Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1951)

'CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER' ACTIONFUL TECHNICOLOR SEA EXTRAVAGANZA Rates • • • generally Warner Bros. 117 minutes Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, James R. Justice, Denis O'Shea, M. Kelsall, T. Morgan, Richard Hearne, James Kenney, Ingeborg Wells, Alec Mango. Directed by Raoul Walsh. "Captain Horatio Hornblower" is a seagoing tale of epic proportions that should bring the masses out of their living-rooms and into theatres in droves. This Warner Brothers' attraction, beautifully tinted by Technicolor, offers some breathtaking footage of sea warfare, earh* 19th century style. The action and spectacle, plus the stellar boxoffice names of Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo, is a happy combination that should do much to help bolster sagging grosses in movie houses. The script, based upon the escapades of the popular fictional British Naval hero created by C. S. Forester, has crammed into its almost two-hour run ning time enough devil-may-care adventure and colorful, blood-curdling battle scenes to completely fascinate the action fans, perhaps even to the point where they will overlook the romantic nonsense tossed in as a sop to the Peck femme contingent. Gregory Peck turns in another excellent performance as the British naval officer whose all-around ability as a sailor and a fighter make him the idol of his crew, the navy and the people of the British Isles. If there had to be a woman involved, the choice of Virginia Mayo is a happy one. Credit for the expertly-photographed battle scenes at sea and the interesting presentation of the Hornblower episodes go to director Raoul Walsh. The screen play is by Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts and Aeneas MacKenzie. STORY: Gregory Peck (Captain Horatio Hornblower) sails from England to an island on the Pacific side of Latin America, where he delivers his cargo of guns and ammunition to a mad dictator who has promised to help Britain fight the Spanish. Not knowing that his country has made peace with Spain and is now at war with France, Peck and his crew capture a Spanish galleon and give it to his bloodthirsty "ally." When the news arrives that Spain and England are allied, the galleon and the dictator are destroyed in a blazing battle. During the long trip home, a romance buds between Peck and Virginia Mayo, an unwelcome passenger who is returning to England to marry a member of the Admiralty. The affair fizzles because Peck is married. Back home, his wife dead of childbirth, Peck is given command of a ship in a squadron headed by Virginia's husband, helps to bottle up a good portion of the French fleet, is captured, escapes, returns to England a hero and, in true fairy tale style, finds a widowed Virginia awaiting him, her husband having conveniently been killed in the battle with the French. JACKSON ■THAT'S MY BOY" GOOD FUN Rates • • • on comics' draw Paramount-Hal Wallis 98 minutes Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Edd:e Mayehoff, Ruth Hussey, Marion Marshall, Polly Bergen, Francis Pierlot, Selmer Jackson, Hugh Sanders, John Mclntire, Lilliam Randolph. Directed by Hal Walker. Jerry Lewis, zany half of the Lewis-Martin team, goes easy on the slapsticky high jinks in this latest comedy featuring that popular pair. Consequently, "That's My Boy" emerges on screen as a good enough comedy, but one which will probably prove a bit disappointing to the comics' fans. The popularity of the team, which has grown by leaps and bounds as a result of their previous Hal Wallis vehicles and their current TV and night club successes, should insure good grosses wherever this college farce plays, but the suppression of the usual sidesplitting Lewis antics won't sit well with their followers and word of this may detract from business in subsequent runs. The principle blame for these shortcomings falls on screenplay writer Cy Howard, whose script is corny and contrived, and burdened with psychoanalytical situations. The plot might not have been too important, had director Hal Walker given Martin and Lewis freer rein, but their restraint leaves the story with its slip exposed. Jerry Lewis, as the shy, fumbling introvert suffering from his father's popularity as a college football hero, is his happy, mugging self on too few occasions, shining brightly only when he can do a pratfall, dance a couple of wacky steps or utter that goofy laugh that always fractures his fans. His partner, Dean Martin, fares better since he is always the straight man, and his pleasing delivery of a couple of old pop tunes are high spots of the film. Newcomer Eddie Mayehoff makes the best of an obvious satire on college football stars who want their kids to follow in their glorious footsteps. Polly Bergen and Marion Marshall are attractive ornaments as the feminine interests, and Ruth Hussey is okay as Jerry's domineering mama. STORY : Ex-football star Eddie Mayehoff agrees to send All-American prospect Dean Martin to his college alma mater, providing Mayehoff's own sickly son, Jerry Lewis, makes the football team and is befriended by Dean. At college, Marion Marshall, psychology major who is working her way through school by selling men's haberdashery, tries to help Jerry by building up his confidence in himself. Jerry falls for her, but she and Dean are secretly in love. In the first game, Mayehoff's influence gets Jerry into the game, but he immediately scores a touchdown for the opposition, making himself and his father a laughingstock. Dean, now sincerely anxious to help Jerry, tutors Jerry in football during their off time. Just before the homecoming game, Dean is expelled for getting drunk after a misunderstanding with Marion. Jerry is sent into the game in desperation, scores the winning field goal after running for a touchdown and is automatically cured of all of his neuroses. JACKSON. 'COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN' BELOW PAR ABBOTT AND COSTELLO Rates • • where the comics draw Universal-International 77 minutes Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dorothy Shay, Kirby Grant, Shaye Cogan, Joe Sawyer, Glenn Strange, Ida Moore, Guy Wilkerson, Bob Easton, Slats Taylor, Margaret Hamilton, Russell Simpson. Directed by Charles Lamont. "Comin' Round the Mountain" is only fair for Abbott and Costello. The boys seem to be letting down in this one, and the nutty comedy and dialogue sequences that usually punctuate their efforts are missing. "Comin' Round the Mountain" has too much plot and to., many characters tor them to have time to really get going. The story, though, is amusing and the boys, inevitably, generate quite a few laughs as two Broadwayites who head for the back hills in a quest for buried treasure. Howard Christie's production blandly spoofs the hillbilly world by using a cast of specialized actors, all of whom might have come straight from the cartoon pages of Esquire. Charles Lamont's direction is brisk and to the point. The comics' draw will make this a fair dualler in the sticks and lesser naborhoods, but they can hardly hope to win new friends with this one. The acting news of "Comin' Round the Mountain" is supplied by Dorothy Shay, the Park Avenue Hillbilly gal. Miss Shay, likeable of personality and an excellent singer, accomplishes a most successful celluloid debul The yarn allows her to balance a competent acting job with splendid renditions of her saucy backwoods ditties. Abbott and Costello do the best possible with the slight material. Kirby Grant is okeh in the romantic lead, and Shaye Cogan's would-be child bride is amusing. STORY: When Lou Cosello turns out to be a possible heir to his grandpa's hidden fortune, Dorothy Shay and Bud Abbott accompany him to the mountains. His arrival sparks an old feud between his and another family. Worried that there may not be an heir if Costello does find the fortune, his grandmaw insists that he get married. After Dorothy Shay rejects him, the family comes up with Shaye Cogan, all of 14. There is a catch in laying claim to the fortune — it turns out to be buried at Fort Knox. AXGEL 20 FILM BULLETIN