Boxoffice barometer (1954)

Universal (Cont'd) appeal to popular tastes. Through a series of errors the band appears at a long-hair concert and the critics hail O'Connor as a genius. He wins fame and the girl. In Technicolor. Dec. 1953. Coming BENGAL RIFLES (Drama). Stars: Rock Hudson, Arlene Dahl, Dan O'Herlihy. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: Laslo Benedek. Original: Hall Hunter. Screenplay: Joseph Hoffman. • A story of England and India in the 1850s, to be filmed in Technicolor. BLACK HORSE CANYON (Western). Stars: Joel McCrea, Mari Blanchard, Irving Bacon. Producer: John W. Rogers. Director: Jesse Hibbs. Original: Les Savage jr. Screenplay: Geoffrey Homes. 9 Mari Blanchard, who lives with her uncle on a stock-breeding ranch, is eager to recapture "Outlaw," a black stallion who has run away to live in the hills. Joel McCrea, a cowhand trying to start a breeding ranch of his own, becomes involved in the hunt, and romance blossoms between him and Mari. Filmed in Technicolor. THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (Costume Drama). Stars: Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Dan O'Herlihy. Producer: Robert Arthur. Director: Rudy Mate. Original: Howard Pyle. Screenplay: Oscar Brodney. 9 A story of chivalry, romance and adventure in 15th century England. In Technicolor. Filmed in CinemaScope. BORDER RIVER (Western). Stars: Joel McCrea, Yvonne De Carlo, Pedro Armendariz. Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Director: George Sherman. Original Screenplay: Louis Stevens. # Zona Libre, a Mexican border town across the line from Texas, is ruled by Pedro Armendariz, a renegade soldier of fortune, as a refuge for scheming Americans making money out of the Civil War. To this hideout comes Joel McCrea, a Confederate army officer seeking to buy ammunition, who achieves that aim and wins for his bride Yvonne De Carlo, Armendariz' former sweetheart. Filmed in Technicolor. CONGO CROSSING (Action Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Howard Christie. Director: not set. Original: Houston Branch. Screenplay: Sylvia Richards. 9 A story of African adventure. CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (ScienceFiction Drama). Stars: Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning. Producer: William Alland. Director: Jack Arnold. Original Screenplay: Harry Essex. » A scientific expedition is formed to search for the missing parts of a web-fingered skeleton found in the Amazon jungles. The scientists are menaced by a monstrous creature, half-man, half-fish, which is captured but escapes and disappears, mortally wounded, after attacking the party. Filmed in 3-D. THE CURSE OF THE SCARLET SPHINX (Melodrama) Stars: not set. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Don Martin. 9 Localed in Egypt, this concerns an expedition looking for treasure in an ancient tomb. DAWN AT SOCORRO (Western). Stars: Rory Calhoun, Mari Blanchard, Piper Laurie. Producer: William Alland. Director: George Sherman. Original Screenplay: George Zuckerman. 9 A story of a gunfighter and gambler of the old west, to be filmed in Technicolor. DOLLY HESSIAN (Historical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: not set. Original: MacKinlay Kantor. Screenplay: Guy Trosper. 9 From the novel, this is a story of the Revolutionary War. DYNAMITE ANCHORAGE (Melodrama). Stars: not set. Producer: John W. Rogers. Director: not set. Original: Gil Doud, D. D. Beauchamp. Screenplay: D. D. Beauchamp. 9 Localed in Los Angeles Harbor, this deals with a dynamite-laden freighter which also carries, as part of its cargo, an atom bomb. DRUMS ACROSS THE RIVER (Western). Stars: Audie Murphy, Mara Corday, Walter Brennan. Producer: Melville Tucker. Director: Nathan Juran. Original: John K. Butler. Screenplay: Lawrence Roman. 9 Audie Murphy, a young westerner, seeks revenge upon Ute Indians who massacred his mother. Filmed in Technicolor. THE ELECTRONIC MAN (Science-Fiction Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Howard Christie. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Harry Essex, o A story of research and development in the field of robot machines. THE FAR COUNTRY (Action Drama). Stars: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet. Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: Anthony Mann. Original Screenplay: Borden Chase. 9 En route to Skagway from Seattle, James Stewart eludes attempts to arrest him for murder, and is aided by Ruth Roman, owner of a Skagway saloon. He tangles with the town boss, heads for the gold country around Dawson, is instrumental in spiking the activities of the bad men and finds happiness with Ruth. In Technicolor. FIREMAN SAVE MY CHILD (Comedy). Stars: Hugh O'Brian, Buddy Hackett, Spike Jones. Producer: Howard Christie. Director: Leslie Goodwins. Original Screenplay: Lee Loeb, John Grant. 