“SALUDOS AMIGOS”

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 193, 13 May 1944, Page 5

“SALUDOS AMIGOS”

(Second week). —-Last week more was written of “Victory Through Air Power” (Plazay than of “Saludos Amigos,” the other little Disney classic which is on the programme. It is what I might call a three-sevenths length feature, and is the product of a trip Mr. Disney made to South America last year. There are four separate episodes in it, two of which feature Donald Duck (an actor not immediately subject to the army call-up), one the dog Goofy, and the other a small mail plane by the name of Pedro. The scene of the first is Lake Titicaca, on the Peru-Bolivia border, where Donald shows up as a tourist. Of course, things go wrong for the duck in a way that puts the annoyances of most tourists in the shade. But this erratic piece of poultry would get into trouble in Utopia. The second episode, which has to do with Pedro, the Chilean mail plane, is probably the weakest of the bunch. If is a- little too cute and somehow a trifle oldfashioned. The third episode offers Goofy as au Argentine gaucho and represents a big come-back in quality. The fourth is another Donald 'Duck, and introduces a new personality named Joe Carioca, a parrot who lives in Rio de Janeiro. He should turn up again in some future cartoon and be allowed to blossom out.

“STAGE DOOR CANTEEN” (Third week). —I wonder why it is in the movies that soldiers never meet girls they’ve got any use -for till they are about to go away? “Stage Door Canteen” (Kings), excellent film as it is, also sticks to the old familiar set-up. Three soldiers, about to be sent overseas, have one last night of leave in New York, and spend as much of it as possible at the Canteen. Then it seems that their embarkation is postponed, and they get one more night, and after that tliev get yet another one. By this time, of course, they have become attached to three of the young hostesses and. when they finally do have -to go, there are some pretty sad partings. But that part of the story is “.purely coincidental,” as they say in the sub-titles. Among those whom "Stage Door Canteen’ treats right royally are Katharine Cornell. Katharine Hepburn, Otto Kruger, Paul Aluni, Roy Bolger, Ed Wynn, Edgar Bergen and Charite SlcCarthy. The show springs at one like a barrage of flak. It’s a case of “Look there’s Gertrude Lawrence!” or “Look, there’s Grade Fields!” for the stars just tumble over each other. So do the famous bands—six of them, including Count Basie’s and Benny Goodman’s. Iu these vaudeville-starved days “Stage Door Canteen” comes to the rescue in the grand manner.