Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 December 1939 — Page 6
PAGE 6
TE THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
HOLLYWOOD
Hedy Cast as Cigar-Smoking Novelist; ‘Grapes of Wrath' Has 'Newsreel Quality’
By PAUL HARRISON
Opening Tomorrow
Cirele (Holdover)
“GULLIVER'S TRAVELS” —Produced and directed, respectively, by Max and Dave Fleischer. Based on the Jonathan Swift classic. The second full-length animated cartoon in screen history, and
HOLLYWOOD, Dec 28.—John Steinbeck, who has seen the finished “Grapes of Wrath,” says he’s delighted with the picture's “newsreel
quality.” .
. . Most startling casting report: Hedy Lamarr as the pants-
wearing, cigar-smoking novelist, George Sand, in “Chopin,” a bio-
graphical property bought by Metro. .
. . Blunder-of-the-week: A War-
ner executive barred newsboys from the lot when he discovered that
several of the writers spent part of their afternoons reading newspapers. Not long ago the same studio boastea about the timeliness of its pictures and said the best story ideas were gleaned from the daily press.
2 - id
WHEN “OUR TOWN" was produced on Broadway it was famous partly for having no scenery—just a bare stage and only a few chairs and a stepladder for props. But when it comes to the screen soon it will have 35 different sets,
all tastefully furnished. ... Three |
successive pictures—"The Fighting 69th,” “City of Conquest” and “John Paul Jones”—will give Jimmy Cagney his longest vacation from gangster roles. Maureen O'Hara, Charles Laughton's protege, was ordered to lose 15 pounds for her leading role in “Bill of Divorcement.” She made the weight, but production was delayed while she recovered from the bruising massages and starvation diet.
FIRST TIME IN AMERICA
EUROPEAN ALL-STAR
ICE
REVUE
Direct From London
60 Brilliant Stars—World’s Finest Skaters
Truly # Ziegfeld-Type Production on Ice
COLISEUM
FAIRGROUNDS INDIANAPOLIS
Tonight 8:30—Though Jan. 1 Prices: $2.20—%$1.65—%$1.10—75¢
Seats Now, (Loliscum Box Office, TA, 4355. L. Mai
Strauss & Co., LI. 1561,
Orders Must Be Accompanied by Remittance.
SPECIAL MIDNIGHT PERFORMANCE
HC ANAS
BALALAIIIKKA
GALA MIDNIGHT NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOW 11 P.M.
TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT BOX OFFICE
the first from the Fleischer Studios. It’s all in color and tells the familiar story of Lemuel Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput.
Indiana
x “SWANEE RIVER"—With Don Ameche, Andrea Leeds, Al Jolson. Directed by Sidney Lanfield; screen play by John Taintor Foote and Philip Dunne.
A story of the beloved American troubadour, Stephen Foster (Mr. | Ameche): the famous American minstrel, E. P. Christy (Mr. Jolson); | {Jane McDowell (Miss Leeds), the girl who inspired “Jeanie With the | Light Brown Hair.” “TWO THOROUGHBREDS” With Jimmy Lydon, Joan Brodel, Arthur Hohl. Directed by Jack Hively. ‘
| About a lost colt and an orphan boy; instead of winning the big race, the colt breaks a leg.
Loew's
“BALALATKA"—With Nelson Eddy, Ilona Massey, Charlie Ruggles, | Frank Morgan. Directed by Reinhold Schunzel; screen play by Eric Maschwitz. A musical story of Old Russia, the Revolution and Russian exiles in Paris, in which the handsome prince marries the bolshevist's daughter. “BLONDIE BRINGS UP BABY"—With Penny Singleton, Arthur |Lake, Larry Sims. Directed by Frank R. Strayer. Another adventure of the Bumpsteads, in which “Baby Dumpling” | | turns out to be a prodigy of sorts, and Dagwood becomes a suspected | kidnaper.
Lyrie
“LAUGH FACTORY" (on stage) —With Joe Cook, Charles Carlisle, , Chester Hale Girls, Fulton and Wells, Sager and Sherman, the Deweys, | | Charlie Senna, Andy MecBann. | “THE CISCO KID AND THE LADY” (on screen)—With Cesar | Romero, Marjorie Weaver, Chris-Pin Martin, Virginia Field. Directed by Herbert I. Leeds. A new Cisco Kid appears in the person of Senor Romero. The plot includes a double-barreled romance and skullduggery at the old gold
>
| musicals,
| pand
| and valid claims.
MOVIES
By JAMES THRASHER
‘Ninotchka’ and 'Dark Victory’ on
This List of Year's 'Best Ten.'
NO DOUBT THE WORLD has been waiting in breathless anticipation for this department's selection of the waning year’s best 10
pictures.
