Harrison's Reports (1952)

82 HARRISON’S REPORTS May 24, 1952 “Glory Alley” with Ralph Meeker, Leslie Caron and Gilbert Roland (MGM, June; time, 78 min.) An ordinary program picture that is hardly worthy of the MGM label. It is a confused, rambling story that revolves around a self-centered prizefighter and around the reaction to him by habitues of a New Orleans’ side street when he runs out on a fight just before it starts. The story is so mixed up that, towards the end, one of the characters has to explain to the audience what had motivated the hero to resort to such an act. His joining the Army to prove that he was not yellow is artificial, and the speed with which he becomes a hero is unbelievable. The bright spots in the picture are two sexy song and dance numbers by Leslie. Caron, of "An American in Paris” fame, and the several sequences that feature the singing and music of Louis Arm= strong and Jack Teagarden. There is no comedy relief. The direction and acting are so-so, and the photography dark: — Ralph Meeker, a top fighter in the New Orleans area, rushes out of the ring just before the start of an important fight and, without explaining, announces that he is quitting the fight game. During the excitement in his dressing room he accidentally knocks down Kurt Kaszner, a blind but popular figure along fighters’ row, and on the following day the papers show Meeker standing over Kaszner with fists clenched. Leslie Caron, Kasznar’s daughter and Meeker’s sweetheart, is so angered by Meeker's behavior that she breaks their engagement. His former friends shun him, but Gilbert Roland, his manager, and Louis Armstrong, his trainer, stand by him. Meeker takes to drink and is headed for skid row, but Roland pulls him out of it by getting him a job as a bartender. His reputation, however, does not improve, and he decides to join the Army to prove his courage. He returns to the States a hero, and is decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor. New Orleans takes him to its heart, and nothing is too good for him, but Kaszner still considers him yellow and will not forgive him. As times wears on. Meeker cannot obtain a job and people begin to tire of him, except Leslie, who is still in love with him, but who cannot marry him because she is is her father’s eyes. To free Leslie, Meeker quietly employs a famous eye specialist to bring back Kaszner’s eyesight. Kasznar refuses to submit to the operation when he learns that Meeker is behind the move, but he changes his mind when Leslie reveals that she has to work in a cheap night-club in order to support him. Kasznar's feelings toward Meeker change when the doctor reveals that Meeker, as a child, had seen his father, an ex-convict, murder his mother, and had himself been beaten on the head with a poker. The scars on his skull had made him self-conscious, and he could not tolerate taunting about it. The operation is successful, and Kasznar, row realizing that Meeker is really a fine young man, accepts him as a prospective son-in-law. It was produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Raoul Walsh, from a story and screenplay by Art Cohn. Unobjectionable for the family, but it is chiefly for adults. “African Treasure” with Johnny Sheffield and Laurette Luez ( Monogram , May 27; time, 70 min.) A fairly good program jungle melodrama, slightly better than the average picture of this "Bomba" series. This time stress is placed on melodramatic action; the jungle animals take a subordinate position. The story revolves around the efforts of two diamond smugglers to locate the spot where blue clay, containing diamonds, had been found near the crater of an extinct volcano. To succeed, they resort even to murder. The action is pretty fast, holding one’s interest fairly tense. Laurette Luez is winsome, and John Sheffield does his usual capable work of swinging from tree to tree and of rushing to the aid of those who need his help, ac? companied, of course, by his faithful chimpanzee. This chimpanzee should delight children, for he acts as if he understood what the humans wanted. The photography is clear: — Leanard Mudie, district commissioner, learns by short wave radio that two of three geologists who had passed through his district a few weeks previously were known to be diamond smugglers, and that nothing had been heard of them ever since. By radio he transmits word to Johnny (as “Bomba”), the jungle boy, to try to locate the geologist, as well as Arthur Space and Lane Bradford, the two smuglers accompanying him. Johnny finds the geologist’s body in a wrecked native village. Lyle Talbot, an ex-convict posing as an honest traveller, arrives at Mudie’s camp, but the next mail brings Mudie information about Talbot's identity. Learning that Mudie knows who he is, Talbot forces him at gunpoint to lead him to the place where diamonds had been found. Meanwhile Johnny comes upon Laurette Luez, accompanied by a guide, and learns that she was seeking her father, a Government geologist, who had not been heard from for several weeks. With the help of jungle drums, used by natives for telegraphing, Johnny obtains information that enables him to lead Laurette to where her father, together with the natives from the wrecked village, was being held as a slave by Space and Bradford, who used them to mine diamonds near the crater of an extinct volcano. Space captures Laurette. In the meantime, Mudie, with the help of natives, gets the upper hand on Talbot and makes him his prisoner. Knowing that Johnny had summoned help by means of the jungle drums, Space and Bradford make ready for a getaway. They trap Laurette, her father and the natives in the diamond mind by causing a landslide, but led by Laurette’s father they find a tunnel and escape into the open. Johnny pursues Space and Bradford and catches up with them just as Mudie arrives by canoe. Together, they overpower the two criminals. Johnny then vanishes into the jungle without even waiting to receive thanks from the grateful Laurette. Walter Mirisch produced it, and Ford Beebe wrote the screenplay and directed it. Harmless for family patronage. “The Winning Team” with Doris Day, Ronald Reagan and Frank Love joy ( 'Warner Bros., June 28; time, 98 min.) Supposedly biographical of the career of Grover Cleve land Alexander, one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, “The Winning Team” shapes up as a satisfying human interest drama. In tracing Alexander’s rise from a rookie to star pitcher, as well as his decline because of a head injury, the story seems to follow a pat formula that is well garnished with bits of hokum, but its ingredients of human appeal, romance and drama are of a type that should go over with the general run of audiences. Ronald Reagan is effective as Alexander, and Doris Day is winsome as his wife. While it has a fair share of baseball sequences, Reagan’s prowess on the mound is not overstressed. To help attract the sports fans the exhibitor might stress the appearances of a number of present-day big league ball players in the baseball scenes: — Reagan, a young telephone lineman in a Nebraska farming town, has two loves: Doris and baseball. He becomes the star pitcher of a barnstorming professional team at $100 per month and, at the peak of his success, is hit on the head by a ball. The accident leaves him with double vision and seemingly ends his career, even though he had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He and Doris marry and settle down on a farm. He awakens one day to find the double vision gone and immediately heads for the Phillies’ spring training camp. He proves to be a rookie sensation, winning twenty-eight games in his first season. World War I interrupts his career, and upon his return from overseas he reports to the Chicago Cubs, his new owner. One day he suffers a dizzy spell and collapses on the mound. The doctor advises him to quit baseball, telling him that the condition will recur. He pledges the doctor to secrecy to keep the truth from Doris. Stunned by the report, however, he takes to drink and soon is on the downgrade. Doris, bewildered by his behavior, leaves him. He is fired by the Cubs, sinks lower, and eventually ends up as an attraction in a carnival side show. Meanwhile Doris learns the truth from the doctor, and she prevails on Rogers Hornsby (Frank Lovejoy), to give Reagan another chance with the St. Louis Cardinals. Sparked by Reagan’s pitching, the Cardinals win the 1926 pennant, and in the seventh and deciding game of the World Series with the New York Yankees, he pitches his team out of a hole and wins the series for them. It was produced by Bryan Foy, and directed by Lewis Seiler, from a screenplay by Ted Sherdeman, Seelig Lester and Merwin Gerard. Suitable for the family.