Harrison's Reports (1961)

24 HARRISON'S REPORTS February 11, 1961 REVIEWED RECENTLY (The previous review index was the regular "pink paper" semi-annual index covering the second half of 1960 which appeared in the January 7 issue.) Reviewed on Page Blueprint for Robbery — Paramount (88 min.) 12 Carthage in Flames— Columbia (95 min.) 16 Circle of Deception — 20th Century-Fox (100 min.) 14 Cry for Happy — Columbia (110 min.) 6 Don Quixote — M-G-M (106 min.) 18 Fever in the Blood, A — Warner Bros. (117 min.) 11 Foxhole in Cairo — Paramount (79 min.) 14 French Mistress, A — Films-Around-World (91 min.)... 3 General della Rovere — Continental (149 min.) 2 Goddess of Love, The — 20th Century-Fox (68 min.) 10 Go Naked in the World— M-G-M (103 min.) 10 Gorgo— M-G-M (78 min.) 15 Heroes Die Young — Allied Artists (76 min.) 16 Jailbreakers, The — American Int'l (63 min.) 6 Little Angel — K. Gordon Murray (90 min.) 3 Misfits, The — 20th Century-Fox (124 min.) 18 One Hundred and One Dalmations — Buena Vista (80 min.) 11 Rue de Paris — Lopert (90 min.) 2 Sniper's Ridge — 20th Century-Fox (61 min.) 19 Sword of Sherwood Forest — Columbia (80 min.) 7 Tomboy and the Champ — Universal (92 min.) 15 White Warrior, The— Warner Bros. (88 min.) 19 Young One, The — Valiant (96 min.) 7 "Two-Way Stretch" with Peter Sellers and Wilfrid Hyde White (Show Corporation, current; time, 87 min.) Very good. A clever and satirical laugh-loaded British comedy dealing with a trustee, Peter Sellers, and his cellmates, David Lodge and Bernard Cribbins, in a British prison, who go A.W.O.L. one night to carry out a well-planned gem robbery. Sellers is superb as the crazy-like-a-fox trustee who has all the comforts of home in the prison run by a gentle, horticulturist, Maurice Denham, until a sadistic guard, ably played by Lionel Jeffries, shows up. Wilfred Hyde White is in top form as the cool criminal posing as a vicar; Liz; Fraser is just right as Sellers' curvaceous dumb moll; and Irene Handl is idea as a prisoner's helpful Cockney mother. General audiences should appreciate this one as much, if not more than will art house patrons. Black-andwhite photography is excellent: — In England, Peter Sellers, a master criminal; David Lodge, a safecracker; and Bernard Cribbins, a young pickpocket, share the same cell at Huntleigh Prison. The head warden is more interested in roses than in discipline. Wilfrid Hyde White, disguised as a vicar, visits the trio, tells them of a two million-pound diamond robbery he has in the works. Their being in jail is the perfect alibi. Their plan is to carry out the robbery the night before their official release, return to jail with the loot and take it with them when they are discharged the following morning. The gems are being delivered by the Army to a maharajah for a weighing ceremony. The plan to escape is disrupted when tough, vicious Lionel Jeffries is named the new chief officer. Jeffries' unwittingly falling through a hole the men are trying to escape through — and coming up under the head warden's prize roses — only makes him hate the trio more. Finally, the three prisoners use a police "Black Maria," which White brazenly drives through the gates. Aided by Cribbin's mother, Irene Handl, and Sellers' girl friend, Liz Fraser, the plan works to perfection. A false stop'sign on a back road, and a derrick help them get the diamonds from the Army. The gems are taken into the prison in a garbage truck, and next day are smuggled out by the prisoners when they are discharged. White is nabbed from the train by Jeffries who finally recognizes him as "Soapy" Stevens. While transporting the gem bag from the roof of the train, it is caught by a mail hook and spills its contents before the police. However, the ever-resourceful Sellers, Lodge and Cribbins show up at the diamond-weighing ceremony, disguised as Arabs. Hope still gleams in their eyes. Produced by M. Smedley Aston, directed by Robert Day from an original story and screenplay by John Warren and Len Heath. Additional dialogue by Alan Hackney. Family. JERSEY ANTITRUST SUIT (Continued from Front Page) gality of New York City clearance over northern New Jersey theatres, but charge that pre-releasing is a national policy of the majors, conspiring to discriminate against independent exhibitors. The road show, or hard-ticket policy is a main target of the suit, in which the plaintiff points out that theatres such as the Maplewood have not been able to show the public some of the most outstanding pictures "as late as a year after the pre-release showing." The importance of this case, and the timing of its filing, cannot be over-emphasized. First, it comes at a time when small theatres arc suffering an acute shortage of good product, while seeing privileged houses being able to book several popular roadshow attractions. Next, it comes during the new Democratic Administration, which can be expected not only to pursue but accelerate the course initiated by its predecessor of enforcing the antitrust laws. (Witness the Republican-executed case against the giant electrical firms which saw price-fixers receive not only stiff fines but prison terms.) What probably is the most significant aspect of the case, however, is the exhibitor group's militancy. At a time when not only the unaffiliated theatre owner, but many small exhibitors belonging to associations, are looking for some sort of positive action by recognized exhibitor leaders — at a time when it is the belief of many elected theatre association officials that they should now sit down and "talk things over" with the major distributing company officials — along comes a group of Jersey exhibitors who say, in effect, "We think the majors have known our complaints for some time without taking any action to alter the situation. We hold that the policy of roadshowing and pre-releasing is against the antitrust laws. We have no choice but to take our case to the Government." An infantryman is instructed that when he finds himself in a tight spot on the battlefield, he should "do something." The idea being that by not standing still, he has a much better chance of survival. New Jersey Allied, to some extent, is acting like a well-trained foot soldier.