Harrison's Reports (1951)

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78 HARRISON’S REPORTS May 19, 1951 “Fort Worth” with Randolph Scott, David Brian and Phyllis Thaxter (Warner Bros., July 14; time, 80 min.) A pretty good addition to the current cycle of big' scale, Technicolor western melodramas. Its mixture of heroism, villainy and romance follows a more or less conventional pattern, but the plot developments are interesting enough to hold one’s attention through' out. It should give ample satisfaction in situations where pictures of this type are favored, for its story of a crusading editor who reluctantly takes to his guns to see that justice is served offers plenty of action and excitement. The direction is effective, and the players are more than equal to their tasks: — Randolph Scott, a newspaper publisher, had once been a feared fighter in the cattle wars, but he had given up guns as futile. Returning to Texas after fourteen years, Scott joins a wagon train and meets Phyllis Thaxter, who was returning to her ranch near Fort Worth to marry David Brian, his old friend. The wagon train crosses paths with a herd of cattle being driven to Kansas, and Ray Teal, the ruthless trail boss, who had been using violence to prevent the railroad from coming into Fort Worth lest it ruin his profitable business, makes an unsuccessful attempt to kill Scott, whose reputation as a crusading publisher had preceded him. Brian, a big cattle buyer, greets Scott when he arrives in Fort Worth and persuades him to start his newspaper there. Scott sets up his plant and starts immediately to condemn Teal’s law' less tactics. The frightened sheriff, however, is unable to combat Teal’s gang. Meanwhile Emerson Treacy, Scott’s partner, distrusts Brian and thinks that he is using Scott to further his ambitions to become governor. Scott scoffs at this, but later, when Treacy is murdered, and when he learns that Brian had taken advantage of many small ranchers to tie up Fort Worth property in anticipation of the coming of the railroad, he, too, becomes suspicious of him. The fric' tion between them is heightened when Phyllis breaks her engagement to Brian and Scott openly shows his love for her. In the complicated events that follow, Brian induces Scott to lay a trap for Teal, then uses the trap in an unsuccessful attempt to kill both Scott and Teal. Forgetting his dislike of gunplay, Scott straps on his guns again and, in a final showdown, he rids himself of both Brian and Teal when they invade his office to kill him. Scott and Phyllis marry and settle down to await the coming of the railroad. It was produced by Anthony Veiller and directed by Edwin L. Marin from a screenplay by John Twist. Suitable for the family. “Hollywood Story” with Richard Conte ( Univ.'Int’l , June; time, 77 min.) An interesting murder mystery melodrama, set against a Hollywood background. The story which revolves around a producer who gets himself involved in a 2Oyear'0ld unsolved studio murder, is well acted, and its elements of suspense and mystery are well sustained. The one drawback, however, insofar as the action fans are concerned, is that it is given more to talk than to movement. With less dialogue and more action it might have been made into a real thriller. As it is, there is a minimum of excitement until the closing sequences, where the killer is un' covered and trapped after much gunfire and a chase through a darkened studio. The studio backgrounds are interesting, and as an added treat four old-time stars, including Francis X. Bushman, Betty Blythe, William Farnum and Helen Gibson, appear briefly : — Richard Conte, a New York producer, moves to Hollywood to enter independent film production, and through Jim Backus, his agent, he rents an abandoned studio. On his first visit to the lot, he learns that it was the scene of the unsolved murder of a director in 1929. Fascinated by the case, he decides to film it as his first project. Fred Clark, his business partner, tries to dissuade him, and Richard Egan, a Los Angeles detective, warns him that he may be inviting trouble. Undaunted, Conte does exhaustive research work on the murder, and hires Henry Hull, a writer who had worked with the murdered man, to turn out the script. As soon as Conte starts work on the picture, an at' tempt is made on his life by a mysterious person. Conte, however, refuses to quit and, despite numer' ous threats, including one from Julia Adams, daugh' ter of a silent screen star who was involved with the murdered man, he digs deeper into the case. He even' tually comes across clues that lead him to suspect Clark, who had been the murdered man’s business manager; Paul Cavanagh, a silent screen star; and even Hull and Julia, with whom he was romantically inclined. In the end, he proves that Hull, who had hidden the fact that he was the murdered man’s brother, had committed the crime in a fit of jealousy. Hull is shot down trying to escape. It was produced by Leonard Goldstein and directed by William Castle from a story and screenplay by Frederick Kohner and Fred Brady. Unobjectionable morally. “Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison” with Steve Cochran and David Brian ( Warner Bros., June 16; time, 87 min.) A pretty good prison melodrama. The story, which purports to authentically depict the brutal conditions that existed in California’s Folsom State Prison for many years prior to 1944, offers little that is novel, but it is an effective picture of its kind. In this case the warden is depicted as a vicious person who be' lieves that brute force is the only way to keep convicts in line. A number of the scenes are thrilling and suspensive, particularly the jail break towards the finish, where the escape group overpowers a guard and takes him as hostage. The direction and acting are good, with David Brian sympathetic as an understanding penologist who seeks to bring about reforms, and with Ted de Corsia hateful as the warden: — Brutal punishments are handed out by de Corsia to the convicts for the slightest infractions of prison rules, inciting several of them to attempt a break. The break is unsuccessful, and results in the death of two guards and three inmates. De Corsia orders the ringleaders locked in solitary and cancels all privileges. When Brian is assigned to the prison as captain of the guards, he asks de Corsia for permission to improve conditions. De Corsia agrees to give him a free hand, figuring that, if given enough leeway with his “soft” methods, he will soon discredit himself. Working with a dynamite crew in the prison quarry, Steve Cochran, an embittered convict, manages to slip several sticks of dynamite up his sleeve in preparation for a long-planned jail break. Philip Carey, another convict due for parole, is ordered to go to town in a prison truck for supplies. When he discovers a prisoner hidden under the seat, Carey, rather than jeopardise his parole, tips off the guards. Brian asks de Corsia to keep Carey away from the other convicts lest they kill him as a stool pigeon, but de Corsia re