Canadian Film Weekly (Jun 29, 1949)

* THE PICK OF 1 THE PICTURES | Vol. 14, No. 26 Calamity Jane And Sam Bass with Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Willard Parker. Empire-Universal (Technicolor) 85 Mins. ONE OF THE BETTER WESTERNS OF RECENT MONTHS. EVOLYES AT AN ATTENTIVE PACE, HAS LIBERAL ACTION CONTENT, IS WELL PLAYED, DIRECTED. Easily here is one of the better Westerns that have been released in recent months. There is a good, sound story to bolster the regulation insertion of outlawry, gumplay and such standard plot trivia. Miss De Carlo and Howard Duff carry the main brunt of the tale ably. The whole outdoor show evolves at an attentive pace and is easy to take. It unfolds colorfully with the dull moment carefully excised and the main focus of attention fixed on delivering entertainment. There is a fine hand evident in Sherman’s direction blending bits of humorous relief with the basic drama. As Sam Bass, Howard Duff comes west from Indiana, working his way to Texas. At the outset he has never fired a gun. Ha soon learns. A judge of horseflesh, Duff picks the winner of a match race and later buys the defeated mare. He meets up with Dorothy Hart. It is love. Further on in the story he goes to Abilene with his mount which by this time has netted him a fair sum and enters her in a big race which he loses due to the dirty work of Marc Lawrence and Charles Cane. The horse is poisoned. Duff when he learns this is forced to kill Cane in self defense. This soon makes him an outlaw and with Miss De Carlo they pursue that line hav-. ing been forced into it. Justice would bring Duff back to Abilene where a prejudiced jury would have hanged him. With Yvonne riding with him he plans one last job which is foiled by the sheriff and later results © in the demise of the gang, all except Duff and Miss De Carlo. Duff is mortally wounded and before expiring declares his love for Miss Hart, giving Yvonne the realization that she could not have held him for any considerable length. CAST: Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Willard Parker, Norman Lloyd, Lloyd Bridges, Marc Lawrence. CREDITS: Producer, Leonard Goldstein; Director, George Sherman; Screenplay, Maurice Geraghty, Melvin. Levy; Story, George Sherman; Photography, Irving Glasberg. DIRECTION: Keen. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS $2.00 Per Annum The Window Shockproof The Younger with Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman. RKO i 73 Mins. THIS ONE DEVELOPS INTO BRILLIANTLY CALCULATED,GRIPPING MELODRAMA. ABLY CAPTURES MANY FINE MOODS. RATES MUCH. ATTENTION. bs The first feature production by the late Frederic Ullman, Jr., is a simply-told story, unpretentious and honest, that develops into a gripping melodrama brilliantly calculated to create an atmosphere of tension and suspense, moods which it gets over to the audience in smart sequences. There’s nothing glamorous here. Fancy frills are absent. All or most .of the film was shot in New York. The note of realism is ever present as the camera circulates around. Noticeably and properly slow moving at the beginning, since the stage of the ensuing action and suspense must be set, after the first few glimpses into the lives of the Woodry family who live in a shabby apartment, the action concentrates on young Bobby Driscoll and his wild flights of imagination. The boy is given to tall tales. However, the one time he is telling the truth no one believes him, This is an account of a murder he witnessed in the apartment above. Paul Stewart and Ruth Roman live up there working a sort of badger game. They did kill a man, robbing him and hauled his body into the condemned building nearby. Driscoll tries with no success to convince his parents of what he has seen. He goes to the police who investigate apologetically. By this time Miss Roman and Stewart suspect the boy knows too much and they plan to get rid of him. Left alone, the boy is confronted by Stewart and in a few minutes is frightened thoroughly by what Stewart indicates is in store. The boy manages to break free. There is high suspense created as Stewart chases the boy into the abandoned house. By this time the police have been informed and are en route. But the boy has a trying time eluding Stewart. At length he maneuvers him into a position that results in his death when a section of the house collapses. CAST: Barbara Hale, Bobby Driscoll, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, CREDITS: Producer, Frederic Ullman, Jr.; Director, Ted Tetzlaff; Executive producer, Jack Gross; Screenplay, Mel