9 In San Francisco in 1910, Tom Brown is given the task of installing motorized equipment in Station 12, manned by a group of well-meaning nincompoops including Spike Jones, Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett. He succeeds, after considerable travail, and Station 12's personnel accidentally become the heroes of the city. FORBIDDEN (Drama). Stars: Tony Curtis, Joanne Dru, Lyle Bettger. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: Rudolph Mate. Original: William Sackheim. Screenplay: William Sackheim, Gil Doud. 9 Tony Curtis, hireling of an American gang leader, arrives in Macao to locate Joanne Dru, widow of another gangster, and Tony's one-time girl triend, who had fled after her husband's murder. Love blossoms anew between Tony and Joanne, They pull a double cross on the crooks who want her returned, and head back to the U.S. to work out a new life together. FOXFIRE (Romantic Drama). Stars: June Allyson, Jeff Chandler (incomplete). Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: not set. Original: Anya Seton. Screenplay: ketti Frings. 9 A New York society girl, June Allyson, marries a mining engineer, Jett Chandler, who is part Indian, and goes with him to live in a small Arizona mining town. To be filmed in Technicolor. FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS (Comedy). Stars: Donald O'Connor, Lisa Gaye. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: Arthur Lubin. Original Screenplay: James B. Allardice. 9 Fifth in the series, this relates the further adventures of Francis, the talking mule, and his human companion, Donald O'Connor. Chill Wills, as usual, will be the "voice" of Francis. THE GLENN MILLER STORY (Biographical Drama With Music). Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson, Henry Morgan. Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: Anthony Mann. Original Screenplay: Oscar Brodney, Valentine Davies. e James Stewart portrays Glenn Miller, the trombonist and noted band leader, in this Technicolor subject, tracing his career from his early days as a side-man with Ben Pollack's orchestra and his marriage to his college sweetheart to world fame as a musician. Enlisting in the air force in World War II, Miller dies in an air crash over the English channel. HIGH AND DIZZY (Comedy). Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello. Producer: Howard Christie. Director: not set. Original Screenplay: Lee Loeb. 9 In which Abbott & Costello are cast as two stars of the Mack Sennett silent-screen comedy era. THE HOLY GRAIL (Biblical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: not set. Original: Jerome Weidman, Irving Wallace. Screenplay: Norman Corwin. 9 A story of the formative years of Christianity, this Biblical drama is localed in Judea in the year 6 A.D. It will be produced in Technicolor. I GOT A MILLION OF 'EM (Musical Comedy). Stars: Jimmy Durante (incomplete). Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Director: not set. Original: William Cox. Screenplay: Frank Gill jr. 9 Jimmy Durante is cast as a movie studio barber who also owns a theatrical rooming house and aids four young people to attain film stardom. JOHNNY DARK (Drama). Stars: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Paul Kelly. Producer: William Alland. Director: George Sherman. Original: Don McGuire. Screenplay: Franklin Coen. 9 Against the better judgment of Sidney Blackmer, the car firm's conservative president, Tony Curtis, a young design engineer, is given an okay to build an experimental sports car. He steals it from the plant, enters it secretly in a Canada-toMexico road race and, with Blackmer's last-minute backing, wins the event. Filmed in Technicolor. KING SOLOMON'S DAUGHTERS (Biblical Drama). Stars: not set. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: not set. Original: Joseph Gaer. Screenplay: John M. Lucas. 9 This romantic drama of Biblical times is scheduled for production in Technicolor. THE LONG HUNTERS (Action Drama). Stars not set. Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: not set. Original: Robert Hardy Andrews. Screenplay: Robert Buckner. 9 This historical adventure drama, to be photographed in Technicolor, is set in the south during the War of 1812; its principal characters include Davy Crockett, Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson during their early days. MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (Comedy). Stars: Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Lori Nelson. Producer: Leonard Goldstein. Director: Lee Sholem. Original Screenplay: Harry Clork, Elwood Ullman. 9 Thinking Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride) is a financial wizard, his cousin, an ailing canned-fruit tycoon in Honolulu, sends for him to take over the business. Through pure accident. Pa steps up the efficiency of the canning plant, captures gunmen who are out to kill his cousin, and puts the factory back on its feet. MA AND PA KETTLE HIT THE ROAD HOME (Comedy). Stars: Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Alice Kelley. Producer: Richard Wilson. Director: Charles Lamont. Original Screenplay: Kay Lenard, Jack Henley. 