The Exhibitor (1951)

December 19, 1951 i X H I B I T O R . . . Told For The First Time”; “They Risked 'fheir Lives Working Against Their Countrymen In The True Story Of World War II.” The Girl On The Bridge Drama (139) Estimate: For the lower half. Cast: Hugo Haas, Beverly Michaels, Robert Dane, Johnny Close, Anthony Jochim, Judy Clark, Darr Smith, Maria Bibikoff, Rose Marie Valenzuea, Richard Pinner. Produced and directed by Hugo Haas. ) Story: Hugo Haas, a watchmaker whose family had been killed in Europe by the Nazis, sees Beverly Michaels standing on a bridge, and speaks to her to stop her from suicide. Later, she comes to him, tells him she is unmarried, and has had a child by musician Robert Dane, whom she loved, but whom she hasn’t seen since. Haas, touched, likes the child, and event¬ ually offers Michaels marriage. They are happy, and another child is on the way when Dane, learning where Michaels is, drops in to see Haas. Later, Johnny Close, a gangster cousin of Dane, drops around, and tries to blackmail Haas, threatening to tell Michaels that Dane is back in town. Haas kills Close in self-defense, and dis¬ poses of the body, which is found, and Dane, who has been heard threaten¬ ing Close, is arrested. Tormented, Ha^ decides that if Dane is convicted, he will reveal the truth. Dane is acquitted, and comes to Haas to tell him he is leaving town but that he should write him re¬ garding the child. Haas, condemning him¬ self, throws himself off the bridge. Dane is reunited with Michaels. X-Ray: Lacking the punch that Haas’ previous effort, “Pickup”, had, this is headed for the lower half. Performances are able, but the story is hardly new, and the film is in a sombre, slow moving mood, which will probably have audiences restless. The story, written by Haas and Arnold Phillips, is old-fashioned, and so is the treatment. Tip On Bedding: Lower bracket. Ad Lines: “He Accepted Her Child . . . But Not Her Lover”; “Can A Girl Love Two Men?”; “He Saved Her From Sin . . . But Her Arms Were Meant For Another.” UNITED ARTISTS Chicago Calling (Bemeis) Drama 74m. Estimate: WiU fit into the duallers. Cast: Dan Duryea, Mary Anderson, Gor¬ don Gebert, Ross Elliot, Melinda Plowman, Roy Engle, Jean Harvey, Judy Brubaker, Bob Fallon, Bud Stork, Mark Lowell, Glaze Loman, Mel Pogue, Marsha Jon^ Rudy McKool. Produced by Peter Berneis; directed by John Reinhardt. Story: In Los Angeles Dan Duryea re¬ turns to find his wife, Mary Anderson, packing to go back to her folks in Balti¬ more, Md., after getting a ride with an elderly couple. Their seven-year-old daughter, Melinda Plowman, is to accom¬ pany Anderson. They leave despite his promises to reform. Later, Duryea returns to the apartment to find a telegram in¬ forming him that Plowman has been injured in an auto accident near Chicago, and that Anderson will call him. He also finds telephone company man Ross Elliot waiting to take the phone out for non¬ payment. Duryea persuades Elliot to leave the instrument while he tries to get to¬ gether the money to pay the bill. He is refused immediate financial aid with the exception of a waitress, who gives him $5. Duryea meets Gordon Gebert, a lonely youngster who lives with his sister, Judy Brubaker, and reluctantly accepts Gebert’s offer to lend him his savings. However, Brubaker has hidden the bank, and Gebert, seeing her fiance. Bob Fallon, leave some money around, decides to take it. Touched, Duryea decides to return it, and Fallon threatens arrest. Duryea gets a temporary job, tries to check on his daughter’s con¬ dition from an outside phone, and returns home to find that Elliot has turned on his service. Just then, the police arrive, and as they are about to take Duryea, the call comes through from Anderson saying that the daughter is dead. The police arrange to forget about his arrest. Duryea wanders off in a daze, with Gebert follow¬ ing him. Separated in a railroad yard, Gebert is afraid Duryea might kill him¬ self but arrives in time, and is claimed as Duryea’s son when questioned by a rail¬ road man. They walk off. X-Ray: Although this has some touch¬ ing moments, it is dual bill material. The cast is adequate but the nature of the story and the lack of cast strength limit its appeal. The original screen play is by John Reinhardt and Peter Bemeis. Tip On Bidding: Low bracket. Ad Lines: “He Had To Wait For A Call That Could Change His Life”; “Why Was This Phone Call So Important?”; “A Phone Call And The Devotion Of A Youngster Played Important Parts In This Man’s Life”. U-International The Cimarron Kid Westihh (213) 83m. (Color by Technicolor) Estimate: Routine Technicolor western. Cast: Audie Murphy, Beverly Tyler, James Best, Yvette Dugay, John Hudson, Leif