Variety (December 1950)

20 PICTURES P^IETY WecTnesclay, DecemBer 6, 1950 Film Reviews Continued from pare 15 Tlie Sountl of Fury 1 Guns” should have little difficulty justice to the two kidnapper-mur- i western addicts and ac- derers. i fans. Film starts off on an Threaded through the melodra- ! exciting note which is maintained \ matic phases are a number of' throughout. i! • , n i. ' touching scenes concerning Love-1 ^ healthy portion of pic s foot- joy’s wife, Kathleen Ryan, and the : devoted to six-shootmg and impact the events have on her.) with some fisticuffs The handling of these by Miss | ^Iso thrown in. Ya^, in telling Ryan is compelling naturalness.! tiow Starrett as the Durango Kid Same effect keynotes Carlson’s i helps track down a gang of killers, work and that of Renzo Cesana,; carries enough suspense to hold humanist who is given the job of interest. Plot deals with a ioud moralizing on cause and effect. : between two ranch-owners jyvil- Lovejoy scores soundly and, in liai^'^. Norton Bailey and Edgar a different way, Bridges sells his Dearing) oyer the building of a megolomaniac character. Adele dam. Dearing, a friend -of Stai^ Jergens, as Bridges* girlfriend, is rett’s, is opposed to the dam, and the personification of all sexy ' as a result is accused of a number blondes. There’s a pathetic note j of atrocities committed.to prevent door stuff and there’s enough spotted to carry the interest dur-! ing the stretch. Scott R. Dunlap’s ! production is marked by the very good lense work of Harfy Neu- mann and an okay music score. Brog, See Test Dates Continued from page 9 to the sex-starved girl portrayed by Katherine Locke. No perform- ance is out of key except that of Lovejoy’s young son, played by Donald Smelick. It reveals no tal- ent, just an obnoxious precocious > sales] eased. i lief. In line with his characteriza- Stillman and his associate pro- tion, Burnette gives out with a clucer, Seton I. Miller, have given i tune labeled ‘‘The Bathtub the film topnotch framing for anOther numbers are ‘Rambhng independent production. The pho- i Blood In My Veins” and Our tography by Guy Roe catches the I Whole Family’s Smart.’’ Latter scene and mood of the grim tale,! song is also handled by Burnette, a.s does the Hugo Friedhofer mu- 1 Starrett turns in a hard-fisted sic score, which never intrudes • portrayal. Both Bailey and Dearing Better Fix as Key To TV Challenge I New Orleans, Dec. 5. , Hollywood can answer the chal- lenge of television .with better pic- tures, three members of the film in-, dustry told the Allied Theatre j Owners of Gulf States today (5) at [ opening of two-day conclave here.)' Alfred W. Sbhwalberg, Para- j mount distribution head, and Max ! Youngstein, veepee in charge of ad- vertising-publicity, said company has made provision in its 1951 its establishment. Starrett, how ever, believes his friend innocent, which he eventually proves. Only noticable lapse in action , comes about when Smiley Bur- j budget for 50% hike in produc- nette, in the role of a bathtub . tion. He said this was proof indus- ness which direction could have salesman, takes over tor comic re- j try teels video will not hurt busi- nr . ness. Budget increase ia a multi- million investment, , Youngstein pointed out, and said good quality | is a must for success in business. • Sam S h a i n, 20th-Fox sales i exec, told the meeting his studio next year will release 36 “A” pic- tures. Also on opening-day’s agenda was | registration, “dutch” lunch, film clinics modeled after recent Pitts-! while intensifying matics. the melodra- Brog, do well. Raymond Bond is con- vincing as an apparently/harmless store owner who’s really the ring- Rcvcffiiio Hollywood,. Dec. 1. Columbia release of Sam Katzman pro- ^uftion. Features Douglas Kennedy, Jean Willes, Onslow Stevens. Directed by Lew I.anders. Written by 'William Sackheim, Arthur A. Ross; camera, Ira H. Morgan; editor, Edwin Bryant. Previewed Nov. 30, '.■50. Running time, 71 MINS. Sieve Adams Douglas Kennedy -Marge King Jean Willes Sam Bellows Onslow .Stevens Hairy Reardon ...William "Bill" Phillips Lt. Bob Ullman- Ray Walker Cliff Gage David Bruce Ernie Medford .Archie Twitchell Augustus King I.yle-Talbot A1 Chaloopka Rick Vallin i leader. Holding down the only ; burgh Allied conclave and a bud’et ; ! femme role, an inconspicuous one. | dinner. ' is Gloria Henry. Jack Mahoney, i Election of new officers and di- • as Hearing’s son and town sheriff, i rectors to serve three-year terms j • does okay, as docs Chuck Rober- son, one of the chief villains. I Fred F. Sears’ direction keeps ' pic moving in high gear. Colbert ! Clark’s production and Fayte Browne’s lensing are conventional. Gros. Columbia has a-good melodrama in “Revenue Agent.” Pace is fast, action Short Grass Hollywood. Nov, 28. Monogram release of Scott R. Dunlap fAIlied Artists) production. Stars Rod Cameron; features Cathy Downs, Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Walburn, Alan