Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1942)

22 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW July 4, 1942 Dates Shown Are Release Dates This department is primarily intended to convey important information regarding product on which no press bool< or ad material are available. Showmen who run pictures pre-release will find it a valuable; source. Uistings will appear but once. CARGO OF INNOCENTS (MGM) Drama. Principals: Robert Taylor, Charles Laughton, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan. Plot: A society playboy whose only experience with ships, was winning silver cups with his yacht, is made Junior Aide to a Rear Admiral. He is assigned under a man, who in sharp contrast to him, has been in World War I and worked his way up. Conflicts arise between them, but when called upon to save twenty babies and some grown-ups in a lifeboat after their ship had been sunk, all differences are ironed out and they bring them safely home in spite of constant attacks from the enemy. Director, Robert Leonard. CHINA GIRL (20th-Fox) Spy. Principals: Gene Tierney, George Montgomery, Victor McLaglen, Osa Massen, Philip Ahn. Plot: An American newsreel photographer is taken prisoner by the Japs in China. In his cell he meets a tough American soldier of fortune who helps him escape. He then meets a beautiful Chinese girl who tells him that the American is a Japanese spy. This saves him from working with the man. He gets some terrific air shots before he crashes near the school the Chinese girl is running and dies while declaring his love for her. Director, Henry Hathaway. CALL OF THE CANYON (Rep.) Western. Principals: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Ruth Terry, Joe Strauch, Jr., Thurston Hall, Edmund MacDonald. Plot: As spokesman for a group of cattlemen. Gene Autry leads them in rebellion when the agent for a packing company offers much less than the price per head agreed by the Cattlemen's Association. He contacts the owner, who is ignorant of the fact and thereby learns that the agent was appropriating the difference in order to cover his gambling debts. Director, Harry Grey. HAPPY GO LUCKY (Para.) (In Technicolor) Comedy-with-Music. Principals: Mary Martin, Dick Powell, Rudy Vallee, Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Lillian Randolph. Plot: A show girl poses as an heiress in order to find himself a millionaire husband. She goes to an island in the Caribbean where she meets a poor young man whose only aim in life is to take it easy. He helps her plan the ensnaring of a millionaire, but cupid interferes with their plans and they end up in each other's arms. Director, Curtis Bernhardt. MEXICAN SPITFIRE'S ELEPHANT (RKO) Comedy. Principals: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Walter Reed, Elisabeth Risdon. Plot: This time Lupe Velez undertakes to help Errol, as the English Lord, get away from two gem smugglers who have involved him in the smuggling of a valuable gem hidden in a small Onyx elephant. The usual confusion of identities develops and chaos reigns before the smugglers are caught and turned over to the customs officers. Director, Leslie Goodwins. LADY BODYGUARD (Para.) Comedy. Principals: Eddie Albert, Anne Shirley, Roger Pryor, Raymond Walburn, Ed Brophy, Gus Schilling. Plot: As an advertising stunt a young test pilot becomes insured for a million dollars. He makes three of his best friends his beneficiaries. The young lady who handled the transaction tries to rectify the mistake. Between her trying to protect him until she gets the policy back and his friends trying to dispose of him so they can inherit the money, chaos reigns. Director, William Clemens. (Continued on Page 33) ^Ae l^o^-O^ice Slant Prisoner of Japan (Continued from Page 9) astronomical researches, is a prisoner of Japanese who are using his residence to hide an underground radio room where messages are transmitted to a Japanese bombing base about the movements of American convoys. When Gertrude Michael, an American girl, arrives to get help from Bowman in getting back home, she also is held prisoner. Murder of a beloved Malaysian boy by Japanese guards stirs Bowman to a rage, causes him to mortally wound his captor. With Gertrude, he forces his way to the radio room where he sends a message to an American battleship to bomb the island and destroy the radio station. The ship's guns destroy the station and the Japanese guards, and Baxter and Gertrude die in service of their country. Comment: Too many so-called grade "B" melodramas, hurriedly turned out to capitalize on current crises, emerge exaggerated and implausible. In