Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1945)

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18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW February 17, 1945 Keep Your Powder Dry (Continued from Page 15) together, immediately after being notified of her husband's death in action. Susan also wins her commission aiad the three girls go overseas to carry out their important assignments in the war. Comment: This picture obviously has been made to aid recruiting in the important Women's Army Corps and contains an interesting story. It shows a few of the many jobs for which the Wac are being trained. The rivalry of Laraine Day, an Army "brat" daughter of a regular Army officer who has been Ijrought up on Army posts, and Lana Turner, the social butterfly who joins to abide by the terms of an uncle's will but who learns to love her new life, is prevalent throughout the proceedings, with many interesting and illuminating phases of "woman vs. woman" deliciously depicted. Susan Peters, as the serious wife of an Air Force Captain, is the foil of the two protagonists. Life in the Wac is not too predominant pictorially but is the motivation of the entire picture. All three girls are selected as Officer Candidates and go through the arduous training that prepares them for the important overseas duties Wac officers are carrying out all over the world. The production and direction are top-notch. The picture will prove to be entertaining to almost any type of audience. in contrasting high strung and quiet persuasive parts, respectively, convincingly portray close friends who disagree in minor matters but are never apart in important things until Nolan brings police to arrest O'Shea after the killing for which he swears he is innocent. Nolan believes him but knows that an escape will make conviction surer. The manner in which the killing is re-created before the eyes of the governor and judge who sat at O'Shea's trial is cleverly done. Billy Cummings as O'Shea's motherless son does a fine, convincing job of acting. Intelligently handled, "Circumstantial Evidence" can be built into a substantial property for almost any theatre. The 20th-Fox press book contains several good ideas for exploitation that can be adapted to all types of situations. Circumstantial Evidence 20th Century-Fox Drama 67 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT (Family) Tightly written and well played story of a man's mistaken conviction and near-execution for a crime that takes place before the audience's eyes. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Intelligent exploitation can gain considerable attention for this. Lack of marquee star names makes ballyhoo important. Cast: Michael O'Shea, Lloyd Nolan, Trudy Marshall, Billy Cummings, Ruth Ford, Reed Hadley, Roy Roberts, Scotty Beckett. Credits: Directed by John Larkin. Produced by William Girard. Screenplay by Robert Metzler with adaptation by Samuel Ornitz. Based on a story by Nat Ferber and Sam Duncan. Photography, Harry Jackson. Plot: Quick tempered, red-headed Michael O'Shea is tried and convicted for the murder of a neighborhood baker on the testimony of three eye-witnesses. Although O'Shea's back was to them and his body was between them and the man who died they are convinced that O'Shea's action was a sequence of cause and effect. O'Shea swears the man fell, hitting his head on the edge of a stove. The audience sees the action, is almost sure that O'Shea is innocent — but not quite sure. Lloyd Nolan, friend of O'Shea, and the convicted man's small boy reconstruct the crime and arrange to have the governor and presiding judge present. Both men are convinced of O'Shea's innocence and the witnesses are shaken. A new trial is granted and O'Shea is freed. Comment: The opening credit states that some men have been convicted mistakenly on the basis of circumstantial evidence. They testify to circumstances that they think they see, but which actually is something entirely different. In other words the mind plays tricks with action seen under emotional stress. The production and direction makes this story intensely interesting and thought-provoking. The pace is fast from opening to closing scenes. ^Michael O'Shea and Lloyd Nolan The Chicago Kid Republic Drama 68 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: Light story of attempted revenge for a fancied wrong. Gangsters, hijacking and a black-market background enliven a fairly entertaining picture. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Satisfactory fare for the double-bill situations. Cast: Donald Barry, Otto Kruger, Tom Powers, Lynne Roberts, Henry Daniels, Chick Chandler, Joseph Crehan, Jay Novello, Paul Harvey, Addison Richards, Kenne Duncan. Credits: Associate Producer, Eddy White. Directed by Frank McDonald. Screenplay by Jack Townley with additional dialogue by Albert Beich, based on an original story by Karl Brown. Photographed by William Bradford. Plot: Determined to revenge his dad who (lied in prison, Donald Barry gets a job with tlie auditing firm of Otto Kruger whose testimony (framed, Barry believes) caused his dad's conviction. He plays up to Kruger's daughter (Lynne Roberts) and gains the son's friendship (Henry Daniels). He rises ciuickly^ in his job and obtains information from