Harrison's Reports (1956)

158 HARRISON'S REPORTS October 6, 1956 "The Search for Bridey Murphy" with Teresa Wright and Louis Hayward (Paramount, October; time, 84 win.) Whatever business is done by this exploitation picture will depend mainly on how curious movie-goers will be to see recreated on the screen the story of a young Pueblo, Colorado, housewife who, while in an hypnotic state, supposedly recalled her existence in another lifetime, going back over one hundred and fifty years to 1798. It is a story of reincarnation that was told by this woman, and it received wide publicity and became a subject of much controversy. But her statements were subsequently investigated by newspapers and others, and from what they learned about the whoman it was generally concluded that she was an imaginative person who, under hypnosis, merely recalled fragmentary bits of tales that had been told to her about Ireland when she was a child. As an entertainment the film is quite dull, for it is nothing but talk from start to finish, with most of the footage devoted to Teresa Wright, as Ruth Simmons, the housewife, being put through a series of hypnotic spells during which she recalls her existence as "Bridey Murphy" in an' other life. Shown on the screen as she relates the story in a trance are scenes of Bridey's childhood and family life in Ireland during the early 1800's; her life as a 'teenaged girl; her marriage; her death at the age of 66; her existence in an astral world following her death — a world in which she felt neither pain nor happiness; in which there was neither day, night nor time; and in which she was able to visit the living but could not communicate with them. Louis Hayward takes the part of Morey Bernstein, a businessman who looked upon hypnotism as just so much magical nonsense but who became fascinated by its potential after seeing it performed at a house party among close friends. He is shown making a deep and thorough study of the subject, and his research leaves him with a desire to "age regress" a hypnotized person back to childhood days. He finds a willing subject in Miss Wright, a close family friend, and is shocked beyond belief when he questions her about "life before birth" and she responds with the story of the life, marriage and death of Bridey Murphy. An effort is made to arouse some tension by showing that there is anxiety among those close to Miss Wright lest hypnosis have a dangerous effect on her, but, even though the acting is competent, the subject matter is so far-fetched that it is ineffectual dramatically. It was produced by Pat Duggan and directed by Noel Langley from his own screenplay, based on the book by Morey Bernstein. Family. "Julie" with Doris Day, Barry Sullivan, Louis Jourdan and Frank Lovejoy (MGM, rel. date not set; time, 97 min.) "Julie" shapes up as a pretty good suspense melodrama that should satisfy the general run of audiences, although there are moments when the action is less than convincing. The story is grim from start to finish, for it deals with a psychopath who is bent upon killing his wife when she flees from him in terror after learning that he had murdered her first husband. The action holds one in suspense throughout, for the wife, unable to provide conclusive evidence of her husband's guilt or of his sinister intentions, is unable to secure the aid of the police while he tracks her down. There are many tense situations, the most gripping taking place in the closing reels where Louis Jourdan, as the maniacal husband, slips aboard a huge passenger plane on which Doris Day, his wife, is the hostess, and in an attempt to shoot her kills the pilot and seriously wounds the copilot before being shot dead himself. The manner in which Miss Day takes over the plane and lands it safely by following the radio instructions of an airport control tower is thrilling and suspensive. The photography is first-rate: — Learning that Jourdan had been acting irrationally and that he was unreasonably jealous, Barry Sullivan, cousin of Doris' late husband, tells her of his suspicion that Jourdan had murdered her first spouse, supposedly a suicide. That night Doris questions Jourdan and he admits to the murder. Terrified, she flees from her home on the following morning and telephones Sullivan to meet her at the police station, but the police are unable to take any action because the law did not allow a wife to testify against her husband. In mortal fear of her life, she drives to San Francisco with Sullivan and registers at a hotel under an assumed name. But Jourdan manages to trace her and, by phone, warns her that she must die. She appeals to the San Francisco police, but detective Frank Lovejoy is unable to help and advises her to leave town. She returns to her former job as an airline hostess out of New York. Some weeks later she arranges to meet Sullivan in San Francisco. Jourdan waylays Sullivan, shoots him and obtains her address. Though seriously wounded, Sullivan manages to notify Lovejoy, who hastens to the building where Doris was staying to protect her, but she had just left to serve as an emergency replacement on a night flight, unaware that Jourdan was following her. Jourdan slips aboard the plane undetected by Doris and it is not until the ship takes oft that the police, by radio, are able to warn the pilot of Doris' danger. She tries to gain the safety of the pilot's cabin, but Jourdan follows her, killing the pilot and wounding the co-pilot before he is shot dead himself. The co-pilot, too weak to handle the plane, orders Doris into the pilot's seat and tells her to notny the airport of their predicament. By following minute instructions irom the airport's control tower, Doris guides the plane back to a safe landing. It was produced by Martin Melcher and directed by Andrew L. Stone from his own screenplay. Unobjectionable morally. "Man from Del Rio" with Anthony Quinn and Katy Jurado (United Artists, October; time, 82 min.) Better than average western fare is offered in this melodrama, thanks to the expert direction, fine acting and an interesting off-beat story, which centers around a Mexican gunfighter who feels that he had found a place in society when the people of a small frontier town hire him as sheriff but who becomes disillusioned when they treat him cooly and make it clear that he had been hired for his gun and not for his company. Anthony Quinn turns in a top acting job as the rugged gunman. It is a fine character study of a man who does not look for trouble but who is ready to meet it fearlessly, and who risks his life to make the woman he had fallen in love with proud of him. Katy Jurado, too, is excellent as the woman who rebuffs him at first but learns to love him. The story has less shoot-'em-up action than most westerns, but there is mounting tension throughout. The closing scenes, where Quinn, although incapacitated by a broken wrist, bluffs the town villain into refusing to draw in a gun duel, is highly dramatic and suspenseful: — Quinn, a friendless Mexican who had been tormented five years previously by four drunken gunmen, three of whom he had already killed, comes to the small town of Mesa and disposes of the fourth man. Peter Whitney, an ex-gunman who operated the town's only saloon, and who befriended all gunmen in the hope that they will help him to control the town, cottons up to Quinn. Several of the gunmen get into a drinking brawl, lasso the town's timid sheriff and prepare to use him as a living target in a shooting spree. Katy, Mexican nurse of Douglas Fowley, the town's doctor, tries to free the sheriff and is grabbed up by the gunmen. Quinn's demand that they free her sparks a gun battle in which he wipes them out. The town's leaders, impressed, ask him to take the job as sheriff, and he gladly accepts in the belief that it will give him a place in society. The next night, however, at a dance, he is rebuffed by Katy and snubbed by the townfolk. He leaves the dance, gets drunk and is goaded into a fist fight by Whitney. Quinn emerges vie* torious, but he breaks his wrist during the fight and is unable to draw his gun. Quinn tries to keep the injury secret, for he did not want to leave the town because of his growing love for Katy. Whitney, however, learns of the broken wrist from Whit Bissell, the town drunkard, and he orders Quinn to get out of town by a specified time. Katy, learning of Whitney's threat, begs Quinn to leave and promises to go with him. But Quinn, determined to make Katy proud of him, refuses. He accepts Whitney's challenge to draw guns and frightens him into believing that the drunkard had lied to him about the broken wrist. Whitney turns yellow and refuses to draw. Quinn orders him to leave Mesa, and wins the respect of all concerned for getting rid of the last remaining lawless element. It was produced by Robert L. Jacks, and directed by Harry Horner, from a screenplay by Richard Carr. Family.