Harrison's Reports (1945)

106 HARRISON'S REPORTS July 7, 1945 "Gangs of the Waterfront" with Robert Armstrong and Stephanie Bachelor (Republic, July 3; time, 56 min.) Just .i moderately entertaining melodrama of the gangster variety. The story is extremely far-fetched, but where patrons are not too exacting in their demands it should give fair satisfaction. One is held in considerable suspense throughout, owing to the danger to the hero, who, because of his resemblance to a notorious gang leader, impersonates the man and assumes leadership of his gang in an effort to help the police curb their activities. There is excitement in the closing scenes, where the gang leader returns to the waterfront to expose his impersonator only to he killed mistakenly by one of his own henchmen. The performances are fair, with Robert Armstrong playing a dual role. A romance has been worked into the plot: — Injured in an automobile accident, Robert Armstrong, a gang leader, whose gang had been troubling the police, is held incommunicado in a hospital by William Forrest, the district attorney, who puts into effect a plan to gain evidence against the gang for the murder of Stephanie Bachelor's father, head of a nautical supply company. Forrest communicates with a taxidermist (also played by Armstrong), who bore an amazing resemblance to the gang leader, and induces him to impersonate Armstrong and to assume leadership of the gang. Familiarizing himself with Armstrong's habits and with the gang's activities, the taxidermist takes charge of the gang and succeeds in fooling the unsuspecting members. He holds a conference with other gang leaders under the pretense of organizing them, but actually gathers evidence against them. Meanwhile Stephanie, believing him to be the real gang leader, complains to the police that he was trying to "shake her down." Following a series of complications in which the taxidermist tries to protect Stephanie from the gangsters without arousing their suspicions, Martin Koslek, the gang leader's first lieutenant, learns of his identity. In the meantime, Armstrong, learning of the masquerade, escapes from the hospital and heads for the waterfront to confront his impersonator. The police rush to the scene to protect the taxidermist and, in the midst of a gun battle, Koslek shoots down the real gang leader in the belief that he was the taxidermist. The other gangsters are either shot or taken into custody. Stephanie and the taxidermist plan to wed. Albert Beich wrote the screen play, and George Blair produced and directed it. The cast includes Marian Martin and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Arson Squad" with Frank Albertson and Robert Armstrong (PRC, no release date set; time, 64 mm.) A fairly entertaining program melodrama. The plot follows a familiar pattern, but the action is fast and at times exciting. As indicated by the title, the story deals with arsonists. The spectator is held in fairly tense suspense throughout, as a result of the fact that the hero, a fire insurance investigator posing as an insurance salesman, is in constant danger because of his efforts to uncover the doings of a professional gang of arsonists. A spectacular warehouse fire, two murders, and a mild romance, have been worked into the plot. The closing scenes, where the hero and the police trap the arsonists in the act of setting a fire, are exciting: — When a woolen warehouse burns down, and when Byron Foulger's partner is found murdred in the building, Captain Robert Armstrong, of the Arson Squad, and Frank Albertson, an insurance investigator posing as a salesman, suspect arson and set about to prove it. Albertson informs the head of the insurance company of his suspicions and induces him to withhold payment of the insurance, despite the objections of Chester Clute, the company's chief adjuster. Through Grace Gillen, Foulger's secretary, Albertson obtains invoices covering a woolen shipment supposedly burned in the fire, and learns that the w(xil had been sold by Jerry Jerome, head of a woolen firm. A visit to Jerome's office convinces Albertson that he was head of an arson ring that had been avoiding detection cleverly, and other evidence indicates to him that Jerome was in league with Foulger in the warehouse fire. Shortly after, Armstrong informs Albertson that a new warehouse had taken out a $75,000 insurance policy on a woolen shipment from Jerome. Albertson, posing as a fire inspector, visits the warehouse, copies the bolt numbers on the woolens, and discovers that they correspond to the invoice numbers on the shipment supposedly burned in Foulger's warehouse. Aided by Armstrong's Arson Squad, Albertson allows Jerome's gang to set the stage for the fire, then captures them as they set it off. Jerome, to save his own neck, reveals that Clute, the insurance company's adjuster, had been the arson ring's mastermind. Arthur St. Claire wrote the screen play, Arthur Alexander produced it, and Lew Landers directed it. Unobjectionable morally. "White Pongo" with Richard Fraser and Maris Wrixon (PRC, no release date set; time, 72 min.) Undiscnminating audiences may find enough excitement in this jungle melodrama to satisfy them, but others will probably find it tiresome on the whole, for not only is the story trite, implausible, and longdrawn out, but also the direction and acting is amateurish. The action centers around a search for a huge white gorilla, the hybrid product of a scientific experiment, and, for added interest, the plot includes a love triangle, the machinations of an unscrupulous guide, and an exciting jungle battle between two huge gorillas, the Hollywood variety, of course. One follows the proceedings restlessly, occasionally laughing where no laughter was intended. Liberal use has been made of jungle clips to pad out the thin plot. While the picture rates as no better than average program fare, it is the sort that lends itself to exploitation : — Through a white man who had escaped from an African tribe, Lionel Royce, an anthropologist, and Gordon Richards, a British scientist, learn of a white gorilla that had been created by a missing scientist, using human spermatoza, Richard, accompanied by Maris Wrixon, his daughter, and by Michael Dyne, his secretary, had organized a safari to explore the Congo, but he changes his mind and decides to search for the white gorilla. En route, bitterness develops in the safari because of Dyne's jealousy over Maris' interest in Richard Fraser, a rifleman. Meanwhile, unknown to the party, the white gorilla had been trailing them, intent upon capturing Mans, with whom