Harrison's Reports (1958)

130 HARRISON'S REPORTS August 16, 1958 "War of the Puppet People" with John Agar, John Hoyt and June Kenny (Amer.'Intl, June 18; time, 78 min.) Although it is not science-fiction, this program melodrama should get by fairly well with those who enjoy fantastic stories. It will require considerable exploitation, however, if the exhibitor is to benefit from its unusual theme, which centers around a mad doll manufacturer who perfects a method by which he is enabled to shrink human being to the size of living dolls about one foot tall. Much imagina' tion has gone into the story's treatment, and, thanks to the exceptionally good special effects work, the action holds one in tense suspense, particularly in the sequences where the tiny people are threatened by a cat, a dog and a rat, which appear gigantic to them. The picture, which is being packaged with "War of the Colossal Beast," deserves the top billing. The photography is good: — John Hoyt, a doll manufacturer, suffers from loneliness, and when his secretaries decide to leave him, he holds on to them by reducing them to the size of live dolls. When June Kenny, his latest secretary, asks questions about her predecessor, she does not believe Hoyt's explanations and finds reason to suspect that he had shrunk her into a doll. When John Agar falls in love with June and they decide to marry, Hoyt, not wanting to lose her, shrings Agar into a live doll and puts him in a plastic cylinder, like the others. Sus' pecting what had happened to Agar, Jane goes to the police, but her story is so fantastic that they do not take her seriously. Shortly thereafter, Hoyt shrinks her, too, and puts her in the company of the other tiny people. All the victims have one common desire — to escape and be re turned to normal size. Their many efforts fail, but a good opportunity arises when Hoyt stages a theatre party and manipulates the live dolls in a way that leads the public to believe that they are puppets. June and Agar manage to escape and, in their reduced state, rush to Hoyt's factory and make themselves normal again. They then go to the police and arrange for the rescue of the others, leaving Hoyt pathetic and alone — the fate he most feared. Bert I. Gordon wrote the story and produced and directed it, from a screenplay by George Worthington Yates. Family. -Title is ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE. "War of the Colossal Beast" with Dean Parkin (Amer.-Int'l, June 18; time, 68 min.) If the fantastic horror-type pictures that are currently glutting the market still are acceptable to your patrons, this program offering should satisfy them, for it has more than a fair quota of "shock" ingredients. The picture is more or less a sequel to the same producer's "The Amazing Colossal Man" in that the monster is once again a 60-foot giant whose abnormal growth had been induced by exposure to atomic radiation. The "shock" values stem from the fact that, after being captured, he escapes and becomes a menace to life, limb and property in his ensuing rampage. The film is being sold in a package with "Attack of the Puppet People," and together they shape up as a fairly effective exploitation double-bill: — Sally Fraser, sister of Dean Parkin, an army officer, whose exposure to a plutonium blast had caused him to grow sixty feet tall, believes that he had survived a fall from Boulder Dam. She convinces Roger Pace, a Major, that her brother is responsible for the disappearance of produce trucks in Mexico. When an investigation proves that she is right, the giant is located, drugged and brought to Los Angeles. His reasoning powers destroyed, the giant makes a brief escape and causes much property damage before he can be brought under control. Local and Federal authorities decide that, since his mental powers cannot be restored, he must be exiled to a lonely island. The giant, however, is aware of what is to become of him. On the eve of his removal, he again breaks loose. He escapes to Griffith Park and takes refuge at the observatory, where he holds a busload of high school boys and girls as hostages while the Army, under Pace's direction, closes in about him. The giant means to destroy the bus and its occupants rather than let himself be captured, but he surrenders his hostages when Sally reaches his warped mind with a final plea. In the end, he solves the problem of his own existence by walking into high-power voltage lines and destroying himself. Bert I. Gordon wrote the story and produced and directed it, from a screenplay by George Worthington Yates. Family. "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" with Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives (MGM, September; time, 108 min.) Based on Tennessee Williams' successful stage play of the same title and photographed in Metrocolor, "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" is a tense adult drama, superbly acted by a formidable cast. The author's name, the fame of the play and the publicized fact that Elizabeth Taylor played her role while under the strain of the tragic death that befell her husband, should make this picture an outstanding boxoffice attraction. As an entertainment, however, it is an emotion-packed, heavily dramatic conversation piece that should find its best reception among sophisticated audiences in the larger cities. Some slight and necessary changes have been made in the story to clean it up for this screen version, particularly in the dialogue, but the considerable talk about sex still is as frank and forthright as anything ever heard in a motion picture. Basically, however, it remains a story of family conflict, centering around a wealthy plantation owner who is expected to die of cancer and who is surrounded by greedy, bickering relatives who are out to grab all they can of his vast estate. Worked into the story is the emotional problem of an alcoholic son who had become contemptuous of his beautiful young wife, who in turn is obsessed with a passion for him and is determined to break down his resistance to her love. Burl Ives, repeating the role he played on the stage, is excellent as the lusty, arrogant plantation owner who is aware of the greed and malice within his family, and outstanding portrayals are contributed by Miss Taylor and Paul Newman as the argumentative married couple who become reconciled in the end. A sensitive portrayal is turned in by Judith Anderson as Ives' brow-beaten wife, and effective performances are delivered by Jack Carson, as Ives' eldest son, and Madeline Sherwood, as his wife, who resort to all sorts of deceits to insure a greater share of the estate for themselves. The color photography is excellent. Briefly, the story opens with Ives returning to his plantation from an Eastern clinic believing that he had been given a clean bill of health, but his family and friends, gathered to celebrate his birthday, learn that he is dying of cancer and keep the news from him and his wife. In the meantime, Elizabeth and Newman are absorbed in their own problems. He drinks excessively, accuses her of having been unfaithful with his best friend, who had committed suicide, and blames her for her own frustrations in their marriage. Meanwhile Carson and his wife slyly plot to cut Elizabeth and Newman out of the estate, using Newman's drinking and Elizabeth's childlessness as their most potent weapons, while at the same time flounting their five children. Newman, however, remains Ives' favorite son, despite his faults, and he shows appreciation of Elizabeth and her beauty. Worried about Newman and his drinking, Ives forces him into a no-holds-barred discussion of his condition and tries to uncover the truth behind his refusal to face life as an adult and accept the responsibilities of marriage. Elizabeth participates in the discussion, proves that she had not been unfaithful and convices Newman that he himself had been responsible for his friend's suicide. In the heat of argument, Newman reveals that Ives is incurably ill. This news shocks the old man, but, accepting the inevitable, he points out that he has the guts to die while Newman does not have the guts to live. This leads to a soul-searching discussion between the two, out of which Newman finds new happiness with Elizabeth, much to the satisfaction of his father and the frustration of Carson and his wife. It was produced by Lawrence Wcingartcn and directed by Richard Brooks from a screenplay written by himself and James Poe. Adult fare.