are scheduled for Wednesday’s ; session, along with drlve-in theatre i clinic and closing banquet. | Others here for sessions are ; Trueman Rembusch, -prexy of Na- j tional Allied, and exhibitor rela-: tions reps from other companies. ' the suit are the operators of Allen- town’s six first-run theatres, Viplated Trust Laws This attitude by the distribs rep- resented a violaUon of the anti- trust laws, Judge Kirkpatrick de- cided, and instructed, .that the Boulevard' be given the same op- portunity to license prior-run product as that given the Allen- town situations. Problem now facing the com- panies is whether to .go along with the court’s verdict, with the test bookings in mind, or carry the case to a higher court on appeal. There have been no decisions, as yet, with legalit^s and execs claim- ing they need more time to digest the ruling before mapping a course of action. Regardless of what new strategy is decided upon, fact remains that the action has been catapulted into top industry prominence, with vir- tually every sales official in the trade concerned about its outcome. Seen as the key point in Judge Kirkpatrick’s, decision was his comment that the eight company defendants, in' effect, arbitrarily decided that j/he outdoor theatres did not qualify for first-run con- sideration. The jurist said the film firms should have experi- mented fully with drive-in licens- ing before they gave the favored runs to the conventional houses. It is on the basis of these re- marks that the distribs believe they could keep the ozoners in j their traditional subsequent-run' status if the experiments show that first-run bookings would hurt the product at later engagements. MORISON NAMED TO HEAD TRUST DIVISION Washington, Dec. 5. H. Graham Morison is the new head of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, which Is handling the motion picture cases. His appointment was made last Fri- day (1) by President Truman after going over a list of candidates sul:^ mitted by the ^.ttorney General. ' Morison, who succeeds Herbert A, Bergson, has been Assistant At- torney General in charge of the Claims Division* Recently he was on loan to the Economic Stabiliza- tion Administration as acting gen- eral counsel. A native of Bristol, Tenn., he was-formerly a law part- ner of the late Wendell L, Willkie, Appointment of Morison ends a behind-the-scenes tug of war for the post. Morison was not connect- ed with any of the warring factions in the Justice Department, which is probably why the President se- lected him. Nov. B.O. Continued from page 4 strong and performances ! Hale, Jr., Morris Ankrum. Diiected by ship it for lnwprpac:inty in ! Lesley Selander. Screenplay, Tom W. a Die, nuing u tor lowercasing in I adapted from his novel. the top situations or as a cam- panion feature in the more general pi ay date. Plot takes up the work of in- vestigators for the Bureau of In- ternal Revenue, apd centers its 'Short Grass”; camera, Harry Neumann; editor, Otho Lovering; music score, Ed- ward J. Kay. Previewed Nov. 27, ^50. Running time, 82 MINS. Steve Rod Cameron Sharon Cathy Downs Keown Johnny Mack Brown t.- < 1 • ^ McKenna Raymond Walburn melodramatics on a case involving ; chris Alan Hale, .Jr. murder and the secreting of nearly iiai Fenton Morris Ankrum Bissell Jonathan Hale $1,000,000 outside the country as a tax dodge. Douglas Kennedy gives a good account of himself as tlie agent who goes after Onslow Stevens, goldmine operator. The documentary technique is Drcen Harry Woods Jennie Mario Dwyer Ranclee Riley Hill Curley Jeff York Pete Stanley Andrews .Jack Jack Ingram Les Myron Healey Western Pa, Allied To Convene in Pitt Jan. 16-17 j Pittsburgh, Dec. 5. j Allied Motion Picture Theatre' Owners of Western Pennsylvania | will hold its annual convention ■ and election of officers Jan. 16-17 ; at the William Penn hotel here, j Two-day meet will be highlighted ; by several “film clinics.” These | are to "be patterned after similar | clinics which National Allied orig- j inated at its recent Pittsburgh con- clave. Theatre TV Continued from page 9 Diego George J. Lewis Lin Lee Tung Foo Monogram has a fair western in Allied Artists’ “Short Grass.” While it doesn’t always hit the mark, the good oater flavor and familiar action names, such as Rod Cameron and Johnny Mack Brown, will help its chances. Script rambles quite a bit as it brings on the assorted characters involved in a range w^ar, and is not articulate enough to make them well-rounded in the 82 minutes of footage. Helping to balance, how- ever, is a good effect of working range men, rather than formular- ized gun-toters, and there is a nifty running street battle between the good and bad elements to bring about a satisfactory finale. Cameron is a range-drifter who becomes involved in a fight over grass with an ambitious rancher. A man is killed and Cameron leaves his smMl spread and girl and drifts on. Five