Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

JUST THIS ONCE' BRASH, FROTHY ROMANTIC COMEDY Rates • • + as dualler; weak for action houses The thin plot tends to wear Metro-Gold wyn-Mayer 91 minutes Janet Leigh, Peter Lawford, Lewis Stone, Marilyn Erskine, Richard Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Hanley Stafford, Henry Slate, Jerry Hausner, Benny Rubin, Charles Watts. Directed by Don Weis. Bright and frothy, "Just This Once," is decidedly pleasant fare for the younger set who may be expected to be interested in the co-starring appearance of Janet Leigh and Peter Lawford. For others, it's comedy entertainment, easy to look at, amusing in its lightweight story and put together with taste and verve by the smooth MGM production machinery. Director Don Weis reads pep into the action, charm into the performances, in the final reel and some judicious editing can still tighten the comic impact. The show is not quite strong enough to stand on its own boxoffice feet, but as a companion piece it will offer a hearty attraction for the family trade and younger element. N. G. for action houses. Janet Leigh plays the lady barrister with pert charm, and Peter Lawford is likeable as the dillitante. Lewis Stone's old judge is done with his usual expertness. Marilyn Erskine is a joy as a telephone operator. Good supporting work is offered by Richard Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Hanley Stafford, and oldtimer Benny Rubin. STORY: Peter Lawford is cast as a playboy who is busy dissipating the inheritance WOMAN IN THE DARK' QUICKIE FOR THE LOWER HALF Rates • + as bottom dualler in action houses third is a "no-good" mixing with crooks and Republic 60 minutes Penny Edwards, Ross Elliott, Rick Vallin, Richard Benedict, Argentina Brunetti, Martin Garralaga, Edit Angold, Peter Brocco, Barbara Billingsley, John Doucette, Richard Irving, Luther Crockett, Carl Thompson, Charles Sullivan. Directed by George Blair. "W oman In the Dark" is a minor league dualler. The original screenplay is a formula affair about an immigrant family with three sons, two of whom are successful while the the like. Dialogue consists largely of old world platitudes and much discussion about spaghetti, strudel and other foods. There are few action sequences in the show, and those that do materialize are not particularly interesting. George Blair's direction is as indifferent as the performances of the players. Penny Edwards, Ross Elliott, Rick Vallin, and Richard Benedict are competent enough under average circumstances. Peter Brocco, however, overacts outrageously as a gangster, and the other performances offered in "Woman In the Dark," are so far below left him by his family. Lewis Stone, the executor of the estate, invokes the spendthrift clause, invites struggling young lawyer Janet Leigh to administer it. She calls all Lawford's creditors and closes his accounts. Lawford, furious, flies to Europe in his private plane. Her instructions cross the ocean. He is forced home and discovers his antique furnishings have been sold to settle debts. By now Lawford and Miss Leigh are more than casually interested in each other although unwilling to admit it. Lawford pretends to have a job, gives her a forbidding example of what it's like to have a working man around the house. She realizes she likes him better as a playboy and comes to see that the rich have their point of view too. ANGEL average that their portrayals are more ludicrous than convincing. STORY: Ross Elliott is the black sheep of an Italian-American family, incapable of keeping a job, always on the lookout for the quick money. He falls in with a gang that is planning to pull off a big jewel haul. He plays his part but the payoff is delayed. Meantime his brother, Rick Vallin, convinces Ross that he's on the wrong side of the road, urges him to break with the hoodlums and help in their exposure. Elliott finally agrees even though it means the sacrifice of his life. JAMES FORT OSAGE' ACTIONFUL CINECOLOR ROD CAMERON WESTERN Rates • ® + in action houses Monogram 72 minutes Rod Cameron, Jane Nigh, Morris Ankrum, Douglas Kennedy, John Ridgely, William Phipps, Stan Jolly, Dorothy Adams, Francis McDonald, Myron Healey, Lane Bradford, Iron Eyes Cody, Barbara Woodell. Directed by Lesley Selander. "Fort Osage" is an actionful, well-turnedout Western in Cinecolor, not as strong as it might be in the story department, but otherwise effective entertainment for the adventure and western fans. The screenplay THE OLD WEST' BELOW-PAR Rates • • for western houses Columbia 60 minutes Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Gail Davis, Lyle Talbot, Louis Jean Heydt, House Peters, Sr., House Peters, Jr., Dick Jones, Kathy Johnson, Don Harvey, Dee Pollock, Raymond L. Morgan, James Craven, Tom London, Frank Marvin. Directed by George Archainbaud. This is the third Gene Autry western in a row in which stories below acceptable outdoor standards have been used, a point that is particularly disturbing since all the other elements of top sagebrush composition are present, Autry, an excellent physical pro is on the pat side, telegraphing most of its complications in advance and not always making the best of them when they do arrive. However, Lesley Selander's direction boasts plenty of pace and puts zip into the physical encounters. Performances are above the average, and Rod Cameron is a mansized hero with the acting talent and physical stamina to be convincing. In its bracket, the Monogram release should be on a par with Cameron's previous outdoor adventures for the company, a satisfying entry for the action houses. Jane Nigh is attractive in the feminine lead. Morris Ankrum is a superior heavy, and Douglas Kennedy acquits himself well AUTRY WESTERN duction, tnd first rate supporting players. This little narrative contains more psalm singing than action, and while no one wisnes to minimize the importance of the former, successive scenes of religious services hardly constitute action entertainment. Moreover, the story is a tangled yarn in which the complications are never quite clear and the relationship of the principals to one another, obscure. Director George Archainbaud, in the absence, of clear-cut characterizations, walks the players through their roles. There's little on which the onlooker can fasten his attention in "The Old West." Gene Autry's performance is not up to par which is understandable in view of the list as the other conspirator. John Ridgely, William Phipps and Stan Jolley do well in support. STORY: Cameron refuses to fulfill his job as guide for a wagon train headed West with settlers who have paid well for their transportation. He insists that Indians are on the warpath because the white men hav not kept their part of a bargain to make certain payments in return for peace. Morris Ankrum and Douglas Kennedy, the pro moters of the wagon train, appear to hav turned the money to their own purposes Cameron puts an end to the double-dealing and eventually gets the pioneers on their way. JAMES less role and haphazard situations. Pat But tram's comedy is weak. Gail Davis plays her feminine lead pleasantly enough. Lyle Tal bot, Louis Jean Heydt and House Peters Sr. are prominent in supporting spots. ST< >RY: Autry earns his livlihood by cap turing wild horses, training them for the stagecoach company. Lyle Talbot, behind much of the lawlessness in the area, tries to get in on the deal, offers his thoroughbread for sale. He suggests a race between the two kinds of horses to prove which is the better for the stagecoach job. Naturally he tries t fix the race. But neither he nor Autry wins It decs, however, disclose him as a heavy and end corruption. ANGEL 10 FILM BULLETIN