So rather than make you skim over two or three introductory |
paragraphs to reach this priceless bit of information, here they are: “Ninotchka,” “Dark Victory,” “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “Pygmalion,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Juarez,”
“Nurses Edith Cavell,” “Idiot's Delight” and “The Beachcomber.” There!—now let the cries of protest arise. Where are the and where the action pictures which are the movies’ stock in trade? Well, they just aren't there, largely because most of them are still cut out of the same old piece of cloth, despite the elaborate decorations. Maybe, though, a place should be found for “Stagecoach,” which was less concerned with getting the cavalry over the hill in the nick of time than with creating a coachload of interesting characters. And since there's no particular reason for selecting only 10 films anyway, I'll just exthe list to include John Ford's “Grand Hotel” on wheels. s ” o
FOR THE YEAR'S BEST bperformances by featured actresses, top honors may go to Bette Davis without much opposition for her work in “Dark Vietory.” Greta Garbo’s “Ninotchka” is another portrayal that well may be remembered long after Hollywood's Nancy Drews, Torchy Blanes and Tailspin Tommies have passed into limbo. Among the actors with top billings, the race is a close one. Rob= ert Donat as Mr. Chips, Brian Ahern as Maxmilian in “Juarez,” Laurence Olivier in “Wuthering Heights” and Paul Muni in “We Are Not Alone,” all have strong And Jascha
Heifetz should have a special
| niche for his fiddle playing in
“They Shall Have Music.” Among suprorting players on the distaff side, we have a distiguished trio who should be giving the stars a run for their
| money by the end of 1940. They
| gerald
are, in case you hadn't guessed, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Greer Garson and Jane Bryan. Miss Fitzoffered Merle Oberon plenty of competition in “Wuthering Heights” and also showed to decided advantage in “Dark Viectory.” An utterly charming Mrs. Chips, Miss Garson can't be
lion.” The results simply proved that Mr. Pascal's persuasion was built on bedrock of artistic ability. No doubt Frank Capra expects to receive, and will receive, the Motion Picture Academy's award to directors for his “Mr. Smith.” But my small voice will still be shouting the praises of Edmund Goulding for “Dark Victory.” “Dark Victory” had all the makings of a mawkish tear-jerker, It had failed as a play, and with Tallulah Bankhead as the star. But Mr. Goulding steered his perilous course with a firm but sensitive hand, avoiding the soupy and shallow and obvious. He also drew from Miss Davis the best performance of her career and stirred George Brent's lethargic charm into a sort of dramatic power. Certainly the most surprising and one of the most gratifying jobs of screen writing was the adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” by Ben Hecht and Charlies MacArthur. The collec~ tive Hecht-MacArthur genius always has been on the rowdy side. But they took the century-old Bronte novel, stripped it of its outmoded verbiage and retained its somber mood with amazing fidelity. And this year-end hosanna wouldn't be complete without a word for “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.” As written by James Hilton, it was a meandering, sentimental, heart-warming “long short story.” But by the time it reached the screen the gaps had been filled in, and its inferences had become dramatic incidents. So it must be put down as one of the year's two best jobs of screen playwriting. And I certainly wish I could remember the name of the man who did it,
‘HI YO, SILVER,’ OATS IN PARLOR
| whenever his music is played.
Singer Finds Song Is “Treasonable’
NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (NEA). — Marjorie Lawrence, Australian opera star, who recently returned to sing here, found herself in slight difficulties with authorities of her home-
(land just prior to her last recital in | Melbourne.
The diva had unwittingly programed the final aria of Strauss’ opera “Salome,” her interpretation of which has often been praised. Government officials, however, demanded that she change her program. Richard Strauss, of the work, is still alive and a German, they explained. Therefore he collects royalties A British subject who causes a Ger-
composer |
|
{ |
av ne
THURSDAY, DEC. 28, 1939
man citizen to obtain money in this fashion is trading with the enemy. That constitutes treason, so Miss Lawrence compromised with an aria
from a Wagnerian opera, the work of a German long since dead.
LAUGHTON AND LEIGH
Vivien Leigh, the Scarlett O'Hara of “Gone With the Wind,” is costarred with Charles Laughton in the English production, “The Sidewalks of London,” which will he released in this country by Paramount in February, just after “Gone With the Wind” hits the screen.
GRAHAM'S
OLD INN
Free Dance Tonight— Make Your Reservations for Saturday Night South Big Four Shops, Beech Grove
5
LA
: oF. i“ .
we'll Lo
4
25,000 L; Smash scag hits
before achieved
most scintillating
&
ELD OVER!]
Hooray! Hooray! Stay Another Week!
RRA i
——————————————— & HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 28 (U. Py—| VY Buck Jones’ fourth white horse named Silver, a Christmas present frem his wife, munched oats in the|
blamed for a rather discouraging assignment in “Remember.” And Miss Bryan, after kicking around in Warner Bros
Seats 2
NELSON EDDY and ILONA MASSEY (o newcomer with a great destiny) sing many songs, including: “At the Balelaika”; "Ride, Cossack, Ride”; "Magic of Your Love”; ‘The Volga Boatman” and 9 others!
