Variety (January 1951)

Wedneeday, January 3, 1951 forly-'fifth Annivertary FILM REVIFWS 67 Indian Territory (SONGS) p-roduetTn. "stS featnrM GaU Davis, Kirby Gran*. Autry. feaiuies 'iijjjp van Zandt, Pat fflns Boy Gorton.' Pat Buttram. Dl^ John English, Screenplay. Nor f,?m S ’’fell." camera, wmiaro Bradford; ■ lames Sweeney; musical director, Bakalcinikoff. At, New York thea? .‘5 N Y . dual, week gf Dec. 26. 50. Run • • • • • ' : ;• V,’ V.v.'.v."'"g^dS5J : : : : : : JaS^Smth Major Karrcii •;;^:;;;;;;Gha?i^ .. Captalti ••»•• > .Robert Carson ’ Indian Territory, ’^;Gene Aut^y*$^ iK'west oatuner, is a breezy ontry ' iov [\\Q action market. Well larded Avilh such time-tested ingredients as Iniiin.s. M'agon train raids and c.l,n ball le.s, the film should please holli Autry fans and the average .lio'^s-opcra : devotee.; In Ihc Tteconstruction era following the Civil War, ex-Confederate c;i va 1 rN’inan Autry joins the Union arinv in an undercover capacity. lli.< nii.ssion is to help, put dowri •frontier forays, ef niaraufjing Indians who are led by a former Austrian army officer. ^ A goodnatured feud between Autry . and Kirby Grant, a Union lieutenant; puts a grimmer vendetta with renegade redinan James , Griffith, aug' mcnl the picture, s central ^theme'.: Ahtry scores in the action seduences and also clicks, per usual, in warbling a. couple of ditties. Kirbv Grant proves a virile fistic sparring partner for the star; Philip Van; Zandt, however, is inclined to overact as the Austrian leader of the Apache outlaws, Pat Buttram’s comedy , antics afford a nice contrast to the sterner side of the Norman S. Hall screenplay. Dlrectibn of John English is good as is the camerawork of William Bradford; Producer Armand Schaefer endowed the modest budgeter with maximum values. James Sweeney edited the. print to a tight 70 minutes. ._ Gilb. Steve Brodie, the lieutenant who used pull to stay out of combat previously; James Edwards, the Negro medic, and Richard Loo, a heroic Nisei, are the other principals who add to the rugged realism. William Chun, moppet new to films, supplies a w$rm naturalism to the young native who becomes attached to the sergeant. Richard Monahhn, bald GI; Sid Melton, Harold Fong, the red prisoner, and the others do their part in making this a worthy war film entry. There is only minor use of actual combat footage in the picture, clips being held to those showing artillery barrages being directed on target from the observation post. Even without actual battle scenes, Fuller, gets in a full flavor of. comr bat, the U. S. Infantry arid the men who are the foot soldiers. With associate producer William Berke, production achieves its aims of deliverihg a grim account of warfare . and the technical contributions . are firstrhte. . Lensing, rhusic sebre, editing, special effects and other credits are excellent. Brog. ProlBislorie Women (COLORy T 5®?^® Relea.se of Alliance (Albert J. Cohen, in association .with Sam X. Abar-. band) production. Features Laurettc Luez, Alan Nixoii. Directed by Gregg Dallas. Screenplay, Abarbanel, Dallas; camera ^inecolor). -Lionel Lindon; mU.'^ic, Raoul Kraushaar; editor, James Graham;, dances. Tlie Sieel llelinet Hollywood. Dec, 27. T.ippert Pictures release of Samuel Fuller production. Stars. Robert Hutton. Steve Rrodie. James Edwards; features Richard Loo, Sid Melton. Richard Monahan. William Chun, Harold Fong, and introduces Gene Evans. Written and directed by Sanaucl Fuller: camera, Ernest W. Miller; editor. Philip Cahn; music, Paul Dunlap. Previewed Dec. 26, '50. Running time, 84 MINS. Private Bronte Robert Hutton I.ieut. DiiscoU Steve Brodie Corp. Thompson , James Edwards S.gt. Tanaka i ... ■ Richard Loo Second G.L. ............ . . • • • Sid Melton Pvt. Baldy. ........... .Richard Monahan Short Round .William Chun The Red Harold Fong , First G. L . Neyle Mprro\y Second Lieut. .Lynn Stallmastei' and introducing . Gene Evans as Sergeaht Zack Miniature Reviews “Indian Territory” (Col). Breezy Gene Autry starrer for action market. “The Stbel Helmet” (Lippert), Solid Korean War feature, with excellent b.o. chances. “Prehistoric Women”, (EL) (Color). Eleihentary exhibit of guys and dolls in leopard skins. Okay for dualer$. “Korea Patrol” (ELC). Okay exploitation feature on opeii: ing of Korean Wat, . ous duty of demolishing a bridge that North Koreans will use. to move in. troops shortly after the . June start of hostilities . ' Walter Shenson produced and did the of iginar script with Kenheth Cj. Brown. For its purposes, story ; is acceptable,' even though: dialog could have been better. Director Max Nosseck and the players sharpen the action, .and considerable suspense is built up during the 59 minutes. Opening uses a three-minute clip of the UN in action and then jumps to South Korea as impersonated by the Hollywood hills. The patrol, headed by Richard Emory, is ordered to destroy the bridge, and fobtage puts the players through some stern stuff be Top Fix Admen Continued from page 12 them better, make them at a price that will fit into today's market ( we must reciognize that the war business is a thing of the past), and then merchandise them properly. I realize that this sounds like a pro(iucer ; who wanted to make a comedy picture, who askeci for come filled with cliches and bromides, I believe one of the key reasons for this is that every time new aid approachbs are tried, the exhibitors either resist them or refuse to use them, I don’t think we have to thf ow . out all of the old basic approaches. There can't be a script full of belly laughs but, ! any general rule because the old Bella Lewitsky, At Pala^rN. y: D^: 28 stern suuiLue '56. Running Time, 74 MINS. fore the three remaining members Tigrl Engor ...................... Allan Nixon j jectlve aUd carfy out orders. Lotee Eras Ai'va Nika Tulle Ruig Adh . Kama .Tana i,. . . . ; Guaddi' . . . ; . Tribe Leader . . . Wise Old Lady . . . . , . . . . . . Laui-ctte Luez i of the small band reach their ob . Allan Nixon . Joan Shawlee Judy Landbn Mara Lyun Jo Carroll Dennison Kerry Vaughn . , . Tony Devlin Jame$ Summers ' With good exploitation values, “Prehistoric Women^’ should serve its purpose on the lower Ond of a double bill. As the label implies, it’s a tale of femmes before there was anything resembling civilization, and with a load of sparsely dressed lookers and males in leopard skins, it can get some b.o. response. The yarn is somewhat ludicrous. The femmes in the picture sport permanents and their lip-rouge is very evident in Cinecolor. As for I dialog, there's i. series of grunts, I but a narrator weaves a fairly thin [story telling of a group of women i who broke away from a prehistoric tribe, and formed a group of their own. Eventually, there’s a Emory is satisfactory as the lieutenaht and Benson Fong does well as a Korean scout helping accoihplish the mission. A1 Eben; Li Dennis Dencate : DavenpOrt, W()ng ... Jeanne Sorel ; Artariie and Harold Fong are Johann Peturrson ' Okay. Teri Duna has a small spot ‘ ’ '*°Janet*Scott a Djtive girl picked up on .the ■ way.. The Eagle Lion Classics release rates cceptable technical assists. Editing is good in the brief authentic war scenes, even though clips do not always match the photography of Elmer Dyer. Music score by Alexander Gerens is ! properly used. Brog. Monte Carlo Dice Continued from page .3 Lippert Pictures has what would socin a sure money film in “The Steel Helmet.” It pinpoints the Korean fighting in a grim, hardhitting tale that is excellently told. Timely exploitation values are supplied in a story that makes no bid for obvious sensationalism,, yet has it. Strong selling factors will ovc'rcame. to considerable extent the lack of marquee strength and, properly used, can stir up a good b.o. play. ; : Plotting follows the current vogue of Goncentrating on the personal involvement of a small group, rather , than ; encompassing whole armie.s at war. Technique, permits well-i'oundcd development of charaelers and a strong impact on viewers even though turned out on a niodest budget. Sa nuicl Fuller, who wT’ote, prodiieed and diTected, starts his footage gidmly; A veteran top ?s (Ik' sole survivor of a small pal rol. bound and . murdered by Korily Koreans. He and a young iiatrve h.