POPULAR PICTURES OF THE HOLLYWOOD 1940s
John Howard Reid
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Hollywood Classics 6
2011
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Other Books in the “Hollywood Classics” series:
1. New Light on Movie Bests
2. “B” Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies
3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s
4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
5. Memorable Films of the Forties
6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s
7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program
8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment
9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties
10. Hollywood “B” Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills
11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards
13. Movie Mystery & Suspense
14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest
15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic
16. Hollywood Movie Musicals
17. “Hollywood Classics” Index Books 1-16
18. More Movie Musicals
19. Success in the Cinema
20. Best Western Movies
21. Great Cinema Detectives
22. Great Hollywood Westerns
23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema
24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies
25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Films Reviewed in Books 1-24
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Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid
CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope
CinemaScope
Two: 20th Century-Fox
CinemaScope 3:
Hollywood Takes the Plunge
Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills
WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD
Silent Films and Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide
MUSICALS on DVD
Copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid
Table of Contents
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949)
B
Berlin Hotel (1945) {see Hotel Berlin}
C
Cagliostro (1949) {see Black Magic}
Charlie Chan in Black Magic (1944) {see Black Magic}
Curse of the Allenbys (1946) {see She Wolf of London}
D
F
G
H
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
I
Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949) {see Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad}
It’s Magic (1948) {see Romance on the High Seas}
J
K
L
Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)
M
Magnificent Lady (1946) {see Magnificent Doll}
Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)
Meeting at Midnight (1944) {see Black Magic}
N
O
R
Rendezvous (1951) {see Darling How Could You}
Romance on the High Seas (1948)
Rookies (1941) {see Buck Privates}
Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1942) {see Jungle Book}
S
Salerno Beachhead (1945) {see Walk in the Sun}
So Great a Man (1940) {see Abe Lincoln in Illinois}
Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942)
Spirit of the People (1940) {see Abe Lincoln in Illinois}
Strange Incident (1942) {see Ox-Bow Incident}
Striptease Lady (1943) {see Lady of Burlesque}
T
Thunderhead Son of Flicka (1945)
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
Tree of Liberty (1940) {see Howards of Virginia}
U
W
White Savage (1941) {see South of Tahiti}
Y
Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln), Ruth Gordon (Mary Todd), Mary Howard (Ann Rutledge), Gene Lockhart (Stephen A. Douglas), Harvey Stephens (Ninian Edwards), Clem Bevans (Ben Mattling), Esther Dale (cook), Andy Clyde (stage driver), Elizabeth Risdon (Sarah Lincoln), Charles Middleton (Tom Lincoln), Dorothy Tree (Elizabeth Edwards), Minor Watson (Joshua Speed), Alan Baxter (Billy Herndon), Howard da Silva (Jack Armstrong), Maurice Murphy (John McNeil), Herbert Rudley (Seth Gale), Roger Imhoff (Crimmin), Edmund Elton (Rutledge), George Rosener (Dr Chandler), Trevor Bardette (John Hanks), Napoleon Simpson (Gobey), Aldrich Bowker (Judge Bowling Green), Louis-Jean Heydt (Mentor Graham), Harlan Briggs (Denton Offut), Leona Roberts (Mrs Rutledge), Florence Roberts (Mrs Bowling Green), Fay Helm (Mrs Seth Gale), Syd Saylor (John Johnston), Alec Craig (Trem Cogdall), Dick Elliott (committeeman — “not safe”), Byron Foulger (clergyman — “primitive idealist”), Peggy Ann Garner (little girl).
Director: JOHN CROMWELL. Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood. Adapted by Grover Jones from 1938 stage play by Robert E. Sherwood (as produced on Broadway by The Playwrights Company). Photography: James Wong Howe. Film editor: George Hively. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark. Set decorator: Casey Roberts. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Special photographic effects: Vernon L. Walker. Montages: Douglas Travers. Dance director: David Robel. Music: Roy Webb. Assistant director: Dewey Starkey. Sound: Hugh McDowell, Jr. RCA Victor Sound System. Producer: Max Gordon.
Copyright 22 January 1940 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. Presented by Max Gordon Plays & Pictures. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 22 February 1940. U.S. release: 19 April 1940. Australian release: 30 April 1940. 110 minutes.
U.K. release title: SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.
Australian release title: SO GREAT A MAN.
SYNOPSIS: Abraham Lincoln — from log cabin to White House.
NOTES: Nominated for two prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Actor (Massey lost to James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story); Best Cinematography in Black-&-white (Wong Howe lost to George Barnes’ Rebecca).
At the beginning of April 1940, Frank S. Nugent resigned as chief film critic of The New York Times to pursue a career as a Hollywood screenwriter. (His last review, Rebecca, was published on 29 March.) His deputy, B.R. Crisler, took over for less than a month before Bosley Crowther, the paper’s Hollywood correspondent, began his long reign in New York. This wrecked Abe Lincoln in Illinois’s certainty of a place in the Times Ten Best. While agreeing that the film was “the best Lincoln picture the screen has ever had”, Crowther felt it did not elevate screen biography to new heights, although it was certainly “fine and interesting”. These comments fall a long way short of Nugent’s endorsement which declared: “Although the Pulitzer committee may smile skeptically, we have no hesitation in calling the film the play’s superior, in calling Raymond Massey’s screen Lincoln better than his play’s Lincoln, in finding it not only a more complete record of the man and his times, but a far more dramatic and a far more significant biography than the Pulitzer committee saw.”
Other critics across the nation were equally enthusiastic: With 221 votes, the film placed 6th in The Film Daily poll.
COMMENT: Sad that Massey missed out on a Best Actor Award. His Lincoln (repeated from the Broadway stage) is easily the most moving portrait of his entire screen career. It’s true, as a few over-finicky critics have complained, his acting tends to be stagey and that the director occasionally seems to be forcing him to pose in carefully-wrought tableaux, but Massey brilliantly, forcefully overcomes all obstacles to make his Lincoln totally sincere, totally convincing (he may be too old for the early scenes, but no matter) and overwhelmingly sympathetic.
If you’re in a fault-finding mood and you want to pick at a mannered performance, go no further than Ruth Gordon. Odd, quixotic, stagey she certainly is, but she’s always an interesting player — and I like her!
More conventional but equally fascinating portrayals are etched by Gene Lockhart (an ever-reliable actor) and Roger Imhoff (a player who is not usually cast in such prominent roles — more’s the pity). Also to be warmly commended are Aldrich Bowker, Mary Howard, Harlan Briggs and the unlisted actor who plays John Brown*. All told, it’s a grand cast, with many capable faces filling in the background.
Abe Lincoln has been most lavishly produced. It’s anything but a photographed stage play. Grover Jones opened out the action of the play so that it’s truly a colorful movie and then Sherwood came back and filled in the dialogue. A perfect combination of writing talent which has resulted in a screenplay that is both full of incident and excitement, yet has dialogue effectively fired with humor, drama, even poetry and romance.
The make-up and costumes look incredibly realistic, while the sets and their appointments have a sparse, unHollywood lack of glamour and ornamentation which seems totally authentic. Not that the film looks bare — it is often crowded with people and is always appealingly and most attractively lit by James Wong Howe.
