Boxoffice barometer (1963)

The Guiding Hands of the Bigger Hits DIRECTORS * They Co-ordinate the Showmanship Ingredients 20 ^t)irect 44 Dap ^J4its oj' 61- 62 ^THENEVER a motion picture star of recognized talent gives a bad per- formance, critics are inclined to blame it on the director. Without arguing the infallibility of critics, in this instance they are usually right. A good director knows how to use an actor to bring out his or her best efforts, and no one is quicker to credit the director for a suc- cessful role than the grateful actor. The occasional conflict between actors and directors, where the actor proves to be right, are only exceptions that prove the rule. The 1961-62 season shows that four directors have as many as three top hits to their credit whereas, during the 1960- 61 season, there were no directors who had that many. And continuing the comparison, the preceding season had 14 with two hits each while there are 16 with two hits for 1961-62. This adds up to the fact that 20 directors score with 44 top hits. There are 109 who had one hit each—certainly a creditable show- ing in the directorial field. John Frankenheimer’s three top hits are all in the field of heavy drama, tragic to the end, but there is no same- ness of theme, nor of treatment. Mer- vyn LeRoy has three hits which are quite different and range from an action drama with psychological impact to one which approaches slapstick at times. He also produced two of his hits and di- rected the considerable talents of Spen- cer Tracy and Frank Sinatra in one, Rosalind Russell in two others, teamed with Karl Malden in one and Alec Guin- ness in the other. Delbert Mann’s three hits comprise two sardonic sex dramas with sophisti- cated comedy touches, one of which stars Doris Day with Rock Hudson and the other with Cary Grant, plus a moody drama where an American Indian hero’s life-story is treated in sympa- thetic fashion in which Tony Curtis starred—all for Universal. J. Lee Thompson’s tense drama, “Cape Fear” is a chiller to keep parents awake nights, while his “The Guns of Nava- rone” is a war drama with mental re- actions shown more than actual battle- field scenes. Gregory Peck stars in both with Robert Mitchum in the first and David Niven and Anthony Quinn in the latter. Thompson’s current “Taras Bulba” co-stars Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis. Ken Annakin’s two are both war pic- tures but unalike in concept and treat- ment, for one is personalized and the other an overall treatment. Swedish director Ingmar Bergman continues to make films with somber themes, one where virtue triumphs and the other where madness and incest are depicted with Nordic lack of restraint. Roger Corman has two typical horror films, both for American International. Blake Edwards guides Audrey Hepburn in a brittle, romantic fantasy and, then, both produces and directs a thriller in which the FBI helps a girl bank em- ploye escape a sadistic killer who threatens her. Although John Ford satirizes stock westerns in one of his top hits, he shows what a real western ought to be like in his other, but both did about the same at the boxoffice. Guy Green’s pene- trating drama for MGM of a parental problem about a mental defective is al- most gay beside the involved conflicts presented in the one for Continental, with its sinister suspicion of child molestation. A complete change of pace is notice- able in John Guillermin’s two top hits, one a Tarzan with new angles and the other a marital mixup in which a natural son supersedes his father in the affections of a young woman with whom the latter had hoped to replace his wife. Henry Koster’s two hits, while quite dif- ferent, are both the type of film that sends audiences home smiling. Comparisons are never so odious as when there is a remake of a famous old film and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” suffers from such comparison though still a boxoffice winner. His “Two Weeks in Another Town” is an industry drama whose finer points are missed by general audiences, but Kirk Douglas and Edward G. Robinson keep it in the hit class. James Neilson’s two hits for Buena Vista are both more romantic and sophisticated than most Disney films, but still in the family class and scored high. Martin Ritt’s two winners are hybrids between the art and general entertainment tradition, one having the advantage of author Hemingway’s name and the other appealing to fol- lowers of Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and Louis Armstrong. In Frank Tashlin’s first hit, he di- rected the British comedian, Terry- Thomas, and in his current hit, Jerry Lewis, with laugh-rioting results. Elvis Presley accounts for both of Norman Taurog’s high-scoring films for Para- mount. Although Ralph Thomas, who directed for Betty Box in his two top hits, con- tinues their doctor comedy series in one, the other is a political drama with romantic overtones, the first released by Governor and the latter by Embassy. Bernhard Wicki’s two hits are both war dramas, compelling in their stark and realistic portrayals. The one-hit directors whose work, among others, might have special men- tion include Jack Arnold’s Bob Hope comedy, “Bachelor in Paradise,” (MGM), Frank Capra’s “Pocketful of Miracles” (UA), Jack Cardiff’s “My Geisha” (Para), Gerald Thomas’ “Carry On, Teacher” (Governor), Charles Walters’ “Billy Rose’s Jumbo” (MGM) and Morton Da Costa’s “The Music Man” (WB)—all in the wholesome, general entertainment field. Controversial pictures that were, nevertheless, hits include Richard Brooks’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” (MGM), George Cukor’s “The Chapman Report” (WB), Jules Dassin’s “Phaedra” (Lopert), and Federico Fellini, Vittorio de Sica and Luchino Visconti’s “Boccaccio ’70” (Embassy), Edward Dmytryk’s “Walk on the Wild Side (Col), Pietro Germi’s “Divorce—Italian Style” (Embassy), Elia Kazan’s “Splendor in the Grass” (WB), and Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” (MGM). Three religious pictures are outstand- ing efforts—Richard Fleischer’s “Barab- bas” (Col), Nicholas Ray’s “King of Kings” (MGM) and the non-Biblical but religious conflict, Anthony Mann’s “El Cid” (AA). Political themes accounted for Stanley Kramer’s “Judgment at Nurem- berg” (UA) and Otto Preminger’s “Ad- vise and Consent.” Racial themes were aired in Etienne Perier’s “Bridge to the Sun” (MGM), “A Taste of Honey” (Cont’l) and in Jerome Robbins’ “West Side Story” (UA). Albert Lamorisse’s “Stowaway in the Sky” (Lopert) is an art-house film that overlooks sex for novelty and adventure, in a tranquil screen exponent of beauty. —V.W.S. 82 BAROMETER Section