Harrison's Reports (1950)

18 "Nancy Goes to Rio" with Jane Powell, Ann Sothern, Barry Sullivan (MGM, March; time, 99 min.) A pleasing blend of comedy, romance and music, photographed in Technicolor. There is nothing really novel about the story, which has a youthful actress-mother and her 'teen-aged daughter vying for the attentions of the same man, but it should go over pretty well, for it is gay and lively, and the players enact their roles with zest. Moreover, the farcical complications as a result of misunderstandings will keep the audience chuckling throughout. Worked into the proceedings to good effect are a melange of tuneful song and dance numbers, featuring Jane Powell and the exuberant Carmen Miranda, whose antics and twisting of the English language add much to the entertainment values. The costumes and settings, enhanced by the Technicolor photography, are up to the usual MGM lavish standards: — Ann Sothern, a famous stage actress, goes to Rio to study the leading part in a new play. Meanwhile the producer of the play, wanting a young girl for the lead, offers the part to Jane Powell, Ann's daughter and an aspiring actress. Unaware of her mother's intentions, Jane takes a boat to Rio to be coached by her. While sitting on the deck and studying the part, Jane speaks aloud a few lines from the play, giving Barry Sullivan, an attractive business man, the impression that she is a deserted wife who is going to have a baby. Sullivan, feeling sorry for her, tries to be nice, but she mistakes his kindness for a marriage proposal and turns him down. Arriving in Rio and discovering that her mother planned to play the lead, Jane secretly telephones the producer in the United States and cancels her contract. She then informs her mother that she had decided to give up the stage to marry Sullivan. Jane goes to Sullivan's office and informs him that she had decided to accept his proposal. Bewildered and still under the impression that Jane is to be a mother, Sullivan dispatches Carmen Miranda, his business partner, to Jane's home to inform her mother that she is to become a grandmother. Ann, jumping to the conclusion that Sullivan is the father, arranges a meeting to discuss marriage. The meeting results in a lot of double-talk with neither one aware of what is in the other's mind. Eventually, however, the misunderstanding is cleared up when Ann discovers that Sullivan had overheard Jane spouting lines from the play. By this time Ann and Sullivan fall in love, but Jane still imagines that he is in love with her. After several more mix-ups, Ann and Sullivan break the news of their engagement to Jane. The blow falls lightly, however, when Ann insists that Jane accept the lead in the play. It all ends happily with Jane's successful debut on Broadway. It was produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Robert Z. Leonard from a screen play by Sidney Sheldon, based on a story by Jane Hall, Frederick Kohner and Ralph Block. The cast includes Scotty Beckett, Louis Calhern and others. "Mother Didn't Tell Me" with Dorothy McGuire and William Lundigan (20th CenturyFox, March; time, 88 min.) A humorous domestic comedy-drama, revolving around the trials and tribulations of the romantic bride of a busy young doctor. The story, which deals with the difficulties the heroine encounters in trying to adjust herself to the demands of her husband's profession, is episodic and offers nothing really outstanding, but it provides a number of amusing situations and, despite some dull spots, manages to keep one entertained. Worked into the story are angles involving a scheming mother-in-law and "another woman," but these miss fire because the motivations are weak. The dialogue and treatment are on the sophisticated side, and although everything is handled in good taste the picture is best suited for mature audiences : — Attracted to William Lundigan, a young doctor, when she visits his office as a patient, Dorothy McGuire plays up to him, wins his love and marries him, despite a warning from his mother (Jessica Royce Landis) that the life of a doctor's wife is not an easy one. Actually, Lundigan's mother wanted him to marry Joyce MacKenzie, a medical student, who was to become his associate. Although happy, Dorothy finds it difficult to adjust herself to Lundigan's unpredictable hours, and on the advice of June Havoc, the wife of another doctor, she decides to have a baby in the hope that Lundigan will then be induced to spend more time at home. Dorothy is blessed with twins, and for the next two years she finds her family life ideal. Complications arise, however, when Joyce graduates from medical school and arrives to take up her work with Lundigan. Dorothy, resentful, makes no secret about her feelings and gets into a violent quarrel with Lundigan; she decides to leave with the children. But before she can do so the mischevious twins swallow some ant paste and have to be rushed to the hospital. The children are saved, but the anguish caused by the accident serves to bring Dorothy and Lundigan's mother together on closer terms, with the latter confessing that, through Joyce, she had been trying to break up the marriage. She begs Dorothy's forgiveness and sees to it that Joyce resigns as Lundigan's associate. Dorothy embraces her mother-in-law and then rushes into Lundigan's arms, telling him that she would rather be neglected as a doctor's wife than live alone. It was produced by Fred Kohlmar and directed by Claude Binyon from his own screen play, based on Mary Bard's book, "The Doctor Wears Three Faces." Adult fare. "Chain Lightning" with Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker and Raymond Massey (Warner Bros., Feb. 25; time, 94 min.) Revolving around a test pilot and dealing with the development of jet propelled planes, this thrilling aviation melodrama should go over well with most audiences, despite the formula story. The action is at its best in the sequences having to do with the testing of the jet planes. These are at once exciting and informative, staged in a way that imparts enough technical knowledge to stir the spectator's imagination. The depiction of the hero making a hazardous flight from Nome to Washington via the North Pole at an altitude of 80,000 feet and a speed of 1400 miles per hour grips one because of the realistic way in which it has been done, and because it gives one the feeling of impending tragedy. When the story gets on the ground, however, it is only mildly interesting, for the romantic triangle is developed along familiar lines and, despite the good acting, is lacking in emotional appeal. The special effects and the photography are excellent: — The story opens in England in 1943 with Bogart, pilot of a Flying Fortress, showing Richard Whorf, an aircraft designer, what is wrong with the planes. In love with Eleanor Parker, a Red Cross worker, Bogart is separated from her when he is suddenly recalled to Washington. With the war over, Bogart runs into a streak of bad luck, failing at every job as he barnstorms around the country. He eventually meets up with an old Air Force buddy who invites him to a party given by Raymond Massey, a post-war opportunist making jet planes for the Air Force. At the party he meets again Eleanor, now Massey's secretary and Whorf's fiance. Whorf himself was designing the jet plane for Massey. Although aware that the love between Bogart and Eleanor had been rekindled, Whorf persuades Massey to hire Bogart as test pilot. On his first assignment, Bogart and the jet plane perform brilliantly. Whorf, however, considers the plane unsafe pending the perfection of a life-saving pod that could eject the pilot from the cockpit in an emergency and bring him safely to the ground. Massey, seeking to get a quick Government order, refuses to go along with any delay and offers Bogart a fabulous bonus to fly the plane from Nome to Washington in record time. Whorf begs Bogart not to make the flight lest it be successful and the Government order planes that would seen be obsolete. Bogart ignores the plea and completes the spectacular flight, but upon landing in Washington he learns that Whorf had lost his life testing the pod himself. Eleanor, angered, refuses to have anything to do with Bogart. To vindicate himself in Eleanor's eyes, and to make amends to the dead designer, Bogart, contrary to Massey's orders, takes up the plane with the life-saving pod and puts it through a successful test. Eleanor embraces him as he lands. It was produced by Anthony Veiller and directed by Stuart Heisler from a screen play by Liam O'Brien and Vincent Evans, suggested by a story by J. Redmond Prior. Suitable for the family.