Silver Screen (Nov 1939 - May 1940)

82 Silver Screen for May 1940 Reviews [Continued from page 78] lirst time in this picture, and they work together as cozily as two bugs in a rug. Bing plays the scion and heir to a mammoth steamship company, who rebels against stuffy family tradition; and so, when his Old Man {Cliarles Cobiirn) tries to marry him off to Judith Barrett, he skips off to a remote South Sea island. With him is his pal Bob, who is also running out on matrimony. On the mythical island of Kaigoon, where the natives talk in a mythical Esperanto, Bing and Bob rescue Dorothy Lamour, sarong and all, from her villainous dancing partner {Antliony Qidnn) and proceed to fall in love with her. There is a tribal wedding feast scene with Bing and Bob and Dotty masquerading as natives that turns out to be one of the most hilarious sequences you've seen in many a day. And there are two native girls, called Ninky Poo and Pinky Noo, that are well worth your time. There are five grand song numbers with special raves for "Too Romantic," sung by Bing and Dorothy, and "Captain Custard," sung by Bing and Bob. You'll like this. It's easy to take. VIGIL IN THE NIGHT A New Carole Lombard — RKO THIS is the screen adaptation of the serious novel by A. J. Cronin, author of "The Citadel," which made screen history last year. Like "The Citadel," the story of "Vigil in the Night" is charged with Dr. Cronin's passion for reform in medicine. Carole Lombard plays Anne Lee, a good nurse, who, besides her personal problems, must cope with the problems of an epidemic in an English hospital which has to beg for funds from the sellish rich. Hollywood's famous "screwball comedienne" does a complete rightabout-face and, as the honest young nurse, gives as beautiful a dramatic performance as you're ever likely to see. Too much praise cannot be heaped upon Carole for her portrayal of Nurse Lee, but just the same we hope she won't give up being a comedienne. Brian Aherne plays the surgeon in the hospital, whom Nurse Lee loves, and Anne Shirley plays her erring sister. Anne's intensely dramatic performance is one of the highlights of the film. In the excellent supporting cast are Julien Mitchell, a newcomer from England, Robert Coote, Brenda Forbes, Doris Lloyd and Emily Fitzroy. This is a serious, somber picture, representative of the new "message" film which Hollywood is now releasing. And it is well worth your while. BROAD'WAY MELODY OF 1940 Feet First! — M-G-M WHEN Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell, the two best dancers in Hollywood, are teamed in the same picture the result is bound to be the most sensational dancing you've seen in many a moon. It is. But Fred and Eleanor have to keep stepping mighty fast to keep one George Murphy from stealing the picture right from under their experienced taps. Likeable, talented George proves himself almost as good a dancer as Fred, and certainly a much better singer. This edition of "Broadway Melody" is far less pretentious than its successors, and is far more appealing. Fred and George play a couple of cheap dance hall hoofers who have their eyes on Broadway. Fred is spotted by producer Frank Morgan, but through a mix up of names it is George who gets the big chance in a Broadway revue as Eleanor's dancing partner. But everything gets straightened out eventually, and self-sacrificing Fred gets the job and the girl. The Cole Porter music is excellent, but the picture is badly in need of someone to sing it. "Begin the Beguine" is .the big production number. Ian Hunter plays a Broadway producer, and in supporting roles are Florence Rice, Lynne Carver, and Ann Morriss. MY LITTLE CHICKADEE Disappointing — Universal MAE WEST and W. C. Fields are teamed in this mellow melodrama of the Old West. They not only play the leads, but they also wrote the script. The film has its high moments, but it also has its low, and there are those who insist that Miss West and Mr. Fields should hire themselves a good script writer, and stick to their acting. Miss West plays Flower Belle Lee, whom, it seems, the good women of the town have it in for. They threaten to run her out of town unless she marries and becomes respectable, so Flower Belle, in a fake ceremony, marries Cuthbert J. TwiUie {W . C. but of course) under the mistaken impression that he is a man of wealth. When she discovers that he is only a vender of snake oil, she refuses to share the bridal chamber of the Greasewood City hotel with him. Flower Belle is in love with a masked bandit and the rest of the film is the pursuit of the bandit, and Flower Belle's complicated love life. There is one stand-out sequence where she becomes a schoolmarm and contributes to the education of the young lads of America. In the cast are Joseph Calleia, Dick Foran, Margaret Hamilton and Ruth Donnelly. It's more of a man's picture than a woman's— judging from the preview audience reaction. THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON The Classic of Shipwrecked Survivors —RKO AS THEIR first fling at producing the ■ former writing team of Gene Towne and Graham Baker have given us that well beloved old classic of the life of shipwrecked survivors on a lonely island. The world famous story of Johann Rudolf Wyss's is more than a century old. but the screen version retains all the original charm and interest. The Swiss Family, as you recall, are shipwrecked on a lonely island, and the story goes on to tell of their daily doings: how they win food and clothing from the wilderness, how they build a home, how they build a boat to leave the island, and how they desist when they realize it is God's will that they stay. That grand actor, Thomas Mitchell, plays the pious Father Robinson. Edna Best plays Mother Robinson, discontented at first, but finally content to stay with her husband. And the young Robinsons are Freddie Bartholomew, Terry Kilburn, Tim Holt, and Baby Bobby Quillan. THE MAN FROM DAKOTA Civil War Melodrama — M-G-M THIS is the story of two Union soldiers, Wallace Beery and John Howard, who escape from a Confederate prison camp during the Civil War, and their attempt to make their way back to the Union lines. They meet up with Dolores Del Rio, which is a very pretty meeting up indeed, and they get possession of a military map which is of the utmost importance to Grant's army. The eventual delivery of the map makes Beery a hero and unites John and Dolores. The story is strictly formula hokum, but strangely enough, it more than holds your interest. Dolores is beautiful, and Beery mugs less than usual, which is something. SEVENTEEN Modernized Tarkington — Paramount BASED on the well beloved story by Booth Tarkington and the famous stage play by Stuart Walker, the new version of "Seventeen," modernized to be sure, proves itself thoroughly pleasant and sure-fire entertainment. Jackie Cooper makes a most favorable William Sylvanus Baxter, and versatile Betty Field ("What a Life" and "Of Mice and Men") gives another of her perfect performances as Lola Pratt, the young lady who gives William Sylvanus Baxter his first lesson in love. This story of adolescence and American family life is bound to please you with its gentle sentimental comedy, and you'll take it right to your heart, even if you are a dyed-in-the-wool sourpuss. And keep your eye on that Betty Field. In the excellent cast are Otto Kruger and Ann Shoemaker playing Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, Norma Nelson as the little sister, and Thomas Ross as the agonized Mr. Parcher. Don't miss this. THE GHOST COMES HOME Frank Morgan Does His Best — M-G-M NOTHING pretentious about this one. Frank Morgan, who has saved many a picture from a fate worse than death, plays a henpecked, browbeaten manager of a small town pet shop. A boyhood friend of his, now a millionaire in Australia, bequeaths a large sum of money to the town, Edenville by name, and Frank leaves for the antipodes to collect it. But he lands in the hoosegow, and after sixty days comes home to find that his family, believing him dead, have spent the insurance money. Well, more of the same, except that the threat of a fraud charge in connection with the insurance money gives Frank a power over his family. The family being Billie Burke as his wife, and pretty httle Ann Rutherford as his daughter. John Shelton is the handsome young orchestra leader who romances Ann. Nothing to get excited over. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY THE CUNEO PRESS. INC.