Cromwell’s direction is most assured. It also has been criticized for being too stagey and too static, but a recent viewing of the film makes nonsense of these claims. True, Cromwell does effectively employ stage compositions — even tableaux — at times. But not only are these moving and dramatic in themselves (who could forget the picture s final scenes, or indeed the final shot of all as the train pulls out, carrying Lincoln to Washington? This is real emotion), but they are skillfully contrasted with scenes of vigorous action in which both camera and players move with a speed that is only possible in the cinema.
Roy Webb has provided a rousingly familiar, nonetheless stirring music score. Other technical credits are as proficient as unbounded Hollywood largesse can make them.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is not the dry bones of history, but a living, moving portrait that is as vital and relevantly dramatic in 1988 as it was 50 years ago. Sherwood has not penned a museum piece, but a convincing, fascinating, well-rounded and, above all, deeply sympathetic picture that will live for all time.
Despite its great entertainment qualities and the plaudits of most critics, the film was not overly popular on first release. RKO’s initial domestic loss was nearly $750,000 and it seemed the film would in no way duplicate the success of the play which opened on Broadway on 15 October 1938 for a highly profitable run of no less than 472 performances. Oddly enough, the picture proved more popular overseas, playing with great success in England and Australia. It has been aired at least 30 times on Sydney television, making it one of the most frequently-seen RKO releases of the 1940’s.
*Cromwell himself.
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Spencer Tracy (Adam Bonner), Katharine Hepburn (Amanda Bonner), Judy Holliday (Doris Attinger), Tom Ewell (Warren Attinger), David Wayne (Kip Lurie), Jean Hagen (Beryl Caighn), Hope Emerson (Olympia La Pere), Eve March (Grace), Clarence Kolb (Judge Reiser), Emerson Treacy (Jules Frikke), Polly Moran (Mrs McGrath), Will Wright (Judge Marcasson), Elizabeth Flournoy (Dr Margaret Brodeigh), Janna da Loos (Mary, the maid), James Nolan (Dave), David Clarice (Roy), Marvin Kaplan (court stenographer), Gracille LaVinder (police matron), William Self (Benjamin Klausner), Paula Raymond (Emerald), Ray Walker (photographer), Tommy Noonan (reporter), De Forrest Lawrence, John Fell (Adam’s assistants), Sid Dubin (Amanda’s assistant), Joe Bernard (Bonner), Madge Blake (Mrs Bonner), Majorie Wood (Mrs Marcasson), Lester Luther (Judge Poynter), Anna Q. Nilsson (Mrs Poynter), Roger David (Hurlock), Louis Mason (elderly lift driver), Rex Evans (fat man), Charles Bastin (young district attorney), John Maxwell Sholes (court clerk), E. Bradley Coleman (subway rider), Glenn Gallagher, Gil Patric, Harry Cody (criminal attorneys), George Magrill, Bert Davidson (subway guards).
Director: GEORGE CUKOR. Original screenplay: Rudi Gordon and Garson Kanin. Photography: George Folsey. Film editor: George Boemler. Music: Miklos Rosza. Song “Farewell Amanda” (Wayne) by Cole Porter. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari. Set decoration: Edwin B. Willis. Associate set decorator: Henry W. Grace. Special effects: A. Arnold Gillespie. Miss Hepburn’s costumes: Walter Plunkett. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. David Wayne’s piano solos played by Cole Porter himself. Producer: Lawrence Weingarten.
Copyright 1 November 1949 by Loew’s Inc. An MGM picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 25 December 1949. U.S. release: 18 November 1949. U.K. release: 17 April 1950. Australian release: 29 June 1950. 9,104 feet. 101 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A husband and wife are both attorneys. So, you guessed it!, one is signed for the defense and the other for the other party. And so, you guessed it!, the courtroom squabbles spill over into their domestic life.
NOTES: Sixth teaming of Tracy and Hepburn. Since Woman of the Year (an original script by Ring Lardner, Jr and Michael Kanin — Carson’s brother), they had starred in Keeper of the Flame (directed by Cukor from I.A.R. Wylie’s novel), Without Love (Harold S. Bucquet directing Philip Barry’s play), The Sea of Grass (Elia Kazan directed from Conrad Richter’s novel), and State of the Union (Frank Capra from the stage play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse). Future films were Pat and Mike (another original screenplay by the husband and wife team, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin), Desk Set (1957) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967).
The Kanins were nominated for the annual award given by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Story & Screenplay, losing to Sunset Boulevard.
COMMENT: An intellectually exciting and stimulating re-working of several basic myths, splendidly acted. The script is so strong and the performers so capable, the director is often content to take an inconspicuous back seat by shooting in some of the longest, static takes on record — though he can be stylish when the occasion demands it.
This philosophic pill is admirably sugar-coated with lashings of wit and humor and fascinating verbal by-play. The screen personalities of Tracy and Hepburn are set against one another with a clash that sends some delightful sparks flying and the support cast peoples the background with a wonderful parade of “characters”.
Foremost in the supporting pack is David Wayne, playing a delightfully obnoxious Amanda-admirer, forever smirking, smiling and singing up the action.
Judy Holliday* (movie stardom was just around the corner) is also not to be missed, while Tom Ewell and Jean Hagen complete the amusingly nutty triangle.
The Kanins start their satiric thrust at the sexes with a marvelous opening in which Holliday brilliantly parodies one of the dime romance’s most staple situations: jealous wife shoots husband in femme fatale’s apartment.
Tracy and Hepburn are then introduced as husband-and-wife lawyers who are engaged by opposite sides at the subsequent trial.
Upon this promising premise the comedy builds to a splendid climax.
Mind you, it would not be half as funny without the skilled matching and point-scoring that only Hepburn and Tracy at their most charismatically abrasive could achieve.
Yes, despite all Hepburn’s strident femininity and Tracy’s latent, sneaky masculinity, the Bonners are likeable, attractive, sympathetic — and wholly believable.
These realities are also assisted by some remarkably attuned production credits.
The photography, for instance, is not only unobtrusively slick, but it can allow itself to become amusingly amateurish in the home movie episode (filmed incidentally at the Kanins’ own country house in Connecticut).
Cole Porter’s song, catchy and glib, is mockingly utilized by Miklos Rosza, here showing an unexpected flair for comic effects. Sets and costumes are both attractive and appropriate. (MGM’s extra-special care even extended to the trailer, which — hilariously narrated by Pete Smith — is itself a little comedy gem.)
To sum up: — absolutely first-class! Witty, scintillating sophisticated entertainment.
* Judy left her long-running Broadway hit Born Yesterday “only after much persuasion by director George Cukor”, according to an MGM press release.
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Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad
The Wind in the Willows:
The voices of: Eric Blore (J. Thaddeus Toad), Pat O’Malley (Cyril Proudbottom), Colin Campbell (Mole), Claude Mister (Water Rat), Campbell Grant (Angus MacBadger), John Ployardt (prosecutor), Ollie Wallace (Winky).
Narrated by Basil Rathbone.
Songs: “Ichabod and Mr Toad” (the Rhythmaires with Bing Crosby) by Charles Wolcott (music) and Ray Gilbert (lyrics); “Merrily On Our Way” (Blore and O’Malley) by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics).