Erickson, Noah Beery, John Hub¬ bard, Hugh O’Brian, Palmer Lee, Rand Brooks, William Reynolds, Roy Roberts, David Wolfe, John Bromfield, Frank Silvera, Richard Garland, Eugene Baxter. Produced by Ted Richmond; directed by Budd Boetticher. Story: Audie Murphy, known as “The Cimarron Kid”, serves a term in prison as the result of a frameup set by railroad detective David Wolfe. Despite his at¬ tempts to go straight, Murphy is forced into a deal with the Daltons, his outlaw friends. In a raid in Coffeyville, Kans., most of the Daltons are wiped out, but James Best and sweetheart, Yvette Dugay; Hugh O’Brian, Frank Silvera, John Hud¬ son, and Murphy survive. Despite the at¬ tempt of Beverly Tyler, daughter of reformed outlaw Roy Roberts, Murphy continues as an outlaw. The noose on the bandits closes, more being killed. Finally, John Hudson comes up with a deal whereby railroad worker John Hubbard is to help them steal gold. Actually, the scheme is a trap, but Murphy manages to thwart it. Alone, he comes back to Roberts’ ranch, where Tyler decides to turn him in to sheriff Leif Erickson, promising to wait when he returns from jail. X-Hay: Following the well-worn west¬ ern trail, this hasn’t anything that hasn’t been seen before. The Dalton outlaw pat¬ tern is familiar, and the story is filled with the usual cliches. However, western addicts should be satisfied, and there is the usual quota of riding, fighting, and action. Performances are routine. The story was written by Louis Stevens and Kay Lenard. Legion of Decency: “B”. Tip On Bidding: Program price. Ad Lines: “Framed . . . He Made The Name Of ‘The Cimarron Kid’ One To Fear”; “She Offered Him Love ... In Exchange For His Freedom”; “One Man Against Many . . . What Chance Did ‘The Cimarron Kid’ Have?” Finders Keepers (211) Estimate: For the lower half. Cast: Tom Ewell, Julia Adams, Evelyn Varden, “Dusty” Henley, Harvey Lembeck, Harold Vermilyea, Douglas Fowley. Produced by Leonard. Goldstein; directed by Frederick de Cordova. Story: Three gunmen hide loot in a vacant lot where it is found by twoyear-old “Dusty” Henley, who carts it home to his grandmother, Evelyn Varden. She conceals it. Tom Ewell, Henley’s father and Varden’s son, who is on parole from prison, and wife Julia Adams return from work for dinner, with Ewell’s parole officer, Harold Vermilyea, who is seeing to it that Ewell is going straight. After he leaves the money is discovered. Ewell wants to keep it, but Adams insists that he burn it. Henley gets another load the next day, and when Adams finds it thinks that Ewell hasn’t destroyed it. She walks out on him. Ewell manages to explain, and Adams agrees to return. Meanwhile, the crooks kidnap Henley, learn who he is, and phone Varden, who hurries off to meet them with the money. She and the leader of the crooks, Douglas Fowley, are old buddies, and she agrees to turn the money over to them, and join the gang, but when they insist on taking Henley along, she balks. The police trace them, and arrive for a showdown. Henley suc¬ ceeds in driving the crooks into the aims of the police, and everybody is happy at the outcome. X-Ray: This should fit on the lower half. Too little in the way of story material is stretched into too much, with the re¬ sult that the outcome is weak. There are a few laughs, but nothing much to get excited about. Story and screen play are by Richard Morris. Tip On Bidding: Lowest bracket. Ad Lines: “A Two-Year-Old Found A Fortune But Could They Keep It?”; “There’s More Fun Than A Barrel Of Monkeys When A Two-Year-Old Stumbles On A Fortune”; “The Year’s Laugh Hit.” WARNERS I'll See You In My Dreams (112) Musical Biography 110m. Estimate: Highly entertaining musical. Cast: Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy, Patrice Wymore, James Gleason, Mary Wickes, Julia Oshins, Jim Backus, Minna Gombell, Harry Antrim William Forrest, Bunny Lewbel, Robert Lyden, Mimi Gibson, Christy Olson. Produced by Louis F. Edelman; directed by Michael Curtiz, Story: Danny “Gus Kahn” Thomas drives a delivery wagon, and aspires to write music. He delivers some of his com¬ positions to Doris Day at the music pub¬ lishing firm where i^e works, and she tells him to forget about writing about President Taft and the Statue of Liberty, and write lyrics about love, boys, and girls. He takes her advice, and turns up at her home with the lyrics to “I Wish I Had A Girl.” She writes some music to it, and the tune is published by James Gleason. It’s a hit, and they team up but success eludes her tunes. She tricks him into teaming with another tune writer, and he has another hit. Thomas finally realizes he is in love with her, and they get married. They have two children, and Servtseciion 3 3207