The Exhibitor (1950)

EXHIBITOR January 3, 1951 RKO The Oilfields”; “They Look For Oil, And Almost Get Murdered.” 20TH-FOX The Company She Keeps Drama 81m. Estimate: Fair program drama. Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Greer, Fay Baker, John Hoyt, James Bell, Don Beddoe, Bert Freed, Irene Tedrow, Marjorie Wood, Marjorie Grossland, Virginia Farmer. Produced by John Houseman; directed by John Cromwell. Story: Parolee Jane Greer is put in the custody of parole officer Lizabeth Scott, who gets her a job in a nursing home. Greer eyes Dennis O’Keefe, reported friend of Scott, and makes a play for him, with the affair ripening into real love. However, Greer, feeling that Scott won’t give necessary permission for the mar¬ riage, upsets the apple cart, the parole board delays permission for the wedding, and Greer is later innocently drawn into a robbery of medical supplies at the place where she works. She is picked up by the police but Scott goes to bat for her, gets the record clear, and makes it pos¬ sible for Greer and O’Keefe to clinch after he stops Greer from running away and breaking her parole. X-Ray: Although this has some suspen¬ sive moments, at best it is just another melodrama that will have to depend on the name values for its returns. The parolee angle is a trifle new, but not too much happens, and the windup is as ex¬ pected. Greer turns in the best perform¬ ance as a confused parolee while Scott doesn’t have much opportunity. O’Keefe walks through in accepted style. The film will make an okeh top dualler or stand on its own where it can be sold. The story was written by Ketti Frings. Tip On Bidding: Fair program price. Ad Lines: “The Girl Who Tried To Make Good”; “What Happens When A Parolee Makes Love?”; “Lizabeth Scott And Den¬ nis O’Keefe In A Drama About Women Prisoners Who Make Good.” Double Deal Melodrama 64m. Estimate: For the lower half. Cast: Marie Windsor, Richard Denning, Taylor Holmes, Fay Baker, James Griffith, Carleton Yoimg, Tom Browne Henry. Pro¬ duced by James T. Vaughan; directed by Abby Berlin. Story: Engineer, handyman Richard Denning arrives in Oklahoma, and lands a job with Carleton Young after becoming friendly with Young’s friend, Marie Wind¬ sor. Young’s sister, Fay Baker, is trying to avoid his bringing in his oil well so that the land would revert to her. Baker tries to bribe Denning into leaving Young, but he refuses, and is beaten. Young is mur¬ dered, with evidence pointing toward Denning but he is freed. Windsor inherits Young’s estate, and Denning agrees to keep working for her. Baker has her thugs sabotage the machinery, and Windsor tries to make a deal but is rebuffed. A shot kills Baker, and Windsor is held by the sheriff until her lawyer, Taylor Holmes, persuades the officer to release her in the hope that the murderer will try to kill her too. Holmes is actually the crazed killer seeking to regain the land once his. Den¬ ning rescues Windsor, and the sheriff kills Holmes. Windsor’s well comes in. X-Ray: With a fair story, and routine performances, direction, and production, this shapes up as lower half filler TTie screen play is by Lee Berman and Charles S. Belden. Tip On Bidding: Lowest bracket. Ad Lines: “He Was Willing To Give His Life In His Search For Oil”; “Murder In Law Of The Badlands Western 60m. Estimate: Above average series entry. Cast: Tim Holt, Joan Dixon, Robert Livingston, Harry Woods, Leonard Penn, Robert Bray, Larry Johns, Richard Mar¬ tin. Produced by Herbert Schlom; directed by Lesley Selander. Story: Texas Rangers Tim Holt and Richard Martin are assigned to track down a counterfeiting ring. Posing as outlaws, they save the life of outlaw chief and saloon operator Leonard Penn, and are re¬ warded with counterfeit money. Treasury undercover man Harry Woods suspects that grain store owner Larry Johns is in¬ volved but when Holt and Martin raid the store they cannot find the plates. Dance hall girl Joan Dixon recognizes Martin but Holt and Martin head back to the store where they are besieged just as they are about to get the plates. The Rangers' warned by Dixon, arrive to rescue Holt and Martin, and round up the gang. X-Ray: The usual amounts of fighting and riding plus an' uncomplicated screen play should make this okeh addition to the series. Performances are competent, and the direction sustains interest. The screen play was written by Ed Earl Repp. Tip On Bidding: Usual western price. Ad Lines: “Coimterfeit Money And The Texas Rangers In A Thrilling New West¬ ern”; “The Most Ruthless Outlaws Of The West Are No Match Against The Texas Rangers”; “See This Thrill-Packed Drama.” REPUBLIC Buckaroo Sheriff Western Of