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—<br />
Opinions on Current Productions; Exploitips for Selling to the Public<br />
FEATURE REVIEWS<br />
(FOR STORY SYNOPSIS ON EACH PICTURE, SEE REVERSE SIDE)<br />
The Black Rose<br />
Tp<br />
^<br />
Costume Drama<br />
(Technicolor)<br />
20th-Fox (121) 119 Minutes Rel. Sept. '50<br />
Splendor and spectacle are topmost among the many productional<br />
assets oi this semihistorical costume drama. Those<br />
qualities, plus the fact that the feature is based on the<br />
widely read novel by Thomas B. Costain, should be sufficient<br />
to assure the picture commercial success, particularly if<br />
showmen take full advantage of their vast merchandising<br />
possibilities. The entry's spectacular backgrounds—lensed<br />
in England and North Africa—create pageantry such as the<br />
screen has not seen in a long time. There is additional luster<br />
through the use of expert Technicolor photography, while<br />
marquee magnetism is supplied by Tyrone Power and Orson<br />
Welles. The cast is also sparked by the appearance of a<br />
little-known French actress, Cecile Aubry, whose thespian<br />
contribution is provocative and entirely satisfactory. Impressively<br />
produced by Louis D. Lighton and skillfully directed by<br />
Henry Hathaway.<br />
Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cecile Aubry, Jack Hcrwkins,<br />
Michael Rennie, Finloy Currie, Herbert Loin.<br />
The Dancing Years<br />
Monogram ( ) 98 Minutes ReL<br />
Musical<br />
Drama<br />
(Technicolor)<br />
An eye-filling, ear-soothing romance with Technicolored<br />
mountainous backgrounds, lush Viennese settings and melodious<br />
waltz music of the 1911 period, interspersed by some<br />
beautiful dancing in elaborate production numbers. It ran<br />
eight years as a London stage production and ought to do<br />
excellent business as a film in this country. It was made<br />
by Associated British Pictures. Patricia Ddinton, first as a<br />
youngster and then as a dancer, is outstanding for her<br />
charm and blond beauty, and undoubtedly will make on<br />
impression that will start her on a Hollywood career. Dennis<br />
Price, as a composer, is an excellent actor, but his work is<br />
marred by a back-in-the-throat style of speaking that makes<br />
his lines difficult to ccrlch at times. Gisele Preville, the<br />
feminine lead, is an excellent singer and plays her role as<br />
a sophisticated, mature beauty with sincerity.<br />
Dennis Price, Gisele Preville, Patricia Dainton, Anthony<br />
Nicholls, Grey Blake, Muriel George.<br />
Tea for Two<br />
F<br />
Musical<br />
Warner Bros. (001) 101 Minutes ReL Sept. 2, '50<br />
Vertiginous and slothful is the screenplay which served<br />
as a framework upon which to hang the beloved song hits<br />
and some of the situations of a stage musical of yesteryear,<br />
"No, No, Nanette." The literary structure is further festooned<br />
with a few specialties—some of which are on the exotic side<br />
—and an occasional tired production number. The comedy<br />
content was entrusted to Billy DeWolfe and S. Z. Sakall<br />
there being too much of both of them—who were made to<br />
reach from here to Baffin's Bay for laughs. Such tried-andtrue<br />
troupers as Eve Arden found it impossible to shake the<br />
shackles of the inadequate script. Consequently, upon the<br />
nostalgic appeal of the music and the individual and collective<br />
fan followings of Doris Day and Gordon MacRae<br />
hangs the film's commercial fate and, by the same logic,<br />
the most promising approach to exploitation. Directed by<br />
David Butler.<br />
Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Patrice Wymore,<br />
Eve Arden, Billy DeWolfe, S. Z. Sakall.<br />
For<br />
thiir<br />
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-748^<br />
Let's Dance<br />
Musical<br />
Comedy<br />
Pen-amount (500S) 112 Minutes<br />
(Technicolor)<br />
Nov. '50<br />
Because of their most recent starring assignments, Betty<br />
Hutton and Fred Astaire currently are hotter than a Kansas<br />
summer. In any vehicle, reluctantly, teaming them would<br />
have been a fortunate and profitable bit of timing. Herein,<br />
the possibilities go much farther because the picture is<br />
ideally suited to their individual and collective brand of talents.<br />
A thoroughly delightful screenplay v/hich almost entirely<br />
circumvents the formula and cliches of the boy-meetsgirl<br />
yarns usually employed to showcase singing, comedy<br />
and dancing mummers, it projects La Hutton and versatile<br />
Astaire as a perfect duo, one for which film fans will demand<br />
many return engagements. Add to such basic qualities<br />
a sterling supporting cast. Technicolor, solid production<br />
values, skillful direction by Norman Z. McLeod, catchy songs<br />
and, above all, out-of-this-world dance routines, and present<br />