clients' books enabling him to connive in wholesale robbery from warehouses where scarce items are stored. He learns his dad h;ul really been guilty, too late to save Kruger from murder. He is killed in a gun fight trying to save the son from a similar fate. Comment: The story starts slowly but l)icks up pace and continues to move swiftly. Donald Barry is good as the embittered young man who will stop at nothing to ruin the man he believes had falsely accused his father and caused his imprisonment and death. Otto Kruger is excellent. Lynne Roberts and Henry Daniels are satisfactory, while Chick Chandler is excellent as a semi-comic gangster. Direction and production are satisfactory. directed by John H. Auer. Screenplay by Lawrence Kimble. Original story by Frederick Kohner and John H. Auer. Musical director, C. Bakaleinikoff. Photography, Frank Redman. Executive Producer, Sid Rogell. Plot: Several members of the editorial staff of a national pictorial magazine visit some Latin-American countries to do a feature on their outstanding beauties. The ace photographer, who has been chasing the girl reporter for some time, suddenly finds things reversed and hinjself engaged. It looks like the girl is planning bigamy before she clears up the situation. The story ties up a number of outstanding acts that are all LatinAmerican in theme. Comment: With the present trend for Latin-American music, this comedy-with music looks like a swell bet for any box-office. It is equal in entertainment value to many of the musicals offered with name draw, so that once word-of-mouth gets around, lack of names won't hinder it from becoming one of the tops of the season. True, there are those among the customers who don't like this type of music, but since these are few and far between, most exhibitors will find this strong enough to top the bill in any situation. Plenty of well-known names in the amusement world are presented, each for their individual style. For instance, there is Miguelita Valdes, from the Cugat show; there's Rosario and Antonio, who do some excellent dancing; there are three different bands. Samba, Rhumba and Conga, and there's the droll Robert Benchley routines for laughs. Among these entertainers Harold and Lola do a snake dance — something so unusual that it will probably bring applause from a regular audience the way it did from the preview crowd. The cast is splendid throughout, starting with Phillip Terry, Audrey Long, Eve Arden down to a small bit by Ernest Truex. Credit for this outstanding production goes to John Auer, who handled both the producer and director chores and also wrote the original story with Frederick Kohner. Pan-Americana RKO Radio ComedyWith-Music 84 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) This is one of the best musicals to date. "Though it has no star names, it has the kind of entertainment that everybody will enjoy. The wellknown performers, who entertain in the style that made them famous, are shown to the best advantage and they, plus the cast, will entertain patrons so well theyll want their friends to see the picture. fiOX-OFFICE SLANT: A production strong enough to top the bill in any situation, in spite of its lack of names. Cast: Phillip Terry. Audrey Long, Robert Benchley, Eve Arden, Ernest Truex, Marc Cramer, Isabelita, Rosario and Antonio, Miguelito Valdes, Harold and Lola, Louise Burnett, Chinita Marin, Chuy Castillion, Padilla Sisters, Chuy Reyes and his orchestra, Nestor Amaral and his Samba band. Credits: Produced and Frisco Sal Universal DramaWith-Music 94 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) Entertaining story of San Francisco's Barbary Coast with some tense moments, good comedy and excellent singing. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: The names of Turhan Bey and Susanna Foster on the marquee should start a box-office trek. Cast: Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, Alan Curtis, Andy Devine, Thomas Gomez, Collette Lyons, Samuel S. Hinds, Fuzzy Knight, Billy Green, Ernie Adams, George Lloyd, Bert Fiske. Credits: Produced and directed by George Waggner. Original screenplay by Curt Siodmak and Gerald Geraghty. Photography by Charles Van Enger. Plot: Susanna Foster searches San Francisco's Barbary Coast for her older brother who had disappeared when she was a baby. She gets a job singing in the cafe run by Turhan Bey and finds a clue in her search. Alan Curtis runs a fake mission as a front for criminal activities of his well organized gang. He tries to frame iBey for the supposed murder of Susanna's brother and sends his gang into Bey's restaurant to break up the place. He is about to shoot Bey when Susanna informs him she and Bey had been married that morning. Curtis turns out to be the missing brother and comparative quiet again settles on the Barbary Coast. Comment: A synopsis of this picture's plot cannot give any indication of the good production and direction given this rather long film. Nor can it tell of the excellent singing and beauty of Susanna Foster or the ingratiating character created by Turhan iBey as the cafe owner who built his last dollar into a thriving, although slightly bawdy saloon and cabaret of the Barbary Coast days. A free-for-all that takes place near the end abounds in riotous action and will be the