Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1951)

KUDOS FOR FERRER AS CRITICS LAUD, PAN 'CYRANO' There was a general lack of uniformity in the New York newspaper critics' comment on "Cyrano de Bergerac," Stanley Kramer's screen adaptation of the popular stage play by Edmond Rostand. The criticism ranged from "excellent" to "disappointing," with the reviewers agreeing only when discussing the top notch performance by Jose Ferrer, as Cyrano, and Kramer's phenomenal success as a low-budget producer. In the Times, Bosley Crowther's objections are mostly of technical shortcomings, such as the "disappointingly drab . . . black-and-white photography." There is, concludes Crowther, "beauty and magic in the things that Cyrano says. He is still a magnificent character. Thank goodness, he is on the screen." Archer Winsten, in the Post, describes Jose Ferrer's orations as "quite, quite magnificent," but points out that they "sound more like rhetoric than poetry" and, consequently, "none of it seems real." It may, he says, be a "scholarly and theatrically sound production," but "it left me completely cold." One of the more favorable critiques come from the pen of the Compass' Seymour Peck, who in addition to crediting Ferrer with having "brought Cyrano de Bergerac triumphantly to life," praises Kramer's "tasteful production" and Gordon's direction "in a clean, simple, expert and admirable style." Admitting it "still has power and elo«juence in its new medium," Howard Barnes, in the Herald Tribune, writes that this "handsome photograph of a minor classic ... in most respects is wanting as motion-picture entertainment." "Superb movie version," savs the World Telegram's Alton Cook, who feels Cyrano "is sure to become the year's favorite hero and his picture one of the tops in popularity." It is, he concludes, "one of the monumental contributions to our season's entertainment," In the Journal American. Rose Pelswick points out that it is the "faithful adherence to stage tradition that caused the screen version to emerge as less an animated motion picture than a series of carefully stylized tableaux," its "studied presentation" _making for "pageantry rather than cinematic action." "AMERICAN GUERRILLA IN TH* PHILIPPINES' 20TH CENTURY-FOX "Wide variety of location-filmed Technicolor backgrounds are unrolled behind a slim and episodic melodrama of guerilla warfare." — GUERNSEY, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Meager authority or credibility . . . There is a fitful contemporary graphic ness about the Technicolored picture " CROWTHER, N. Y. TIMES. "Strangely deficient in excitement . . . Does not seem real at all." — WINSTEN N. Y. POST. "Amounts to a nice fling for audiences who still prefer to consider a war as primarily a glorious adventure." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Tyrone Power and his buddies . . . look, I'm afraid, a good deal more like Boy Scouts on an outing .. . Refuses to be grim or tragic or absolutely realistic about war . . . Like a prettv, colorful Army poster." — PECK, N. Y. COMPASS. "Informative as well as interesting . . . Storv of hone and heroism and historic incident "—PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. OUOT6S" What the Newspaper Critics Sag About New Films KIM' MGM "One of those big exotic pictures that fill and bedazzle the eye . . . and offer some fair excitement, too . . . Pleasant story of the strange adventures of a boy . . . dragged out to a somewhat tedious length." — CROWTHER, N. Y. TIMES. "Should have been a natural . . . Hard to see why it should have emerged as a botch." — BARNES, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Handsome film version of the Kipling story . . . Not too much for any sober, analytical adult . . . Belongs to all the children." — PECK, N. Y. COMPASS, ever to hit a movie screen . . . Young blood will tingle a little extra at the news that there is no romantic affair at all . . . Full time is devoted to the wild adventures of Kim." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Eye-jabbing, earpleading version of Rudyard Kipling's lusty tale . . . What it's all about leaves no strong or lasting impression. What it shows is disproportionately memorable." — WINSTEN, N. Y. POST. "Highly entertaining adventure yarn . . . Excellent choice as the Music Hall's holiday attraction." — PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. KING SOLOMON S MINES' MGM "More than a trace of outright hokum in this thriller . . . but there is also an ample abundance of scenic novelty and beauty "to compensate . . . Stampede . . . is one of the most terrific wild-life shows you've ever seen." — CROWTHER, N. Y. TIMES. "Magnificent in Technicolor and African background . . . Neither a great story nor great cinema, the raw film material is great, the best footage of its kind ever to have come out of Africa." — WINSTEN, N. Y. POST. "Fascinating world of adventure and danger and escape . . . Big, fanciful tale . . . seldom filmed so stunningly, against such beautiful, authentic African scenery, in such epic style ... A fine entertaining time at the movies." — PECK, N. Y. COMPASS. "Not to be taken seriously as screen drama, but as a startling close-up of Africa it is something to see."