Harrison's Reports (1955)

December 24, 1955 HARRISON'S REPORTS 207 "The Indian Fighter" with Kirk Douglas, Elsa Martinelli and Walter Abel (United Artists, December; time, 88 min.) This frontier melodrama should go over well with those who enjoy fast action, hand-to-hand combats, battles with Indians and heroic deeds, for it has a plentiful quantity of these ingredients. Photographed in CinemaScope and De Luxe color, the story, though not unusual, holds one's interest throughout and offers considerable suspense and excitement. Kirk Douglas makes a virile and courageous hero as a frontiersman who endeavors to prevent an Indian uprising fomented by greedy whites who sought to get their hands on gold discovered by the Indians. The film introduced Elsa Martinelli, a sexy Italian actress, who is effective in the role of an Indian maiden who wins Douglas' heart. Their romantic scenes together are quite torrid. A novel touch to the proceedings is the manner in which the Indians attack a fort, using balls of fire and flaming wagons. The exterior backgrounds, enhanced by CinemaScope and the fine color photography, are a treat to the eye: — When Indian resentment against unscrupulous whites who seek to learn the location of their gold mine reaches the stage of an uprising, Douglas makes his way to the camp of Eduard Franz, the Indian chief, and assures him that violations of his tribe's rights will be dealt with severely by Walter Abel, commander of Fort Laramie. The Chief agrees to come to the fort and sign a peace treaty, and invites Douglas to remain overnight. Douglas meets Elsa, the Chief's daughter, and both are strongly attracted to each other. During the night, Douglas helps the Indians to capture Walter Matthau who, together with Lon Chaney, his partner, plied a simple-minded Indian with whiskey in an effort to learn the location of the gold. Douglas takes Matthau in tow and, to prove to the chief that violations will not be tolerated, sees to it that Abel jails both Matthau and Chaney. Satisfied, the Chief signs the peace treaty. With the peace restored, Douglas is assigned to guide a wagon train to Oregon and takes along Matthau and Chaney to get them out of the territory. One night Douglas leaves the wagons to keep a romantic rendezvous with Elsa, and while he is gone Indians come to trade with the settlers. Matthau and Chaney get one of the Indians drunk and, after learning the location of the gold mine, kill several other Indians in a fight. As a result, Franz declares war and the settlers rush back to the protection of the fort. With the fort beseiged by the Indians, Douglas slips out under cover of darkness, goes to Elsa and persuades her to lead him to the gold mine, where he comes upon Matthau and Chaney. He manages to capture Matthau in the fight that follows, but Chaney is killed. Douglas then delivers Matthau to Franz, whose braves kill the culprit when he tries to escape. His vengeance fulfilled, the Chief calls a halt to the warfare and gives his blessing to the marriage of Douglas and Elsa. It was produced by William Schorr, and directed by Andre De Toth, from a screenplay by Frank Davis and Ben Hecht, based on a story by Ben Kadish. Family. "Ghost Town" with Kent Taylor, John Smith and Marian Carr (United Artists, no rel. date set; time, 75 min.) A moderately interesting program western that will barely get by as a supporting feature. The chief trouble with the picture is that it is practically all talk and no action, except for several small-scale attacks by Indians. This lack of movement and excitement, coupled with the fact that the story is somewhat inconsistent and confusing, causes the spectator to lose interest in the proceedings. The direction is routine and so is the acting, but the script does not give the players much of an opportunity to shine. The story takes place in hostile Indian country and centers around a group of varied characters who take ref uge from the Indians in an abandoned town. These include John Smith, a former newspaperman, who, together with William "Bill" Phillips, his partner, had struck gold; Marian Carr, Smith's fiancee, who had traveled West to join him but who was interested mainly in his gold; Kent Taylor, a smooth but untrustworthy character who secretly sold guns to the Indians; Gilman Rankin, who preached the philosophy of brotherhood with the redskins; John Doucette, a cynical doctor, who is sickened by Rankin's beliefs; Joel Ashley, an Army sergeant, who lacked courage; Gary Murray, the sergeant's idealistic son; Serena Sande, a half-breed girl who sometimes served as a scout for the Army and who was hiding out in the town with an aged, peace-loving Cheyenne chief who was sought by his warring people as a traitor because of his efforts to negotiate peace treaties with the whites. The strain and stress of defending themselves against Indian attacks brings out the good and bad in the different characters, and after a few of them lose their lives, the survivors are saved by the aged chief, who gives himself up for torture by his own people. It ends with Smith switching his love to Serena, after discovering that Marian is unworthy. It was produced by Toward W. Koch, and directed by Allen Miner, from a story and screenplay by Jameson Brewer. Family. "Secret Venture" with Kent Taylor (Republic, November 10; time, 69 min.) Indifferent program fare is offered in this British-made spy melodrama. Although it may serve its purpose as a supporting feature where audiences are not too concerned about story values or a lack of logic, most movie-goers probably will find it tiresome. The story, which has a visiting American in London becoming innocently involved in the kidnapping of a world-famed scientist by international spies, has no lack of melodramatic events of the cloak-and-dagger variety, but the plot on the whole fails to strike a realistic note and is, therefore, unconvincing. Kent Taylor, as the American hero of the piece, provides the only familiar name in the otherwise unknown all-British cast. The direction and performances are acceptable, considering the material: — While flying to London for a holiday, Taylor, a professional strongman, meets Hugo Schuster, a famous scientist. They inadvertently switch briefcases when they arrive at the airport, and immediately thereafter the scientist is kidnapped by a gang of international crooks headed by Karel Stepanek. When the switch in briefcases is discovered, Kathleen Byron, a member of the gang, strikes up a friendship with Taylor and lures him to the gang's headquarters. There, Stepanek offers to pay handsomely for the briefcase, which contained the formula for a new type of jet fuel. Now aware of his unwitting involvement in the situation, Taylor escapes from the gang after a hectic fight and gets in touch with Scotland Yard. John Boxer, an inspector investigating the scientist's disappearance, enlists Taylor's aid and sends him to Paris to pretend to negotiate a deal for the formula with Frederick Valk, an espionage agent who had hired Stepanek to obtain the formula. From then on Taylor becomes involved in a series of chases and intrigues with different members of the gang and, in his zeal to save the scientist, he becomes suspicious of the movements of Jane Hylton, the scientist's secretary, and unknowingly interferes with her efforts to hand over faked formula papers to the crooks in order to gain her employer's release. After many complications, Taylor tracks the scientist to a barge in the London docks, where he finds the old man's life endangered by a fight between Valk and Stepanek. Risking his own life, Taylor rescues the scientist while the police, who arrive in the nick of time, capture the gang. It was produced by William N. Boyle, and directed by R. G. Springsteen, from a screenplay by Paul Erickson. Family.