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:
Narrated by Bing Crosby.
Songs: “Ichabod” (Crosby and the Rhythmaires), “Katrina” (Crosby and the Rhythmaires), “The Headless Horseman” (Crosby and the Rhythmaires), — all by Don Raye and Gene de Paul.
Directors: JACK KINNEY (Toad of Toad Hall), CLYDE GERONIMI (Sleepy Hollow), JAMES ALGAR (voices and narration). Screenplay: Erdman Penner, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Homer Brightman and Harry Reeves. Based on the 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a short story in The Sketch-Book (1820) by Washington Irving*. Color by Technicolor. Film editor: John O. Young. Production supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen. Color and styling: Claude Coats, Mary Blair, Don da Gradi and John Hench. Layout: Charles Philippi, Tom Codrick, Thor Putnam, Al Zinnen, Hugh Hennesy and Lance Nolley. Backgrounds: Ray Huffine, Merle Cox, Art Riley, Brice Mack and Dick Anthony. Directing animators: Frank Thomas, Ollie Johns ton, Wolfgang Reitherman, Milt Kahl, John Lounsbery, Ward Kimball. Character animators: Fred Moore, John Sibley, Marc Davis, Hal Ambro, Harvey Toombs, Hal King, Hugh Fraser, Don Lusk and Ken O’Brien. Effects animators: George Rowley and Jack Boyd. Special processes: Ub Iwerks. Musical director: Oliver Wallace. Vocal arrangements: Ken Darby. Orchestration: Joseph Dubin. Music editor: Al Teeter. Sound director: C.O. Slyfield. Sound recording: Robert O. Cook. RCA Sound System. Producer: Walt Disney.
Copyright 1 June 1949 by Walt Disney Productions. Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 8 October 1949. U.S. release: June 1949. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 25 August 1950. Australian length: 6,265 feet. 69½ minutes. U.K. length: 6,135 feet. 68 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two stories: (1) Toad’s uncontrollable manias lead to his arrest for car-stealing but he is exonerated through the efforts of his friends, Mole, Water Rat and MacBadger; (2) a mercenary but superstitious schoolmaster is driven to flee by a headless horseman. Place: Tarry Town, New York. Time: 1790.
Alternative title: ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD.
COMMENT: Despite the title order, The Wind in the Willows is the first item on the program. Grahame’s novel consists of 12 chapters. Some are separate stories, some — particularly the six dealing with Toad — are inter-related and/or sequential. The Toad chapters are The Open Road (Toad develops a mania for motor cars after one upsets his cart), Mr Toad (he steals a car), The Adventures of Toad (escapes from prison), The Further Adventures of Toad (is helped by a bargewoman), His Tears Like Summer Tempests Came (is re-united with Rat and Mole), The Return of Ulysses (who help him evict the weasels from Toad Hall). All except Further Adventures were utilized in the film. In fact, not only is the story followed with reasonable fidelity, but the Disney artists have obviously made extensive use of the original illustrations by E.H. Shepherd for their models — and even occasionally for camera angles (the pursuing train).
The picturization is also excellently served by the behind-screen actors. Blore is exactly right for the manic Toad and is splendidly partnered by Pat O’Malley who turns Cyril Proudbottom into an amusingly cheeky George Formby. Their “Merrily On Our Way” number is a fast-paced visual and vocal delight. John Ployardt is hilariously overbearing as the prosecutor, while Basil Rathbone is nothing short of inspired — ringing his commentary with just the right balance between affably patronizing and mock solemnity.
Unfortunately, Rathbone’s services were not retained for Sleepy Hollow. Not only does Bing Crosby bring a perhaps too-light air to the narration but he substitutes for all the conversations as well. None of the characters “talk” and when Brom Bones is called upon to sing he does so of course (somewhat incongruously) in Crosby’s voice. However, before we get carried away with this line of criticism, we must admit the device is surprisingly faithful to Irving’s original which has no dialogue whatever and has the same over-light, mock-heroic tone. Even the modern-sounding appellation, “the Sleepy Hollow Boys”, is straight out of Washington Irving.
All told, Crosby does an appealing job with both commentary and songs. But the episode’s chief joys lie in its witty drawings and spookily atmospheric climax. This climax is a little masterpiece of Gothic cinema. We know what to expect — and Disney does not disappoint us. The scene of Ichabod’s post-midnight ride is so superbly executed and edited, it never fails to impress — no matter how often it’s shown.
After some years of experimentation with live action and musical potpourris, Ichabod and Mr Toad re-established Disney’s pre-eminence in the cartoon field. True, the stories form quite unidentical halves, but they provide such effective contrasts — and each, in its own way, is so delightful in itself — that the enjoyment of the whole is more than equal to the sum of the parts. What mind so bleak it could not be moved by Toad’s predicament? the shattering of his twirling assurance as Winky’s evidence smiles against him? (a neat touch this, both visually and structurally. Grahame’s original is not nearly as tautly or as soundly plotted) or could not thrill to the fast excitement and frantic chase of his escape? or whose heart is not pounded by the rapid changes of victor in the climatic paper-fight? As for Ichabod, it would be a rare soul indeed who failed to laugh and marvel at — yet curiously sympathize with — the haphazardly fortunate Mr Crane, unwittingly besting Bones at every turn only to be finally outwitted by a terrifying embodiment of his own superstitious fears.
Yes, in short, a winner!
* The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. — to give its full title — is an odd collection of essays, travel pieces and stories. All the pieces have great charm and are full of interesting, even provocative, sidelights and ideas. Unfortunately for Irving’s present popularity, they are carefully crafted in a polished, antithetical style that to-day’s readers find somewhat cumbersome and not half as amusing as did the educated public of 185 years ago. The two stories that survive, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, are often rewritten for children. Until a generation or so ago, another story The Specter Bridegroom, was a frequent guest in ghost anthologies.
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Bud Abbott (Buzz Johnson), Lou Costello (Stanley Livingston), Hillary Brooke (Diana Emerson), Max Baer (Boots), Buddy Baer (Grappler), Shemp Howard (Gunner), Joe Besser (Harry), Clyde Beatty (himself), Frank Buck (himself), Bobby Barber (bit).
Director: CHARLES BARTON. Original screenplay: Earl Baldwin. Photography: Charles van Enger. Film editor: Frank Gross. Art director: Lewis Creber. Set decorator: Ray Robinson. Music: Walter Schumann. Special effects: Carl Lee. Executive production manager: Joseph C. Gilpin. Assistant director: Joseph Kenny. Wardrobe manager: Albert Deano. Sound recording: Robert Pritchard. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: David S. Garber. Producer: Edward Nassour. Executive in charge: William Nassour. Executive producer: Huntington Hartford.
Copyright 27 May 1949 by Nasbro Pictures, Inc. A Huntington Hartford production presented by Nassour Studios, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York release at the Criterion: 4 May 1949. U.S. release: 2 May 1949. U.K. release: 17 April 1950. Australian release: 29 September 1949. U.S. length: 7,147 feet. 79½ minutes. Australian length: 7,287 feet. 81 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two bungling book salesmen unwittingly parlay a trip to Africa with a ruthless diamond huntress.
