Harrison's Reports (1949)

170 October 22, 1949 "Samson and Delilah" with Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature and George Sanders (Paramount, no rel. date set; time, 128 min.) Excellent! Cecil B. DeMille, whose name is synonymous with spectacular productions, has produced another major historical extravaganza in "Samson and Delilah." Beauti' fully photographed in Technicolor, it is an impressive and magnificent production that reflects credit on Mr. DeMille and all others concerned in its making. Being a Biblical drama, great care was required to avoid either exaggerating or shading down certain scriptural incidents lest offense be given to different racial and religious sects. Mr. DeMille has succeeded, not only in keeping the story authentic, but also in presenting it in a highly entertaining way. Its combination ot spectacularity and human interest will grip the attention of all movie-goers. The story, which takes place in 1100 B.C. in the Land of Dan, on the island of Crete, depicts Samson (Victor Mature) as a rugged young shepherd of massive strength, a Danite, whose people, having been held in subjugation by the Philistines for iorty years, looked to him to tree them from tyranny. Briefly, the action shows how Samson, by a feat of great courage and strength (killing a lion with his bare hands), wins the consent of the Saran (George Sanders), the Philistine leader, to marry Semadar (Angela Lansbury), a beautiful Philistine woman, only to lose her to Ahtur (Henry Wilcoxon), a Philistine warrior, as the result of the treachery of Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), Semadar's sister, who secretly wanted Samson for herself. Samson's rejection of Delilah when she is offered to him as a substitute for Semadar starts a riot that ends with the death of Semadar and the destruction of her home. In the months that follow, Samson successfully eludes capture, while Delilah, who had vowed to destroy him, becomes the favorite of the Saran. In a scheme compounded of love and hate, Delilah sets out to trap Samson. She does her work well, winning his love and then betraying and capturing him. Blinded by the Philistines and shorn of his hair, from which he drew his great strength, Samson is chained and tortured until brought to the temple, where the festive Philistines heap new indignities upon him to force him to bow before their fiery idol. Delilah, shocked by the sight of the blinded Samson, feels deep remorse. She goes to his side and, pretending to take part in the torment, professes her love. He asks her to lead him to the columns supporting the huge temple. Once there, he prays to the Lord for new strength and, in a frightening display of massive strength, he loosens the columns, causing the temple to crash down, not only on his enemies, but also on Delilah and himself. The destruction of the temple is a piece of realism such as has seldom been attained in other spectacular productions. Other thrilling sequences that will linger long in one's memory are the ones where Samson, with nothing more than the jawbone of an ass, slays one thousand Philistine warriors, and where he strangles a huge lion with his bare hands in a battle to the death. The situations in which he is blinded and tortured are dramatic and pitiful. Victor Mature, as Samson, is superb. Hedy Lamarr, too, does a fine job, as do all the other actors in the very large cast. It was produced and directed by Mr. DeMille from a screen play by Jesse Lasky, Jr. and Frederic M. Frank, based upon the history of Samson and Delilah in the Holy Bible, Judges 13-16. Excellent for all. "My Foolish Heart" with Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews (Goldwyn-RKO, no rel. date set; time, 98 min.) This romantic tear-jerker should go over with women. Some men, too, will undoubtedly like it. But it does not seem to be a picture for 'teen-agers, except for those who are attracted by sex implications. The story, which revolves mainly around the romance betwen a young couple, with the boy-friend killed during the war without knowing that his sweetheart was to bear his child, is old-fashioned. Similar stories have been produced in the past many times. Nor has this version been given a novel treatment. The story is told in retrospect; it starts when the heroine is about to leave her husband, whom she married to hide her shame. As she packs her clothes, an old gown brings back memories of the time she had first met Dana Andrews, her dead sweetheart. The picture suffers because of this method of telling the story, for Susan Hayward is first presented to the audience as a tough dipsomaniac, with no excuse for her shabby treatment of her husband. Her manner serves to deprive her of sympathy. The direction and acting are very good: — Having become an "afternoon tippler," Susan treats her 7-year-old daughter (Gigi Perreau) unkindly, and shows great