Harrison's Reports (1950)

38 HARRISON'S REPORTS March 11, 1950 "The Outriders" with Joel McCrea, Barry Sullivan and Arlene Dahl (MGM, April; time, 93 min.) An exciting big-scale outdoor melodrama, photographed in Technicolor. Although made up of familiar ingredients, it is better than most so-called "glorified" westerns, for the story is interesting, the direction capable, and the acting highly competent. The action fans in particular should get their money's worth, for the story is full of thundering hoofs, shooting, and battles with Indians. A highly exciting, well staged sequence is where the wagon train fords a raging river. One of the opening scenes, where a Union soldier is stabbed to death in a river, with his blood coming to the surface of the water, is too gory and gruesome. The outdoor photography is exceptionally good: — Joel McCrea, Barry Sullivan and James Whitmore, Confederate soldiers, escape from a Union prison stockade in Missouri only to fall into the hands of a band of guerrillas headed by Jeff Corey, one of Quantrell's infamous raiders. Learning that they are Southerners, Corey, under threat of death, compels them to join his outfit and assigns them on a mission to Sante Fe, where Ramon Navarro was due to leave with a wagon train carrying gold bullion for the Federal Treasury in St. Louis. They were to offer their services as outriders, then guide the wagon train to a prearranged spot, where Corey would be waiting to ambush it. McCrea is told that the gold would go to the depleted coffers of the Confederacy. In Sante Fe, the three men are rejected by Navarro, who mistrusts them, but later, when they beat off an Indian attack on the train, he hires them and places McCrea in charge. En route McCrea falls in love with Arlene Dahl, a young widow traveling as a passenger with her young brother-in-law (Claude Jarman, Jr.). Sullivan, sly and brooding, resents McCrea's warnings to keep away from Arlene. McCrea becomes motivated by a determination that nothing should happen to her. Upon arriving in Missouri, news that the war had ended comes as a relief to him. Sullivan, however, insists that they continue to the appointed ambush. McCrea, suspicious, learns that Sullivan and Corey planned to keep the gold for themselves. He makes Sullivan his prisoner, but he manages to escape. Before long the wagon train is attacked by Corey's forces and a pitched gun battle ensues, but McCrea, by deploying his men carefully, brings death to the raiders, including Corey and Sullivan. It was produced by Richard Goldstone and directed by Roy Rowland from a story and screen play by Irving Ravetch. Unobjectionable morally. the desert, but he refuses and ridicules her. Enraged by Massey s treatment of Ruth, Clark unsuccessfully tries to kill him and is given a severe beating. Morgan Farley a former judge turned drunkard, commits suicide when he is no longer able to stand the humiliation heaped upon him by Massey, but before he dies he reveals that Massey has murdered his own brother to gain control of the mine, and that the dead man's son had sworn to return one day to avenge the murder and reclaim the mine. Clark, recovered from his beating, plans to escape from the mine with Ruth Aided by his co-workers, he lures Massey and his foreman into the mine and traps them by causing a cave-in with a dynamite charge. Ruth and Clark head across the desert in a horsedrawn wagon, but they are forced to return when they discover that the wily Massey had salted the water bags to foil an attempted escape. Meanwhile Massey frees himself from the mine and re-establishes his authority. With discipline restored, the long dreaded arrival of Massey's nephew occurs, and all except Massey die in the vicious battle Arriving at the camp, Clark and Ruth are confronted by Massey. The two men engage in a battle to the death, with Clark emerging the victor. Ruth and Clark decide to repay their debt to society so as to enjoy happiness later. It was produced by Saul Elkins and directed by Peter Godfrey from a story by William Sackheim. Strictly adult fare. "Barricade" with Dane Clark, Raymond Massey and Ruth Roman (Warner Bros., April 1; time, 75 min.) Although well produced and photographed in Technicolor, this outdoor melodrama is too unpleasant and brutal for most picture-goers; its appeal will be directed mainly to men who do not mind viciousness in the extreme. Women undoubtedly will find it too harrowing and depressing because of the bestiality of several of the characters, particularly the one portrayed by Raymond Massey, as a brutish type of man who rules a prison-like mining camp with ruthlessness. There is no comedy to relieve the tension. There is suspense and excitement in some of the situations, but on the whole it is not a good entertainment, for the actions of most of the characters, even those who are somewhat sympathetic, are distasteful: — Because Massey's mining camp on the desert was inaccessible, escaped convicts work for him and suffer his ruthlessness. Dane Clark, a spirited young man but a fugitive from justice, reluctantly takes a job in the mine. Involuntary guests are Ruth Roman, a girl who had escaped from prison, and Robert Douglas, an idealistic lawyer. Both had been injured in a stagecoach wreck and had been found by Walter Coy, Massey's foreman. Massey, accustomed to servile obedience from his men, is annoyed by Clark's arrogant defiance. He becomes also suspicious of Douglas, who was trying to discover the secret behind his control of the mine. Ruth nursed back to health, asks Massey for transportation across "Shadow on the Wall" with Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott and Gigi Perreau (MGM, May; time, 84 min.) A fairly interesting psychiatric thriller, revolving around a six-year-old child whose mind is temporarily affected by the shock of seeing her stepmother murdered. Although the plot is far-fetched, it holds one's attention to a fair degree because of the fact that the child's father is wrongly convicted for the crime and the child is too overcome by shock to offer evidence that would clear him. A considerable part of the footage, in fact, too much, is concerned with psychiatric treatments, which eventually help the child to identify the real culprit. Some suspense is brought about by the fact that the murderess makes several attempts to kill the child before she can identify her. The direction and acting are competent, but it is not a pleasant entertainment: Zachary Scott, having discovered that his wife, Kristine Miller, had been carrying on an affair with the fiance of her sister, Ann Sothern, gets into a violent quarrel with her. During the argument, Kristine knocks him unconscious, just as Ann enters the room and shoots her dead. The crime is witnessed by Gigi Perreau, Scott's little daughter, but the shock affects her memory. Scott is convicted for the crime on circumstantial evidence. Gigi, committed to a children's psychiatric ward, finds a friend in Nancy Davis, a sympathetic psychiatrist, who determines to break through the child's veil of forgetfulness. Through the treatments she gives Gigi, Nancy becomes convinced that a third person was involved in the murder, and patiently tries to make the youngster reconstruct the crime through the use of a doll's house matching the room arrangement of her own home. Ann, secure in the knowledge that her secret is safe, is plagued by misgivings when she learns of the work being done by Nancy with Gigi. Feigning interest in the child's welfare, she visits the hospital frequently and makes two unsuccessful attempts on the child's life, both of which appear to be accidents. Unaware of what is going on but suspicious of Ann, Nancy becomes concerned when she learns that Gigi had been placed under Ann's guardianship, and that she was to live with her in her Connecticut home. She accompanies the child there. When Gigi sees Ann, she starts to scream, for the clothes Ann wears casts a shadow on the wall in a pattern similar to the shadow Gigi had seen on the night of the murder. Ann, aware that her secret had been discovered, hysterically confesses the crime. It ends with Gigi and Scott reunited. It was produced by Robert Sisk and directed by Patrick Jackson from a screen play by William Ludwig, based on the story, "Death in a Doll's House," by Hannah Lees and Lawrence P. Bachmann. Adult fare.