Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, December 3, 1949 29 Box-Off ice Slants Just a Big Simple Girl (^Continued jroiii Page 21) actress and her leading man will interest patrons (feminine mainly) who make up the clientele of foreign-language theatres. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: While there is little if any box-office magic in names for the marquee, foreign-film exhibitors should draw paying audiences by playing up the typically French love story, the wit and wry humor with which it is told. Cast: Madeleine Solonge, Jean Desailly, Raymond Roulean, Andree Clement, Jacques Francois, Gabrielle Dorziat. Credits: Presented by United Artists. Released by Famous Pictures. Directed by Jacques Manuel. Screenplay by Andre Roussin. Photography by M. Kruger. English titles by Harry Goldstone. Plot: Stage Producer Raymond Roulean engages Jean Desailly, handsome young French actor just back from Hollywood, to play the young lover of Star Madeleine Solonge, but warns him she will fall madly in love with him — for the run of the play — and then tire of him, just as she had of Roulean himself. Their torrid love affair ends as Roulean had predicted. Madeleine professes jealousy of Andree Clement, pianist, whom Dasailly is instructing in acting. They quarrel, she lets the young student, Jacques Francois, spend the night in her room, then tells him to forget it. Roulean saves Jacques from suicide, and upbraids Mile. Solonge for her love trickery. She says Roulean is the only man she ever loved, and they begin anew. Comment: Very Gallic in its love story and in the acting, this well produced, directed and photographed French picture is for the art and foreign-language film theatres where it will doubtless give satisfaction, for it is told with much wit and sardonic humor. Mile. Solonge and Desailly give deft and wellrounded performances as the lovers, as does Roulean as the sardonic producer. Gabrielle Dorziat, an experienced and popular French actress, is fine in a lesser role, and Andree Clement, more photogenic than Solonge, acts pleasantly and plays the piano well. No particular sympathy is aroused in audiences for any of the characters unless it is young Francois, so madly in love he attempts suicide,when he discovers Solonge was but playing at love with him. Columbia And Baby Makes Three 84 mins. Comedy AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) Divorce and its effect on family life is given a new twist and turned into a bright, entertaining picture for the whole family. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Has the appeal and marquee draw to score heavily at the box-office. Cast: Robert Young, Barbara Hale, Robert Button, Janis Carter, Nicholas Joy, Lloyd Corrigan, Howland Chamberlin, Melville Cooper, Louis Currie, Grandon Rhodes, Katharine Warren, Wilton Graff, Michael Cisney, Joe Sawyer, James Cardwell. Credits: Directed by Henry Levin. Story and screenplay by Lou Breslow and Joseph Hoffman. Photography, Burnett Guft'ey. I'roduced by Robert Lord. A Santana Production. Plot: Three days after her divorce, a youngwoman about to marry a socialite faints at her wedding ceremony. From then on it's a question of waiting for the baby to arrive and of her ex-hubsand's desire to win her back. Eventually she discovers that she isn't going to have a baby and tliat she still loves her c.x-lnisband, so all ends well. Comment: The story of divorce and its effect on family life is given a new twist in this entertaining comedy. Though seemingly a dramatic subject, clever scripting makes this a natural for laughs, and wise casting and competent direction make it a perfect vehicle for the whole family. Robert Young delivers a delightful comedy performance as the ex-husband about to become a father. He romps through his role with all the zaniness the script calls for. Barbara Hale is competent and attractive as the woman both men want. A looker who leaves no doubt as to why they fight over her. Members of the .supporting cast are all splendid, too, among tliem Jams Carter as the other woman; Billie Burke and Nicholas Joy as the very social mother and father of Robert Hutton, the other man, and Lloyd Corrigan as the doctor. Henry Levin's direction takes full advantage of the daring lines and the situations, giving the picture that added appeal, which if taken full advantage of in its exploitation, should help it score heavily at the box-office. Production was handled by Robert Lord. Fisher Scripts 'Bimini Run' Steve Fisher is presently at work on the screenplay of the Howard Hunt novel "Bimini Run," which Anthony Veiller has been assigned to produce. Story is a dramatic tale of a chartered fishing boat between Florida and the West Indies. Newsreel Synopses (Released Wednesday, Nov. 30) ALL AMERICAN (Vol. 8, No. 371)— Safety award; Oklahoma educator; Hair styles; B-29 survivors; Truman addresses Negro women. MOVIETONE (Vol. 32, No. 95)— Freighter aground; American youths back from Europe; Windsors in France; Tokyo horse show; Star football players and plays of 1949. NEWS OF THE DAY (Vol. 21, No. 225)— Bill btern's Football