disrespect for Kent Smith, her husband. Smith, un able to stand her manner any longer, asks Susan for a divorce and demands custody of the child. Furious, Susan is about to disclose to him that Gigi is not his child, but Lois Wheeler, a close friend, persuades her to keep her secret. As she packs up to leave, an old evening gown awakens memories in her. She recalls a New York hotel, in 1941, at which time she was almost in tears because of a catty remark made about her ordinary gown. Andrews, a dinner-jacketed party-crasher, who understood her despair, had restored her good spirits by waltzing with her. He had communicated with her several days later, and she had sneaked out of school to keep a rendezvous with him. A month later, he had been drafted. They had made the most of one of his short leaves and had ended the evening with a kiss in the dormitory elevator, where the shocked dean (Edna Holland) had found them, and had brought about her expulsion. Susan's parents (Robert Keith and Jessie Royce Landis) had come to New York to meet Andrews and take her back to Boston, but her understanding father, knowing that she would be unhappy, had permitted her to remain in New York to be near Andrews' camp. With the advent of the Pearl Harbor attack, Andrews, before being shipped overseas, had spent a 7-day leave together with Susan in a last whirl of excitement. Aware that she was pregnant, Susan did not have the courage to tell Andrews. A letter from Andrews asking her to marry him had reached Susan shortly after his death in an air crash. Lois, to shake Susan out of her melancholy, had taken her to a dance, where she had met Smith. Although she did not love him, she had accepted his marriage proposal to hide her shame. As her thoughts come back to the present, Susan realizes that she had been cruel. She agrees to Smith's demands and suggests that he marry Lois, who had long been in love with him. It all ends on a happy note with Lois and Smith agreeing that Susan should keep Gigi. Samuel Goldwyn produced it and Mark Robson directed it from a screen play by Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein, based on a story by J. D. Salinger. Adult fare. "Bride for Sale" with Claudette Colbert, Robert Young and George Brent (RKO, no release date set; time, 87 min.) A pretty good zany type of comedy. The highly improbable plot, which revolves around the efforts of two men to teach an admitted gold-digger a lesson, only to become rivals for her love, is generally a collection of situations that have proved laughable in similar comedies, and in this case they make for light and amusing farcical doings. A good part of the action is in a slapstick vein, but it is well done and offers many laughs. Moreover, it has snappy dialogue and moves at a fast pace. A highly hilarious slapstick sequence is a mixup between the principals and Max Baer, as a wrestler, in a fish market brawl: — To improve the efficiency and discipline of his big accounting and income-tax firm, George Brent engages, sight unseen, a highly recommended ex-Army Major as his office assistant. He is jolted when the major turns out to be Claudette Colbert, a former WAC officer, but her expertness in tax matters reassures him. He soon becomes disturbed, however, when an unusual number of his wealthiest clients come to the office for private interviews with Claudette; he accuses her of trying to lure them away to set up her own office. Claudette denies the accusation but admits that her one aim in examining the private records was to find herself a husband whose financial status, tastes, and habits would be to her liking. Shocked by her cold-blooded attitude towards marriage, and seeking to retain her invaluable services, Brent gets in touch with Robert Young, a wealthy college pal who had become an archaeologist, and persuades him to help teach Claudette a lesosn. Young, posing as a new client, has no trouble making a date with her once she sees his tax return. He deliberately involves her in several mad-cap adventures in the hope that the exprience would cure her, but it only redoubles her determination to get him. Before long, however, both find themselves falling in love. Meanwhile Brent, too, falls in love with her, and resorts to tactics aimed at sqeezing Young out ol the picture. The whole scheme becomes clear to Claudette when she accidentally discovers that Brent and Young are old college chums; she grimly decides to even matters by accepting both their marriage proposals. Her tactics cause them considerable embarrassment, and before long both men slug it out in a terrific brawl. At the finish, she chooses Young. It was produced by Jack H. Skirball and directed by William D. Russell from a screen play by Bruce Manning and Islin Auster, based on a story by Joseph Fields and Frederick Kohner. The cast includes Gus Schilling, Charles Arnt and others. Harmless for children.