Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1957)

"Action of the Tiger" ScuIkc^ IRcUcHf O Q Mild foreign intrigue adventure. Van Johnson sole name. Will need plenty of selling. With "Action Of The Tiger" MGM enters the currently popular arena of on location shooting for tales of foreign intrigue and continental derring-do. Starring an international trio, the Yankee Van Johnson, the Gallic charmer Martine Carol and Herbert Lom, the English actor who scored as Napoleon in "War an Peace", this Kenneth Harper production in CinemaScope and Color will undoubtedly have to rely greatly on its glittering shots of Athens and its tempest-tossed footage of Albania to ignite much response at the boxoffice. The truth is that this offers very little that is different from the myriad other cloak and dagger items that have preceded it. In fact, this Robert Carson screenplay with its depiction of Mile Carol's escapades as commandered by adventurer Johnson in freeing her diplomat-brother from Communist hands is considerably below par, both in characterization and plot. Most of the dialogue is the sort one finds in TV melodramas, pallid and unprovocative, while the situations of the story continually test one's credulity. Nevertheless, director Terence Young has certainly supplied enough action, Mile Carol a good quota of sexy strutting and Johnson the requisite amount of strong arm heroics. In addition to which, Lom can be counted upon for a grotesquely colorful performance that should please the gallery. Mile Carol commissions contraband smuggler Johnson to transport her from Athens to Communist controlled Albania, in order that she may free her brother, a famous young renegade French diplomat who after his Moscow defection saw the errors of his act and was subsequently incarcerated. When Mile Carol finds him she learns of his attempted suicide which resulted in his present blind state. Forced to escape through the hills of Albania pied piper Johnson is beset with the children of peasant parents who want their offspring to grow up in a free world. The film follows this odd caravan as it plods amidst assorted skirmishes and adventures until it is aided by old fashioned bandit-with-honor Lom and eventual freedom. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 98 minutes. Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom. Produced by Kenneth Harper. Directed by Terence Young. "The Pajama Game" g«44H€44 TR*Uh? GOO Top-drawer musical even better than long-run Broadway hit. Rates very strong for metropolitan and class houses. Doris Day heads cast with leads from the play. Exhibitor harassed by unexpected summer doldrums can look forward with sunny expectations to a blithe and buoyant dream of a musical from Warner Bros. The famed Broadway hit has been transferred to the WarnerColor screen by a pair of ace craftsmen, George Abbott and Stanley Donnen, who have managed to extract every ounce of entertainment from the original and have done the even more extraordinary feat of improving upon it. Starring Doris Day, with a group of top performers from the play — John Raitt, Carol Haney, Eddie Foy, Jr. and Reta Shaw — "Pajama Game" is a dazzling and delectable treat, the sheer good will and humor of which can't fail to delight any audience. Spinning a fanciful fable about management and labor in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet come to momentarily ill-starred ways over a wage dispute. Set against the everyday fantastics of a pajama factory in Dubuque, screenplaywrights Abbott and Richard Bissell have loaded their story with warm, winning characterizations and superb touches of Americana. And choreographer Bob Fosse has staged some incomparable dance sequences, full of the exuberance and absolute zest for living that are among the best to ever grace the screen. Miss Day is seen as the head of the factory's grievance committee while Raitt represents the boss in the person of superintendent. Though they immediately fall in love upon meeting, their conflicting sides of interest continually scatter the moonlight and roses. When the workers decide to stage a slowdown in order to force the long overdue raise, Raitt is forced to fire Miss Day who initiated the proceedings. In the end Raitt effects the wage increase and he is reunited with Miss Day. Raitt is a welcome screen acquisition, a vivid and virile performer with a fine voice. Miss Haney, of the rag doll face and puppet dance steps, is superb, while Miss Day brings her customary charm and candor to everything she does. Warner Bros. 101 minutes. Doris Day, John Raitt, Carol Haney. Produced and directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. "Sea Wife" ge*Une4d IRatttf Q O Plus Fairly engrossing story on nun and 3 men castaways on lifeboat in war. Should draw those interested in religious motif. While the tale of assorted castaways on a lifeboat is hardly unusual, it becomes so when minimized to three men and a nun, and when told with so many clever and original narrative details as in 20th-Fox's "Sea Wife". Unfortunately, however, while the skeleton ideas of the Andre Hakim production may be interesting, the total effect is much less so. The screenplay, (for which, incidentally, no credit is listed), is largely to blame, since it has failed to come to grips with the situations it creates and has steered clear of exploring the depths of its characters. Yet, there are some fine things that remain unmarred, most particularly the exquisite South Seas CinemaScope-DeLuxe Color photography of Ted Scaife and the handsome performances by stars Joan Collins, Richard Burton, Basil Sydney and a newcomer, Negro actor Cy Grant. A mystical strain moves in and out of the film, along with some interesting religious motifs making "Sea Wife" a saleable item to those so minded and a generally commendable offering for the adult audience. Bob McNaught's direction has a tendency to unravel everytime the dialogue and characterizations hit dramatic snags. While similar to the theme of "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison", this one has nowhere the fine shadings and subtlety of that film, something it very definitely needs to make meaningful the stalemate at the heart of the Collins-Burton relationship. For in "Sea Wife" Miss Collins tells no one she is a nun and she is treated as a normal woman, thereby creating misery for Burton when she fails to respond to his wooing. And it will also create misery in some segments of the audience who would like some logical or more analytical explanation for Miss Collins' action. The story tells the adventures the four leads experience on a lifeboat during WWII in the submarine infested Pacific waters. Sidney, an unscrupulous merchant selfishly causes the death of purser Grant and RAF officer Burton becomes inextricably involved with Miss Collins. Burton returns to the war never discovering Miss Collins' secret. 20th Century-Fox. 82 minutes. Joan Collins, Richard Burton, Basil Sydney. Produced by Andre Hakim. Directed by Bob McNaught. Page 10 Film BULLETIN August 19, 1957