years later, tale picks up to find the rancher still grabbing grass land, the girl piarried to a drunkard newspaper- man and a town held in jeopardy because of greed. Iheidents develop to bring to- gether Cameron and the lawful elenrent in the town in a fight to the finish with the bad crew head- ed by Morris Ankrum. After the i shooting is over, Johnny Mack ^ Columbia relealTo/colbort Claik.pio- «5ucUon. Stars Charles Starrett; features ^ Oil®. Cathy Downs’ hUS- Emiley Burnette, Gloria Henry, William ■ band, Tris Coffin, IS killed and ^orton Bailey, Edgar Dearing, Raymond i she i®5 bsck with CfliYipr/An f'fiA Bond. Jock O'Mahoney. Ken Hutchins. : '-'ameroiL me Directed by Fred F, Sears. Screenplay, 1 tOWU Settling down tO grow peace- ' ' fully. Cameron is a good outdoor hero used to Sharon suspense elements j S"we%Haii":;;;::;:;;;:Rmy^Maiita^^^^ ot what IS essentially a good, stand- j Manuel ^.Felipe Turich ; ard cops-and-robbei^s yarn. When Lyle Talbot is murdered just as he is ready tq squeal on Stevens, Ken- nedy moves in to solve the case. He finds an unproductive goldmine behind which Stevens operates to smuggle dust into Mexico and build up a bank account. He also finds an attractive widow in the person of Jean Willes who figures in hub- by Talbot’s murder. Kennedy relentlessly works to round up the crooks seemingly join- ing them to better aid his case. Windup, after a number of near escapes that often find the hero badly bruised, takes place in a Mexican-border city where Ken- nedy fights it out with Stevens’ gunman, William Phillips, in a rock quarry. Lew Landers’ direction of the script by William Sackheim and Arthur A. Ross always keeps the action boiling at the right tem- perature for the meller addict, and he also handles the players capa- bly. Miss Willis is a charmer who registers strongly. Stevens is good and the others come across effectively, all helping to make this acceptable .filmfare. Sam Katzman gets firstrate val- ues for the budget production ex- penditure, and Ira -H. Morgan’s camera work is in keeping, Brog. Depinet Plans Continued from page 9 slate ‘The! Liglitniit|$ Gnus Victor Arthur; baaed on story by Bill Milligan; camera, Fayte Browne; editor, Paul Borofaky, Tradeshown in N. Y.. Dec, 1, 50. Running time, 55 MINS S^vc Brandon ^ I and MiSs Downs pleases as the The Duranffn Trirt f i • ^^l^^d-up heroine. Brown’s mar- Smiioy BurLtteV. in nicely, wWle Raymond Gloria Henry i Walbum, Alan Hale, Jr., and Jon- capt Da^“sauAdo?i^^^^®”* athan Hale head up the respectable capably. Ankrum, Harry £05, Saunders,.. Jock o'Mahoncy ! Woods, Riley Hill and Myron i particularly the latter, Crawley;Ke? FrfedklS 1 among the heavies. George Chesebro Le.sley Selander’s direction is not Musician Ken Houchins | always fast in unfolding the Tom A 'aau; 4 XI W',Blackburn script, ba.sed on lat- t i3st-paced addition to the I ter’s novel of the same title, but Charles StaiTett series, “Lightning his action moments are strong out- is Howard Hawks’ Thing” which, Depinet cautioned, i is not to be confused with the hit j novelty tune of the same title. Cen- tral character is a visitor from an- other planet who descends upon! an U. S. Army group neaV the I North Pole. “Thing” is made up \ of vegetable matter and, by plant- ing , seeds, threateq;s to grow its own'army to wipe out the world. The 32 features will be in addition to the Tim Holt series of oaters and other action pix. Sales campaign, billed as the “Ned Depinet Drive,” is aimed to | push the distrib org into hig*h-gear I operation upon the departure of | the theatres. Three-day conclave i in N. Y. will be followed by terri-’' torial meetings of exchange per- j sonnel throughout the U. S. and' Canada. Plans are to acquaint all RKO-ites in the field with the new product and the Depinet sales push j within one week from today. The nine ^district managers par- ticipating in the N. Y. conference will serve as “drive captains” and will conduct the branch sessions. Firm’s policy in past has been to offer cash prizes to outstanding performers among the sales force, in the amount of approximately $75,000. That such an added in- centive again will be added is said to be likely. RKO lineup of short subjects for release in 1951 includes 14 re- issues, comprising six Walt Disney cartoons, four comedies featuring Clark and McCullough and four others starring^ Edgar Kennedy. New product listed consists of 74 shorts, bringing the total for the • year to 88. New Disney films on the slate in- cludes 18 cartoons and another in the “True Life Adventure” series. Others skedded by the major are 13 in the “This Is America” series, six Leon Errol slapstick comedies, six other assorted comedies and a variety of sports and dramatic sub- jects, that RCA’s action will force other manufacturers, such as Paramount, to trim their prices accordingly. Through such competitive prac- tices, it’s believed, not only will the price be brought within