Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1963)

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"Bye Bye Birdie" 'ScuUeu IZatutt O O O Plus Zingy musical comedy adapted from stage hit. Surefire entertainment, especially for the youthful set. Big grosser in all markets. The rock-and-roll set are colorfully spotlighted in this lotsof-bounce musical based on the Broadway stage hit. Fred Kohlmar's splashy Color-Panavision production is jam-packed with entertainment goodies, especially for the teen-age-young adult set. And there's also plenty of breezy fun for older patrons. Very good grosses are in sight for this Columbia release, getting a big kick-off as the Easter attraction at New York's Radio City. Irving Brecher's screenplay tells what happens when motorcycle fanatic, caterwauling rock-and-roll idol Conrad Birdie, about to be drafted, goes to Sweet Apple, Ohio, to plant a finial civilian kiss on the quivering lips of a Birdie-struck teen-age female. Comic Dick Van Dyke recreates his stage role of a bankrupt songwriter whose financial fate is linked to Birdie. Janet Leigh is his singing-dancing co-star, his sharp long-time secretary and girl friend. Ann-Margret ("State Fair") takes a big musical step forward as the lucky recipient of the one last kiss (also the name of a song Van Dyke has written for Birdie to croon on the Ed Sullivan show to be televised from Sweet Apple). In supporting roles: Maureen Stapleton, Van Dyke's possessive widow mother; singer Bobby Rydell, Ann-Margret's boy friend who gets thrown over after Birdie comes to town; Jessie Pearson, resplendent in a gold lame suit, as the famous Birdie; Paul Lynde, also from the show, repeating his portrayal of Ann-Margret's frustrated chemisthambone father. Director George Sidney is at his best when the tunes and production numbers start rolling, which is when "Birdie" lights up with pep and zing, including some mighty clever filmic gimmicks. Songs such as "A Lot of Livin ," "How Lovely to Be a Woman," "Honestly Sincere," "Kids" and "Put On a Happy Face" emerges with fresh looks in their screen trappings, while the new little tune shapes up as a strong jukebox contender. Pearson's arrival sends the entire female population of the town into such dizziness that Lynde decides Pearson cannot stay in his home. Van Dyke and Miss Leigh placate him by promising him an appearance on the Sullivan show. On the day of the show, the producer informs Van Dyke that Birdie's forty minute spot is going to be cut to less than thirty seconds, with the extra time going to a Russian ballet. Lynde feeds the Russian conductor speed-up pills. In the resulting shambles, the world learns that Pearson has been rejected by the army; Van Dyke finds the courage to tell off Miss Stapleton and marry Miss Leigh; Mama marries a local man; and Ann-Margret and Rydell go back to playing post office. Columbia. 112 minutes. Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Jesse Pearson. Produced by Fred Kohlmar. Directed by George Sidney. "The Man from the Diners' Club'' Su4cnedd /RctOft? O O O Danny Kaye in merry slapstick romp. Sight gags will delight mass audiences, youngsters. Good grosser all markets on basis of heavy promotion campaign. Slapstick, not subtlety, is the order of the day as Danny Kaye romps merrily and madly as an absent-minded Diners' Club clerk who becomes involved with a mobster awaiting trial for tax evasion. It's a wild and roitous 96 minutes, peppered with sight gags, frantic chases and the talented Kaye given a chance to open wide his multifacted bag of tricks. With Columbia unleashing an all-out promotion campaign based on the assumption that audiences cherish a good laugh, "Diners' Club" should roll up good grosses in all situations. The mass audience, and especially the youngsters, will eat it up, while sophisticates usually can take Kaye in any style. Joining Danny in the bedlam are: Telly Savalas as the mobster hiding out in his health club while trying to find a way to skip out of town; Cara Williams, his slow-thinking, fast-drinking blonde stripper girl who suggests Savalas get himself a Diners' Club Card, so he can charge a flight out of the country; Martha Hyer, Kaye's long-time fiancee who also happens to be secretary to Kaye's employer; and Everett Sloane, the excitable boss. An assortment of goons, health club attendants, and Diners' Club personnel are also on hand. Frank Tashlin has directed Bill Blatty's script at a madcap pace. Savalas, born with one foot longer than the other, is looking for someone with the same type of feet so that the victim can be cremated when the health club is blown up and the investigating agents will think it is Savalas. Kaye accidentally sends Savalas a Club Card, then rushes down to try and intercept it. It is discovered that Kaye has the appropriate feet and Savalas gives him a job as an instructor. Savalas, learning that his card is no good, steals Kaye's and sets the stage for the cremation. Meanwhile, Kaye and Miss Williams get involved in a beatnik party and end up in jail. More complications follow before Kaye breaks away from his captors, leads them on a merry chase on a bike, and ties up the Freeway traffic so that Savalas and Miss Williams can be arrested. Wedding bells finally ring for Kaye and Miss Hyer. Columbia. 96 minutes. Danny Kaye, Cara Williams, Martha Hyer Telly Savalas. Produced by Bill Bloom. Directed by Frank Tashlin. "The Mind Benders" Interesting melodrama dealing with "reduction of sensation" experiment. Should draw science-fiction buffs, art, class patronage. From England comes this engrossing little melodrama with science-fiction overtones about experiments in the "reduction of sensation" recently carried out in the U. S. and in England. Specifically, it tells what happens to a man's mind when he is suspended in a tank full of water for several hours, completely out of contact with all senses. As depicted here, after an extended period of isolation, a man vanishes into a world of his own and is "persuaded" to change his most fundamental beliefs. Not in the familiar American International horror vein, "The Mind Benders" figures to attract a fair response in the art and class markets, and it should draw science-fiction buffs, if exploited in the general market. Director Basil Dearden has played it for suspense (the tank scenes are especially chilling), also injecting romance, a dash of sex, plus a dramatic child-birth climax. Dirk Bogarde portrays a scientist who enters the tank in order to clear the name of his assistant, a former tank volunteer now a suicide victim after being accused of treason. Mary Ure is Bogarde's wife, who almost loses her husband as a result of the experiment. John Clements is the stone-faced security officer investigating the suicide, Michael Bryant is Bogarde's brilliant young assistant, and Wendy Craig is "the other woman." James Kennaway's script finds Bogarde insisting that the dead man was "brainwashed" by the enemy as a result of the experiments. A skeptical Clements allows Bogarde to submerge himself for five hours, then together with Bryant, sets about undermining Bogardes love for Miss Ure. Bogarde turns her life into a living hell (she's now pregnant) and Clements becomes convinced of the validity of Bogarde's theory. Clements finds he is unable to return Bogarde to his normal self, but this is accomplished when Bogarde is forced to deliver Miss Ure's baby aboard Miss Craig's housebarge. American International. 101 minutes Dirk Bogarde, Mary Ure. Produced by Michael Relph. Directed by Basil Dearden. Page 16 Film BULLETIN April 15, 1963