Based upon the comic strip created with THE BUMSTEADS « Penny SINGL
AN soo
hie Young
| J—
Arthur LAKE o: ocgvesd * Larry SIMMS c: set dumping
a= te]
LAST “JUDGE HARDY + SON"
-DAY
B pictures for several years, gave brilliant evi
dence of overlooked acting abil-
Cossacks riding with a song on their lips! The sweep of battle! The blaze of romance !...Come— thrills are yours tonight—at the gay Balalaika!
BALALALKA
itv with Mr. Not Alone.” ¥ ¥ 8 IT CAN ONLY BE HOPED that the studios do right by our
Muni in “We Are
| three Neils in the coming year. | The present plight of other gifted
and promising performers, par-
| ticularly Louise Rainer, brings on
a sinking feeling. But perhaps
| the fates and casting departments
STARRING
NELSON EDDY ILONA MASSEY
1940's sensational screen news—with a voice as bewitching as ber beauty! with CHARLIE FRANK LIONEL RUGGLES * MORGAN * ATWILL C. Aubrey Smith « Joyce Compton : Dalies Frantz Screen Play by leon Gordon, Charles Bennett and Jacques Deval + Directed by Reinhold Schunzel. Produced by Lawrence Weingarten * AN M.G-M PICTURE
| varied in the extreme. | racy was hymned in such three- | star horrors
| ful | ington.”
| Delight” | “Confessions
will be kinder in this case. The past year was one in which Hollywood discovered that the world was in a turmoil and democracy was on the spot. It took a closing of European markets and the subsequent war to
press the point, but at least the |
discovery was made. Results of the awakening were Democ-
as “Let Freedom Ring” as well as in the delight“Mr. Smith Goes to Wash The European turmoil was reflected brilliantly in “Idiot's and rather less so in of a Nazi Spy.”
| which in spite of laudable intent, | was miscast in the dramatic mold.
| in the comedy list, the same num-« |
| Chips” and
Of the above list of 10, fos go
her sorts,
are {ragedies of different and you may call “Mr. “Idiot's Delight” by
| whatever classifying name you
ENGLISH Last 4 Times
1200 SEATS 30%AFTER 6 MICKEY ROONEY
PLUS “FAST AND FURIOUS"<FRANCHOT TONE
choose, “Ninotchka” probably was the most cheering item of the entire calendar year. First in the public heart was the discovery of Greta Garbo as a delightful, artful and bubbling comedienne. But more important in cinematic
history was the fact that the |
the screen play finally took a long look at the U. 8. 8S. R. The result was neither embarrassed nor bitter. “Ninotchka's” authors simply found that the Soviet system was impressive in some respects and ridiculous in others. It found a pomposity and deadly seriousness ripe for deflation. The result was theatrically civilized—and a revelation in moviedom. ” ” ” THERE STILL REMAIN some other laurels to be passed around, according to custom. TI'a give the producer's palm to Gabriel
Pascal, if only because he bearded the bearded Mr. G. B. Shaw |
in his den and persuaded him to
permit filming of his “Pygma- | % GALA OPENING
|
DANCES SAT. and SUN.
Louie Panico AND HIS ORCHESTRA
NEXT SAT, Tjiieoe NEW YEAR'S EVE
Tickets eH After 8 P. M. — TOM DEVINE'S MUSIC HALL
Cor. lllinols and Mich, Sts,
3
TONIGHT, 8:30 MAT. SAT. 2:30-Best Seats $1.10
TOR sO
WiTe JON BARTOM
Nights: 81.65, $1.10, 88e Matt $1.10, 83¢, 886 (Tax Included) Beg. Mon.
ENGLISH 3 DAYS "5.9
BARGAIN MATINEE WEDNESDAY
CONSTANCE BENNETT
in Noel Coward's Funniest Comedy
EASY VIRTUE
Prices: Eve, 5% to $2.78 lnel Mat, A30 te 81.6) Tax
SEATS NOW ON SALR
cowboy movie star's stables today. Mrs. Jones had the horse tethered in the front room beside the Christmas tree for her husband. He
named it Silver, along with the three |
other white horses in his stables, and set to teaching it tricks. When trained, Silver IV will answer to the call of “Hi yo, Silver” in Jones’ Western pictures.
y colorful, romantic days of minstrels and river boats . . . when a stormy love wrote the songs that are America’s own!
‘ t Children 250 b
—
The Story of Stephen C. Foster, the Great American Troubadour!
FELIX BRESSART CHICK CHANDLER RUSSELL HICKS GEORG 5 REED
HALL JOHNSON
CHOIR
Directed by Sidney Lanfield
Associate Producer Kenneth Macgowan + Screen Play by John Taintor Foote and Philip Dunne
A 20th Century-Fox Picture
Darryl F. Zanuck In Charge of Production
2 You've Sun,
¢
all youy life % _ know the great Pn Story behing thems My Old Kentucky Hom Jeanie wip, the Lighe : rown Hajp Old Black Joe Ring, Ring de Banjo De Camprowy Races The O14 Folks ar gy (Swanee River) oe Oh! Susanna! Beaurify) Dreames
Soiree Polka