Dinelliz; Photography, William Steiner. DIRECTION: Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY: Very Good. dramatic ‘should prove up to the require with Cornel Wilde, Patricia Knight. Columbia 79 Mins. TIGHTLY KNIT, TAUT, ABLY PERFORMED DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT ABOUT ERRANT PAROLEES. FILLS RE QUIREMENTS OF -AUDIENCE THAT LIKES IT TOUGH AND YIYID. Concerning itself with the problems of errant parolees, the Shockproof script is a tightlyknit, taut and ably performed entertainment that ments of the audience that buys a vivid, tough _ production. Written by Helen Deutsch and Samuel Fuller, the story goes into the California parole system quite exhaustively and comes up with an intelligent story for the most part. This too, is one of Cornel Wilde’s good roles. Patricia Knight turns in an effective performance as the girl in the case, a parolee who is let out after serving five years of a murder conviction. Production gains from its documentary handling in spots. As the parole officer, Wilde tries to keep Miss Knight from meeting her old criminal cronies which will send her back to the clink. He saves her from herself a few times and even takes her to his home where she works as companion to his blind mother. Their close proximity breeds romance, Miss Knight tries to remain faithful to John Baragrey, her former lover for whom she took the rap. . However she falls very much in love with Wilde and when Baragrey threatens her with love letters she shoots him. Wilde finds Baragrey severely wounded, rounds up Miss Knight. As he is driving her to the police she tells him how she was implicated and together they head for the border. The couple are in flight from Mexico to Oklahoma having a hard time of it all the way. At length Miss Knight convinces Wilde he should turn himself in. They do this and return to Los Angeles. Baragrey, on the recovery list, turns decent for once in his life and refuses to prosecute, calling the shooting an accident. Miss Knight and Wilde decide to make her lifetime parole simpler by marrying. CAST: Cornel Wilde, Patricia Knight, John Baragrey, Esther Minciotti, Howard St. John, Russell Collins, Charles Bates. CREDITS: Associate producer, Earl McEvoy; Director, Douglas Sirk; Written by Helen Deutsch, Samuel Fuller; Photography, Charles Lawton. DIRECTION: Good. PHOTOGRAPHY: Brothers with Wayne Morris, Janis Paige, Bruce Bennett, Robert Hutton. Worners (Technicolor) 77 Mins. A WESTERN DONE WITH IMAGINATION. PLAYED WITH GUSTO. STORY MAKES CREDITABLE DEPARTURE FROM THE ROUTINE AND HUMDRUM. Anytime a western is offered that has an indication of imagination and resourcefulness in its makeup, and a story that introduces any number of new twists into the unfoldment, it rates a round of applause from this corner. A refreshing new note is always welcome in this tried and true form of entertainment. And here, too, is Technicolor, The Younger Brothers have been mentioned vaguely in other westerns but for this one time they are on the right side of the law, even making the western scene safe for it. Their problem here, however, is to stay good until a pardon comes through and they can head back to Minnesota and take up a peaceful agrarian life. Hence they are without guns, even recruit the services of a sheriff when things seem to get out of hand. The story is played out with gusto. When the situations depart from the tense moment the story manages to become fairly humorous as a certain element tries to get the trio of Youngers into trouble. But they keep their noses clean and come out with honors — and pardons. Janis Paige uses her feminine allure on Wayne Morris in an effort to get him to go along with her gang on a bankrobbing caper. It is a smartly planned job but Morris causes it to misfire and he and his brothers catch the crooks before they beat it out of town, separate them from the stolen money, return it to the bank. Miss Paige is _ shot. But Fred Clark has aroused the local populace against the boys and gives chase with a posse. The Youngers appear for their pardons, get them. Morris, Bennett and Robert Hutton leave for home but are later taken by Clark and about to be strung up. The tide is turned, the posse is roped and tied. CAST: Wayne Morris, Janis Paige, Bruce Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Robert Hutton, Alan Hale, James Brown, Monte Blue, CREDITS: Producer, Saul Elkins; Director, Edwin L. Marin; Screenplay, Edna Anhalt; From a story by Morton Grant; Photography, William Snyder. DIRECTION: Sound. PHOTOGRAPHY: Very Good.