Harrison's Reports (1950)

February 18, 1950 HARRISON'S REPORTS 27 ity. A highly exciting sequence is a chase through the subway, during which the hero and one of the villains barely escape being run down by the roaring trains. The photography is exceptionally good: — ■ Zachary Scott, an ex'cop and dipsomaniac, is em' ployed as a house detective in a cheap hotel operated by Mary Boland. While sleeping off a drunken binge, Scott is visited by Faye Emerson, his divorced wife, who informs him that their young son had been kid' napped. She explains that the child was last seen with her brother, who, too, had disappeared, while on an errand for Jed Prouty, a shady doctor. Scott hurriedly visits Prouty, only to be drugged by him. Later Prouty is found murdered, and Scott, picked up by the police in a dazed condition, is charged with the killing. But Sam Levene, head of the homicide bureau and an old friend, releases him after Faye provides an alibi. Assembling numerous clues, Scott deduces that the murdered doctor was involved in a diamond smuggling deal, and that he could find his son if he could learn the identity of a mysterious person known as "Saint Paul." Miss Boland, a shrewd woman long intimate with underworld characters, sends Scott to J. Edward Bromberg, a big-time smuggler, for help. He receives no cooperation from Bromberg, but while visiting him he meets Kay Medford, a woman of loose morals, whom he tricks into revealing the whereabouts of his brother-in-law, held captive by Bromberg. He heads for the hiding place, only to be intercepted and shot down by two of Bromberg's henchmen. He manages to move about despite his injuries and, after a series of incidents, finds Bromberg murdered. Another clue, however, leads him back to Miss Bolands hotel. There he finds his son and his brother-in-law, and discovers that "Saint Paul" is none other than Miss Boland herself, and that she had engineered the kidnapping of his son to compel Faye's brother to turn over a package of jewels entrusted in his care by Prouty. Scott brings about her arrest, rejoins the police force, and becomes reconciled with Faye. Joseph Lerner directed the picture and co-produced it with Rex Carlton, from a screen play by Don Ettlinger, based on the novel by Wade Miller. Edmund L. Dorfman was executive producer. Adult fare. "The Yellow Cab Man" with Red Skelton, Gloria DeHaven, Walter Slezak, Edward Arnold and James Gleason (MGM, April; time, 85 mm.) A good slapstick comedy, fast-paced and packed with situations that should garner a rich harvest of laughs. As a zany inventor who is swept up in a series of comic and melodramatic episodes when he becomes a cab driver, Red Skelton is cast in a part that gives him ample opportunity to display his comedy talents to the fullest, and he does a standout job. The manner in which he gets himself involved in all sorts of whacky complications is highly hilarious, and for the most part his antics will be greeted with howls of laughter, even though the story makes little sense. If "The Fuller Brush Man" clicked with your patrons, this comedy, too, should go over with them in a big way. There are so many complications to the nonsensical but amusing story that it defies synopsis. Briefly, however, it has Skelton as a sort of "Rube Goldberg" inventor who is always becoming involved in accidents. He becomes acquainted with Gloria DeHaven, an insurance adjuster for a taxicab company, who, after learning that he had invented unbreakable glass for windshields, arranges for him to demonstrate the invention to the president of the company. But Edward Arnold, an ambulance-chasing lawyer, learns of his invention, too, and he immediately puts into operation a plan that causes the demonstration to prove a failure, thus giving him time to try and gain control of it himself. Shortly thereafter, Skelton, with the aid of Gloria and of James Gleason, is given a job as a cab driver with the company. He gets himself into all sorts of jams with the passengers on his first day. Meanwhile Arnold, unable to duplicate the sample of glass he had managed to steal from Skelton, resorts to another plan: He frames him on a fake accident charge, hoping that he will settle the suit by revealing the formula for making the unbreakable glass. Before long Skelton becomes involved in a series of mad events as a result of the machinations of Walter Slezak, a fake psychiatrist, and Jay C. Flippen, a thug, both Arnold's henchmen, and to add to his woes they frame him for a murder committed by Arnold. He discovers Arnold's guilt, however, and from then on the proceedings turn into slapstick in its broadest form, with bedlam breaking loose as Skelton and Gloria are pursued through a huge exhibition hall containing a home furnishings show. It all ends well when a fleet of taxicabs and their drivers, summoned by Gleason, converge on the exhibition hall and capture the villains. It was produced by Richard Goldstone and directed by Jack Donahue from a story by Devery Freeman, who collaborated on the screen play with Albert Beich. Fine for the entire family. A TEST OF SHOWMANSHIP Abram F. Myers, Chairman of COMPO's Committee on Taxation and Legislation, issued the following statement this week, under the above heading: "The campaign against the federal admission tax has served to emphasize the importance of showmanship in all theatre operations. "The response has been much greater than the Committee anticipated but an analysis of the returns shows a considerable fluctuation in the number of petitions signed among theatres of comparable size, location and attendance. "This indicates clearly that the enthusiasm, efficiency and showmanship of the exhibitor or theatre manager is an important factor in the results attained. "Where the tables arc properly placed, the posters prominently displayed and attendants are on duty at the proper times, many more petitions are signed than in the theatres where the effort is made in a perfunctory manner. "This campaign, like any other exploitation campaign, calls for a genuine showmanlike whirl. There is a lesson here for the future and it is hoped that it will serve not only to further intensify the tax campaign, but will be applied to all theatre activities."