Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 34

An Event: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn7 REVIEWS 'Here Come Co-Eds' Vehicle for Abbott and Costello's Talents ORPHEUM PICTURE: Here Co-Eds (Universal). Come the TYPE: Slapstick comedy. PLAYERS: Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Peggy Ryan, Martha O'Driscoll, Donald Cook, Charles Dingle, others. STORY: Abbott and Costello become caretakers at girls' college which Dingle, the mortgage-holder, threatens to close to get rid of Cook, its progressive dean. 5 Creepy Characters Infest LJ 1 II KW Js iHinneapolfe TOtomt IfL 1 8 March 11, 1945 Wpi AT LOOP i THEATERS TsV5 1 Right Now 'House of Frankenstein The comics set out to raise $20,000 to save the school, risk all in a bet on a basketball game.

When a team of professionals is rung in against tlicir school, Costello dons false curls, when knocked on the head imagines he is champion girl player and eventually saves the day. All ends happily. VERDICT: Whether or not you care for the broad comedy of Abbott and Costello, it must be admitted there are plenty violent deaths have tken place you may have the feeling a victim isn't genuinely deceased if he's still all in one piece. This movie is strictly for thriller fans. Personally, we think it's about time for a new type of monster.

Got one around? rillM THE Most oT ynu probably remembrr I.on Chancy and rcc-Ojjnuc l.iin Chancy II, but may not know a Lon Chancy 111, who 1.1, fect tall and weighs 175 Ilia younger brother. 13. Is named Ron Boris Karloff's career In films Is generally dated from his "Frankenstein" (he doesn't play the monster In this one), but as a matter of fact he made many silent pictures and a couple of talkies before that A native of England, tils real name la Charles Edward Pratt Frankenstein's monster, the werewolf and the vampire. Incidentally, are reckoned the three most terrifying fig-urea In fiction Peter Coe was born on Armistice day In 191ft. In Yugoalavla He got Into films by virtue of his stage appearance In "My Sister Eileen" Owner of the skeleton In this film was paid a rental of $50 a week for Its use.

'For Whom the Bell Tolls' in Popular-Priced Showing By ROBERT E. MURPHY who do. They should find an agreeable offering in this film, one of the best of the A. C. offerings.

Cast support is stronger than usual, the pair gets some material bit different from their usual "Who's on tlrst base, what's on second base, routines. Several of the sequences, In fact, had the opening audience in stitches. Several mechanical gags, an A. C. specialty, are telling, there are some interludes of dancing and music, with Phil Spitalny's all-girl orchestra.

Costello has one especially rich comic moment when, in dumb show, he is caught passing off nn old joke as a new one. The man has an uncanny ability in that sort of tomfoolery. If you are an Abbott and Costello fan. this picture is your dish. RLIil.VD THE SCr.NES: Lou Cotello's real name la Cri.itelln.

and he had one previous try In pictures, as a stunt man away hark when He and Abbott teamed up In a theater where Abbott waa an auditor and Costello was doing a single They became a top burlesque team (many good comics came out of burlesque, best school for timing) and you can still Identify many standard burlesque rouUnes, cleaned up of course. In their work Costello Is the most recent outstanding example of application of the "show muat go on" maxim Not long ago his Infant son was accidentally drowned Costello went on the air that night, clowned through a program, then broke down When Abbott told the house what had happened, the house broke down too Peggy Ryan, now 20, crashed Into pictures at 12. but not before considerable experience In vaudeville. It is lighter In flavor than the Ernest Hemingway novel from which it was adapted and underwent some criticism on this score. In its own right, however, it remains an excellent motion picture.

In Technicolor, It is notable for capturing the bright, scoured beauty of altitudinous regions. Playing is uniformly good, a fine musical score aids in setting mood. Pace is leisurely, action deliberate in keeping with its rather ponderous length. BEHIND THE SCENES: Insrtd Bergman was Ernest Hemtngwa'i first choice for this role, but didn't get It until Vera Zortna had been tested and given the part was decided the required hair-rut didn't look right on her. a long time after Mm Bergman waa brought to this country to make "Intermerro." prest agents nurtured the fiction that ahe was an accomplished Until she herself said It wasn't She considers- Slgne Hasso, a fellow countrywoman, to be an all-flred good actress.