— BARNES, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "A lot of fun . . . Large-scale Technicolor adventure yarn . . . Highly colorful entertainment." — PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. 'UNDERCOVER GIRL' Universal "There are no surprises . . . Story too pat to be stimulating."— T. M. P., N. Y. TIMES. "Smart staging fights a losing battle with an inane script . . . Punches clean round holes in the familiar fabric of a police investigation melodrama . . . It's wasted marksmanship on material already riddled by dialogue loaded with heavy-caliber cliches."— BARSTOW, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Taut melodrama . . . Unusually wellmade thriller . . . Cops-and-robbers story told at full speed."— CREELMAN, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Picture (is) better than its parts . . . Determination to crossbreed melodrama with brevity . . . works very well, if this good return on old material is any indication."—WINSTEN, N. Y. POST. "Lively cops-and-robbers melodrama, a fast-moving gangster yarn." — PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. 'RIO GRANDE' REPUBLIC "If there is no .reason to cheer out loud ... it is still possible to have a pretty good time at it . . . Has more rip-roaring battles, more thrills, greater tautness, less romantic goo, fewer frills and furbelows." — PECK, N. Y. COMPASS. "John Ford has made another vivid pictorial record of Indian warfare . . . Engrossing and remarkably convincing . . . vastly entertaining western." — BARNES, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Gradual descent of that great talent, John Ford, into dull repetition of his favorite scenes, story and characters continues . . . Just another Western from a frequently used stencil." — WINSTEN, N. Y. POST. "He (Ford) is traveling a deeply rutted road . . . But the horsemanship never was better, the Indians more dastardly and the cavalry never answered a bugle call more quickly . . . Mr. Ford needn't worry. Chances are his public will eat it up." — A. W., N. Y. TIMES. "Full of the familiar and, to horse opera fans, endlessly welcome Ford trademarks ... He slips into the routine Western class, turning out pictures exactly like those of his imitators." — COOK, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Large-scale Westerner . . . spins out its familiar action against effectively photographed outdoor settings." — PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. THE FIREBALL' 20th Century-Fox "Never let it be said that Mickey Rooney doesn't try . . . He has never been flashier . . . However, those who take Mr. Rooney's histrionics with a grain of salt had better make it a handful this time . . . Trimly budgeted, fairly picturesque handling of a new sports angle." — H. H. T, N. Y. TIMES. "An awful lot of rollerskating, rink variety, and an awful lot of Mickey at his most offensive. Still, you have to give Mickey credit as a tireless and versatile performer. He can act out anything convincingly."—WINSTEN, N. Y. POST. "Has captured a lot of the color and excitement of roller-derby racing; that's about all there is to 'The Fireball'." — BARSTOW, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. 'THREE FLAGS WEST* 20th Century-Fox "All of the popular elements of a good, rousing cavalry film, plus something a little better than usual in the way of a story line."— CROWTHER, N. Y. TIMES. "Cavalry Western, a bugle-haunted outdoor drama. . . . Simple but surefire movie melee. . . . Violent enough to impress the most blood-thirsty Saturday matinee schoolboy. . . . Diverting warhorse opera." — GUERNSEY, N. Y. HERALD TRIBUNE. "Storming of a lonely U. S. Army fort. ... As fierce and riproaring and spectacular an adventure as we have seen in a long time. . . . However ... up to then ... a solemn and torpid and spiritless film short on action and long on talk." —PECK, N. Y. COMPASS. "Has one of the biggest battles you ever saw around and in a fort. . . . Adherence to conventional style is symptomatic of the picture's weaknesses." — Cook, N. Y. WORLD TELEGRAM. "Slowly paced costume drama." — PELSWICK, N. Y. JOURNAL AMERICAN. 16 FILM BULLETIN