NOTES: An independent production, filmed at Abbott & Costello’s home studio — Universal.
COMMENT: One of the rarest of all Abbott & Costello movies — and with good reason: It’s not very funny. True, the team are in good voice and have a couple of able assistants in Joe Besser (as a pamby manservant) and Shemp Howard (a near-sighted gunman). In fact, Besser and Howard are given more amusing material than the stars.
Lacking their usual writer, John Grant, Abbott and Costello have been fashioned into rather unusual characters. At first glance, Abbott is his normal hectoring, looking-out-solidly-for-number-one self, but then we find him volunteering to don a lion-skin so that his fraidy-cat buddy can impress the blonde vamp — something the old Abbott would never do.
Costello’s character has undergone an even more startling metamorphosis: No longer a lovable dimwit, he is a lying, cowardly braggart of uncommon stupidity yet self-preserving disloyalty! It’s obvious that writer Earl Baldwin gave no great thought to sympathy or consistency of characterization but simply threw every old wheeze and routine he could think of into an already overburdened script. Unfortunately a lot of this material wasn’t even meant to be funny in the first place. With the exception of such extended ennui-inducing episodes as Lou taming a lion in the process screen, the straight material is even more tedious than the unfunny funny. By and large, Baldwin lost a contract-sent opportunity to send up the whole jungle genre. Contenting himself with a few mild japes (Lou propelling his canoe with an eggbeater; the Baer Brothers trading insults), he allows Hillary Brooke (attractive though she is) to strut around in dead seriousness like the queen of a congo serial. This mood is abetted by Frank Buck and particularly Clyde Beatty who take themselves very earnestly indeed. So eager were the producers to get their money’s worth out of Beatty, they even provide him a chair, a whip and a cage of lions. A daring act certainly, but as presented in Africa Screams, boringly long-winded.
Charles Barton could have perked things up with pacier or less flat-footed direction, but has resisted the temptation to give the film any style. Although the budget was obviously fairly liberal, the film looks cheap.*
A pity, Africa Screams might have been great fun. Even as is — with a lot of judicious trimming — it could be rendered quite agreeable.
* Barton and photographer Van Enger did such stylish and attractive work on Abbott & Costello’s previous feature Meet the Killer, philanthropist Huntington Hartford doubtless expected the same level of atmospheric competence here. However it must be admitted that the current 2011 print is decidedly dupey.
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Frank Sinatra (Clarence Doolittle), Gene Kelly (Joseph Brady), Kathryn Grayson (Susan Abbott), Jose Iturbi (himself), Dean Stockwell (Donald Martin), Carlos Ramirez (Carlos), Henry O’Neill (Admiral Hammond), Leon Ames (commander), Rags Ragland (police sergeant), Edgar Kennedy (police captain), Pamela Britton (girl from Brooklyn), Henry Armetta (hamburger man), Billy Gilbert (cafe manager), Sharon McManus (little girl), James Burke (studio cop), Chester Clute (Iturbi’s assistant), Grady Sutton (Bertram Kramer), Peggy Maley (Lana Turner double), Sondra Rodgers (Iturbi’s secretary), Milton Parsons (bearded man), Garry Owen, Steve Brodie (soldiers), Renie Riano (waitress), Alex Callam (commander), Esther Michelson (hamburger woman), Ray Teal (assistant movie director), Milton Kibbee (bartender), William Forrest (movie director), Harry Barns, John James, Wally Cassell, Douglas Cowan, Henry Daniel, Jr., Phil Hanna, Torn Trout (sailors), James Flavin (pick-up cop), Charles Coleman (Iturbi’s butler), William “Bill” Phillips (Pittsburgh-sailor on phone: “But honey”), Ralph Dunn (ground ranger, Hollywood Bowl), Robert Planck (director of photography).
Directed by GEORGE SIDNEY from a screenplay by Isobel Lennart, suggested by an original story by Natalie Marcin. Photographed in Technicolor by Robert Planck and Charles Boyle. Cartoon sequence directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. Film editor: Adrienne Fazan. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis, Richard Pefferle. Costumes: Kay Dean and Irene. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Technicolor color consultants: Natalie Kalmus, Henri Jaffa. Music arrangers: Earl Brent (vocal), Alex Stordahl (orchestral). Assistant director: George Rheim. Sound: Douglas Shearer. Sound recording technician: James Z. Plaster. Producer: Joe Pasternak.
Songs: “Anchors Aweigh” (orchestral, reprised Stockwell, reprised orchestra), by Alfred H. Miles, Royal Lovell and Charles A. Zimmerman; “We Hate to Leave” (Sinatra and Kelly), lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne; “Cradle Song” or “Lullaby” or “Wiegenlied” (Sinatra), by Johannes Brahms; “I Begged Her” (Kelly and Sinatra), lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne; “If You Knew Susie” (Kelly and Sinatra), by Joseph Meyer and Buddy de Sylva, additional lyrics by Sammy Cahn; “La Cumparsita” (Kelly) by G.H. Matos Rodriguez; “Jealousy” (Grayson), lyrics by Vera Bloom, music by Jacob Garde; “What Makes the Sun Set?” (Sinatra), lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne; “I Fall In Love Too Easily” (Sinatra), lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne; “Largo Al Factotum” (Ramirez), by Gioacchino Rossini; “My Heart Sings” (Grayson), by Harold Rome and Herpin; “Donkey Serenade” (piano — Iturbi — and orchestra), music by Rudolf Friml [lyrics by Bob Wright and Chet Forrest]; “The Charm of You” (Sinatra), lyrics by Sammy Cahn, music by Jule Styne; “Waltz” (from Serenade in C) (Grayson), by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; “The Worry Song” (Kelly), by Ralph Freed and Sammy Fain; “Mexican Hat Dance” (danced by Kelly and McManus); “Tonight We Love” (Sinatra, accompanied by Iturbi’s piano), lyrics by Freddy Martin, music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (from Piano Concerto No. 1); “Second Hungarian Rhapsody” (played by Iturbi and a group of young pianists), by Franz Liszt. Dances created by Gene Kelly. Assistant dance director: Stanley Donen. Frank Sinatra’s vocal arrangements by Axel Stordahl. Kathryn Gray son’s vocal arrangements by Earl Brent. Incidental music composed by Georgie Stoll and Calvin Jackson. Orchestrations: Ted Duncan, Joseph Nussbaum, Robert Franklyn and Wally Heglin. Music supervised and conducted by Georgie Stoll.
Copyright 9 July 1945 by Loew’s Inc. Presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening: 19 July 1945 (at the Capitol). U.S. release: 14 July 1945. U.K. release: 4 March 1946. Australian release: 24 January 1946. 12,543 feet. 139 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Two sailors on leave in Hollywood woo film extra who aspires to audition for Jose Iturbi.
NOTES: Stoll won the year’s prestigious Hollywood award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. The song “I Fall In Love Too Easily” was also nominated, but the voters preferred “It Might As Well Be Spring”, a Rodgers & Hammerstein number from State Fair. The film was also nominated for 3 other awards including Best Picture (won by Lost Weekend), Best Actor — Gene Kelly (won by Ray Milland for Lost Weekend), and Best Color Cinematography (won by Leon Shamroy for Leave Her To Heaven).