Cooper's real name Is Frank J. He went to Grlnnell college down In Iowa, where nobody spotted him as a coming actor, although he did participate In college He Is, offscreen, one of the most un-actorlsh of players, and one of the hardest men In the world to talk to. unless you happen to hit on one of his pet Favorite of tnese. perhaps, is guns Tamiroff. a Russian, has played a Spaniard, a Corslcan, a German, a Chinese, a Frenchman, an East Indian, a Creole, a Mexican, a Portuguese and natlvea of various fictional kingdoms, all with the same accent.

Paxinou. known as Greece's foremost actress, also was nearly as well known there as a TED LEWIS and his familiar trademarks, battered top hat, clarinet and slogan "Is Everybody Happy" returns to Orpheum theater Friday heading a new stage show. Lewis has played Minneapolis probably more regularly than any of the other top rank band leaders. PEGGY ANN GARNER, after three previous film roles, steps up into the top rank of juvenile players with the role of Francie in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," due next week at Radio City theater. The picture is the screen transcription of the Betty Smith novel about the struggle of a poverty-stricken family in a Brooklyn tenement district.

Miss Garner is now 13, and five feet tall. f)RriIKl'M Come Ihe Ceds" with Lou Costello, Bud Abbott. Martha Driscoll, Peggy Ryan. STATE "Winged Victory," with Edmond O'Brirn, Lon Mc Callis.ter, Jeanne Crain, Mark Daniels. RADIO CITY "Practically Yours," with Fred MacMurray, Claudette Colbert, Gil Lamb, Robert Benchley.

CENTURY "To Have and Have Not," with Humphrey Bo-gart, Lauren Bacall. LYRIC "Hollywood Canteen," with Robert Hutton, Dane Clark, Warner Brothers stars. WORLD "Dead End." with Humphrey Bogart, Marjorie Main, Dead End Kids. GOPHER "House of Frankenstein," with Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, J. Carroll Naish.

NEWSREEL Curent news-, reels, topical short subjects. ASTER "Adventures of Kitty O'Day," with Jean Parker, Peter Cookson, and "Alaska," with Kent Taylor, Margaret Lindsay. PALACE Today and Monday, "This Is the Life." with Donald O'Connor, and "Shadows of Suspicion." Tuesday, Wednesday, "Women in Bondage," with Nancy Kelly, and "Waterfront," with John Carradine. Thursday, Friday, "Goin to Town," with Lum and Abner, and "Call of the South Seas." Starting Saturday, "Heavenly Days," with Fibber McGee and "Cowboy Senorita." PANTAGKS Today and Monday, "Young and Willing," with Eddie Bracken, Susan Hayward, Tuesday, Wednesday, "Mme. Curie," with Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon.

Thursday, Friday, "Bahama Passage," with Stirling Hayden, Madeleine Carroll. Starting Saturday, "Come Live with Me," with Hedy Lamarr, James Stewart. Coming ORPHEI'M On stage, Ted Lewis and his orchestra. On screen. "Circumstantial Evidence," with Michael O'Shea, Lloyd Nolan, Trudy Marshall.

STATE "For Whom the Bell Tolls," with Gary Cooper, In-grid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff. RADIO CITY "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn," with Dorothy Mc-Guire, James Dunn, Peggy Ann Garner, Joan Blondell. GOPHER "Blond Fever," with Philip Dorn, Mary Astor. ASTER "Delinquent Daughters," with June Carlson, Fifi Orsay, and "The Big Bonanza," with Richard Arlen, Jane Frazee. By ROBERT E.

MURPHY ADAPTATION of novels for cinema purposes in many cases hasn't been too successful. In any number of instances the process has engendered complaints that the original story was distorted or limited by its transposition to the screen and there are classic examples in which little was left of the story but its title. It is a pleasure to report at this time, therefore, that in nt least two recent cases the motion pictures may be adjudged by a large section of the public better than their parent books. The pictures are "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." adapted from the Betty Smith novel, and "Keys of the Kingdom." made from the A. J.

Cronm story. "ArTree Grows in Brooklyn. due next week at Radio City theater, will come most immediately to the attention of the Minneapolis public and what Twentieth Century-Fox has done to the novel may be considered a credit to the motion picture lndust ry. The novel, you may recall, told of the struggle of a family against the poverty of a Brooklyn tenement district, and of the symbol which a lone tree, growing neglected in an area-way, becomes to a little girl who is central figure of th story. The father, a singing waiter.

