Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1962)

FEATURE REVIEWS Story Synopsis; Exploits; Adlines for Newspapers and Programs THE STORY: "Light in the Piazza" (MGM) Olivia de Havilland, an attractive American traveling in Italy with her beautiful young daughter, Yvette Mimieux, finds they are being pursued by a handsome Italian youth, v'°n!ls George Hamilton. Realizing that the boy is attracted to .|mo? Yvette, who seems to respond to his attentions, Olivia tries to tell the boy's father, Rossano Brazzi, that her daughter, who acts like a child-like adolescent, is actually 26 with the mentality of a ten-year-old due to a childhood accident. She then wire Yvette's father, Barry Sullivan, who comes to Florence forbids the romance to continue and threatens to send Yvette to an institution in America. Thinking only of her daughter's future happiness with a carefree boy who will always provide her with Italian servants to care for her, she consents to Hamilton's offer of marriage. When Brazzi learns the girl's real age, he protests but finally gives in and Olivia locks on as her daughter is wed. EXPLOITIPS: Elizabeth Spencer's novelette won the McGraw-Hill Fiction Award and was one of 1 96 1 's best-sellers for many months thus suggesting bookstore tieups for window displays. The Italian Tourists Office and Italian ship and airlines also will cooperate with displays. CATCHLINES: A Beautiful Love Tale of the Romantic City of Florence . . . Elizabeth Spencer’s Best-Selling Novel of Romance Actually Filmed in Beautiful Florence. THE STORY: "Tender Is the Night" (20th-Fox) In the 1920s on the French Riviera, Jason Robards jr. and his wife, Jennifer Jones, throw a lavish party for other visiting 're^is wecfithy Americans. During the party Jennifer gets jealous of /ho -lkinr Jill St. John, a beautiful movie star, and Jason recalls the \ a* time he first met his wife when she was a mental patient at a Zurich hospital where he was on the staff. Jason falls in love with Jennifer, and her wealthy sister, Joan Fontaine, offers him a huge check to marry and take care of her. The money brings about a change in Robards and, even after two children are born to them, they continue a life of idleness in. European pleasure spots. Finally, Jason has the opportunity to rejoin the staff of the hospital where he first met Jennifer, but he learns that they want his money more than his services. Dejected at this, Jason and Jennifer continue their drinking and this leads to a bar-room brawl and news headlines. Robards' only chance of salvation is to return to America and he leaves Jennifer forever. EXPLOITIPS: The four stars, Jennifer Jones, in her first film since "A Farewell to Arms," Jason Robards jr., who recently scored in “By Love Possessed," Joan Fontaine and Tom Ewell, are the big selling angle. Make book tieups. CATCHLINES: Filmed Against the Moon-Swept Beaches of the Riviera, the Beauty of the Alps and the Bistros of Paris ... A Distinguished Film in the Boxoffice Tradition of "The Hustler." THE STORY: "Follow That Horse" (Seven Arts) Happy-go-lucky civil servant David Tomlinson, always with an appreciative eye for gals, is assigned to escort Cyril Shaps, famed scientist, to a London conference from a highly secret project. Tomlinson's attention is diverted by Mary Peach, daughter of a race horse owner who lives near the project. The scientist is employed by spies and trying to escape from England; he gets into the horse van being driven to the track by Mary instead of the one used by the spies for his anticipated getaway. He drops the highly secret documents into the hay and the horse eats them. After the horse wins the race, it is sold at auction. Learning of this, Tomlinson feverishly bids against the spies for the horse, but since ^ h his boss, Cecil Parker, won't provide proper authorization, he tie r loses the horre. Tomlinson and Mary give chase as the spies try to leave the country; at an abandoned airport, they rescue the horse, the documents are found safe and the spies are arrested. EXPLOITIPS: Get scientific and sports writers from the local dailies to delve, tongue-in-cheek, into this topic for their readers. Send an appropriately bannered horse through downtown traffic. CATCHLINES: A Bubbly Bit of British Bumbling! . . . Dave