view of which the producers of "Prisoners of Japan" are to be commended for their honest and sincere efforts to avoid that common fault. They have turned out a picture that, while making no claims to pretentiousness, is a worthwhile achievement that will be found suspenseful and entertaining screen fare by the masses. Alan Baxter, laying aside his "menace" technique temporarily to enact a heroic role, exercises the necessary restraint to make his performance sincere and believable, while Gertrude Michael, at first a little too artificial, becomes increasingly more natural and convincing as the story progresses. There is logic in the JUNE, 1942 INDEX A listing of the highlights of the past month's issues of STR indexed and cross-indexed for ready reference Advertising Clinic June 6, pp. 47-49; June 13, p. 17 Beat the Heat June 6, p. 52 Better Press Books June 6, pp. 34-35 Equipment and Maintenance June 20, pp. 23-29 Exploitation Campaigns — by Pictures Eagle Squadron June 13, p. 13 Man Who Came to Dinner. . . .June 20, p. 15 Mrs. Miniver June 6, p. 52 My Gal Sal June 6, p. 51 ; June 13, p .17 Powder Town June 6, p. 51 Reap the Wild Wind June20, p. 16 Remember Pearl Harbor June 27, p. 14 Suspicion June 13, p. 13 To the Shores of Tripoli June 13, p. 16 Wings For the Eagle June 20, p. 18 Yankee Doodle Dandy June 13, p. 13 Exploitation Campaigns — by Stunts Bathing Beauty Contest June20, p. 18 Boat Ballyhoo June 27, p. 14 Marine Appreciation Week... June 6, p. 58 Model Airplane Contest June 13, p. 16 Music Week Celebration June 20, p. 18 Newspaper Ad Quiz Contest. .June 6, p. 58 Radio Contest . .June 13, p. 13; June 27, p. 13 War Bond Tieup Junel3, p. 13 Fourth of July Campaign June 6, p. 51 May, 1942, Index June 6, p. 54 Showbuilder June 6, pp. 37-46 Showmanalysis In Old California June 6, p. 57 Smart Showmanship in June. . . .June 6, p. 54 Summer Releases June 6, pp. 15-19 22-24, 26-28, 30, 32 picture's story, and were it not for overdrawn characterizations on the part of Ernest Dorian, as a Japanese agent, and Tommy Seidel, as a young ensign, as well as occasional lapses in direction, the finished work would have fared even better than it does. Naturally, the leading characters' decision to sacrifice their lives for their country is a form of heroics that can be ruined through inept handling, but here it is projected simply and objectively without resort to maudlin hysterics, therefore is more impressive. Fans looking for action will find little, but average, not-too-critical patrons will applaud the film as one that holds interest throughout. Small town exhibitors should capitalize on its timeliness and employ other selling media to get patrons in, for while the film is no masterpiece, its virtues far outweigh its faults. Rubber Racketeers 65 mins. Timely, of au Monogram Drama (Nat'l Release, June 26) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) entertaining picture that has a ring thenticity. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: WiU hold its own anywhere. Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Rochelle Hudson, Bill Henry. Barbara Read, Milburn Stone, Dewey Robinson, John Abbott, Pat Gleason, Dick Rich, Alan Hale, Jr., Sam Edwards, Kam Tong, Dick Hogan, Marjorie Manners, Alex Callam. Credits: Directed by Harold Young. Original story and screenplay, Henry Blankfort. Photography by L. Wm. O'Connell. Associate producer. Franklin King. Produced by Maurice King. Plot: A gangster just released from prison, takes advantage of the present tire situation and goes into the tire stealing and re-selling racket. He's successful until his own Chinese servant, now in army uniform, comes back on leave, and upbraids him for the unpatriotic racket. The gangster shoots him, so the man notifies the police and gives them the address of the gangster's warehouse. Comment: The first picture to come out of Hollywood about one of the most vital subjects of the day, rubber, is a down-toearth drama, which in its price class, will hold its own anvwhere. It is extremely timely, for not only does it bring out the rubber racket, but it also brings in the defense workers. The plot and its presentation has a ring of authenticity, research for which must earn commendation for the producers, King Brothers, whose production genius has turned out four successful pictures in a row. Ricardo Cortez, as the racketeer, gives a fine portrayal of an undesirable character. Commendable performances are turned in hy Rochelle Hudson, Bill Henry, John Abbott and Kam Tong. Direction by Harold Young makes this a smoothly rounded out picture that is above the average in entertainment.