Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1959)

"Smiley Gets a Gun" Varm, human tale of a boy in Australia. Well-made n C'Scope and Color. Fine for family trade. Made in Australia, this Twentieth-Century-Fox release is aintly reminiscent of some of Mark Twain's fanciful and olicsome excursions into the innocent world of boyhood, bly produced, written and directed by Anthony Krimmins, Smiley Gets A Gun" is a warm and affectionate offering with s gentle story of life in the Down Under bush; a way of life, markably enough, that strongly resembles our own West in a omparable period of development. This film should be of •articular interest to the younger segment of the audience, and o their parents, too, since it is a lively Cinemascope, De Luxe olor effort that moralizes, without preaching, about the reards of youthful responsibility. It should score especially well family houses. Keith Calvert in the title role is warm and inning. "Chips" Rafferty as the kindly police sergeant and ruce Archer as the equivalent of Huck Finn to Smiley's Tom awyer offer well-rounded performances, but acting honors go the incomparable Dame Sybil Thorndike as the old lady ho lives only to guard her gold, but has her harridan's heart elted by the winsome Smiley. The plot centers about Raferty's offer of a rifle for Smiley if he mends his obstreperous ays and earns eight "marks" for good conduct and responsility. Complications arise when the affair becomes a town Inatter and the townfolk engage in vigorous betting on the ventual outcome. Among the bettors is Smiley's father, who knowing him more intimately than the others, bets against the joy. At a point when Smiley seems about to earn his rifle, his ather, fearful of losing his wager, persuades the youngster to schew delivering "Horatio at the Bridge" at a town meeting nd teaches him to deliver an off-color story instead. Smiley ioes and precipitates a town house brawl that is one of the lighpoints of the film. The plot reaches its climax when Dame Sybil's gold is stolen. Smiley, as the only person aware of its ocation is accused and tried. At the bleakest moment the truth s revealed and justice triumphs. As a reward for his ordeal ind general behavior, Smiley gets his gun. wentieth Century-Fox. 89 minutes. Keith Calvert, "Chips" Rafferty, Dame Sybil horndike. Produced and Directed by Anthony Krimmins. "Tempest" g«4ute44 1R<za*f Q O plus Plenty of spectacle in the imported costumer, but script is weak. Technicolor, Van Heflin, Mangano top b.o. If there is a market for big, robust costume pictures with second-rate plots, this Paramount import should get by. The Technirama-Technicolor spectacle by Dino DeLaurentiis shows signs of considerable cost in its depiction of Peter Ill's draI matic 18th century rebellion against Russia's Catherine the | Great. But it is burdened with a script that is often more taxing than entertaining. Photography Director Aldo Tonti utilizes his wide screen to the utmost in photographing Italy's | iBourbon Palace to recreate the lush splendor of Catherine's (Imperial Court, and his camera sweeps across the chiseled hills and down the rugged valleys of Yugoslavia to provide a suitable setting for director Alberto Lattuada's well staged battle I scenes that highlight self-proclaimed Czar Peter, spiritedly J played by Van Heflin in a fiery red beard, leading a wild army S of Cossack and assorted tribesmen against Czarina Catherine's royally costumed troops. One can easily believe it's all taking place on Russia's frozen steppes against a frozen Siberian horizon. Heflin and Silvana Mangano provide the offering with mild marquee value. Heflin overcomes the picture's weakest element, the Louis Peterson-Alberto Lattuada script, with a lusty, swashbuckling performance, making Peter into a flesh and blood character who lives ruthlessly by the sword because it is the only way he can lead his peasants against the oppression and parasitic extravagances of the Court. In the end, he is captured and caged by Catherine. Boyish looking Geoffrey Home is woefully miscast as the Imperial lieutenant who is Miss Mangano's suitor. The supporting cast includes Oscar Homolka as Home's faithful servant, Robert Keith as the captain of a royal garrison, Agnes Moorehead as his wife, Helmut Dantine as a lecherous officer who competes with Home for Miss Mangano's charms, Finlay Currie as Home's father, and Vittorio Gassman as a court official. Viveca Lindfors is properly regal in her too few brief scenes as the great Czarina. Except for a few sequences the picture is at its best when words are few. The story, vaguely based on a novel by Pushkin, chronicles Peter Ill's glorious defeat in attempting to overthrow Catherine the Great. In the subplot, Home, banished for drunkeness to a small outpost in the steppes, falls in love with captain's daughter Mangano. Because of his later criticism of court excesses, Home is accused of disloyalty to Catherine during the period of his captivity by Heflin. However, just before Heflin's own execution, the rebel testifies that even under threat of death, Home remained loyal to the Empress, thus saving Home from an undeserved beheading. In admiration of this unselfish gesture, the Czarina saves Heflin from torture on the rack and gives him the axe instead, as Home is reunited with Miss Mangano. Paramount IBosna Film Production). 125 minutes. Van Heflin, Silvana Mangano. Produced by Dino DeLaurentiis. Directed by Alberto Lattuada. "City of Fear" Sutittete IRatutf Q Plus Implausible crime meller for lower action slot only. Either Los Angeles has the worst police force in the history of criminal enforcement circles or scripters Steven Ritch and Robert Dillon have deliberately maligned it in order to be able to fill out 81 minutes of movie time. This Columbia release can best be classified as a minor league quickie, with a cast devoid of marquee power and a script that can be charitably described as wholly implausible. "City of Fear" is suited only to the supporting slot in action houses. The story opens with Vince Edwards in the act of completing a successful escape attempt from San Quentin and in possession of a cannister of what he believes to be one pound of uncut heroin. Actually, the substance he has made off with is granulated Cobalt X-60. a radioactive substance powerful enough to dangerously contaminate the entire city of Los Angeles and environs. The tension that should be evident with a situation of this nature never materializes, partially as a result of the stock direction job done by Irving Lerner and partially the fault of the cliche-ridden script. The "dumb cops" look high when they should be looking low, and low when they should be looking high. After much technological hocus-pocus with geiger counters and the like, Edwards and the cohalt arc found and eventually recovered in a routine chase sequence. Columbia. 81 minutes. Vince Edwards. Produced by Leon Chooluck. Directed by Irving Lerner. Film BULLETIN January I?, 1957 Page 11