The Exhibitor (1954)

Published weekly by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc. Publishing office: 246-248 North Clarion Street, Philadelphia 7, Pennsylvania. New York: 229 West 42nd Street, New York, N. Y. West Coast Representative: Paul Manning, 9628 Cresta Drive, Los Angeles 35, California. Jay Emanuel, publisher; Paul J. Greenhalgh, general manager, Herbert M. Miller, editor; Max Cades, business manager; George Nonamaker and Mel Konecoff, associate editors. The original Pink Section evaluation of features, short subjects. SECTION TWO Vot. 51, No. 21 MARCH 24, 1954 COLUMBIA The Mad Magician Melodrama (3-D-640) (2-D-657) 72m. Estimate: Okeh programmer. Cast: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Ran¬ dolph, Lenita Lane, Patric O’Neal, Jay Novello. Produced by Bryan Foy; directed by John Brahm. Story: After years of working for Don Randolph, manufacturer of magicians’ illusions, Vincent Price decides to try for a career as a stage magician with assist¬ ant Mary Murphy, fiancee of detective Pat O’Neal. His appearance is halted by Randolph, who claims all the tricks he is using belong to him according to the contract of employment signed by Price. The latter kills Randolph, via make-up assumes his identity, and takes a room in the home of Jay Novello and Lenita Lane, the latter a writer of mystery stories. His disguise is penerated by his former wife, Eva Gabor, who divorced him to marry Randolph. He kills her as well. O’Neal, assigned to the case, is deter¬ mined to use the newly discovered theory of fingerprints. Price also kills rival magician John Emery rather than turn over a new trick to him and assumes his identity. Lane is suspicious of Price, and when O’Neal tries to verify his fingerI print theory, there is a terrific struggle with Price winding up the victim of one of his own tricks. X-Ray: Some magic thrown in along with murder, eerie atmosphere, adequate performances, okeh direction and produc¬ tion, and gimmicks for 3-D, this shapes up as an okeh entry for the programmers, llie 3-D may be of more help in some situations. The story and screen play are by Crane Wilbur. Tip On Bidding: Program price. Ad Lines: “A Chiller in 3-D”; “Get Your Fill Of Magic And Murder”; “Thrills And Chills For Unsuspecting Audiences.” Appointment For Murder Melodrama 90m. (English titles) Estimate: Average import for the Ital¬ ian and art spots. Cast: Umberto Spadaro, Delia Scala, Andrea J. Bosio, Marco Vicario, Natale Cirino, Dorian Grey. A Lux Film; directed by Baccio Bandini. Story: Umberto Spadaro, police in¬ spector, comes to investigate the death of a young woman who had fallen five stories to her death. The crime occurred in the same apartment house where Spadaro lives with his daughter, Delia Scala, and in order to pursue the case, Spadaro is forced to investigate his neighbors. Ten¬ ant Andrea Bosio, estranged husband of the dead woman, was being blackmailed by his wife and becomes the major sus¬ pect. However, when his alibi is sub¬ stantiated, the case becomes deadlocked. Scala, in love with Bosio, thinks he is still under suspicion and confesses her relationship with him to her father. Spadaro, shocked to hear that his daugh¬ ter had been dishonorable and also that she is involved in a murder, turns in his resignation to assistant Natale Cerino, de¬ termined to keep his daughter’s name out of the scandal. Spadaro discovers a piece of the murdered woman’s bracelet in Bosio’s room and another in his daughter’s bag, which indicates that Scala is the murderer. The couple have run away, not from the police but for fear of revealing Scala’s pregnancy. Spadaro confronts the couple with the evidence which they deny just before Cerino enters. The police find that another tenant, Marco Vicario, had murdered the woman and was switching suspicion to Scala by planting evidence in her bag. X-Ray: This mystery melodrama has some dramatic moments and Spadaro gives an excellent performance. This un¬ even mystery might then fit on the art house programs, but it should be best in the Italian houses. The screen play is by Sandro Continenza, Ennio De Concini, Mario Monicelli, Stefano Vanzina, and B. Bandini. Ad Lines: “A Police Inspector Forced To Investigate His Own Neighbors To Find A Murderer”; “Duty Forced Him To Risk Ruining His Personal Happiness”; “She Was Ready To Confess Her Indis¬ cretions And Ruin Her Life To Save The Man She Loved From A Murder Charge.” LIPPERT Blackout Mystery Melodrama (5309) 76m. (English-made) Estimate: Import is okeh for the lower half. Cast: Dane Clark, Belinda Lee, Betty Ann Davies, Eleanor Summerfield, An¬ drew Osborn, Harold Lang, Jill Melford, Alvis Maben, Michael Golden, Alfie Bass. Produced by Michael Carreras; directed by Terence Fisher. Story: Very drunk, Dane Clark blacks out after performing a favor for Belinda Lee. When he wakes up, he finds blood on his clothes, but doesn’t remember any¬ thing. He learns Lee’s father has been murdered, and it comes back to him that he had been with her on the fatal night. She claims her father was found dead by them, but that Clark is innocent. They undertake an investigation, but Clark fears a doublecross when Lee’s fiance, Andrew Osborn, is killed at Clark’s door. In a showdown in Lee’s home, her mother, Betty Ann Davies, reveals that she killed her husband and Osborn to escape ex¬ posure for swindles. X-Ray: Containing an interesting yam with a fair amount of suspense, good characterizations, and average direc¬ tion and production, this shapes up as an okeh lower half import. The pace is ade¬ quate. The screen play is by Richard Lindau, based on a novel by Helen Hielsen. Ad Lines: “He Didn’t Know Whether Or Not He Had Married Or Murdered”; “He Had A Choice Between Going Home To A Beautiful Wealthy Wife Or Being Arrested For Murder”; “An Adventure In Murder.” a Very Important Person will read these reviews! Who? YOU! YOU are the one who will furnish the final tffeatre link in the chain of effort that will bring these pictures to the admission-paying public . . . your patrons. YOU are the one whom scores of Producers and Distribu¬ tors will spend thousands of dollars to impress with their boxoffice potentials and patron pleasing qualities. YOU and some 20,000 other Owners and Managers through¬ out the U.S.A. will be the deciding voice that will make or break these pictures. 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