Harrison's Reports (1948)

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April 3, 1948 HARRISON'S REPORTS 55 manages to squeeze out a few genuine laughs. All in all, it shapes up as a serviceable comedy for the un' discriminating, one that will neither raise nor lower the box-office value of these comedians : — Mistaken by a big-time bookie (Joseph Calleia) as employees of a messenger service, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, window washers, are sent to the office of a gambler to collect a $50,000 debt. As they wait for the money, the boys overhear the gambler instructing his henchmen to retrieve the money after they sign a receipt for it. The boys foil the plot by ducking into an office where a corps of girls were busy mailing envelopes containings samples of face powder. Costello hurriedly addresses an envelope to Calleia, but in the excitement the money is placed in a sample envelope and mailed to someone else. As a result, the boys find their lives threatened by Calleia unless the money is found. By means of a mailing list they man' age to trace the money to Cathy Downs, only to learn that she had spent it on luxuries. From then on they become the object of a series of comic chases, during which they unsuccessfully try to get themselves ar' rested so as to be protected from Calleia. Finally, through an acquaintanceship that had struck up with Leon Errol, a millionaire, the debt is settled to every one's satisfaction. Charles Barton produced and directed it from a screen play by John Grant and Howard Harris. "Man From Texas" with James Craig, Lynn Bari and Johnnie Johnston (Eagle-Lion, Mar. 6; time, 71 mm.) An ordinary program Western. Although it has its moments of hard-riding and shooting action, it is far from a satisfying entertainment principally because of a plot that lacks clarity, and of haphazard, loosejointed direction. Moreover, the characterizations are neither clear nor believable, and the dialogue pretty trite. At times the plot is so muddled that the spectator will not understand what is happening. The players try to put some meaning into their respective parts, but they are handicapped by the poor material and by the fact that their actions are not particularly sympathy-awakening. The photography is sharp : — Married to Lynn Bari by a Justice of the Peace more than eight years previously, James Craig, a notorious bandit known as the El Paso Kid, is unable to keep his promise to re-marry her at a church wedding; every time he had prepared for it, he had been forced to flee because of an approaching posse. He finally decides to open up an honest business. To accomplish this, he borrows $500 from a local bank. Everything goes smoothly until Craig decides that he needs more capital to expand. Despite his wife's protests, he plans another bank robbery but promises to commit the crime in a distant town so as not to sully locally his new reputation for honesty. The robbery is a success. On his way home, Craig stops for a meal at the cabin of Una Merkel, a penniless widow with nine childern, and learns that the bank was to foreclose on her homestead on the following day. Through trickery, he manages to save the homestead by arranging for payment to be made to the bank messenger, then steals the money back from him. In the course of events, Craig is betrayed by one of his own henchmen and is arrested. He heads for jail in the custody of a Marshal and, en route, he foils an attempted holdup of the train's gold cargo, wounds several of the robbers, and saves the Marshal from death. Fired to enthusiastic heights by Craig's action on the side of the law, the Texas newspapers start an editorial cam paign in his behalf, with the result that the Governor reduces his jail sentence. Upon his release, Craig returns home and holds the church wedding that both Lynn and himself had wanted for so long. Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov wrote the screen play by E. B. Ginty. Mr. Fields produced it, and Leigh Jason directed it. Unobjectionable morally. "The Pirate" with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Walter Slezak (MGM, May; time, 102 min.) This is an elaborate production in Technicolor which, despite some moments of tedium, shapes up as a good, light entertainment by virtue of Gene Kelly's outstanding work. His dance routines alone are worth the price of admission, for his graceful footwork is about the most imaginative and spectacular that has ever been seen on the screen. The story, which takes place on a tiny Caribbean isle early in the 19th Century, is a fanciful tale that becomes labored and contrived on more than one occasion, but on the whole it is rather amusing. The main thing about the film, however, are the excellently staged song-and-dance numbers, the magnificent color effects, and the brilliant costumes. Of the Cole Porter songs, one in particular, "Be a Clown," is very good. This number is done twice, the first time by Kelly and the Nicholas Brothers in a brilliantly executed dance routine, and the second time in the finale by Kelly and Judy Garland who, dressed as clowns, put the song over in a manner that will send patrons out of the theatre humming the tune. The buoyant performances by the entire cast help to make this a sprightly and happy show: — At the behest of her domineering aunt (Gladys Cooper), Judy Garland, a cloistered Latin girl, becomes engaged to the island's wealthy mayor (Walter Slezak), a fat, middle-aged man. She agrees to the marriage in spite of the fact that her dream idol had always been a handsome and dashing man, like "Macoco," the fabled pirate. Meeting the boat that brings her trousseau from Paris, Judy becomes the unwilling object of the attentions of Gene Kelly, head of a group of traveling actors, who loses no time trying to make her acquaintance. Kelly traces her to her home-town, arriving there on the day of her wedding. He breaks into her home and is threatened by Slezak with hanging. But Slezak changes his attitude when Kelly recognizes him as "Macoco," the pirate, who had gone into hiding. Threatened with exposure, Slezak agrees not to hamper Kelly's movements. Kelly, in turn, capitalizes on the situation by claiming to be "Macoco," and succeeds in terrorizing the town. Judy sees through his impersonation but, being infatuated with him, meekly does his bidding. Slezak decides to rid himself of the intruder by calling in the Viceroy and the militia, which had long been searching for "Macoco." Unable to convince the Viceroy that he was not the notorious pirate, Kelly is sentenced to hang. On the day set for execution, Kelly receives from the Viceroy permission to put on one last performance with his troupe. He hypnotizes Judy and makes her state publicly that she loved him, "Macoco," and not Slezak. Her words so infuriate Slezak that he leaps to the stage and shouts out that he, not Kelly, is "Macoco," thus clearing Kelly and sealing his own doom. Arthur Freed produced it and Vincent Minnclli directed it from a screen play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, based on the play by S. N Behrman. The cast includes George Zucco, Reginald Owen and others. Unobjectionable morally.