9 The Kettles (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) return to their dilapidated farmhouse to help their eldest boy win a grand prize in a national magazine contest on "My Life on a Typical American Farm." The editors decide, after numerous harrowing experiences, that the contest has ended in a tie between the Kettle boy and Alice Kelley, daughter of a neighboring farmer. MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (Drama). Stars: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead. Producer: Ross Hunter. Director: Douglas Sirk. Original: Lloyd C. Douglas. Screenplay: Robert Blees. 9 Rock Hudson, a profligate young millionaire, feels a deep sense of guilt because a respected surgeon dies for lack of an inhalator, used to save Hudson after a speedboat wreck. Jane Wyman, the doctor's widow, scorns Hudson's offers of financial help, but when she is blinded as the result of an automobile accident Hudson assumes the responsibility for her well-being. PLAYGIRL (Drama). Stars: Shelley Winters, Colleen Miller, Barry Sullivan. Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Director: Joseph Pevney. Original: Ray Buffum. Screenplay: Robert Blees. o A small-town girl becomes the play girl of New York in this romantic drama. RAIL'S END AT LARAMIE (Western). Stars: John Payne, Mari Blanchard, Dan Duryea. Producer: Ted Richmond. Director: Jesse Hibbs. Original Screenplay: D. D. Beauchamp, Joseph Hoffman. 9 John Payne, a hard-bitten soldier, is ordered to Laramie to clean out unsavory elements which are interfering with construction of a westward-bound railroad. Payne cracks open a gambilng and bribery ring, defeats efforts to sabotage the rail work and achieves his objective. Filmed in Technicolor. RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO (Western). Stars: Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Susan Cabot. Producer: John Rogers. Director: Jesse Hibbs. Original Screenplay: George Zuckerman. 9 His father and brother murdered by rustlers, .Audie Murphy, a railroad surveyor, thirsts for revenge. The sheriff and a respected town lawyer are in reality heads of the gang. With the help of Dan Duryea, a notorious gunman, Audie blasts the killers in a fight to the finish. Photographed in Technicolor. SASKATCHEWAN (Action Drama). Stars: Alan Ladd, Shelley Winters, J. Carroll Naish. Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: Raoul Walsh. Original Screenplay: Gil Doud. 9 After the Custer massacre at the Little Big Horn, Sioux Indians begin migrating north into Canada. Alan Ladd, an intrepid Canadian Mounted Police sergeant, is instrumental in supplying Cree Indians with ammunition with which to beat back the Sioux, although Ladd risks a treason charge to do so. Filmed in Technicolor. SIGN OF THE PAGAN (Costume Drama). Stars: Jeff Chandler, Ludmilla Tcherina, Jack Palance. Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Director: Douglas Sirk. Original Screenplay: not set. 9 A story of the Roman empire during the era of Attila the Hun, filmed in Technicolor. Filmed in CinemaScope. SONORA (Action Drama). Stars: James Stewart (incomplete). Producer: Aaron Rosenberg. Director: Anthony Mann. Original Screenplay: Borden Chase. 9 Mexico during revolutionary days is the locale for this James Stewart starrer, to be filmed in Technicolor. SPRING SONG (Musical Comedy). Stars: Tony Curtis, Bert Lahr (incomplete). Producer: Ross Hunter. Director: not set. Original: John D. Weaver. Screenplay: not set. 9 A straight-laced young man runs across his longlost father, the comedian in a travelling show, and plunges into show business. TANGANYIKA (Drama). Stars: Van Heflin, Ruth Roman, Howard Duff. Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Director: Andre de Toth. Original Screenplay: William Sackheim, Richard Alan Simmons. 9 Van Heflin arrives in British East Africa in 1902 to claim land to be developed for lumbering. The territory is being menaced by Nukumbi warriors led by a renegade Englishman, and Heflin — setting out to capture the traitorous Britisher — stages a surprise attack that results in victory. Filmed in Technicolor. TAZA, SON OF COCHISE (Western). Stars: Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Gregg Palmer. Producer: Ross Hunter. Director: Douglas Sirk. Original Screenplay: George Zuckerman. 9 Rock Hudson, son of the famed Apache chief, Cochise, assumes leadership of the tribe at his father's death, but Rock and his brother, Bart Roberts, clash over the same maiden, Barbara Rush. Roberts tries to set the Apaches on the warpath against the whites, but Rock and his loyal followers foil Roberts' plot and he rules his people in peace. Filmed in Technicolor. 90 BAROMETER Section