Canadian Film Weekly (Apr 17, 1957)

Review THE GREAT MAN (From The Film Daily, NY) with Jose Ferrer, Keenan Wynn, Julie London. Empire-Universal 92 Mins. OUTSTANDING, MASS-APPEAL PORTRAIT OF THE BROADCASTING INDUSTRY, ITS LOVES AND LIES. SPARKLES WITH WIT, BRIGHT PERFORMANCES AND HARD NARRATIVE SUBSTANCE. A neatly penetrating dissection of the broadcasting industry is enriched by exhilarating performances and a high technical proficiency in The Great Man, placing it in the ranks of the superior entertainments of the year. When Al Morgan wrote the _ best-selling novel of the same name, reports persisted that the story largely was inspired by Arthur Godfrey. Denials were equally persistent, with Morgan, once a CBS scriptwriter, claiming his story was a composite of anybody and many bodies in the industry. The film is a lusty, savory one, original in concept and imaginative in presentation. It will bring out of the homes those who shop selectively for their film fare and want something far better than the routine. Jose Ferrer, who directed, also plays the pivotal role of a news commentator. Actually ‘“‘the great man”’ never appears on the screen, but motivates all the action. He is a beloved humorist of radio and TV who puts a nation of followers into mouring when he gets killed driving his car recklessly. Ferrer, heir-apparent to the great man, is assigned to gather material for a network tribute. In the course of his probing, Ferrer finds that the legend surrounding the great man is greater than the reality. But just as he wasn’t all good, so he wasn’t all bad. Ferrer has gotten scintillating performances out of the cast. He also collaborated on the screenplay with Morgan, and directed with perfect command, keeping the material in happy balance of humor, seriousness, mass appeal, and cynicism. His own acting is underplayed, giving the performance credibility and honesty. In the course of the story, an illuminating, if cynical light is thrown on the backstage maneuvers of broadcasting. The ending is a surprising and gratifying one, better seen than revealed in a review. CAST: Jose Ferrer, Dean Jagger, Keenan Wynn, Julie London, Joanne Gilbert, Ed Wynn, Jim Backus, Russ Morgan, CREDITS: Producer, Aaron Rosenberg; Director, Jose Ferrer; Screenplay by Al Morgan and Ferrer; From the novel by Morgan; Director of photography, Harold Lipstein. DIRECTION: Impressive. PHOTOGRAPHY: Very Good. Stars Of Bryna's ‘The Viking’ Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Ernest Borgnine and Michael Rennie head the cast of Bryna Productions’ $3,000,000 film, The Viking. CANADIAN FILM WEEKLY Short “Shnowe DATE set for United Artists Week this year is July 1-7 and Charles S. Chaplin, Canadian general manager, is counting on the continued co-operation of exhibitors to make it the biggest year in the history of the Canadian district. Last year Canadian branches took two of the three top prizes and in 1955 the Canadian district was the winner over all those in the domestic territory. DIRECTOR of radio, TV and motion pictures of Foster Advertising Limited is now S. Alexander MacKay, who joined the Foster agency in 1954 and previous to that time was education director and Ontario manager of Associated Screen News Limited. Two other appointments made at the same time by Harry E. Foster, president, were that of Miss Newton as manager of the Time-Buying and Scheduling department and Miss G. Rudolphe as_ assistant time-buyer. CONSTRUCTION of the MidCanada Warning Line is the subject of Sky Watch on 55, a 16 mm., 30-minute color film made by Crawley Films Limited for The Bell Telephone Company of Canada. Financed, engineered and built by Canadians, the aerial detection line stretches along the 55th Parallel in Canada’s sub-Arctic from the coast of Labrador to the Rocky Mountains and is expected to have as much impact on the development of the North as the coming of the railroad had on the West. RETIRED since 1948, Ned Sparks, 73, Canadian-born film and stage actor, died recently of an intestinal block in the apartment he shared with his daughter, Laura, at a guest ranch near Victorville, California. Born Edward A. Sparkman in St. Thomas, Ontario, he first hit the big time in 1913 in the Broadway play, Littie Miss Brown. One of the leaders in the 1918 strike which resulted in the formation of Equity, he was blackballed on Broadway and turned to films and for 30 years was recognized by his dour face and half-chewed cigar. Glenn Ford In ‘Sheep Man’ Glenn Ford will replace Howard Keel in MGM’s Sheep Man. NAME TPA CANADIAN SALES HEAD J. E. (Ev) Palmer, who resigned recently from McCann-Erickson (Canada) Limited, has been appointed Canadian sales manager for Television Productions of America, Inc., by Milton A. Gordon, president. TPA has signed a deal with Horace N. Stovin & Company for that company to be exclusive distributors