The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 7

THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1945. THEATRE VOL. CLXXIV. No. 252 'Father' Tours Again The eighth national tour of Life With Father got underway this week when a company headed by Nydia Wrestman and Carl Benton Reid opened at Ford's Theatre.

Baltimore, for an engagement cf one week. After subsequent stops in Philadelphia and Detroit. the troupe will continue westward oa its coast-to-coast jaunt. IT SAYS By BOB HOPE JAMES CAGNEY vs. JAPAN i 11,1 11 Fighting Star Matched Against Empire 'Blood on the Sun' 'Bataan' Re-visited TViintre nr rpallw Hiffprpnt VtPrp in the United States since the war By HERBERT ended when I neara tnat gas rationing was off, I was so thrilled I filled up the tank of my car and itrnvo nrminH the hack vard of the finance company for two hours.

ctinpa trao rationing has ended. people are sure using the automo-hilQ a Int mnrp. Yesterdav I saw a streetcar with the motorman riding fj 5WIWAMS inside The gas situation is really better. rlrnvs intn a pas Station this morning and said to the attendant, "Will you please clean my windshield?" and he said, "What with regular or Ethyl? The gas shortage never bothered me. thou eh.

I used cleaning fluid in the car in fact, I had the only auto in Hollywood that could hit a pedestrian ana ary- clean him at tne same time. (Copyright, 1945. King Features Syndicate, Inc.) lJ Melchlor SS TOMMY Guide to Theatres a good start. These are follow- 'K tVli by a scene showing Jap soldiers IStM Ji II to ed (Saturday Schedules Only.) r.rnrvv'K "Thrill of a Romance" over a Philippine village i 1 IJ rrVr'S J'' JF takin. at 10.50.

1.35. 4.20. 7.00, 7.45. schoo I and stringing up its pnnci- a- vSL. i -'I! I to the flagpole when he re- ns V.

'V "i l' pa fuses to lower the American flag. Lr vl. KV I As the guerillas start out on their first job of snbotagc, they witness ft vii. iJs Vf, the death march of the American SL Si taken at isataan. wjr-r i try nrisoners tically re-enacted, WHITTAKER Cagney.

The very hunch of his shoulders, the way his arms come forward and the set of the head all proclaim Mr Cagney a immature Superman. However the pugnacious ways of thio star rarely pall on us, for there is sound technique and genuine temperament behind his performances. The highlight of the film for Cag-nev fans is certainly the lengthy fight sequence which climaxes its action. Here Cagney engages a large and formidable Jap police captain in a contest of judo, to be fought to the death. True to the Red, White and Blue, Cagney wins out eventually by applying American methods.

Returning to the screen after some years of absence is Sylvia Sydney, who plays opposite the star as the beautiful half-caste, and is given co-star billing. Miss Sydney looks very handsome in her semi-Oriental gowns and provocative eye-tilt. She comes through nicely in the acting line, too, although the part is- scarcely a demanding one. The rest of the supporting cast is satisfactory, few of them recognizable behind their trick (and effective) make-ups. I did catch a glimpse of an old friend.

Robert Armstrong, behind Colonel Tojo's spectacles but that was all. Under the direction of veteran Frank Lloyd. Blood On The Sun comes through as an original and well-paced adventure film, with plenty of authentic-seeming atmosphere and some smartly-crackling lialogue. And, of course. Mr.

Cagney is just the man to crackle that dialogue. "BACK TO BATAAN" AT THE PRINCESS RKO release of Robert Fellows production, directed by Edward Dymy-tryk. Story by Aeneas MacKenzle and William Godon adapted to the screen by Ben Barzman and Richard Landau. Characters Players Colonel Madden. Wayne Captain Bonifacio.

Quinn Miss Barnes Beulah Bond! Dalisay Fely Franquelll Major Hasko Loo Colonel Kurokt Philip Ahn Set. Biernesa J. Alex Havier Maximo "Ducky" Louie Wsite. Tierney General Homma Leonard Strong Jackson Paul Fix Jap Abner Biberman Senor Bella. Sokoloff Here's another strong action film, with imaginary events cleverly blended with modern historic ones to provide first-rate entertainment.

It concerns the work of the Filipino people to speed the return of General MacArthur and their own subsequent rescue. Daring the perilous months which followed the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, the Filipinos are shown accepting the command of an American colonel and under him carrying on a warfare of sabotage. Strong opening scenes, showing the crumpling of American forces against the overwhelming odds of the Japanese, get the picture off iSLOOD OX THE SUN" AT THE CAPITOL United Artists release of William Cawney nroductlon, directed by Frank Lloyd. Story by Garrett Fort, adapted by Lester Cole. Characters Players Nick Condon James Cagney Ins Hilhard Svlvia Sidney Ollie Miller Wallace Ford Edith Miller.