MGM’s number two crowd-pleaser of the year (second to Valley of Decision) with an initial domestic rental gross of $4½ million.
COMMENT: Here’s the musical with everything: plenty of songs for Sinatra, some marvelous dances for Kelly, a bit of musical showcasing for Grayson, and a lot of ego-boosting conducting and piano-playing for the eagerly overconfident Mr Iturbi. The songs are delightful, the costumes appealing, the color ravishing — and there’s a great support cast including Grady Sutton, Sharon McManus and Jerry Mouse. Kelly and Sinatra are both in fine form but — what is more important — they make an excellent team in what is now seen as a preliminary try-out for Take Me Out To the Ball Game. Unfortunately, what Anchors Aweigh lacks is a Jules Munshin-type comic foil. As it is, the story is too thin to support all the music. And what a pity that — although the film was lensed on the MGM lot — there are no surprise guest appearances.
No matter. Kelly’s dancing spots are so superbly inventive, they can stand by themselves. After a brisk work-out with Frank Sinatra (no mean high-flyer himself), Kelly partners sad-faced Sharon McManus, then grumpy Jerry Mouse (a zestful blending of live and cartoon action — four minutes of the most memorable moments in movie history) and finally dons Spanish cape for a dazzling solo in which he performs every swing of his own stunt-work.
Sidney’s direction is reasonably brisk. He tries hard to keep the thin plot moving along, despite the sheer weight of mundane (if reasonably believable) dialogue. In the musical numbers, the direction has polish and even occasionally invention (the under-the-piano shot of a transparent keyboard and the seemingly endless tracking shot of pianos in the Hungarian Rhapsody; the cleverly bizarre angles in Miss Grayson’s studio audition). It also has a few deft dramatic moments, e.g. its inspired use of shadows in the sequence with Sinatra following Kelly through the streets.
Kathryn Grayson’s costumes are nothing short of electrifying. Her voice is recorded with more fidelity than usual and comes across particularly well in her “Jealousy” and “Waltz Serenade” numbers.
Anchors Aweigh has all the earmarks and lavish production values we expect of an MGM musical. Full marks to the remarkably lush photography by Robert Planck (working in collaboration with Charles Boyle from the Technicolor Company) who can actually be seen standing by his camera in the sound-stage “audition” scenes. This strikingly colorful cinematography was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award.
All in all, despite its thin and now dated plot, Anchors Aweigh remains one of MGM’s most appealing musicals.
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Robert Young (Vernon Walsh), Barbara Hale (Jacqueline Walsh), Robert Hutton (Herbert Fletcher), Janis Carter (Wanda York), Billie Burke (Mrs Fletcher), Nicholas Joy (Mr Fletcher), Lloyd Corrigan (Dr William Parnell), Howland Chamberlin (Otto Stacey), Melville Cooper (Gibson), Louise Currie (Miss Quigley), Katherine Warren (Miss Ellis), Wilton Graff (Root), Michael Cisney (Martin), Joe Sawyer and James Cardwell (police officers), Grandon Rhodes (Phelps Burbridge), Everett Glass (minister), Mary Treen (puzzled patient), Victor Sen Yung (shop-owner), Claire Meade (woman), Paul Marion (Phillips, the chauffeur), Mary Bear (clerk), Herbert Vigran (Woodley), Theresa Harris (maid), Barbara Woodell (Mrs Carter), Torben Meyer (waiter), John Hubbard (York), John Doucette and Virginia Chapman (married couple), Mary Benoit, Lulumae Bohrman (bits).
Directed by HENRY LEVIN from an original screenplay by Lou Breslow and Joseph Hoffman. Photography: Burnett Guffey. Camera operator: Gurt Anderson. Art director: Robert Peterson. Set decorations: Louis Diage. Music composed by George Dunning, directed by Morris Stoloff. Film editor: Viola Lawrence. Assistant director: Earl Bellamy. Script supervisor: Frances McDowell. Make-up: Clay Campbell. Costumes: Jean Louis. Grip: Walter Meins. Gaffer: Bill Johnson. Still photographer: Irving Lippman. Hair styles: Helen Hunt. Production manager: Jack Fier. Sound technician: Russell Malmgren. Associate producer: Henry S. Kesler. Producer: Robert Lord. Executive producer: Humphrey Bogart.
A Santana Picture, copyright 7 December 1949. Made at Columbia Studios and released world-wide by Columbia Pictures. Release dates: December 1949 (U.S.A.); July 1950 (U.K.); 9 February 1951 (Australia). New York opening at the Palace: 22 December 1949. 7,649 feet. 85 minutes.
COMMENT: A stylish drawing-room comedy, with Robert Young once again ideally cast as a harassed husband. He receives solid support all the way down the line from Janis Carter’s brassy blonde to the uncredited guest appearance of Mary Treen as a puzzled patient. The film’s best sequence is an hilarious 20 minutes dealing with a quest for pickled lychee nuts (and another uncredited guest appearance, this time by Victor Sen Yung as a shop-owner). Smooth direction combined with fine photography, classy sets and attractive costumes, give the film a highly polished veneer.
And for your utmost enjoyment, please disregard 3 facts: (1) bad notices from sourpuss contemporary critics; (2) Henry Levin’s reputation as a director of speed rather than style; (3) Humphrey Bogart’s invisible hand in the production — his company produced and financed the movie, but probably he had as little to do with it as John Ford with Mighty Joe Young.
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Farley Granger (Bill Denny), Shelley Winters (Kate, his wife), Margalo Gillmore (his mother-in-law), “Archie” (his dog), William Demarest (Inspector O’Ryan), Francis L. Sullivan (Fat Freddie), Hans Conried (Gillie), Lon Chaney (Moose), Elisha Cook (Jonas), Glenn Anders (Pete the Pusher), Allen Jenkins (O’Ryan’s deputy), Marvin Kaplan (Max), Ralph Sanford (Detective-sergeant), Don Beddoe (Sergeant O’Neil), Tom Dugan (cop at shooting), Harry Shannon (cop at door), Henry Corden (victim with Fat Freddie), Kathleen Freeman (wife of pet-store owner).
Written and directed by GEORGE BECK from a story by George Beck and Frank Tarloff. Photography: James Wong Howe. Music composed by Leigh Harline and directed by Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Film editor: Paul Weatherwax. Art director: Albert S. D’Agostino. Set decorations: Darrell Silvera, Harley Miller. Production designed by McMillan Johnson. Furniture supplied by Cannell & Chaffin, Inc. Song, “Behave Yourself!” by Lew Spence and Buddy Ebsen (published by Walt Disney Music Company). Advertising art: Vargas. “Archie” owned and trained by Henry East. Hair styles: Larry Germain. Make-up: Mel Berns. Costumes: Orry-Kelly. Mr Granger appears by arrangement with Samuel Goldwyn. Sound recording: Phil Brigandi, Clem Portman. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Stanley Rubin. Producers: Jerry Wald, Norman Krasna.
