Harrison's Reports (1956)

132 HARRISON'S REPORTS August 18, 1956 "The First Traveling Saleslady" with Ginger Rogers, Carol Channing and David Brian (RKO, Aug. 15; time, 92 min.) Despite the frenzied efforts of the players, "The First Traveling Saleslady" shapes up as a flat and disappointing comedy that does not rise above the level of program fare. Its box-office chances will depend heavily on the marquee value of Ginger Rogers' name. It is a period comedy, photographed in Technicolor and set at the turn of the century, and it revolves around the adventures of a traveling saleslady who goes bankrupt selling corsets and takes on the task of selling barbed wire to hostile Texas cattlemen. The story idea had possibilities, but what emerges is a series of ancient gags and situations that are for the most part more silly than funny, let alone obvious and unimaginative. Not much can be said for either the direction or the acting, but the fault seems to lie in the indifferent material: — In an effort to launch a sales campaign for corsets with steel stays instead of whalebone, Ginger Rogers uses methods that offend a Purity League and a boycott bankrupts her business. Seeking more time to pay her bill to the Garter Steel Company, her biggest creditor, Ginger overhears David Brian, head of the company, discussing his difficulties in selling barbed wire in the West, where the ranchers, claiming that the wire would injure their cattle, had scared the wire salesmen out of the area. Ginger talks Brian into giving her a contract to sell the barbed wire in Texas, and she heads west accompained by Carol Channing, her assist tant. Out there she tangles with James Arness, the biggest cattle baron in Texas, who, though attracted to her, deter' mines to defeat her efforts to sell the barbed wire. To combat Arness, Ginger enlists the aid of the ranchers' wives, but Arness forestalls a meeting of that pressure group by having his hand-picked sheriff jail Ginger and Carol on a charge of cruelty to animals. Brian, in love with Ginger himself, comes west to her rescue and gets involved in a fight with Arness. A trial is held and things look bad for Ginger because of false evidence produced by Arness, but she wins an acquittal when the ranchers' wives stampede a herd of cattle into the town square, which they had enclosed with barbed wire, and prove that the steers instinctively kept away from the wire and would not cut themselves. This demonstration results in a flood of orders, and it ends with Ginger pairing up with Brian, while Carol rides off with Barry Nelson, a young man who had followed across the country in his new-fangled gasoline buggy. It was produced and directed by Arthur Lubin, from a screenplay by Devery Freeman, based on a story by Stephen Longstreet. Family. "Bandido" with Robert Mitchum, Ursula Theiss and Gilbert Roland (United Artists, Sept.; time, 92 min.) "Bandido" may not win critical acclaim, but it shapes up as an acceptable adventure melodrama that generates the kind of excitement that undiscriminating action fans enjoy. Photographed in CinemaScope and DeLuxe color, it is a story of Mexico in 1916 and centers around an American soldier-of -fortune whose activities in a revolution involve him with both the rebel and Federal forces, as well as with the unhappy wife of a shady gun-runner. Much of the action is farfetched and fanciful, and there are moments when it is slowed down considerably by too much talk, but on the whole it moves along at a swift and exciting pace, with plentiful rugged fighting, bloodshed and romantic interludes. The film was shot entirely in Mexico against colorful backgrounds that lend a flavor of authenticity to the proceedings: — Robert Mitchum, an American adventurer who involved himself in the wars of Latin-American republics for excite ment and profit, arrives in Mexico and with the aid of hand grenades helps the rebels to rout the Regulares in one of their battles. His aid brings him to the attention of Gilbert Roland, the rebel leader, who agrees to a proposition whereby his forces could capture Zachary Scott, another American, who was preparing to deliver a shipment of arms to the Regulares. On the following day, the rebel force, led by Mitchum and Roland, attack a Regulare train and capture Scott, along with Ursula Thiess, his beautiful wife, who despised him for his shady business dealings. Scott lies about the hiding place of the arms and is dismayed when the rebels hold him hostage while they make Ursula lead them to the supposed cache. When the rebels find that they had been tricked, they want to shoot Ursula, but Mitchum helps her to escape. The rebels then capture Mitchum, lock him in a cell with Scott and prepare to shoot them both. Mtchum, carrying a concealed grenade, offers to help Scott escape in return for the arms. Scott, desperate, agrees, and he reveals that the weapons were stored aboard two barges in a lagoon nearby. Mitchum makes good the escape and hides out in a swamp with Scott. Later, Scott tries to kill Mitchum, but he is shot dead by Roland who suddenly comes upon them, Mitchum then leads Roland to the arms, with the Regulares in pursuit, but by blowing up one of the barges they manage to rout the enemy. As the victorious rebels unload the weapons on the remaining barge, Mitchum rides off for a rendezvous with Ursula. It was produced by Robert L. Jacks, and directed by Richard Fleischer, from a story and screenplay by Earl Felton. Family. "The Amazon Trader" with John Sutton (Warner Bros., Sept. 8; time, 43 min.) "The Amazon Trader" is the first of a series of featum ettes, which were photographed in WarnerColor and in the Amazon jungle regions of South America, and which have been labeled by Warner Bros, as "documentary fiction." Made up of four short adventure stories involving people who visit the tangled jungles of the picturesque regions, the film, in content and format, has all the earmarks of a production that was originally made for showing on tele< vision; nevertheless, it is fairly interesting and should serve well enough as a supporting feature in double billing situations when used with an extra-long main feature. Worked into the proceedings are many fascinating shots of wild animals and native life. John Sutton, who narrates the stories, is seen briefly in the action. The first tale centers around a young man who gets lost in the jungle and, after being rescued by natives who find him deathly ill with fever, is cured in miraculous fashion by their witch doctors. The second tale revolves around a young couple who make their way up an almost inaccessible river in search of a tribe of Indians never before seen by white men. Primitive warning signs, indicating that they were heading for certain death, compels them to give up the search. The third tale centers around a married couple, the man a naturalist and the woman a would-be big-game hunter, who are scoffed at by the natives who assist them. But their sneers turn to admiration when the woman, by quick thinking, saves a native youngster from sure death when he falls into a river infested with the deadly piranha fish. The fourth story centers around a convict who escapes from Devil's Island and is saved from starvation and death by a band of friendly natives who nurse him back to health and treat him as one of their own. His greed, however, leads him to attempt to steal a fabulous treasure of gold and jewels used in a pagan ceremony, but he outsmarts himself and ends up as a native trophy in the form of a shrunken head. It was produced by Cedric Francis, and directed by Tom McGowan, from a screenplay by Owen Crump. Family.