10

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle

Character is higher than in-
Every great and commanding
tellect. . . . A great soul will be moment in the annals of the
strong to live, as well as to think. world is the triumph of some en-
-Emerson.
thusiasm.—Emerson.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SCREEN

September 19, 1941

year—with "A Woman's Face".
Considering what. the picture has
done for Joan Crawford, per-
By MARIAN SULZBERGER
haps Cukor should be called the
EDITOR'S NOTE—In a breezy, informed style, the author of this "resurrector of women stars".
review of the year touches on the most important pictures,
The term "genitis" is freely
stars, directors,and screen plays of the season.
applied in Hollywood. But I
hope I won't seem unpatriotic
It's time we talked about the
Ten Notable Events of
if I express doubts about Garson
good things Hollywood does, in-
The Movie Year
Kanin's work as director of
stead of harping on that silly
"They Knew What They Want-
attitude of sophistication which
1; Charlie Chaplin in "The ed". He is a private at Fort
sneers at the "Hollywood man-
Great Dictator".
Monmouth, N. J. now, turning
ner". In the first place, in no
2. Jesse Lasky's -comeback out training pictures for Uncle
other industry or art is as much
with "Sergeant York".
Sam. Maybe it was merely
imagination displayed or as much
3. Edward G. Robinson in Laughton, but the picture would
creative talent put into a prod-
"The Sea Wolf".
not be put among the ten best.
uct. In the second place, a few
4. Warner Brothers' "The What a director can do with
Senators have decided to vent
Prime Minister" (life of little material is proved by Joe
their frustration on Culver
Disraeli) , made in Eng- Pasternak, who has taken a
City, Burbank and points adja-
land.
series of superficialities and made
cent thereto. Unable to put over
5. John Garfield in "Out of Deanna Durbin one of the great-
their point of view on America's
the Fog".
est of box-office names. His joh
°reign relations policy, they re-
6. Jack Benny in "Charley's on "Spring Parade" did not.
sort to the ancient device of
Aunt".
however, equal the others he has
looking for scapegoats and they
7. Jerome Cowan in "Vic- done.
think they have found them in
And our Best Wishes for the
tory".
the movie industry.
Fame is fleeting and, there-
8. Production of "Man fore, Orson Welles is hailed as
Recently,
a
dictum
issued
from
New Year. May you and
H u n t", "Underground", the only versatile figure in pic-
Will Hays' office that the screen
"Escape", "So Ends Our tures. Our own Ben Hecht di•1
was interested solely in enter-
yours be blessed with happi-
Night", "Mortal Storm". a job that many think is equally
tainment and not in propaganda.
9. Milton Berle in "Tall, good. Hecht wrote, directed and
Unfortunately, Hollywood has al-
ness and prosperity throughout
produced "Angels Over Broad-
Dark and Handsome.
ways been sensitive on the score
of "propaganda", knowing that 10. Albert Basserman in "A way", the picture that preceded
the coming year!
Douglas Fairbanks' trip to South
Woman's Face".
it was the butt of any collection
America as good will ambass-
of cranks who could get to a
ador. Like Hecht's previous pic-
newspaper column.
job with Gary Cooper in "The
Let's go down the line of en- Westerner". Some critics felt tures, this one had intelligence
tertainment to see what the year the pacing was too slow and the and novelty.
With sprightly comedy the
5701 (fortunately it coincides story too thin, but the same crit-
with the movie year) brought ics chewed their words when, a the keynote of the season, Mit-
chell Leisen has much to be
forth that's worth mentioning.
little later, the same Mr. Wyler proud of in "Arise My Love",
Men's Wear
A Few Directors
presented "The Letter", which which restored to Claudette Col-
Since direction is often con- did wonders for Bette Davis
bert all her native charm. It
sidered the heart of a picture,
Six Seventeen Woodward
set the style for a season's pic-
I should like to mention a few
tures, combining the political and
directors who did topflight work.
the skeptical in the proper doses.
