Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

Z4 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, March 1, 1947 Before Him All Rome Trembled Superfilm Drama with Music 105 mins. (Italian dialog — English titles) AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) The fact that this is in Italian will mitigate against its American audience appreciation to some degree. But it is fine dramatic fare, excellently acted, and the opera scenes from Tosca are beautifully sung. Should thoroughly entertain the more discriminating. 'BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Probably best for art theatres or in towns containing a large Italian population. Properly exploited, however, it might turn out to be successful for general distribution. Cast: Anna Magnani, Gina Sinimberghi, Edda Albertini, Bruno Gebel, Steffen Bode-Wab, Carlo Duse, Joop Von Hulzen, Guido Notari, Tino Scotti, Guglielmo Sinaz, Guiseppe Varni ; and from the La Scala opera company, Elisabetta Barbato, Gino Sininberghi, Tito Gobbi and Guiulio Neri. Credits: Authors, G. Gherard, D. Cataldo, C. Gallone. Music by Giacomo Puccini. Conducted by Maestro Luigi Ricci. Photography, Anchise Brizzi. Pianist, Dino Ancona. Directed by Carmine Gallone. Produced by Excelsa Films. Plot: The plot of the opera, Tosca, in which a woman betrays her lover through her unreasoning jealousy, is paralleled in the modern story which forms a background for the performance of Tosca in the film. The modern story is placed in Rome during the Nazi occupation, just prior to the American invasion. Comment: This is an exceptionally well produced, acted and directed postwar Italian production, with English subtitles that clearly explain the action of the modern story and furnish a running libretto of the opera as it takes place on the stage. Anna Magnani, also seen in New York in "Open City," another excellent Italian film which has met with a fair degree of success in America, surpasses even her fine performance in that picture in her double role as the jealous lover of a modern opera singer and as the physical Tosca in a superb performance. The voice of soprano Elisabetta Barbato of the La Scala opera is dubbed in with perfect synchronization. Others in the cast do very well indeed, and Americans who see the picture will be thoroughly entertained. Carnegie Hall United Artists Drama with Music 134 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Adult) A series of thrills and big moments for music lovers and a picture whose galaxy of big names in the world of concert and the opera should prove a factor of great interest for the average picturegoer. There is a routine type of movie story involving the sacrifices of a young wife and mother ambitious for her talented husband and the son he sired. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: With the right exploitation to put fireworks around the fact that the customers can get a view and an earful of some of the foremost artists in concert and opera and their music, this can be developed into a substantial money-maker. Cast: Marsha Hunt, William Prince, Frank McHugh, Martha O'Driscoll, Hans Yaray, Olin Downes, Joseph Buloff, Walter Damrosch, New York Philharmonic Quintet, Bruno Walter, Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York, Lily Pons, Gregor Piatigorsky, Rise Stevens, Artur Rodzinski, Artur Rubinstein, Jan Peerce, Ezio Pinza, Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski, Harry James. Credits: A Federal Films Production. Produced by Boris Morros and William LeBaron. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Screenplay by Karl Kamb. Original story by Seena Owen. Pho tography, William Miller. Special effects, Roy W. Seawright. Art director and costume designer, Max Ree. Musical adviser, Sigmund Krumgold. Plot: Marsha Hunt, employed in the office of Carnegie Hall, determines to make her son, William Prince, a great pianist. The lad undergoes a period of intense training during which he meets many Carnegie Hall celebrities. When he becomes of age he accidentally meets Martha O'Driscoll, a singer in Vaughn Monroe's band. He marries her and joins the band, much to his mother's disillusionment. Years pass with no communication between them. The mother's dreams are eventually realized, however, when one day she is lured to a Carnegie Hall concert where Prince is introduced as the "talented young American composer and pianist." Comment: This is the kind of attraction for which there is a real need at certain intervals, because it has that which can attract to the theatre a lot of people who are not regular moviegoers. With radio giving such a big play to the concert and opera stars, and with the name Carnegie Hall pretty much a hallmark for the tops in the world of music, the basis is there for this picture