Boxoffice (Jul-Sep 1961)

Opinions on Current Productions Feature reviews Symbol © denotes color; © Cinemascope; ® Vistovision; © Superscope; ® Naturama; © Regalscope; © Technirama. For story synopsis on each picture, see reverse side. p Ty Ratio: Drama with t anny r 185.1 comedy sist^ Warner Bros. (016) 133 Minutes Rel. July '61 1 Eas# | Rare is the kind of film that tugs at the heartstrings and ) 1 gives rise to laughter at one and the same time. But one such is this Joshua Logan production, which should encounter limitless amounts of praise and patronage wherever it is shown. The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein eschews the tune1 ful facets of the original S. N. Behrman-Joshua Logan musical 1 and emerges a straight comedy-drama, which, despite leisurely paced opening sequences, rapidly changes into a story of tears and laughter that will make audiences comj pletely forget possible early-footage gripes. So exquisite are performances that selecting one for top honors becomes a i matter of individual taste. Leslie Caron's delineation of the title role is ethereally fine-grained; Horst Buchholz is excelJ lent as her lover, and Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer 1 are delightful as a pair of aging, irascible men whose deep 1 1 affection for each other does not prohibit their constant bick 1 ering. Much of the credit for the film's magnificence goes to y | the sensitive, sure-handed direction of Logan and the dis tinctive Technicolor photography by Jack Cardiff of the | breath-takingly beautiful backgrounds and the closeups in 1 which the feature abounds. Leslie Caron, Horst Buchholz, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Boyer, Baccaloni, Lionel Jeffries, Raymond Bussieres. TJzlTO J-1 Ratio: Spectacle -E 2.35-1 VistaScope © Film Group-States Rights 84 Minutes Rel. May '61 ienc CAS1 Engrossedly adhering to the accepted handling of derring'“re1 jo amid the vastness and far-off reaches of legendary atmosphere, this Roger Corman-fiimed-in-Greece spectacle marks that relative newcomer (he previously contributed significantly to American-International output, and, more recently, to his own Film Group-States Rights combine's firsttime out effort in the more expensive undertakings with widewide screen (VisiaScope) effects and color (in this instance the new Eastman 52-50). Fittingly, he's chosen a subject of significant esteem in Greek mythology, Atlas, who has been described by the world's greatest dramatists and story tellers, among them Homer, who observed the hero was “one who knows the depths of the whole sea and keeps the tall pillars which hold heaven and earth asunder." Certainly a hero of dynamic proportions and in Mark Forest's capable portrayal he comes alive, with a zestful vitality and youthful exhuberance both refreshing and admirable to encounter. Atlas is familiar to school children as the man who carries the terrestrial globe on his shoulders. Forest is cast, in associate producer Charles Griffith's absorbing screenplay, as the hero of the Greek Games called upon by tyrant Frank Wolff. Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Barboura Morris, Walter Maslow, Christos Exarchos, Andreas Filippidis. Time Bomb F JSS Su,,“" Dr"‘ Allied Artists (6104) 92 Minutes Rel. April '61 ! Suspense, certainly, is one of the most dramatic and vital components of action plots, and in this Franco-Italian co; production (Les Group Des 4, Paris, and Da. Ma. Cinemato grafica, Rome), competently spoken in English, the thrills add . up to forceful entertainment indeed. Curt Jurgens, an inter national thespian of considerable note, and Mylene ' Demongeot, among France's current crop of kittenish darlings, are the principals in an engrossing scheme, by Mile. Demongeot and her avarice-minded brother, Alain Saury, to | tionJ recoup a lost family fortune by wrecking a freighter plying j between Hamburg, Germany, and Helsinki, Finland, in the __ | process collecting a whopping six-million-dollar insurance 1 payment. Although much of the action takes place aboard a freighter as she cuts her way through the Kiel Canal and [ across the North Sea, there are glimpses into the con temporary lives of the young rich of Europe's capitals. Written for the screen by director Yves Ciampi and Henri1 Francois Rey, from Jean-Charles Tacchella's original story, this will hold interest of both youthful and mature audiences; it manages to convey the urgency that is so important in attractions of land-and-sea suspense. Ciampi's direction is ■ sure, swift and studied. Curt Jurgens, Mylene Demongeot, Alain Saury, Paul Mercey, Robert Porte, Daniel Sorano, Jean Durand. Trouble in the Sky F Action Drama Univ.