Harrison's Reports (1962)

July 14, 1962 HARRISON'S REPORTS 107 to give off shafts of shock, heavy-handed horror and otherwise frighten the bejabbers out of you if that kind of stuff is your dish of cinematic hash. But this fails to deliver its promise of spine-tingling entertainment. In fact, it's on the dullish side of movie-making. Oh yes, that trio of bogey-men! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone. They all do the best they can with a badly conceived story structure which encompasses the Poe trilogy, "The Case of M. Valdemar," "Morella," and "The Black Cat." To be sure, the producers tried to give this the smooth polish of the eerie, weirdy tale that has its audience. Panavision and color were used. But, Poe, prolific as he was at turning out his tales of horror, as if he were a one-man sausage (literary) factory, is not easy to deal with when taking his stuff and trying to transmit it to the screen. It can come out on the corny side of absurdity. That's what happens here. You just can't take any of the offering seriously. Our lunch with Vincent Price was a little prophetic in its timing. It was on the day before his film premiered. This kind of review is hardly the way to say "thank you," for few actors are so sincerely gracious. The same actor-rating go to Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone and lovely Debra Paget. They tried hard, but the material was quite feeble. Produced and directed by Roger Corman; screenplay by Richard Matheson. Adults. "The Pigeon That Took Rome " with Charlton Heston, Elsa Martinelli, Harry Guardino, Brian Donlevy, Arthur Shields (Paramount, October; 101 mins.) VERY GOOD. Paramount has done it again! This time, it came through with what is called a comedyromance set to the stark background of war wherein a pigeon becomes the chief protagonist and all the stars allow it to steal the picture. But, it's not a war picture as we know such stories. It's the kind of clean, warming, humorous story that makes for movie going of the whole family. By the time Paramount is ready to send this out to the theatres, the distribitor should beat the drums loudly and proudly telling the exhibitors what's coming their way so that the theatre operator can also pick up the contagion of enthusiasm. The results will show up at the box office. But, Par too should do its share in helping this one beget itself the big grosses that are its due. Going from the multimillion dollar Bible-steeped blockbusters to this simply told romance-comedy was quite a change of pace for Charlton Heston. But, he has the talents that help turn in a most pleasurable performance. Producer-director Melville Shavelson started out with what must have been a fool-proof script. As a double-threat hand (producing, directing) he saw to it that the original setup didn't get out of control. To compound the guarantee that the source of all this kind of light-hearted treatment of costly, bloody battles for the possession of Rome can reach out to the ghost of General Sherman and make it cook up an "easter dinner" out of his famous, derisive words, the screenplay was taken from the successful novel "The Easter Dinner." Yes, you may have guessed it. It was written by Shavelson making him a triple-threat man. But in addition to all this one-man business of doing almost everything yourself, Shavelson had some fine, seasoned talent to work with. He had all of Rome for a studio. He had the cleverly deceiving impression of depth via the Panavasion process to give the eye its moments of beauty. The interiors were shot at Paramount's Hollywood studio. There were superb performances turned in by Elsa Martinelli, Harry Guardino, Baccaloni, Arthur Shields (who's getting to look more and more like his late brother Barry Fitzgerald) . Even a short bit from the long-absent Brian Donlevy stands out brilliantly. Shavelson got a big one out of all this. To repeat, it should beget itself big returns at the box office. As for the story, Mussolini has fallen. Italy is occupied by the butchery Nazis. The people have been driven underground while the pigeons have taken their leave of Rome. Charlton Heston comes in to do some spying for the American forces. Heston is given shelter in Baccaloni's home. His older daughter is Elsa Martinelli. The home is a sort of regional headquarters of the Italian resistance organization. In the midst of all this spying an Easter dinner is planned for all the relatives. There is a shortage of food, but not pigeons used in the Heston operation. Twentytwo of the 24 are innocently appropriated for the feast. Now Heston is in real trouble. Baccaloni steals a score of German carrier pigeons and puts them in with the one surviving American pigeon. More trouble for Heston as the German pigeons, with messages for the American forces, fly back to their German aviaries bearing the wrong espionage. With the help of Monsignor O'Toole (Arthur Shields) the mistake is discovered. The tables are turned. The lone U.S. bird arrives at Anzio with a wrong communique, but it's to the advantage of the U.S. forces. The Allied armies liberate Rome. Heston and Signora Martinelli unite forces in marriage. Yes, the pigeons have returned to Rome. Produced, directed, written by Melville Shavelson. General patronage. "Panic in Year Zero" with Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon (AmericanInt' I, July; 95 mins.) GOOD. Intended to go out under the title of "Survival," this determined group (American-Int'l) continues to get on with its commitment of turning out ever-more product. While this is not an outstanding success of dealing with a world which could panic at a moment's notice, because it is living in a time of probable sudden nuclear attack, it does acquit itself rather admirably. The net results is an interesting item of entertainment made possible by the smooth manner of direction which became the responsibility of Ray Milland. He also stars. One of the redeeming features of one of these low-budget films is that you can never tell when it will fashion itself into a vehicle of stand-up entertainment. What makes this come out on the probably profitable side of the ledger, is that it doesn't intend to reach out to pretentious boundaries. Its plot-structure is simple, believable, forthrightly honest. The people go through their paces with the same characteristics that make up the story they are playing out. They are everyday types to be found anywhere. A compelling simplicity donv (Contmued on Following Page)