Harrison's Reports (1949)

March 19, 1949 HARRISON'S REPORTS 47 "My Dream is Yours" with Doris Day, Jack Carson and Lee Bowman (Warner Bros., April 16; time, 99 min.) Although it offers nothing extraordinary, this Technicolor romantic comedy-romance is pleasantly entertaining. Its story about the downfall of an egotistic star and the rise of a struggling unknown follows a familiar pattern; nevertheless, it shapes up as a blend of tried-and-true ingredients that should give an audience an evening of relaxed pleasure. The accent is on the comedy, but it is human and on occasion tenderly moving. There are no lavish production numbers, but the songs, as pleasantly sung by Doris Day, are listenable. Jack Carson, as a wide-awake radio talent agent, brightens the proceedings considerably with his fast chatter and gags, as does Eve Arden, as the sophisticated secretary to an advertising executive. Adolphe Menjou, S. Z. Sakall, Sheldon Leonard, and the late Edgar Kennedy are among the others who contribute amusing characterizations. Worked into the story is an entertaining live action-cartoon dream sequence featuring Bugs Bunny and Tweetie: — When Lee Bowman, whom he had built up as a star radio crooner, walks out on him and leaves him without a replacement for a Hollywood radio show sponsored by S. Z. Sakall, Jack Carson loses his job with Adolphe Menjou's advertising agency. He determines to find a new star and, with money borrowed from Eve Arden, Menjou's secretary, goes to New York where he stumbles onto Doris Day, a young war widow with a child, whom he hears singing through a wired juke-box. He takes her to Hollywood and arranges an audition with Sakall. But Sakall, a lover of sentimental tunes, rejects her because she specialized in "jump" tunes. Despite Carson's ingenuity, Doris is unable to get a "break." Meanwhile she meets and falls in love with the conceited Bowman, who offers to make her a star if she would leave Carson. Doris refuses. One evening Bowman becomes intoxicated and is unable to sing on his program. Carson, seizing the opportunity, rushes Doris in as a replacement. She becomes an immediate hit and is given a contract to supplant Bowman. Carson, by this time in love with Doris, proposes marriage, but she tearfully declines, admitting her love for Bowman. Prompted by his devotion to Doris, Carson cooks up a scheme to help Bowman stage a comeback. Bowman, at first appreciative, soon displays his conceit, helping Doris to realize that he is really worthless. She ends up in Carson's arms. Michael Curtiz produced and directed it from a screen play by Harry Kurnitz and Dane Lussier. The cast includes Selena Royle, Franklyn Pangborn, Frankie Carle's orchestra and others. Suitable for the family. "Red Stallion in the Rockies" with Arthur Franz, Wallace Ford, Ray Collins and Jean Heather (£ag!e-Lton, no rel. date set; time, 84 min.) A fairly good outdoor melodrama, photographed in Cinecolor, best suited for audiences who are not too discriminating. The story, which centers around a hunt for a circus horse turned wild, is basically routine, but it whips up enough excitement to satisfy the demands of the action fans. Moreover, it is wholesome and there are situations that direct human appeal. The most arresting as well as unusual feature of the film is a vicious battle between the stallion and an enraged elk. It is even more thrilling than the fight between the horse and the bear in the first "Stallion" picture. The magnificent scenery of the Colorado Rockies, which serves as the background, adds to one's enjoyment of the film. The direction and performances are adequate: — Stranded when their circus goes bankrupt, Albert Franz, a trick rider, and Wallace Ford, a spieler, find temporary work on a ranch owned by Ray Collins, a religious man who disliked show people. James Davis, Collins' surly nephew and ranch foreman, tries to get the boys fired when he discovers that they were circus performers, but Collins permits them to remain. Jean Heather, Collins' restricted grand daughter, falls in love with Franz but keeps it a secret from her grandfather. When a pack of wild horses terrorize the area with destructive raids, Collins orders Davis to stand guard. But Davis goes to a dance instead, and that night the herd strikes, stealing brood mares and trampling the crops. Enraged, Collins thrashes Davis. Seeking revenge, Davis takes Collins' leather jacket and strikes Jean's pet elk with it repeatedly in the hope that the animal would one day attack Collins when he approaches it wearing the same jacket. In the course of events, Franz and Ford recognize the leader of the wild horses as an escaped circus horse of great value. They capture the animal and hide him before he can be shot by the ranchers, who had offered to pay a $1000 reward for his capture dead or alive. Davis attempts to steal the horse from them but is stopped by Collins, who decides to turn the animal over to the authorities. While all wait for the sheriff, Leatrice Joy, Collins' wife, dons his leather jacket to protect herself against the chill air. The elk, seeing the jacket, attacks her. Just as he is about to gore her, the circus horse comes to the rescue and, in a murderous battle, routs the elk and saves Miss Joy, Collins, grateful, arranges for the boys to keep the horse for a new circus act, . and permits Franz to marry Jean. It was produced by Aubrey Schenck and directed by Ralph Murphy from a screen play by Tom Reed. Suitable for the family "Saraband" with Stewart Granger, Joan Greenwood and Flora Robson (Eagle-Lion, no rel. date set; time, 9? min.) An absorbing British-made historical costume melodrama, lavishly produced and photographed in Technicolor. Set in the early 17th Century, it deals with the tender but ill-fated romance between Count Philip Konigsmark, a Swedish soldier of fortune, and Sophie Dorothea of Zell, the unhappy wife of the promiscuous George Louis of Hanover, who later became George I of England. Although it is somewhat confusing in the introductory reel, the story is for the most part interesting and poignant, and at times wildly exciting. It is particularly fascinating in its depiction of the corruption and intrigue that existed in the House of Hanover to assure George's succession to the English throne. From the standpoint of production, it is a film of rare beauty, with its magnificent settings and costumes enhanced considerably by the beautiful Technicolor photography. In the development of the story, Dorothea (Joan Greenwood), a sixteen-year-old daughter of a duke, is forced for political reasons into a marriage with George Louis of Hanover, a fat, dissolute man. The marriage brings her humiliation and loneliness, and even the happiness she finds in the company of her two children is increasingly denied her. Meanwhile an agreement with England requires the House of Hanover to dispatch troops to fight against the Turks, and Countess Platen (Flora Robson), a once-beautiful, scheming woman, who was behind the plan to establish Hanover's claim to succession to the English throne, enlists the aid of Count Konigsmark (Stewart Granger), a Swedish soldier of fortune, to lead the troops in battle. Dorothea meets Konigsmark at various court functions, and before long they fall in love with each other. The Countess, passionately in love with Konigsmark herself, tries desperately to separate them but is unsuccessful. Dorothea, no longer able to bear the abuse of her husband, decides to run away with Konigsmark. But their well laid plans are discovered by the Countess, who arranges with the palace guard to ambush Konigsmark and kill him. As punishment for her plan to run away, Dorothea is compelled to renounce her marriage rights, and is banished to a life of seclusion in a remote castle, where she dies many years later without ever having shared the throne of England occupied by her brutal and vengeful husband. It was produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Basil Dcardcn, from a screen play by John Dighton and Alexander MacKendrick. Adult fare.