Harrison's Reports (1948)

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April 17, 1948 63 "Close-Up" with Alan Baxter, Virgina Gilmore and Richard Kollmar (Eagle-Lion, no release date set; time, 72 min.) The fact that this picture has been shot against actual New York backgrounds gives it an air of authenticity, but as entertainment it is no more than a run-of-the-mill melodrama that belongs on the lower half of a double-bill. Revolving around a manhunt for an escaped Nazi leader, who had been accidentally photographed by a newsreel cameraman, the story is rambling and complicated, and has many loose ends. Moreover, it is hampered by ineffective comedy gags and, during the first part, by a slow pace. It picks up speed in the second half and, at the finish, it offers considerable excite' ment in a thrilling gun battle that takes place along Manhattan's East River Drive. There are other sequences that are fraught with suspense, but faulty direction fails to sustain the mood. The performances are adequate, and the camera work very good: — As Alan Baxter, a cameraman, photographs a group of fashion models on a New York street, Richard Kollmar, inadvertently crosses in front of the camera, spoiling the shot. Later, at Baxter's office, a strange man offers to buy the mined film. Baxter and his employer, Loring Smith, run off the exposed film and discover that Kollmar was a missing Nazi leader who had been living in New York incognito. The strange man disappears, but Baxter is met by Phil Huston, a detective, who asks him to accompany him to head' quarters, bringing the film as evidence. En route, Baxter dis' covers that Houston was really a gangster, hired by Kollmar to recover the film. He manages to escape and, back in his apartment, finds Virginia Gilmore, a magazine reporter he had met that day, bound and gagged. He takes her home in a taxicab, but before escorting her to her door gives the film to the driver with instructions to take it to the police. After bidding Virginia goodnight, Baxter is waylaid by two ruffians and taken to the basement of Huston's home, where he is held captive. There, he learns that Virginia was Huston's stooge. She admits it, but offers to help him escape. In the course of events, Kollmar and Huston get into an argument over payment for Huston's services in arranging for a sea' plane to take the Nazi out of the country. Huston is slugged, and Kollmar, taking Baxter with him as a shield, races to meet the seaplane. Huston follows in pursuit, while Virginia telephones the police. All converge on the East River Drive, where police bullets down Huston and Kollmar, saving * Baxter. As Virginia is led away by the police, Baxter thanks her for saving his life. Frank Satenstein produced it and Jack Donohue directed it from an original screen play by John Bright and Max Wilk. Adult entertainment. "LightnhV in the Forest" with Lynne Roberts and Warren Douglas (Republic, March 25; time, 58 min.) A fairly entertaining mixture of romantic comedyfarce and gangsterism; it should serve adequately as a supporting feature in secondary theatres. Its story about a pampered rich girl who is taken in hand by a young psychiatrist to cure her mania for thrills is not too weighty, and at times it borders on the inane and ridiculous, but it has several laugh' provoking situations and some excitement. Towards the finish the story has a goodly quota of suspense and thrills, caused by a gun duel between the police and a group of gunmen, with whom the young couple had become innocently involved, but even this part has its touches of comedy. The players are unable to give credibility to what transpires, but they manage to squeeze a fair share of laughs from some of the silly doings: — Lynne Roberts' love for excitement proves too much for her uncle, Judge Paul Harvey, who turns her over to Warren Douglas, a young psychiatrist, to be cured. Douglas balks at the assignment because Lynne had already involved him in a mixup with the police, but he soon changes his mind when the Judge threatens to publicize their escapade. Douglas starts the cure by taking Lynne to the Judge's secluded mountain cabin, chaperoned by an elderly couple (Claire DuBrey and Lucien Littlcfield ) . Balky at first, Lynne finds herself falling in love with Douglas. Their budding romance is interrupted by the sudden appearance of gunman Donald Barry, his moll, Adrian Booth, and two henchmen, who take over the cabin as a hideout after escaping with a big payroll haul. The police eventually surround the cabin and, during the siege, the two henchmen are killed. Finally, Barry, in a clever move, compels the police to guarantee him and his moll a safe getaway lest he kill Lynne and Douglas and the elderly couple. Just as Barry prepares to use Lynne and Douglas as shields, Douglas kicks the gun out of his hand and starts a fight, while Lynne engages the gun moll in a hair-pulling contest. The police close in and capture them. Admitting that she had had enough excitement to last her for the rest of her life, Lynne looks forward to a more peaceful existence with Douglas. Sidney Picker produced it and George Blair directed it from a screen play by John K. Butler, based on a story by J. Benton Cheney. Unobjectionable morally. "Another Part of the Forest" with Fredric March, Dan Duryea, Edmond O'Brien and Ann Blyth (Univ.-Int'l, no release date set; time, 107 min.) A depressing but fascinating drama, superbly produced and brilliantly acted. Based on Lillian Hellman's successful stage play of the same name, this story is related to her "The Little Foxes" in that it deals with the same unsavory set of decadent characters, this time in the 1880's, twenty years prior to the time the action took place in "Foxes." The set' ting is once again a Southern town, and like "Foxes," the story is extremely unpleasant and distasteful, for it is a mix' ture of avarice, deceit, depravity and double-crosses, revolving around a family of schemers — two brothers, a sister, and father, who are constantly pitted against one another as each tries to gain his own selfish ends. The only decent character in the story is the mother, who eventually leaves her home because she finds both her children and her husband despica' ble. Like "The Little Foxes," it will probably fare better in large cities than in small towns: — Fredric March, a wealthy merchant, is the most hated man in Bowden, Ala., because he smuggled badly needed salt through the Union blockade during the Civil War only to sell it to his fellow townsmen at exorbitant prices. The feeling of hatred existed within his own family. Except for his daughter, Ann Blythe, whose every wish was his command, he had little regard for either his sons, Dan Duryea and Edmond O'Brien, or his wife, Flornece Eldredge, who got little consideration even from her children. Ann was in love with John Dall, a Confederate army officer, with whom she wanted to elope in spite of the fact that she knew her father would be against it. Duryea, a snivelling weakling, was in love with Dona Drake, the town tart, who refused to marry him because he had no money. O'Brien, a schemer, had been unsuccessfully trying to obtain money from his father to invest in cotton stocks. In a series of intricate conspiracies, March is plotted against by each of his children, who in turn plot against each other as they seek a solution to their own problems. These conspiracies come to a head when Ann loses Dall, Duryea loses Dona, and when O'Brien, having arranged for his father to loan $7,000 to a plantation owner, whose plantation March coveted, is exposed by Ann as having planned to pocket $2,000 of the money for himself. March, angered, orders him to get out of the house. March's wife pleads with him to let O'Brien remain, but March refuses to relent. In the ensuing quarrel, March's wife inadvertently reveals his secret traitorous activities during the Civil War which, if known to the townspeople, would cause them to lynch him. Taking immediate advantage of this information, O'Brien compels his father to sign over to him his total wealth and business by threatening to expose him to the townspeople. Once in control of the wealth, O'Brien turns against his entire family. Ann and Duryea, still pursuing their selfish interests, abandon their father to seek O'Brien's favor. Their mother, after bitterly denouncing them, leaves the house. Jerry Bresler produced it and Michael Gordon directed it trom a screen play by Vladimir Pozner. Strictly adult fare.