Harrison's Reports (1946)

August 17, 1946 HARRISON'S REPORTS 131 "The Time of Their Lives" with Abbott and Costello ( Universal, Aug. 16; time, 82 min.) A typical Abbott and Costello comedy, neither better nor worse than their previous pictures in recent years. As usual, it is entertainment strictly for their fans; others may find their brand of comedy tiresome. This time the comedy pair's routine slapstick gags are supplemented by trick photography in the "Topper" and "Invisible Man" fashion, with Cos' tello enacting the role of an earthbound ghost, invisible to those around him. It has some bright moments when the comedy runs high, provoking hearty laughs, but on the whole the gags are familiar and, at times too long drawn out. The story opens in 1780, during the Revolutionary War, with Lou Costello, a tinker, arriving at the King's Point, N. Y. mansion of Jess Barker, a tory, to mend some pots. The butler (Bud Abbott) dislikes Costello intensely because of their mutual admiration for the same housemaid (Anne Gillis), who is thrilled when Costello shows her a letter from George Washington attesting to his patriotism. When Mar' jorie Reynolds, Barker's fiancee, learns of his involvement in Benedict Arnold's plan to betray the Continental cause, she enlists the aid of Costello to foil the plot. Both, however, are mistaken for traitors and shot dead by American troops, whose commander throws their bodies into a well on the estate, invoking a curse that their souls remain earthbound until such time as they can prove their innocence. One hundred and sixty-six years later, in 1946, the ghosts of Marjorie and Costello, still bound to the well, are disturbed by the restoration of the mansion by John Shelton, a young millionaire, who invites as house guests his fiancee, Lynn Baggett, her aunt, Binnie Barnes, and his physician, Bud Abbott, a direct descendant of the mansion's butler in 1780. Attracted by signs of life in the mansion, Marjorie and Costello decide to enter it to search for Washington's letter to prove their patriotism and thus lift the curse on their souls. They keep the household in a frenzy as they glide about invisibly, ransacking the mansion for the letter. Meanwhile Costello, remembering his troubles with Abbott's ancestor, makes his life miserable with numerous ghost stunts. Eventually, Marjorie and Costello, aided by Gale Sondergaard, a psychic servant, make their problem known to the house guests, who locate the missing letter in an ancient clock. With the letter brought to light, the curse is lifted and the ghosts are permitted to depart from the earth. Val Burton, Walter DeLeon and Bradford Ropes wrote the original screen play, Mr. Burton produced it, and Charles Barton directed it. Unojectionable morally. "Shadow of a Woman" with Andrea King and Helmut Dantine (Warner Bros., Sept. 14; time, 78 min.) Despite a better than average production, this mystery melodrama does not rise above program level. It offers fairly exciting but not particularly pleasurable entertainment, for it revolves around the sadistic actions of a murderous "quack" doctor. Moreover, it lacks a convincing story. But it should give fair satisfaction to patrons who do not pay too much attention to story detail. Most of the suspense and excitement occurs in the second half, where the doctor's bride learns of his inhumanity and endangers her life to expose him. The unpleasantness is caused by the fact that the doctor tries to murder his own child, by a previous marriage, to collect an inheritance. There is no comedy to relieve the tension: — After a whirlwind, five-day courtship, Andrea King marries Dr. Helmut Dantine, knowing little about him except that he was a practitioner who believed that proper diets would cure most human ailments. Their honeymoon is marked by several mysterious attempts on Dantine's life before he reveals to Andrea that many persons disagreed with his theories, and that he had just been divorced from Peggy Knudsen, who was seeking to gain custody of their five-yearold son (Don McGuire). Dantine takes Andrea to his San Francisco home, where he supported his sister (Lisa Golm) and crippled nephew (John Alvin). She finds the household most depressing and is soon initiated into the peculiar diet served to all members of the family. She learns also that Dantine's son was to inherit a fortune when he becomes of age. When two of her husband's patients die under peculiar circumstances, Andrea becomes suspicious of his mysterious movements and launches an investigation of her own. She wins the confidence of Dantine's sister and nephew, and discovers that Dantine was trying to starve his little son to death as part of a scheme to gain control of his inheritance. Andrea visits Dantine's former wife and her lawyer (William Prince) and offers to help them take the boy away from Dantine to save his life. Dantine, by this time aware that Andrea had found him out, attempts to kill her. He is prevented from doing so by the timely arrival of his crippled nephew and, in the ensuing struggle between the two men, Dantine falls from a balcony to his death. Whitman Chambers and C. Graham Baker wrote the screen play from a novel by Virginia Perdue. William Ja' cobs produced it, and Joseph Santley directed it. Adult entertainment. "The Big Sleep" with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (Warner Bros., Aug. 31; time 114 min.) Those who enjoy tough, hard-hitting melodramas should be more than satisfied with this one, for it is a first-rate thriller of its kind. It is strictly adult fare, however, for the story is sordid and unpleasant, and its characters are not sympathetic. Moreover, there are several coarse suggestive situations and dialogue that has double meanings. From the opening to the closing scenes, its tale of blackmail, multiple murders, gambling and romance maintains a high degree of suspense and excitement as Humphrey Bogart, in the role of a wordly-wise private detective, takes on a case involving two irresponsible, wealthy sisters. His investigation brings him in contact with a group of unsavory characters and leads him into a series of adventures that result in situation after situation building up to a tense climax as he relentlessly follows up his clues without regard for unmerciful beatings and threats upon his life. Bogart's performance is excellent. It is not a pleasurable entertainment, but it will undoubtedly be an outstanding box-office attraction: — Learning that Martha Vickers, his mentally unbalanced daughter, was being blackmailed by an unscrupulous dealer in sex literature.Charles Waldron, an elderly millionaire, hires Bogart to investigate the matter. Lauren Bacall, another daughter, tries to induce Bogart to drop the investigation, but he refuses. Bogart traces the bookdealer to his home, arriving there just as the man is murdered mysteriously. He finds Martha there in a doped condition and discovers evidence that the slain man had taken some photos of her but that the negatives were missing. The search for the missing photos brings Bogart in contact with Louis Jean Heydt, who had taken over the bookdealer's business, and who was making additional blackmail demands on Martha. Bogart outwits Heydt and gains possession of the photos just as the crook is shot dead by a henchman he had doublecrossed. When Bogart succeeds in solving the bookdealer's murder and in capturing Heydt's killer, Lauren gives him a check and tells him to consider the case closed. But Bogart, who all through his investigation had been tangling with John Ridgely, a gambler, suspects that Ridgely had some mysterious control over Lauren and determines to continue the investigation. Ridgely, aware that Bogart was on his trail, sets out on a campaign to stop him. Bogart experiences a number of beatings before he discovers that Ridgely had murdered a friend of the family and had led Lauren to believe that her sister was his accomplice. He learns also that Lauren wanted him to drop the case to keep her sister out of further trouble. Bogart eventually falls into the clutches of Ridgely and his henchmen but escapes with Lauren's aid. In a final showdown, he tricks Ridgely into meeting him and forces the latter into a death trap meant for himself. It ends with Lauren and Bogart in a fond embrace. William Faulkner, Leigh Brack ett and Jules Furthman wrote the screen play from a novel by Raymond Chandler, and Howard Hawks produced and directed it. The cast includes Soma Darrin, Elisha Cook, Jr. and others.