Harrison's Reports (1951)

March 10, 1951 HARRISON’S REPORTS 39 “Rawhide” with Susan Hayward, Tyrone Power and Hugh Marlowe (20 th Century-Fox, no rel. date set; time, 86 min.) A highly suspenseful melodrama, with a western background. Revolving around four desperadoes who take over an isolated stagecoach relay station and keep its occupants prisoners while waiting to rob a stagecoach carrying $100,000 in gold, the basic ideas of the story is not new, but it has been presented so effectively that one’s attention is nailed to the screen from start to finish. It is not, however, a pleasant entertainment, for the actions of the desperadoes are brutal. Most of the unpleasantness is provoked by the lascivious desires of one of the gunmen, who seeks to take advantage of Susan Hayward, the lone woman captive. A most disagreeable situation is where this gunman keeps shooting at a little child to force Tyrone Power, the hero, to surrender. The direction and acting are first-rate: — Tyrone Power and Edgar Buchanan, in charge of the relay station, compel Susan, a stagecoach passenger traveling with her sister’s child, to remain at the station when word comes that a group of four desperadoes, headed by Hugh Marlowe, had broken out of jail. Later, Marlowe, posing as a sheriff, rides into the station and, together with Jack Elam, Dean Jagger and George Tobias, his henchmen, takes command, killing Buchanan in the process. Marlowe lets it be known that he planned to rob the east bound stagecoach laden with gold, and warns Power and Susan to cooperate with him lest they lose their lives. For their own protection, Power and Susan permit the deperadoes to believe that they are married. In the events that follow. Power and Susan fall in love and seek ways and means to break out of captivity, but to no avail. Meanwhile an intense hatred springs up between Marlowe and Elam, who is constantly stopped by Marlowe from annoying Susan, Just before the stagecoach arrives, Power manages to obtain a gun and, in the confusion that follows, Elam kills both Marlowe and Tobias to gain control of the situation. Jagger flees into the hills. A gun duel ensues between Power and Elam with Power forced to surrender when Elam threatens to shoot down Susan’s little niece. But before Elam can kill Power, Susan, who had gotten hold of a rifle, shoots down Elam. It was produced by Sam G. Engel and directed by Henry Hathaway from a screen play by Dudley Nichols. Adult fare. “My True Story” with Helen Walker and Willard Parker ( Columbia , March; time, 67 min.) A moderately interesting crook melodrama that should get by as a supporting feature. The story is ordinary and unconvincing, and the direction and acting routine. It moves rather slowly for a picture of this kind, offering its only bit of excitement in the closing scenes, where the heroine, a paroled jewel thief, becomes regeneratd and foils an attempt to rob a wealthy old woman who had befriended her. The picture marks Mickey Rooney’s first effort as a director, but there is nothing auspicious about his debut: — Paroled from prison when she is offered a job by Emory Parnell, owner of a small-town candy store, Helen Walker soon learns that Parnell is a member of an underworld gang headed by Wilton Graff, who planned to steal a stockpile of rare perfume oil owned by Elizabeth Risdon, a wealthy old recluse. Graff’s plan was to have Helen obtain a job as Miss Risdon’s companion-secretary to learn where the perfume oil is hidden. Helen agrees to enter the scheme. She obtains the job, and in due time Miss Risdon becomes very fond of her and even fosters a romance between her and Willard Parker, the local druggist. Helen's inability to find the stockpile makes Graff impatient. Meanwhile she falls in love with Parker and begins to appreciate Miss Risdon’s kindness. No longer willing to wait, Graff and Parnell invade Miss Risdon’s home and threaten to kill her unless she gives them the oil. Lest the old lady be harmed, Helen, who had learned that the oil is stocked in Parker’s store, agrees to take Parnell there. At the store, she manages to convey to Parker the fact that she is in trouble. He quickly subdues Parnell and returns to the house to capture Graff. Having broken her parole, Helen prepares to pay her debt to society, happy in the thought that Parker will be waiting for her release. It was produced by Milton Feldman and directed by Mickey Rooney from a screen play by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes, based on a story by Margit Mantica. Adult fare. “Cuban Fireball” with Estelita Rodriguez (Republic, March 5, time, 78 min.) Just an ordinary program slapstick comedy; it is tworeeler material stretched to feature length. Those who are easily entertained may find a modicum of amusement in it. Most movie-goers, however, probably will find it tiresome, for the story is inane, every situation and comedy sequence long drawn out, and the actions of the characters silly, not comical. As a matter of fact, each situation is so obvious that one loses interest in the outcome. The players try hard, but their task is hopeless, for confusion has been substituted for comedy, with weak results: — What there is in the way of a story has Estelita Rodriquez, an entertainer in a Havana cigar factory, inheriting a $20,000,000 oil company in California. En route to collect her inheritance, she decides to make herself unattractive to ward off fortune hunters, and dons a fake nose, glasses and a wig. As herself, she poses as a poor relation of the bulbous-nosed heiress, and promptly falls in love with Warren Douglas, son of the oil company’s general manager. Playing two roles, however, interferes with her romance, and she decides to dispose of the old woman's identitfy. In the process she becomes involved with the police, immigration officials, blackmail and kidnapping before she is finally rescued by Douglas. It was produced by Sidney Picker and directed by William Beaudine from a screen play by Charles E. Roberts and Jack Townley, based on Mr. Robert’s story. Harmless for the family. “The Lemon Drop Kid” with Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell and Lloyd Nolan (Paramount, April; time, 91 min.) Loosely based on the Damon Runyon story of the same name, this comedy should go over pretty well with the Bob Hope fans, for it is replete with gags and situations that are suited to his brand of clowning. Despite the many laughs provoked, however, the picture is a letdown in several respects, for the nefarious methods employed by Hope to pay off a debt to a tough hoodlum not only robs him of sympathy but may prove somewhat objectionable to many movie-goers. In this category, for instance, is Hope's enlistment of shady characters to dress as Santa Claus during the Christmas season to collect money from the public for the fake purpose of establishing an old ladies’s home. Moreover, his enlisting the unwitting aid of a group of gentle old ladies to carry through the scheme may not sit so well with those who have a dignified respect for the aged. Those who can overlook these shortcomings, however, should find the proceedings amusing, for the predicaments Hope gets himself into are laugh-provoking. Paramount produced the story once before in 1934, with Lee Tracy, but there is little resemblance between this version and the original. The story casts Hope as a Broadway racetrack tout whose trickery causes a loss of $10,000 to Fred Clark, a racketeer, who gives him 23 days— until Christmas Eve — to pay back the money or lose his life. Desperate, Hope enlists the aid of several dubious characters and, by pretending that he is establishing an old ladies’ home, induces them to dress as Santa Claus and collect money on street corners. Complications arise when Lloyd Nolan, a big-shot racketeer, learns that Hope was using the old ladies’ home idea as a front; he. steals the collected funds, kidnaps the old ladies and, after exposing Hope to his pals, induces them to continue with the idea but this time for a share of the profits. Disguising himself like an old lady, Hope manages to recover the hijacked funds from Nolan and to free the kidnapped women. In the closing scenes, Hope, through an arrangement with the police, has both Nolan and Clark arrested as they try to take the money away from him, and he sees to it that the funds collected are used for the benefit of the elderly women. Worked into the plot are several catchy song numbers sung by Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, who is cast as his sophisticated girl-friend. It was produced by Robert Welch and directed by Sidney Lanfield from a screen play by Edmund Hartmann and Robert O'Brien. The low moral values make it unsuitable for children.