Harrison's Reports (1951)

194 HARRISON’S REPORTS December 8, 1951 “The Wild Blue Yonder” with Wendell Corey, Vera Ralston and Forrest Tucker ( Republic , December 5 ; time, 98 min.) Although "The Wild Blue Yonder" pays tribute to the B'29 Superfortress, as entertainment it shapes up as a rather ordinary war melodrama that is sorely lacking in originality. It has enough moments of excitement and action to get by with the undiscriminating action fans, but it does not rise about the level of program fare. The chief fault lies with the trite and familiar story, which includes a triangle romantic interest that seems to have been dragged in by the ear. The picture is at its best in the scenes that afford the spectator an insight into the workings of the B'29 and the training of the crews. Interesting also are the combat scenes, into which authentic war clips have been inter' woven to good effect, but these are not enough to maintain one’s interest throughout. There is some comedy provoked by Phil Harris, as a sergeant, but it is pretty weak: — The story opens with the arrival of Wendell Corey, an Air Force captain, at a Kansas air base, where he and his B'24 crew were to undergo intensive training in the handling of the new B'29 Superfortress, under the direction of Forrest Tucker, a major who was a fine technician but who had a psychological fear of actual combat. A conflict arises between Corey and Tucker when he fails to follow instructions, and the breach between them becomes even more strained when both fall in love with Vera Ralston, a nurse stationed at the base. In due time, Walter Brennan, the general in charge of the B'29 program, pronounces the men and planes ready for action, and lays plans for the first bombing of Japan. Tucker, at his own request, is taken off the mission and given a desk job. The first raid proves successful, and Corey and his crew distinguish themselves. The bombings continue day after day, but at a loss of many men and planes. When Tucker recommends that the raids would be more effective if the planes fly at low altitudes, Corey chides him about being brave behind the safety of a desk. To prove his courage. Tucker accompanies Corey on the first low altitude mission. His damaged plane, however, necessitates a crash landing, and he dies while trying to rescue a man from the burning plane. It ends with Corey and Vera united. It was directed by Alan Dwan from a screenplay by Richard Tregaskis, based on a story by Andrew Geer and Charles Grayson. No producer credit is given. Unobjectionable for the family. “Chicago Calling” with Dan Duryea ( United Artists, Jan. 11; time, 74 min.) A slight story premise is stretched far beyond its worth in “Chicago Calling,” a mildly interesting melodrama that should serve well enough as a supporting feature on a double bill. Revolving around the desperate efforts of a man, down on his luck, to get his telephone reconnected so that he might get word about the fate of his little daughter, injured in an accident, the contrived tale is a bit too pat and full of improbabilities to be convincing. Moreover, it is cheerless and depressing. Several of the scenes have a strong emotional quality, but on the whole the story is too unbelievable to be dramatically effective. Dan Duryea, cast in a sympathetic role for a change, does well enough as the maladjusted hero, despite the ordi' nary story material : — When Dan Duryea returns home from another one of his drunken binges, Mary Anderson, his wife, de' cides to leave him and takes along Melinda Plowman, their seven-year-old daughter. Several days later, just as a telephone company man starts to remove the phone from his apartment for non-payment of an overdue bill, Duryea receives a telegram from Mary notifying him that Melinda had suffered a serious injury near Chicago, and that she would telephone him on the following morning to inform him of the outcome of the operation. Duryea pursuades the telephone man not to remove the instrument, promising to take care of the bill at once. Completely broke, Duryea finds himself at his wits ends trying to raise the necessary fifty dollars needed to pay the bill. In the course of events he meets and befriends Gordon Gebert, a lonely little boy, who offers to lend him his savings of slightly more than fifty dollars. But the youngster’s selfish sister, with whom he lived, had hidden the savings and refuses to divulge the hiding place. To help the desperate Duryea, the boy robs his sister’s fiance of a roll of bills. Duryea accepts the money, but he suffers pangs of conscience later and decides to return the stolen funds. The boy’s sister and her fiance refuse to accept his explanation and throw him out of the apartment. He spends the night working on an excavating job and on the following morning uses the few dollars he had earned to make a telephone call to the Chicago police in a fruitless effort to locate the hospital to which his daughter had been taken. He returns home dejected, where he finds young Gordon waiting to warn him that his sister had filed a complaint with the police. Just as two detectives arrive, the phone, connected by the kindly telephone man, rings. It is Mary, who informs him that their daughter had died. Numbed by grief, Duryea surrenders to the detectives, but they feel sorry for him and turn him loose. He wanders off in a daze, followed by Gordon, and is almost killed by a speeding train as he stumbles across a railroad yard. The boy’s screams bring him to his senses. He clasps the weeping child in his arms and decides to start a new life with him. It was produced by Peter Berneis, and directed by John Reinhardt, from an original screenplay written by them. Unobjectionable morally. “I’ll See You in My Dreams” with Doris Day and Danny Thomas (Warner Bros., Jan. 12; time, 110 min.) This musical drama about the life and career of Gus Kahn, the famed lyricist, should go over very well with the general run of audiences, for its ingredients of wholesome sentiment, appealing family life, nostalgic songs, romance and comedy are served up in just the right proportions. Danny Thomas, as Gus Kahn, and Doris Day, as his wife, are outstanding, winning the spectator’s respect because of their display of fine traits and of their unselfish devotion to one another. One enjoys their hard won success in the music world and sympathizes with the hard times they suffer when the stock market crash of 1929 brings about a sharp change in the family fortunes. The closing scenes, where Thomas is given a surprise testi' monial dinner by his friends, will stir the emotions to such an extent that hardly a dry eye will be left in the audience. The picture should do very well at the box-office, for it is the kind that people will recoinmend to others after seeing it themselves: — Opening in Chicago around 1915, the story has Thomas, a driver of a horse-drawn delivery wagon, visting a music publishing house, where he persuades