Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1950)

THE BLACK ROSE" BIG TECHNICOLOR SPECTACLE LACKS GOOD STORY Rates tl+ generally; more if exploited 20th Century-Fox 120 minutes Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cecile Au bry, Jack Hawkins, Michael Rennie, Finlay Currie, Herbert Lam, Mary Clare. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Fortunately for "The Black Rose," 20th Century-Fox has given its lavish picturization of Thomas B. Costain's bestseller a bang-up pubicity and advertising campaign. The momentum of this huge pre-release promotion is very likely to carry the film into the higher-grossing brackets, coupled with local exhibition exploitation efforts. As screen entertainment on its own, however, "The Black Rose" is a disappointing film. True, the purse-strings have been pulled wide open and the .resultant spectacle is awe-inspiring in its ocular opulence. Moreover, the location backgrounds in England and North Africa have helped recreate medieval Britain and the fabulous palaces of the Far East in magnificent splendor. From that point on, the values diminish rapidly. The story, save for a few exciting sequences, plods along in episodic and lumbering fashion, hampered further by some unpredictable editing that leaves a number of confusing blankss in the continuity. Performances which might have attained some stature are dwarfed by the settings and costumes. The eye is constantly being pulled away from the players by their surroundings. The result is a spectacle without heart, an eyefest that leaves the emotions untouched. Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, cast in roles that are virtual duplicates of the earlier "Prince of Foxes" characterizations, are joined by the highly-publicized young French import, Cecile Aubry, to offer a name draw to add to the spectacle and the publicity barrage; this combination should insure above average grosses generally, but returns can be expected to diminish when lukewarm and unfavorable word-of-mouth get in its licks. STORY: Tyrone Power, a student in medieval England and the illegitimate son of a Saxon noble, leaves England with friend Jim Hawkins after the death of his farher in order to make a name for himself and to find a method of driving the hated Normans from his home section of England. Traveling east, Power and Hawkins join a caravan headed for Cathay. The caravan is protected by an army under Orson Welles who has world conquest plans. Impressed by Hawkins' archery, Welles takes Hawkins and Pow er into his army to manufacture longbows and teach his soldiers their use. While traveling with the army, Cecile Au bry, a French-English girl whose father died while they were in the Orient, is i smuggled from Welles' harem into Powj er's tent. Powers and Hawkins are persuaded to take the girl with them when they leave Welles' army. Falling out over the bloodiness of Welles' tactics, Hawkins and Power split, Hawkins taking Aubry with him. Power stays with the army and is soon sent on a mission to re quest the capitulation of the Chinese cap ital. Traveling there, he finds Aubry and Hawkins already there and discovers that because of an old Chinese legend, he is regarded as a god of peace by the em press. Doubting Power's divinity, th{ prime minister plots Power's death. Pick ing up all the material and scientific treas ures they can carry, all three attempt tc escape. Hawkins is killed, and Power anc . Aubry are separated. Eventually return (3 ing to England, Power disseminates tru'c scientific knowledge of compasses, paper printing presses, etc., which he has pickec up in Cathay and realizes that Saxon; and Normans must cooperate to provide * united England. He is knighted by th< king and reunited with Aubry whorr Welles has sent back to him. RUBE. phone repairman to the heights of tor dog of a gambling syndicate through his manipulation of wire service to hors( parlors and his eventual downfall aftei he becomes a fugitive from both the law and rival gamblers. The original screer play by Richard English and Franci: Swan overcomes the triteness of th( basic story by focusing interest on the gambling gimmicks, and, with directoi Newman keeping things moving righ; along, the result is an absorbing actior tale that is top drawer for the fans wh( like their screen fare tough, tense ana to the point. STORY: Edmund O'Brien is an em' ployee of a telephone company in L.A until he is brought by his bookie to sei Barry Kelley, boss of a local gamblinj outfit which provides direct wire serv, ices to the bookies it serves. With mo. dern equipment and tricky methods O'Brien soon greatly increases the pro, fits of the outfit, demands and gets ; cut of the take. Shortly thereafter, Kel ley is killed by an irate bookie an<| O'Brien inherits the business. A bij eastern syndicate becomes interested i), O'Brien's operation and head man, Ott> Kruger, assistant Donald Porter, and th latter's wife, Joanne Dru, head for rawest coast to buy into the organizatior O'Brien accepts their offer and falls i) love with Joanne Dru. O'Brien is force to get rid of Porter, and he and Dru be come very friendly. Meanwhile, he dis covers that the syndicate had been shori changing him. When the man he hire, to kill Porter begins blackmailing hirr O'Brien kills him. The police trace th. killing to O'Brien and the syndicat realizes that O Brien killed Porter. Wit'; both the police and the syndicate afte' them O'Brien and Dru go to Las Vega; intending to swindle one of the syndi cate's horse parlors out of the mone owed him and then leave the countn Tracked there by the police and the syr dicate, O'Brien is killed by a hail of pc lice bullets while trying to flee. RUBI FILM BULLETI1 711 OCEAN DRIVE* OK GAMBLING EXPOSE MELODRAMA Rares • i • for action houses; less elsewhere Columbia hook the unsuspecting horse player, a 102 m iniitps well-rounded portrayal by Edmond Esmond O'Brien, .Joanne Dru, Otto Kru °™eh" H^Newma^Sf th^notS K&JEF* KeI'ey' D°na,d P°rter' R°bert '"o^the avTragTgang Sin? and mates nir^t»!i*w 1 mx in it suitable for all but the strictly family Directed by Joseph H. Newman. houseg as a top dualler It should fare " proportionately better in the action spots, A fast-moving tale of gangsters, gambl of course, where the combination of ers and some interesting insights into gambling, gunplay and suspense makes the mechanics of bookie joints is reveal it a natural. There is plenty of exploitaed in "711 Ocean Drive," which was film tion value, too, in the purported attempts ed by Frank N. Seltzer for Columbia of the underworld to block production of "under police protection'' according to the film and profitable results should acthe ads. An innovation in the film, the crue if this angle is plugged in the camunveiling of the various gimmicks and paign. With O'Brien playing a heavy methods used by gambling syndicates to role, the story traces the rise of a tele EDITORIAL (Continued from Page 3) tainment to injure the motion picture business, thev cannot hereafter expect to appear in the films. The motion picture producers should take a firm stand* on this right now, before serious damage is done. "And if the producers ignore this condition or take a weak-kneed stand, then the exhibitors must serve notice that thev will he slow to play pictures featuring these tradueers of the motion picture business." Here is a golden opportunity for the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. Formed with the avowed purpose of safeguarding the overall interests of our business, COMPjO faces in this issue a first chance to demonstrate that it is to he a dynamic, constructive force in the industry. We urge COMPO to demand of all film producers that future contracts with their stars stipulate that appearances on television he confined to material designed to exploit their pictures or to further the interests of the movie industry generally. For the kind of salaries film stars are paid, the industry is entitled to ask such protection. And COMPO could make such a policy effective, we say. We're smack up against an urgent and serious problem ihat vitally concerns the very guts of our business. The stars must be told to decide. This is the time to lake a stand. MO WAX