De Camp Col. Tojo Robert Armstrong Premiere Tanaka Emery Kijikata Strong Prince Tatsugi Frank Puslia Ciipt Oshiina Halloraa Kajioka Hugh Ho Yamamoto Philip Ahn Hayashi Joseph Kim Yamada Marvin MucL'er Josf-ph Cassell. Rhys Williams Arthur HickeU Porter Hail Charley Sprague. James Bell Amah Grace Lern Chines Servant Oy Chan Hotel Manager George Pans Johnny Clarke Hueh Beaumont James Cagney's second independent production easily tops iis first. Johnny Come Lately, and should help to out the tough little Irishman back at the top of the movie list.

For one thing It has a hardhitting and original story into which the star's familiar portrayal of a cocky little fighter fits as if it had been written for him, which it was. Take one Cagney (there' only nne) and set him down in pre-war Tukvo as the managing editor of the English-speaking newspaper there. Have him stumble onto the trail of the Jap plan of world domination, have him meet up with a beautiful half-caste, pile innumerable spies on his back and you've got the makings of a very punchy picture. Cagney knows the value of a good story, and make sure that the situations provided for him are no mere concoctions of the hackney script writer. The whole background of the Jap plan is backed up by fact, although naturally Carney's own part in the film is a little on the fictitious side.

The plan is the Tanaka Memorial, devised by Baron Giichi Tanaka as the blueprint for Japanese militarists' world-wide ambition. This was the plan that was set in operation in Manchuria, was followed by Shanghai and the shock attack on Pearl Harbor. The result of that last "unfortunate incident" we all know It is the film's contention that the Tanaka Memorial was smuggled out of Japan by the beautiful half-caste and taken to China. In real life the plan was certainly submitter! by Chinese representatives to the League Of Nations. Shocked Japanese claimed it was a forgery, and the League of Nations closed its eyes as the Japs went richt ahead.

The blending of the real incident of the Tanaka Memorial and the imaginary action of the film is beautifully handled, leaving you quite thoroughly convinced that Mr, Cagney is about to save the world and avert Pearl Harbour, despite previous information. We can't think of anyone who looks more likely to tackle the Japanese Empire sin'gTe-handed than this Mr. PALACE "Nob Hill," at 11.15. 1.55, 4.30, 7.10, 9.15. CAPITOL "Blood On The Sun," at 11.00, 1.40.

4.25, 7.10, 10.00; "Swing It Sister," at 10.00,. 12.35. 3.20, 6.10, 8.50. PRINCESS "Back to Bataan," at 10 00. 1.05.

4 00, 8.55, 9 50; "Radio Stars On Parade," at 11.50, 2.45. 5.40, 8.35. IMPERIAL "Valley of Decision" and "Woman In Green ORIMIEUM "Le Sergeant York" at 10.20. 1.05. 3.50.

6.30. 9.15. ibfssi 74 Frisco! roisterous with the razzle-dazzle of its wildest and most VICTORY "Women In Bondage" colorful era! 'i- -r2 A- GEORGE RAFT and isiacK uragons. SNOWDON "The Clock and "Tell It To A Star." YORK "Out Of This World" and "Ten Cents A Dance." WESTMOUNT "Diamond Horseshoe" and "Boston Blackie Booked On Suspicion." MONKLAND A Pleasure and "Escape In The Desert." KENT "Resurrection" and "When Ladies Meet." STAGE HIS MAJESTY'S Jose Ferrer presents "Strange Fruit" at 8.30 p.m. Matinee at 2.30 p.m.

GUY STREET PLAYHOUSE Mnntrool Rrurtrirv Theatre nre- 0AN BENNETT VIVIAN BLAINE Peggy Ann GARNER JAMES CAGNEY partakes of a little Oriental hospitality In the scene at the top, it being one of the few quiet moments of Blood On The Sun, now at the Capitol. Sylvia Sydney is the lady on the right. In the lower picture Vivian Blaine, greets Peggy Ann Garner upon her arrival at George Raft's saloon for the beginning of Nob Hill, the Palace's offering. The top-hatted character is Jack Reed, Fallstaff Oppernshaw of the radio. The fictional story picks up from there pretty well, with Wayne trying to rally the discouraged islanders around a descendant of a famous Filipino hero, Bonafaclo.

The Bonafacio descendant is suffering from depression himself, believing nis girl to bo aiding the Japs. It later proves that she is really double-crossing the conquerors and all is well. The screenplay, while concentrating on action, is better is usually found in action films. An excellent touch is the introduction of the character of a middle-aged school marm into the guerilla camp. This is the role played by the reliable Beulah Bondi.

