Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1944)

8 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW July 1, 1944 Follow the Leader Monogram Comedy-Drama 64 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Carries the usual entertainment values contained in this series of horsing-around East Side Kids' pictures. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Satisfactory where this series has developed a following; and fair support in subsequents. Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict, Joan Marsh, Jack LaRue. Credits: Directed by William Beaudine. Screenplay by Wm. X. Crowley and Beryl Sachs. Director of photography. Marcel Le Picard. Produced by Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. Plot: Two East Side Kids in the Army return home on furlough and find that one of the kids in the gang has been sent to prison for thievery. In trying to clear an innocent boy's name, they become involved in a murder, but with the okay of the FBI and the aid of one of the boy's sisters, they clear everything up. Comment: Another entry in the East Side Kids' steeplechases with the expected horsing around, which will fill the spots where these pictures have developed a following. In subsequents this could hold half of a bill. The story has good motivation and follow through, and gives the kids, and the two top players, reason for being. The comedy is the type which has characterized previous efforts in this series and must be gauged by those standards. From that viewpoint, it is satisfactory. The lead, as usual, is handled by Leo Gorcey, whose tough kid legitimate portrayal will meet with the approval of juvenile and police authorities. Perhaps because it was necessary to crowd so much into such a short shooting schedule, the direction seems hurried, and at times awkward. Production is of the highest grade achieved in this group, and credit as always is due Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz. Sell this like its predecessors, with the added touch of detective work. The latter phase opens the door to giving out East Side Kids' badges to permit the search for saboteurs. The Last Horseman Columbia Western 57 mins. (Nat'l Release, June 22) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Just another western for the kiddies and other followers. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Satisfactory fare for the Saturday matinee trade in the hinterlands. Cast: Russell Hayden, Dub Taylor, Bob Wills, Texas Playboys, Ann Savage, John Maxwell, Frank LaRue, Nick Thompson, J. P. Whiteford, Ted Mapes, Forest Taylor. Credits: Director, William Berke. Produced by Leon Barsha. Director of photography, George Meehan. Story and screenplay, Ed Earl Repp. Plot: The foreman of a large ranch is on his way home with $12,000 after selling a herd of cattle. He is waylaid by a trio of bandits who steal the money. Back in town, the foreman and his buddies capture one of the crooks, but he won't talk. They eventually find that the town's banker is behind everything because he is trying to bankrupt the owner to gain control of the ranch. Comment: Just a routine western for the usual spots to please the kiddies and the people in the hinterlands, who like this kind of stuff. There are musical numbers and action, but the action is slow and not up to the exciting pitch expected by followers of westerns. Good performances are turned in by Russell Hayden and Dub Taylor, the latter Legion of Decency Ratings (For Week Ending July 1) SUITABLE FOR GENERAL PATRONAGE Henry Aldrich's Little Secret Louisiana Hayride Minstrel Man Range Law Partners of the Trail Silver City Kid Stagecoach to Monterey SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY Allergic to Love Hail the Conquering Hero The Mummy's Ghost Step Lively Youth Runs Wild OBJECTIONABLE IN PART Are These Our Parents? I Love a Soldier taking care of the quips and quirks that add the laughs to the otherwise routine proceedings. Bob Wills' music will be found satisfactory and the other roles by Frank LaRue, Ann Savage and Forrest Taylor measure up to the requirements of their respective roles. An American Romance ( Technicolor) MGM Biographical Drama 151 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Though it just misses being an epic, here is an important and timely motion picture. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Destined for extended engagements in most situations. Cast: Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel, John Qualen, Horace McNally. Credits: Produced and directed by King Vidor. Screenplay by Herbert Dalmas and William Ludwig. Based upon a story by King Vidor. Director of photography, Harold Rosson. Technicolor director, Natalie Kalmus. Special efifects, .\rnold Gillespie. Art direction, Cedric Gibbons. Musical score, Louis Gruenberg. Plot: Just before the turn of the century Brian Donlevy arrives at Ellis Island to work in the iron mines of Minnesota. While working in the Mesabi Range, he meets Ann Richards, who teaches him to read and write. One day he hops a train to Chicago where he works in the steel mills. When he can furnish a modest home, he sends for Anna, Cast of Hunt Stromberg's forthcoming United Artists release, "Guest in the House," extended greetings to Anne Baxter recently on the occasion of her 21st birthday. The well-wishers included (l-r): Margaret Hamilton, Percy Kilbride, Scott McKay, Marie McDonald (in front of her 9-year-old Connie Laird; behind, Jerome Cowan), Director Lewis Milestone, Ketti Frings (seated in front of her is Anne Baxter, and next to Miss Baxter is Ruth Warrick), Producer Hunt Stromberg, Aline MacMahon and Ralph Bellamy. marries her. Soon a family comes along, Donlevy progresses, loses a son in World War I, becomes an American citizen, starts developing a strong, light steel for automobiles. With the aid of Walter Abel, his partner, he starts a small automobile plant in Detroit. After many heartbreaks, his new car is a success. Eventually he clashes with his son and his associates over recognition of the union, refuses to admit he is wrong, retires to California. With the advent of war and new demands on industry, he goes to an aircraft factory which Abel and Donlevy's son have established, helps solve production problems and helps his country in its time of need. The immigrant of late '90s has been moulded into an American. Comment: That America offers the opportunity for happiness, freedom and prosperity to all who enter its gates is the thesis of this biographical drama of the making of an American. With painstaking and sympathetic care, Producer-Director King Vidor tells a simple and straightforward story of an immigrant whose sincerity and determination to make good carries him to the top of American industry. Frequently the story is documentary in character, for it takes the spectator behind the scenes in the iron ore mines, the steel-making and automotive industries. And these sections of the film, vividly enhanced by Technicolor photography, offer fascinating and realistic views of actual industrial production. But while "An American Romance" is worthwhile screenfare and a credit to its producer, it just misses attaining that epic quality which would label it a never-to-be-forgotten experience for moviegoers. Apparently a subject dear to the heart of King Vidor, the picture shows evidence of having received too much devotion to detail, with the result that it is excessively long and occasionally tedious. Whatever the social significance and dramatic value of the sequences showing the industrialist's clash with organized labor, the screen has not in the past proved either a successful or popular forum for debate of the controversial aspects of this or any other social, economic or religious topic. The cast is small, but Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel, John Qualen and Horace McNally respond warmly and convincingly to Vidor's direction, with Donlevy imparting sincerity and understanding to one of the most difficult and one of the few sympathetic portrayals of his career. In photography, atmospheric backgrounds and settings, the film has received expert treatment. That it is too long, that it just misses being an epic, should not blind one to the fact that "An American Romance" is still an important motion picture destined for extended engagements in most situations. To Reissue Elliott Westerns Eight of the Bill Elliott Westerns will be reissued by Columbia during the 1944-45 season. These will supplement the ten westerns announced at the recent Chicago convention. The reissued films include "Pioneers of the Frontier," "A'lan From Tumbleweed," "Taming of the West," "Return of Wild Bill," "In Early Arizona," "Frontiers of '49," "Lone Star Pioneers" and "Law Comes to Texas." Matthew Huxley Joins WB Matthew Huxley, son of .Aldous Huxley, noted English novelist, has joined the Warner Bros, story department as reader.