Harrison's Reports (1944)

May 20, 1944 HARRISON'S REPORTS 83 On the day of her marriage to Ramu (Jon Hall) , Tollea (Maria Montez) is kidnapped and taken to Cobra Island, where she learns from a kindly old Queen (Mary Nash) that she was the elder twin sister of Nadja (also Maria Montez), the island's wicked High Priestess, who exacted heavy tribute from the natives under penalty of death. The Queen wanted Tollea to assume her rightful place as High Priestess and to bring an end to Nadja's cruel reign. Meanwhile Ramu, accompanied by Kado (Sabu), his native boy, comes to Cobra Island to rescue Tollea. He is captured and imprisoned by Martok (Edgar Barrier) , Nadja's minister of affairs, but, with Kado's aid, manages to escape and to contact Tollea. The old Queen begs Ramu to help bring about the abdication of Nadja. Aware that her rule was endangered, Nadja orders Martok to murder the Queen. Tollea, aroused, engages Nadja in a fight to the death and come out the victor. She dresses herself in Nadja's robes and, assuming her place as High Priestess, calls a halt to the persecution of the natives. Martok, in defiance, challenges her rule, but he and his men are subdued by Ramu and Kato, who come to Tollea's aid. Gene Lewis and Richard Brooks wrote the screen play, George Waggner produced it, and Robert Siodmak directed it. The cast includes Lon Chaney, Lois Collier, Moroni Olsen and others. "Make Your Own Bed" with Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, Alan Hale and Irene Manning (Warner Bros., June 10; time, 83 min.) Poor. Using as its basic theme the domestic help shortage, this is a boresome comedy, tedious and long drawn out. The story is made up of a series of timeworn comedy situations, and it falls into a rut at the very beginning from which it never succeeds in extricating itself. The comedy is forced, and most of it fails to provoke even as much as a grin. The characters are made to behave in so ridiculous a manner that the spectator becomes impatient with them all. There is no human interest. Jack Carson and Jane Wyman showed promise as a comedy team in their last picture, ''Princess O'Rourke," but they will need better story material than this to continue their success: — Alan Hale, a wealthy manufacturer, finds it difficult to obtain household servants because of the manpower shortage. To solve his problem, Hale tricks Jack Carson, a private detective, into posing as his butler while investigating a supposed romance between his wife (Irene Manning) and his next door neighbor (George Tobias) . To make sure that Carson remains on the job, Hale also tells him that Nazi spies planned to blow up his factory. Carson, who had just been discharged by Robert Shayne, head of a detective agency and his rival for the love of Jane Wyman, gladly accepts the position. Jane, eager to see Carson get ahead agrees to help him by posing as the maid. Having started a hoax, Hale continues it by employing a group of actors to spend the week-end at his home and to pose as Nari spies. Shayne, however, learns of the hoax and informs Jane about it. Meanwhile Carson learns of the deception when he overhears Hale and the actors plotting to stage a fake hold-up in the library. In a desperate attempt to win back Jane's love and confidence, Carson tells her that the actors are really spies and invites her into the library to prove it. Much to his surprise, his assertion proves correct. The spies, who had been posing as actors, overpower Carson and tie him up. But with the aid of one of the spies, who turns out to be an FBI agent, Carson frees himself and helps capture the gang. He ends up a hero, with Jane in his arms. Frances Swann and Edmund Joseph wrote the screen play, Alex Gottlieb produced it, and Peter Godfrey directed it. The cast includes Tala Birell, Ricardo Cortes, Kurt Katch and others. Unobjectionable morally. "The Hairy Ape" with William Bendix, Susan Hayward and John Loder (United Artists, no release date set; time, 91 min.) By reason of William Bendix's fine acting, this picture, which has been produced artistically, turns out to be an interesting drama. The story is based on Eu gene O'Neill's play, which was produced on the Broadway stage in 1922, with the late Louis Wolheim in the lead. The picture is really more of a character study than a connected story. It revolves around a brutal, boastful coal stoker on board a ship, proud of his massive strength, whose sensitivities are touched deeply when a beautiful rich girl insultingly calls him a "hairy ape." The most gripping situation is near the finish, where Bendix, under a nervous tension and about to kill the girl, becomes satisfied in his own mind that he was not beneath the level of his insulter, despite their difference in social positions, and once again becomes master of his domain — the stokehold. It is doubtful whether the rank and file will catch the spirit of O'Neill's play, but they should be entertained by the sheer force of Bendix's performance: — In Lisbon, on the eve of their sailing for New York, William Bendix, chief stoker of an old coal burning ship, and his two pals, Roman Bohnen and Tom Fadden, start a riot in a cafe and are saved from the police by the timely intervention of John Loder, the ship's second engineer. During the voyage, Susan Hayward, a wealthy and spoiled socialite, who delighted in enticing Loder away from Dorothy Comingore, her friend, persuades Loder to take her to the stokehold to see how the men live. She enters just as Bendix was cursing furiously at the engineers for demanding more steam. As he turns on her, flushed with anger and dripping with perspiration, she calls him a "hairy ape" and flees. Smarting under the insult, Bendix realises that he had come up against something he could not crush with his strength. He determines to find out why she had called him an "ape." Arriving in New York, he tries to break into her apartment, only to be arrested for disturbing the peace. Released from jail, Bendix wanders into a side-show and stands by the cage of a giant gorilla. Realizing that the gorilla's only thought was to kill, he returns to Susan's apartment determined to murder her. She faints as he approaches her. When Susan comes to and sees him bending over her, she tries to lure him into making love to her. Concluding that, despite the difference in their social positions, she was no better or different than any waterfront wench he had mastered in the past, Bendix releases her and returns to his ship, his obsession gone. Robert D. Andrews and Decla Dunning wrote the screen play, Jules Levey produced it, and Alfred Santell directed it. Joseph H. Nadel was the associate producer. Adult entertainment.