Harrison's Reports (1948)

November 13, 1948 HARRISON'S REPORTS 183 other brother, and that Edmund MacDonald, Bell's right hand man, was the murderer. Bell compels Bishop to work for him by threatening to frame him for the murder. This gives Bishop an opportunity to learn how Bell was cheating the ranchers, and Bell, suspecting a double-cross, orders MacDonald to kill him. MacDonald goes after Bishop in a horse corral, where Black Eagle, recognizing him as the killer of Virginia's brother, rushes him over the brink of a canyon to his death. Bishop exposes Bells unlawful activities, and Bell, attempting a getaway, stampedes the horses and dies under their hoofs. Having had one more bitter experience with humans, Bishops takes to the road again. Robert Cohn produced it and Robert Gordon di' rected it from a screen play by Edward Huebsch and Hal Smith. "Blood on the Moon" with Robert Mitchum and Barbara Bel Geddes (RKO, no release date set; time, 88 mm.) "Blood on the Moon" is an above'average Western melodrama, with more than a fair share of the customary fisticuffs and gunplay, but somehow it misses fire because of a long drawn out story, which is a weighty variant of a commonplace cattlemen-versus' homesteaders plot. Moreover, the overall pace is too leisurely. The performances, however, are of a caliber that help to sustain one's interest through the slow spots, and occasionally there is a burst of excitement worth waiting for. It should get by with the Western' picture fans, but it is doubtful if it will have any special appeal for those who generally stay away from this type of picture: — Robert Mitchum, a cowhand, rides into a western cattle region in response to a call for aid from his pal, Robert Preston who, in cahoots with Frank Faylen, a government agent at an Indian reservation, had hatched a plot to compel Tom Tully, a cattle baron, to sell him his herds at a ridiculously low price by forcing him off the Government's range lands. Preston had cleverly maneuvered the homesteaders in the ter' ritory into organizing against Tully, and he needed Mitchum's skill with a gun to combat Tully's cow' hands. Mitchum accepts a partnership in the deal, but not before he has an encounter with both Tully and his daughter, Barbara Bel Geddes, who warn him to leave the territory. Through a clandestine affair with Tully 's other daughter, Phyllis Thaxter, Preston learns of her father's cattle movements and leads the homesteaders in a clash with Tully 's forces, during which the son of Walter Brennan, an elderly home' steader, is killed. Disturbed by the young man's death, Mitchum becomes disgusted when he finds it neces' sary to stop two of Preston's henchmen from killing Tully in cold blood; he decides to abandon the deal. Preston, aided by a hired killer, tries to stop Mitchum from leaving, but he gives them a sound thrashing. Angered at Preston's treachery, Mitchum rides to Tully's ranch and suggests a counter-scheme to foil Preston's plot. Tully rebuffs Mitchum, but Barbara, by this time in love with him, persuades him to try his plan. Mitchum kidnaps the Government agent after tricking him into officially extending the date on which Tully's cattle would have to be driven off the range, thus giving Tully time to convince the homesteaders that Preston had used them to his own advantage. Meanwhile Preston tracks down Mitchum and, in the ensuing gun battle, is shot dead along with the agent. The homesteaders make peace with Tully, while Barbara and Mitchum make wedding plans. Theron Warth produced it and Robert Wise di' rected it from a screen play by Lillian Hayward, based on a novel by Luke Short. Unobjectionable morally. "Every Girl Should Be Married" with Cary Grant, Franchot Tone, Diana Lynn and Betsy Drake (RKO, no release date set; time, 84 min.) In spite of the fact that it has some weak spots, this romantic comedy is good mass entertainment. Revolving around an aggressive, matrimoniallyminded shopgirl who sets out to snare a prominent bachelor doctor for a husband, the story has its shortcomings in that several sequences are too long drawn out, but on the whole it has the ingredients for popular appeal in that the romantic interest is humorously charming, the dialogue witty, and the acting ingratiating. The comedy is of the chucklesome rather than of the uproarious sort, with most of it stemming from the strategy and ruses employed by the heroine in her efforts to rouse the doctor's interest. As the persistent heroine, Betsy Drake, a newcomer to the screen, does good work, although there is room for improvement; she has a pleasing, fresh personality, and should at' tain popularity. Cary Grant is very good as the doctor who looks upon her tactics with amused indifference only to surrender in the end : — Firmly believing that a girl should be able to select the man she wants to marry and lead him to the altar, Betsy, a salesgirl in a huge department store owned by Franchot Tone, decides to put her theory into practice. She singles out Grant, a prominent baby doctor and bachelor as well, and plans a careful campaign to snare him. She accumulates data on his per' sonal habits and preferences, and waylays him on the street and in restaurants in an effort to arouse his interest. But her tactics only amuse him. She then tries to arouse his jealousy by pretending that Tone, her "wolfish" employer, was wooing her, but this leads her into complications when Tone discovers the ruse and plays along with her story. She has consider' able trouble warding off Tone's advances, but decides to use him to pique Grant. Her scheme, however, backfires when she gets plenty of unwanted newspaper notoriety as Tone's new girl-friend. She next succeeds in inviting Grant to a home-cooked dinner in the hope that it will inspire him with a yearning for domesticity, but her hopes are shattered when he gently but firmly informs her that he was not interested in matrimony, and advises her to return to her home-town to marry a childhood admirer. In a last desperate scheme, which she concocts with the aid of her girl-friend, Diana Lynn, Betsy arranges for an intimate dinner at her home with Tone, while Diana visits Grant and expresses her concern in view of Tone's reputation. Grant rushes there, much to Tone's annoyance, and while both argue Eddie Albert arrives and presents himself as Betsy's childhood admirer, announcing that he was going to marry her. Tone leaves, but Grant bluntly informs Betsy that he wants to marry her himself. Albert nobly bows out of their lives, and as Grant takes Betsy in his arms he lets her know that he had not been fooled, for he had recognized Albert as a radio actor, whom she had hired to pose as her home-town admirer. Don Hartman produced and directed it, and wrote the screen play in collaboration with Stephen Morehouse Avery, based on a story by Eleanor Harris. Unobjectionable morally.