Harrison's Reports (1949)

June 18, 1949 HARRISON'S REPORTS 99 Kazan roams around until Roman Bohnen and Lois Maxwell, his daughter, come upon him. Lois be' friends the dog much against the wishes of her father, who fears him. When Lois is asleep, Roman offers his sled driver a sum of money to shoot the dog, but the driver becomes conscience stricken and lets the dog go free. Six months later Dunne, the conservation agent, and John Dehner, a trapper, find Kazan caught in one of Dehner 's traps. Dunne tries to tame Kazan. Just as he wins the affections of the dog, Joe Sawyer, a hunter, wounds Kazan and brings him back to the town as a prisoner. When Bohnen recognizes Kazan, now in Sawyer's possession, he makes a deal with Sawyer to stage a fight between his Great Dane and Kazan with the understanding that they were not to let on that Kazan was a dog and not a wolf, and that they were to share the proceeds from the sale of tickets for the fight. Dunne and Dehner try to stop the fight by shouting that Kazan is not a wolf but a dog. They are booed and beaten by the howling mob, who wouldn't believe them. When the dogs are finally released for the anticipated gory fight, the onlookers are amazed to find that instead of jumping at each other's throats, they only growl a little and soon be' come friendly. The crowd, incensed, demand their money back. The sordid details of the deal between Bohnen and Sawyer come to light. To avoid the mob, Bohnen leaps into the pit where he is viciously at' tacked by Kazan. Dunne jumps in to save Bohnen. A furious struggle takes place, but Kazan soon recognizes Dunne as his friend, and is tamed into submission. Lois denounces her father as being a sadist. She pleads with Dunne to let her join him and Kazan. As the three walk down the street a romantic spark is ignited. The plot has been founded on James Oliver Cur' wood's story of the same name. The screen play was written by Arthur A. Ross. Robert Cohn produced it, and Will Jason directed it. Strictly an adult picture. Children should not be allowed to see it. "Alimony" with Martha Vickers, John Beal and Hillary Brooke . (Eagh'Lion, June; time, 72 min.) Moderately entertaining program fare, revolving around an alimony racket and around the golddigging tactics of an unscrupulous woman. The story is thin and the outcome obvious. Its chief fault is that it is too wordy, has little action, and the characters, with the exception of the hero's wife, are unsympathetic. Moreover, the treatment is ordinary. No fault can be found with the players, who do their best with the weak material. The direction, however, lacks pace and imagination. The flashback technique used in the unfoldment of the story does not help matters:— Ambitious to make good and not too fussy about her methods, Martha Vickers arrives in New York and, with the aid of Laura Lind, a friend, makes her living by posing as a correspondent in framed-up hotel assignations to be used as evidence in an alimony racket headed by Douglas Dumbrille, a crooked lawyer. She turns her attentions to John Beal, a struggling songwriter, when she learns that a musical show he had written was being considered by a prominent producer. Beal jilts Hillary Brooke, his loyal sweetheart, for Martha, to whom he dedicates a new song. But when the deal for his show falls through, Martha gives him a quick brush-off. Beal begs Hillary's forgiveness and marries her. Shortly thereafter the song dedicated to Martha becomes a nationwide hit and makes Beal a fortune. Martha immediately sets out to win him back and succeeds in breaking up his mar riage. But when the royalties on the song begin to taper off, her love cools correspondingly. Once again Hillary forgives Beal and takes him back. Meanwhile Martha, under Dumbrille's tutelage, marries Ralph Graves, a middle-aged millionaire, whom she sues for alimony after tricking him into coming to a hotel room, where he is photographed in the arms of a professional correspondent. At the trial, however, Graves springs a surprise by proving that the man caught in the hotel raid was his double, whom he employed to represent him at different functions. The disclosure of fraud breaks up the alimony ring and lands Martha, Dumbrille and several others behind bars. It was produced by Constantin J. David and directed by Alfred Zeisler from a screen play by Law' rence Lipton, George Bricker and Sherman Lowe. The cast includes Leonid Kinskey, James Guilfoyle and others. Adult fare. "The Big Steal" with Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and William Bendix (RKO, no rel. date set; time, 71 min.) A pretty good program mystery thriller. The story is not unusual, but it is effectively contrived to please the action fans, for the pace is fast and furious all the way through, with considerable gunplay and plentiful fisticuffs. Moreover, it has touches of comedy, a romantic angle, and snappy dialogue. The action, at times, is complicated and somewhat incredible, but those who enjoy this type of picture will, no doubt, not be concerned about any lack of logic. The performances are generally good. The picture was shot in and around Mexico City, giving it some novel and interesting backgrounds: — The first part of the story is mystifying in that the different characters are introduced in a way that leaves the spectator completely bewildered as to what their actions are all about. It opens with Robert Mitchum arriving in Vera Cruz aboard a steamer, and with his being confronted by William Bendix, a U. S. Army officer, who seeks to place him under arrest. Mitchum knocks him unconscious and hurries ashore. He goes to a hotel in search of Patric Knowles, a slick character who had just given the "slip" to Jane Greer, his girl friend, who had come to Mexico to demand that he pay her back money that he borrowed from her. Learning that Knowles had rented a car and had headed for the interior, Mitchum and Jane rent another car and go on his trail. En route, Mitchum explains to Jane that he is an army finance officer, that Knowles had robbed him of a $300,000 army payroll, and that Bendix, his superior officer, had accused him of being in collusion with Knowles. Meanwhile Bendix, having recovered consciousness, sets out after Mitchum and Jane. The two-way chase involves all concerned in numerous incidents, both amusing and exciting, until all converge at a lonely mountain ranch, where Knowles had arranged to turn the "hot" money over to John Qualcn, an international crook. In the gunplay that follows, Mitchum discovers that Bendix and Knowles had planned the holdup together, and had made him the goat. The fracas ends with Knowles shot dead and with Bendix and Qualen subdued by Mitchum, who turns them over to the Mexican police. With the payroll recovered and his reputation cleared, Mitchum prepares to return to the United States with Jane as wife. It was produced by Jack J. Gross and directed by Don Sicgcl from a screen play by Geoffrey Holmes and Gerald Drayson Adams, based on the Saturday Evening Post Story, "The Road to Carmichacl's," by Richard Wormser. Morally suitable for all.