The Exhibitor (1953)

EXHIBITOR May 20, 1953 < • ■ . ters, Joanne Dru and Marcia Henderson. Dru is wary of the fast talking pair, but Henderson falls for Duryea. Big oil operator Jay C. Flippen backs Stewart in building his offshore rig, even though his company fights him in the gamble. With a time limit, work is carried on day and night. Duryea’s romance with Henderson brings bad blood between the oilmen and the fishermen, who are itching for a scrap. Dru finds that Stewart is not the hard type she had figured, but can’t soften him. A jealous boy friend of Henderson fights with Duryea, and is beaten. Seeking re¬ venge, he attempts to dynamite the nearly completed oil rig during a hurricane, but loses his life. With time running out, Stewart works his crew to the bone. Dur¬ yea rebels, and marries Henderson against the wishes of Moreno, who incites the village to rise against the oil people. In the last moments of the drilling process, the oil men finds that their valves are clogged with a type of golden shrimp the fishermen have been seeking for years. With money gone, and time almost run out, the oil men vote to stick by Stewart. The fishermen board the rig, bent upon destroying it. At a critical moment, the oil comes in a gusher. Moreno sees his two daughters with good husbands and the fishermen with their golden shrimp. X-Ray: Headed for the better money, this is a nice bit of Americana with Stew¬ art handling his role in active and cinvincing style. The sea scenes hold inter¬ est, and the story by John Michael Hayes is tightly bound. Production is excellent, and direction is intelligent. Good family entertainment, with plenty of angles, this should account for itself okeh. Shown on U-I’s big screen at the Hollywood studios, it was pictorially powerful. In addition, there is one song, “Gue Gue Solingaie”, sung by Robert Monet. Tip On Bidding: Higher bracket Ad Lines: “A Thrilling Battle Between Offshore Oil Field Operators And Shrimp Fishermen”; “A Cast Of Stars In A Down To Earth Story Of Elemental Passions In Work And In Love”; “Action All The Way In James Stewart’s Newest Dra¬ matic Sensation.” FOREIGN The Counterfeiters ELODRgo^ (IFE) (Italian-made) (English titles) Estimate: Dreary Italian import. Cast: Fosco Giachetti,% Doris Duranti, Erno Crisa, Lianella Carell, Saro Urzi, Mario Angelotti, Gabriele Gerzetti, Nerio Bernardi, Roberto Murolo. A Gallo pro¬ duction; directed by Fraco Rossi. Story: When counterfeit currency is discovered, police inspector Fosco Giachetti is assigned to tracking down the ring. Since, the paper used by the counter¬ feiters is the same as is used in the gov¬ ernment mint, Giachetti plants himself in the town where the factory is located, and becomes friendly with factory worker Erno Crisa, the lover of Naples dress¬ maker Doris Duranti. Crisa is still in love with Lianella Carell, a former schoolmate, betrothed to Gabriele Ferzetti. Duranti is using Crisa, who, in turn, makes Fer¬ zetti an accomplice in stealing the paper. Ferzetti is apprehended while Crisa is dis¬ charged, though still considered a suspect. Tracing Duranti, the inspector discovers that Crisa is with her, and ^ learns that she is associated with Nerio Bernardi, owner of a printing establishment. Mean¬ while, the ring has become aware of Giachetti’s identity, and attempts a get¬ away on a ship. Crisa repents his greed Sdrvlitcliw 5 for easy money and the loss of Carell. When the inspector and local police are shooting it out on the ship, Duranti, aware of Crisa’s change of attitude, shoots him before she is captured, and he dies in Carell’s arms while Ferzetti, recognized as a guiltless instrument, is set free to return to Carell. X-Ray: This melodrama suffers from a complicated plot, and attempting to inject some characterizations, the result is a slowing down of the action so that the expected suspense and excitement of melodrama are limited. The film is then best suited to Italian audiences. Edoarodo Anton, Nazareno Gallo, Ugo Guerra, Leopold Trieste, and Franco Rossi colaborated on the screen play. Ad Lines: “A Story Of Misplaced Love And Misplaced Ambition”; “Greed For Easy Money Drove Him To Betray His Love”; “A Thrill A Minute In . . . The Counterfeiters’.” What Price Innocence Drama 96m. (IFE) (Italian-made) (English titles) Estimate: Slow moving Italian import. Cast: Mariella Lotti, Lyda Baarova, Otello Toso, Mino Doro, Ignazio Balsamo, Paola Quattrini. Produced by Fortunato Misiano; directed by Luigi Capuano. Story: When Otello Toso and faithful dog companion arrive in a small rural town, he meets Lyda Baarova, who had been engaged to a friend of his who has since died. However, Baarova had been