Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 27, 1947)

THE PICK OF | THE PICTURES | a VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS Vol. 12, No. 33 The Woman On the Beach with Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford RKO 71 Mins. KEEN DIRECTION, PERFORMANCES, CONSIDERABLY ENHANCES STORY; HITS FINE EMOTIONAL LEVELS, PEAKS, Enough of the unusual in film drama has been injected into this offering via the direction of Jean Renoir to garner it interesting response from the adult audience. And, in that sense, too, it should prove a diverting dramatic piece. In simple geometric terms it is the boy, his girl, the other woman, her blind husband. Transpiring on and near the sea, the story concentrates on the emotional storm stirred up in a Coast Guard officer, Robert Ryan, a neuro-psychiatric case, when he meets up with Joan Bennett. Much of the compact tale is solidified in dialog which sketches personal backgrounds. This is pointedly the case in the relationships of Miss Bennett and her husband, played by Charles Bickford. Once shining lights in Bohemian circles the advent of Bickford’s blindness forced them to retreat from the world of art. Miss Bennett blinded Bickford in an alcoholic man-wife brawl. Temperamentally they are inseparable. But Miss Bennett is a young woman with an eye for the boys. Optically handicapped Bickford’s other senses are keenly apparent and Ryan is torn between suspicion, belief and disbelief. This is particularly pointed up as his affair with Miss Bennett grows serious. An accident proves Bickford’s blindness. Ryan learns of Miss Bennett’s easy morals. He confronts her and severs the tie. Later Bickford blows his top, burns his valuable canvases. Miss Bennett enlists Ryan’s help in the conflagration. As Bickford burns up his old life she feels the old Bohemian magic come back and she rejoins him to start a new life. Ryan returns to Nan Leslie who has been having a bad time on the fringes of the Bickford-BennettRyan triangle. COAST: Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, Charles Bickford, Nan Lesile, Walter Sande, Irene Ryan, Glenn Vernon. CREDITS: Associate Producer, Will Price; Director, Jean Renoir; Screenplay, Jean Renolr, Frank Davis; Adaptation, Michael Hogan; Based on novel by Mitchell Wilson; Photography, Leo Tover. DIRECTION, Very Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent. REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK The Other Love with Barbara Stanwyck, David Niven, Richard Conte UA-Enterprise 96 Mins. LUXURIOUSLY MOUNTED, SMOOTH FLOWING, SKILFULLY FASHIONED ROMANCE-TRAGEDY; ABLY PLAYED; HEAVY BET FOR FEMME TRADE AND WITH APPEAL TO GENERAL ADULT AUDIENCE. ' The value of the names of th2 leads will sell this one to the general adult audience and the word of mouth—female variety— should enable it to coast along to very good takes. It is a leisurely-paced story unfolding smoothly. For a goodly portion it is pleasant, easy to take. Details of production are always in fine taste, even luxurious. Miss Stanwyck and her many changes of costume will supplant th2 dramatic quality of the plot with women folk. Niven is well cast. Conte has a good role which he makes the most of. Tale deals with the inmates and activity of a tuberculosis sanitarium in Switzerland to which Miss Stanwyck comes. She’s a concert pianist. The curative therapy of the place pales on her and while she is warm for Niven, her doctor, he is a strict disciplinarian seeking to cure her. Smouldering with innér revolt, Miss Stanwyck submits. One day she meets Conte and shortly after Joan Lorring dies she runs off with him to Monte Carlo, contrary to the rules of her cure. She feels death is near and burns the candle at both ends. Niven seeks her out via Conte who is informed of the seriousness of her condition. He is urged to take her to Egypt. However, on the eve of sailing Miss Stanwyck runs off and becoming critically ill, she is brought back to the mountain institution. All possible is done for her but she is doomed. Niven marries her. Their brief life together ends when she dies as Niven is playing for her. Barbara Stanwyck, David Richard Conte, Maria Palmer, Richard Hale, Edward AS OREDITS: Producer, David Lewis: DIlrector, Andre de Toth; Story by Erich Maria Remarque; Screenplay by Harry Brown, Ladislas Fodor; Music composed by Miklos Rozsa; Cameraman, Victor