Harrison's Reports (1949)

February 19, 1949 HARRISON'S REPORTS 31 "The Last Bandit" with William Elliott, Forrest Tucker and Adrian Booth (Republic, April 2?; time, 80 min.) A better-than-average Republic Western, photographed in Trucolor. Theatres that feature Westerns should find a place for it on weekend bills. Although the story is on the standard side and is somewhat incredible, it has some novel twists involving a pursuit over a railroad, and is fast-moving and exciting throughout, with plentiful gun battles and fistfights. It is disagreeable, however, in that conflict between the forces of good and evil pits brother against brother. Some mild comedy is provoked by Andy Devine but on the whole he is given little to do. Worthy of mention is the good color photography, indicating a marked improvement in the Trucolor process : — William Elliott, a former Missouri outlaw turned honest, settles in Bannock City, Nevada, under an assumed name, and obtains a job as an express agent with the railroad. Adrian Booth, a shrewd young adventuress about to be married to Forrest Tucker, Elliott's outlaw brother in Missouri, learns that Elliott was guarding gold shipments in Nevada and enters into a scheme with Grant Withers to lure Elliott into a trap to enable them to steal the gold. Through Minna Gombell, a saloonkeeper in Bannock City, Adrian obtains work as an entertainer and soon has Elliott infatuated with her. Meanwhile Tucker, having learned of Adrian's scheme, follows her to Nevada, where he reveals to Elliott that she is his sweetheart and invites him to join them in the gold robbery. Elliott refuses, warning his brother that he will oppose the holdup. Adrian, avoided by Elliott, realizes that she was genuinely in love with him. In the developments that follow, Tucker, after promising Elliott that he will leave town, engineers a daring holdup in which he and his gang steal an entire train and run it onto a remote siding and into an abandoned mine, where they blast the steel safe in the express car to get at the gold. Elliott, despite his earnest efforts to prevent the holdup, finds himself under a cloud of suspicion when it is discovered that he is Tucker's brother. Aided by Adrian, who had changed her ways, Elliott eventually proves his innocence by running down the gang and retrieving the gold. Tucker and his henchmen die in a gun battle with the sheriff. Joseph Kane produced and directed it from a screen play by Thames Williamson, based on a story by Luci Ward and Jack Natteford. The cast includes Jack Holt, Joseph Crehan and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Caught" with James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes and Robert Ryan (MGM, March; time, 88 min.) Handsome production values have been wasted on a complicated, unpleasant story that is a curious hodge-podge of romance and psychological melodrama. As entertainment it is just fair, mainly because of an appealing performance by Barbara Bel Geddes, as a young shop girl, whose marriage to a young millionaire turns out unhappy when he reveals himself as a sadistic neurotic who subjects her to many cruelties. The complications that arise when she leaves him and falls in love with a struggling East Side doctor are so contrived as to be unbelievable, causing one to either lose interest in the proceedings or snicker at them. It is an odd picture, impressive in many respects and "corny" in others, but on the whole too contrived and implausible. Exhibitors will do well to watch its box-office performance in the key runs: — Hoping that she will one day snare a rich husband, Barbara, a shop girl, becomes a model. In the course of events she meets Robert Ryan, a young multi-millionaire, who is unable to "conquer" her because of her innate morality. Ryan, a power-mad industrialist who suffered heart attacks when thwarted, marries her when he cannot possess her in any other way. Although in love with Ryan, Barbara finds living with him impossible because of his mental cruelty. She leaves him after a harsh quarrel and obtains employment as a receptionist for James Mason, a struggling pediatrician. A romance springs up between them, and Mason, unaware that she was married, proposes to her. Barbara, discovering that she was bearing Ryan's child, stalls Mason and attempts to secure a divorce from Ryan. He agrees, provided she give him custody of her unborn child, and consents to his naming Mason as corespondent. She refuses. In a series of complicated developments, Barbara remains with Ryan, who drives her to distraction with his cruelties. When she refuses to see him, he suffers a severe heart attack during which she refuses to administer the medicine he needs to end the attack. She lapses into hysteria in the mistaken belief that she had killed him. Mason comes to her aid and rushes her to a hospital, where her baby, born prematurely, dies. The baby's death releases Ryan's hold on her, leaving her free to divorce him and marry Mason. It is an Enterprise picture, produced by Wolfgang Reinhardt and directed by Max Opuls from a screen play by Arthur Laurents, based on a novel by Libbie Block. The cast includes Ruth Brady, Frank Ferguson, Natalie Shaeffer, Art Smith, Curt Bois and others. Strictly adult fare. "South of St. Louis" with Joel McCrea, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott and Dorothy Malone (Warner Bros., March 12; time, 88 min.) A superWestern, photographed in Technicolor and boasting a better-than-average cast, but it is no more than a fairly good entertainment of its kind. It should easily satisfy the action fans, for it has a liberal quota of gun fights, hard riding, and all the other standard ingredients, which keep the excitement at a high pitch. The setting is Texas in the Civil War days, and the action revolves around a conflict between two guerilla bands smuggling arms to both the Union and Confederate forces, but the story formula is hackneyed, offering little to attract those who normally shy away from films of this type. The performances are generally competent, but Alexis Smith, as a dance-hall queen, does not register well; she overacts the part, proving that Westerns definitely are not her forte: — Returning to their Texas ranch after giving chase to cattle ruthlessly confiscated by Union forces, partners Joel McCrea, Zachary Scott, and Douglas Kennedy find that in their absence Victor Jory and his outlaw gang had burned and pillaged their ranch home. The three partners go to Brownsville, Union headquarters, where McCrea finds Jory and gives him a beating. There, McCrea becomes unwittingly involved with Alexis Smith, an entertainer, who interests him in a scheme to become a blockade runner for the Confederates. Scott joins the scheme while Kennedy enlists in the Confederate Army. The business of gun running brings McCrea and Scott in constant conflict with Jory, who was doing a similar chore for the Union Army. Meanwhile Alexis falls in love with McCrea, but McCrea retains his love for Dorothy Malone, a Confederate nurse. In the course of events, Jory is killed in a fight with McCrea. Scott and McCrea accumulate great wealth but have a falling out when Scott resorts to killing Confederate soldiers in order to deliver the guns. McCrea quits the business, then suffers a further blow when Dorothy, tired of his neglect, falls in love with Kennedy and marries him. The end of the war finds McCrea a disheveled drunk, while Scott becomes a power in unlawful activities in Brownsville. Kennedy, appointed as a Texas Ranger, is sent to Brownsville to clean up the town. Scott gives him until sundown to get out. Learning of Kennedy's danger, McCrea comes to his aid. When they meet for a showdown, Scott's men demand that he shoot down his former partners. They start firing when he refuses, and Scott, coming to the aid of his former pals, is shot down by his own men, who are in turn wiped out by McCrea and Kennedy. With law and order restored for Kennedy, McCrea decides to marry Alexis and settle down on the ranch. It was produced by Milton Sperling and directed by Ray Enright from a screen play by Zachary Gold and James R. Webb. The cast includes Alan Hale and others. Unobjectionable morally.