William Wyler did a splendid
Other directorial jobs that
might be mentioned include Mer-
vyn LeRoy's excellent megophon-
ing on "Escape"; Vincent Sher-
man's unusually cerebral direc-
tion of "Flight from Destiny",
one of the better pictures of the
year; Fritz Lang's so-so job on
"Western Union", an epic that
got lost in its title; Norman
Taurog's work with "Men of
Boy's Town"; and, if I will be
permitted a little lowbrow taste,
I choose for high honors Edwin
L. Marin for his sympathetic
handling of Ann Sothern in the
"Maisie" series. It's supposed
to be "quite-quite" to like the
"Maisie" stories, but some more
expensively produced A pictures
haven't done as well in theme
or characterization as Edwin
Marin in his "Maisie Was a
Lady". If Will Hays and Amer-
ica want entertainment — and
they do—"Maisie" is giving it.
Screen Playwrights
The second most important in-
gredient for a good movie is
supposed to be the screen play.
Here are some of my choices
'for merit in that field.
WE TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY OF EX-
Norman Krasna has been the
PRESSING OUR DEEP GRATITUDE FOR
most prolific and, in many ways,
the most successful of the screen
YOUR LOYAL PATRONAGE DURING THE
playwrights. He did such vari-
ous jobs this year as "Mr. and
PAST YEAR . . . PLEASE ACCEPT OUR
Mr. North" for Lombard and
SINCERE WISHES FOR A HEALTHY AND
Montgomery, "The Flame of New
Orleans" for Marlene Dietrich
PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! WE HOPE TO
and "1 he Devil and Miss Jones"
for Jean Arthur. All of them
CONTINUE TO GREET YOU IN THE
were excellent handiwork but
FUTURE!
"The Devil and „Miss Jones",
which Krasna also co-produced,
—ELY ROBINSON.
was undoubtedly the best from
the entertainment point of view.
P. J. Wolfson, who got to
Hollywood by way of some nov-
els, turned out an original in
the form of "Escape to Glory•.
Marx Brothers
Pat O'Brien, who has been com-
and made a star of James Step- plaining about the roles given
henson, who died before he to him by Warner Brothers,
could transform his new success grabbed at the chance to play
into new pictures.
in this study of character and
If honors were being awarded did well in it, too. But Wolfson
for action pictures, Michael Cur- can also do the champagne style,
tiz would probably be first on as he amply proved in his script
Please consider this a per-
the list without contest. Jack for "Vivacious Lady".
London must have rubbed his
sonal invitation to come in
Ile technique of "Penny Sere-
chin in glee when from his heav-
job
enly seat he watched the unroll- nade" was different and the
and review, the authentic
ing of "The Sea Wolf", as grim, of telescoping might have ham-
model rooms, just created.
as moving and as photographic- pered the picture if the individ-
ally moody a picture as Holly- ual scenes had not been prepared
The Opening Sale is now in
wood has produced. In a much as deftly ind as they were by Mor-
lighter and faster vein, Curtiz rie
progress, affording an excep-
critics sneered at "The
also directed "The Sea Hawk",
tional opportunity to secure
which gave some critics the idea Mad Doctor". But for this par-
that Errol Flynn is not only ticular writer, its mood was as
exquisite furniture at a sub-
ominous and its acting as swift
handsome but an actor.
and
intelligent as any this year.
The
most
sensational
come-
stantial savings.
back of the year was staged by Martin Kosleck did an even bet-
Katherine Hepburn. But few ter job of acting in this vehicle
people seem to realize that her than he did in his murderous
director should share credit with "Undergraund". But the credit
her. George Cukor took the for the screen play goes to How-
fluffy material of "The Philadel- ard J. Green.
phia Story" and made it seem
The Bit Actors
to have social significance. But
Open Evenings
The stars always get attention.
Cukor is no one-picture director, But often the "bit" players work
as he has proved year after harder and accomplish more.
year. For my money, he did a That's why I would like to men-
much better job-1n fact, per-
haps the beat melodrama of the
See SCREEN—Page 11

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