-Int'I (6118) 76 Minutes Rel. July '61 A routine British-made feature with a commercial jet aircraft background, this Bryanston film produced by Aubrey Baring will satisfy as a supporting dualer even if the discussion about take-off dangers are scarcely conducive to an increase in plane travel. George Sanders, who has a comparatively minor role, has marquee value; Peter Cushing is a regular in Hammer's “Frankenstein" and “Dracula" pictures and Elizabeth Seal is attracting attention as the star of Broadway's current hit, “Irma La Douce," meaning three exp ploitable names for a picture of programmer length. The Ruff," screenplay by Robert Westerby, based on the novel by °ho>' David Beaty, opens with an inquiry into a veteran pilot's failure to lift a jet filled with passengers from the runway and much of this dialog is too technical to interest average patrons. It is only when this same pilot dies in another fatal crash that he is vindicated in his contention that a structural defect is responsible — scarcely a happy turn of events. A modest romantic element is introduced between the pilot's daughter (nicely portrayed by Miss Seal) and a test pilot for the aviation company, played by the personable Michael Craig. The outstanding acting job is that of Bernard Lee, the veteran pilot. Directed by Charles Frend. Michael Craig, Peter Cushing, Elizabeth Seal, George Sanders, Bernard Lee, Gordon Jackson, Noel Willman. The Girl in Room 13 F ,Tiu'""7 °r“* Astor Int'l 79 Minutes Rel. July '61 An engrossing enough trek into the ever-intriguing facets of love and murder, backgrounded against contemporary 1 Brazil settings, in Eastman Color, this stars Brian Donlevy, as strong a marquee name as ever, and relative unknowns who attend to their assignments with a certain briskness that is indeed refreshing to behold. The Layton Film Productions Inc. presentation, released via Astor International, is purposefully concerned with the search by American private detective Donlevy for a girl in Brazil wanted back in the states for murder. The action gets going in fine style almost immediately — a sinister-looking chap slips a package (containing counterfeit money plates) into Donlevy's coat without the latter's knowledge, at the airport, and when the chap is shot down by police, Donlevy, it seems, is front-and-center as a point of suspicion, both by authorities and the underworld goons headed by Victor Merinow. This is produced by Marc _ Frederic and directed by Richard Cunha, the shooting script 22^ credited to H. E. Barrie and Cunha. It will play off as strongly * as predecessor attractions in the similar plotting category, uda. although Donlevy's presence may boost boxoffice takes, par ,ase1 ticularly in the more metropolitan centers. Brian Donlevy, Andrea Bayard, Elizabeth Howard, Victor Merinow, John Herbert. Man in the Moon F 1RS°i Comidy Trans-Lux 98 Minutes Rel. July '61 Now the British are spoofing astronauts and the race for space with the result that this Michael Relph production is hilarious fare for the art houses and, with Kenneth More for marquee value, it can play most regular situations, as well, especially where English comedies are favored. As directed by Basil Dearden, from an original screenplay by Relph and Bryan Forbes (the actor-producer of "The Angry Silence"), the film is delightfully nonsensical even while its astronaut training background and the elaborate rocket-firing equipment seem absolutely authentic. More, certainly one of Britain's finest comics since “Genevieve," “Doctor in the House" and other top imports made him a U.S. favorite, is ideally cast as the breezy, casual “human guinea pig” for health experiments who joins a moon-flight project and he makes the surprise outcome one of the season's funniest moments. Shirley Anne Field (who scored in “The Entertainer") is most engaging as a blonde strip-teaser who supplies the romantic interest and Charles Gray, as an envious astronaut, and Michael Hordern and Charles Glyn-Jones, as sly atomic research scientists, contribute comic acting gems, ■v The bearded Noel Purcell has one rare comedy moment in the climax. This is science-fiction with a laugh. Kenneth More, Shirley Anne Field, Michael Hordern, Norman Bird, John Glyn-Jones, Charles Gray. The reviews on these pages may be filed for future reference in any of the following ways: (1) in any standard three-ring loose-leaf binder; (2) individually, by company, in any standard 3x5 card index file; or (3) in the BOXOFFICE PICTURE GUIDE three-ring, pocket-size binder. The latter, including a year's supply of booking and daily business record sheets, may be obtained from Associated Publications, 82S Van Brunt Blvd., Kansas City 24, Mo., for $1.00, postage paid. 2542 BOXOFFICE BookinGuide :: July 3, 1961 2541