Harrison's Reports (1954)

26 HARRISON’S REPORTS February 13, 1954 ‘‘DufiFy of San Quentin" with Paul Kelly, Maureen O’Sullivan, Louis Hayward and Joanne Dru (WaT-ner Bros., no rel. date set; time, 78 min.) Although the producer and director rate an “A" for effort, this is no more than a fair prison picture by reason of the fact that the characters are unbelievable. The story is supposed to be based on the life of Clifton T. Duffy, warden of San Quentin, but how much is fiction and how much is fact is anybody’s guess. Paul Kelly, who impersonates the warden, is presented as imbued with the idea of instituting reforms that would eliminate rioting by the prisoners. But some of his thoughts and acts offend logic. For instance, he receives word that a riot is about to break out, but he refuses to employ stool pigeons to get the details and arrest the leaders. Another offense to logic is that fact that he brings into the prison hospital a pretty nurse — the only woman among five thousand male prisoners. The role played by Louis Hayward seems forced, invented by the author to effect his reformation and thus show that Kelly’s ideas about reforms were correct. The pace is slow in that the story is given more to talk than to action. There are not many thrills because there are no riots;— A riot breaks out in San Quentin and Kelly, assistant to the warden, finds himself appointed as temporary warden for 30 days. To prevent future riots, Kelly abolishes the stool pigeon system, orders haircuts instead of shaved heads, cleans up kitchen graft to improve food conditions and eliminates soUtary confinement. Thus Louis Hayward, who had been charged with fashioning a dagger out of a toothbrush handle, is freed from his “rat hole.’’ Hayward tells Kelly that he was carving a ring for some girl, and bitterly relates that George Macready, a conviction-crazy prosecutor, had framed him. Kelly, continuing his reform program, orders all guards stripped of illegal punishment weapons and, after conferring with Maureen O’Sullivan, his wife, plans to put a female nurse in the hospital. Kelly’s humane way of handhng Hayward pays off when he (Hayward) prevents a riot and prison break during the first movie shown to the prisoners. Kelly becomes a full-time warden and Hayward is made a male nurse. But when Joanne Dru comes to the hospital to take over as head nurse, Hayward and several other male nurses resent her intrusion and make things difficult for her. Joanne, however, wins them over, with the exception of Hayward. But he, too, becomes her friend when he makes a mistake that almost kills a prisoner and she takes the blame. Complications arise when Macready, found guilty of bribing a witness, finds himself sentenced to San Quentin. Kelly is faced with the problem of leaving Macready in a regular cell, subject to a possible attack by men he had sent to jail, or sending him to the prison farm at the risk of being accused of playing politics. The situation is resolved when Hayward saves Macready’s life and Macready refuses to squeal on his attackers. The reformed Macready starts a “law office’’ in prison to rectify the unjust sentences of the men he had sent to jail. He succeeds first in freeing Hayward, thus enabling him to marry Joanne. Berman Swartz and Walter Doniger wrote the screenplay and produced it, based on a story by Warden Duffy and Dean Jennings. Mr. Doniger directed it. Unobjectionable for the family but best suited for adults. *‘The Naked Jungle" with Eleanor Parker and Charlton Heston (Paramount, March; time, 95 min.) Set against the colorful background of a plantation on the edge of a South American jungle, this Technicolor adventure melodrama is sufficiently diverting to get by with undiscriminating picture-goers. It is, however, handicapped by a stereotyped, pulp-fiction plot, unbelievable characterizations, and talky, static sequences that tend to slow down the action, particularly in the first half. The story picks up speed and becomes highly melodramatic in the second half, when the plantation is attacked by billions and bilhons of so-called soldier ants, man-eating insects that advance murderously across the bush, destroying every living thing in their path including human beings. The manner in which the countryside is laid low by the ants, the hero’s unsuccessful efforts to destroy them with fire, and his getting rid of them finally by flooding his plantation have been staged most effectively and offer a number of thrills, but the depiction of ants swarming over human beings and devouring them is most unpleasant to watch. Charlton Heston, as the brooding, morose hero, and Eleanor Parker, as his “mailorder" bride, act well enough, but there is nothing real or genuine about either their characterizations