures gets a contract to tow a drydock to Skagway on the condition that she give up her ship. She does so, but the substitute captain takes sick and she assumes command. A liner hits the drydock and all looks lost. But at the last minute she discovers that a drydock is not a vessel and therefore not subject to the salvage laws. Comment: While Marjorie Rambeau cannot be compared with Marie Dressier as Go on zvith the story — page 16 October 19, 1940 Tugboat Annie, she nevertheless offers a sterling characterization. One of the picture's chief drawbacks, however, is the fact that the performances and the pictures themselves will be compared. This edition is humorous and good, light entertainment, but of course, it will fall far short of the original. Taken by itself, it should do fairly well and the showman would be wise to build up the character since Miss Rambeau has been signed to make some sequels. The humor in this one is often broad and sometimes not only borders on the slapstick but literally resorts to mud-throwing. If you have a waterfront in your town, sell it heavily in that section. Use newspaper stories of women in unusual occupations to tie up with the picture. Catchline: "A woman, but the toughest of the tugboat captains." Trailin' Double Trouble (Hollywood Preview) Monogram Western 58 mins. (Natl Release, Oct. 7) AUDIENCE SLANT: (FAMILY) A GOOD OUTDOOR FILM THAT WILL PLEASE THE WESTERN ADDICTS. BOX OFFICE SLANT: OKAY FOR THE ACTION SPOT ON YOUR BILL. A NICE FEATURE FOR THE SATURDAY MATINEE TRADE. Cast: Ray Corrigan, John King, Max Terhune and Elmer, Lita Conway, Nancy Louise King, Roy Barcroft, Jack Rutherford, Tom London, William Kellogg, Earl Matthews, Forrest Taylor, Ken Duncan, Jimmy Wakely and his rough riders, Rex Felker. Credits: Directed by S. Roy Luby. Original story by George Plympton. Screen adaptation, Oliver Drake. Photography, Ed Linden. Film editor, Roy Claire. Produced by George W. Weeks. Plot: The Range Busters set out to solve the murder of Ken Duncan, after they find his body on a lonely road, alongside his infant child. They take the child with them and contact his sister, Lita Conway, who gives them evidence that points to Roy Barcroft, an attorney, as the man who has been trying to get control of their ranch. When they visit Barcroft, a fight starts and they uncover a letter that establishes his guilt, and also discover the hideout of the gang. After a hard fight, the gang is subdued, and the sheriff arrives in time to bring the criminals to justice. Comment: This picture, the second of the new Range Busters series, is another good outdoor film that will please the western addicts. The few minor defects in the story and dialogue will be overlooked because the trio, Ray Corrigan, John King and Max Terhune, delivers its fine brand of hard-riding and fighting on a par with its first effort. The action scenes are well-staged and the comedy sequences are a big help to the picture, all adding up to an action thriller different from the regular formula for this type of entertainment. Direction and production are above the average. Use the usual western dress-up of lobby and house staff. Cutouts of the trio could be used on your marquee. Catchline: "Bad news for bad men when the Range Busters arrive." Lobby Display Proves Real Attention-Getter for "Maryland" A lobby stunt that proved to be a real attention-getter was used by Manager Ronnie Moray of the Market St. Theatre, Philadelphia, in advance of the "Maryland" engagement at that theatre. Moray arranged a lobby display which contained actual names of race horses, and alongside each name was a light. An old fashioned carnival spin board stood next to the display. Because it was attached electrically to the light, the wheel when spun caused different lights to flash on and off. Each patron was permitted one spin and if the light remained alongside the horse they chose, they were the recipients of passes.