Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1952)

'Plymouth Adventure' Gets Dubious Praise From Scribes The "spectacular" sea action and the epic proportions of Metro-Goldwyn's "Plymouth Adventure" impressed the New York critics, when the Dore Schary production opened at Radio City Music Hall, much more than did the drama of the Mayflower passage depicted in the film. Most of the scribes took a rather sardonic view, with such comments as "a thoroughly respectful and respectable adjunct to the school-room histories" (Crowther), "the grand or MGM style of overdecorating history", (Winsten), "a film in which Van Johnson announces that his name is 'John — John Alden' in an elaborately casual manner." (Guernsey). "Soaring moments of nautical excitement", says the Herald Tribune's Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. Even if the script fails to "humanize" the Pilgrims, he adds, it "at least makes the statues presentable enough for the purposes of being afraid when the wind blows too hard". It "gives you something to look at even when it falls short of capturing the emotions." The film's "style of pictorial pageantry" hides its people "behind costumes and elevated words," says Bosley Crowther of the Times. While historians may find the telling "a trifle flowery and presumptuous," the picture "should do nothing to shake the concepts learned at school." It's the most "completely unobjectionable picture since Freddy Bartholomew was a pup and 'Captains Courageous' depicted all that wholesome water," Archer Winsten's Reviewing Stand notes. "It misses," he says, "but in the handsome, traditional manner. You might call it the grand or MGM style of overdecorating history, which shouldn't be praised too highly by a critic, since it can, unaided, win its own rewards at the boxoffice." It has "all the realism of a musical comedy biography of a bygone star," comments the World-Telegram's Alton Cook, as it is presented in "the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow tradition of making history nice and cheery.". _ Placing the film's highlight on the "riproaring storm at sea", the Journal-American's Rose Pelswick calls it "a large-scale, highly dramatic sea spectacle" and a "stirring tribute to those Pilgrim's fathers." 'BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY' 20TH CENTURY-FOX "One-half Damon Runyon and one half Mitzi Gaynor (a country-kid type who packs a new sophistication from the neck down) . . . The girl dances and gyrates in a manner that makes you suspect you've had the wrong impression of her all along." — Winsten, N. Y. Post. "Just a trace of his (Runyon's) brash exaggeration is detectable . . . Not whether it is Runyon but whether it is passable fun . . . On that point this cheerful department expresses a mild affirmative,"! — Crowther, N. Y. Times. "Has imitated the Runyon style with a ludicrously heavy touch . . . Mitzi Gaynor wQUOT€S" . makes things sparkle with her lively and gay manner and her easy grace." — Cook, N. Y. World Telegram & Sun. "Strictly for laughs . . . Gay light-hearted entertainment, bubbling with tuneful songs, bright song numbers and amusing situations and characters . . . Beguiling blend of the hardboiled and the sentimental." — Pelswick, N. Y. Journal American. "Dull and mechanical show, forcing the Runyon laughs, without any trace of style or comedy finesse . . . Here and there a flash of wit or a trace of amusing sentiment."— Guernsey, N. Y. Herald Tribune. 'THE STEEL TRAP' 20TH CENTURY-FOX "Will add a fascinating chapter to anyone's week . . . Superb, tingling treatment of a good story." — Cook, N. Y. WorldTelegram & Sun. "Straight exercise in the build-up of cold agonizing suspense ... As a purely contrived generation of runaway anxiety, this little melodrama amounts to a skillful and no-lost-motion job — so long as the innocent observer doesn't stop to think and check up." — Crowther, N. Y. Times. "Clever suspense story . . . Very good kind of film with some very good scenes in it, and this doubles the disappointment that it does not carry its excitement all the way." —Guernsey, N. Y. Herald Tribune. "Solid suspense drama, a highly entertaining piece that doesn't miss a trick in building tension." — Pelswick, N. Y. Journal American. "Would be technically admirable if it weren't for that continuing sense of massive improbability . . . Performances, direction and production leave little to be desired." — Winsten, N. Y. Post. 'BATTLE ZONE' ALLIED ARTISTS "Sort of standardized warfare dished out so many times it scarcely seems necessary to mention that the story is hopelessly dull and the only good thing about the picture is the footage of actual fighting." — Crowther, N. Y. Times. "Some stirring shots of combat action taken from Marine files . . . Story that goes with the action is a routine misunderstoodlove affair . . . not worthy of that great branch of service." — Pihodna, N. Y. Herald Tribune. "Combat cameramen in Korea get a welldeserved salute . . . Vigorous drama of heroism under fire . . . Scenes of warfare are grimly effective." — Pelswick, N. Y. Journal American. 'SOMETHING FOR THE BIRDS' 20TH CENTURY-FOX "Leaves much to be desired as an essay in topical comedy . . . Tedium set in after the first ten minutes . . . Only Mr. Gwenn's crusty characterization of a social charlatan stands out in this run-of-the-mill offering." — O. A. G., N. Y. Times. the Newspaper Critics Sag About New Film* "A little more might have been made of almost every theme in this picture ... a fairly pleasant one, and it is always enjoyable to watch Mr. Gwenn."— P. V. B., N. Y. Herald Tribune. "Diverting farce . . . Series of wacky mixups . . . Bounces along at a lively clip." — Pelswick, N. Y. Journal-American. "One of those 'cute' stories . . . It's almost impossible to join so much together without showing a lot of joints. The things gets awfully artificial . . . Light, inconsequential and mildly, quite mildly, amusing." — N. Y. Post. "That genial old imposter, Edmund Gwenn, is up to another set of sly tricks . . . Promising start . . . gradually slips into mild slapstick." — Cook, N. Y. World Telegram. 'MONTANA BELLE' RKO RADIO "Jerry-built job offering a series of routine holdups as an excuse for action . . . No more foolish than those of any ordinary Western." — N. Y. Herald Tribune. "Rattles with so many hand-me-down clickes that even diehard horse opera fans are apt to pine for the unvarnished vehicles of William S. Hart . . . Miss Russell does a nice sly job of warbling that rates inclusion in something far more substantial than this cockleburr fantasy." — H. H. T., N. Y. Times. "Customary quota of shooting and fighting . . . Seems desultory this time, as though neither the outlaws nor the posse really had their hearts in their work . . . Raises a suspicion that the recent shutdown at the RKO studio did not begin quite soon enough." — Cook, N. Y. World-Telegram. "A Western, all Western, and nothing but a Western . . . Jane Russell . . . can't act her way off a horse . . . People who have known better days show up and mark the melancholy time." — Winsten, N. Y. Post. 'THE TURNING POINT' PARAMOUNT "Sober but uninspired drama . . . Formula structure gives its sizzling text a lukewarm once-over . . . Slick fabrications dim its sincerety." — H. H. T., N. Y. Times. "William Dieterley endeavors to give it a dignified kind of direction, but it remains cops and robbers. And if it has any kind of appeal — which it has — it is because it is gangland thriller." — Thirer, N. Y. Post. "Everything you could ask of an action drama except credibility and good sense . . . Anyway, the picture is at least timely."— Cook, N. Y. World-Telegram & Sun. "Hard-hitting melodrama . . . Vigorous writing, acting and direction . . . effective performances." — Pelswick N. Y. Journal American. "Moves along fast but without too much conviction . . . Good-guys-and-bad-guys melodrama which shades the' handicaps by some fierce and unpremeditated violence.' — Pihodna, N, Y. Herald Tribune. Page 22 FILM BULLETIN December 15. 1 952