Harrison's Reports (1948)

14 HARRISON'S REPORTS January 24, 1948 "My Girl Tisa" with Lilli Palmer, Sam Wanamaker and Akim Tamiroff (Warner Bros., Feb. 7; time. 95 min.) A thoroughly heart warming human interest drama. It is the sort of picture that has a fascinating originality and should give satisfaction to all types of audiences. The locale is New York's east side at the turn of the century, and the story revolves around American immigrants of the day, fo' cusing attention on the romance and heartaches of a young girl, who slaves in a sweat shop by day and elsewhere by night to earn enough money to bring her father to America. It is a touching and at the same time amusing tale, with laughter and tears, in liberal quantities, combined in almost every foot of the film. Lilli Palmer is a charming and sympathy-awakening heroine, and Sam Wanamaker, a newcomer to the screen, makes a brash but likable hero, with whom she falls in love. Rich characterizations are provided by Akim Tamiroff, as the grumpy sweat shop operator; Stella Adlcr, as a flirtatious but understanding landlady in a boarding house; Hugo Haas, as a crooked travel agent, who mulcts unsuspecting immigrants of their savings with promises to arrange passage to America for their loved ones; and Alan Hale, as a neighborhood political boss. The ending, where Miss Palmer is saved from deportation by the timely intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt, is pure hokum, but it is done well and most movie-goers will love it: — Despite warnings from her friends that Wanamaker was a ne'er-do-well, Lilli falls in love with him. Wanamaker, who studied law books and had aspirations for the job of alderman, runs afoul of Hale, who resents his boldness and refuses to sponsor his candidacy. To further Wanamakcr's political ambitions, Lilli, learning that he needed $100 for a correspondence course in law, withdraws the money from her savings with Haas, who, after an unsuccessful attempt to make love to her, induces her to sign a contract by which her father could be brought to America immediately under an agreement to work out the passage following his arrival. Learning that Lilli had signed an unfair labor contract that would keep her father in bondage for ten years in a distant state, Wanamaker gives Haas a beating in an unsuccessful attempt to make him destroy the contract. Haas, in retaliation, visits the immigration authorities and, through false evidence, marks Lilli as an immoral woman and brings about an order for her deportation. While Lilli awaits deportation in Ellis Island, Wanamaker, frantic, sees a procession, headed by President Roosevelt, who had come to the pier to greet a visiting Crown Prince. He breaks through the police lines, and manages to interest the President in Lilli's case. Impressed by his audacity, the President makes it possible for Lilli to remain in America. Allen Boretz wrote the screen play from a play by Lucille S. Prumbs and Sara B. Smith. Milton Sperling produced it, and Elliott Nugent directed it. The cast includes Benny Baker, Sid Tomak, John Qualen, Fritz Feld and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Slippy McGee" with Donald Barry, Dale Evans and Tom Brown (Republic, ]an. 15; time, 65 min.) A fairly good human interest program drama, based on a crook-regeneration theme. The story is the old one about a young safe-cracker whose association with an understanding priest and love for a clean-cut girl help him to see the error of his ways. But despite the stock situations and the lack of novelty in the plot it holds one's interest well because of the steady-moving action and the capable performances. There is a touch of gangsterism in the story, making several of the sequences quite exciting. The romantic interest is appealing, and there are enough comedy touches to lighten the proceedings. The story was produced once before by First National as a silent in 1923 : — Having just committed his first crime, a jewel robbery, Donald Barry instructs his partners (Murray Alper and Michael Carr) to hide the stolen diamonds while he heads South to wait until the "heat is off." Barry is injured in the small town of Middleton when he saves a youngster from being run down by a truck. Father Tom Brown takes him into the parish house and summons Dale Evans, a nurse, to care for him. Although he suspected Barry's criminal past because of burglar tools found in his traveling bag, the kindly priest believes that there is good in him. Barry falls in love with Dale and determines to go straight. He visits his partners, who had come to Middleton to be near him, and tells them to get out of town. They ignore his advice and rob the local bank under circumstances that point the finger of suspicion on Barry. To clear himself with Dale and the priest, Barry recovers the money and brings it to the priest to return to the bank. Meanwhile Alper kills Carr in an argument, after which he determines to recover the money from Barry. A fight ensues, ending with Alper being shot dead by the police. Though cleared of the bank robbery Barry admits the jewel theft and willingly returns to St. Louis to face the music. Dale promises to wait for him. Norman S. Hall and Jerry Gruskin wrote the screen play from a novel by Mane Conway Oemler. Lou Brock produced it, and Albert Kellcy directed it. The cast includes James Seay, Dick Elliott and others. Unobjectionable morally. "To the Ends of the Earth" with Dick Powell and Signe Hasso (Columbia. February; time, 109 min.) A pretty good adventure melodrama, revolving around a Treasury Agent's efforts to smash a narcotic smuggling ring. Given a semi-documentary treatment, and combining fact and fiction, with the accent on fiction, the story is inclined to run wild at times and much of it is incredible; nevertheless, it should appeal to melodrama-loving fans, for the excitement and suspense are pretty well sustained. In addition to the melodramatics, which involve a worldwide chase before the ring is broken up and its leaders captured, the film offers an interesting insight on the methods employed to slip the drugs past custom officials in different parts of the world, as well as the manner in which the illegal poppy is grown and processed. The height of brutality is shown in one sequence, where 100 Chinese slaves, bound to an anchor on a ship manned by Japanese, who were transporting them to opium plantations, are dumped overboard and dragged to the bottom of the sea by the weight of the chain when the Jars endeavor to hide all evidence of their presence aboard; sensitive people will be sickened by this sequence. While any theme that deals with dope traffic is hardly desirable, what is shown is, on the whole, not objectionable: — Dick Powell, an agent attached to the U. S. Treasury Department's Narcotic Bureau in 1936, witnesses the Japanese-manned ship jettison its human cargo while chasing it to the 12-mile limit off the San Francisco coast. Suspecting that the ship was engaged in dope smuggling activities, Powell traces the crew to Shanghai. There, with the aid of a Chinese government official, he picks up the trail of an international ring of smugglers, the members of which either commit suicide or are murdered before he can obtain infor' mation from them concerning the identity of their leader. While still in Shanghai he meets and finds reason to suspect Signe Hasso, American governess of an orphaned Chinese girl (Maylia). The pursuit of the gang takes Powell to Egypt, Syria, and Havana and, though he gains more information about the ring, the leader's identity still eludes him. Meanwhile he continually comes across evidence that seems to implicate Signe, whom he sees again in Havana. Carefully weaving a net around the smugglers, Powell permits them to sneak a fortune in narcotics aboard a ship bound for New York. He boards the ship secretly to keep an eye on the narcotics, but his presence is soon discovered by the smugglers. In a battle of wits that almost costs Powell his life, he finally traps the smugglers and proves that none other than the Chinese orphan was the leader, and that Signe had been her unwitting dupe. Jay Richard Kennedy wrote the original screen play, Sidney Buchman produced it, and Robert Stevenson directed it. The cast includes Ludwig Donath, Vladimir Sokoloff, Edgar Barrier and others. Adult fare.