Canadian Film Weekly (Aug 31, 1949)

THE PICK OF | THE PICTURES Vol. 14, No. 33 Lust for Gold with Ida Lupino, Glenn Ford Gig Young. Columbia 90 Mins. RESOURCEFULLY HANDLED OUTDOOR THEME PROVES AN ABSORBING TRANSLATION OF A TRUE STORY. INTEREST CONSTANTLY UPHELD. HAS VIOLENT ACTION ELEMENTS. No Western in the commonly accepted terminology of films which are set in that locale, Lust For Gold is a distinct and unusual offering in that it happens to be based upon an acutal story that may be investigated today by the curious and if they happen to hit it right there’s $20,000,000 in gold stashed away in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. There is no doubt about the indication inherent in the title. Once the collection of characters who parade through this story get the gold bug, they become mean and murderous. A young man, present day relative of Jacob Walz, the “Dutchman,” comes to Arizona and near Phoenix sets out to try and locate the gold buried in the mountains by Spaniards many years ago. He runs smack into a murder which he duly reports to the authorities and sets the story into motion. Under the eye of the sheriff, William Prince, playing the author of the yarn, picks up threads and clues which cause the historical aspects of the yarn to be revealed in flashback. They reveal Glenn Ford— as Walz—to be quite a meanie who trailed the rightful owners of the cache, murdered them, returned to Phoenix. There he got involved with Ida Lupino and her husband, Gig Young. Miss Lupino deceived Ford but he found her out and she and Young both die. Ford soon follows. An earthquake buried the mine. But now in modern times Prince learns too much for his own immediate health and an attempt is made on his life by Will Geer. They have a wild brawl among cliff tops, Geer is getting the best of Prince but is snake bit and falls to his death. The gold is still hidden in the mountains. It’s there for the taking. CAST: Ida Lupino, Glenn Ford, Gig Young, William Prince, Will Geer, Paul Ford. Jay Silverheels, Eddy Waller. CREDITS: Produced and directed by S. Sylvan Simon. Screenplay, Ted Sherdeman, Richard English. DIRECTION: Skilful. PHOTOGRAPHY: Fine, VOICE of the CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY REVIEWS FROM FILM DAILY, NEW YORK The Stratton Story with James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead. MGM 105 Mins. INSPIRING STORY OF PERSONAL COURAGE AND TRIUMPH. REAL LIFE BASIS IN STORY, ACHIEVEMENT FOR SAM WOOD, JACK CUMMINGS. COMES AT THE RIGHT TIME, FOR THE RIGHT AUDIENCE, FOR THE RIGHT RECEPTION. STEWART AND CAST PERFECT, Sam Wood turns in another roundly good film in The Stratton Story, a story that throbs with highly rewarding moments of honesty, intense understanding and feeling. It is a superior challenge to the list of first line pictures which in the recent past have proved themselves to be among the finest contributions in the medium. What ensues once the initial jumping off point of the plot is developed is a deeply stirring and inspiring narrative of courage and eventual triumph by an individual who almost permitted a serious handicap to get him down. » No one could have played Monty Stratton better than James Stewart. His is a performance done to a fine turn of perfection in its interpretation. Director Sam Wood can again be applauded for his casting of subsidiary roles. June Allyson is entirely real as first Stewart’s sweetheart, then as his wife and the mother of his children. Agnes Moorehead turns in a finely etched role as Stewart’s mother. Frank Morgan gracefully renders the figure of a onetime big leaguer for pointed effect. From the baseball world, playing themselves, are Gene Bearden, Bill Dickey, Jimmy Dykes, Mervyn Shea. So in an initial analysis the film has an assortment of both film and baseball names to beforehand whip up public interest, an interest that will not be unrewarded when the important exchange of currency for screen fare takes place. ‘Like its great predecessors which have had story basis in the baseball sporting scene, The Stratton Story has a smartly contrived script which has been smoothly blended with the story of the famous pitcher of the Chicago White Sox. It is replete wtih sharp delineations of the important business and plays of Baseball, the subtleties of campaign and tactic, the coming aspects of certain factors. You have merely to take a quick look at the size of audience