Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

"Bhowani Junction" Gu&ueu &<ZttK$ O O © Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, warm romance and fast action photographed in turbulent India should carry this to good grosses. Color photography is excellent. Highly exploitable. There is enough action, love interest, "message" and big names in this importanat Metro production to satisfy just about every type of audience. Several factors should account for some extra-heavy grosses. The casting of Ava Gardner and Stewart Granger in a film about India with the accent heavy on love interest is enough to start the turnstiles whirling. That the picture has lots of fast action and suspense, good acting, superb color lensing and aboveaverage scripting can only add to its potential popularity. The background is India, 1947, when the British were attempting peaceful retreat and when Ghandi's concept of passive resistance was losing ground in favor of mob rioting, looting and dynamiting. Into this maelstrom step Granger as a British officer sent to quiet things down, and Gardner, a "chee-chee", half-Indian, half-British, on leave As a British WAC. Granger is excellent in his role as tough officer and fearless lover, and Gardner is sensuous and lovely, a provocative figure in her native sari. Director George Cukor rarely lets his Technicolor camera stray from the "teeming face" of India and he has caught the people in lush color in all their crowdedness and misery. An attempted rape, mob violence, a train wreck are all enacted with brutal and chilling realism. Story has Gardner and Granger thrown together when he attempts to untangle the railroad city of Bhowani Junction from its mobinspired tie-up. While he fights Communists rioting, she is embroked in the problem of whether to identify herself with the Indians or the British. Infuriated at the British handling of Indians, and at the whining selfishness of her own half-Indian people, she attempts complete withdrawal into Indian ways. But when she kills a British officer who tries to rape her, and discovers that the man who covered up for her is a notorious Communist leader, she decides to return to her British life and face trial for murder. She is exonerated of the killing, and after being kidnapped and almost murdered by the Communist leader, who is killed by Granger, decides to remain in India and help her people. Granger leaves for England, promises to return to her. MGM. 110 minutes. Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger. Produced by Pandro S. Berman. Directed by George Cukor. "While the City Sleeps" Su4lne44 Rating Q Q Plus Fast, slick, entertaining drama about a killer on the loose and the workings of a newspaper office. Good cast. Good returns in action and general spots. This Bert Friedlob-produced film is a slick, exciting, and entertaining suspense melodrama, set against the job politics of a large newspaper office. Boasting a topflight cast of names, it is studded with a number of amusing and sharply-etched portraits. On the strength of the fine marque, strong production and engrossing subject matter, boxoffice prospects are very good in action and general situations. Casey Robinson's script, based on the novel "The Bloody Spur", has some humorously fast dialogue, is terse and never dull. Fritz Lang's direction maintains pace superbly and organizes the large number of roles into a coherent sum, a most able job of direction. Also well-integrated are the story's two parallel plot lines — apprehension of a psycho killer and the attempts of several journalists to get the scoop (to the victor goes an executive position). The conflicts within the office are funny and absorbing, providing fine relief from the more serious line. Friedlob's production is neatly rounded out on the technical side with sharp and effective lensing and editing. John Barrymore, Jr., a depraved killer of women, is on the loose. When Vincent Price inherits a newspaper dynasty from his father, he offers an executive job to whoever on his staff breaks the case. Competing are editor Thomas Mitchell, wire-service head, George Saanders, and art director James Craig (who is carrying on an affair with Price's wife, Rhonda Fleming). Others in the picture are gossip writer Ida Lupino, detective Howard Duff, and writer Dana Andrews (engaged to Sanders' secretary, Sally Forrest). After some complications, Andrews, using Forrest as bait for the killer, picks up the scent and gets Barrymore, giving Mitchell the story first. The editor gets the top job, Andrews marries Forrest, takes over editorship. P.KO. 100 minutes. Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Vincent Price, Thomas Mitchell, Sally Forrest, Howard Dutf, James Craig, John Barrymore, Jr. Produced by Bert Friedlob. Directed by Friti Lang. "Hilda Crane" %ci4CHe4d O O Plus Drama about the problems of a young divorcee will appeal to fern trade. Needs strong selling in general market. From the play by Samson Raphaelson, Philip Dunne has adapted this story about a twice-divorced young woman and her search for emotional security. "Hilda Crane" has obvious appeal for the fern quarter, who'll identify with the unhappy heroine, but it will need heavy exploitation to rise above average boxoffice rating generally. Fortunately, the story has some strong selling points, plus the Jean Simmons and Guy Madison names. Dunne's writing is pretentious without being particularly perceptive, and his direction is too leisurely for those who desire more than talk. The Herbert B. Swope, Jr. production is first-rate. Performances are convincing, Miss Simmons making the confused young woman an interesting character. Madison has the makings of a topflight leading man of the Gary Cooper-James Stewart type. Technical aspects are firstrate, especially the CinemaScope-Technicolor photography. Simmons, after an unhappy sojourn in New York, returns to home and mother, Judith Evelyn. When childhood friend Madison proposes marriage, Simmons laughs, but finding college professor Jean Pierre Aumont interested only in an "affair", and not wedlock, she changes her mind and agrees to marry Madison. Conflict ensues when his possessive mother, Evelyn Varden, interferes, slandering Simmons. The marriage takes place, but Varden suffers a fatal heart attack, and her death keeps the couple apart. When Madison discovers Simmons with Aumont again, the young wife tries suicide. She recovers and Madison, finally understanding her needs, determines to make her happy. 20th Century-Fox. 87 minutes. Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Jean Pierre Aumont. Directed by Philip Dunne. Produced by Herbert B. Swope, Jr. Film BULLETIN May 14, 1954 Page 11