Boxoffice-August.19.1950

, . Who
. . Gay
. . And
. . Empires
. . Great
. . Parasites
. . Ever
FEATURE REVIEWS Story Synopsis; Adttnes for Newspaper and Programs
THE STORY:
"Let's Danca"
Fearing that her disapproving in-laws will take her son
irom her, dancer Betty Hulton, recently widowed, takes the
child to New York, where her old dancing partner, Fred
Astaire, finds her a nightclub job. Her sons life becomes
topsy-turvy but interesting, with various club employes giving
him his lessons. Lucile Watson, the lad's great-grandmother,
aghast at his nightclub existence, causes Betty to
be served with a court summons regarding the boy's welfare.
The court gives Betty 60 days in which to establish a proper
home. She and Fred, who's always loved her, become engaged,
but later quarrel. Their differences are finally settled
and Betty and Fred plan a home life of which the court
approves.
CATCHLINES:
A Gay, Glorious Galaxy Of Wonderful Songs and
Stupendous Dancing
It's Fabulous Fred Astaire . . .
And Bouncing Betty Hutton . Teamed for a Terrific
On the Musical Scoreboard.
THE STORY:
'The Black Rose"
During the 13th century, Tyrone Power and Jack Hawkins,
exiled from England, join a Mongol caravan bound for Cathay
with tributes for the Kublai Khan. Helping the beauteous
slave, Cecile Aubry, to escape her fate as a donation to the
Khan, Power furnishes delaying action while she and Hawkins
get away. They next meet as prisoners of the Chinese
empress, who believes her country's safety from Mongol invasion
lies in the holding of the "blue-eyed gods." When
the three attempt to break from captivity, Hawkins is killed;
Cecile recaptured, and only Power manages to escape to
England, where his exploits and useful knowledge learned
from Oriental scholars are rewarded by knighthood and the
restoration of his ancestral home—where Cecile later manages
to join him.
CATCHLINES:
The Most Spectacular Caravan of Wild Excitement . . .
Flaming Adventure . Forbidden Love . to
Sweep Across the Screen . Crumbled Before
the Hordes of the Kublai Khan ... An Exciting Novel—
Magnificent Film.
THE STORY:
"High Lonesome"
THE STORY:
"The Dancing Years"
Befriended by Rancher Basil Ruysdael, John Barrymore jr.
confesses he'd murdered a nearby storekeeper at the coercion
of two strangers. When no evidence is found of the
deed, Ruysdael lets the boy stay on. It is only after three
more murders, in which Barrymore is implicated, that Ruysdael
is convinced of Barrymore's guilt. The outlcrwed lad,
discovering his coercers—the actual killers—to be vengeanceintent
sons of men supposedly killed by Ruysdael's faction
in an old fence war, searches for evidence to convince the
Ruysdaels of their danger. Later, when Ruysdael, pursuing
Barrymore, is trapped by the two avengers, Barrymore is
wounded while saving him. The murderers ore killed and
the grateful rancher promises everlasting friendship to the
previously homeless boy.
CATCHLINES:
Never Before Has Such a Stirring Saga of the Old Frontier
Blazed Across the Screen ... An Unwanted . . . Outlawed
Lad
. . . Hunted as a Murderer . . . Till He Proved His
Worth ... By Taking the Bullet Meant for a Friend.
THE STORY:
"I Killed Geronimo"
The bloodthirsty Geronimo and a powerful army of redskins
hove broken out of their reservation and embarked
on a sanguinary career of pillaging, looting and murdering
the whites on ranches and in towns throughout the area.
Pressed into action, the U.S. cavalry cannot even get on
Geronimo's trail. Then, dispatched from Washington, comes
James Ellison, a special intelligence officer, who poses as
an itinerant cowhand. He hires himself out as a gunlighter
to Ted Adams, leader of a band of heavies which has been
supplying rifles and ammunition to the warring Indian chief
and his braves. Through Adams, Ellison locates Geronimo.
The Indians attack, but the cavalry is on hand this time to
defeat them, and Ellison kills Geronimo in a hand-to-hand
battle.