seduced by big landowner Mino Doro, and has a child by him. She now lives in a small cottage with her daughter, Paola Quattrini, on Doro’s property. Toso, who lives a very lonely life, comes to the cottage and he and the child become fast friends. Ignazio Balsamo, one of Doro’s men, notices his visit but withholds the information from his employer planning to use the knowledge to blackmail Baa¬ rova, whom he secretly desires. Mariella Lotti, Doro’s wife, finds out about Baarova and the child but her chief concern is that she and her husband might get the child since they can not have children of their own and need an heir for their family fortune. Balsamo, feeling that Baarova is going to slip away from him, tries to possess her forcibly but is re¬ pelled. Angry, he reports Toso’s visit to the boss. Doro plans a hunting party in which Toso is to participate. In the course of the hunt it is arranged that Balsamo is to shoot Toso and claim it to be an accident. However, Doro falls into his own trap when Balsamo, mistaking him for Toso shoots him. Toso, who has fallen in love with Baarova, takes her and the child to his farm where they all can find the peace and happiness that their former lives lacked. X-Ray: Uneventful in its story content, the direction of this Italian import does nothing to quicken the pace. The char¬ acters are flat in their construction, and the story is overly sentimentalized. The acting is competent enough, the outdoor settings are easy on the eye, and there is a little excitement with the hunting sequence for a climax. F. Palmieri, G. Lanzi, and L. Capuano wrote the screen play from a story by L. Capuano. Ad Lines: “A Well Spring Of Violent Passions And Lust”; “Lost Innocence”; “He Kept His Mistress And His Wife On The Same Farm”; “A Story Of Dis¬ appointed Love And Distorted Passions.” The Servisection Is the Only Service Of Its Kind Giving A Full Coverage, Listing and Reviews Oj All Features and Shorts Released In the Domestic Market. The Shorts Parade THREE REEL Color Documentary THE LAND OF THE LONG DAY. National Film Board of Canada. 38m. Ex¬ plored here is life among the eskimos of northern Canada. Their year, divided into long periods of night and daylight, begins in the spring when the sun puts in its first appearance. From March to October it is continual daylight, but the sun begins to fade, and, from November to February, the eskimo must work in the dark. Dur¬ ing the spring and summer, food must be gathered for the long winter. Seen are the hunting and Whaling methods and the hard and seemingly colorless life. The narration, written and spoken in the person of one of the eskimos, is dull, lifeless, and monosyllabic, and the story does not seek to go very deeply into the social and family tie. This is in color. FAIR. TWO REEL Comedy SPIES AND GUYS. Columbia— All-Star Comedies. 16m. Joe Besser is anything but a model soldier. Called upon for a secret mission, he, the sergeant, and a pretty WAC lieutenant gather secret information. However, before they can get back, they are put before the firing squad. The pretty WAC strips to a striking bathing suit before the guns, literally knocking the enemy out, and the three are able to make it back to their lines. FAIR. (5414). LOOSE LOOT. Columbia— The Three Stooges’ Comedies. 16m. The Three Stooges are swindled out of rightful inheritance by a sharpster, but they follow him to a theatre, where a show is in rehearsal. The sharpster and his heavy gives the boys a bad time, but they eventually end up getting their just desserts, namely eggs, apples, and tomatoes in their faces. With the crooks defeated, The Stooges get hold of their money, and make their getaway. FAIR. (5406). Musical MUSIC ON THE DOUBLE. U-I— Musi¬ cal Featurettes. 18m. Ralph Flanagan and his orchestra open the program with “Joshua”, while the Blackburn twins come on for “Let’s Put The Show On The Road.” Marion Colby takes the stage next with “Just You, Just Me”, and the twins return to join Miss Colby in “I’m In A Dancing Mood.” Flanagan and boys come back again with “Hot Toddy”, but make way for a comic situation number by the Blackburn twins and Miss Colby, “I’m A Private Eye”, written by George O’Han¬ lon. As a fadeout, Flanagan and his boys do a jived up “Dixie Jump.” GOOD. (8307). ONE REEL Color Art THE NIGHT WATCH. 20th CenturyFox — Art— Special. 10m. A writer roving along the Hudson River countryside is captivated by some of the old Dutch colonial settings, a remnant of pre-Revolutionary days, and it reminds him of the Holland of Rembrandt. He thinks back to the time when he was writing some¬ thing about the artist and the research ( Continued on page 3527) 3525