Harrison's Reports (1962)

July 28, 1962 HARRISON'S REPORTS 115 "The Pirates of Blood River" with Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, Christopher Lee (Columbia, August; 87 rains.) FAIR. This has all the stuffings of a turkey on both land and the high seas which needs a transfusion badly or else it will expire from its own story anemia. It was made in England and is peopled with nice acting folk who, other than Mathews, are not too well known here. They're engulfed in a tediously drawnout saga of men in self-imposed exile, religious observances that make them refugees from their native England and blood-curdling battles with a band of pirates led by the inevitable one-eyed villian. The story-tellers tried to cram too much into this tale of pride and suffering, suicide and guilt, piracy and death. and yet, though 87 minutes for a film's telling cannot be considered overlong, if not well stitched together it finds itself going apart at the seams and the final fade out seems hours away. That's the way we felt about this adventure drama. Still, the tale was told with a minimum of dialogue. A story of this nature calls for a lot of outdoor shooting. That end of the presentation, nearly always - even in badly told tales seems to stand up. Technicolor gave the cameramen, in this one, grand opportunities to capture the scenic beauty of the exteriors. They didn't fail the makers of the film. It is the early 18th century and a bold, brave band of Huguenots want to live life in their own way. So they abandon England and settle off the coast of South America. Two generations later the offspring are the protagonists. We deal with them. Kerwin Mathews is accused of misconduct with the wife of an Elder. She commits suicide. Mathews is tried by the religiously fanatical gentry, and is banished to a penal colony. He escapes and staggers into a camp of pirates. They're looking for gold. After much suffering inflicted on him he finally leads them to the settlement. The pirate leader takes over as the sex-hungry brigands take to the women. There is rape and killings. The pirate band leader (Christopher Lee) is convinced that the large statue, in the public square, of the founder of the colony, is made of gold. It is! The problem is to get the huge piece of costly metal down to the river and on the pirate ship. On their way through the woods the pirates are harassed, booby-trapped and othewise molested and retarded. After many killings on both sides, the robbers arrive at the water's edge. They build a raft to float the statue out to the huge ship. More battling with the settlers until even the leader of the band is killed in a duel. The Chief Elder, crazed in his attempt to save the statue of his father-founder falls into the water and he is soon destroyed by the deathdealing piranha fish. His son, and the others, stand by helplessly on the shore. Produced by Anthony Nelson Keys; directed by John Gilling; screenplay by John Hunter and Gilling from a story by Jimmy Sangster. General patronage. "Kid Galahad" with Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson (United Artists; September; 95 rains.) GOOD. Every time you're called in to review another Elvis Presley starrer you wonder if the gyrating crooner will show any advances along the acting lines that carried other melody-men beyond the precincts of crooning a tune. But, for all of Presley's easygoing and rather charming manner of disporting himself before the cameras, we're afraid that if he hasn't shown much promise of becoming an actor by now, he just hasn't got it in him. He's made to order for the country-hick kind of bumpkin character. To be sure, Presley has his following. It's a big one, with the teenagers predominating, especially the girls. He is given seven tunes to deliver - and, that he does. Deliver! Also, the tunes are not there just for songs' sake. They're intermeshed in the tale in smooth style and plausible plot-structural pattern. Presley is surrounded by some very nice people. In lending him support, they give strength to a runof-the-mill story that plays itself out with a simplicity of appeal and bountiful residue of entertainment. The film manages to give a pleasing account of itself. Lola Albright does her usually appealing job with a wistfullness that has class stamped all over it. Joan Blackman is a wind-swept stunner doing romantic justice to her assignment. Charles Bronson, as the understanding trainer of the bruisers, lends a sympathetic authority to the role. A false note of the support was the way Gig Young, as the owner of the training camp, kept on punching away at his lines as if they were humpty-dumpty opponents of his trainees who just won't "faw" down. He overplayed his role hammily. The De Luxe color lends a nostalgic kind of hinterlandish beauty to the goings-on. Ex-G. I. Elvis Presley lands in a small Catskill Mountain community. He needs work badly. The fiancee (Lola Albright) of the rough-tough owner of a training camp (Gig Young) befriends him. Presley takes on the prize pug of the camp when he needs a sparring partner. He knocks the champ cold, and Young gets ideas. He begins developing Presley into a big time ring fighter. It's knockout after knockout Young sees to it that Presley winds up with a bag of peanuts for his share of the purses. In the meantime Young's younger sister (Joan Blackman) arrives at the camp, unexpectedly, and takes over its financial operation. A romance develops between the lovely brunette and the handsome Galahad (Presley). At first Young objects to it because, after all Presley is a lowly prize fighter. They decide to get married, nevertheless. There's one more, the last - big fight Presley will take on. It's for the Chamber of Commerce or Catskill Mountain's Cream Valley. It's a big fight with Presley the winner. With his share of the proceeds of the other fights he buys in on an auto repai1' shop and settles down in the slowly moving, brood ing community of Cream Valley Produced by David Weisbart; directed by Phi! Karlson; screenplay by William Fay. General patronage. Big Exhibitor Meet to Remember An event of great value to every exhibitor in NewJersey, New York and surrounding areas will bo th combined convention of the Allied Theatre Owner, of New Jersey and Allied Theatre Owners of New York State. The dates are August 6-9; Concord Hotel, Kiamesha Lake, N. Y. Contact either the Allied of New Jersey offices, 234 W. 44th St., Nov York, N. Y., or Allied of New York Headquarters, 310 Crosby Building, Buffalo 2, N. Y.