Harrison's Reports (1956)

May 5, 1956 HARRISON'S REPORTS 71 factorily, just as the ladies like. The picture, which has been photographed in CinemaScope and color, with prints by Technicolor, has top production values: — After two marriages, numerous love affairs and an unsuccessful career as a New York model, Jean returns to her home-town and makes an effort to establish harmonious relation with Judith Evelyn, her mother, whom she finds more concerned with surface appearances than with her daughter's inward emotions. In due time Jean receives a marriage proposal from Madison, a boyhood sweetheart who had become a successful contractor, but she does not consider it seriously because of her infatuation for Aumont a local college professor, with whom she had had a romance during her student days. When Aumont makes it clear that he desires an affair rather than marriage, Jean spurns him in disgust and accepts Madison's proposal. She immediately encounters opposition from Evelyn Varden, Madison's mother, who employs private detectives to check her past. On the day of the wedding, Miss Varden offers Jean $50,000 to leave town without her son, but Jean rejects the offer after telling her that she plans to be a good wife to her son and to make him happy. As the wedding ceremony is completed, word comes that Madison's mother had died of a heart attack. This news starts the marriage off under a cloud, with Madison feeling responsible for his mother's death because he had opposed her. Eventually, Jean rebels against living in a house where the presence of Madison's mother is still felt. She starts drinking and, in her rebellion, has a rendezvous with Aumont in a local hotel. Madison surprises them and, after sending Jean home, beats up Aumont. Ashamed and lonely, Jean attempts suicide by swallowing an overdose of sleeping pills. Quick action by Madison saves Jean's life, and he comes to the realisation that she had been driven to self-destruction by a lack of understanding on his part as well as on the part of her mother. When Jean recovers and makes plans to leave, Madison begs her to remain. Jean happily agrees, assured that she at last had found a man she can truly love. It was produced by Herbert B. Swope, Jr., and directed by Philip Dunne from his own screenplay, based on the play by Samson Raphaelson. Adult fare. "The Maverick Queen" with Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Scott Brady and Mary Murphy (Republic, May; time, 92 mm.) Good western fare is served up in "The Maverick Queen," which has been photographed in Trucolor and in Naturama, Republic's new wide-screen anamorphic process, the details of which appear elsewhere on these pages. Based on the Zane Grey novel of the same title, the story covers familiar ground, but it moves along at a fast and exciting pace and is replete with situations that crackle with action and suspense. As a wealthy saloon owner who casts her lot with a gang of outlaws, Barbara Stanwyck handles her acting assignment in her usual capable fashion, and the same may be said for Barry Sullivan, as a Pinkerton undercover man who poses as an outlaw to break up the gang. Scott Brady plays the villain with savage intensity, particularly in the sequence where he brutally attempts to kill Miss Stanwyck because she had fallen in love with Sullivan. The outdoor backgrounds, enhanced by the color photography and the Naturama process, are a treat to the eye. The night scenes, however, are too dark: — Barbara, influential owner of "The Maverick Queen," a gambling palace, works hand-in-glove with an outlaw gang known as the Wild Bunch and buys the cattle they steal. Love and trouble enter her life when Sullivan, a Pinkerton agent posing as an outlaw, worms his way into her confidence and arouses the jealous fury of Brady, her boy-friend, a treacherous mixed-breed lieutenant of Howard Petrie, leader of the Wild Bunch. Brady threatens to kill Sullivan unless he leaves town. Ignoring the threat, Sullivan takes a job with Barbara as a faro dealer, and at the same time refuses an offer made by Mary Murphy, a pretty ranch owner, who wanted him to head a vigilante group being formed to break up the Wild Bunch. Mary had reason to believe that Sullivan is honest and, despite his suspicious actions, keeps faith in him. Sullivan's help in a train robbery makes him acceptable to the Wild Bunch and he is given access to their mountain hideout. In the complications that follow, Brady finds evidence of Sullivan's undercover work and his fury leads him to try to kill Barbara. When this fails, he forces Mary and Wallace Ford, her cook, to the mountain hideout to reveal Sullivan's true activities to the outlaws. Barbara rushes to warn Sullivan of his danger and is killed by outlaw bullets while helping him to escape. In the gun battle that ensues, Sullivan and Mary are rescued by the timely arrival of a sheriff's posse while the members of the gang are either killed or captured. It all ends with Mary and Sullivan looking forward to a happy future, made possible by Barbara's sacrifice. It was produced and directed by Joe Kane, from a screenplay by Kenneth Garnet and DeVallon Scott. Unobjectionable morally. "Magic Fire" with Alan Badel, Yvonne de Carlo, Rita Gam and Valentina Cortesa (Republic, March 29; time, 95 min.) Photographed in Trucolor, this film biography of composer Richard Wagner is best suited for selected bookings aimed at attracting the lovers of classical music, for considerable footage is given over to excerpts from the wide range of Wagnerian operas. But even to such music lovers the picture's appeal is doubtful, for its story of Wagner's life and loves, though founded on fact, is slow-paced and ponderous, and never succeeds in reaching any appreciable dramatic heights. Alan Badel turns in an impressive portrayal as Wagner, depicting him as a selfish and selfcentered man, for whom no sympathy is felt. Yvonne de Carlo, as the composer's wife, is wooden. Valentina Cortesa and Rita Gam, as the two other women in his life, are fairly effective. The film has been shot against actual historical backgrounds in Europe, giving the proceedings unusually fine production values, but it is not enough to overcome a heavy story that has been presented in a stilted manner. Opening in the year 1834, the story depicts Wagner as a brilliant 21-year-old musician who is appointed conductor of the opera company in the provincial German town of Magdeburg. There he meets and marries Minna (Yvonne de Carlo), a beautiful actress who loves him but disapproves of his ambitions to become a composer. When the opera company goes broke, Wagner goes to Paris, where he gains an audience with Meyerbeer (Charles Regnier), the reigning musical personality, who treats his compositions lightly. But Franz Liszt (Carlos Thompson) recognizes Wagner's genius, eventually rescues him from a debtor's prison and uses his influence to have Wagner's operas presented. The success of "The Flying Dutchman" wins Wagner an appointment as Court Conductor at Dresden, but his revolutionary activities force him to flee the country when an order is issued for his arrest and execution. Through the friendship of Liszt, Wagner is given asylum in Switzerland on a wealthy man's estate, where he continues writing operas while carrying on an affair with his host's wife (Valentina Cortesa). Minna exposes the affair in a jealous fury, divorces Wagner, and dies at a later date. In due time King Ludwig II of Bavaria3 a patron of the arts, befriends Wagner and gives him unlimited power and money to produce his operas, but the King is compelled to dismiss the composer when he becomes involved in a scandal with Cosima (Rita Gam), Liszt's married daughter. Wagner is again forced into exile, but Cosima marries him after divorcing her husband. He continues composing until dying of a heart attack in 1883. It was produced and directed by William Dieterlc, from a screenplay by Bcrtita Harding, E. A. Dupont and David Chantler. Best suited for mature audiences.