Harrison's Reports (1953)

54 HARRISON’S REPORTS April 4, 1953 “Man on a Tightrope” with Fredric March, Gloria Grahame and Terry Moore (20th Century-Fox, May; time, 105 min.) A gripping suspense melodrama, revolving around the daring escape of a small traveling circus from Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia into the American zone of Germany. It is not only exciting and suspensive, but also informative, for without preachment it graphically depicts the fear under which one lives in a police state behind the Iron Curtain. Thanks to the expert direction and sensitive acting, as well as the actual Austrian and German backgrounds against which the picture has been shot, the action is so realistic that one is made to feel as if present at a sensational real' life occurence. One is held in tense suspense throughout. Several of the situations are exceedingly thrilling, particu' larly at the finish, where the circus troupe, seemingly parad' ing before giving a performance for a garrison of frontier guards, suddenly dash across a narrow bridge into the American zone while several members of the troupe use guns and grenades to hold back the surprised Red guards. Fredric March is excellent as the proud but harrassed owner of the circus who executes the daring escape plot at the cost of his life. The others in the fine cast are first rate: — Briefly, the story depicts March as the dejected manager of a ramshackle circus that had once been great until the people's government had wrested the ownership away from him. He had been permitted to continue managing it, but he now finds himself under official scrutiny because some of the performers were foreigners of doubtful political allegiance, and because he had failed to insert anti-American propaganda in a clown routine. Adolphe Menjou, of the Propaganda Ministry, warns him to make the necessary changes within forty-eight hours lest the circus and equipment be turned over to a rival circus. Oppressed beyond endurance, March and several trusted members of his troupe renew discussions of a plot to escape into the American zone of Germany. Meanwhile March is burdened also by personal troubles: Gloria Grahame, his flirtatious second wife is indifferent to him and carries on openly with Alexander D'Arcy, the lion tamer; and Terry Moore, his motherless daughter, is deep in a strong romance with Cameron Mitchell, a circus handyman, whom he suspected of being a police spy. In the events that follow, March outwits Menjou’s efforts to keep tabs on him and, just as he arranges to put the escape plan into motion, he discovers that Richard Boone, his supposedly loyal foreman, is the spy. He discovers also that Mitchell is an American GI who, through a strange series of circumstances, found himself trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Disposing of Boone and enlisting the aid of Mitchell, March guides the circus troupe to a frontier garrison, supposedly to give a performance, and through a carefully executed plan enables the entire troupe to dash across a narrow bridge to the safety of the American zone, although he himself dies in the attempt — a hero to his no longer indifferent wife. It was produced by Robert L. Jacks, and directed by Elia Kazan, from a screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood, based on a story by Neil Paterson. Unobjectionable for the family. “The Woman They Almost Lynched” with John Lund, Brian Donlevy, Audrey Totter and Joan Leslie (Republic, March 20; time, 90 min.) A fairly good melodrama with enough fast action and brawling to satisfy undiscriminating movie-goers. Set in the days just before the end of the Civil War, and dealing with the hostility between two women, the rambling story’s main drawback is the difficulty of having women appear in heroic parts. But once the spectator tolerates this difficulty, he should like the picture. A great deal of the background is a saloon inherited by one of the women. The scenes where the two women are shown fighting it out with hair-pulling should amuse one. Worked into the proceedings are the activities of an outlaw gang headed by Quantrill, who is played by Brian Donlevy, as well as the espionage activities of John Lund, as a Confederate spy. Joan Leslie and Audrey Totter do well enough as the heroines considering the handicaps of their roles. The others in the cast meet the demands of the somewhat illogical script: — Joan Leslie heads west to pay a surprise visit to Reed Hadley, her brother. Union soldiers escorting her stagecoach are attacked and killed by Donlevy and his gang, who take the coach to Border City, where Hadley operated a saloon. Having led Joan to believe that he is a respectable hotel owner, Hadley is embarrassed to have her learn the truth. Moreover, he had taken to drink because of his love for Audrey Totter, who had married Donlevy two years previously and had become one of his roving renegades. Audrey still loved Hadley, but she constantly needles him for having permitted Donlevy to take her away from him. One day Hadley goes beserk while in a drunken rage, and John Lund, foreman of a mine that supplied the lead for the Union Army’s bullets, is compelled to kill him in self defense. Audrey believes that Joan s arrival had provoked the trouble, and she vows to kill her. Ben Cooper, the youngest member of Donlevy's gang, had become friendly with Joan and he warns her of Audrey’s threat. Expressing fearlessness, Joan borrows Cooper’s guns and sets out to find Audrey. I he two women meet in the street and Joan proves faster on the draw, shooting the gun out of Audrey's hand but sparing her life. Joan s display of mercy starts Audrey on the road to regeneration and she gratefully accepts her protection when Union forces drive Donlevy and his gang out of Border City and take over the town. Meanwhile Joan had fallen in love with Lund, and she discovers that he is actually a Confederate spy who had been trying to direct the mine s lead to the rebels. Aided by Audrey, Joan cooks up an elaborate scheme whereby Lund escapes to the Confederate lines while she diverts the Union forces by leading them to believe that she is the spy. She is tried and sentenced to hang, but Audrey stops the execution in the nick of time by revealing that the real spy had fled. After the war, Lund returns to Border City and marries Joan, while Audrey starts life anew as a cafe singer. Alan Dwan directed it from a screenplay by Steve Fisher, based on a story by Michael Fessier. No producer credit is given. Unobjectionable morally. “Fort Vengeance” with James Craig and Rita Moreno (Allied Artists, March 29; time, 75 min.) Photographed in Cinecolor, this is a good outdoor melodrama, revolving around the Canadian Mounted Police. There is fast action all the way through, particularly in the last half, and several thrills. The story is somewhat different in that a brother tries to prevent his own irresponsible young brother from following a life of crime. The situation where the good brother overtakes the erring brother and orders him to surrender for a killing he had done is thrilling. The producer used good judgment in having an Indian shoot and kill the erring brother in order to save the good brother. The beauty of the outdoor scenery is enhanced by the good color photography: — James Craig and Keith Larsen, his brother, cross the Canadian border to escape pursuit by American authorities as a result of a gambling scrape. Larsen, a wild sort, shoots and kills a peaceful Blackfoot Indian before Craig has a chance to stop him. The murder is witnessed by Peter Coe, brother of the dead Indian. Shortly thereafter, Craig and Larsen join the mounted police. Michael Granger, chief of the warring Sioux, attempts to stir up the peaceful Blackfeet against the whites, but Morris Ankrum, the Blackfeet’s chief, refuses to listen to him and assures the Mounties that his tribe will obey the law. Meanwhile Larsen becomes involved with Pete Camlin, a crooked Canadian trapper, and they steal furs that had been cached by Paul Marion, Ankrum’s son. When the theft is exposed by Emory Parnell, a local trader, and Rita Moreno, his daughter, Larsen, to escape involvement, kills Camlin. The slaying is witnessed by Marion who, on circumstantial evidence, is arrested for the crime, found guilty and sentenced to hang. Craig finds evidence that Larsen had committed the crime and he sets out to find him, unaware that he is being followed by Coe, who, too, was seeking Larsen to avenge the murder of his brother. Craig catches up with Larsen and a terrific fight ensues when he refuses to surrender. Larsen gets the upper hand and prepares to kill him, only to fall dead himself when Coe shoots an arrow through his heart. Craig and Coe return to headquarters in time to save Marion from the gallows, thus preventing a miscarriage of justice that was about to ignite an Indian uprising. Walter Wanger produced it, and Lesley Selander directed it, from a screenplay by Dan Ullman. Suitable for the family.