Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

new movies (Continued from page 6) HOUND-DOG MAN country living Fabian Carol Lynley Stuart Whitman Arthur O'Connell Betty Field ■ Fabian wants to go hunting with the hounddog man (Stuart Whitman). Fabian's dad, Arthur O'Connell, convinces Betty Field that their son is old enough to let go of her apron strings. Off he and his kid brother trot. They don't go far before they meet Carol Lynley and friend. Whitman, who doesn't believe much in marriage, (and who would take in all those hounds?) should never have set eyes on Carol. He and the boys turn up at her family's farm with a turkey and some sassy behavior that gets them kicked right back onto the trail again. There they find one of their pals lying helpless in a ditch (broken leg) and Fabian rides into town for the doctor. After the leg-setting there's a big party to which the whole county comes. Fabian sings, everybody dances in the barn. Fabian stops singing when he sees his girl (Dodie Stevens) snuggling up to another fellow. All the music stops when a jealous husband tries to blast Whitman out of a hayloft. Fabian's father is the only man in the crowd who'll stand up to the bully. Makes Fabian decide home isn't such a bad place after all, not with a man like his father in it. It's a homespun, happy kind of movie. — Cinemascope, 20thFox. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY a husband confesses David Niven Mitzi Gaynor Carl Reiner Monique Van Vooren Patty Duke ■ For nearly thirteen years David Niven and his bride (Mitzi Gaynor) have been living in Gramercy Park. It's been swell. He's successful, she's chic, the kids (Kevin Coughlin, Patty Duke) are understanding. And a TV set has never crossed the threshold. Until tonight, the eve of their 13th anniversary. The TV set crosses, followed by its donors — Mitzi's mother and father. David tries to control himself all through a champagne dinner. Finally he lets the cat out of the bag. Yes, we've been legally married thirteen years, he says. But illegally? Ha-ha. Fourteen. The thought of that first, illegal year sends his. in-laws home in a helpless rage. Niven kicks in the TV screen. Mitzi locks the bedroom door. Patty goes on a TV show to discuss her parents' pre-marital problems before a panel of her peers. By this time, a second TV set has arrived in the Niven home. Just in time for Niven to kick in the screen. So much for his marriage. He's through. His in-laws are through, too. Niven's business partner (Carl Reiner) and a client, divorcee Monique Van Vooren, are in and out trying to patch things up. It's much ado about not very much, but the acting's pleasant.— United Artists. THE FLYING FONTAINES Joan Evans Michael Callan , Roger Perry daring young men Evy Norlund Joe de Santis ■ Out of the Army, Michael Callan returns to the 'big top' where he was a star on the flying trapeze. First disappointment: his old girl (Joan Evans) has married his old catcher (on the trapeze) Roger Perry. Second disappointment: Mike thinks he's found a new girl (Evy Norlund) but she's engaged to Rian Garrick who replaced Mike in the air. Third disap pointment: Mike's father (Joe de Santis) hasn't changed a bit; he still thinks Mike needs more training before he can join the biggest circus of all, Ringling Brothers. Well, all of this could drive a boy to drink. But when a boy's drunk he shouldn't try to fly. In an attempt to save Mike's neck Rian Garrick falls and breaks a few bones, which makes him afraid ever after of trapezes. Rian becomes a bitter clown; he's bitter because his girl, Evy, likes Mike more and more. Mike, the show-off, does good deeds — such as not handing Rian over to the cops when Rian cuts a rope that holds up the trapeze, such as telling Joan to go back to her husband when Joan decides to make a play for him. If only Rian would stop seeking revenge everything would be okay. The movie picks up whenever it's focused on the circus itself. — Technicolor, Columbia. A TOUCH OF LARCENY Vera Miles George Sanders outrageous comedy Harry Townes Robert Fleming ■ Once a war hero, never a husband, James Mason is the freest soul in the British Admiralty. That is, he is the freest with women. Women adore him, even married women, even women who ought to know better. Like American widow Vera Miles. Vera has come to London to marry George Sanders who has a rather stilted charm but, considering his vast wealth and potentialities as a diplomat (he's about to become an ambassador), it sits well on him. When George dashes off to Brussels (duty calls) James spirits Vera onto a sailboat. Marry you? she says, shakily, don't be silly. James admits that the only asset he lacks is money but he has a fantastic scheme to get some — loads of some. His idea is to overstay his naval leave, after hiding a top secret file, and to shipwreck himself. While he is sitting comfortably on a little island the newspapers will accuse him of delivering information to a rival power. Then he has only to return, prove his innocence and sue the press for defamation