Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1944)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW April 8, 1944 Her Primitive IVlan Universal Comedy 79 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Hilarious farce that carries the fun quotient of a top comedy, and will roll them in the aisles. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: A show for any situation. A strong campaign and word-ofmouth will make it a real draw. Cast: Louise AUbritton, Robert Paige, Robert Benchley, Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Stephanie Bachelor, Walter Catlett, Ernest Truex, Louis Jean Heydt, Nydia Westman, Oscar O'Shea, Sylvia Field, Ian Wolfe^ Irving Bacon. Credits: Directed by Charles Lamont. Screenplay by Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano. Director of photography, Charles Van Enger, A.S.C. Produced by Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano. Plot: A phony explorer is exposed when he submits a book about his harrowing experitnces among head hunters. Disguised as a brawny savage, he returns with the young lady who had gone to bring back a primitive man. Once here his life consists of changing from his conventional clothes to his native disguise. Just as he is about to be exposed, a real native arrives to take his place. Comment: Hilarious farce is the designation for this new teaming of AUbritton and Paige and the picture carries a rib-tickling fun equivalent of a top comedy that will roll them in the aisles. While the lack of marquee names will delay the first rush of customers who want to be amused, word-of-mouth will overcome that defect. In dual situations, a "name" picture can drag them in, and this laugh-kindling escape film can entertain them. Following the success of "Fired Wife," on a story by Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano, the studio made the latter two producers, and gave them the Allbritton-Paige team. The result is proof of their acute judgment. Based on a story theme which is not new, the screenplay has been fattened on lines that crackle and never miss the funny bone. Louise AUbritton and Robert Paige are better than they have been in anything they've done before, and seem to have reached a natural, relaxed, yet sure-fire pace of presentation. In addition to this team and the well-handled story, the film is packed with players of great finesse in comedy. Outstanding are Robert Benchley, and Edward Everett Horton, whose dry humor is an important and integral part of the picture. The work of Charles Barton, as director, has taken all of these delightful parts of the whole and mixed them with pace and timing to deliver swell fun in film fare. A teaser campaign seems to be in order to put this one over, with such lines in your ads and heralds as "Your boy-friend, or husband, knows you under your coat of paint. Would you know him if he had the same kind of disguise?", and "Can you be sure which is a savage breast?". Apply the living billboard from the Encyclopedia of Exploitation (997). Trocadero Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble MGM Comedy Drama 108 mins. (Nat'l Release, May-June 1944) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Surefire entertainment; will appeal to all people with equal pleasure and impact. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Top feature in any situation, with its own money-ready following whose numbers will increase by word-of-mouth. Cast: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden, Sara Haden, Herbert Marshall, Bonita Granville, Jean Legion of Decency Ratings (For Week Ending April 8) SUITABLE FOR GENERAL PATRONAGE Hidden Valley Outlaws Trocadero Laramie Trail Riding West Yellow Canary SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY • Sweethearts of the U.S A. Porter, Keye Luke, Lee Wilde, Lyn Wilde, Marta Linden. Credits: Directed by George B. Seitz. Screenplay by Harry Ruskin, William Ludwig and Agnes Christine Johnston (based on character created by Aurania Rouverol). Director of photography, Lester White. Plot: On his way to college Andy discovers that the college is going to take co-eds for the first time. He gets mixed up with a pair of blonde twins and at school, by trying to help them out of a predicament, gets into a mess of trouble. When the Dean, who is a friend of his father, sends for the Judge, everything is straightened out and Andy ends up by giving all his attention to another student. Comment: A top feature in any situation, this edition of the series is surefire entertainment that will reach all people with equal pleasure. It is the first of the series in more than a year, and the newest since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the series a special Oscar for the year 1942. The story has substance as well as great fun and humor. The intense human element which has made the series so popular is a vivid part of