Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1951)

'THE MATING SEASON' SPARKLING COMEDY HIT Rates • • • t except for action houses Paramount 101 minutes Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins, Thelma Hitter, Jan Sterling, l^arry Keating, James Lorimer, Gladys Hurlbut, Cora Witherspoon, Malcome Keen, Ellen Corby, Billie Bird, Mary Young. Directed by Mitchell Leisen Paramount has a winner in "The Mating Season," a delightful entertain ment compound of sparkling comedy and human interest that is bound to bung great pleasure to audiences of every stripe. Boxoffice returns should be excellent in all except the action houses, and even in the latter situations highly favorable word-of-mouth should build a large audience. Another wise and witty job by producer Charles Brackett, who also collaborated on the script with Walter Reisch and Richard Breen, this film lifts to stardom character comedienne Thelma Ritter, who totitu, gating earned the chance by her great roles in "A Letter to Three Wives" and "All About Eve." She is simply magnificent as the bankrupt operator of a hamburger stand, who goes to take up her son's offer to live with himi, only to find that he has just married the rich daughter of an American ambassador. Her adventures with the misunderstanding daughter-in-law and the latter"s snooty mother are both hilarious and touching. Many of the smart lines will bring roars of laughter. Sample: "I once knew a bi igadier-general who wasn't safe to be left alone with a French telephone!" Tieiney and John Lund, as the married couple, and by Miriam Hopkins, as the ambassador's overbearing wife. The support throughout is first-class. In addition to Miss Ritter, the case provides topflight performances by Gene STORY: Thelma Ritter, widowed owner of a hamburger stand and of a fine Hoboken accent, fails to make a go of her business and hitch hikes cross-country to the town where her son, John Lund, is working as a draftsman for a tool company. She arrives to find Lund abcut to marry Gene Tierney. daughter of an ambassador and ex-girlfriend of James Lorimer, playboy son of the tool company's boss. Gene Tierney's snobbish mother, Miriam Hopkins, comes dashing home from Venice for the Spli>sh-up wedding. But when Lund's penniless mother arrives at the apartment Gene Tierney mistakes her for the new cook and puts her to work in the kitchen. The boss' playboy son does his best to upset the marriage, and so does the bride's mother, but the millionaire toolmaker falls for the "cook," and contrives to make everything come out all right. LEON. OPERATION PACIFIC WILL NEED THE BIG BALLYHOO CAMPAIGN Rates • • • — generally on exploitation; less in class houses Warners 111 minutes John Wayne, Patricia Neal, Ward Bond, Scott Forbes, Philip Carey, Paul Picerni, Bill Campbell, Kathryn Givney, Martin Milner, Cliff Clark, Jack Pennick, Virginia Brissac, Vincent Potre, Lewis Martin, Louis Mosconi, Sam Edwards. Directed by George Waggner. "Operation Pacific" is being given the highpowered exploitation treatment by Mort Blumenstock, Warners' dynamic ad chief. The campaign will stand the picture in good stead, for it is disappointing on several counts. By diluting the basic theme about the "silent" branch of the Navy during World War II with an overdose of pace-slowing romance and some phony heroics, it loses that graphic quality and punch one has come to expect of present-day war films. On the credit side are several exciting submarine battle scenes and the marvelous photography, both inside and outside the submerged sub. But when the underwater craft is not in action, the plot is as formula and obvious as any backstage musical. Grosses generally will get a big lift from the ballyhoo campaign and the John Wayne name. Action houses will realize best returns; class houses, the weakest. John Wayne contributes his usual stolid performance as the submariner whose Navy career interferes with his marriage to Patricia Neal. As a Navy nurse conveniently stationed at her husband's home base, Miss Neal does an adequate job, although she is photographed very unflatteringly. Ward Bond is good as the sub's ill-fated skipper. The involved, conventional screenplay was written by George Waggner, who also handled the directorial chores. STORY: The USS THUNDERFISH, returning to Honolulu with a cargo of children rescued from Jap-held