Is an ineffectual dreamer who dies of alcoholism and pneumonia when at last he makes a serious effort to get a job. The mother, a woman of fierce ambition, loses touch with affection in her effort to cling to each detail of advancement. Their son is a healthy youngster wno takes poverty In stride. In the daughter, played by Pegffy Ann Garner, however, there is a spark of talent and a precocious comprehension which, at length, serves to keep the family together when ifs reverses are seemingly insurmountable. The picture covers only part of the period included In the book, but in restricting its scop creates an achievement in condensation.

Sincere direction, first class playing throughout and expert production which includes a good re-creation of an earlier-day Brooklyn tenement section, make of the film something of an event. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. along with her performance in the still-to-be-seen "Enchanted Cottage," should make of Dorothy McGuire one of the most respected of cinema actresses. She gives intelligence and depth to a role which, in the handi Brooklyn (Continued on A'cxf Prtg'f Ted Lewis Due Friday at Orpheum Ted Lewis, named one of th five greatest showmen of mod. em times in a recent poll, bring his orchestra to Orpheum theater stage Friday for a week's engagement.

Others named in the poll wer Enrico Caruso, Will Rogers. John Barrymore and Charles Chaplin. Lewis is considered symbolic of the field of dance music, in which he became a leader after a career embracing jobs in a small town nickelodeon, tent shows, carnivals, burlesque and small-time vaudeville before hi click in the big time. He is known as one of the most imitated performers in show business his clarinet, top hat, talking song delivery and fluttery gestures are props and mannerisms ready at hand for the impersonator. His tagline "Is everybody happy?" has been a catchline in show business for years.

Lewis sticks generally to the sweeter style of music, coloring it with his own touches of personality. Several variety acts will appear on his bill here, and accompanying picture will "Circumstantial Evidence," with Michael O'Shea and Lloyd Nolan. Swedish Film on Ly ceum Screen The Swedish picture "Karl Fredrik Regerar" (Karl Fredrik Reigns) will be shown today at Lyceum theater, continuously from 2:30 p.m. With English subtitles. th picture stars Sigurd Wallen.

with Dora Carlsteon, Gull-Maj. Norin, Hugo Bjorne, Paulin Brunius and Dagmar Ebbesen. TIME TABLE Here are starting times of features at first run loop theaters: WINOF.D VICTOBT" (State) 11:30, 1 50, 4:20. S0, 9 30 "TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT" (Century! 11, 3: IS, 25. 9 45.

"FRACTICAI4.Y YOl RS" (Radio Cltyl IX 2. 4. 6. 8. 10.

"HOLLYWOOD AVTF.EW" (Lyric! 11 25. 2. 4:30. 7:05. :40.

"HOI'SK OF FRAXKRttKTFIV" (GTherl 11. 12 3Y 3:25. 4:15, 6 10. S. "nun rsD" iwosidt 10.

so, i ,35, 3 v. 5 05. M. "HFRF. COMF.

TIIK CO-FDV (Orpheunul 11:45. 1 45. 3:50. 550. 7:55.

10 "AnVKNTl RES OF KITTY nV" (Aer 11. 1:30. 4. :30, 9 -ALASKA" 12 10, 2 40. 10.

7:45. 10 15 "MFFT ME T. LOITS" (Uptown) 3. 6.20. 7.35.

9.50. STATE (Coming Friday) riCTlTRE: For Whom the Bell Tolls (Paramount). TYPE: Political romantic drama. PLAYERS: Gary Cooper, In-grid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou, many others. STORY: Cooper, American working with Spanish republican forces, is assigned to blow up mountain bridge, joins guerrilla band headed by Tamiroff.

Here he finds Bergman and falls in love with her. He is compelled to put up with Tamiroff's vacillation, at length is forced to trust him. Plans go awry, blowing the bridge is a costly process. Making his escape, Cooper is hit. He orders Bergman and rest of party to go on, stations himself in a pass to fight off pursuers until death.

VERDICT: Having finished its road show engagements, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" next week goes on display as a reg. ular popular-priced attraction. It is the type of thing which an interval of a couple of years won't hurt. Pictures Are Getting Longer, But Few Register Objections mond-shaped hole when negative film is spliced can't cure with YOU MAY note, some night when you go to a movie, that you spent an unsconscionable length of time in the theater, but you may note further that it didn't seem so long until you looked at your watch. The increasing length of photoplays is one of the current signs of cinematic evolution.

