Harrison's Reports (1954)

February 20, 1954 HARRISON’S REPORTS 31 Martin to fight him. Martin knocks out Holliman with one punch, despite his complete lack of boxing skill. Wynn decides to train Martin as a fighter and over' comes his objections by pointing out that he can re' pentmgly carry the message of the Lord by preach' mg to the fight crowds from the ring, and that the money he will earn will help him to complete a church started by his late father. Under Wynn’s guidance, Martin wms 15 fights in a row. Wynn then utilizes Martin’s share of the purses to promote a big fight in partnership with another crooked manager, and secretly arranges for Martin’s opponent to take a “dive.” Martm, learnmg about this from Holliman, refuses to enter the ring, for he felt that the Lord would not want him to earn dishonest money. This move results in his sacrificing the money he had saved and m leaving Wynn broke. Wynn s rage turns to shame when he realizes Martin’s honesty and, under the auspices of the Unity Gospel Tabernacle, he matches Martin with tne Biloxi Block Buster, who turns out to be the man Martin thought he had killed. Martm wms the match alter a furious battle, and then quits the rmg to take his father s place m the church, it ends with ohelley proud of her husband for having helped Martm to attain his goal, and for having turned honest himself. bol Baer h'ieldmg produced it, and Fred M. Wilcox directed it, from a screenplay by Art Cohn, bcised on Bustace Cockrell s “The Lord m His Corner” and other of his stories. Family entertamement. ‘‘Genevieve” with an all-English cast (Univ.'lnt’l, February; time, 86 min.) Photographed m Techmcolor, “Genevieve” emer' ges as a nurthful British'made farce, revolvmg around an annual drive taken from London to Brighton by two friendly rivals who own "vmtage” cars and take pride m their performance. The story itself is extremely hghtweight, but the manner m which it pokes fun at British traditions m general and old'car enthusisasts m particular is highly amusmg. Much of the humor stems from the mmor bickering between the hero tmd his devoted wife, who abhors the hardships of the an' nual drive but goes along to keep her husband from sulking The comedy is at its best in the closing reels, where the two rivals mtike a wager on a race back to London and resort to all sorts of tactics to delay one another. The direction is skillful and the acting fine, but the players are unknown to American audiences, it IS the type of picture that should go over very well m art houses: — John Gregson, an ancient automobile enthusiast with a 1904 Darrocq he lovingly calls “Genevieve,” eagerly looks forward to the annual London to Brighton run sponsored by his auto club. Dmah Sheri' dan, his wife, does not share his enthusiasm because of past experiences with “Genevieve.” Kenneth More, Gregson s pal, who owned a 1904 Spyker, arranges to meet Gregson and Dinah in Brighton, accompanied by Kay Kendall, his latest girl'friend. For Gregson and Dinah, the journey is one of progressive disaster because of several breakdowns, and when they finally arrive in Brighton they are unable to secure satisfac' tory accomodations. Later, they meet More and Kay at a night'club, and the evening ends with Gregson in a jealous rage because of More’s easy familiarity with Dinah, who aggravates the situation by doing nothing to allay Gregson’s suspicions. The bad feeling between Gregson and More culminates in their mak' ing a heavy wager on a race back to London. The race turns out to be an unethical frec'for'all in which Gregson emerges the winner through pure luck — a victory that leaves Dinah with a new appreciation of “Genevieve.” It was produced and directed by Henry CorneHus, from a story and screenplay by William Rose. Family. “Rhapsody” with Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman, John Ericson and Louis Calhern (MGM, April; time, 115 min.) This romantic drama is enhanced by lavish produc' tion values, fine Technicolor photography, a good cast and beautiful classical music, but it is also handi' capped by a shallow soap'opera type of story that lacks genuine dramatic values and is decidedly limited in appeal to women. The picture may not have an easy time at the box'office, first, because the story and the abundance of classical music will have Uttle attrac' tion for the younger crowd, and secondly, because patrons with cultural tastes, who would certainly en' joy the music, probably will not care for the story. Another drawback is its running time of 1 1 5 minutes, which is much too long for what it has to offer. The performances are good, but none of the characters ever reaches true definition, with the result that what is supposed to be a deeply emotional drama leaves one unmoved and unconvinced: — Despite the objections of Louis Calhern, her wealthy father, Elizabeth Taylor falls in love with Vittorio Gassman, a violin student, and accompanies him to the Conservatory of Music in Zurich, where he is to prepare for his career as a concert artist. She monopolizes his time so completely that it interferes with his studies and he decides not to see her for three weeks so that he might be fully prepared for his debut. He is a sensational success at the concert and is immediately signed for a tour of the continent. Elizabeth, angered because he seemed to be more con' cerned about his career than about their love, quarrels with him cind her possessiveness drives him to the arms of another woman. She attempts suicide in des' pair but is saved by John Ericson, a piano student, who had fallen in love with her at first sight. She finds consolation in Ericson’s company, but when she refuses to remain in Zurich he gives up his studies to marry her and lead a life of travel and idleness. In due time he degenerates into a social drunk^lrd. Meanwhile Elizabeth seeks to win back Gassman, and to accomplish this she decides to get Ericson interested in his music once again. She returns with him to Zur' ich and whok'heartedly devotes herself to help him study and perpare for his debut. On the night of the concert, she tells Ericson that she planned to leave him and go away with Gassman. This shocking news leaves Ericson in a daze, but he manages to keep his wits and scores a huge success in his debut. After the con' cert, Ericson’s happiness is complete when Elizabeth comes backstage and confesses that she had come to the realization that she loved him and not Gassman. It was produced by Lawrence Weingarten, eind directed by Charles Vidor, from a screenplay by Fay and Michael Kanin, based on the novel “Maurice Guest,” by Henry Handel Richardson. Unobjectionable morally.