Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

WAIT TIL THE SUN SHINES, NELLIE' EPISODIC, BUT HEARTWARMING DRAMA Rates • • + in small towns and family spots 20th Century-Fox 108 minutes David Wayne, Jean Peters, Hugh Marlowe, Albert Dekker, Helene Stanley. Directed by Henry King. Heralded as a light-hearted romance, with a deceptive title that portends a frolicsome musical, 20th-Fox's "Wait 'Til The Sun Shines, Nellie" is a heartwarming — though often tragic — drama. Heavily steeped in Mid-West Americana at the turn of the centruy, this George Jessel Technicolor production episodically presents the story of a man who hitches his wagon to the fortunes of a small town, and rides a road that has more painful bumps than a Kentucky cowpath. There are some light-hearted moments, however, and it is in these welcome relief sequences that the film throws its greatest entertainment punch. The picture may leave some of the audience depressed, because pathos and heartbreak outweigh the humor and romance. Although it moves rather slowly in the opening scenes, the film gradually picks up speed and is interest-holding over most of the route. With exploitation, the film should do well enough in nabes and small towns, less in metropolitan areas. Action houses can skip this one. A mediocre screen play by Allan Scott has been lifted by its boot straps through top-notch directing, acting and photography. Director Henry King manuvers his cast through flash-back sequences with some neat and nostalgic touches. David Wayne turns in a great performance as a small town barber who experiences all the vicissitudes of life in the half-century covered by the film. Though the rest of the cast — headed by Jean Peters, Hugh Marlowe and Albert Dekker — is excellent, they remain subservient to the role played by Wayne. STORY: Supposedly headed for Chicago on their honeymoon, David Wayne takes Jean Peters off the train at a whistle-stop called Sevillinois. It turns out that Wayne has bought a little barber ship there, and OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS' STRICTLY FOR ART THEATRES Rates • • + in art houses; n. g. for fat United Artists (Lopert) 93 minutes Sir Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard, Robert Morley, Wendy Hiller, Kerima, George Coulouris. Directed by Carol Reed. For the mass of U. S. theatres, the best that can be said about this Lopert Films release, handled by United Artists, is that it has a good deal of highly skilled craftsmanship about it. A British import, it was produced and directed by Carol ("Third Man") Keed. Vincent Korda designed the sets, the musical score is played by the eminent London Fhilarmonic Orchestra and the cast includes such distinguished stars familiar to American moviegoers as Sir Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard, son of the late great Leslie Howard, Robert Morley, and Wendy Hiller, who was so triumphantly successful mily and action spots in "Pygmalion". It is a moody job about a good-for-nothing who consorts with a native girl on a South Pacific island. Productionwise it is rich in local color, but though the elements of drama are there, it never seems to leave the ground. It's appeal, almost entirely psychological, is angled solely for those who patronize the art theatres. It will excite little or no interest in family spots; even less as far as action fans are concerned. Wendy Hitler's part is trivial. She is given about a score of words to say. In the hands of Trevor Howard, the sex-crazy doublecrosser who comes to a sticky end, is almost believable. But Sir Ralph Richardson, as the brilliantly successful trading skipper, is a pure story-book character who never comes to life, and Robert Morley, as his chief lieutenant, Alamayer, is just a buffoon who seems to ape (none too well) Charles Laughton's classic performance in "Mutiny on the Bounty". The Alegrian girl Kerima is CARSON CITY' ROUTINE TINTED WESTERN Rates • • + in action houses; fair di Warner Bros. 87 minutes Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, Raymond Massey, Richard Webb, James Millican. Larry Keating, George Cleveland, William Haade, Thurston Hall, Vince Barnett. Directed by Andre DeToth. Attempting to make something new out of the same old Western material, producer David Weisbart has shuffled stage coach bandits with railroad builders, tossed in some brawling action, filmed it in WarnerColor and called the result "Carson City". Basically, the picture is a familiar outdoor action-mellei , but a good cast — paced by durable Randolph Scott and Raymond Massey — helps to brighten an otherwise faded plot. Plenty of knuckle-busting, gunsmoking action is unle;i^li<d in the setting of the gold fields of Nevada. The story re 10 iller elsewhere volves around the efforts of outlaws to prevent the building of a railroad, which would cramp their occupation of holding up stage coaches. This is one for action houses. It should make a satisfactory dualler in small towns and lesser neighborhoods. Under the direction of Andre DeToth, the cast moves well, though familiarly, along the route laid out by writers Sloan Nibley and Winston Miller. Randolph Scott is appropriately rugged as he builds a railroad with one hand and fights outlaws with the other. A champagne-swigging bandit leader, posing as an upstanding mine owner, Raymond Massey is called upon to shoulder some implausible melodramatics in his role of the villain. Lucille Norman is casual and wooden as she takes on the love-interest chores, with the rest of the crew acceptable in their assignments. STORY; Engineer-adventurer, Randolph Peters isn't going to Chicago after all. Aften promising his wife they will get to the bigJ city when they are better fixed financially,1 Wayne begins his life in the small town. His business is a success and soon they are living in a house on the edge of town. Wayne rapidly becomes one of the village's leading citizens, and with the coming of their children, Peters sees her dream of going to Chicago fade. The Spanish-American War breaks out and Wayne leaves for camp. Inadvertently, Peters learns that the house and shop, which she thought were only being rented by Wayne, have long been owned by him. She realizes that he never intended taking her away from the small town. Impulsively, she runs off with another man and is killed in a train accident. Wayne comes home to try to pick up the broken pieces of his life. He is beset by many trials and tribulations, including the death of his soni before his eyes in a gruesome gang shooting. He and the town continue, however, grow old and prosperous together. NEWT a real find, however. STORY: Trevor Howard, manager for Singapore merchant, is kicked out of his job, for theft but is saved from jail by his benefactor, ship's captain Sir Ralph Richardson, who hides him away in his secret up-river trading post. Robert Morley, the skipper's slimy partner, takes an instant dislike to the newcomer, who soon falls for the native chief's luscious daughter Kerima. The native chief, seeking to doublecross Richardson, makes Howard, now completely under his daughter's spell, reveal the dangerous^ channel to the trading post. Morley is savagely attacked by the natives, led by Howard. When Richardson returns from his ] next voyage and discovers what has hap-( pened he goes after Howard, who by this j time has followed the natives into hiding. Instead of killing his betrayer, however, the skipper decides to leave him to the degrading life he has chosen. COULTER Scott returns to his home town Carson City to build a railroad that will insure safe ship-H ments of gold through the outlaw riddenBI mountains. There he meets his half-brother ,11 1 Richard Webb, who works on the local P newspaper, and Lucille Norman, whose father owns the paper. Outlaw leader Raymond Massey, posing as a respectable mine owner, works up opposition to the railroad. Norman's father stumbles onto the fact that Massey is an outlaw, but he is shot down by Massey before he can talk. The townspeople are led to believe his death was the work of the railroaders and a riot ensues. Later, however, a cave-in of a railroad tunnel traps Scott and some workmen, and, the townspeople pitch in to rescue the! doomed men. Eventually the railroad isi completed and Massey receives his just due] in an attempted holdup of the first gold! shipment. NEWT FILM B U L L E T 1 N