(),V, who freed him, start .hark fov the lines. T'hey are. soon; .10 hied by a .Negro medic, sole sur/' ivor of another group. . Trio en.counters a . patrol of green Gl ’Si help them out of. an ambush and'go idong to establish an obsei'vation Po.st in a Korean temple. There they help direct ' artillery fire and capture a North Korean major hidiBg out in the temple.\ > Humari element is strongly pointed up in developing each of the ch araeters, a fact that adds tp the Pig shocker scene Avhen the Red captive is gunnM down by the scaveant after little boy is Killed. This.scehe, along with sev-^ era] others, first required War Departinent approval before rating a ifodiictipn. Code okay. The Negro, Nisei and conS(iientious objector problems are discussed witliout soap-boxing, being part of the Characters making up the patrol. _ riim serves to introduce Gene TV sergeant, a vet of World War II, a tough man who is staying alive, and ardened to the impact of warfare, pulls no punches, ^ s conscientious ob ina T last war but now will g to fight against communism; take averages before stretching limits upward. After all, they point out, they are ready and anxious to give suckers 10 or more times that much action at roulette need for men, if the group is to | and other games, perpetuate itself, and the girls go ; At this season there’s only about looking for husbands in the [ enough trade to keep one of the most primitive manner. They nab j crap layouts operating at far end some good-looking hunters, and | of the cavernous red and gilt main ; salon of the Casino. , Groupiers chant in a mixture of French (“faites VOS jeux” and “rien na vas neyertheless. I believe the core of our whole problem lies in the above. i very definitely feel that the industry has washed : out the glaitior that used to make people think and talk pix. Why kid ourselves? One of the basic attractions of movies is the fact that the people of thir country thought of our stars as beings out of this world, and not ribrnlal everyday neighbors. We may not like the reasons for this attrabtion, but I think the pendulum has swung much too far In trying to. make all of our stars and personalities sound like the guy in the grocery store on the cornel. I liidRstry A *Whippiiig Boy’ | X believe that our industry has permitted itself to be(?6me a whipping boy for every type of pressure group, women’s clubs, religious organizations, etc. 1 don’t think this has helped pur industry. I think it has hurt, and hurt badly. I believe that we are as entitled to the same constitutional privileges of freedem of the screen, and by this I do not mean license, as press, radio, book publishing, magazines, etc. We have done one of the greatest jobs of self-censdrship in the history of American industry—many times at a great Cost basic approaches work very well on Certain types of pictures, and it wbuld be silly to waste all of the years of successful experiment with them, but there should be a contihuirig effbrt to develbp new approaches, even with some risk, involved. I definitely favor a research project to learn what has changed publie attitude Oh films. Many people in our liidustry sneer at research and figure oiir whole Industry can be played “by ear.” I don’t believe this. I don’t think our Industry, can be played by statistics either. I think we need a combination of both. Business is not good, and that’s one of the best reasons I know for finding but why business •is not gobd: Improved Public Relations I do think Industry public relations ha.ve been better during the past year. I don’t think it hais reflected itself at the boxoffice by better busihess, because the entertainment dollar is not only being shrunk by outside pressures, such as the availability of autbmobiles, which haye reached their peak in history, the availability of fundamental items like .refrigerators, homes, stoves, television sets. etc. All of the inonby spent for the above leaves less money to be to ourselves in income. This, how-. ! snent on .entertainment of all sorts. eyer, doesn’t seem to be enough. Every time anyone wants to make a reputation for themselves, they The nation had become tremendbivsly hungry durihg the war years for these products, and when try and do a job of critiGizing our i they became available, they were Industry, and