Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1958)

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"In Love And War" ScUCHC^ l^cUU^ O O O Rating based on appeal to youthful audience. Story ol soldiers and their woman. C'Scope, co/or. Attractive cast. In telling the tale of three Marines and their assorted adventures inro manhood on the beachheads, romance or heartbreak on the homefront and their differing fates at World War U s end, producer Jerry Wald has bombarded the Cinemascope DeLuxe Color screen with all sorts of sentimental dramatics, punchy characterizations, gung-ho combat scenes, on-Ieave humor and intimate dialogue for the women. As directed by Philip Dunne and scripted by Edward Anhalt from a novel by Anton Myrer, 20th-Fox's ""In Love And War" has all the elements of a big and sprawling show that should please the masses. The people are young and popular with the teenagers, which augurs well for the film's boxoffice performance. The three leathernecks are handsomely performed by Robert Wagner, a hot rodder who conquers his cowardice in the heat of battle; Jeffrey Hunter, the tough Sergeant who dies upholding the traditions of the Corps, and Bradford Dillman, rich Nob Hill intellectual who grapples with his pacifist sympathies. And the girls in their life are all beautiful and variously shinyeyed: Dana Wynter, brittle society girl and Dillman's ginslugging fiancee, torn apart by her neurotic set; Hope Lang, the sweet and loyal wife of Hunter and mother of his child; Sheree North, fun-girl turned WAVE who realizes she can never love Wagner until he grows up, and finally France Nuyen, a Eurasian nurse who brings Dillman the romantic stability he needs. First half sketches in these relationships with Miss Lang and Hunter coming across as the most real and Miss Wynter's explosions as the most flamboyant. Second half goes through stresses and revelations of battle where Wagner ultimately proves himself, while Hunter is killed defending his platoon against an oncoming tank. Miss Lang offers Wagner hope of forgetting Hunter in time. 20th Centjry Fox Picture. Ill minutes. Robert Wagner, Dana Wynter, Jeffrey Hunter. Produced by Jerry Wald. Directed by Philip Dunne. "The Restless Years" ScC^iKCU, 'RilUHf O O O Affecting, engrossing story of teenagers. Far above average. May be big boxoffice surprise. John Saxon, Sandra Dee. In telling a simple tale of teeners and their emotional torments with parents and peers. Universal has brought forth in "The Restless Years," a frequently moving, affecting film. It may very well turn out to be one of the season's boxoffic surprises. Tremulously and honestly performed by John Saxon and Sandra Dee, shrewdly yet sensitively staged by Helmut Kautner, this Ross Hunter production is surely the most impressive drama of the younger generation we have witnessed since "Rebel Without A Cause." Although not as striking or sensationalized as the James Dean opus and lacking the irresistible star-identification. "The Restless Years" is still bound to cause a lot of talk among teeners and adults alike. Scripter Edward Anhalt tells a smooth and poignant tale of romance between Saxon and Miss Dee, two victims of small town narrowness, he as a new member of the community, she second because everyone knows her mother is demented and she herself is rumored to be illegitimate. From these tawdry plottings. surprisingly enough, quite a few frank revelations of middleclass character come through. The Cinemascope mounting is always natural but dramatic, the photography and scoring create sympathetic moods of young love and the direction is well-paced, forceful. Besides the sensitively sparked Saxon-Dee duo, Teresa Wright is superb as the distraught mother and James Whitmore is fine as Saxon's salesman-father. Alan Baxter plays Luana's rich father burdened with a alcoholic wife. Climax is reached when Luana intimates Sandra and Saxon are lovers, Sandra's mother tells her daughter the truth of her birth and Saxon teaches the girl never to be afraid, promises their innocent relationship will end in marriage. Universal-International. 86 minutes. John Saxon, Sandra Dee. Produced by Ron Hunter. Directed by Helmut Kautner. "Party Girl" ScUCHC^ I^CltU^ Q O PLUS Good, although old-fashioned, gangster melodrama. Taylor, Charisse, Cobb in leads. Best for action houses. Flood your Cinemascope screen with the MetroColor equivalent of pink champagne, brassy night clubs, long-legged tootsies, gum-chewing hoods and two lovers, one worldly and one innocent, both menaced by the Chicago gangland of 1932, then toss in the imposing talents of Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse and Lee J. Cobb to get everything as flaming as cherries jubilee, and you have M-G-M's "Party Girl." A royally produced package from Joe Pasternak, the Nicholas Ray direction and George Wells script are taut enough and engrossing, albeit a bit on the obvious side and at times a touch old-fashioned. Their product is a throw-back to the old gangster films, but a flashy one. Business will be good where such fare is saleable. But its entertainment values are apparent in the streamlined melodrama it stitches, the flashy dialogue it sports and the underworld violence with which it riddles the screen. The shimmeringly sentimental romance on which most of the violence is pinned allows for Robert Taylor, the underworld mouthpiece, and Cyd Charisse, the true-blue cabaret dancer he loves, to be vigorously haunted by cigar-smoking, oath-howling mobster tycoon, Lee J. Cobb. John Ireland is a lusting tough, Kent Smith the City Prosecutor, and Myrna Hansen and Barbara Lang, two floosies broken by men. The plot finds Taylor, after falling for Cyd, getting divorce from wife and having his bum leg fixed, telling client Cobb he's going straight. When City Prosecutor indicts Cobb, the mobster tries to force Taylor's cooperation, captures Cyd, but is eventually foiled by cops and stars are now free to love and live. In between all this, gang wars and Chicago bathtub gin abounds soaking the screen in nostalgic atmosphere, and Miss Charisse warbles and dances through two spectaculars. Metro Goldwyn Mayer. 100 minutes. Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse. Produced by Joe Pasternak. Directed by Nicholas Ray. BUSINESS RATING $$$$ — Tops $$$ — Good $$ Average $ — Poor Page 14 Film BULLETIN October 27, 1958