Harrison's Reports (1950)

March 18, 1950 HARRISON'S REPORTS 43 "Under My Skin" with John Garfield and Micheline Prelle (20th Century-Fox, March; time, 86 min.) An interesting horse-racing melodrama, based on Ernest Hemingway's short story, "My Old Man." Revolving around an unscrupulous jockey who is idolized by his young son, the story, though hardboiled in many respects because of the crooked racing angle, has moments of tenderness that are charged with emotional appeal. The picture, in fact, has many emotional situations, the result of the devotion and loyalty between father and son. The action takes place in Italy and France, and the actual Parisian backgrounds give the film a colorful flavor. The racing sequences and the hero's involvements with a crooked gambler make for considerable excitement and suspense. John Garfield is highly competent as the tough but tender jockey, and Orley Lindgren, as his son, is exceptionally good. The picture marks the American debut of Micheline Prelle, a popular and beautiful French actress, who does very well as the cabaret singer who feels sympathetic to the motherless youngster and falls in love with his father: — Garfield, a veteran jockey barred from American tracks because of his unscrupulous ways, is forced to flee from Italy with Orley, his 11-year-old son, after double-crossing Luther Adler, a gambler, in a fixed race. They go to Paris, where Garfield had sent his trunks in care of a friend who owned a cafe. Arriving at the cafe, Garfield is berated by Micheline Prelle, who turns out to be his friend's widow; she blames him for her husband's death because he had involved him with racetrack characters. While Garfield goes to retrieve his trunks, which Micheline had sent away, she feels sorry for young Orley and takes him to her apartment for dinner. Within a few days Garfield buys a horse and starts to train him as a steeplechase racer. Meanwhile a strong bond grows up between Micheline and the boy, and before long she finds herself falling in love with Garfield. Trouble looms when Adler and two of his henchmen arrive in Paris and give Garfield a limited time to pay up the losses in Italy. Garfield makes up some of the money on a fixed race. His son, detecting the fix, loses respect for him. Garfield decides to send the youngster back to America, but the lad, devoted to his father, returns to him. In due time Garfield's horse becomes the favorite to win the Grand Prix, and Adler, threatening to kill Garfield, orders him to throw the race. Realizing that his son had his heart set on their horse winning, Garfield rides an honest race and wins. But as the horse streaks across the finish line another horse crashes into him, causing Garfield to take a fall that brings about his death. Casey Robinson wrote the screen play and produced it. Jean Negulesco directed it. Unobjectionable morally. "Tarzan and the Slave Girl" with Lex Barker, Vanessa Brown and Denise Darcel (RKO, no rel. date set; time, 74 min.) This latest of the "Tarzan" pictures should go over well wherever the series is a favorite. The story, of course, is completely fantastic, but the undiscriminating adventureloving fans who do not mind pictures that are more melodramatic than credible should find the bang-up pace exciting and packed with thrills, for the action is replete with mayhem, double-dyed villainy and heroic deeds of assorted kinds. Lex Barker, as Tarzan, adequately fills the demands of the role. The production is enhanced by a bevy of easyto-look-at "slave girls," among whom is Denise Darcel, of "Battleground" fame: — When the natives of Tarzan's jungle become terrified by the mysterious disappearance of the bride of the chief's son, Tarzan traces the girl and finds that she had been kidnapped by members of the Lionian tribe, whose numbers had been depleted by a strange malady. The disease is contracted by several of the natives and Tarzan saves them by summoning a doctor who innoculates them with a serum he had developed. Tarzan determines to rescue the girl, and the doctor decides to go along bo as to treat the epidemic at its source. With Tarzan gone, the Lionians return and kidnap Vanessa Brown, his wife, Denise Darcel, the doctor's nurse, as well as seven other girls, and take them to Hurd Hatfield, their Prince, who was despondent over the illness of his little son. Aware that they had been kidnapped to replenish the Lionian population, Vanessa and Denise manage to escape from the slave quarters and hide themselves in the tomb of the Prince's father, a recent victim of the deadly disease. Tarzan and the doctor, arriving in the Lionian city, inform the Prince that they can save his son with the serum, but both are thrown into a dungeon when it is discovered that they had lost the serum en route. Tarzan battles his way free and escapes to the tomb, where he discovers Vanessa and Denise. Through brute strength and with the aid of elephant friends, he breaks out of the tomb after it had been sealed and gets into a violent battle before he is subdued. Meanwhile Cheeta, Tarzan's pet chimpanzee, had found the lost serum, enabling the doctor to save the Prince's son. Just as Tarzan is about to be thrown to the lions, the Prince arrives on the scene and frees him together with the girls. It was produced by Sol Lesser and directed by Lee Sholem from a screen play by Hans Jacoby and Arnold Belgard. The cast includes Arthur Shields, Robert Alda, Tony Caruso,, Robert Warwick and others. Suitable for the family. "The Big Hangover" with Van Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor (MGM, May; time, 82 min.) Although this is an expensive production, it is only mildly entertaining. The reason for it is that the story, which revolves around an idealistic young lawyer, is weak. There is some comedy here and there. Part of it is slapstick, and other parts are provoked by the practical jokes played on Van Johnson who, because of a strange allergy to liquor, is sent into headspins by alcohol that is placed in his food. The most outstanding situation is at the alumni dinner where Leon Ames, as the city attorney, defending himself against a charge of dishonesty by Van, accuses capable law students of refusing to apply for positions as assistant district attorneys so as to protect the interests of the citizens. The action is slow in many spots: — Upon his graduation from college with high honors, Van Johnson is taken into a distinguished law firm headed by Percy Waram. He joins a surprise birthday party given to Waram in the office and is induced to drink to the boss' health. He immediately becomes wildly intoxicated and is saved from disgrace by Elizabeth Taylor, Waram's daughter. He explains to her that he is allergic to liquor, the result of a war experience, during which he was almost drowned by bursting barrels of brandy while in the cellar of a French monastery hit by a Nazi bomb. Elizabeth, a student of psychiatry, takes an interest in him. He tries to cure himself by taking a teaspoonful of brandy every night, but in the course of the experiment he believes that his dog is talking to him. When he informs Elizabeth of this experience, she tells him that his sub-conscious mind had been playing a trick on him. Johnson visits Elizabeth's home and, after a talk with him, her parents become impressed with the fact that he is a young man of high ideals. But his ideals get him into trouble when he becomes shocked over the fact that the law firm, which was not averse to using its position for profit, was evicting a distinguished Chinese doctor from an apartment it owned. At an alumni dinner attended by all the members of the firm, including Elizabeth, Johnson denounces Leon Ames for failing to protect the interests of the Chinese doctor, and accuses him of currying favor with Waram's law firm to obtain a better paying job. All are shocked by Johnson's outburst, but Ames justifies himself by explaining that no capable lawyer applies for the job of his assistant to enable him to combat the brilliant members of Waram's firm. Convinced that Ames was honest but handicapped, Johnson resigns from the firm and accepts the position of assistant to Ames. Elizabeth, proud of Johnson, determines to marry him. The story was written, produced and directed by Norman Krasna. The cast includes Fay Holdcn, Edgar Buchanan, Selena Roylc, Gene Lockhart and others. Unobjectionable for family audiences.