There may be objections to this trend from those accustomed to a program length of two hours or less, but a little research GOPHER PICTURE: House of Frankenstein (Universal). TYPE: Horror melodrama. PLAYEKS: Boris Karloff. Lon Chaney, John Carradine, Glen Straqge, J. Carroll Naish, Anne Gwynne, others.

PLAYERS: Karloff, mad doc-tor, escapes from prison with Naish, killer hunchback. Karloff digs up Frankenstein records, reclaims the wolf man and Frankenstein monster from beds of ice, also sets Dracula loose again. What a bunch of creeps. Dracula comes to grief, the ape man is killed by his sweetheart after he fatally wounds her, the monster kills the hunchback, then he and the crazy medico get all mixed up in some quicksand. A census taken at this period reveals the monster stockpile to be thoroughly depleted.

Good thing, too. VERDICT: What this horror film lacks in novelty, it makes up for in population. Five screwballs of one kind or another go around cooking people's geese, and it is a matter of note that their just deserts are of such nature they can be revived If need be. Considering the kind of business this type of film does, that's likely'. The Dracula incident Is rather dragged in by the heels, and you may be rather piqued at Karloff for not keeping the lad around a bit longer.

The customary pseudo-scientific nonsense goes into sequences dealing with other of the boogey-men, and low-key lighting and skillful multiple lap dissolves aid in heightening the mood. By the time a dozen or so 'Dead A Reissue, Still Fresh WORLD TICTURE: Dead End (Film Classics). TYPE: Character drama. rLAYERS: Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, Claire Trevor, Marjorie Main, Allen Jenkins, Dead End Kids. STORY: Bogart, a killer, returns to his tenement home, is roundly cussed by Main, his mother, is warned to get out by McCrea, boyhood acquaintance.

He sticks around, however, succeeds in putting some dangerous ideas in heads of the neighborhood moppets, a tough lot. When he tries to kill McCrea, however, McCrea survives, manages in turn to kill Bogart, thereby making himself eligible for reward money. This accomplished, his affections turn away from Barrie to Sidney, who has been fighting her own battle with poverty. VERDICT: Originally issued in 1937, this film is one of the happiest choices for reissuing. A big-time, stirring picture in its day, it has lost none of its impact, is dated only in the item of feminine fashions.

There are in it many sequences which will remain memorable In cinema history. Seldom have bitterness and contempt been better expressed on the screen than by Main when she denounces her killer son. The Dead End Kids brought something new to the screen. The intervening years have dimmed their group performance not a bit. If you didn't see "Dead End" when originally issued, you missed something.

If you did, it is likely you can savor it all over again. It is one of the best examples extant of the type of story which emerges from setting. The new program of reissuing older films can be consistently happy if all the material for reissue is of the caliber of "Dead End." BEHIND THE SCENES: NmM of th Dead End Kldi are Billy Halop. Leo Gorcey. Bobby Jordan.

Bernard Punsly. GabrlM D-ll and Huntz Hall. All of them went on to other rolea, with or without the Dead End Klria dealgnatlon, Goreey. Halop and Jordan being moat aurreiiful In that respect When PE Klda trew out of their rolea. aeveral almllar combination! aucceeded them and ancne of them (Eait Side Klda.

IJttle Tough Guya. etc.) are a till going. In antna caaea sparked by members of the original group produces evidence that what ever faults a super-movie may have are well outbalanced by its good points. To get statistical about it, of 284 pictures available for showing at the moment (they run, incidentally, a total length of 22,985 minutes), 19 are of two hours length or more. Which means that when you add a news-reel, as necessary an item to a motion picture program as bread is to a meal, and a short subject or two, you have a program of two hours and a half longer.

The average length of the 284 pictures is about 81 minutes. The list, incidentally, includes a lot of shoot-and-run westerns in the 60 -minute -or -so length, which brings the average down. Of the list, 121 are longer than average, and of the really long ones, the longest are the British "Col. Blimp," just made available in this country 163 minutes, and "Since You Went Away," 171 minutes. Others on the list are "Wilson," 154 minutes; "Winged Victory," 130 minutes; "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," 128 minutes; "Two Girls and a Sailor," 124 minutes; the Mexican "Two Orphans," 135 minutes; "Mr.

