Harrison's Reports (1954)

May 1, 1954 HARRISON’S REPORTS 71 “Living it Up” with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Janet Leigh (Paramount, no rel. date set; time, 95 min.) The musical comedy “Hazel Flagg," upon which “Living it Up” has been based, may have been a good stage show, but the same thing cannot be said of this picture. As a matter of fact, it is the poorest Martin and Lewis comedy yet produced, for the comedy throughout is forced and ineffective. There are some spots here and there where the avid followers of this comedy team may laugh, but few of the others will find their antics amusing. The chief fault with the story is that the two comedians are presented as “fakers.” Jerry Lewis poses as a young man who is dying of radioactive poisoning, taking advantage of peoples’ sentiments, and Dean Martin helps him in the faking. The Technicolor photography is good: — Through several mishaps, Jerry, a railroad employee at Desert Hole, N.M., becomes involved with a radioactive au' tomobile that had been abandoned during an atom bomb test at Los Alamos. The story that Jerry is dying of radioactive poisoning is broadcast throughout the nation. In New York, Janet Leigh, a crack newspaper reporter, sells her publisher the idea of bringing Jerry to New York for one last fling at life, a stunt that should boost the paper’s circulation. She goes to Desert Hole to make the offer to Jerry, and he readily accepts, in spite of the fact that Dean Martin, his doctor, had found that he is not dying. Dean, however, goes along to be with his friend in his “dying moments.” Jerry is acclaimed as a hero in New York, and every one, including the Mayor, tries to make the last days of his life happy. Meanwhile Janet, at her publisher’s expense, summons the best doctors in the world to New York in an effort to save Jerry’s life. After a thorough examination, they pronounce him hale and hearty and report that his life is in no danger. Janet’s boss reprimands her and orders her to get him out of the mess. She denounces both Jerry and Dean as charlatans, and persuades Jerry to write a suicide note and to jump off a pier. People rush to the pier to see Jerry leap into the river, but he loses his nerve and refuses to jump. The publisher informs Jerry that he must jump since he had already published the story. At that moment pandemonium breaks loose, for half the New York population converges on the pier to stop him. The final scenes show Jerry and Dean, dressed as street cleaners, cleaning up the streets of New York. Paul Jones produced it, and Norman Taurog directed it, from a screenplay by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson, based on the musical comedy “Hazel Flagg” and a story by James Street. Family. “The Rocket Man” with Anne Francb, Charles Cobum and John Agar (20th Century-Fox, May; time, 79 min.) Just a mildly entertaining program picture, suitable for the lower half of a double bill in secondary situations. The story is very weak, and an attempt has been made to bolster it with a touch of fantasy in which a “space man” places into the hands of Uttle George Winslow, the youngster with the “foghorn” voice, a rocket gun that has the power to combat evil and that enables him to aid his friends in preventing a crooked politician from acquiring the town orphanage for personal profit. Because of this fanciful touch of “space” doings, the picture may appeal to the youngsters, but intelligent adults will hardly go for it, even though the story unfolds in a light vein: — When sponsors of a “Space Man” television program distribute presents to boys at the orphanage in a small American town, little George is disappointed when the gifts run out before he can get one. A real Space Man suddently appears from nowhere and sees to it that the youngster receives a rocket gun, but he tells the boy that he is to use it only to do good. Shortly thereafter George goes to live with Spring Byington, the town’s justice of the peace, and with Anne Francis, her attractive daughter. When Emory Parnell, an influential politician, is arrested for drunken driving. Miss Byington sends him to jail for 10 days, despite the objections of Charles Coburn, the mayor and her close friend. Miss Byington sends Anne to the bus station to meet Stanley Clements, a parolee, whom she had agreed to accept for rehabihtation. Through a mix-up, Anne greets and takes home John Agar, who was secretly employed by Parnell to assist him in a dishonest real estate deal involving the orphanage. Agar, attracted to Anne, poses as the parolee. In the events that follow. Miss Byington learns that the orphanage had been put up for sale and that Parnell had submitted a bid for it. This outrages her and she determines to outbid Parnell to save the children from being transferred to a crowded state institution. Coburn helps her to raise the necessary funds but the tricky Parnell invokes an ancient law that prevents her from submitting a bid. By this time Agar reveals his duplicity and joins forces with Spring to combat Parnell. The situation comes to a head on election eve at a political rally where little George, aiming his rocket gun at Parnell, compels him, against his will, to reveal his dishonesty and to admit that he had discovered oil on the orphanage property. Thus Parnell is ruined and the orphanage saved, but only little George and his Space Man know how the feat had been accomplished. Leonard Goldstein produced it, and Oscar Rudolph directed it, from a screenplay by Leny Bruce and Jack Henley, based on a story by George W. George and George P. Slavin. Family. “Dial M for Murder” with Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings (Warner Bros., April 27; time, 105 min.) Photographed in WarnerColor and in 3-D, this screen version of the successful Broadway stage play of the same name shapes up as no more than a mild entertainment, despite the expert direction of Alfred Hitchcock and the competent acting of the players. The chief weakness is that the action is slow, caused by the fact that the story unfolds almost entirely by dialogue. Talk is employed by Ray Milland to compel Anthony Dawson to attempt the murder of Grace Kelly, his (Milland’s) wife, and after Miss Kelly kills Dawson in self-defense, more talk is resorted to by Milland to frame her for Dawson’s murder. Even the solution of the crime by Robert Cummings, as Miss Kelly’s former boy-friend, and John Williams, as a Scotland Yard Inspector, is worked out by dialogue. The dialogue is good, but the lack of melodramatic action serves to diminish one’s interest in the proceedings. It is not a picture that should be shown to children, for there is no pleasure in watching a man plan a murder and carry it out in detail, even though the plan goes awry. The 3-D photography is good technically, but it adds nothing to the entertainment values and only serves to annoy the spectator because of the requirement that he wear special glasses: — In her London apartment, Grace Kelly tells Robert Cummings, an American mystery story writer, that, even though she still loved him, she had ended their love affair because Ray Milland, her husband, had become a kind and considerate mate. As she reveals to Cummings that some one had stolen one of his love letters and had been blackmailing her, Milland arrives. The three had planned to attend a show together, but Milland begs off for business reasons and asks them to go by themselves. Upon their departure, he telephones Anthony Dawson and persuades him to come to his apartment. Milland reveals himself as an old school chum of Dawson’s and threatens to tell the police about some of Dawson’s past illegal activities unless he cooperates with him in the murder of Grace. He confesses that he had married Grace for her money, that he had discovered her love for Cummings, and that he himself had stolen the love letter and had been blackmailing her. He now feared that she would leave him without her fortune, and he offers Dawson 1,000 pounds to murder her under a plan that would make it appear as if she had been killed by a burglar. Dawson, in no position to refuse, agrees. The carefully laid murder plan goes awry when Grace manages to kill Dawson in self-defense. Milland, while feigning concern over Grace’s brutal experience, cleverly plants clues to indicate that she had murdered Dawson to stop him from blackmailing her. On the strength of those clues, Grace is tried, convicted and sentenced to hang. The distraught Cummings tries to induce Milland to make a statement that would free Grace and possibly send Milland himself to jail for several years. Milland refuses, and immediately informs Inspector Williams of the proposition. But Williams already suspects Milland, and by following certain theories and clues he manages to trap Milland into revealing himself as the guilty one. Freed from prison, Grace rushes into Cummings’ protective arms. Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed it, from a screenplay by Frederick Knott, based on his own play. Adults.