Harrison's Reports (1950)

December 9, 1950 HARRISON'S REPORTS 195 they smuggled the gold by concealing it in a compartment welded to the bottom of a car, in which they drove to Mexico as tourists. Kennedy joins them on one of the hauls, but first makes careful arrangements with the highway police to pick up the car at the border. The arrangements, however, backfire, and the crooks get wise to Kennedy's scheme. He is knocked unconscious and, after crossing the border, the crooks take him to an isolated spot. There, Phillips and Twitchell prepare to murder him while Stevens gets rid of the gold. But Kennedy manages to overcome his captors and, after a wild chase, succeeds in capturing Stevens with the money just as he is boarding a plane for a getaway. It was produced by Sam Katzman and directed by Lew Landers from a screen play by William Sackheim and Arthur A. Ross. Unobjectionable morally. "Storm Warning" with Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day and Steve Cochran (Warner Bros., Feb. 10; time, 93 mm.) "Storm Warning" is a powerful melodrama, finely directed and acted, but it is a grim, unpleasant picture that leaves one depressed because of its realistic depiction of mob volence and stark brutality. Set in a Southern town, the story throws a spotlight on Ku Klux Klan terrorism and the prejudice and fear spread by that bigoted organization when its members take the law into their own hands. The action is charged with suspense throughout and, by reason of its realistic handling, its dramatic impact is potent, but its vivid depiction of the ugliest aspects of murder, intimida' tion, attempted rape and man's inhumanity to man is much too horrifying to be classified as entertainment. Like "The Sound of Fury," which is reviewed on the back page of this issue, the picture may do considerable harm to the national interest if the Communists should play it up as an example of uncivilized doings that exist in a democracy: — Ginger Rogers, a model, arrives in a small Southern town to visit Doris Day, her newly-married sister. As she hastens to meet Doris, Ginger sees a band of hooded men drag a man from inside the county jail and murder him. Terrified but unnoticed, she sees two of the men remove their masks before she darts away. She tells Doris of her frightening experience, and learns that the murdered man was a Northern reporter who had been framed into a jail sentence following his expose of Klan activities in the town. When Steve Cochran, Doris' husband arrives home, Ginger is shocked to recognize him as one of the hooded men. Slightly intoxicated, he confesses that he had been at the jail but babbles that the murder was unintentional. Despite her disgust with him, Ginger, for the sake of her sister, an expectant mother, promises to say nothing to the authorities. Meanwhile Ronald Reagan, the district attorney, who suspected the Klan, starts an investigation but is unable to get any information from the town's fear-stricken people. He eventually picks up Ginger, after establishing that she had been near the scene of the crime. Although she protects Cochran, Ginger, by stating that she had seen the crime committed by men with hoods, furnishes Reagan with the testimony he needs to indict the Klan; he orders her to appear as a witness at the inquest. When Hugh Sanders, Cochran's boss and head of the Klan, learns of this development, he intimidates Ginger by threatening to throw the guilt on Cochran. Ginger recognizes Sanders as the other man who had removed his mask, but at the inquest she denies having seen anything, thus enabling the Klan-controlled coroner's jury to return a verdict to the effect that the reporter had been killed by an unknown assailant. Reagan, disgusted, gives her a tongue-lashing. While the town goes on a drunken spree in celebration of the verdict, Ginger, ashamed, prepares to leave town. Cochran, drunk, finds her alone in the house and attempts to rape her. Just then Doris arrives, and Cochran knocks her unconscious when she comes to Ginger's defense. Ginger, infuriated, tells Cochran that she will now tell Reagan the truth so that Doris may be rid of him. Cochran floors her with a punch and drags her to a meeting of the Klan in the hills, where she is flogged before a blazing cross. Reagan, summoned by Doris, rushes to the meeting with armed deputies to rescue Ginger. In the dispute that follows, Cochran, fearing that Sanders is about to place the guilt on him, shoots at the Klan chieftain. The shot goes wild, hitting Doris and killing her. Cochran in turn is shot down by the deputies while Sanders and the other Klan leaders are arrested. It was produced by Jerry Wald and directed by Stuart Heisler from a story by Daniel Fuchs and Richard Brooks. Strictly adult fare. "Kim" with Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell and Paul Lukas (MGM, January; time, 112 min.) This technicolor screen version of Rudyard Kiplang's famous novel is a fine adventure melodrama, one that will surely thrill the youngsters and please their elders. It has a few slow spots here and there, and the story is fanciful and episodic, but one overlooks all this because it has considerable melodramatic action, comedy, picturesque backgrounds and an exotic atmosphere. The main asset, however, is the wonderful preformance by young Dean Stockwell, who walks away with the picture as "Kim," the orphaned British-born youngster who poses as a Hindu urchin; the characterization is a fabulous one, and this talented child actor puts it over in a manner that is highly entertaining. The story takes place in India in the 1880's, and it depicts young Stockwell as the orphaned son of an Irish soldier, who had been stationed with the British army in India. The youngster, by coloring his skin, lived among the Hindus like one of them, and by hanging around the bazaars he had learned all their sly tricks in trade. He becomes friendly with a kindly Lama priest (Paul Lukas), and appoints himself as a guide to the holy man, begging and stealing for his welfare. In the course of their travels together, Stockwell meets and makes friends with Errol Flynn, an Afghan horse trader who secretly worked with British Army Intelligence to thwart a Czarist Russian plot to seize India. Flynn gives the youngster an important paper to deliver to Robert Douglas, head of British Intelligence, who eventually discovers that the boy is the orphaned son of a British soldier. Douglas decides that the lad must go to school. Stockwell, objects, but the Lama priest induces him to go. School makes him very unhappy, but he cheers up when summer vacation arrives, and once again dons the clothes of a ragged Hindu boy and goes in search of the Lama. En route, he learns of a plot against Flynn's life, and his quick-thinking saves the horse-trader's life. Impressed, Flynn urges Douglas to make use of the boy in their work. The youngster is put through an extensive spy-training course and, in due time, becomes an important member of British Intelligence because his knowledge of the country and its people enabled him to do his work without creating suspicion. He is then assigned to a most important mission in the Himalaya mouna tains, where he attaches himself to two Russian spies posing as geologists in order to prepare maps and charts in preparation for an invasion. He manages to gain possession of the valuable documents, but not before he is found out and saved from a violent death by Flynn. A brief synopsis cannot do justice to the plot's many intrigues, nor to the fantastic escapades of the young hero. Errol Flynn, though he is overshadowed by Stockwell, is good in his incredulous role, as is Paul Lukas, as the kindly Lama, and Cecil Kellaway, as an Intelligence officer of many disguises. Laurettc Lucz looks fine in the few scenes in which she appears. Much of the action was shot on actual locations in India, and the backgrounds, the streets and bazaars, all enhanced by the Technicolor photography, are a treat to the eye. It was produced by Leon Gordon and directed by Victor Saville from a screen play by Mr. Gordon, Helen Dcutsch and Richard Schayer. Very good for the entire family.