Skeffington," 127 minutes; "Mrs. Parkington," 124 minutes; "Objective Burma," 142 minutes; "National Velvet," 123 minutes; "They Shall Have Music," a reissue, an even two hours; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," 140 minutes; "Dragon Seed," 148 minutes; "For Whom the Bell Tolls," just going into its popular price run, 158 minutes; another reissue, "Goldwyn Follies," 120 minutes; "Hollywood Canteen," 124 minutes; "Keys of the Kingdom," 137 minutes; "American Romance," 122 minutes, and there are other long ones coming up. positive film. It was envisioned that exhib itors might object because longer films gave them opportunity for less performances a day, consequently less turnover. It may be seen, however, that most of the super-length films are good ones.

"Gone With the Wind" even got away with a running time of more than three and one-half hours. The exhibitors haven't suffered. Increased attendance has more than made up for fewer showings. Greater length has encouraged producers to make stories they wouldn't attempt if restricted to an hour and a half's length. And, while the double-feature has never been a problem here, the long film is sounding its death knell in other cities.

The theater man just can't coax the public in to sit through four or five hours of even excellent entertainment. Triple and even quadruple features they were tried in some towns are definitely out. It Is undeniable that sitting through some of the longer offerings may be slightly numbing, anatomically. Perhaps the theater seat manufacturers will take care of this after the war. For the time being the producer counts on his film's Interest to counteract your tendency to become molded in a sitting position.

According to the record, he seems to, be right. We personally have no bent friends. R.E.M. Columbia Sets Party Marking Anniversary Columbia Pictures exchange at 1100 Currie avenue Friday will join with other exchanges through the country in observing 20th anniversary of affiliation of Abe Montague, general sales manager for Columbia, with the company. A party will begin at 4 p.m.

in exchange offices when H. J. Chapman, branch manager, cuts a birthday cake at the same hour similar observances are launched in other exchanges. Montague will be honored in New York. Walter Winchell Says- THE MAGIC LANTERNS: Warner Brothers have beaten the Russians to Berlin with a swift meller: "Hotel Berlin." Set in the cemetery which used to be a city the film traps the Master Rats whose harks are now against the wall they crawled out of "Bring On the Girls" is a technlcolor-diller musi-comedy about she-nick sailors on a furlough in a shape-ahoy mood.

Veronica Uke Is the eye-filly Movieville entered Oarar Wilde's gallery of literary Remhrandts and provided a celluloid frame for "The Picture of Dorian Gray." The cinema packs all the spine-tingling wallop of a scream in the night "I Love a Mystery" gets caught with its suspense down. The spook stuff offers some chills, but most of it leaves you cold "Crime Doctor's Courage" proves that crime doesn't pay. But what about the crime of having people pay to see this smelluloid? A western, "Big Bonanza" gives audiences an opportunity to put themselves to sleep counting horses instead of sheep. THE WIRELESS: The all female round table, "Listen to the Women," displayed remarkable candor. One lady blandly confessed she had been madly in love 10 times.

Girls! Cary Grant wooed and won the gal in a romantic radio drama the same night his second split with his wife was made public "The Thin Man" is adult entertainment The Nazis are reeling, but we can't easy-chair our way to VE-day. Newscaster Y. Sheean offered this grim reminder: The greatest number of American casualties in the last war came during the last two months when the Germans were already secretly dickering for an armistice. THE PRESS BOX: The New York Times recalled that the Mikado once said, "if Japan allied herself with Germany, American planes would fly over Tokyo." That marks the one and only time Hirohito has been right The shopworn dictatorship bogey was dusted off and used as an argument against the night club curfew. Nothing could be more shameful and ludicrous.

They wail about dictatorship when they're simply asked to make an innocuous sacrifice for those fighting to protect their liberty. It used to be that when an exhibitor objected to the length of a picture, or had to cut even one of moderate length to suit his convenience, it was no trick at all to scissor out several sequences, run the picture, splice them back in and forget about it. Now, however, if anyone so much as cuts a frame of film, there is a howl from the distributor. With sound, it just can't feasibly be done. Film is projected at the rate of 24 frames per second.

There is a gap of 19 frames 1924ths of a second between picture and sound track. Consequently an actor who could rattle off 300 words per minute might say four or five words in that Interval out of synchronization. While his lips said tenderly "I love you," the sound track might conceivably say "Aaaah shut up!" There is, also, a distinguishable "bloop" heard as the splice passes through the sound mechanism, which a bloop punch a gadget which punches out a dla- VlW.