Milner, DIRECTION, Good. PHOTOGRAPHY, FINE. "Montana’ Scenarist Thames Williamson will script Warners’ “Montana.” They Won't Believe Me with Susan Hayward, Robert Young, dane Greer RKO 95 Mins. ABOVE AVERAGE TRIANGLE DRAMA HAS NAMES AND ACE PERFORMANCES TO LIFT WELL OVER MARK, While the title of this one might evince light connotation or resemble a song title, it is not so. After the first reel it gets into its dramatic stride and unfolds in solid, engrossing style that mounts to an exciting conclusion. Initially, attempt is made to give the culprit in the case a degree of sympathetic treatment. In the familiar style of the flashback the story thread appears in court where Robert Young is being tried for murder. Although married to Rita Johnson, Young is at first seen dallying in what on the surface appears to be an innocent friendship with Jane Greer. This is thwarted by Miss Johnson who is rich, has the dollar sign on Husband Young. They go to the Coast where Young is set up via the Johnson coin as partmer in a stock brokerage firm and hence exposed to Susan Hayward. Immediately there is another illicit, underhand affair with Miss Hayward making it difficult for Young by constant reference to his wife. Again his wife learns of his duplicity and breaks it up. They repair to a ranch but at first opportunity Young is back in LA and meets Miss Hayward. They resume where they left off but this time it is as serious as going to Reno and making divorce plans. They have a comfortable sum of Miss Johnson’s money, too. En route there is an accident. Miss Hayward is killed. An inquest suggests she was Young’s wife and he accepts this, meanwhile planning to kill Miss Johnson. Returning to do this he finds her a suicide. Later the cops find her body. In the last courtroom scene, as the jury is to announce its verdict, Young tries windowleaping suicide. He is killed. The verdict: Not Guilty. CAST: Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer, Rita Johnson, Tom Powers, George Tyne. Don Beddoe, Frank Ferguson, Harry Harvey. CREDITS: Producer, Joan Harrison; Director, Irving Pichel; Screenplay, Jonathan Latimer; Based on story by Gor= McDonnell; Photography, Harry J. Wud. DIRECTION, Good. PHOTCGRAPHY, First Rate, $2.00 Per Annun\ Miracle on 34th Street with Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn 20th-Fox 96 Mins. A PICTURE TO SHOUT AEOUT WILL BRING GOLDEN YULETIDE IN JUNE TO THE NATION’S BOXOFFICE. Here again we have something to shout about. And we feel we can shout loud and long. It rates. A few worth while numbers have come off the line so far this season. This one easily tops them all, stands considerably above, very much apart. Many strange things happen herein. Macy’s tells Gimbel’s. Macy’s tells its customers that other stores carry the goods they are looking for and even supplies names and addresses. And not only does this prove a sound method of ingratiating customers, it makes everybody concerned very happy. Stranger still is the fact that via magnificent common sense and the utilization of splendid wit the existence of Santa Claus is proven by the US Mail. In brief outline the story tells that Edmund Gwenn as “Kris Kringle” earnestly believes himself to be Santa Claus. He gets into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, later takes a job as Santa at the store. He startles—at first—the management by suggesting other shops to harried mothers trying to please their youngsters. However, the good people appreciate his suggestions and thank the management. That they later become lifelong customers is very evident. The Yuletide atmosphere pervades and Gwenn has himself a time making friends with Natalie Wood, who is about seven, her mother, Miss O’Hara, head of the toy department at the store, and John Payne, he lives next door to the Misses O’Hara and Wood. Gwenn has everything flowing smoothly until shortly before Christmas when he tangles with the store’s psychiatric adviser, bops him one with a cane. He is taken to Bellevue. Payne, a lawyer, brings the case into Gene Lockhart’s court and there ensues a legal battle. CAST: Maureen O'Hura, John Payze, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalle Wood, Porter Hall, Willlam Frawiey. CREDITS: Producer, Wiliam Perlberg; Written for the screen and directed by George Seaton; Story, Valentine Davies. DIRECTION, Splendid, PHOTOGRAPHY, Excellent.