CATCHLINES:
Geronimo . . . Most Savage, Most Dreaded of Savage
Redskins ... Is on the Warpath . . . Plundering, Killing,
Laying Waste to the Rugged West . . . Until He Meets His
Master ... A Heroic White Man . Avenges the
Apache Attacks.
THE STORY:
•The Paris Waltz"
Yvonne Printemps, as unemployed singer, and Jacques
Charon, an actor in love with her, hear Pierre Fresnoy, the
penniless Jacques Offenbach, composing in a Paris boarding
house room below the one in which they are flirting. Charon
later introduces Yvonne to Fresnay as he is evicted. She
auditions, gets the lead in his new operetta, and proves successful.
Then she runs through affairs with a French prince,
a Near Eastern potentate and a Russian general while Fresnay
composes operettas. After a warm spell with Fresnay
ends, he loses inspiration. Only when she insists that he
forget her does he write again, this time about a woman who
is
unmindfully wicked, Yvonne.
CATCHLINES:
The Musical Team That Brought Joy and Scandal to Paris
. . . The Life Story of a Composer Who Loved Music More
Than Women
. . . Gay Offenbach Operettas Live Again
Pierre Fresnay in Another Superb Portrayal.
•TIST
int (I
The story is reminiscent of the operettas of a few years
back, but is well-knit and carries the singing and production
numbers without sacrificing the emotional elements of the
romance. It begins in an Austrian village where an impecunious
composer facing loss of a piano is saved by a
troupe of singers who come to breakfast in an inn where
the composer is carrying on a youthful idyl. Gisele Preville,
singer, takes a fancy to the composer, Dennis Price,
and induces Prince Reinaldt (Anthony NichoUs) to give the
young composer a room in his home. Price goes from one
success to another, with the help of Preville.
CATCHLINES:
.
Eye-Filling, Tuneful Romance of the Pre-World War I Days
in Vienna . . Ivor Novello's Memory-Lingering Songs, Happy
and Poignant Interludes, Gorgeous Technicolored Scenery
... So Wholly Delightful You'll Want to See It Again.
THE STORY:
"Tea lor Two"
Not know;ing her well-meaning guardian has lost all her
money, Doris Day plans to finance and star in a musical
during the early days of 1929. Complications arise in the
persons of two other actresses, both of whom have been
promised leads by the show's promoter. However, Singer-
Composer Jimmy Smith (Gordon MacRae) is in love with
Doris and wants her to sing his songs. Bill Goodwin, Doris'
lawyer, arrives vrith the nev/s that Doris' money is gone and
the show is doomed. But Eve Arden, Doris' secretary, takes
Goodwin, who still has money, auto riding and returns with
a new financier. Goodwin's production opens successfully
with Doris singing the tunes of her husband-to-be, including
"Tea for Two."
CATCHLINES:
Grand Songs . Laughter . Stars . . .
Glorious Technicolor . . . An All-Happiness Musical of Yesteryear
. . . Whose Lovely Lyrics . . . Are Tunefully warbled
... By the Stars You Love to Hear.
THE STORY:
"Bunco Squad"
Con Man Ricardo Cortez, utilizing a lake medium, pretends
to put Elisabeth Risdon, a wealthy but foolish widow,
in touch with her dead son. In gratitude the widow wills
her fortune to Cortez' mystical cult, the Rama society, whereupon
Cortez orders her car tampered with to bring about
her early demise. Meanwhile, Police Sgt. Robert Sterling of
the Bunco Squad, aware of Cortez' operations, sets up a
rival cult to woo the widow away, as she refuses to listen
to his warnings. When Cortez discovers Sterling's outfit to
be a police setup and his confederates are captured, he uses
Elisabeth's car for a getaway. Forgetting he'd had the brakes
rendered useless, Cortez misses a turn and plunges off a
cliff to his death.
CATCHLINES:
The Startling . . . Sensational Story ... Of the Most
Ruthless Bunco Artists of Them All . Who
Prey on the Emotions of Bereaved Women . . . Racketeers
to Whom Murder Is No Obstacle.