Harrison's Reports (1949)

182 HARRISON'S REPORTS November 12, 1949 "The Story of Molly X" with June Havoc, John Russell and Dorothy Hart (Universal, K[ovember; time, 82 min.) A mixture of gangster action, stick-ups, and prison life, "The Story of Molly X" is an above average run-of-the-mill crime melodrama that is somewhat diluted by affected direction and acting, and by an incredible plot. The novelty in the story is that the central character is a sort of female gangster, who takes over the mob leadership of her murdered husband. The melodramatic plot wastes no time in love interest, but its unfoldment is so routine and me' chanical that it fails to generate more than mild excitement at best, for it is neither a fresh nor a vigorous reworking of old situations. June Havoc, as the beautiful but hard-boiled lady mob-leader, makes the most of her role, at times acting like a veritable Jimmy Cagney in the use of her fists and of a gun. The manner in which her reformation is brought about, and in which she is cleared of a murder she believed she had committed, is too contrived to pack an emotional punch: — Following the mysterious murder of her mobster husband in Kansas City, June Havoc launches a series of crimes in San Francisco with the aid of John Russell and Elliott Lewis, her late husband's confederates. Dorothy Hart, Lewis' girl-friend, accuses June of having an interest in Lewis, but June rebuffs her. One day, as they prepare for a quick getaway after a successful robbery, Lewis declares his love for June and urges her to run away with him. She tricks him into admitting that he had killed her husband and calmly shoots him down. Russell helps her to dispose of the body, then hides June's gun on top of a telephone booth in a cheap rooming house. Police Captain Charles McGraw, on a tip from Dorothy as to their whereabouts, arrests the pair. Russell goes to San Quentin and June to the California Institution for Women at Tehachapi. June rebels at the institution's modern penal methods, but she eventually sees the light and becomes a model prisoner. Meanwhile Dorothy, cooperating with McGraw, becomes an inmate of the prison and makes life miserable for June in an effort to make her admit to Lewis' murder. The missing gun would have established her guilt. In due time June wins a parole and obtains employment in Los Angeles, where she leads a quiet life until accosted by Dorothy with news that Russell had been named as Lewis' murder. Unwilling to let Russell take the blame, June goes to San Francisco to retrieve the gun, turns it over to McGraw, and confesses to the murder. Russell, however, reveals that June had only wounded Lewis, and that he had finished the job. Cleared and completely rehabilitated, June sets out to start a new life. It was produced by Aaron Rosenberg and written and directed by Crane Wilbur. The cast includes Connie Gilchrist, Cathy Lewis and others. Adult fare. "Mary Ryan, Detective" with Marsha Hunt, John Litel and June Vincent (Columbia, no rel. date set; time, 68 min.) Although it has some novelty because the heroine is a woman detective, this is just a routine cops-androbbers melodrama, suitable for the lower half of a double bill. The plot, which revolves around the heroine's efforts to track down a gang of murderous thieves by becoming one of them, is thin and obvious, but those who are not too demanding should find it sufficiently exciting in spots. There is some romantic interest but it is negligible. The production values are modest, and the direction and acting passable : — Following the arrest of June Vincent and Victoria Home for the theft of a diamond ring, Police Captain John Litel is unable to learn the name of the "fence" to whom they had been selling stolen merchandise. He arranges with Marsha Hunt, a woman detective, to pose as a shoplifter and puts her in the same cell with Victoria. Marsha cleverly wins her confidence and is referred to an "employment" agency, which puts her to work as a maid to steal jewelry at a fashionable party. Marsha "steals" a necklace from a police matron who had been planted at the party, and then makes her getaway with the help of William Phillips, a member of the gang of crooks, who takes her to a turkey farm operated by Harry Shannon and his wife, Katharine Warren, who decide to keep her there until the "heat" is off. Shannon reveals himself to Marsha as the "fence," and discloses that he disposed of the stolen goods by shipping it in the inside of smoked turkeys. One night Marsha, still playing the role of a crook, is compelled to accompany the gang on a fur warehouse robbery. They make a successful getaway, but Phillips is badly wounded by the police. Marsha extracts the bullet and saves his life. In the course of events, Marsha succeeds in sending out several messages in the insides of the turkeys, one of which is finally brought to the attention of Litel. Meanwhile June escapes from jail, comes to the farm, and recognises Marsha as a detective. Shannon prepares to kill her, but Philips, grateful to her for having saved his life, shoots down Shannon before he can harm her. By this time the police arrive and round up the whole gang. It was produced by Rudolph C. Flothow and directed by Abby Berlin from a screen play by George Bricker, based on a story by Harry Fried. Unobjectionable morally. "Project X" with Keith Andes and Rita Colton (Film Classics, Oct. 14; time, 60 min.) A minor program melodrama, amateurishly produced, directed and acted. There's nothing new, novel or especially thrilling about its ordinary spy story, which centers around a young physicist who aids Federal agents to track down a Communist ring seeking atomic energy secrets. Not only is the plot implausible, but it is given more to talk than to action, with the dialogue unrealistic and dull. A hectic chase through heavy traffic and a gun fight at the finish offer some excitement, but not enough to lift the picture out of its unimaginative rut : — Shortly after obtaining a job as a physicist with an atomic research laboratory in New York, Keith Andes, a war veteran, is approached by Jack Lord, a Communist and former college chum, who threatens to reveal that he had once been a party member unless he supplies him with important information on atomic research progress. Andes lets Lord believe that he intends to cooperate with him, then visits Robert Noe, Special Agent in charge of Atomic Research, and informs him of Lord's threat. Noe induces Andes to play along with Lord in order to help the Government find the leader of the Communist ring, an unidentified man who was known to hold a cigarette as if it were