or the conflict between them: — Eleanor, a beautiful and cultured woman, comes to the vast South American plantation of Heston, whom she had never met and whose bride she had become by proxy. She finds him unrelenting and sombre, but sees beneath his rough exterior a man who is more confused than stern. Heston takes one look at Eleanor and decides that she is too much of a lady for his rough country and life. He urges her to leave at once, but she, no quitter, prefers to remain. The relationship between them becomes unbearable when he discovers that she had been married before — a fact that had been kept from him by his brother, who had arranged the marriage. She finally agrees to leave by riverboat, but just before she departs word comes that billions of soldier ants, in a blanket two miles wide and twenty miles deep, had advanced on the countryside eating everything in their path, and that they were headed in the direction of the plantation. Heston urges Eleanor to leave immediately, but this time she refuses on the ground that he is in trouble and that her place is by his side. She argues also that the natives’ morale would be ruined if he sent her off to safety. Heston agrees and gains new respect for her. Marshalhng his force of natives, Heston creates a moat around the plantation in the belief that the ants will be unable to cross the water. But the highly intelligent insects fashion a bridge from the bodies of millions of their own and continue their advance. When a wall of fire proves insufficient to stop them, Heston, in a last heroic effort, risks his life to dynamite the flood gates holding back the river before his plantation. The rushing waters sweep away the ants and ruin the plantation, but Heston and Eleanor, locked in each other’s arms, determine to again build a lasting love and home. It was produced by George Pal, and directed by Byron Haskins, from a screenplay by Philip Yordan and Ranald MacDougall, based on a story by Carl Stephenson. Suitable for the family. “Riot in Cell Block 11" with Neville Brand (Allied Artists, Feb. 28; time, 80 min.) Employing a documentary-like style, Walter Wanger has succeeded in producing one of the best prison riot pictures in the history of the industry. What the newspapers printed about prison riots in recent years is reenacted so reahstically that one believes what he sees on the screen. This is particularly true of the incidents having to do with the overpowering of guards by revolting prisoners who hold them as hostages and threaten to kill them in order to force the authorities to accept their demands. But the revolters are not made into heroes, for after acceptance of their demands, Neville Brand, their leader, is told that he will have to stand trial for heading the revolt and that he may get a thirty-year sentence. Every foot of the action is thrilling, holding the spectator’s interest tense. Though all who portray revolting prisoners do fine work, the acting of Brand stands out. Emile Meyer is believable as the warden, who is under great tension. The fact that the entire footage was shot on location at Folsom State Prison in California adds to the realism. The direction is highly skillful. Briefly, the well-written story is concerned with a riot that breaks out in one cell block because of intolerable prison conditions and spreads throughout the prison. Leading the revolt is Neville Brand, aided by Leo Gordon, a tough inmate, and by Robert Osterloh, another inmate, who was opposed to violence. The rioters seize nine guards and threaten to kill them unless the warden agrees to their de-. mands. Included in the demands is one requiring the warden to arrange for press representatives to hear the prisoner’s reasons for revolting and to learn what reforms they were demanding. Another of the demands is that no prisoner shall be punished because of the revolt. The warden meets with Brand and agrees to sign an agreement accepting the demands, but he cannot guarantee that the Governor will agree. He promises, however, to do all that he can to persuade the Governor since the demands were the same as the recommendation that he, the warden, had proposed long before the rioting had broken out. Influenced by the warden’s attitude, Brand leads the prisoners back to their cells. In due time the warden informs Brand that the Governor had accepted the demands but that he must stand trial for leading the revolt and may receive an additional 30-year sentence as punishment. This decision leaves Brand crestfallen but satisfied that he had comi>elled the State Legislature to institute the needed reforms. Walter Wanger produced it, and Don Siegel directed it, from a screenplay by Richard Colhns. Unobjectionable for the family but best suited for adults.