are all of the ingredients for one of the season's top hits.<br />
Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Rolcrad Young, Ruth Warrick,<br />
Lucile Watson, Gregory Moffett, Barton MacLane.<br />
High Lonesome F ,T«hnicoior)<br />
Eagle Lion (044) 80 Minutes ReL Sept. 1. '50<br />
Far afield from formula is the sagebrush saga selected to<br />
showcase the promising talents of John Barrymore jr., who<br />
herein makes his second screen starring appearance—and<br />
with the same effectiveness that marked his initialer, "The<br />
Sundowners." The picture is praiseworthy for the manner<br />
in which it captures the rugged and austere aura of its<br />
locale and circa, even though in pursuit of such authenticity<br />
some of the glamorous facets of average westerns are sacrificed.<br />
The picture was produced by Alan LeMay and George<br />
Templeton and ably directed by LeMay, who are partners<br />
in LeMay-Templeton Productions and who endowed the offering<br />
with ample mountings, not (he least of which is Technicolor<br />
and the sweeping natural backgrounds so photographed.<br />
Noteworthy is the film's dialog—unusual but definitely<br />
in character and rendered entirely convincing because<br />
of the high caliber of performances.<br />
lohn Barrymore jr.. Chill Wills, John Archer, Lois Butler.<br />
Kristine Miller, Basil RuysdaeL Jack Elam.<br />
/ Killed Geronimo F<br />
F<br />
Western<br />
Eagle Lion ( ) 83 Minutes Rel.<br />
Cavalry vs. Injuns as a subject for celluloid entertainment<br />
has long been an almost invariably surefire entry for the<br />
action addicts and the juvenile patrons. Utilizing that plot<br />
theme, this modestly budgeted entry from Producer Jack<br />
Schwarz appears sufficiently well equipped to serve with<br />
adequacy as the nether half of a dual program and as a<br />
booking for the Saturday matinee trade. Obviously it was<br />
made with such playdates in mind and, within that productional<br />
framework, the running time is studded with ridin',<br />
fightin' and redskin raids, the script having placed emphasis<br />
upon action rather than characterization. The historical<br />
angles, although they may deviate somewhat from facts, offer<br />
some ready-made exploitation suggestions and Topliner<br />
James Ellison is sufficiently well established as an actic:<br />
star so that his name also should draw some weight on thmarquee.<br />
Directed by John Hoffman.<br />
lames ElUson, Virginia Herrick, Chief Thunder Cloud, Smith<br />
Ballew, Luther Crockett, lean Andren, Ted Adams.<br />
Bunco Squad<br />
REG Radio (104)<br />
67 Minutes ReL<br />
Drama<br />
Considering its budgetary classification and the exhibition<br />
niche at which it is aimed, about the only criticism that can<br />
be made of this constable-and-crooks drama is that the<br />
writers undertook to contain too many elements in the script,<br />
including a semidocumentary approach to the yarn's spinning.<br />
But, while such literary over-expansion has a tendency<br />
to slow down the action here and there, in the main the<br />
picture qualifies as an acceptable companion piece, equipped<br />
to please the average dual program patron. An additional i<br />
asset lies in the cast, at least two names of which are suificiently<br />
established to assert some drawing power, and can<br />
advantageously be used in merchandising a double bill.<br />
Producer Lewis J. Rachmil made every production dollar<br />
count and the direction of Herbert I. Leeds extracts everything<br />
possible from the story and performers.<br />
Robert Sterling, Joan Dixon, Ricardo Cortez, Douglaa Fowley,<br />
Elisabeth Risdon, Marguerite Churchill, lohn Kellogg.<br />
1178 BOXOFFICE<br />
near<br />
The Paris Waltz<br />
Lux Films 86 Minutes ReL<br />
F<br />
Musical<br />
This romantic French-language biography of the composer,<br />
Jacques Offenbach, is abundant with operetta tunes and has<br />
characters cloaked in striking costumes of the Napoleon III<br />
period, created by Christian Dior, the noted French fashion<br />
designer. Pierre Fresnay is convincing as the eccentric and<br />
impractical composer, while Yvonne Printemps, as his leading<br />
lady, enhancingly sings selections from nine Offenbach<br />
works. The stars and the music, along with the expensive<br />
settings, can be exploited for art house patrons with a tastfor<br />
light opera. Musical numbers are staged fairly well cm<br />
are adequately photographed. A racy and highly humorou„<br />
beginning gives way to a hopelessly raveled series of disconnected<br />
plot episodes. Marcel Achard directed and wrote<br />
the screenplay. Lux Films Distributing Corp., 1501 Broadway,<br />
New York.<br />
Yvonne Printemps, Pierre Fresnay, lacques Charon, lacques<br />
Castelot, Claude Sainval, Pierre Dux, Lucien Nat.<br />
August 19, 1950 1177
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