Harrison's Reports (1949)

January 22, 1949 HARRISON'S REPORTS 15 "Alias Nick Beal" with Ray Milland, Audrey Totter and Thomas Mitchell (Paramount, March 4; time, 92 mm.) Best described as a conventional melodrama with supernatural trimmings, "Alias Nick Beal" is a fine production technically and artistically. But it is doubtful if it will be a popular entertainment, for its allegorical, Faust-like story will probably have more of an appeal to selective audiences than to the rank and file, most of whom will find in the presentation a vagueness that is disconcerting. Particularly vague, at least until towards the finish, is the character portrayed by Ray Milland, as a slick, elusive fellow who turns out to be an agent of the devil, although he appears throughout as just another mortal. A fine performance is turned in by Thomas Mitchell as the respected district attorney who attains the governorship with Milland's shady help but is compromised by him into selling his soul. It is a morality story, and it points up the moral that no one should sell either his soul or his honor for material gain. The moody background music and the low-key photography lend a fitting eerie atmosphere to the proceedings, but, despite the fine technical work, the story lacks conviction: — Mitchell, looked upon as a likely candidate for the governorship because of his fine record as a district attorney, and of his social work, meets Ray Milland, a mysterious stranger, when the latter offers to furnish him with evidence that would secure the conviction of a notorious racketeer. Mitchell accepts the underhand proposition because of a sincere desire to rid society of the racketeer. With the conviction secured and his candidacy assured, Mitchell, confronted by Milland, gives him a check for his aid, but Milland tears it up and offers to contribute $25,000 to his campaign fund, explaining that he was interested in good government. Milland, actually an agent of the devil, was determined to win Mitchell's soul by offering him what he most desired — fame. Mitchell's wife, Geraldine Wall, openly expresses her dislike for Milland and advises Mitchell to have nothing to do with him. To gain his ends, Milland picks up Audrey Totter, a woman with a shady past, and, after setting her up as a woman of means, places her in Mitchell's path to win his love and influence his decisions. Under Milland's diabolical influence, Mitchell forsakes his high principles to accept the support of a crooked political machine, which buys enough votes to elect him. Just before the inauguration, Milland, under threat of involving Mitchell in a murder investigation, compels him to sign a contract appointing him Keeper of the State Seal, with Mitchell agreeing to accompany Milland to a strange island if he fails to keep the bargain. On the day of the inauguration, Mitchell, dismayed at the depths to which he had fallen, renounces the governorship and prepares to leave with Milland. But George Macready, a clergyman friend, convinces Mitchell that he was dealing with the devil and, with the aid of a bible, enables him to free himself from Milland's power. It was produced by Endre Bohem and directed by John Farrow from a screen play by Jonathan Latimer, based on a story by Mindrct Lord. The cast includes Fred Clark, Darryl Hickman, Henry O'Neill, Nestor Paiva and others. Adult fare. "Don't Take It to Heart" with an all-British cast (Eagle-Lion, no rel. date set; time, 90 min.) A diverting British-made comedy, produced in 1944. Set in a small, present-day English village, the story pokes satirical fun at English nobility, and has an amusing twist whereby testimony offered at a court trial by a ghost reveals that the lands and title of a noble family had been wrongfully taken away from an unsuspecting lowly villager. Its wry humor, however, will best be appreciated by selective audiences. The picture is a little on the long side, but one does not mind its length since the humor is agreeable and clean. Richard Greene is the only one in the cast known to American audiences: — When a bomb falls on an old English castle during the blitz, it releases the ghost of a former lord of the manor from its coffin. The castle becomes the center of interest for sight-seers, and Brefin O'Rorke, the present but penniless lord of the manor, conducts private sightseeing tours to support himself. Richard Greene, a young lawyer, becomes interested in some 400-year-old manuscripts unearthed by the bomb, and while studying them falls in love with Patricia Medina, O'Rorke's daughter. When a rich landowner complains to O'Rorke that the villagers were poaching on his estate, Greene, in sympathy with the villagers, takes up the cudgels in their behalf after learning from the old manuscripts that they had been deprived illegally of the right to use the land for grazing. The issue is taken to court where, in the midst of a wrangle between Greene and the opposing attorney, the ghost appears in the witness box and not only upholds Greene's contention but also reveals that Wylie Watson, one of the lowly villagers, was the rightful heir to O'Rorke's lands and title because of a switch in babies effected by one of his ancestors. It ends with Watson assuming the title and carrying on the sightseeing business, while O'Rorke, minus his title, finds more happiness as a simple land poacher than as a penniless landowner. It was produced by Sidney Box and written and directed by Jeffrey Dell. Suitable for all. "The Lucky Stiff" with Dorothy Lamour, Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor (United Artists, February; time, 99 mm.) Poor. It is a comedy-murder melodrama, hampered by inept direction, inadequate acting, and a confusing story that "wanders all over the lot." Moreover, the running time is much too long for what the picture has to offer. The accent is on the comedy, but most of it is pretty feeble and at times in very bad taste, particularly in one sequence in an undertaker's parlor where the two owners, seeking to frighten two petty gangsters into revealing certain information, make believe that they are going to embalm them and argue about whether or not their victims' blood should be drawn off before or after the embalming. All this is supposed to be funny, but many people will no doubt find it revolting. There are so many murders and suspects as well as twists to the plot that the spectator is kept in a state of confusion throughout most of the action. All in all, a good cast has been wasted on mediocre material. The plot goes off on so many tangents that it defies synopsis. Briefly, however, it depicts Brian Donlevy as a brash lawyer who falls in love with Dorothy Lamour, a cabaret singer, while ignoring the deep love felt for him by Claire Trevor his secretary. Dorothy becomes involved in the murder of her boss (Charles Meredith) and, despite her plea of innocence, is sentenced to die in the electric chair. On the night set for her execution, Donlevy, while trying to protect Billy Vine, a saloonkeeper, from hoodlums running a protection racket, learns from a dying gangster that he had been hired to kill Meredith and pin the rap on Dorothy. At Donlevy's request, the governor exonerates Dorothy secretly and leads the newspaper reporters to believe that she had been executed. Donlevy then arranges with Dorothy to play the part of a ghost so as to haunt the members of the protection racket gang and ferret out the one who had hired the killer. Dorothy's ghost-like appearances frighten the wits out of the gangsters and set off a chain of events in which four more murders are committed before Donlevy and the police round up the gangsters and discover that no one but Dorothy herself was the brains behind the protection racket. In the end, of course, Donlevy realizes his love for the neglected Claire. It is an Amusement Enterprises presentation, produced by Jack Benny and directed by Lewis R. Foster, who also wrote the screen play, based on the novel by Craig Rice. The cast includes Irene Hcrvcy, Marjorie Rambeau, Robert Armstrong and others. Adult fare.