Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1942)

July 4, 1912 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW One Thrilling Night Monogram Comedy 69 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) Funny situations make it swell entertainment. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Word-of-mouth should result in substantial returns. Sleeper in the minor league. Cast: John Beal. Wanda McKay, Warren Hymer, J. Farrell MacDonald, Barbara Pepper, Tom Neal, Ernie Adams, Lynton Brent, Pierce Lyden, Gene O'Donnell, Jim O'Gatty, Tom Herbert, Charles Williams. Credits: Directed by William Beaudine. Original screenplay by Joseph Hoffman. Director of photography. Marcel Le Picard. Produced by A. W. Hackel. Plot: A young couple from a small town arrive in the big city for a one night honeymoon for he is due to report to the army in the morning. They register at a hotel, expecting to be left alone, but gangsters get into their room, and a body is found in their trunk. The groom is abducted because the gangsters mistake him for someone else. Excitement reigns before things are finally straightened out, but just as they get ready to go to sleep, the phone bell rings and they are notified by the desk clerk that it is time to get up for the groom must get ready to leave. Comment: This picture may prove to be a sleeper in the minor league. It is a simple tale told in simplicity but fairly runs over \f\th fun and funny situations. The laughs come so fast that some of the dialogue is lost, but that doesn't detract from the entertainment. Most audiences will be so well amused that word-of-mouth should result, bringing in substantial box-office returns. The direction of William Beaudine is like a cut gem, for no one situation interferes with another. Excellently cast, each of the players is perfect for his part. High commendation must go to John Beal, Wanda McKay, Warren Hymer, J. Farrell MacDonald, Barbara Pepper and every member of the cast, including those with the most minor part. Credit must go to Joseph Hoffman for the original screenplay and to Producer A. W. Hackel for turning out a picture with so much audience appeal. Enlist the cooperation of trunk shops, using stills from the picture. Title is a natural for teaser ads. Offer free tickets to the best essay on "One Thrilling Night." Catchline: A wedding night that held many "unexpected" surprises. The Magnificent Ambersons RKO-Radio Drama 88 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) A story that loses nothing in the telling, this narrative about the dwindling fortunes of a family long used to wealth, and laid in a period of the turn of the century, has strong and compelling interest for grown-up audiences. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Orson Welles' star has risen to considerable proportion and figures to attract sufficiently to bring them in in such numbers as to cause the word-ofmouth advertising that should make business build. Cast: Joseph Gotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt. Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett, Don Dillaway. Credits: Screenplay, production and direction by Orson Welles. From the novel by Booth Tarkington. Director of photography, Stanley Cortez, Plot: Joseph Gotten unsuccessfully woos the beautiful and wealthy Dolores Costello as Isabel Amberson; does not see her after her Legion of Decency Ratings (For Week Ending July 4th) SUITABLE FOR GENERAL PATRONAGE Apache Trail Phantom Plainsmen Desperate Journey Texas Trouble Shooters Tombstone SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY Are Husbands Necessary I Live On Danger Yanl< In Libya OBJECTIONABLE IN PART Vengeance of the West marriage to the insignificant Wilbur Minafer until his return to the old town as a wealthy inventor and manufacturer of a "horseless carriage." Her son George Amberson Minafer (Tim Holt) is self-willed, insufferably class-conscious but withal a fellow of strong character. He falls in love with Gotten's daughter Lucy, but this romance is interrupted because George disapproves of the attentions paid his now widowed mother by Gotten. George persists to the untimely death of his mother to keep his mother and Gotten apart. When the Amberson fortune is gone, George gives up his plan for a career as a lawyer to accept well-paying work at a dangerous trade in order to support his aunt — sister of his father. An accident in which George is injured re-unites George and Lucy and proves the means of ending Gotten's bitterness toward the young man. Comment: Orson Welles again displays his exceptional flair as a story teller, and also as a most ingenious craftsman in the use of tlie motion picture camera and the film sound track to reveal vivid, vigorous and realistic characterization. Characterization is far more important in sustaining interest in this picture than the turns of plot which occur in Welles' screen adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel. The locale is an Indiana town; the time the early 190O's. Welles "plants" his scene and also the period with fascinatingly humorous "prologue" scenes as some of the play's principals are posed in what was the most stylish dress of the late '90's and the early 1900's. It is in such broadly appealing touches as this that "The Magnificent Ambersons" possesses elements which well could make it popular with all types of theatregoers. Many extraordinary "acting" displays will make for word-of-mouth advertising that may turn this offering into a strong box-office attraction. Two of these exceptional scenes are performed by Agnes Moorehead. The picture has the virtue of a strong opening — strongly interesting, that is — and a rather touching ending, with a final "happy ending" episode in which the young lovers are reunited. Along about the middle the story drags, and there are evidences which many will claim to be due to reediting and telescoping. The acting throughout is very superior. It is a cast few experts and few paying-customers will find other than "perfect" for the types and characters portrayed. The older generation will be familiar with the title of the Tarkington novel, and perhaps with the book's contents. Older theatregoers would seem the ones most likely to be attracted to the picture. However, the Orson Welles name has some magic of its own for people of all sorts and types, ages and tastes. Based on the success of "Citizen Kane" this should be sold as Welles' first picture since that exceptional photoplay. This is The Enemy Artkino Drama 74 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) If photography were better this would make interesting and at times gripping realism as portrayed in five episodes showing the courageous manner in which people behind the lines fight the Nazi invaders. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Has no particular pull of its own but may bulwark a program headed by a strong attraction in the comedy classification. Cast: V. Lukin. Vladimir Gardin, Varvara Miasnikova, Boris Blinov. I. Kuznetzov, Alexander Melnikov and others. Credits: Directed by Vladimir Feinbert, V^ictor Eisimont, Eugene Gherviakov, Herbert Rappaport, I. Mutanov, Alexei Olenin. Scenarists: Vasili Belayev and Mikhail Rosenberge, Yuri Herman, Voyevodin and Ryss, Leonid Leonov, Johan Zeltner, A. Stein. Nikolai Kriukov, cameraman. Plot: First of five separate episodes, or short stories, deals with the cruelty of Nazi troops toward Polish people whose homes they invade. One man escapes the firing squad, reaches Russia and there fights on to avenge the death of his child. "Air Raid" is the picturization of an episode near Leningrad, as efficient anti-aircraft troops bring down a Nazi bomber and make the pilot prisoner. Treachery of a wounded German officer who attempts to shoot a nurse and Russian soldier is the dramatic material portrayed by action taking place in a shell crater. The shooting of 100 hostages for one German soldier killed when he attacks a young girl makes a grippingly tense episode which is pictured as taking place in Yugoslavia. A saboteur's capture furnishes another episode. A final episode is effectively comic — showing a character dressed as Napoleon sending a telegram to Hitler advising him not to expect success in war against Russia. Comment: This picture, which bears the subtitle: "Episodes in The Peoples' War Against Hitler," offers some strongly interesting realistic drama, but suffers because of the very poor photographic results. The English titles are adequate to keep the spectator informed as to the main elements involved as a series of stories illustrating the fight by civilians as well as soldiers against the Nazi invaders is dramatically portrayed. Little has been gained by prefixing a cartoon prologue reviewing the series of aggressions by the Nazi government and armies. As an added attraction for a program headlining a strong attraction of the comedy type, the film should win favorable reaction in downtown city theatres. Prisoner of Japan P.R.C. Drama 64 mins. (Prod. No. 204— Nat'l Release, June 12) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) This timely melodrama is suspenseful and entertaining screen fare for the masses. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Should draw well where exhibitors capitalize on its timeliness. Cast: Alan Baxter. Gertrude Michael, Ernest Dorian, Corinna Mura, Tommy Seidel, Billy Moya, Ray Bennett. Dave O'Brien. Ann Staunton, Beal Wong, Gilbert Frye, Kent Thurber. Credits: Produced by Seymour Nebenzahl. Associate producer, Andre Dumonceau. Directed by Arthur Ripley. Screenplay and dialogue by Robert Chapin and Arthur Ripley. Based on a story by E. G. Ulmer. Director of photography. Jack Greenhalgh. Plot; On a Pacific island, Alan Baxter, who has an observatory where he conducts {Continued on Page 22)