Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1951)

■SHOWBOAT' ANOTHER SUPER-MUSICAL A LA 'ANNIE* Rates • • • • except in action houses MGM 107 minutes Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown, Marge and Gower Champion, Robert Sterling, Agnes Moorhead, Adele Jergens, Lief Erickson, William Warfield, Francis Williams, Owen McGiveney, Regis Toomey, Sheila Clark. Directed by George Sidney. Tlie wonderful music, singing and dancing, the Kay. scenic splendor enhanced by eyefilling Technicolor photography, the humor and pathos and happiness and heartache in Edna Ferber's original novel — all blend perfectly to make this MGM version of the clas.-ic musical. "Showboat," a superlative movie entertainment. Just the title in itself on the marquee will mean more profits for the theatreman. but this latest effort boasts such fine talent pitching in with such grand performances that exhibitors in every situation are certain to find it a boxoffice bonanza. Produced and directed by the team that turned out the smash "Annie Get Your Gun," this latest Arthur Freed George Sidney extravaganaza is an enviable followup to that worthy show. As long as Hollywood can turn out pictures of this calibre — and Metro and others have proven time and again that it can be done— the industry cannot lose hope for its future in the entertainment world. Listening to Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel singing the beloved Jerome Kern Oscar Hammerstein II Charles Harris music— songs that are as well known and as popular as "Showboat" itself— is worth the price of admission alone. Ava Gardner is actually sensational as the blues-singing Julie. Whether it is her voice or a dubbed one, the treatment given "Bill" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is the way those immortal tunes were meant to be suiik. Newcomer William Warfield's "OF Man River" established him as a bright star in the movie horizon, and in the charming persons of Marge and Gower Champion, and eye-filling, twinkle-toed dance team are brought to the screen. Joe E. Brown, whose return to the movies should bring back pleasant memories to many fans, contributes a warm, sympa thetic portrayal of Cap'n Andy. STORY: Ava Gardner and her husband Robert Sterling, arc run out of town for having committed miccegenatioa, leaving Cap'n Andy (Joe E. Brown) and his Showboat without leading players. The captain's daughter, Kathryn Grayson, and Howard Keel, a riverboat gambler, fill in in the emergency, fall in love and marry. They leave the Showboat, go to Chicago, where Keel's standard of living fluctuates with his luck with card-. After a long streak of bad luck, they quarrel and Keel leaves Kathryn. She takes a job in a night club, unknowingly filling in once again for Miss Garner, who is pining away for her man. with the aid of old man Barleywin. Cap'n Andy is in the audience when Kathryn makes her debut, finds out she's pregnant and takes here back to the Showboat. Miss Gardner, now completely degenerated, meets Keel on a river boat, tells him Kathryn and their bain are back on the Showboat. Keel and Kathryn are reunited and the Showboat, like old man river, keeps rolling along. JACKSON ACE IN THE HOLE' Rates • • • generally POWERFUL DRAMA SHOULD CLICK BIG Paramount 112 minutes Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, Porter Hall. Richard Benedict, Ray Teal, Lewis Martin, John Berkes, Frances Dominguez, Gene Evans. Directed by Billy Wilder. A rough, tough, novel drama that hits with piledriver force, "Ace in the Hole;" seems destined for a gladsome reception at the boxoffice. Properly exploited for initial returns and sure to build on word-of-mouth, this Billy Wilder production is likely to emerge one of the big grossers of the year. Wilder, who also directed and collaborated on the script with Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman, has proved his worth with such previous off-the beaten track films as "Lost Weekend" and "Sunset Boulevard." Now he turns to a newspaper-story melodrama and gives it the same terse treatment that lifted the others above the He wrings drama from big city re average Hollywood product, every ounce of suspense and the story of an unscrupulous porter who stumbles on a man entombed in a New Mexico Indian cliff dwelling and attempts to turn it into a scoop that will bring him back to the big time. Top-notch are the performances by KirkDouglas as the reporter, Jan Sterling as the entombed man's opportunistic, wanton wife, Richard Benedict as the victim of the cavein, Ray Teal as a crooked sheriff and Frank Jaquet as the rescue engineer. Charles Lang's photography is strictly A-grade. STORY: Ace reporter Kirk Douglas, blackballed from big town dailies, is taken on by Albuquerque newspaper publisher Porter Hall. When Richard Benedict, operator of a roadside curio shop is trapped inside an ancient Indian cliff dwelling by a roof cave-in, Douglas crawls in to aid him, then realizes that a quick rescue would nullify the news value. He makes a deal with the sheriff and a rescue engineer to make the rescue the hard way and aims to keep Benedict alive for the week or so necessary to get him out. The resultant newspaper stories of the trapped man, which Douglas hands out to other reporters, brings huge crowds to the scene, and food venders and a carnival move in to take advantage of the crowds. Benedict's wife, Jan Sterling, played up in Douglas' stories as the suffering spouse, sees in Douglas a way to get away from the small town, and plays up to him. Realizing that the man will die before he can be rescued, Douglas relents, tries to get him out the easy way. but cannot. Sterling's disregard for her husband enrages him, he starts to choke her and she stabs him. Fatally wounded he returns to the cliff only to see the trapped man die. In a last attempt to cash in, he tries to sell the true story, confessing Benedict's murder, but the story is laughed off as a fake, and he dies, the real scoop of his life disbelieved. Yf'RK 'PEKING EXPRESS' EXPLOITABLE, TIMELY DRAMA Rates • • — where sold, action houses Paramount (Walks) 85 minutes Joseph Cotten, Corinne Calvet, Edmund Gwenn, Marvin Miller, Benson Fong, Soo Young, Robert W. Lee. Directed by William Dieterle. "Peking Express" is timely and exploitable even if its shallow story is somewhat obvious. As compensating factors Hal Wallis offers an atmospheric, authentic-looking production, good performances by an average cast, and some pretty vivid moments of action. Woven as these elements are into an Oriental tale of intrigue with topical overtones, the show comes through as entertainment despite itself. The dialogue is a bit overripe with verbose political discourses. In the action sequences director William Dieterle fares much better, inserting quite a few shock scenes into the drama and building the finale exvitingly. Exploited properly, the timely angle plus the Cotten-Calvet-Gwenn marquee draw should make this a satisfactory attraction generally. Action spots, of course, will fare best. Joseph Cotten is likeable and easy going as the United. Nations health inspector caught up in a guerilla attack. Corinne Calvet is sufficiently exotic to pose as a convincing woman of adventure, and Edmund Gwenn plays a kindly priest JULY, 2, 195 1 with quiet dignity. Marvin Miller. Benson Fong, Soo Young, and Robert W. Lee have their innings as not so inscrutible Chinese protaganists. STORY: Aboard a train to Peking, Cotten meets an old flame, Corinne Calvet. Marvin Miller, another passenger, turns out to be a Communist guerilla fighter who seizes the train and holds Cotten and the others as hostages. His purpose is to get back his son who has deserted him to play ball with the Nationalists. The boy is returned, but Miller is not a man to keep his word. Calvet offers herself in exchange for Cotten's life. Fate in the hands of Miller's wife who kills him spares the lady this unhappy fate, Cotten and the passengers battle their way out of the situation. JAMES 19