All America; Phony radioactive curealls; Santa Claus in Toronto; Princess Margaret at hat show. PARAMOUNT (No. 28) — Eisenhower makes Freedom awards; Tokyo horse show; Paramount News' Football All America. TELENEWS (Vol. 3, No. 47B)— Sicilian bandit; More DPs in New York; Santa's workshop; Dali sets for play in Spain; Amateur matadors; Waterskiing. UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL (Vol. 22, No. 303) — Hawaii war games; Princess Margaret at hat show; By raft to Munich; Festival in India; Trick dog; Tokyo horse show; Skiing; Lady matador. WARNER PATHE (Vol. 21, No. 30)— Football Browns beats Yankees; Basketball girls; Jackie Robinson "most valuable"; Eisenhower makes Freedom awards; MacArthur greets Snyder; Turk independence parade; Apple packing; "Annual Sunday"; Trick dog; Hats for cows. (Released Saturday. Dec. 3) MOVIETONE (Vol. 32, No. 96)— Christmas parades; Montgomery here; Morgenthau opens United Jewish Appeal; Griffis to Argentina; Bojangles mourned; Football: Army-Navy, Cornell-Penn, Notre DameSouthern California. NEWS OF THE DAY (Vol. 21, No. 226)— Griffis to Argentina; Elizabeth at Malta; Bojangles mourned; Christmas parades; Football: Army-Navy, Notre DameSouthern California (Ind., L.A. only), Cornell-Penn (Phila., Alb., Buf. only). PARAMOUNT (No. 29)— Christmas parades; Griffis to Argentina; Barkley honeymoon; Elizabeth at Malta; Bojangles mourned; Army-Navy football. TELENEWS (Vol. 3, No. 48A)— Norway plane crash; Admiral Kirk in Russia; Pakistan mass prayer; Swiss watches; French-Polish controversy; Venezuela flood; Pinza's grandson; Margaret Truman press conference; Notre Dame-Southern California football. UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL (Vol. 22, No. 304) — Christmas parades; Marshall honored; Griffis to Argentina; U. S. Army at Sandhurst; Football: Notre-Dame-Southern California, Army-Navy. WARNER PATHE (Vol. 21, No. 31)— Griffis to Argentina; Parnell Thomas trial; Elizabeth in Malta; Lilienthal resigns; Christmas parades; Football: Cornell-Penn, Notre Dame-Southern California, ArmyNavy. VIEWS ON NEW SHORT SUBJECTS THE FIGHT FOR BETTER SCHOOLS (20th-Fox) March of Time No. 10. 20 mins. Documenting how the citizens .of one typical community, Arlington County, Va., are revitalizing their educational system — legislation, bond issue, new school board, etc. — this film amounts to an A-B-C lesson in a field the importance of which is now spotlighted by the international war of ideas. Brief glances are also taken at the progress in other areas, including Arkansas, Delaware and Long Island, and the work being done by the recentlyformed National Citizens' Commission for the Public .Schools. Exhibitors may well act on this one. Release date, 9/30/49. SHADOWS ON THE SNOW (20th-Fox— 9803) Movietone Specialty. 9 mins. Arne Sucksdorff, the .Sw ede whose camera work sans dialog won note in "Symphony of a City" and others in this series, follows a hunter and his child as they stalk a wild bear. Discretion leads them finally to turn back emptyhanded. Especially srood for art bouses. Release date, .Sept. '49. AHOY, DAVY JONES {20th-Fox— 9201 ) Movietone Adventure. 11 mins. The diving bells, suits and other methods man has used throughout history to explore below th'* oce^in's surface are shown at Weekiwachee Springs, Fla., and described by George Carson Putnam. Release date, Oct. '49. FASHIONS OF YESTERYEAR (20th-Fox— 9602) Feminine World. 8 mins. Ilka Chase wrote and narrates this survey of all kinds of clothing in 1900, 1920, 1929 and other periods. Fashion having the sway it does, at least in the more urban areas, this reel could figure in a tie-in. Release date, Nov. '49. VACATION AT DEL MAR (Col.— 1858) Screen Snapshots. 10^ mins. Cieorge Raft, Alan Curtis, J. Carroll Naish and Marshall Thompson pitch horseshoes, swim and dive at the Del Mar Hotel California resort spot. Release date, 5/12/49. HOLLYWOOD'S HAPPY HOMES (Col. — 1859) Screen Snapshots. 91,2 mins. Eddie Cantor and his large family are shown when he first went to Hollywood. Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee when they had one son. Other families shown include those of Jean Hersholt, Pat O'Brien, Lum and Abner, Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Charles Starrett, Dorothy Lamour and others. Release date, 6/16/49. RACING GREYHOUNDS (Col.— 1808) World of Sports. 9^4 mins. Bill Stern follows the full-blooded dogs from the pup stage to the big races in Miami. Release date, 5/26/49. RASSLIN' RIOT (Col.— 1809) World of Sports. 854 mins. The intricacies — and humor — of professional wrestling are demonstrated by Abe Stein and Stu Hart and described by Bill Stern. Release date, 6/23/49. MICROSPOOK (Col.— 1426) All-Star Comedy. 16 mins. Harry Von Zell plays practical jokes on everybody at the radio station at which he is an announcer, but when he arranges a broadcast from a haunted house he finds himself tangling with an escaped gorilla. Release date, 6/9/49. FlUIACiCSflOUMYDUUlfitS mmmm BEST QUAL/rr.' QUICKiST SCRVICC! F I L M A C K flbK « tXLO^ CHICAGO 1327 S. 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