to get a strong reaction at the box-office. A reading of the credits is sufficient to impress with the extraordinary cavalcade of musical greats of current times which is brought to the screen by "Carnegie Hall." The musical recording is excellent, the camerawork in showing off these stars serves splendidly to dramatize as well as bring into closeup such famous artists as Lily Pons, Piatigorsky, Rubinstein, Pinza, Heifetz and others. The story that is supposed to hold all this together is no great shakes. It is on the maudlin side, with Marsha Hunt playing a conventional mother who has such soaring ambitions for her son and — not at all to the surprise of the audience — 'finding that he likes modern, sort of swingish, music rather than the old compositions associated with the Carnegie Hall which she learned to love from years of working there after a start as a mere cleaning woman. Miss Hunt does a nice piece of acting, and so, too, does Frank McHugh in his role as the Irish janitor who is a friend of Miss Hunt and all the artists. William Prince and Martha ODriscoll play the parts of the young romantic team very well. The lack in "Carnegie Hall" is a bit of humor and lightness. That deficiency is pointed up especially by one very entertaining sequence done by Ezio Pinza — who is a great singer and, on the basis of his lustily amusing appearance in this picture, an actor who can register very smartly in a motion picture. Since the story ends on a note of triumph in which modern music is done to an ovation reception in Carnegie Hall by a pianist who is a member of Vaughn Monroe's band, it cannot be said that the producers neglected to consider the younger element of music lovers — who get, also, a swell trumpet solo by Harry James for their money. Blondie's Hday Columbia Comedy 67 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Typical of the Blondie and Dagwood series. Light comedy for the family trade. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Will do just as well as its predecessors. Cast: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Marjorie Kent, Jerome Cowan, Grant Mitchell, Sid Tomack, Mary Young, Jeff York, Bobby Larson, Jody Gilbert, Jack Rice, Alyn Lockwood, Eddie Acuff, Tim Ryan, Anne Nagel, Rodney Bell. Credits: Original screenplay by Constance Lee. Directed by Abby Berlin. Produced by Burt Kelly. Photography, Vincent Farrar. Plot: Dagwood gets himself in his usual jam by hiring a "tutor" so he can learn to handicap horses in order to win enough money to pay for his high school class reunion dinner, into which Blondie has inveigled him. His boss finds out and he is fired but is hired back again with a bonus when he aids the wife of a bank president to escape during the raid of a bookie joint, thus getting the president to order the construction of his new building through Dagwood's firm. Comment: The actions of Arthur Lake as Dagwood and Penny Singleton as Blondie are too familiar to exhibitors and average audiences to necessitate elaborate comment here. Suffice it to state that all in their bag of tricks are used in this one, including the enormous sandwich, the flying tackle outside the house, etc. It's just as funny as others in the series and should do just as well at the box-office. Trail Street RKO Radio Western 83 mins. AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) This outdoor saga of the development of Kansas is a thrilling western with plenty of laughter sprinkled throughout its many scenes of rootin-tootin' excitement. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Has the name draw of Randolph Scott and George "Gabby" Hayes. Word-of-mouth should help increase the business this type of film usually attracts. Cast: Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George "Gabby" Hayes, Madge Meredith, Steve Brodie, Billy House, Virginia Sale, Harry Woods, Phil Warren, Harry Harvey, Jason Robards. Credits: Produced by Nat Holt. Directed by Ray Enright. Screenplay by Norman Houston and Gene Lewis. Based on the novel by William Corcoran. Photography by J. Roy Hunt. Plot: A Kansas wheat town is being ruined by cattle trains and lawless cowboys until a new town marshal arrives. Then the head of the crooks, who aspires to be the top cattleman and who tries to get control of the land, is eventually brought to justice and the State of Kansas built up after the first crop of wheat is planted. Comment: Exciting, thrilling action and plenty of laughter make this outdoor saga of the development of Kansas one of the better westerns. Name draw will depend on Randolph Scott and George "Gabby" Hayes, for the others in the cast aren't well enough known; but word-of-mouth should help boost the business to better than average. In a role similar to so many of his previous assignments, Randolph Scott turns