Harrison's Reports (1961)

40 HARRISON'S REPORTS March 11, 1961 "The Police Dog Story*' with James Brown and Merry Anders (United Artists, current; time, 62 min.) Fair. Mainly for children is this very low-budgeted, black-and-white crime melodrama centering about a police dog and his rookie cop master who gets in trouble covering up for a crooked veteran policeman. Providing a bit of romantic interest is Merry Anders, whose performance as a newspaperwoman covering the canine training school is unsatisfactory. Rocco, the handsome German Shepherd, is the feature's outstanding talent. Jim L. Brown of TV's "Rin Tin Tin" series is unconvincing as the new cop. Barry Kelley portrays the crooked law defender. There's hardly any suspense, no comic relief, and many lines of dialogue are repeated an unbelievable number of times: — Rocco, a half-wild German Shepherd dog, is captured, after a year's hunt, with the aid of drug-filled rifle bullets. In the same U.S. city, James Brown, a rookie policeman, is assigned to the town's new Police Dog Training School, at the suggestion of his sidekick, Barry Kelley, a veteran police officer, who knows that Brown worked with dogs in military service. The progress of Rocco is kept in the public eye by Merry Anders, the pretty newspaperwoman who followed the dog's career from the start. His first night on duty, Rocco helps to capture two thugs. Another evening Brown and the dog investigate a suspicious truck entering a deserted warehouse. There, Rocco attacks Milton Frome, an influential attorney, of whom the police have been suspicious. Kelley shows up at the warehouse, talks Brown out of reporting the incident. We learn that Kelley is deeply involved with Frome's arson racket. The veteran cop, who once saved Brown's life, admits his foul play to the young cop. Later, Kelley holds up Frome, asks for $10,000, telling the attorney that he's quitting the force and that he doesn't want to involve Brown any further. Kelley is knocked out by one of Frome's men, and left to die in a warehouse fire set by the lawyer. A few day's later, spying Frome again, Rocco attacks him, and when Brown refuses to tell why, the dog is imprisoned and ordered destroyed after rabies tests. Rocco escapes from the dog pound, tracks down Brown and pulls him out of a warehouse fire, where he was trapped by Frome. Charges against Brown are dropped, Frome is captured and the dogtraining program deemed a success. Brown and Merry look toward a happy future together. A Zenith Pictures Presentation. Robert E. Kent was producer. Edward L. Cahn directed from Orville H. Hampton's screenplay. Family. NEW NSS POSTER POLICY National Screen Service, effective May 16, will discontinue making its accessories available to poster renters. NSS-manufactured accessories from that date on will be made available directly to exhibitors only. Burton E. Robbins, NSS president, in an announcement, pointed out that under the terms of a consent decree filed with the U.S. District Court on March 29, 1957, all poster renters were free to negotiate with the various motion picture distributors for nonexclusive licenses to manufacture and distribute accessories for their motion pictures in the same man' ner as NSS. At the same time, NSS pledged itself to continue to serve poster renters with NSS accessories for one year from the date of the decree. Mr. Robbins declared that "while the business climate permitted, we voluntarily continued to serve them . . . long after the expiration of our one-year pledge. However, with a continued decline in income due to theatre closings and other industry conditions, we can no longer afford the luxury of this practice.'" "It should be obvious," concluded Mr. Robbins, "that our continuing to make our accessories available to competing poster renters for approximately three years after the expiration of our one year pledge, constituted a costly sacrifice to us." CLASSIFICATION (Continued from Front Page) courts from the board's decisions, it is reported. The Connecticut legislator said he was not interested in censorship, only providing parents with information. He will drop his measure, it is understood, if the industry comes through with its own classification method. Emanuel Frisch, new chairman of the American Congress of Exhibitors told a press conference in New York Monday — that in his personal opinion — classification is a form of censorship — to which he is opposed. Although ACE hasn't taken an official stand on the subject, Mr. Frisch said that to the best of his recollection "the executive committee opposed any form of classification." ACE can be expected to leave censorship matters to the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In New York, producer Herman Cohn, whose recently completed "Konga" will be distributed by American International, declared that classification is the same as censorship" and that it is "the parents' problem whether or not a child should see a picture." The young veteran film-maker contended that classification would set the industry back half a century. He felt "the MPAA still keeps a pretty good tab on pictures." The former usher and theatre manager said "we haven't done badly governing our own industry." In Hollywood, producer Frank P. Rosenberg ("One-Eyed Jacks") held that "there's no such thing as bad pictures, only bad parents" and that an Adults Only sign at the box-office is a lure for teen-agers. Once children reach the age of 16, it's hard to control their determination to see certain films which might be considered in some circles to be objectionable, the producer pointed out. The dilemma has been brought about by the increasing frankness of film themes and dialogue (of' fenng what sponsored TV can't), and the reluctance, in this Age of the Sluff-off, of parents to assume their proper guiding roles. Major decisions on classification can be expected shortly within and without the industry. Whether classification — if adopted universally — will mean that more family films will be produced, remains to be seen. The answer should come soon. Beaver-Champion Film Via AA "David and Goliath," Beaver-Champion Attraction's first release, will be distributed in the U.S. by Allied Artists, starting in June.