Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1958)

"HousBhoat" SeUiHC^ 1^€lU4U^ O O O Cary Granf and a new Sophia Loren enliven this comedy in Technicolor. Good family and adult show. Because Gary Grant is so impeccable and his co-star Sophia Loren so sympatica, "Houseboat" emerges as a reasonably fresh and frisky comedy. While this Technicolor entry is in the class of "Indiscreet", nevertheless that new and spunky team, producer Jack Rose and director Mel Shavelson, have furnished "Houseboat" with a number of fast and funny knick-knacks and have given the stars some appealing characterizations. Miss Loren, for instance, gives the best performance of her Hollywood career, being a delightful, vibrating and resourceful comedienne. As for Grant, playing a widower whose international gadflying has made him lose touch with his three children, he is as sure and as gingery as ever. Despite its smart backgrounds of Washington, D.C. and occasional cultured filip, "Houseboat" is basically family entertainment garnished with the worldly duo of Grant and Loren. As such it should gross rather well in the metropolitan market, though the ultra-class trade will find it too flimsy and some of the hinterlanders too frivolous. There are numerous patches of vivacious and even biting dialogue, but it must be noted the middle stretches tend to lull. As the three tots, Charles Herbert, Mimi Gibson and Paul Petersen give smashing performances, adding immeasurably to the human substance of the film. Martha Hyer is a society dame out to bag Grant, Harry Guardino is a hilarious trucker ogling Loren, and Eduardo Ciannelli is her famous conductor-father. Plot centers around the trials of Grant to gain his kid's love, their crazy adventures on a houseboat with Miss Loren posing as a housemaid to escape her father's stuffy world, the ultimate marriage of the two stars and Grant's final success as a father. Rose and Shavelson, who also scripted, are clearly buoyant gagsters; someday when they get a really vigorous idea they should have a classic comedy for us. Paramount. 110 minutes. Cary Grant, Sophia Loren. Produced by Jack Rose. Directed by Mel Shavelson. "Apache Territory" Rory Calhoun and color highlight routine western. This is a routine western abetted by Eastman color shots of the Colorado deserts and whizbang windstorms. The Charles R. Marion-George W. George script and the Ray Nazarro direction follow the familiar pattern of sagebrush whoop-ups and redskins-on-the-warpath, with only some brisk pacing towards the end providing a few mild rousers. The best aspect of this Rorvic Production for Columbia release is Rory Calhoun's commanding performance as one of those spartan saddle tramps, all grit and glory, who travel alone and like it. Calhoun's castle is the desert into which some beleaguered townspeople have strayed with the awesome Apaches hot upon them. Barbara Bates brings Calhoun love, while the others are variously petty and fear-crazed. Before the film's finale most of the latter group, disregarding Calhoun's advice, have tasted Apache arrow or gunshot and lie sprawled under the desert sun. However, with the help of a thundering windstorm Calhoun sets off a successful black-powder explosion and the Injuns go skyrocketing to the happy hunting grounds. Columbia. 72 minutes. Rory Calhoun, Barbara Bates. Produced by Rory Calhoun and Victor M. Orsatti. Directed by Ray Naiarro. "Lucky Jim" Su4iHCU, IR^lUKf O Q O Funny British comedy should click in art spots. The Boulting Brothers have turned out a fast and funny screen version of the Kingsley Amis novel. All done up in a mad series of misadventures with a farrago of tea-and-crumpet crackpots, this tale concerning the problems, professional and personal, of a mild-mannered young man turned fledgling professor in a British provincial university, bounces and bubbles in much the same way the Brother B s highly successful "Private's Progress" did a few seasons back. Starring Ian Carmichael as the embattled and befuddled hero, Terry Thomas as a preposterous pseudo-intellectual, Hugh Griffith as the bushy-eyed, other-worldly Department of History head, and Sharon Acker as the sweet young thing who has Lucky Jim spinning, this Kingsley International release ofJers some sprightly acting and some terribly telling and shrewdly comic wallopers. John Boulting has directed at the antic pace of a Mack Sennett two-reeler coupled with the vinegary charm of the early Guiness films and producer Roy Boulting has provided settings and atmospheres that are authentic and wonderfully flavorful. The Patrick Campbell script, for all its glee, never really gets down to an incisive or provocative showing of satire. But for those who enjoy seeing the English poke fun at themselves in thoroughly unrestrained fashion, "Lucky Jim" should prove wellnigh irresistable and a sizeable item for the arties and a few class houses. Plot details Carmichael's perilous academic interludes with Griffith, the university heads, student body and the like, culminating in his worm-turning when he drunkenly refuses to read a set lecture, rebels against academic sham and resigns. Kingsley International. 95 minutes. Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas. Produced by Roy Boulting. Directed by John Boulting. "Step Down To Terror" Minor melodrama for lower slot in action houses. This new Universal melodrama fails as a psychological study of a psychotic murderer, but manages to whip up a few shocks here and some minor shivers there. The Joseph Gershenson production is minor league all the way, a low-budget item devoid of marquee power. With a cast lacking any known names, "Step Down To Terror " is suited only to the supporting slot in action houses. Story brings Charles Drake back to his small town home after a mysterious absence of six years. Loaded with money and presents for his mother, Josephine Hutchinson, widowed sister-in-law, Colleen Miller, and her child, Rickey Kelman, Drake attempts to settle down and rid himself of the anxieties that have been pressing upon him. Miss Miller, romantically drawn to him, senses his lack of balance, and through various isolated incidents begins to piece together his past, resulting in the horrible confrontation that her handsome brother-in-law is wanted by the police for the killing of wealthy women. With the help of detective Rod Taylor, she sets about setting things right, but not before Drake attempts her demise during one of his "breakdowns ". Fleeing from police, Drake dies in a crash and Miss Miller persuades Taylor, now her sweetheart, to keep the truth from Drake's adoring mother and the townspeople. Universal-International. 75 minutes. Colleen Miller, Charles Drake. Produced by Joseph Gershenson. Directed by Harry Keller. Page 10 Film BULLETIN September 15, 1758