Boxoffice barometer (1954)

©Wings of the Hawk ...330 (3-D) 336 (2-D) (81) Sept. Technicolor Drama. (Available in both 3-D and 2-D.) Irish mining engineer strikes it rich but provincial Mexican governor wants half for “protection.” Engineer refuses, is captured in ensuing battle, but rescued by rebels among whom is pretty Mexican girl. Van Heflin, Julia Adams, Abbe Lane, George Dolenz, Noah Beery. Director: Budd Boetticher. Warner Bros. (August 30, 1952 through August 29, 1953) ©Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd . .208.. . (70) Dec. 27, ’52 Supercinecolor Comedy With Music. A pirate yarn, but in the spoofing tradition of this comedy team. Complete with treasure map, Captain Kidd and a female pirate, the two bungling buccaneers are trapped into sailing for Skull Island. Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Charles Laughton, Hillary Brooke. Director: Charles Lamont. (A Woodley Production.) ©April in Paris.. . 209. .. (101) Jan. 3 Technicolor Musical Comedy. Combines gaiety and dance sequences in a Paris nightlife setting. Broadway chorus girl plays another boy friend against the one she wants — and wins. Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin, Eve Miller. Director: David Butler. Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The. ...221 (80) June 13 Science-Fiction Drama. Atomic test in Arctic melts ice, freeing prehistoric monster which proceeds along the coast, destroying everything in its path. Emerging from the East River, it spreads panic up Broadway, and is finally trapped and killed. Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods. Director: Eugene Lourie. Big Jim McLain... .201... (90) Aug. 30, ’52 Drama. Filmed in Hawaii. The House UnAmerican Activities Committee investigators go to Hawaii to check reports of Red infiltration. A doctor and a supposedly antiRed labor leader are unmasked as key Communists. John Wayne, Nancy Olson, James Arness, Alan Napier, Veda Ann Borg. Director: Edward Ludwig. (A Wayne-Fellows Production.) Blue Gardenia, The.. ..215.... (90) Mar. 28 Drama. Jilted telephone operator goes to an artist’s studio following a date. Resisting amorous advances with a poker, she faints, waking to find him dead. A newspaper columnist discovers the murderer. Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr, Jeff Donnell. Director: Fritz Lang. ©By the Light of the Silvery Moon 219. .. (102) May 2 Technicolor Comedy With Music. Small town banker’s daughter and her fiance quarrel and his young son, turned sleuth, starts erroneous gossip about the father and a French actress. Everything is cleared up for his 20th wedding anniversary. Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray. Director: David Butler. Cattle Town . .207 . (71) Dec. 6, ’52 Western Drama. A Northerner buys large areas of public land in Texas after the Civil War. Small ranchers claim squatters’ rights and challenge his ownership, causing violence and death. Dennis Morgan, Philip Carey, Rita Moreno, Paul Picerni. Director: Noel Smith. ©Charge at Feather River, The.. . 223 (96) July 11 WarnerColor Natural Vision 3-D Western. Young frontiersman helps cavalry rescue two white girls, five-year captives of Cheyennes. One is unwilling, planning to marry chief, and is killed during an Indian attack but the other girl and frontiersman fall in love. Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, Helen Westcott, Vera Miles, Dick Wesson. Director: Gordon Douglas. ©Crimson Pirate, The.. .202.... (104) ..Sept. 27, ’52 Technicolor Adventure Drama. An 18th century sea raider captures Spanish emissary who offers handsome reward for capture of rebel leader on island of Salina. Pirate instead falls in love with rebel chief’s daughter and aids revolution. Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Torin Thatcher, James Hayter. Director: Robert Siodmak. (A Norma Production.) ©Desert Song, The. ...220. .. (110) May 30 Technicolor Musical Drama. Leader of the Moroccan Riffs, warring against a villainous sheik, masquerades as an anthropology student, falling in love with a girl he tutors and winning her when a battle exposes his Riff leadership. Kathryn Grayson, Gordon MacRae, Steve Cochran, Raymond Massey, Dick Wesson. Director: Bruce Humberstone. ©House of Wax... .218.. ..(88) Apr. 25 WarnerColor Natural Vision 3-D Horror Drama. Operator of a wax museum opposes partner’s plan to burn it for the insurance, and is turned into a deranged monster by the fire, prowling the city for victims to encase in wax. Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Paul Picerni, Carolyn Jones, Angela Clarke. Director: Andre de Toth. (Also available in 2-D.) I Confess... 213. .. (95) Feb. 28 Drama. Priest hears confession from murderer, garbed as a cleric for the crime. The priest, later accused, refuses to violate the confessional to save himself but is saved by the murderer’s wife. Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. ©Iron Mistress, The....206... (110) ...Nov. 22, ’52 Technicolor Drama. Based on the historical novel by Paul I. Wellman of adventure and romance in old New Orleans. Tells the story of Jim Bowie, famous knife-fighter in the Louisiana and Mississippi frontier wars. Alan Ladd, Virginia Mayo, Joseph Calleia, Alf Kjellin, Phyllis Kirk. Director: Gordon Douglas. ©Jazz Singer, The.. ..212. .. (107) .Feb. 14 Technicolor Musical Drama. Veteran returns from service and disappoints his father, who is a cantor, by entering show business. Successful but disowned by his father, he returns to sing at temple services for him. Danny Thomas, Peggy Lee, Mildred Dunnock, Eduard Franz, Tom Tully. Director: Michael Curtiz. ©Man Behind the Gun, The. ...211 (82) Jan. 31 Technicolor Western. Woman singer leads a plot in the 1850s to make southern California a slave state. She fails to interest a disguised army major and loses her life when the conspiracy is smashed. Randolph Scott, Patrice Wymore, Dick Wesson, Philip Carey, Lina Romay. Director: Felix E. Feist. ©Master of Ballantrae, The....225..„ (89) .. .Aug. 1 Technicolor Costume Adventure Drama. Titled Scotsman flees country when defeated fighting against the English crown. Smuggling aboard a pirate ship, he kills the captain and sails for Scotland where his brother helps him and fiancee emigrate to America. Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel, Beatrice Campbell, Yvonne Furneaux. Director: William Keighley. ©©Miracle of Fatima, The.. . 203 (102) Oct. 11, ’52 WarnerColor Drama. In 1917, when Portugal is torn by revolution, a 10-year-old girl sees a vision, which event transforms the little mountain village of Fatima into a world-famous shrine. Gilbert Roland, Angela Clarke, Susan Whitney, Sherry Jackson, Sammy Ogg. Director: John Brahm. Operation Secret . . 205 . ..(108) Nov. 8, ’52 Action Drama. Story of the French underground during World War II. U.S. marine, parachuted into Germany, is helped to escape a Nazi trap by girl worker disguised as a nun. Cornel Wilde, Steve Cochran, Phyllis Thaxter, Karl Malden. Director: Lewis Seiler. Plunder of the Sun . ..224.. . (82) Aug. 29 Drama. Filmed in Mexico. American adventurer is paid to deliver documents telling whereabouts of treasure in Mexican ruins. He escapes attack en route and with woman companion turns over treasure to Mexican government, then heads for Cuba. Glenn Ford, Diana Lynn, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan. Director: John Farrow. (A Wayne-Fellows Production.) ©She’s Back on Broadway....214. .. (95).. ..Mar. 14 WarnerColor Musical. Movie queen whose last pictures were flops tries for a stage comeback. Her performance brings a new movie offer, but she turns it down for romantic reasons. Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson, Frank Lovejoy, Steve Cochran, Patrice Wymore. Director: Gordon Douglas. ©So This Is Love. ...226.... (101) Aug. 15 Technicolor Musical Biography. Story of Metropolitan opera star, the late Grace Moore. Shows her climb to stardom from a humble beginning as a choir singer, her rise as queen of the Broadway musical stage and, finally, her operatic debut. Kathryn Grayson, Merv Griffin, Joan Weldon, Walter Abel, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeff Donnell. Director: Gordon Douglas. South Sea Woman.. ..222. ... (99) June 27 Comedy Drama. AWOL marine sergeant being court-martialed refuses to testify. Showgirl sweetheart takes stand, tells how he and buddy seized Nazi yacht off Vichy French island and blew up Japanese destroyer. Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Chuck Connors, Arthur Shields, Barry Kelley. Director: Arthur Lubin. ©Springfield Rifle....204. .. (93) ... Oct. 25, ’52 WarnerColor Action Drama. Union spy during the Civil War is court-martialed for deserting a herd of horses he was to lead to the railroad. Using new Springfield rifles, he captures Confederate raiders and is reinstated. Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly. Director: Andre de Toth. ©Stop, You’re Killing Me... 210.. . (86) ... Jan. 17 WarnerColor Comedy. Damon Runyon story of a bootleg beer baron, financially embarrassed by prohibition, posing as a tycoon to impress his daughter’s playboy fiance. Old friends harass him with murder and robbery. Broderick Crawford, Claire Trevor, Virginia Gibson, Bill Hayes. Director: Roy Del Ruth. System, The....217. .. (90) Apr. 18 Drama. Large city crime syndicate representative, whose girl friend is the daughter of an unfriendly newspaper publisher, turns state’s evidence after his college son, shocked by the revelations, commits suicide. Frank Lovejoy, Joan Weldon, Bob Arthur, Paul Picerni, Donald Beddoe. Director: Lewis Seiler. Trouble Along the Way.. ..216.... (110) Apr. 4 Comedy Drama. Rector of a debt-ridden college hires a cynical, ex-football coach who accepts to keep custody of his daughter, then proceeds to round up ineligible players. The rector, aroused, brings him to ethical terms. John Wayne, Donna Reed, Charles Coburn, Tom Tully, Sherry Jackson. Director: Michael Curtiz. 122 BAROMETER Section