in Canada for TPA properties. Palmer will help set up a separate division of the Stovin organization to concentrate on TPA sales using existing facilities and offices. Palmer had been manager of the Radio-TV department, account service manager and a member of the advisory committee at McCannErickson at the time of his resignation. Prior to that he had been program director of CFNB in Fredericton, his birthplace; manager of CFBC, Saint John; and manager of the Radio-TV department of Walsh Advertising. Sales executives in Montreal and Vancouver will be appointed shortly by Vincent Melzac, TPA vice-president, who is at present in Canada. KENNETH MORE TORONTO VISITOR Star of a number of films produced by the British J. Arthur Rank Organization, Kenneth More visited Toronto last week and met press, radio and TV people at a reception at the Royal York Hotel. Britain’s top boxoffice star spent one day in the Queen City between a week of personal appearances for the USA premiere of Reach for the Sky at New York’s Sutton Theatre. More was introduced to those attending the reception by Charles Mason, director of publicity for Rank Film Distributors of Canada. Present were Frank L. Vaughan and Frank H. Fisher, general manager and vice-president respectively of Rank Film Distributors of Canada; Ron Leonard, director of publicity for Odeon Theatres; John McKim, assistant to Leonard; and Frank Lawson, aide to Mason. More stated that he expects to return to Canada in the Spring of 1958 to star in a film, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, which is scheduled to be shot around Banff. Twentieth Century-Fox will do the filming, as well as supply the rest of the cast and the technicians, under a co-production deal with the UK Rank organization. Kenneth Hargreaves, president of Rank Film Distributors of America, Inc., accompanied the British star to Toronto. He stated that a number of Rank stars will be brought to the USA and Canada to make them better known to moviegeers on this side of the Atlantic and to help publicize their films. He reported that there were now ten Rank exchange offices in the USA and that seven former RKO employees had been hired, among them Al Kolitz, Seymour Borde, Dave Prince and Bob Folliard, appointed district managers for Denver, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington respectively. April 17, 1957 Review DRANGO (From The Film Daily, NY) with Jeff Chandler, Joanne Dru, Julie London. UA 92 Mins. CAST TOPPERS SHOULD HAVE EXPLOITATION AND BOXOFFICE APPEAL TO SPUR SALES FAR ABOVE AVERAGE. POST CIVIL WAR YARN HAS GENERAL INTEREST. A trio of top boxoffice ‘“‘draws’’ distinguish Drango from entries of the same calibre, and should improve its intake considerably. Jeff Chandler, Joanne Dru and the fastrising Julie London have the qualities necessary to lure audiences. The story, set in the South right after the Civil War, is rather ordinary in its approach and production, but the stars should spur its sales appeal. Written and produced by Hall Bartlett, the picture was _photographed by James Wong Howe and directed by Bartlett and Jules Bricken. Their cast, including Donald Crisp, John Lupton and introducing Ronald Howard, play their roles with conviction, but never build enough sympathy to excite more than passing interest. Howard, who closely resembles his late father, Leslie, is the most memorable as the villain of the piece and stands to carve a fine career for himself in the future. The people of Kennesaw Pass, Georgia, are extremely hostile to the two Union soldiers, Chandler and Lupton, sent to supervise their reconstruction program. Led by Crisp and his son, Howard, they refuse them every courtesy. Even after a Union sympathizer, Ankrum, has been lynched Chandler refuses to use force. Ankrum’s daughter, Miss Dru, blames Chandler for the killing. Howard’s wife, Miss London, begins to doubt the wisdom of her husband’s cause and tries to thwart his Southern underground movement. The war of nerves continues until Lupton is killed by Howard and his men. The Army informs Chandler that his appeasement policy has not worked and that he’s to be replaced. Crisp shoots Howard, knowing his son to be a fanatic, and orders the people to follow the leadership of Chandler. Miss Dru agrees with Crisp’s choice. CAST: Jeff Chandler, John Lupton, Joanne Dru, Morris Ankrum, Ronald Howard, Julie London, Donald Crisp, Helen Wallace. CREDITS: Presented by Earlmar Productions; Producer, screenplay, Hall Bartlett; Directors, Hall Bartlett, Jules Bricken; Executive producer, Meyer Mishkin. Photography, James Wong Howe. DIRECTION: Good. PHOTOGRAPHY: Fine. UA's ‘Bitter Is The Ride’ Mark Stevens will direct and star in UA’s Bitter Is the Ride. Cast Of ‘Devil's Hairpin’ Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Arthur Franz and Mary Astor star in Paramount’s The Devil’s Hairpin.