Tomlinson in Woo and Woe! The Outcome Is Something You'll Never Guess! THE STORY: “I Bombed Pearl Harbor" (Parade) On Dec. 1, 1941, a Japanese fleet of 30 warships sails toward Hawaii. Military leaders have worked out a plan of attack in event of failure of top-level negotiations under way in Washington. Admiral Toshiro Mifune receives the anticipated code telegram, reading "Climb Mt. Nitaka," which means proceed according to plan. Flight leaders Koji Tsuruta and Yosuke Natsuki, after the attack, radio the task force that the surprise effort was tremendously successful. Natsuki, on leave, is reluctant to marry Misa Uehara, thinking his love will make him unworthy as a naval officer. In ensuing, boldly conceived South Pacific action, Natsuki gets icj'-gt the feeling that the Japanese fleet is invincible. But before v St. -lictur he can marry Misa, he gets an urgent report-back from the Vfl' L fleet; he tells Misa to live in his house until he returns. In the battle of Midway, U.S. forces strike unexpected devastating blows. Mifune and ship's captain Jun Tazaki lash themselves to the compass, preparing to go down to their fate. The carrier is finally sunk by Japanese destroyers on fleet command. Natsuki and others who sailed aboard the once-proud craft, give a final salute. EXPLOITIPS: Promote newspaper contest geared to theme, "Where were YOU on Dec. 7, 1941?" Contact American Legion and VFW. CATCHLINES: For the First Time the Story of the Pacific War — Through the Eyes of the Enemyl Real! Authentic! Raw! THE STORY: "Shangri-La" (Brenner) Sammy, the emaciated zoo-keeper, tells his pal, lim, about his vacation, during which time he followed two young g rls to a resort, later turning out to be a nudes' gathering point. As much as everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, he's too modest to disrobe. He follows the same female duo, now to Washington, where he treks wearily aftei them as they take the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument (he takes the stairs). Still later, in Silver Springs, Fla., he looks for a mermaid in a glass-bottom boat and battles an alligator. He winds up in a nature park called Camp Shangri-La, where he engrossedly watches families happily at play. He serves as master-of-ceremonies in a beauty competition, some of the country's loveliest girls participatirg Ironically, several of the losers turn out to be the girls he had been following; the slightly addle-pated registrar rips a button off his chest reading, "Nudist First Class," preparatory to expelling Sammy. The story convinces Jim of the lure of the great unveiling; he embarks on a similar trek. EXPLOITIPS: Exploitation will depend on individual situations, with each f '<lL exhibitor determining how far to go on the nudist angle. v-O— CATCHLINES: Ah, the Lure of the Great Unveiling! A Simple Country Trek — and Not So Simple Femmes! THE STORY: “White Slavery" (Brenner) “White Slavery" has been edited from the footage shot by Michael Steel and later used as evidence to convict a major white slave gang. The story opens as Steel joins the gang in Tangier. Gradually gaining their confidence he's allowed to accompany various key members on their missions to procure girls throughout the Mediterranean. His camera records the fantastic slave market that exists under a Tangier cafe. He flies with a renegade American pilot to bring a girl back from the south Spanish coast and, finally, he's allowed to accompany two of the gang's smoothest operators to Madrid, where he’s able to photograph the intricate workings of a theatrical agency, in reality a front for illegal activity. Accompanying a load of girls back to Tangier, Steel and the gang narrowly escape capture by a Spanish gunboat, only to be trapped on the Tangier beach. Steel is able to prove his innocence, and his film is used to convict the gang at trial. EXPLOITIPS: In larger towns, police interviews on the white slave traffic are a possibility. Fact that the Tangier police cooperated in '• the filming should be heavily exploited as some guarantee iV]|hou of authenticity. Blowups of stills from picture should make dramatic lobby pieces. CATCHLINES: Filmed in the Teeming Tangier Auction Market Where Women's Bodies Are Bait! BOXOFFICE BookinGuide :: Jan. 15. 1962 L_