Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

STOP, YOU'RE KILLING ME' MILDLY HUMOROUS Rates • • + as dualler Warner Bros. 70 minutes Broderick Crawford, Claire Trevor, Virginia Gibson, Bill Hayes, Charles Cantor, Sheldon Leonard Directed by Roy Del Ruth "Stop, You're Killing Me" is a lightweight comedy that generates a few hilarious moments, but much of the situation humor is well-worn and lustreless. Filmed in WarnerColor, this Louis F. Edelman production is based on "A Slight Case of Murder" by Damon Runyon and Howard Lindsay, involving a racketeering beer baron forced to go straight by the repeal of Prohibition. But any similarity between James O'Hanlon's adaptation and Runyon's original is purely coincidental. The action, for the most part, is robust, though it is left to Broderick C rawford to galvanize a cast often tangled ill the inanities of the script. A couple of LeRoy Prinz musical numbers have been tossed in to hypo the entertainment value, but "Stop, You're Killing Me" stacks up as i nly fair fodder for the double-bill. Director Roy Del Ruth gets the story off to a promising start, but the action soon lapses into a familiar pattern of racketeering antics done with a light touch. Broderick Crawford, as a bootlegger going legitimate, is greatly responsible for whatever flashes of worthwhile entertainment are to be found. In the role of his wife, who is happy with Crawford's reformation, Claire Trevor is provided with disappointing material. STORY: A racketeering beer baron during the Prohibition era, Broderick Crawford is faced with the prospects of running ;> legitimate brewery. His wife, Claire Trevor, is happy to see him go straight, but Crawford's henchmen are shocked at the prospect of earning an honest living. Find-, ing the honest methods of doing business a handicap, Crawford is soon in debt to the bank for a half-million dollars. Hoping to put the bite on his old racketeering friends, he rents a house in Saratoga for the racing season. With his hoods for servants, and daughter Virginia Gibson home from finishing school, Crawford and Trevor start for Saratoga to set up open house. Meanwhile, a holdup gang robs a big bookie of a halfmillion dollars and uses Crawford's Sarat<<_ house for a hide-out. They fight among themselves, and when the smoke clears, four of them sit very dead, while the fifth takes the money and hides in the attic. The rest of the story involves Crawford's efforts to keep the bank from foreclosing, and Gibson's efforts to make a match with blue-blood Bill Hayes, all being complicated by the four corpses and the stolen money. NEIL NO TIME FOR FLOWERS' ANTI-RED PROGRAMMER IS EXPLOITABLE Rates • • as dualler; more if exploited and 20th Century-Fox 83 minutes Viveca Lindfors, Paul Christian, Ludwig Stossel, Adrienne Gessner, Peter Preses, Manfred Inger, Peter Czeyke Directed by Don Siegel Despite some excellent photography and performances, an implausible and incongruously comic screenplay makes this Mort Briskin anti-Red production, filmed overseas, no more than program fare. It does have however, several exploitables. The heavy-handed attempts at levity in terrifying situations, as well as a comic exaggeration of the Communist ideology, destroys whatever credibility accrues from the suspense portions of the film. The title, too, indicates a comedy, whereas the theme is essentially a serious one. Base*l on the Czechoslovakian secret police attempts to tempt a young girl with American enticements to discover her ability to live in the U. S. as a loyal Red agent, the promising in art nouses theme is continually compromised with broad attempts at comedy relief. It is particularly disappointing in that the makings of a truly convincing anti-Red piece are dissipated in the screenplay. The recent interest in the Czech situation lends added exploitation value to the American vs. Communist angle, and there is a homespun quality about the characters that should attract European-born Americans and art house patrons. Generally, however, it won't mean much boKoffice-wise without special treatment. Viveca Lindfors and Paul Christian, both now familiar to American moviegoers, deliver solid performances as the girl being tested and the secret agent assigned to the pleasant chore. As the girl's father, Ludwig Stossel does a good caricature of an old-country citizen resentful of the Red domination, and Peter Preses is a click in an unusual portrayal of the secret police chief. Aside from some foggy lapses, the photography is especially noteworthy. STORY: A loyal young Communist worker in Czechoslovakia, Vivieca Lindfors, is selected by secret police chief Peter Preses to be tested as a candidate for a mission to America. She is assigned to work for Paul Christian, ostensibly a Red who had been to the U. S. and was impressed with American luxuries, but who is actually a secret police agent. He plies her with such treasures as nylons, champagne, evening gowns and night clubs, but she continues to report his "blasphemous" words and actions to Preses. Her father, who ha> railed against the reds, finds her in an actually innocent bubble bath in Christian's apartment, gets drunk and is imprisoned Preses has him released and gives Chrisiari a plan for Viveca and her family to get out of the country to see if she will succumb Christian, who has lost stomach for the assignment, sees her endangered and usin l the plan ingeniously/ actually succeeds h getting them over the border. She and Pall clinch in the American zone. BARN MEET ME AT THE FAIR' ENGAGINC MUSICAL AIMED AT FAMILY Rates • • + for family houses Universal 87 minutes Dan Dailey, Diana Lynn, Hugh O'Brien, Carole Mathews, "Scat Man" Crothers, Rhys Williams, Russell Simpson, Thomas E. Jackson, George Chandler, Doris Packer, Chet Allen Directed by Douglas Sirk Pleasant entertainment for the entire family, with some outstanding high spots in individual sequences, "Meet Me At the Fair" is due for a generous reception in all except the houses where action and heavy drama are the big draws. The Albert J. Cohen Technicolor production is engagingly performed by the popular Dan Dailey and a cast that introduces some promising newcomers to the screen, notably young Chet Allen of the Columbus Boychoir School who has already made his mark in television, "Scat Man" Crothers and Carole Mathews. The mushy little story about a carnival man and an orphan boy is run-of-the-mill, but under Douglas Sirk's direction, and the talented players, the film rises far above it. The several well-known songs, including an angelic rendering of "Ave Maria" by young Allen, receive fine treatment by Dailey, Miss Mathws and Crothers. The sound track also is enlivened by "I Was There", "Bill Bailey, Won't You Come Home", "Sweet Genevieve" and several spirituals as well as popular numbers. It's happy entertainment that should give everyone a lot of fun, including the family house exhibitors who will benefit at the boxoffice. Dailey is at his usual engaging par, and co-star Diana Lynn keeping pace in the looks and thespic department, the show gets a hefty bonus from the above-mentioned trio, Crothers, Miss Mathews and the Allen boy. The latter is an appealing personality, not a bit camera-conscious, as well as possessing a splendid set of vocal chords. Pro ducer Cohen has given this full-blown values in sets, color and production numbers. STORY: Dan Dailey, travelling medicine! man, and his assistant, "Scat Man" Crothers] befriend young Chet Allen, who has escapedl from an orphanage. Rhys Williams, the; town's crooked political boss, has purloined! the money voted for the orphanage, and| fears the lad's escape will lead to exposure! Dan parks the kid with an old flame, enter, tainer Carole Mathews, but is tricked into disclosing the boy's whereabouts. Daq blames Diana Lynn, a welfare representativ< who is engaged to district attorney Hug!| O' Brian. When she discovers she has alsc been deceived, she smuggles the youngster out of the orphanage to which he has beet, returned. At an election banquet Dan exj poses Williams, and O' Brian's corruption They are sacked by the governor, Chet :j returned to Dan's care, and the two of then| go off with Diana to an obviously brighj future. LFON Page 8 FILM BULLETIN December 15. 1 952