that enthusiastically follows baseball, add up the enthusiastic followers who would go if they could, and still further round out the figure with sports page readers to calculate the sizeable audience that will turn out for this film. It is truly of monumental proportions. Here then with James Stewart in the title role is the story of how Monty Stratton was discovered playing sand lot ball in Texas and taken in hand by a has-been to eventually become a top figure and success in the baseball world. From his humble beginning on a small farm he went to the top, was happily married and a parent. Between seasons, while visiting back home, he had a hunting accident that resulted in the loss of a leg. Morose for months over the abrupt termination of his career he finally adapts himself to the use of an artificial limb, and with his young son learns to walk. Then, too, he begins to take renewed interest in baseball, inspired by his wife. An inner compulsion causes Stratton to courageously attempt a comeback temporarily perhaps, but the end result is to spell personal triumph. He appears in an all-star game. He pitches a superior game and the opposing team does not play the less to win because of Stratton’s handicap. Mounting to a high pitch of compelling story development Stratton goes to bat and wallops in a hit that wins the game for his side. He makes first base, from there a runner takes over. _ The Stratton Story comes at the right time, for the right audience, for the right reception. For both Producer Jack Cummings and Director Sam Wood, The Stratton Story is an achievement. CAST: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams, Bruce Cowling, Cliff Clark, Mary Lawrence, Dean White, Robert Gist, Gene Bearden, Bill Dickey, Jimmy Dykes, Mervyn Shea. ; CREDITS: Producer, Jack Cummings; Director Sam Wood; Screenplay, Douglas Morrow, Guy Trosper; Story, Douglas Morrow; Photography, Harold Rosson; Art, Cedric Gibbons, Paule Groesse; Editor, Ben Lewis; Musical direction, Adolph Deutsch; Sound, Douglas Shearer; Sets, Edwin B. Willis, Ralph S. Hurst; Technical adviser, Monty Stratton, DIRECTION: Splendid, PHOTOGRAPHY: Fine. REVIEWS INFORMATION RATINGS $2.00 Per Annum House of Strangers with Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte. 20th-Fox 101 Mins. STRONG DRAMATIC FARE HANDLED WITH NOTEWORTHY CLARITY AND IMPETUS FROM FINE PERFORMANCES. EXCELLENT DIRECTION. With its dramatic phrasing keyed to a somber note almost constantly, House of Strangers emerges on the screen a deeply Significant film that explores family relationships in keen, intense strokes. It is a more than able cast that enacts the story. Edward G. Robinson renders the right color in his role of an Italian emigrant who rises from intense frugality operating a barber shop to become a lower East Side banking magnate among other immigrants who are not averse to paying him outlandish interest. The action has at various times a brooding, vicious aspect which never permits the basic instillations of Robinson to be ignored. Story in flashback shows Conte returning to the latest Monetti bank, a lavish structure now run by the three brothers who eluded the law when it caught up with Robinson and Conte. Latter went to jail. On his return Conte has a pattern of revenge mapped out which Susan Hayward tries to change. As the title indicates the Monetti household in time becomes a domicile wherein filial hates are nursed and in time these grow to a point where Luther Adler brings on Conte’s arrest when he tries to bribe a juror. Robinson weakens while Conte is in prison but now at the mercy of his other sons who have moved in on the bank, he can only keep Conte’s hate alive by continuously writing him letters which add further to his inner turmoil. He languishes, beaten, dies. The three brothers come to kill Conte who finally reaches a point in his musing where he wants to drop everything and go away with Miss Hayward. This final effect of Robinson’s domination misfires. Conte, although badly mussed up, manages to walk off and drive away with his girl. CAST: Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Luther Adler, Paul Valentine, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. CREDITS: Produced by Sol C. Siegel; Director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz; Screenplay, Philip Yordan. DIRECTION: Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY: First Rate. Teme ee