Harrison's Reports (1951)

October 13, 1951 HARRISON’S REPORTS 163 “Two Tickets to Broadway” with Tony Martin and Janet Leigh ( RKO , no rel. date set; time, 106 min.) A breezy Technicolor musical, with plentiful singing, dancing, comedy and romance, served up in a mixture that is decidedly easy to take; it should go over well with the general run of audiences. Its backstage type of story is thin, but it serves nicely as a framework for the musical numbers, which are put over in a highly entertaining way. Tony Martin and Janet Leigh are pleasing as the romantic leads, ind they handle their singing and dancing chores in fine style. Ann Miller, Gloria DeHaven and Barbara Lawrence contribute much to the musical interludes and, like Miss Leigh, their physical charms are a definite asset. A good comedy char' aclenzation is turned in by Eddie Bracken, as a hapless, glib' tongued agent who fouls up the careers of his clients with his phony schemes. Many laughs are garnered by Joe Smith and Charles Dale, the famed vaudeville comedy team, as quarrelling delicatessen store partners who help out young' sters trying to break into show business. The production values are fine, and the color photography very good: — Janet leaves her small-town home to seek Broadway fame and, on the bus to New York, meets Ann, Gloria and Barbara, showgirls, whose show had flopped on the road. At the bus terminal, through a mixup in suitcases, she meets Tony, a singer heading for home after two years of trying vainly to make the grade. Bracken, Tony's agent, persuades him to stay with a fake promise of a job, but he beats a hasty retreat when he sees the three showgirls, whom he also repre' stented. Janet goes to live with the girls at a theatrical club, and in due time her acquaintance with Tony ripens into love. Meanwhile Bracken, desperately scheming to keep his clients, induces a friend to pose as Bob Crosby’s manager and to promise Tony a spot on Crosby’s television show if he works up an act with the girls. Smith and Dale agree to finance the act, and Tony and the girls start rehearsals at once. Bracken, unable to see Crosby, keeps stalling off the audition. Impa« tient at the delay, Janet storms into Crosby’s studio for a showdown and soon learns that the promised job was a fake. She thinks Tony is responsible and decides to return home. Shortly afterward, Tony, too, visits Crosby for a showdown and discovers that Bracken had tricked him, but Crosby, having heard a good report on the act, agrees to give it a spot on the show that night. Tony rounds up the girls and finds Janet missing. While he hurriedly rehearses with the others, Bracken races after Janet and finds her in the bus. After much difficulty, he convinces her that he and not Tony was responsible for the hoax, and he gets her to the studio in time to score a triumph with the others. It was directed by James V. Kern, from a screenplay by Sid Silvers and Hal Kanter No producer credit is given. Suitable for all. .“Close to My Heart with Gene Tierney and Ray Milland (Warner Bros., ?{ov. 3; time, 90 min.) Detailing the problems and heartaches experienced by a childless couple seeking to adopt a baby, “Close to My Heart” has its tender moments and should appeal to women, but on the whole the storv larks conviction. The chief problem concerning the baby's adoption is the husband’s fear that the child may have inherited bad traits, and the film describes, with rather monotonous insistence, the husband’s intensive search for the baby’s parents in order to learn something about their characters, but all this fails to fall into an arresting dramatic pattern. The action fans probably will find the pace much too slow and its overall mood too sad, despite some moments of light comedy: — Married to Ray Milland, a columnist. Gene Tierney yearns to adopt a child because she could not have any children of her own, but she learns from Fay Bainter, direc' tor of a children's adoption home, that the waiting list for children is at least “two years long.” Gene reads of an abandoned baby who had been made a ward of the court, and she prevails upon Milland to use his newspaper con nections to learn of the child's whereabouts. She goes to visit the baby, falls in love with him, and determines to adopt him. Milland tries to talk her out of adopting the child, pointing out that he would be an “unknown quantity” because no one had any knowledge of his parents’ backgrounds. Gene, however, refuses to consider any other child, and in due time Miss Bainter arranges for them to adopt the baby, but she does so on a temporary basis because of Milland's doubts. With the baby settled in his new home, Milland, despite Gene’s protests, renews his efforts to learn something about the child’s parents. Gene was concerned because Miss Bainter, disturbed by Milland's un' certainty over the child, had threatened to take him away from them unless Milland abandoned his search. Milland follows up numerous clues and learns that the child’s mother, a schoolteacher, had died three days after his birth, and that the father, a murderer, was awaiting execution in San Quentin. After being assured by the prison doctor that the child, if brought up in a proper environment, would not follow in his father's footsteps, Milland returns home only to find Gene desolate because Miss Bainter had taken the child away. Gene explains that Miss Bainter felt that he could not make a proper father because he would always be looking for signs of bad traits in the child. Frantic, Milland goes to Miss Bainter and pleads for the return of the baby. Convinced that he really loved the child deeply, Miss Bainter grants his plea. Gene is overwhelmed with joy when he returns home with the child. It was produced by William Jacobs, and directed by William Keighley, from a screenplay by James R. Webb. Suitable for the family. STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912, AS AMENDED BY THE ACTS OF MARCH 3, 1933, AND JULY 2, 1946 (Title 39, United States Code, Section 233). Of HARRISON’S REPORTS, published weekly at New York, N. Y., for October 1, 1951. 1. The name and address of the publisher, editor, managing editor and business managers are: Publisher, Harrison’s Reports, Inc., 1270 Sixth Avenue., New York 20, N. Y.; Editor, P. S. Harrison, 1270 Sixth Ave., New York 20, N. Y.; Managing Editor, A1 Picoult, 1270 Sixth Ave., New York 20, N. Y.; Business Manager, none. 2. 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