Jemima
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
JohnHowardReid
Richard Arlen (Dick McManus), Andy Devine (Andy Tompkins), Dorothy Lovett (Norma Bishop), Janet Shaw (Gwendy), Jack Arnold (Bradford), Gus Schilling (Grimshaw), Ralf Harolde (Ritter), Richard Terry (Berke), Robert Winkler (Mopey), Tim Ryan (Momsen), James Morton (exposition guard), Gladys Blake (secretary), William Forrest (Chandler).Director: LEW LANDERS. Screenplay: Alex Gottlieb. Story: Sam Robins. Photography: Charles Van Enger. Art directors: Jack Otterson, Jack DeLacy. Film editor: Edward Curtiss. Set decorator: Russell A. Gausman. Costumes: Vera West. Music composed by Hans J. Salter. Music director: Charles Previn. Assistant cameraman and boxing coach: Art Lasky. Sound recording supervisor: Bernard B. Brown. Sound Technician: Hal Bumbaugh. Associate producer: Ben Pivar.Copyright 23 December 1940 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 3 January 1941. Australian release: 28 August 1941. 5,525 feet. 7 reels. 61 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Arlen and his pal Devine are ace cameramen for Mercury Newsreel. One night they intercept foreign saboteurs.COMMENT: Despite its familiar subject and a plot that rambles all over the place, this Arlen and Devine entry maintains the interest — especially for viewers who don't care two frames if the treatment of newsreel camera-work is realistic or (as in this case) phony and naïve. The fast-paced script incorporates plenty of well-staged action, whilst the players plow through their predictable paces with finesse. We particularly enjoyed Gus Schilling's comment: "Aloysius K. Grimshaw can find anything — except low gear!"