instead of fighting ' first in order of priority for spend them which enables them to beat extinction. There are some sections of the I film that should be required view ; P^^s’/) ing for boy scouts. One man dis i number .and Eighta from J) covers how to make a fire, and | catuh, make your bets ^nd ultimately learns the virtue of I shooter coming out. ) INeat Rttle roast tiger.: There are a Couple of j cards giving the craps rules in Eng-r good sequences of a hunt, and a lish, French or Italian, to suit the few scenic shots that hold interest. | customer, and backed with colBut storywise, its too elementary | umns for system players to record to be taken seriously on any count, j play and takings, are handed out to Film looks constructed along comers, economic lines. It’s all outdoors , croupiers are also . ready and and any sets look like they might vvilling to take time to explain play have come from an did Tarzan pic. .q anxious to learn and reThere are no names for »iar, . ^ they have found Italians the quee display. General ^umof au^ ^ among Europeans, dience won t be familiar with most ‘ ^ rnari/ nvid of the players, but they’re gener A Romaics Imc made ally restful on the optics. Direc tion is adequate for the require-' estimation, with best of the New inents of the plot, add the photog York and Hollj^vood, visitors, raphy makes par for the outdoor . Among the latter, Errol Flynn has back, we duck and run. This is one of the most serious things that’s wrdng with our Industry. Qur Industry tdday must prove that it can deliver entertainment that can^ not be seen anywhere else, whether it is on television, radio or the stage. Samples of this kind of entertainment are “Samson and Delilah” and “King Solomon’s Mines,” We rnust not only give them spectacle, but we ought to be free to move into new fields without having to account to every pressure group. I think that we, as an Industry^ have as high a standard of morals or ethick as any other industry in the country, and we ought to stand up apd say so. I think, film advertising has be in®^. Not only is the entertainment dollar sm aller for all fields of en-* teri ainment, but the entertainment dollar is now being Split Up into many more pieces, with the. greitpst Gneroachment being in the field df television, night baseball, ni.ght racetracks, etc. Many people are either . sneering at te •envision, or are trying to igRor,'' it. The facts of the matter show that there are, at present. Over 9, ()00, 000 sets in this country. ;vvit!i aoproximately 2L28,0()0;00() mirimum listeners. What they see on television is “for free.” Even if the stuff isn’t as good as movies, it is still going to keep a tremendous number of people away. The statistics don’t frighten me particularly, especially when you _ i remember that we are a country of AIl6g^6S Par Failed .To over 150,000,000 people, and that 'Pofiii-n nrhxv AoW I o*' fop “A’' picture grossing .S4, rCetUrn Uog^^ Asks lZ5lx ! 000 000, we have reached, in the Hollywood, j past, somewhere between 20-25,, Paramount shrugged off a ,$125, O^O.OOO. I think there is enough 000 suit filed by a Denver beauty i ^pom for a very healthy Motion parlor operator charging the studio [ Picture Industry., if all branch-s of “kidnaped” her pet fox terrier, industry get together and fight used it in “Emperor Waltz” and Jor then refused to return it. Suit specified canine was course. Jose, i been a reGent regular at the dice ! layout. “He’s won baeik : most, of : , . i the money his new father-in-law, Kibi J €i 1 i Mr. Wymore, has been losing,” it. Hollywood, Dee. JG.y ^ repaired. Keeps it in the . Eagle Lion . Classics, release of Walter . . , ■ Shenson production. Features. Richard lamily. Eniory, Benson FOng; A1 Ebon, Li Suiv-!' '• ■; .7 Tori Duna, Danny Davenport, '.Wong Ar-:; | No .PayOu on .Ifcys . I tame, Harold Fong. Direcled by Max — -— ^■■•— *T^ , ' " . , Nosseck, Story and screenplay, hen i The Monte , Carlo craps .layOUtS noth G. Brown, WaUer Shenson; camera. , n Detroit manu Elmer Dyer; editor. NormanCerf. Pre bear the name 01 a ue^trou rndiiu. viewed Dec, 26, '50. Running time 59 ! facturer, but CXCep^t for original : . .Bichai-d Emory' complete