territory, fires a couple of magnetic torpedoes at an enemy carrier, but they explode prematurely. Back at his home base, Skipper Ward Bond files his report and obtains permission to use contact torpedoes on his next cruise. Meanwhile, Bond's exe cutive officer, John Wayne, discovers his ex-wife, Patricia Neal, is a Navy nurse stationed in Honolulu. When he tries to win her back, he finds she is being courted by Navy pilot Philip Carey, Bond's kid brother. On their next cruise, several of the contact torpedoes are found to be duds and Bond radios back, requesting permission to return to find out why. The THUNDERFISH is tricked into surfacing by an armed Jap freighter and Bond is caught on the surface, badly wounded, as the sub crash dives. Wayne assumes command and they ram the freighter, sinking it. Back in Honolulu for repairs, Wayne again quarrels with Miss Neal, makes tests and finds the reason for the faulty torpedoes. They spot the Jap fleet heading for Leyte and its historic battle with our fleet, radio back the enemy's location, sink a carrier after miraculously escaping destruction by depth charges, and spend the rest of the battle picking up downed Navy fliers. The victorious sub returns to its base, where Wayne finds a forgiving Patricia waiting for him at the dock. JACKSON. 'STORM WARNING' STRONG LYNCH MELODRAMA Rates » • + generally, more where exploited Warner Brothers 93 minutes Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, Steve Cochran, Hugh Sanders, Lloyd Gough, Raymond Greenieaf, Ned Glass, Paul E. Burns, Walter Baldwin, Lynn Whitney, Stuart Randall, Sean McClory. Directed by Stuart Heisler. "Storm Warning" is a powerful lynch melodrama, at times overpowering in its grim effectiveness. Packing a terrific punch in its story about the Ku Klux Klan and the baring of its crookedness, bigotry and intolerance, it may prove too strong for the sensitivities of many moviegoers. This Warner offering is not, unfortunately, the type of motion picture that experiences much boxoffice success generally. Though credibly and realistically produced, it will, like similar ' message" movies in the past, present a difficult selling problem far many exhibitors. Strong grosses can be anticipated in action and art houses, but it will not do very much in the average family theatre. On its merits, however, this vividly presented, often frightening movie, though not a pleasant entertainment, is one no adult American should miss. Every element that went into the filming of "Storm Warning" is of the highest calibre. The performances, notably those of Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Steve Cochran and Doris Day, are superb. Stuart Heisler's direction wastes little time in getting down to the business of creating a grim, exciting air of tension that he expertly sustains right through to the last fadeout. And the screenplay by Daniel Fuchs and Richard ("Crossfire") Brooks provides an excellent vehicle for a praiseworthy production by Jerry Wald. STORY: Ginger Rogers, a model who stops off at the home town of her sister, Doris Day, witnesses a lynching by a Ku Klux Klan mob. She tells Doris of her horrible experience and the latter tells her husband, Steve Cochran, whom Miss Rogers recognizes as one of the murderous mob. The frightened model agrees to leave town to protect her sister, but is picked up by an agent from the District Attorney's office. The D.A., Ronald Reagan, extracts from Ginger the information that the lynchers were Klan members, and holds her as a witness for the inquest. Hugh Sanders, prominent citizen and leader of the Klan, learns of this and frightens Miss Rogers into denying, on the witness stand, everything she had told Reagan. Disgusted with herself and everything that has taken place, Ginger goes to her sister's home to pack and leave town, but is accosted by Cochran, who attacks her. Cochran is interrupted by Miss Day, who packs her bags to leave him. He beats both girls and takes Miss Rogers to a Klan cross-burning when she threatens to stay in town and expose him. Ginger defies Sanders, who orders her horsewhipped. Reagan and Miss Day arrive on the scene and when Sanders accuses Cochran of being the killer, Cochran wildly shoots and kills Miss Day. Frightened and panicky, the members of the Klan unmask and run, leaving Sanders to be dealt with by the law. JACKSON. JANUARY 29, 1951 11