Texas Estimate: Okeh western. Cast: Michael Chapin, Eilene Janssen, James Bell, Hugh O’Brian, Steve Pendle¬ ton, Tristram Coffin, William Haade, Alice Kelley, Selmer Jackson, Edward Cassidy, George Taylor, Steve Dunhill, Billy Dix, Eddie Dunn. Associate producer, Rudy Ralston; directed by Philip Ford. Story: When Steve Pendleton returns to his home ranch after the Civil War, he finds it in the hands of outlaw leader Tristram Coffin, with his elderly sheriff father, James Bell, unable to cope with the situation. Pendleton had wanted to divide the ranch among the settlers, and had already secretly negotiated with an aluminum company to purchase the baux¬ ite ores for benefit of the settlers. Although Coffin knows nothing of this plan, he is suffi¬ ciently suspicious to kidnap Pendleton but the latter is rescued by his two-fisted young son, Michael Chapin, and writeradventurer Hugh O’Brian. Pendleton is eventually done-in by Coffin before he has a chance to reveal his plan, but the evidence he leaves behind is uncovered simultaneously by the crooks and Chapin’s group. In the ensuing fight, law and order is triumphant, and Coffin’s power is broken forever. X-Ray: First in the new “adventure” series starring the two juveniles, this should have plenty of appeal for the younger element. It has riding, fighting, and enough action to satisfy, although handicapped by a somewhat cumbersome plot. The acting is competent, and it should go well with kid audiences. The screen play was written by Arthur Orloff. Ad Lines: “A 12-Year-Old Kid Chal¬ lenges The Toughest Outlaw That Ever Rode The West”; “See This Action-Packed Saga Of The Old West”; “Breathless Ex¬ citement In Every Second Of ‘Buckaroo Sheriff Of Texas’.” The Man Who drama Cheated Himself (102) *2m. Estimate: Interesting drama has names to help. Cast: Lee J. Cobb, John Dali, Jane Wyatt, Lisa Howard, Harlan Warde, Alan Wells, Tito Vuolo, Mimi Aguglia, Charles Amt, Marjorie Bennett, Bud Wolfe, Mor¬ gan Farley, Howard Negley. Produced by Jack M. Warner; directed by Felix E. Feist. Story: Lee J. Cobb, detective, is at the home of Jane Wyatt, wealthy socialite, for whom he has been making a play, when Wyatt’s husband, Harlan Warde, breaks in, and Wyatt, under the impression that Warde wants to shoot her, kills him in¬ stead. Cobb, infatuated with Wyatt, sets things to make it appear as if Warde had actually been killed near an airport, where Cobb deposits the body. Cobb’s brother, John Dali, recently made a detective, works on the case, and despite Cobb’s attempt to discourage him, eventually discovers that Cobb has a part in the whole affair. As Dali is ready to bring Cobb to headquarters, Cobb knocks him out, and flees with Wyatt, but the police close in, and grab the two. At the windup, Cobb, seeing Wyatt warm up 'to her defense lawyer, realizes that he has been played for a sucker by Wyatt. X-Ray: This boasts of some good per¬ formances, particularly by Cobb and Dali, but the result is just another interesting meller that will have to depend on the star draw for h^st returns. The story idea, having one brother track down another, is different but not too believable, and while the developments are generally suspensive, it becomes obvious quite early what the denouement will show. Produc¬ tion, direction, etc., are capable, with the initial picture of Jack M. Warner for 20th-Fox promising. The merchandising angles are apparent. This is based on a story by Seton I. Miller. Tip On Bidding: Fair program price. Ad Lines: “Brother Against Brother . . . And His Life Was At Stake”; “He Threw Away His Honor For A Two-Timing Dame”; “Lee J. Cobb . . . That ‘Death Of A Salesman’ Star . . . Back To Thrill You.” FOREIGN Man Conquers Nature ^o^^menta^ (Artkino) (Russian-made) (English narration) Estimate: Okeh documentary is strictly for the Russian houses. Credits: Produced by the Central Docu¬ mentary Studios, Moscow; directed by Ilya Kopalin. Story: This covers the reforestation program instigated by the Soviet govern¬ ment in 1948. Photographed in Magicolor, the camera ranges, from the forests of the Caucasus to the deserts of Asian Russia, and shows what has already been done to transform the 300,000,000 acres of what had hitherto been desert land. Accom¬ panied by a somewhat political narration, considerable emphasis is placed upon the biological contributions of Lysenko a^d Micherin. X-Ray: This has some fine photog¬ raphy but not much else attract patrons outside of the Russian houses. Apart from an over-inspirational narration, this tends to get technical in parts. Ad Lines: “Transforming A Wasteland Into A Paradise”; “See This Astonishing 3002 Servisection 2