the present glimpse of the family we have come to know. There may be those who will be unable to appreciate the freshman in his homesickness, his fears and wild conduct, but most people will look on with poignant nostalgia, for their own recollections or those of their children, or the neighbors' children. Mickey Rooney mugs his way through in pleasure and in sadness, in fun, he acts the kid of college age so you can't help watching affectionately. Lewis Stone is again the Judge, a friendly, human person, upright in his respect for his duties, but also respectful towards the obligations which one human owes another, and understanding of the growing pains and errors of the younger generation. The others of the family. Fay Holden and Sara Haden, maintain the family tradition as the womenfolks we like so much. Newcomers to the scene are Herbert Marshall, Bonita Granville and Keye Luke, and all of them blend into the pattern as though they have always belonged there. Coming like a flash of light, or of two lights, the Wilde Twins, two blonde cuties who shape up Andy's blonde trouble, take much of the center of the stage, a feat not easily accomplished against such artists. Worked into the picture delightfully, the girls are alternately impish, delightful, sweet, pensive, flighty, and lovable. With the beauty and charm they display, they should go far and fast in the film heavens. Put these things all together and they spell production supervision by Louis B. Mayer and direction by George B. Seitz. Republic Musical-Drama 74 mins. (Nat'l Release— April 24) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Reasonably good entertainment for the masses with quite an array of talent. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Satisfactory dualler which needs a sturdy running mate. Sell title and musical talent angle. Cast: Rosemary Lane, Johnny Downs, Ralph Mor gan, Dick Purcell, Sheldon Leonard, Cliff Nazarro. Marjorie Manners, Erskine Johnson, Dave Fleischer, Emmett Vogan, Charles Calvert, Dewey Robinson. Ruth Hilliard. Eddie Bartell, Bob Chester and orchestra, Matty Malneck and orchestra, Gus Arnheim and orchestra, Eddie LeBaron and orchestra, Wingy Mannone, The Radio Rogues, The Stardusters and others. Credits: Produced by Walter Colmes. Directed by William Nigh. Screenplay by Allen Gale. Original story by Charles F. Chaplin and Garret Holmes. Photographic direction by Jackson Rose. Musical direction by Jay Chernis. Plot: A newspaperman seeking a story visits a night spo* and pumps the manager for details of the club with the result that he uncovers a swell heart-interest tale of the place which was started on a shoestring by a man who had great ambitions for the place but was killed in an accident before he could realize his plans. A friend carries on and with the aid of a girl, Judy, who gives up her educational work to entertain as a singer, and a boy who is thus enabled to continue his studies. They are in love but almost lose each other through temporary fascination for another boy and girl. They are reunited, however, by events at a gala re-opening of the club as a greatly enlarged and successful resort. Comment: This film is heavy on story value and light on production. In other words it could have been really big had it been accorded some heavier star power and more elaborate setting. The talent of the entertainers it boasts are entirely adequate and the basic idea was splendid, but the handling and acting just doesn't measure up. In its presentation the film conforms strictly to formula and thus becomes another musical. As entertaining as usual are The Radio Rogues, Cliff Nazarro with his double talk and the songs by The Stardusters. A brief animated sequence involving Dave Fleischer will go over well and there, is one new tune which is worth plenty of repetition out of the lot titled In a Roundabout Way. There are quite a fewtunes in the piece, including Shoo Shoo Baby. Music Goes 'Round and 'Round, How Could You Do That to Me, Trocadero, Louisiana Lulu and others. Four name bands take you from Rhumba to Swing. For average audiences it will be found acceptable entertainment if teamed with a sturdv running mate Uncertain Glory Warner Bros. Drama 102 mins. (National Release, April 22) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) A suspenseful and absorbing screenplay, commendable direction and high production values make this newest Errol Flynn adventure yarn genuinely entertaining, if not especially outstanding. Should please general audiences. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Box-office results should match closely, or may even exceed those tallied on the star's past films. Cast: Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas, Jean Sullivan, Lucile Watson, Faye Emerson, James Flavin, Douglass Dumbrille, Dennis Hoey, Sheldon Leonard, Odette Myrtil, Francis Pierlot, Wallis Clark. Victor Kilian.