Copyright 19 September 1951 by Wald-Krasna Productions, Inc. Released in the U.S.A. through RKO Radio Pictures on 22 September 1951. World premiere at the RKO Missouri Theatre, Kansas City: 29 August 1951. New York opening at the Paramount: 7 November 1951. Australian release: 10 April 1952. 81 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Gangster’s dog escapes from his trainer and follows Farley Granger home. Wife Shelley Winters thinks dog is an anniversary present, little knowing gangsters are in hot pursuit…
COMMENT: An amusingly off-beat farce that deftly combines comic cops and robbers with domestic squabbles. Beck’s stylishly fast-paced direction helps to overcome some over-talkative passages in his script. The cast is as fine a collection of character players as you could gather together, while Miss Winters and Mr Granger do well by the lead roles. Production values are A-l, with a special commendation to photographer James Wong Howe for his polished camerawork and J. McMillan Johnson for his excellent sets.
OTHER VIEWS: Joseph McMillan Johnson was a young architecture graduate when he worked as an assistant to William Cameron Menzies on Gone With The Wind. By 1951, he had become a leading architect. Beck deserves the credit of luring him back to films with the challenging assignment of creating a “Honeymoon House” for this amusing yet stylish film. Johnson subsequently worked on such movies as To Catch A Thief, The Facts of Life, Mutiny on the Bounty and The Greatest Story Ever Told.
James Wong Howe’s photography is also a major asset. Although he never mentioned the film in interviews (preferring He Ran All the Way and The Brave Bulls as more representative of his 1951 work) his skill shines through every frame.
Farley Granger is well cast as the dumb-cluck husband, while Shelley Winters fills the part of his young wife more than adequately. The gangsters are a joy (particularly Hans Conried and Francis L. Sullivan), opposing William Demarest in a made-to-order role as a fumbling, fulminating plainclothesman.
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Fred Astaire (Charlie Hill), Vera-Ellen (Angela Collins), Marjorie Main (Mrs Phineas Hill), Keenan Wynn (Max Ferris), Alice Pearce (Elsie Wilkins), Clinton Sundberg (Gilfred Spivak), Gale Robbins (Dixie “Deadshot” McCoy), Henry Slate (Officer Clancy), Tom Dugan, Percy Helton, Dick Wessel* (Bowery bums in mission-house), Lyn Wilde, Dorinda Clifton, Carol Brewster, Meredith Leeds, Pamela Drake, Mary Jane French, Helen Kimbell, Jean Corbett, Betty Jean Onge, Beverly Thomas, Lola Kendrick, Jetsy Parker (Frenchie’s girls), Lisa Ferraday (Frenchie), Benny Rubin (Herman), Buddy Roosevelt (chauffeur), Roger Davis (Judkins, the butler), Oliver Prickett (Currier), Billy Griffith (Ives), Joe Niemeyer (bum/also Astaire’s stand-in), Walter Ridge, Donald Kerr, Sandee Marriott, Joe Evans, George Boyce, Bud Penny, Al Gallagher, Charles Cross (Bowery bums), Reginald Simpson (casino headwaiter).
Director: CHARLES WALTERS. Screenplay: Robert O’Brien and Irving Elison adapted by Chester Erskine from the 1897 Broadway stage musical of the same title, book by Hugh Morton, music by Gustave Kerker. Uncredited scriptwriters: Irving Brecher, Fred Finklehoffe, Sally Benson, Jerry Davis, Joseph Fields. Photographed in Technicolor by Robert Planck. Film editor: Albert Akst. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Jack Martin Smith. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle. Women’s costumes: Helen Rose. Men’s costumes: Gile Steele. Make-up: William Tuttle. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Technicolor color consultants: Henri Jaffa and James Gooch. Special effects: Warren Newcombe and Irving G. Ries. Assistant director: Al Jennings. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Associate producer: Roger Edens. Producer: Arthur Freed.
Songs: “The Belle of New York” (chorus; reprised by chorus), “Bachelor Dinner Song” (Astaire and female chorus), “Seeing’s Believing” (Astaire), “Baby Doll” (sung by Astaire, danced by Astaire and Vera-Ellen), “Oops” (Astaire, danced by Astaire and Vera-Ellen), “Thank You, Mr Currier, Thank You, Mr Ives” (Vera-Ellen dubbed by Anita Ellis, and Astaire, danced by Astaire and Vera-Ellen), “Naughty But Nice” (Vera-Ellen dubbed by Anita Ellis, reprised by Alice Pearce), “Baby Doll” (reprised by Astaire in quartet), “I Love To Beat A Big Bass Drum” (Astaire), — all music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Johnny Mercer; “Let A Little Love Come In” (Alice Pearce and Vera-Ellen dubbed by Anita Ellis), music and lyrics by Roger Edens; “I Wanna Be A Dancin’ Man” (Astaire), by Burton Lane (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics); “Street-Cleaner Dance” (whistled and danced by Astaire), by Roger Edens. Musical numbers staged and directed by Robert Alton. Assistant dance directors: Alex Romero and Marilyn Christine. Orchestrations: Conrad Salinger, Maurice de Packh, Robert Franklyn, Alexander Courage. Vocal arrangements: Robert Tucker. Music director: Adolph Deutsch. Associate music director: Roger Edens. Background music: “Fred Toasts the Girls” by Adolph Deutsch; “Fred Drinks To The Bride” by Roger Edens.
Copyright 12 February 1952 by Loew’s Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, production number: 1545. New York opening at Loew’s State: 5 March 1952. U.S. release: 22 February 1952. U.K. release: 14 April 1952. Australian release: 23 May 1952. 82 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Playboy falls for Mission lass.
NOTES: Shooting commenced 18 June 1951 and finished 3 October 1951. Negative cost: $2,606,644. U.S. gross rental receipts (on first release): $1,993,000.
COMMENT: One of my favorite MGM musicals — and I’m glad to hear one of Astaire’s favorite films too (despite the fact that it wasn’t a boxoffice success. Why? Who knows? Maybe it was too clever, too fanciful, too inventive, too sprightly for the stolid majority of 1952’s picturegoers).
For me, The Belle of New York is an almost perfect musical. Admittedly it lacks ultra-spectacular production numbers with hundreds of chorus curies playing pianos or shooting firecrackers. Instead, the musical interludes are more intimately charming; yet at the same time they’re most inventively choreographed and staged with exceptional fluidity. Furthermore, the songs and dances are not only bright and lively and fresh and “new”, they are extremely well placed and paced. There’s just enough story between each number to cue them in for maximum dramatic effect and contrast. The story too is bright, gay, fanciful and amusing, likeable and involving — though not too involving to overshadow the musical interludes, not too slight to come across as a mere mechanical peg or a boring mark-time — just exactly right. And it’s charmingly played with some nice comic touches by such great character warm-ups as Marjorie Main, Alice Pearce, Clinton Sundberg and Keenan Wynn — none of whom outstay their welcome. Best of all (as of course they should be) are Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen — who was never better than in this film. Fred too is at his absolute best as dancer, singer and leading man!
