Screenland Plus TV-Land (Jul 1957 - May 1959)

BY RAHNA MAUGHAN Beau James ^URING the six years James J. " Walker was mayor of New York City, the city went through many episodes— the two most startling being the depression and Walker. People eventually got over the depression but few who knew about Walker ever really got over him. Playing the dapper, rakish mayor, Bob Hope brings back a vivid Technicolor swatch of political history and an era where most things looked hazy through bottoms of glasses filled with bootleg liquor. Everything seemed to come easy for the mayor except love. Marriage to Alexis Smith was just a marriage of convenience with Tammany Hall politico Paul Douglas jiggling the puppet strings. It took a speakeasy singer, played by Vera Miles, to add warmth and romance to his life — two homey comforts that come high in price when you consider she cost the fun-loving mayor his job. A fascinating peep show on high living and political corruption in a time that seems ages ago, but which was only a little beyond yesterday. (Paramount.) Something Of Value ■JASED on the best-selling novel about the native uprisings in Africa, a great deal has been deleted to spare movie audiences. What remains is still a terrifying enough example of the real thing. Brought up by the same native Kikiyu woman, Rock Hudson, the son of a British landowner, and Sidney Poitier are as close as brothers until they reach maturity. Each, they leam, must go his separate way; Hudson to become the white lord and master, and Poitier, the servant. Neither wants this, but the time is wrong to change what had been accepted by both races for years and years. Young and impatient, Poitier tries to speed up the process of gaining equality. He joins the Mau Mau, the terrorist renegades sworn to drive the British out of Kenya or kill them until no more remain. Like all mob action, the Mau Mau does dreadful harm to its own people. Power is suddenly grasped by men crazed by violence and blind to the real needs of the natives, beam haugs over the land like a heavy cloud. While Hudson and his new bride Dana Wynter, are off honeymooning, the family farm is attacked. His sister, Wendy Hiller, barely survives. Her husband and two children are murdered. Because he knows the land, Hudson volunteers to lead a group of Britishers to where one group of Mau Mau is hiding and try to bring about Poitier's surrender. Alarming story as true as yesterday's headlines, and one that can only be kept from re-appearing in future headlines through wise, understanding government, and patience and faith in the people. (MGM.) Tammy IF Debbie Reynolds doesn't start show■ing signs of ever getting a teensy bit older, her daughter Carrie Frances will be able to pass for Debbie's mother in another few years. This Technicolor dish of Southern fried mush is Debbie's latest, and not very best at all. Brought up by Grandpa Walter Brennan, Debbie has been fortunate never to have dealt with modern living or modern men. When Grandpa gets nabbed by the law for distilling corn likker, he sends Debbie to Leslie Nielsen for safe keeping. Better she should have stayed on the river barge ! EXCITING peek into New York politics, Nielsen's all right; he's mainly interested in saving his family manse. He can do two things: marry wealthy Mala Powers, and/or grow a new species of tomatoes. With Debbie spoutin' all varieties of back country wisdom and homilies and grits, Nielsen finds it in him to become man enough to own up to his failings. And dang-blasted if his ma, pa and maiden aunt don't see the light, too, and change their ways. Teenagers thrive on this sort of story. Guess it's the youthful glow of health. ( Universal-International. ) The Vintage ■BECAUSE he's his brother's keeper, Mel Ferrer does all he can to prevent the Italian police from catching up with John Kerr. Ferrer's job isn't easy. Wanted for murder, Kerr, unfortunately, has a temper and personality that shrieks for recognition. Under the hot, shimmering sun that's great for the vineyards of Southern France, but brutal on heated emotions, Kerr and Ferrer finally find work as itinerant grape-pickers. The delicate situation takes a further turn for the worse by the appearance of Michele Morgan, their bullish boss' sensible wife. Kerr is smitten. Meanwhile, back in the vineyard, Ferrer and Michele's sister, Pier Angeli, are gazing into each other's eyes soulfully. But what can a man do when his first duty is to an unstable young brother? As you can see, many violent cross-currents of Technicolor drama surge through this well-done sophisticated tribute to the wine industry. (MGM.) This Could Be The Night CRESH as a Spring breeze, this romp " around romance snaps at skirts and whirls about naughty bits of dialogue like confetti. Night club proprietors Anthony CAUGHT up in the violent cross-currents of "The Vintaae" is French farm qirl Pier Anqeli.