Anthony Quinn playa the descendant of the Filipino hero with one Fely Fran-quelli as his lady love. The picture is well produced, with the fighting scenes quite exciting. In one moment of it an explosion blows John Wayne right out of a shell hole in front of your very eyes. It's the fastest move this actor has ever made. N()B AT THE PALACE 20th Century-Fox release of Andre Daven production, directed by Henry Hathaway.

Screenplay by Wanda Tuchock and Norman Rellly Raine, Characters Players Tony George Raft Harriet Carrufhers Joan Bennett Sally Tempieton Vivian Blaine Kattie Flanagan Peggy Ann Garnel Dapper Jack Harrlgan Alan "Falstuff Openshaw" Reed Joe B. S. Pully At the Piano Emil Coleman Lash Carruthers Edgar Barrier Specialty. Joa Smith and Charles Dale Rafferty George Anderson Fighting Bartender Don Costello Headwaiter Joseph J. Greene Cabby J.

Farrell MacDonald Specialty The Three Swifts Big Tim William Hande Chines Servants Beal Wong, George T. Lee Jose Frank McCown Butlef Robert Greig Chlpa Colon Gharles Cane SJjpw Girls. O'Hara, Dorothy Ford Luigi Nestor Paly a Housekeeper Anita Bolster Ruby Jane Jones Swedish Sailors Otta Reichow. Hueo Bore. Geoce sents "Vicerov Sarah," at 8.45 p.m.

when Miss Nob Hill admits she's iust looking for a little excitement Matinee at 2.30 p.m. GAYETY Two shows daily. CABARET. But the real true love of the hero is waiting for him, her heart of gold thumping beneath her humble THE SAMOVAR Two Shows spangles. Begorra.

it's all a sorry mess, in Nightly. EL MOROCCO Two Shows dade, when the little colleen runs awav from the saloon where she Nightly ESQUIRETwo Shows Nightly. GABYCOOPEK has as hero the owner of the toughest gambling joint on the whole of the Barbary Coast. Like the others nearly all the action takes place in this same gambling joint. Like the others, its heroine is a girl who sings and who is the Toast of Old Frisco, (She can also be referred to as the flame of the Barbary Coast, or was that just last week?) Like the others there is a touch of politics, with somebody trying to get control of the Coast by.

fair means or foul. Now within the rigid frame of these matters, a little leeway is allowed in each story. One version of the 'Frisco story has a heroine that's a choir girl, looking for a long-lost brother. Another has the hero originally a Westerner, taking over the Barbary Coast for love of the singing lady. This one introduces a little Irish immigrant girl who goes about softening the hearts of men with tales of her sainted grandmother, begorra.

It's one of the more sickly variations. The little girl fits quickly into the gambling joint, melting George Raft's stony heart with one flick of her brogue. Then the winsome miss introduces her new conquest to a high-born lady of Nob Hill, the Westmount of the West Coast. The pretty little Irish lass happily fosters a romance between the Nob Hill lady and the Barbary Coast gent, then has to un-foster it again i mid WALTE? BRENNAN -JOAN LESLIE i now SHOWING 0K mmtm Blagol. I it 0 Somehow or the other a great many pictures about old San Francisco Beem to have been creeping up on us lately.

This makes for montonous picture-going, for one 'Frisco film is very, very much like another 'Frisco film. This one is no exception, for all its Technicolor. Like the others It 4 fJfT'i mm jjmi mm0 0 1 mifur-rr THE JAP5 ATTHEIR Hmmy odds Jcp judo to ni bej of fght'f 3 fricki ei ft bott'et I tne sons ef Nippon In tht Jl'DY OAKLAND rnd Robert Walker are the babes in the woods Manhattan jn their latest film, The Clock, currently on the Snowdon Rf'rrrn. '-lzry'-: 4 greatest of oil -AV" Jtfti vj-V 'WH't Qtrfyrtf rry-ffl- has made her home, on account of her failure as a matrimonial broker. Now, one thinks, here comes the earthquake and fire, right on schedule.

No picture of Old 'Frisco is complete without it. Any minute now, we know, the camera will direct our eyes on a calendar showing the date to be April 18, 1906 at which point the background music will strike an omin-t us lingering chord find the chandelier will st.j"t swinging. That's where Nob Hill fools you, for there just isn't any earthquake in it! This is the picture's- one bid for novelty, for up to that point every cliche pertaining to the dialogue, character and action of San Francisco pictures has been respected. Instead, the little girl gets lost in Frisco's Chinatown and is so frightened that she scoots all the way up to Nob Hill, where she is found by the hero and his girl. A happy ending is had by all.