Yes, one of my favorite MGM musicals — right up there with The Band Wagon and Gigi and Singin’ in the Rain and the “Limehouse Blues” number from Ziegfeld Follies. The story here may not be as strong; instead it has an altogether different atmosphere — a wispily fanciful aura that is equally breathtaking and entrancing. The songs are just as melodic (and twice as graceful). The bright and charmingly breezy dance duets are equally imaginative. Such inspired flights of fantasy as Fred’s gently acrobatic roof-top solo or the winningly nostalgic scene-changing of the Currier & Ives number or the altogether delightful streetcar dance which deftly combines Astaire’s attractive whimsy with Vera-Ellen’s appealingly down-to-earth practicality — these are absolutely unforgettable and can be enjoyed time after time.
Photography, sets and costumes are delightful. Even the sound recording and special effects are impeccable. A special mention for the dexterous music orchestrations by Conrad Salinger and Maurice de Packh who do so much to set our feet tapping in unison with Fred and Vera. Charles Walters’ direction is beautifully paced and adroitly angled, always unobtrusively, thoroughly professional.
OTHER VIEWS: What a delightful movie! Witty screenplay — yet doesn’t run a second too long — incorporating some bewitching performance and dance routines, some brightly captivating songs. The film is full of memorable moments, both comedic and musical. Fred at his most charmingly stylish, even the normally abrasive Vera-Ellen is attractively subdued in the Jean Simmons Guys and Dolls role. When she does throw off her refreshing caution (in the “Naughty But Nice” number), she’s still a delight. Dance director Robert Alton is to be congratulated.
Superbly photographed in Technicolor, the movie has great production values and a terrific support cast.
The only complaint I have — and it’s a very minor one — is the climatic number, “I Wanna Be A Dancin’ Man”. Two problems: (1) it’s a solo for Fred; (2) it’s not as fanciful as the other numbers in the film and although presented and danced with style, grace and charm, it’s not quite as inventive or exciting as the numbers preceding. In other words, they’ve saved the lesser for last — and a solo at that. Every film needs a topper for the climax. Maybe this slight let-down at the finish is the reason the film got a bad word-of-mouth from critics and public who left the theatre forgetting all the imaginative numbers and lively duets they’d seen earlier.
Oddly enough, The Belle of New York still has a poor reputation to-day, with most critics regarding it as little more than mediocre. Are they comparing it unfavorably with Guys and Dolls (which is partly based on the same source material)? For me, The Belle is by far the better film — in all departments.
— John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.
* Percy Helton has the flowers, Dugan the suspect present, Wessel threatens Charlie.
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Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, Wild Bill Elliott, Allan “Rocky” Lane, Don “Red” Barry, Sunset Carson, Bob Livingston, Frank McDonald, Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, The Sons of the Pioneers — Hugh Farr, Carl Farr, Ken Carson, Tim Spencer, George “Shug” Fisher (themselves), George Hayes (Gabby Whittaker), Dale Evans (Sue Farnum), Adele Mara (Patty Phillips), Grant Withers (William Ripley), Janet Martin (Rosarita), Addison Richards (Slim Phillips), Roy Barcroft (Maxwell), Ben Welden (wigged spectator), Eddie Kane (Eddie — director), Hank Bell (man in poster window), Earl Hodgins (barker), Bob Wilke (deputy), Tom London (gate cop), and Syd Saylor, Kenne Duncan, Edward Cassidy, Rex Lease, Ted Adams, Wally West, Poodles Hanneford, Helen Talbot, Charles Sullivan, Forbes Murray, Marin Sais, Rosemond James, Marian Kerrigan, Sam Ash, Craig Lawrence, Barbara Elliott, Mary McCarty, Tom Plank, George Barton and “Trigger”, “Silver”, “Cyclone”, “Shamrock”, “Feather” and “Thunder”.
Director: FRANK McDONALD. Original screenplay: Jack Townley. Photography: Ernest Miller. Film editor: Arthur Roberts. Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Art director: Hilyard Brown. Set decorator: Earl B. Wooden. Costumes: Adele Palmer. Make-up: Bob Mark. Assistant director: John Grubbs. Sound technician: Fred Stahl. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Eddy White. Executive producer: Armand Schaefer.
Music composed by Joseph Dubin, directed by Morton Scott. Dance director: Larry Ceballos. Songs: “The Bells of Rosarita” (Mitchell Choir, Rogers and Martin) by Jack Elliott; “Bugler’s Lullaby” (Mitchell Choir) by Robert Mitchell (music) and Betty Best (lyrics); “Wrapped in the Arms of Sweet Romance” (Evans); “As I Go Singin’ Down the Road” (Rogers); “Finnegan” (Mitchell Choir); “Build a Big Fence Around Texas” (Rogers and Mitchell Choir); “Giddy-ay Giddy-oh” (Rogers and Pioneers); “When the Circus Came to Town” (Rogers and Pioneers); “The Bells of Rosarita” (reprised by Mitchell Choir, Rogers, Evans and Pioneers).
Copyright 13 May 1945 by Republic Pictures Corp. Presented by Republic Pictures on behalf of Republic Productions, Inc. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates. No New York opening. U.S. release: 19 June 1945. U.K. release through British Lion: December 1945. Australian release through British Empire Films: 6 March 1947. Lengths: 7 reels, 68 minutes (U.S.); 55 minutes (U.K.); 6,417 feet, 71 minutes (Australia).
SYNOPSIS: Roy Rogers saves a circus from an unscrupulous mortgagor.
COMMENT: Rogers’ best film and one of the high points of Republic “B” production in the 40s — all this despite a large number of flaws:
Firstly, the basic premise of the plot is impossibly silly and old-hat. True, it’s often a convenient peg for the songs and other antics, but it’s just so ridiculous it deserved to be sent up instead of being played perfectly straight.
Our second problem is that the print under review has been duped from the U.K. release which is missing at least 13 minutes. Mind you, there are no gaps in the story. It’s quite possible that the missing footage contained more songs (presumably at least one by Bob Nolan who doesn’t sing a note in this version. All he does is look amiably/jealously on while Roy does all warbling) and yet more comedy relief from that tiresomely loud-mouthed, aptly-named windbag, “Gabby” Hayes.
Now let’s get to the high points. First, just look at that cast! Yes, it’s great to see all Republic’s western stars except John Wayne (the script explains he is away on location) in the one film — and some of them cleverly introduced in studio scenes too. I’m sure all of us are enthusiasts for movies about movie-making — and oddly enough this is one of the best, for in Bells of Rosarita’s most interesting scenes, Frank McDonald and his technicians play themselves. McDonald has a large, speaking part, but we also get a good look at photographer Ernest Miller acting as his own clapper-boy, and assistant director John Grubbs calling the crew to order. In order to build up his importance, McDonald is shown directing the extremely elaborate title number with Rogers, Nolan, the Mitchell Choir, the entrancing Janet Martin and a huge crowd of colorful extras. The brilliant way this sequence is shot and edited is absolutely breathtaking. Allied with the most attractive song, it becomes one of the most memorable movie moments in the entire history of the “B” western. This sequence is so perfect, we ran it over and over — at least seven times — at our screening and were constantly amazed at the precision and skill of the film editing. (Yet Roberts isn’t even listed in the standard book The Motion Picture Film Editor by René L. Ash, published by The Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, N.J., 1974).
Earlier in the film, McDonald is shown directing a vigorous action sequence complete with running inserts and daredevil stunts. The climax is also handled from the camera truck (which we actually see in the first episode), though disfigured by a few obvious studio inserts. Nice to see Bob Wilke as a deputy sheriff, though he has no dialogue.
