The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-01-26
War Is HoNywood:s No. I Star;
Director And Producer Today
BY HARLOW CHURCH
NEA Services staff Correspondent
First Of fhraa SinriarA

There is only one really impor-
tant star above the Movietown
horizon for l943-and that is
Mars. He's not only the leading
star, but the No. director and
producer, too.
The War God is riding hard
over the film world. He has pref
ty we'll smashed the old star
system and lavish traditions of
gayer era. He has showed doz-
ems of masculine favorites off
the contract lists, knocked down
production costs. and indirectly
has upset the whole scale of en-
tertainment values. Also. War is
planning to steal most of the
pictures and dominate most of
the plots during the new year.
However. all such ruthless
operations have turned out to be
very stimulating to the movie
industry, which in spite Of its
fractured precedents is making
more money than ever in its
gilded. goofy history. These
days, the only thing reminiscent
of the old Hollywood is the wild
money-scramble for the best
possible story material-pre-
tested best sellers, smash must
Gals and hit dramas
For instance. 20th-Fox put
100000 on the line for John
Steinbeck's book, The Moon
is Down, and Paramount she'll
ed out S280,000 for the play,
Lady in the Dark. Neither
sum included the considerable
cost of rewriting the properties
into filmable form
Lacking balanced teams of
established players for sales-ap-
peal. the studios are substituting
familiar stories for familiar
faces. The new formula itself is
a substitute for the star system,
which depended on big names,
costly production and ballyhoo.
Today, the story's the thing, and
most of the stories are about
war.
A glance down the Hollywood
shooting schedule shows the
trend: Watch on the Rhine
They Were dependable, Cry
Havoc, Flight Surgeon
Stage Door Canteen", "Bataan
Patrol. Warmers has just finish
ed Edge Of Darkness and now
is filming Ambassador Joseph E.
Davies book. Mission to Mos
cow. Metro lists a drama simp-
" titled Russia for Greta Gar
DO and Walter Pidgeon. Gregor
Ziemer's Education for Death .
is before the RKO cameras, with
"Hitlers Children for a title.
At least so such pictures are
in some stage Of preparation in
Hollywood, Studio writer's who
are not adapting books or plays
are busily scanning newspaper
headlines and whipping zap topl-
cal stories such as "Swing-Shl
Maisie." Private Miss Jones,
Five Graves to Cairo and
Alaska Highway Probably the
high in up-to-d date drama will
be Republics Victory Fleet
extolling the ship-yard workers
and centering around Henry j.
Kaiser. The super-builder will
not appear in the film but Will
approve the actor who imper-
sonateS him.
MILITARY HORSE OPERA
Even the sagebrush thrillers
are taking on war backgrounds.
In Idaho, Roy Rogers will run
down a crooked gambling ring
that opens in his territory to
fleece defense workers in
tungsten mine. A new chapter
melodrama is called tracking
Hitler's Saboteurs. In his next
adventure. Tarzan and his anil
NAL pals wreck an Axis expedi-
ton in the jungle.
Over at the Disney mouse
and duck factory, the Seven
Dwarfs are being lured out OF
retirement to star in a good
neiphbor movie called The
Winged Scpurge', about the
fight against malaria IN the
tropics. Donald Duck is becom-
ing a parachute trooper. And the
Gremlins are going into action
in another cartoon.
Seekers of escapist entertain
ment may find quite a few war