What can one say about the acting of Nob Hill? It is every. bit as bad as the picture Mr. Raft's performance of the gambling-den owner is paper-thin, and the Raft dead-pan manner was never less dramatically suiled to a story. Vivian Blaine, for all her red hair, her winks, nods, skippings, flounc-ings and flirtings is quite colorless, with only a neat pair of legs to commend her to the attention. What Joan Bennett is doing in the picture is anybody's guess working out her contract is mine.

And a.t for Peggy Ann Garner, well, her work here as the pint-sized Peg O' My Heart is enough to make you forget entirely her good performance in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. Oh yes, the picture is handsomely bedecked and there are songs rung in from time to time. But these things can't really distract from the stupidity of it all. Set in Wartime Burma Take a group of men from far-flung corners of the world, place them in a convalescent ward of a General Hospital in faraway Burma with a pretty nuurs ng sister, and you find a combination of laughter and tears, gaiety and gallantry, tense, touching and tender. So says the author of The Hasty Hearty Heart.

Trinity Players will present this play in Trinity Memorial Hall, on October 31, November 1, 2 and 3. Half of the net proceeds will be donated to the Queen's Canadian Fund. Choose 'Best Seller' The Alpine Players have chosen as their first production of the season. Best Seller a play they believe is different, extremely well-written and affords every member of the cast an opportunity to shine in his or her respective part. Rehearsals are now under way, and the play will be presented in the near future.

Divorce, a new Monogram film, stars Kay Francis and Bruce Cabot. tU27f- AT -r i X--- Wtml "yx "At. HO TOcSTWfc IMMORTAL CLASSIC I a nnsumincvisij MOTORS GENERATORS SWITCHBOARDS TRANSFORMERS" ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENTS RECTIFIERS HARLANO SECTIONAL PAPER MACHINE DRIVES 11 TOPMfcH AN HA STEW 1 tfUA 1 1 mM 1 1 Added: Latest V'nlversal Newsreel LATE SHOW TONIGHT AT 9.4J ANADAMLIMITED rur- fin 1 4 -rvrtrvit TORONTO MONTREAL ORKER GAR SON GREGORY PECK wi ph Kmr'tf tyysuiy Til" fV 1 -e "THE VALLEY OF DECISION" fi mm Added Feature "THE WOMAN IN GREEN' SHOWING MMMMMWHMnal mm THE SOUTHERNER Added Feature BEDSIDE MANNER" 7160 UW'A 4i rSV ict DAILY mt 1 IP ST 30 P.M. sat- uoici rvr shows AT UNITED THEATRES CW a I EDDIE BRAC- A' 1 i KEN VKR- Ns onica Lake and DIANA LYNN in "Out Of This World," with Jane Frazee and Jlmmv Llovd. Starts Sunday: "WITHOUT Also "EVE KNEW HER TODAY 'STAGE STARS OF 1946" TO ALL WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL REACH: The country is launching another loon which is indispensable for the administration of public affairs.

The post-war problems require expenditures which the Government must face including those attributed to social legislation, demobilization and commitments made to our soldiers as measures to re-establish them with the least possible hardship in civilian life. In order to do this, the authorities have presently but two means at their disposal: taxes and loans. If the lost-named does not meet with the success expected of it, not only will our taxes not be lowered but they will of necessity be Increased. To assure the success of the loon we must be come enthusiastic about it. There is nothing, in my opinion, so apt to kindle popular enthusiasm as flogs flying in the wind throughout the Metropolis.

The National War Finance Committee has suggested that the Mayors of the Island of Montreal recommend to the public, by proclamation, that they fly flogs at the mast-heads of their dwellings, offices ond other establishments during the whole duration of the loan drive, from October 22nd next. I hope that the Montreal public will accede to this request by flying flags everywhere from Monday next ond thereafter. Might I add, in conclusion, thot our duty lies in doing our utmost so that this first Peace Loan moy succeed ond I appeal to the public as a whole to subscribe generously. CAMILLIEN HOUDE, Mayor of Montreal. 1 irnw waynejP A BEULAH BONDI fllY FRANQUELLI iEONARD STBONQ GRABLE In ZZ, I- MONDAY ROSITA ROYCE AND HER "Doves of Peace" and others in Jn TECHNICOLOR with Dick Hay-mes.

"BOSTON BLACKIE BOOKED ON with Chester Morris and Lynn Merrick. wren? with Michael "ESCAPE IN THE with Philip Dorn, Helmut Dantine and Irene Manning. WINE, WOMEN AT THE TOP a young Filipino boy gets pushed around py a Jap conqueror, while his school principal stands by with a rope around his neck. This is in Back To Bataan at the Princess. Down below, Esther Williams, Van Johnson and Frances Gifl'ors sit around in Thrill Of A Romance, in its second week at Loew's.

AND SARONG'.