Aside from the too-garrulous Hayes, the players acquit themselves nobly. Mr Slye is in excellent voice and manages to hold his own with the Mitchell Choir. Miss Evans is an agreeable straight shooter too, while Adele Mara makes a surprisingly sprightly second-heroine. Even “Shug” Fisher has an important role.
In addition, there’s a delightfully high-stepping chorus line. The songs themselves are so attractive, it’s a mystery to us the sound track has never been released — not even on a bootleg label. Maybe this good write-up will start a trend.
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George Burton’s love birds (273 of them!), Curley Twiford’s Jimmy the Crow.
In the original print as released, Elizabeth Walters and trainer George Burton appeared in a Prologue which has now been removed.
Director: DEAN RIESNER. Screenplay: Royal Foster and Dean Riesner. Based on an idea from the stage show, “Ken Murray’s Blackouts”. Photographed in Trucolor by Jack Malta. Film editor: Harold Minter. Music score: David Buttolph. Music director: Lionel Newman. Songs: “Hum a Little Tune” (chorus) and “Off to the Circus” (chorus), both music by David Buttolph and Lionel Newman, lyrics by Royal Foster; “Tweet-Tweet” (chorus) by Buddy De Sylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson. Sets: Fred Malatesta. Backgrounds: Imagineering. Sound: Harold Wilson and T.A. Carman. RCA Sound System. Producer: Ken Murray.
Copyright 17 February 1948 by Republic Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Gotham: 28 March 1948. U.S. release: 28 March 1948. U.K. release: December 1948. Australian release through British Empire Films: 24 February 1949. 5,624 feet. 62½ minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Bill saves the village of Chirpendale from “The Black Menace”.
COMMENT: Easily the most fascinating feature-film novelty ever produced by a Hollywood studio, Bill and Coo received a Special Hollywood Award citing the “artistry and patience” which resulted in this “novel and entertaining” picture. Very true. The “actors” are to say the least remarkably accomplished. Some of their feats are just so astonishing as to defy all sense of logic or possibility. As if all this amazing dexterity were not enough to hold the interest, it has been employed in a cleverly witty script which offers an abundance of dramatic and comic opportunities. A round of applause to the producer, the trainers, the director, the writers, the musicians and all concerned with this most enjoyable and highly delightful, truly unique production!
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Gene Kelly (Johnny Columbo), J. Carroll Naish (Louis Lorelli), Marc Lawrence (Caesar Xavier Serpi), Teresa Celli (Isabella Gomboli), Frank Puglia (Carlo Sabballera), Barry Kelley (Captain Thompson), Mario Siletti (Benny Danetta), Carl Milletaire (George Allani), Peter Brocco (Roberto Columbo), Eleonora Mendelssohn (Maria Columbo), Grazia Narciso (Mrs Danetta), Maurice Samuels (Moriani), Burk Symon (judge), Bert Freed (prosecutor), Mimi Aguglia (Mrs Sabballera), Baldo Minuti (Bettini), Carlo Tricoli (Pietro Riago), Mark Krah (Lombardi), Jimmy Lagano (Rudi Gomboli), Phyllis Morris (Mary the Shamrock).
Director: RICHARD THORPE Screenplay: Luther Davis. Story: Leo Townsend, based on the life of Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino. Photography: Paul C. Vogel. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Gabriel Scognamillo. Film editor: Irvine Warburton. Music score: Alberto Colombo. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis and Charles de Crof. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Special effects: Warren Newcombe. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Producer: William H. Wright.
Copyright 18 January 1950 by Loew’s Inc. An MGM Picture. New York release at the Capitol: 11 March 1950. U.S. release: 17 March 1950. U.K. release: 10 July 1950. Australia: release: 13 October 1950. Sydney release at the St James. 8,347 feet. 92½ minutes.
SYNOPSIS: New York’s “Little Italy”, 1908. Johnny Columbo seeks to avenge his father’s murder by the Black Hand.
COMMENT: Sandwiched between On the Town and Summer Stock, this film represented a radical change of vehicle for Gene Kelly. According to MGM’s publicity, he requested the role himself. As it turned out, it did his career no harm. In tact, it boosted his macho image and was surprisingly successful at the boxoffice, returning a handsome dividend for a modest investment.
Apart from the dialogue scenes, it is difficult to credit the film to director Richard Thorpe, as the action footage is brilliant in every way. The script is exciting too (we like the character of the bodyguard assigned to Naish), although it is not as well constructed as the later version, Pay Or Die (which starred Ernest Borgnine in the Naish role).
MGM’s art department have constructed some marvelous sets, which are superbly lit by cinematographer Vogel.
The performances are also better than we might expect. Kelly is capable enough in a fight and reasonably convincing as an Italian. J. Carroll Naish plays without his usual hammy mannerisms and Teresa Celli is also impressive in what transpired to be her first and only starring role. (She made her film debut as the Mexican wife in Border Incident, and subsequently appeared in The Asphalt Jungle, Crisis and Right Cross, after which she seems to have disappeared.) Black Hand also marks the only film appearance of stage actress Eleonora Mendelssohn, a former star for producer Max Reinhardt in Berlin and a great-great-granddaughter of composer Felix Mendelssohn.
All in all, suspenseful, well-produced entertainment. (Even Bosley Crowther agrees with us.) The whole idea doesn’t sound all that appealing or even workable, but MGM have brought it off with honors.
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Sidney Toler (Charlie Chan), Mantan Moreland (Birmingham), Frances Chan (herself), Joseph Crehan (Matthews), Jacqueline de Wit (Justine Bonner), Ralph Peters (Rafferty), Helen Beverley (Norma Duncan), Frank Jaquet (Paul Hamlin), Richard Gordon (Bonner), Charles Jordan (Tom Starkey), Claudia Dell (Vera Starkey), Geraldine Wall (Harriet Green), Harry Depp (Charles Edwards), Edward Earle (Dawson).
Director: PHIL ROSEN. Original Screenplay: George Callahan. Based on the character “Charlie Chan” created by Earl Derr Biggers. Film editor: John Link. Photography: Arthur Martinelli. Art director: David Milton. Set decorator: Al Greenwood. Music composed by Alexander Laszlo, directed by David Chudnow. Production manager: Dick L’Estrange. Assistant director: Bobby Ray. Sound recording: Max Hutchinson. Western Electric Sound System. Producers: Philip N. Krasne and James S. Burkett.
Copyright 15 July 1944 by Monogram Pictures Corp. No New York release. Australian release through British Empire Films: 12 April 1945. 7 reels. 5,977 feet. 66½ minutes.
Re-issue title: MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. The film is also sometimes called CHARLIE CHAN IN BLACK MAGIC.
SYNOPSIS: Medium is murdered during a seance.
COMMENT: Despite the promise of the subject-matter, this is not one of the more interesting Monogram entries. True, there’s a little bit of action (Bertram Millhauser utilized one of the murder ploys for the Sherlock Holmes thriller The Woman In Green exactly a year later), but it’s weighed down with too much talk, too much comic relief and too little production value. It could have been splendidly spooky, but slow pacing, dull direction and disappointingly bland photography do not help either.