Harrison's Reports (1951)

August 11, 1951 HARRISON’S REPORTS 127 is sent back to Camp U-no with a group of WAC's, among whom are Jean and Jeanne, with Iris in charge. Being a tough officer. Iris keeps a watchful eye on the girls to prevent them from fraternizing with the G.I.’s Neal and Jean, however, manage to strike up a romance on the sly, as do several of the others. When Jeanne tells Iris that she is now engaged to one of the soldiers, Iris softens and that night gives a dance for the boys and girls. Meanwhile Lloyd, arriving in Alaska, learns that a groups of WACs was expected there instead of him. He communicates with Command Headquarters and the colonel in charge heads for Camp U-no to gather up the WACs for transfer to Alaska. His arrival breaks up the dance. As he reprimands Neal, the picture fades back to the television station, where Iris is seen slapping Neal in the face to awaken him. It then becomes known that what had been seen was Neal’s dream — he had fainted upon receiving his induction notice. As the show gets started again, Neal declares his love for Jean. Murray Learner produced it, and Reginald Le Borg directed it, from a screenplay by Jan Jeffries, based on a story by Mr. Lerner. Suitable for the family. “Mister Drake’s Duck” with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Yolande Donlan ( United Artists, Sept. 21; time, 76 min.) Although this British-made picture offers an amusing comedy idea and provokes many laughs, much of its humor is spoiled by the fact that a good part of the dialogue is unintelligible because of the thick British accents of the supporting players. To make matters worse, the sound recording is not too good, although this defect may have been due to a faulty print seen by this reviewer. Still another weakness is the “here we go again” ending, which is somewhat of a let down to the audience. Aside from these faults, the story is a lighthearted farce about a duck that lays atomic eggs, with many flashes of bright humor, particularly in the parts that poke satirical fun at Britain's officialdom and its armed services. It is nonsensical stuff, but it keeps one chuckling throughout: — Just married, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Yolande Donlan decide to spend their honeymoon on his farm in Sussex. Events become exteremely complicated when Yolande unwittingly buys five dozen ducks and it is discovered that one of them lays eggs containing uranium. When the government hears of it, the farm becomes a prohibited area under military rule; the Army moves in with a detachment of armored cars, the Air Force lands its planes on the vegetable patches, and the Navy, too, moves into the area. “Operation Chickweed” is set into motion to find the Atomic Duck by a process of elimination. Life on the farm becomes a complete turmoil, and the situation develops into an international crisis, with every country claiming an interest in the duck. The duck responsible is finally identified and operated upon, but it dies under the knife without revaling anything. Happy that the turmoil is over, Fairbanks and his bride settle down to a tranquil honeymoon, but their peace is shortlived when another duck starts laying atomic eggs and the Army, Navy and Air Force move onto the farm once again. It was produced by Daniel M. Angel, from a screenplay written and directed by Val Guest, who based it on a story by Ian Messiter. Suitable for the family. “Crosswinds” with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Forrest Tucker ( Paramount , October; time, 93 min.) Set against a South Sea gackground, and photographed in Technicolor, “Crosswinds” is a modern adventure melodrama that should give pretty good satisfaction to undiscriminating action fans who enjoy wildly melodramatic incidents and do not mind a far-fetched, illogical story. The action moves briskly from start to finish, and the contrived tale, which has the hero becoming involved with a motley group of crooks who doublecross him as well as one another, has plenty of thrills, such as battles with jungle headhunters who attack the group with spears and poisoned arrows while they effect the rescue of the heroine, and underwater scenes in which the hero barely escapes with his life while he attempts to retrieve a fortune in sunken gold. There is no human interest, and no sympathy is felt for any of the characters, including the hero and heroine. Alan Mowbray, as one of the crooks, provides the proceedings with considerable humor. Pictorially, the film is a treat to the eye: — As John Payne, an adventurer, guides his sleek twomasted schooner into Kura Bay, near Port Moresby, it attracts the attention of Forrest Tucker, a trader and dou blecrosser, as