reach j of most exhibs but other major i manufacturers will also be lured j into the business. That, in turn, will help to depress the costs even ■ further. Now th§t the football season has officially ended [six of the nine theatres which had been transmit- ting football games during the fall wound their activities with the Army-Navy game last Saturday (1)], the exhibs have several more programming ideas pending. Sev- eral of these, however, would re- quire the theatres to bid for them on an exclusive basis, and again there’s the question of too few the- atres to offer enough money for exclusive rights. Also in the fire is a chance to transmit sevei’al pro- grams aired by the TV networks, on a deal similar to that in .which two houses of the Century circuit, N. Y., are running NBC’s “Camel Newsreel Theatre.” Latest word, from Washington,! meanwhile, is that the Federal • Communications Commission will probably announce before Christ- i mas the scheduling of hearings some time next spring to deter- \ mine whether the theatres are to' be given special, exclusive chan- nels for big-screen video. j “Copper - Canyon” (Par), “The Milkman” (U), “Two Weeks With Love” (M-G) and “Where Danger Lives” iRKO) are in this runnerup category, finishing in that sequence. Of the new entries, besides “West Point Story” and “Let’s Dance,” both of which shape big, “Milk- man” and “Danger Lives” loom as potentially strong newcomers. The former, with Jimmy Durante- Donald O’Connor starred, seeming- ly attests to the boxoffice popu- larity of Durante. “Cyrano,” thus far in two keys on upped-scale, two-a-day basis, looks a winner, “Joan of Arc” (RKO), now going out on popular-price runs, looks stout the second time around. “Glass Menagerie” (IVB), sec- ond in October, still was doing nice trade in some added dates, winding up sixth one week. “Harriet Craig” (Col) thus far has failed to measure up to what was expected of a Joan Crawford starrer. “Two Flags West” (20thr, doing stand- ard trade in previous month for an outdoorer, finished eighth one week, but did not fare too strong. “Wyoming Mail” (U) Surprised by reaching runnerup class a couple of times. * “Mister 880” (20th), champ in October, showed nearly $100,000 additional revenue in key cities covered by Variety last month, finishing ninth one stanza. “Petty Girl” (Col) was a runnerup pic one week. “Devil’s Doorway” (M-G) was in a like category. “Never a Dull Moment” (RKO), just teeing off last month, did fairly well in some locations first week out. “Southside 1-1000’' (Mona) was in much the same posi- tion with only a few dates under its belt. “Mad Wednesday” (RKO) did not get far last month on some test dates. “Three Husbands” (UA) varied from fine to weak during the month. Theatre Bldg. Continued from page 4 ASCAP’s $11,000,000 Continued from page 1 This total is made up chiefly of fees collected from the chain outlets since the indie stations are still paying only nominal performance fees under their interim agreement Revenue from TV is expected to soar to a much higher level in 1951 if the medium’s present rate of growth continues. ASCAP will get about $2,000,000 from all other sources this year to reach the record-breaking $11,000,- 000 total. Level of AS(jAP's earn- ings comes in the face of the elimi- nation of income from the nation’s film exhibitors, wh^were exempt from paying the s5at tax under a Federal court decision. Usual deductions from the gross income will bring ASCAP’s fund for distribution around the $8,500,- 000 marker. ASCAP’s annual budget for operating and adminis- tration expenses will be the normal $2,00,000, while somewhat over $500,000 will be distributed to for- eign performing rights societies under reciprocal deals. Federal order. One possibility, if this is not covered in the docu- ment, is that salvaged steel might be used. The postwar building program of the J. Arthur Rank chain in Canada is completed and there were no further plans contem- plated when the ban went through over the weekend, according to David Griesdorf, general manager of Odeon Theatres of Canada, which now has 152 houses. In the years immediately after the war, the Rank interests built 25 new theatres from Montreal to Van- couver, but concentrated most of their top spending in Toronto, where the new Odeon flagship was completed along with four other first-run * neighborhood deluxers. Three others were built in Mont- real, The only remaining imit— and this almost completed—^is a new theatre in Calgary sufficient- ly advanced that this will not be stymied by the steel ban. N. A. Taylor, president of Twen- tieth Century Theatres, with 65 houses all centered in Ontario, a dozen or so of which were built in the postwar xears, has only one other unit unddr construction, a 1,000-seater at Islington, near To- ronto. However, he has all his steel needs for this venture. Said Tay- lor, “Apart from this, our building program was pretty well over,”