Harrison's Reports (1948)

154 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 25, 1948 "Road House" with Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Richard Widmark and Celeste Holm (20th Century'Fox, Tsfovember; time, 95 min.) Good! It is a strong triangle melodrama, strictly adult in appeal. It is not a cheerful story, but it is interesting and exciting. Moreover, the production values are good and the performances convincing. As the central figure in the story, Ida Lupino is outstanding in the role of a worldly-wise, sultry cafe singer, whose sincere love for Cornel Wilde, a night club manager, involves her in the sadistic machinations of their fanatically jealous employer, a stomachturning characterization that is expertly portrayed by Richard Widmark. Miss Lupino's display of feminine pulchritude is, to say the least, eye-filling, and her rendition of several torch songs in a deep throaty voice is impressive. The closing scenes, where Widmark goes murderously beserk in a mountain cabin and is killed by Miss Lupino in self defense makes for a powerful climax that is loaded with suspense and excitement : — Widmark, owner of a roadhouse near the Canadian border, engages Ida Lupino, a singer from Chicago. Aware that Widmark 's interest in entertainers was not confined to their ability to sing, Wilde, manager of the roadhouse, makes no effort to conceal his disgust and tries to get Ida to leave. She angrily refuses. To Wilde's surprise, Ida's singing proves popular, causing business to boom. Meanwhile Widmark, unable to become intimate with Ida, falls madly in love with her. The animosity between Ida and Wilde eventually disappears and, during Widmark's absence on a hunting trip, they fall in love. Widmark returns from the trip with a license to marry Ida, but, when he learns of her love for Wilde, he becomes insane with rage and discharges him from his job. He then frames Wilde for robbing the roadhouse 's weekly receipts. Wilde is convicted, but Widmark, assuming the air of a sincere man and pleading for leniency for Wilde, persuades the judge to parole him in his custody for two years, with the usual conditions whereby Wilde would have to serve a full ten-year term if he violated the parole by committing a crime. Widmark compels Ida and Wilde to resume work at the roadhouse, and does his utmost to provoke Wilde into doing something that would violate the parole. The more they despise him the more malignant and hateful he becomes. Widmark decides to spend a week at his mountain cabin, and compels Ida and Wilde, as well as Celeste Holm, his cashier, to accompany him. There, he becomes crazed with drink and abuses Ida. Provoked beyond endurance, Wilde gives Widmark a severe beating, then heads for the Canadian border with Ida lest the authorities jail him. Before Widmark regains consciousness. Celeste discovers in his pocket evidence showing that he had framed Wilde for the robbery. She goes after Wilde and Ida, with Widmark in hot pursuit. He catches up with Celeste and shoots her down Wilde knocks the gun out of his hand but is beaten into unconsciousness in the struggle to retrieve it. Ida, having grabbed the weapon, shoots Widmark dead when he menaces her. With the evidence to clear him in his pocket, Wilde picks up Celeste and, with Ida at his side, heads back to town. Edward Chodorov wrote the screen play and produced it from a story by Margaret Gruen and Oscar Saul. Jean Negulesco directed it. Adult fare. "The Golden Eye" with Roland Winters {Monogram, August 29; time, 69 win.) This is another "'Charlie Chan" murder mystery melodrama, no better and no worse than the others in the series. It is strictly a program filler for situations where audiences still find the exploits of the Chinese detective, his son, and his colored chauffeur intriguing and amusing. Those who are the least bit discriminating will probably find it pretty tiring, for the far-fetched story winds its way through a maze of so many clues that not even a master-mind will have the patience to figure it out. As in the other pictures in the series, a lengthy explanation by the detective is required at the finish to clear up the mystery. The feeble comedy does not help matters much : — Charlie Chan (Roland Winters) , accompanied by his son, Victor Sen Young, and his chauffeur, Manton Moreland, goes to the Lazy Y dude ranch to investigate attempts on the life of Forrest Taylor, the owner. Arriving there, Chan finds his old friend, Lieut. Tim Ryan, posing as a playboy while working on the same case. He visits Taylor and finds him bandaged and unconscious, the victim of an accident in his Golden Eye mine. Through Bruce Kellogg, an assayer, Chan learns that considerable gold is coming from the mine, but Taylor's daughter, Wanda McKay, claims that it barely meets expenses. Chan becomes suspicious of Evelyn Brent, Taylor's nurse, who was secretly in league with a gang that was smuggling gold in from Mexico and storing it in the mine for sale in the United States at a higher price. In the course of events, unsuccessful attempts are made on the lives of Ryan and Chan, and Taylor is murdered. Several other shootings take place in which Kellogg seemingly protects Chan and Wanda, but in the end Chan reveals that Kellogg himself was the master-mind behind the evil doings, having schemed to marry Wanda and gain control of her father's wealth. James S. Burkett produced it and William Beaudine directed it from an original screen play by W. Scott Darling. Unobjectionable morally. "The Gentleman from Nowhere" with Warner Baxter (Columbia, Sept. 9; time, 66 min.) Just fair. Years ago dual role subjects were interesting because they were novel. But their novelty nowadays has worn off and no longer interests picture-goers unless the story has some unusual twists. Not only is the story in this picture not unusual but it has a further fault— it is too complicated for even a seasoned reviewer to disentangle. And the picturegoer of today doesn't want to tax his brain to figure out character relations and their purposes. Warner Baxter is pleasant enough in his part, but he isn't helped by worthy motivations. The other players are so-so. The photography is sharp and clear: — In the development of the story, Baxter, a night watchman in a New York warehouse, is wounded during a robbery and suspected of complicity in the crime. He manages to establish his innocence, but insurance detective Luis Van Rooten is struck by his resemblance to a missing chemical corporation's executive, wanted for swindle. Van Rooten, whose company had paid the missing man's life insurance to the chemical firm, visits the executives and informs them that he was still alive. They demand that he produce