Harrison's Reports (1949)

146 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 10, 1949 "The Heiress" with Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift and Ralph Richardson (Paramount, no release date set; time, 115 min.) This 1850 period drama deserves the highest praise for its excellence in all departments — production, direction and acting. But it is a somber entertainment, and since it is a study in characterizations and moods its appeal will most likely be directed to the class trade, which should find it highly absorbing. As far as the rank-and-file is concerned, the pace is too slow-moving, and its theme of frustration too heavy and unhappy. It is difficult for most movie-goers to derive pleasure from a picture in which an appealing and sympathetic heroine suffers the harsh cruelties of a polite but despotic father, and the bitter disillusionment of a blasted romance when she is jilted by a glib fortune-hunter. It is, in a way, a woman's picture, for many of them will be touched by the sufferings of the heroine. A definite asset, boxoffice-wise, is the popularity of Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift; nevertheless, the picture will need strong selling, particularly to young folk: — Ralph Richardson, a prominent New York physician, lives with the ghostly memory of his deceased wife and cannot understand why Olivia, his plain, shy daughter, lacked her mother's many social graces. He requests his sister, Miriam Hopkins, a fluttering middle-aged widow, to spend the winter at his home in the hope that she will help Olivia to become clever and gay. All three attend a party one evening and, through the efforts of her aunt, Olivia meets and falls in love with Montgomery Clift, a dashing although penniless young man. In the days that follow, Clift stages a courtship that sweeps Olivia off her feet and wins her acceptance of his marriage proposal. But her father, having checked Clift's background, decides that he was merely interested in Olivia's prospective inheritance. He refuses to consent to the marriage and takes Olivia to Europe in the hope that she will forget Clift. Upon their return, however, she declares that she still loves Clift. Em' bittered, Richardson denounces Olivia, and for the first time she realizes that he despised her for her lack of charm and poise. Later, when she meets Clift and arranges to elope with him that night, she tells him that she will never again accept help from her father. Clift, made aware of this turn of events, fails to show up for the elopement and runs off to California. Olivia, embittered, blames her father for her plight, and does not forgive him even when he becomes ill and dies. Five years later, Olivia now more mature and wiser, is visited by Clift who attempts to alibi his desertion by saying that he did not want to be the cause of her losing her financial security. Olivia informs him that she had not been disinherited, and once again agrees to elope with him. When he calls for her that night, she bolts the door in his face and, while he frantically calls to her, walks to her room, resigned to spinsterhood. William Wyler produced and directed it, from a screen play by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, based on their stage play. Adult fare. "Down Memory Lane" (Eagle-Lion, no rel. date set; time, 71 min.) "Down Memory Lane" is a good novelty exploitation feature, made up of clips taken from comedy shorts produced by Mack Sennett in the silent days, and of three shorts produced by him shortly after the advent of sound, starring Bing Crosby and W. C. Fields. The Crosby shorts, "Sing, Bing, Sing" and "In the Blue of the Night," were made at the time the crooner was making his start in films. Both are typical farces with light romantic overtones and slapstick action, in the course of which he sings seven popular songs of the day. The W. C. Fields short, "The Dentist," is a highly amusing slapstick affair, full of his typical gags and chatter. Some of the situations are indescribably funny. Featured also in a song sequence is Donald Novis. An amusing angle to the picture is the total lack of continuity in the way the old footage has been put together. All of it is presented as a television program by Steve Allen, the well known disc jockey, who, in his haste to impress his sponsor, a hair tonic manufacturer, gets the different reels all mixed up. The result is a zany mixture of uncompleted sequences of the talkie clips, into which is woven a series of uncompleted sequences of silent clips, featuring such old-time favorites as The Keystone Cops, the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand, Ben Turpin, Phyllis Haver, Franklyn Pangborn, Mack Swain, Charlie Murray and many others. The broad slapstick humor, both in the old footage and in the new footage featuring Allen in the television studio, is completely nonsensical, but, if the boisterous laughter that greeted the proceedings at a New York preview is any criterion, the picture should go over very well with all types of audiences. The production was supervised by Aubrey Schenck, and the new sequences were written by Steve Allen and directed by Phil Karlson. Suitable for the entire family. "The Doctor and the Girl" with Glenn Ford, Janet Leigh, Charles Coburn and Gloria de Haven (MGM, September; time, 96 min.) An engrossing human-interest drama, the type that has the ingredients for mass appeal. In addition to an interesting story, which centers around an efficient but calloused young doctor whose love for a poor girl, a patient, changes him into a humanitarian, it has good production values, intelligent direction, and capable acting. There is considerable drama in the conflict between the hero and his father, a brilliant but heartless surgeon, who tries to break up the romance lest it interfere with his son's career. There are several situations that tear at the heartstrings, one being where the hero administers aid to a stricken youngster in the crowded slum flat of an impoverished family. Glenn Ford is very good as the young doctor, as is Janet Leigh, as his wife, who helps him to set up practice in a poor neighborhood, and eventually brings about a softening in the attitude of his father, played effectively by Charles Coburn. A tragic angle to the story concerns the death of Ford's sister (Gloria de Haven), an unmarried expectant mother, as the result of an illegal operation : — Upon his graduation from medical school, Ford, influenced by his father, a brilliant surgeon and wealthy director of an exclusive hospital, decides to make neuro-surgery his aim. He begins his interneship in a city hospital and, following the advice of his father, treats his patients as cases and remains impersonal and aloof. His heartless approach to his patients antagonizes Bruce Bennett, the senior resident doctor, who rebuffs him. But Ford does not realize his failing until he is gently rebuked by Janet Leigh, a poor girl facing a dangerous operation. To make up for his callousness, he encourages Janet and keeps her previously cheerless room filled with flowers and books. He soon finds himself in love with her and, to assure her recovery, persuades a skilled surgeon to perform the operation. Coburn, learning of his son's interest in Janet, uses his influence to have her moved secretly from the hospital as soon as she is well enough. Ford, discovering her absence, finds her in a shabby Third Avenue flat after an extensive search and, despite his father's objections, marries her. Compelled to get along without his father's help, Ford turns Janet's flat into his home and office, and Janet takes her place alongside him as his nurse. Tragedy enters their lives when Gloria de Haven, Ford's younger sister, who had left home because of her domineering father, becomes an expectant mother and dies from an illegal operation. In their great loss, Ford and his father are brought together, and he meets Janet for the first time. He urges the couple to move in with him so that Ford can continue working toward a career in neuro-surgery. Ford eagerly accepts, but, when he is visited by a small boy with a badly cut hand, he realizes that the poor people of the neighborhood depended on him; he decides to remain. His father accepts his decision with a feeling of pride. It was produced by Pandro S. Berman and directed by Curtis Bernhardt from a screen play by Theodore Reeves, based on a literary work by Maxence Van der Meersch. Suitable for the entire family.