Silver Screen (Jun-Oct 1940)

Silver Screen for October 1940 58 was all cither of us said on the long drive to the studio. The camera was set up and the director was waiting when we got there. ''You're late," he said and then suddenly he looked at Gerda's face. "I knew I was right," he said exultantly and with the bare truthfulness of directors who never try to shield anyone's feelings where work is concerned. "They were afraid you were too young. But I knew you'd be right." His words would have been a death blow at any other time, but they didn't seem to register with Gerda at all. "Go light on the camouflage," he said to the make-up man standing beside him. "That's exactly the way I want her to "collections" are exposed when the Governor, under the persuasion of his wife, turns honest. He, too, is spirited away to Latin America. Others in the cast are Muriel Angelus, Steffi Duna, William Demarest and Thurston Hall. It's good old robust comedy, written and directed by Preston Sturges, and you're bound to like it. THE VILLAIN STILL PURSUED HER The Audience Is Part of It — RKO STIHIS is the picture version of "The Drunkard," that grand old time melodrama of the gaslight era. The audience is invited to hiss the villain, cheer the hero, and laugh heartily at the "asides," whereby the actors whisper their secrets to the spectators. It's a field day for the actors as they are allowed to mug without restraint, and ham it all over the place. This is the first time this oldtimer ever has been done on the screen and you're bound to enjoy the novelty of it, and also find it terribly amusing. Alan Mowbray plays the villain and gives it everything. Hugh Herbert plays a temperance crusader; Dick Cromwell and Anita Louise play the young couple whose lives are blighted by demon rum. Margaret Hamilton plays the mother and Joyce Compton the half-witted girl. Buster Keaton fairly walks away with the picture with a pie-throwing sequence. SPORTING BLOOD Romantic and Exciting — M-G-M ANOTHER horse racing picture, and a very good one. Robert Young plays a brash young man, the last of a fine old Virginia family, who travels around the country to the various racetracks, accompanied by his Man Friday, William Gargan. Flat-busted, at last, he decides to return to his Virginia plantation, where he hasn't been in twenty years, and where he is ostracized by the county because of an unfortunate amour of his father's. He falls in love with the wrong girl, marries her sister out of spite, when she runs out on him, and gets things pretty well balled up. But Maureen O'Sullivan, the girl he marries out of spite, really loves him, and look. You know the part is that of a woman of forty. A mother who's just heard her son has been sent to jail." Gerda lifted her head then. "I know how that woman feels," she said quietly. You all must have seen Gerda in that scene, the scene that almost won her the Academy Award for a supporting player. But you didn't see it the way we saw it that day in the test, with our tears caught in our eyes and our throats as we watched Gerda tearing her heart into tiny pieces before all of us. "She'll do," the front office verdict had been. "But tone the acting down a bit. She overplayed it a little." It's as a mother studios think of Gerda to-day, but since that picture, the one thanks to her he wins the big race and ends the feud with his father-in-law. The racing scenes are extremely well done and have that old thrill. In the cast are Lewis Stone, Lynne Carver, and Clarence Muse. WE WHO ARE YOUNG Worth A Long Wait In Line — M-G-M T N this picture Lana Turner, who has * been muchly exploited as Metro's oomph girl, takes off her glamourous trappings and turns in a very creditable serious performance. In fact, Artie Shaw's ex-wife is extremely good. But not quite as good as young John Shelton who turns out to be the real surprise of the picture. This is John's first break and as the struggling young bookkeeper, who, with high hopes and ideals, starts out to whip the big city, only to find that the city has whipped him, John is really something to write home about. The story is very reminiscent of "Bad Girl" of several years ago, and tells of the white collar boy and the office girl, who get married, have a baby, and must fight against every odd. Through all the annoyances that beset young married couples, doctor's bills, loan sharks, and relief, Lana and John troupe beautifully, giving a most excellent account of themselves. In the cast are Gene Lockhart, Henry Armetta and Grant Mitchell. YOUNG PEOPLE Shirley Temple's Swan Song — 20th Century-Fox ■"PHIS is Shirley Temple's last picture for 20th Century-Fox, as her contract is now up and has not been renewed, but it is by no means her last picture. Already Joe Pasternak of Universal (the guiding genius of Deanna Durbin) is talking over a new contract with little Miss Shirley. In this picture, Jack Oakie and Charlotte Greenwood play a couple of vaudevillians who decide to retire to a farm in New England to make a home for their adopted child — Shirley, of course. Shirley has been with "the act" since she was a baby and has boosted her benefactors into the big time, so they now think they should do something in return for her. They find the country that brought her success, she hasn't played any more tragic ones. You've all seen her as the tenement mother of a brood of ten or the Park Avenue mother with her adolescent sub-deb daughter or the farm or pioneer mother keeping a family together with her spirit and courage and in all of them she's been happy. I don't think Gerda could play a tragic mother anymore. She looks too contented. For of all the happy mothers out here in Hollywood I don't think any of them is happier than Gerda when her eyes turn towards big Charlie and little Charlie. Though the way he's growing makes it. sound silly to call him little Charlie now. Hes grown almost as big as Gerda's heart. A roadside snack for Joan Blondell and Dick Powell who appear together in "I Want A Divorce." Drive-in lunch stands are very popular on the coast. town they've settled in very narrowminded, and they are ostracized by the villagers until they manage to save the lives of the native children in a hurricane. Awful corny stuff, that. George Montgomery and Arleen Whelan play the two young people in the town who befriend Shirley and her foster parents. Shirley dances, and sings, "I Wouldn't Take a Million" and "Young People." QUEEN OF DESTINY Anna Neagle As Victoria — RKO "f\UEEN OF DESTINY" was made V/ as a sequel to "Victoria the Great" and in it Anna Neagle repeats her wonderful performance of Queen Victoria, and once more emphasizes the humanness of the woman. The picture was made in England in excellent Technicolor, and the shots of the royal gardens and estates, of Buckingham Palace, of King James' and Windsor Castle, are among the most beautiful you ever have seen. The film touches on major events in Victoria's life: Khartoum, Sebastopol, the World's Fair at the Crystal Palace, and the Diamond Jubilee. Although the picture was made three years ago, some of the dialogue is remarkably up-to-date, especially where Victoria laments the procrastination of her ministers. Anton W'albrook is excellent as Victoria's prince consort Albert, and the cast includes C. Aubrey Smith, Derrick de Marney, and Felix Aylmer. Reviews [Continued from page 67] PRINTED IN THE U.S * BV the r.lluFO PRFs^ INC.