of character. You wouldn't, you couldn't — says Vera, completely enchanted. Of course he would and he could and he does. He is a terrible fraud. And the worse he behaves the more delightful this movie gets. — Paramount. RECOMMENDED MOVIES: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (20th-Fox) : Point One: All the men in New York are either immoral, amoral, married or drunk, and they all seem to work at the Fabian Publishing Co. Point two: all the appealing ladies (Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Hope Lange, Martha Hyer) who also toil for Fabian become hopelessly involved with these no-goods. The somewhat forlorn message here seems to be that true love and careers do not always mix well. BELOVED INFIDEL (20th-Fox) : F. Scott Fitzgerald, outstanding American novelist, had a romance with Sheilah Graham, Hollywood columnist. A natural for a movie? You bet! Gregory Peck and Deborah Kerr, as the lovers, are introduced by Peck's friend Eddie Albert (playing the late Robert Benchley). Peck's much-loved wife has been ill for years, be drinks, his writing is nearly nil. But, the romance which begins on this doomed note brings happiness too late for Peck, just in time for Deborah. THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE (MOM): There's a gale blowing in the English Channel and two ships collide in the night. Charlton Heston and Ben Wright, aboard the Sea Witch, find the Mary Deare in flames, with one lifeboat and sailing to a rocky graveyard. Captain Gary Cooper, the almostmad sole survivor, grabs Heston from behind. When the Captain calms down, he finally begins the strange story that ends in a London Court of Inquiry. and nose and he broke one of my ribs. "While he was hitting me I saw Malia, in her bed, watching, terrified. Then I saw this letter opener on the bureau. I picked it up. I didn't mean to hurt him. I deliberately tried to inflict as minor damage as possible to scare him and make him stop beating me. "When I saw the blood on his shirt, I dropped the letter opener to the floor and rushed to the phone again. This time I called the Beverly Hills police. I was in a panic. I said, 'I've just stabbed my husband,' and asked them to send over an ambulance, fast. "But he was gone, out of the house, a few minutes later. "Later I was to find out that he went to his brother Bing's, and spent the night there. That he was to pass off the incident by saying, T really don't think June intended to do anything. She just got mad, so mad she didn't know what she was doing. We've had family arguments before. I guess this one just exploded.' "He said, too, 'I'm not a wife-beater. I didn't lay a finger on my wife. If my wife is hurt, it's only because I had to use force to take the letter opener away from her. I'm the one who got stabbed, not her.' "It's true. I'm not the one who got stabbed. Not with a letter opener. "But for twenty-one years now I've been taking this, these constant arguments, constant fights. If you live with Bob on the inside you know he's not the easy-going Crosby that the public imagines him to be. . . . This has been going on for twenty-one years. And I've had it, finally. I've put up with it for the sake of the children. Twice — once in 1943 and once in 1956 — I started divorce proceedings against Bob. Both times I changed my mind. I took him back both times. But after everything now, this night, I've had it. I'll never take him back. This is the end." What could be wrong? At 12:05 that night, the nurse heard a report of the Crosby incident on the radio. At 12:20, while making her rounds of the hospital, she decided to have a look in Cathy's room. She was surprised to see Cathy, not in bed. but standing near the sink. She was about to say something. But before she had a chance, Cathy turned towards her and asked, "Is something wrong? Is that what you've come to tell me?" The nurse shook her head. "Of course not," she said. "Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all ... I was just checking the room down the hall and — " She stopped as she saw Cathy begin to lean against the sink, hard, and grab it with her hands, as if she might fall. She rushed over to the girl, put her arm around her waist and began to lead her to the bed. "Is it a bad dream you've been having tonight?" the nurse asked. Cathy shrugged, "I ... I don't know." The nurse helped her into the bed, and then she lifted a sheet over her. "Well," she said, "the dream is over and done with and now you're ready for a good night's sleep, eh?" Cathy didn't answer. "My, what a lovely night it is," the nurse said, suddenly, turning towards the window and looking out. "Just lovely. . . . And tomorrow, tomorrow should be just as nice. I hope so, anyway. Because tomorrow, right after breakfast, we're all going to take a walk on the grounds. And pick flowers." She had walked to the door and snapped off the light when she heard the girl ask, "And nothing's wrong?" She forced a great big smile. "Really, child — what could be wrong on such a lovely night as this?" she said, end