table , from , . . . ; . Ai Eben ; state Side, additional setups have .... i been, locally manufactured and are Teri Duna ' only covered with American , green Daimy Davenport j cloth: One variation is no payoff ■ . iiKi^' foS^! on threes; on that variety of crap, RKO's Slip Since '46 MINS. Lieutenant Craig Sergeant Abrams Kim ........... Chlng ; The Girl ... Corporal Dykes , Murphy .. , ... . . . , Lee . ..... . .. . Capt&in. Green . Major Wald . . . . by using the methods we have used upto this point. The Motion Pic• T . .TYx , ture Industry is going to rlnn<^e I stolen in January, ^948. ^Studio [ in evgry phase, whether wfV like it I ^ ^ finished Sept, v not, because the domDetit ’"on is j zi, iy4b. I toimhct and the competition is go ing to compel us' to change. I have pushed m.v frvorite ! GOMPO project, namely, that of .L Y • I an annual festival with I'c-ins in ., f^^smess frorn / city in the United States and ^ I national cooperation in Hollywood port from the RKO chairt bn in | nqvv York. come and ^admissions over a five j j yvould also like to sound off bn year period beginning in 1945. > obe other opinion regarding the. Circuit’s revenue amounted to Motion Picture Industry. I think i $39,391,223 on 86,214,999 admis-: we have a two-fold job/ to perform, sions in; 1945; $46,673,549 on 94, No. L i.s to gauge public taste and 137,204 admissions in 1946; . $45, , to . cater to that public taste i n t he 087,661 on 86,090,981 admiSslphs ; best Way we know how. We a re in in 1947; $40,636,219 on 79,817,019 the business of entertainment, aud admissions in 1948, and $37,293,516 we ought not to permit anyone to I on 72,217,303 admissions in 1949. John ^v.^ciose ■ bouse picks up everything, includ-Richard. Barron . As another in the eycle pf films p^'^sino upcoming on the Korean fighting,. Principal problem these aay.s is to “Korea Patrol” falls heir to a locate and bring to Monte,, a new natural exploitation peg that gives crop of the sort of bigtime suckers it good chances in the baijyhoo who made Moriaco resort famcius houses. Turned out on a' short from .1861, ' when Casino was built, budget and fast shooting time, it Until World. War I, when the big bears plenty of evidence of the j began to. fade. Since World vYr'icfi-YY Liif ic cfiii crnnH film I War II, ruinoUs income taxes in quick origin, but is .still, good film fare for the exploitation market. U. S., England and most other Film^ bears the indie label 6 f | countries, and foreign exchange re EinTi’ ' strictions preventing even rich other than UN meeting clips ^ ' gaiflblers from taking their dOugh pnHrplw HoWwood^ Gen along with them When they travel, eral okay effect was achieved by h?ve . cut things way down. concentrating action on a small dication of decline is that the six-man patrol given the danger. Casino, which used to employ 3,000, sneer at u.s because we are a popu, Jar .art and a mass medium. I ! . J n i. i. i think we have a secondary pur now hires about a third Of that; namely, to improve , piib'ic But premises still include a full taste wherever possible, and in sized theatre, presenting big-scale;: ibis area, we should be con.stanlly ; musical shows in season; a smaller. ; mnking pictures of oiitslnnding I Concert hall, a gourmet restaurant cia.ssics, . novels, plays, as w.''!! as j aiid the. ininiilable sight of the ' pioneering in fields of inform :itioh. strange crop, of steady system play These latter pictures, however, ers, m^e’ and, female, who have should be made on a frank experibeen inhabiting the place as long ibenlal basis, with costs and ex-: j as anyone can remeniber— and who pectations based oh this knowl I look pretty well down their noses ; edve. i at anything as brash as “les craps.” Tq sum up,. I am in the picture But the head office is much business because I think it is a pleased with publicity results of great business, I think there will their introduction of the U. S. be a successful Motion Picture style gambling and still hope it , business in spite of the pallbearmay produce major income—later, j ers, but it will be a business conwhen they’re surer of the house's [ siderably different than the one we probabilities. are in today.