Showmen's Trade Review (1945)

32 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 13, 1945 [ANT Phantom of the Plains Western 55 mins. Republic AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Red Ryder in another adventure offering his followers excitement and thrills. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Should do average western business. Cast: Bill Elliott, Bobby Blake, Alice Fleming, Ian Keith, William Haade, Virginia Christine, Bud Geary, Henry Hall, Fred Graham, Jack Kirk, Jack Rockwell. Credits: Directed by Lesley Selander. Origin-d screenplay by Earle Snell and Charles Kenyon. Based on Fred Harman's NEA newspaper strip. Photography, William Bradford. Associate Producer, R. C. Springsteen. Plot: Alice Fleming (The Duchess) falls for the line handed her by a supposed member of the English aristocracy. She follows his command and is all set to turn over her worldly goods, when Wild Bill Elliott uncovers the plans. To save her life, as well as her property, Elliott rides to her rescue. Comment: This latest in the Red Ryder series maintains the standard set by Republic for this series. It should be satisfactorily accepted by the fans, for they'll get their fill of excitement in the adventures Wild Bill Elliott and Bobby Blake have to go through in order to save Alice Fleming from the clutches of a very villainous villain. Most of the picture follows the usual formula set up for good western fare, but there are several additions thrown in here and there for extra thrills. The kids will go wild at the scene where Bill Elliott and Ian Keith (the villain) fight atop a runaway stagecoach while the Duchess and the female heavy have a scrap inside. Regular members of the cast are their usual capable selves, and Virginia Christine does very well as the feminine heavy. For once the villain practically steals the show, and this is due to Ian Keith's smooth handling of the role. Direction by Lesley Selander gives the fans all the excitement they're seeking. , The Spider 20th-Fox 62 mins. line, "isn't this the way we started?". For general public consumption, this will prove better-than-average program fare, for it is styled after the smart aleck, private dick story that has become so popular of late. Richard Conte plays the private investigator and Faye Marlowe is the girl who hires, and interests him. They're both very good. Other outstanding members of the cast are Kurt Kreuger as the killer, Martin Kosleck and Mantan Moreland. Robert Webb's capable direction keeps the situations tense, and builds up the suspense to a not too surprising denouement. Ben Silvey produced. Mystery AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Another private investigator gets to work solving a mystery that has enough suspense to keep audiences interested throughout. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Better-than-average program fare for the mystery market. Cast: Richard Conte, Faye Marlowe, Kurt Krueger, John Harvey, Martin Kosleck, Mantan Morelnnd, Walter Sande, Cara Williams, Charles Tannen, Margaret Brayton, Harry Seymour, Ann Savage, Jean Del Val. Odette Vigne, James Flavin, Roy Gordon, William Halligan, Lane Chandler, Eddie Hart, Margo Woode. Credits: Directed by Robert Webb. Produced by Ben Silvey. Screenplay by Jo Ei=inger and W. Scott Darling. Based on a play by Charles Fulton Oursler and Lowell Brentano. Photography, Glen MacWilliams. Plot: A young girl contacts a private detective agency in an attempt to solve the 5-year-old murder of her sister. The detective himself, through his efforts to help her, is booked on charges of murder, but "skips" jail, traps the criminal, and wins the girl. Comment: It is doubtful whether any audience will realize, after seeing this picture, that the reason for the original murder is never explained. This is doubtless due to the fact that there is enough suspense and mystery going on to hold the interest throughout, and then just about the time when, according to formula, someone is supposed to explain the why and wherefore, the picture has the original touch of seeming to start all over again, and ending with the The Lost Trail Western 58 mins. Monogram AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Another Johnny Mack Brown-Raymond Hatton western to provide a rootin', tootin', good time for the action fans. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Western offering for the trade. Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Jennifer Hoh, Riley Hill, Kenneth MacDonald, Lynton Brent, John Ince, John Bridges, Eddie Parker, Frank McCarroll, Dick Dickinson, Milburn Moranti, Frank Larue, Steve Clark. Credits: Produced by Charles J. Bigelow. Directed by Lambert Hillyer. Original screenplay by Jess Bowers. Photography, Marcel LePicard. Plot: Brown and his pal, Hatton, U. S. marshals, are assigned to round up a gang of crooks who have been holding up a stagecoach line carrying gold. Brown immediately becomes involved in the murder of the driver and the townspeople are all for hanging him, when he breaks jail. He ends up by shooting it out with the crooks and finally bringing them all to justice. Comment: From the number of western pictures released for the market, one naturally concludes that there must be a terrific demand for them. Such being the case, this one is just what the action fans are looking for. Hard-riding, shooting and all the other ingredients are plentifully supplied in this one to provide the kids and their elders with a rootin', tootin', good time. Johnny Mack Brown and his pal, Raymond Hatton, are in there pitching for the good of the abused citizens. And they're both very good in their respective roles. Kenneth MacDonald, head of the crooked mob, commits plenty of skulduggery before the fadeout and Jennifer Holt does nicely in the role of the "not-much-todo" western heroine. Direction is by Lambert Hillyer and Charles J. Bigelow supervised production. MAYOR WELCOMES STAR. Roy Rogers, Republic's King of the Cowboys, is greeted by Mayor La Guardia after leading the parade of the World Championship Rodeo to City Hall. Rogers is in New York for personal appearances at the rodeo through November 4. People Are Funny Paramount Comedy-With-Music 91 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) This is a good show for everybody, especially those who follow the radio program of the same name. They'll see the screwy happenings they've been hearing, and find extra amusement with the added talent. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: This screen presentation of the "People Are Funny" radio show should bring in satisfactory returns. Cast: Jack Haley, Helen Walker, Rudy Vallee, Ozzie Nelson, Philip Reed, Frances Langford, The Vagabonds, Bob Graham, Art Linkletter, Clara Blandick, Roy Atwell, Wheaton Chambers, Casey Johnson, Rosarita Varela, Lillian Molieri, Barbara Roche, The People Are Funny Radio Show. Credits: Produced and directed by Sam White. Screenplay by MaxweH Shane and David Lang. Original story by David Lang. Photography, Fred Jackman. Executive Producers, William Pine and William Thomas. Plot: This concerns the efforts of three unscrupulous radio executives to buy or steal an original program they discovered being produced in a small town by a talented but slightly simple country boy. Comment: This is one of the few pictures made from a radio show that brings to the screen the amusing and entertaining part of the original idea instead of merely the name draw with a lot of other talent presented in revue form. Only two of the actual "People Are Funny" happenings are shown, which turns out to be a swell idea, for if too much of the radio hokum had been incorporated into the story, the picture wouldn't have been so funny. As it is, with the abovementioned two sequences, plus the singing of Frances Langford, the amusing and laughgetting antics of a talented quartette called "The Vagabonds" and the type of characterization Jack Haley portrays, which usually lends itself to laughs, this is good entertainment for the general public. Cast, as a whole, are quite capable, with Ozzie Nelson, Helen Walker, Rudy Vallee and Philip Reed sharing top honors. Sam White gave the picture noteworthy direction with his masterful handling of the material given him. The producers, William Pine and William Thomas, have done themselves proud with this most ambitious undertaking of their careers, for they've turned out a good showmanly picture that should bring in satisfactory returns. Hold That Blonde Paramount Comedy 77 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Slightly hysterical and more than screwball comedy with plenty of scares and more than plenty of Eddie Bracken's type of comedy. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: The marquee names of Eddie Bracken and Veronica Lake are sufficient, in most cases, to give the picture top billing. It will need extra special exploitation, however, for top box-office results. Cast: Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, Albert Dekker, Frank Fenton, George Zucco, Donald McBride, Lewis L. Russell, Norma Varden, Ralph Peters, Robert Watson, Lyle Latell, Edmund MacDonald, Willie Best. Credits: Directed by George Marshall. Produced by Paul Jones. Screenplay by Walter DeLeon, Earl Baldwin and E. Edwin Moran. Based on a play by Paul Armstrong. Photography, Daniel L. Fapp with special pho'ographic effects by Gordon Jennings and process photography by Farciot Edouart. Plot: Eddie Bracken, a wealthy young kleptomaniac, is advised by a psychiatrist to hunt for a new romance to make up for