well as Rhonda Fleming, an employee of a gold mining company. Tucker makes a deal with Payne to use his boat for pearl diving, giving him a forged permit, then tricks him into prison and buys his boat at public auction. Upon finishing his prison term, Payne makes his way back to Kura Bay, where he teams up with Alan Mowbray and John Abbott, two seedy English beach bums, who owned a dirty yawl. He learns from that them Robert Lowery, a crooked pilot, flying a plane loaded with gold and carrying Rhonda as a passenger, had crashed in the jungle. He learns also that Tucker had loaded his boat with supplies and had left on a secret mission. He correctly deduces that Tucker had made a deal with Lowery to crash the plane, and decides to go after the gold, his boat and Rhonda, offering to share the gold with Mowbray and Abbott. Heading up a jungle river, they find Lowery dead in a drifting canoe, and later come upon a grass village, where native head-hunters were preparing to kill Rhonda. They rescue her in a daring raid led by Payne. In the events that follow, the party comes across Tucker vainly searching for the site of the plane crash. All agree to share the gold equally when Rhonda tells them exactly where the plane went down. They retrieve the gold after several more brushes with the natives, after which Mowbray, Abbott and Tucker start plotting with and against each other for possession of the fortune. In a fight, Abbott dies when he is thrown overboard by Mowbray, and later, when jungle natives attack from ambush. Mowbray and Tucker are killed. Rhonda and Payne escape and look forward to a new life. It was produced by William H. Pine and William C. Thomas, and directed by Lewis Foster, who wrote the screenplay, based on the novel, “New Guinea Gold,” by Thomson Burtis. Adult fare because of the poor ethical values. “Tomorrow is Another Day” with Ruth Roman and Steve Cochran (Warner Bros., Sept. 22; time, 90 min.) “Tomorrow is Another Day” is not without its shortcomings, but on the whole it is a tense, interesting chase melodrama, with situations that are highly dramatic. Revolving around the flight of an embittered ex-convict and a hardened taxi-dancer who erroneously believe that they had committed a murder, the story is somewhat illogical and it leans heavily on pat coincidences, but these deficiences are overcome to a great extent by the skillful direction and the competent acting. It carries a strong dramatic punch towards the finish, where a poverty stricken friend of the fleeing couple, needing money to provide her injured husband with proper medical care, reluctantly reports their whereabouts to the police in order to collect the reward. Considerabe sympathy is felt for the troubled hero and heroine, who find happiness in their love and marriage, despite their dilemma: — Released after 18 years in prison for the murder of his father at the age of 13, Steve Cochran seeks to earn an honest living in his home-town, but unwanted publicity compels him to flee to New York. There, at a dance palace, he becomes infatuated with Ruth Roman, a hardened hos< tess. Trouble looms when Hugh Sanders, a detective who had been keeping company with Ruth, orders Cochran to stay away from her. He also slaps Ruth and, and in the ensuing fight, Cochran is knocked unconscious, and Ruth, in self-defense, shoots Sanders. The detective dies on the following day, and Ruth leads Cochran to believe that he had fired the shot. They decide to flee the city together and, despite a mutual hostility that had arisen between them, they get married and assume new names. They head west by freight train and hitch-hiking, and in due time fall deeply in love. With the aid of Ray Teal, an itinerant farmer, and Lurene Tuttle, his wife, Cochran and Ruth make their way to the California lettuce fields, where they start a new life and build a warm friendship with Teal and his wife. One day Teal, through a crime magazine, discovers that Cochran is wanted for murder, but he and wife decide to keep this discovery to themselves, despite the tempting reward. But when Teal is injured seriously in an auto accident, and money is needed to provide him with proper medical aid, his wife informs the police about Cochran to collect the reward. Taken into custody, both Ruth and Cochran confess to the killing of Sanders, and refuse to acknowledge the confession of the other. It all turns out for the best, however, when the district attorney informs them that neither one is guilty, since Sanders, before dying, had admitted that Ruth shot him in self-defense. It was produced by Henry Blanke, and directed by Felix Feist, from a story by Guy Endore, who collaborated on the screenplay with Art Cohn. Adult fare.