Harrison's Reports (1951)

February 3, 1951 HARRISON’S REPORTS 19 axe arrested for having violated traffic regulations and are fined $175. Needing funds to pay the fine, Jane Frazee, the band’s vocalist, pawns the band's instruments at a local music store, where she meets Charles Smith, a clerk and budding songwriter. Jane hoped to redeem the instruments after Kirby secures an advance on their salary from Sanford. But Sanford refuses to give Kirby an advance, and Jane, by promising Smith that the band will feature his songs, persuades him to smuggle the instruments out of the store nightly. The smuggling gets Smith into several upsettmg situations, but he carries on because of a promise that Lois Collier, his girl-friend, would be given a chance to sing with the band. Lois, unaware of this arrangement, quarrels with Smith after she sees him driving away from the music store with jane. When one of Smith’s songs appears to be a hit, jane refuses to let Lois sing it, preferring to introduce it herself. On the night of a big broadcast from the nightclub, Smith is late in arriving with the instruments, and Jane goes to the store to check on him. She is trapped by a burglar alarm and arrested. In the meantime the broadcast begins and, since Jane is absent, Lois is asked to sing Smith’s song. Both the song and Lois make a hit. It was produced by Lmdsley Parsons and directed by Paul Landres from a screen play by Bill Raynor. Good for family audiences. “Chance of a Lifetime” with an all-British cast (Ballantine Pictures, Feb.; time, 90 min.) Audiences that are looking for something different in picture entertainment should find this British-made drama interesting. Although its appeal seems to be more suited to class audiences than to the masses, its subject matter should interest also the masses, for it deals with a conflict between labor and management in a small industrial plant in post-war England. It is a serious subject, presented with earthy touches of humor, in which both sides, after trials, tribulations and flare-ups, understand each other's problems better and come to the realization that one cannot do without the other. Most of the players are unknown to American audiences, but the acting is fine and the characterizations impressive: — A capable and independent man, Basil Radford, owner and manager of a small plant manufacturing agricultural equipment, is disliked by his employees, who resent his nigh and mighty attitude. W hen one of the employees is discharged tor being habitually late and for insulting the management, the other workers lay down their tools and demand his reinstatement. Radford, speaking to the assembled workers with exasperated frankness, berates them about their lack of responsibility and blurts out that he wishes that some of them had his job so that they would better understand what hard work means. The workers accept the challenge to try to run the plant better than he does and, to save face, Radford turns the factory over to them on a rental basis. The employees thereupon elect Bernard Miles and Julien Mitchell, two of their number, to manage the plant. Under the new set-up, the workers go at their jobs with a new spirit, but before long they find themselves with financial and material supply headaches they had not anticipated. They manage to overcome these problems by digging into their own pockets to meet immediate expenditures. Happiness reigns when they secure a huge order from a foreign government for a new type of plough. The plant is completely reorganized and, before long, pro duction is in full swing, but a new crisis is suddenly brought about when the foreign government cancels the almost completed order because of a shortage in foreign currency. News of the cancellation produces panic among the workers, who stand to lose their savings. In the midst of their despair, however, Bradford returns to the plant and, by virtue of his wide knowledge and long experience, communicates with foreign agents and disposes of the entire order. Grateful, the workers ask Radford to resume the seat of management, but he insists that they continue to run the plant while he remains in the background as an advisor. It is a Pilgrim Pictures production, directed by Bernard Miles, who wrote the original screen play with Walter Greenwood. Suitable for all. .“Vengeance Valley” with Burt Lancaster, Robert Walker and Joanne Dru ( MGM , February; time, 83 min.) Very good. Photographed in Technicolor, it is an above-average western-type melodrama that should please, not only the action fans, but also other moviegoers, for it is based on a story that is more substantial than those generally used in pictures of this type. Its suitability for youngsters, however, is questionable, since the plot centers around the efforts of the hero to cover up the fact that his employer’s worthless son is the father of an unwed mother's child. It is an engrossing, actionful picture, with undercurrents of tension that frequently explode into furious conflicts. The action is charged with considerable suspense because of the fact that the hero, in covering up for the worthless fellow, is suspected of being the father himself and finds his life threatened. The acting and direction are very good, and the outdoor terrain, enhanced by the beautiful Technicolor photography, is a treat to the eye: — Returning from a winter roundup of cattle with Robert Walker, son of Ray Collins, a cattle ranch owner, Burt Lancaster, Collins’ foreman, finds that Sally Forrest, a local waitress, had become an unwed mother. Lancaster knows that Walker is the father of the child, but neither he nor Sally reveal the secret in deference to Collins and to Joanne Dru, Walker's young wife, who had aided Sally. When John Ireland and Hugh O’Brian, Sally’s brothers, learn that Lancaster had given Sally money to support herself, they assume that he is the father and threaten to kill him. Lancaster bests them in a fight and has them run out of town. In due time Walker, through a slip of the tongue, discloses that he is the father of Sally’s baby. Joanne breaks with him and gains a new appreciation for Lancaster, whom she berates for covering up Walker’s shortcomings. Inwardly peeved at Lancaster, Walker secretly arranges with Sally’s brothers to join the yearly roundup of cattle so as to give them an opportunity to ambush Lancaster, whom they still believed was their sister’s betrayer. Walker, playing on their old friendship, leads Lancaster into the death trap, but Lancaster kills both Ireland and O’Brian while Walker takes to the hills. Lancaster gives chase and corners Walker, killing him in self-defense. It was produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Richard Thorpe from a screen play by Irving Ravetch, based on the novel by Luke Short. Adult fare.