Harrison's Reports (1962)

118 HARRISON'S REPORTS August 4, 1962 "The Best of Enemies" with David Niven, Alberto Sordi, Michael Wilding (Columbia, September; 104 mins.) GOOD. The wars with some of their ruthless killings and unnecessary destruction, may be over (for the while) but the memory of some of the human comedies and dramas that played themselves out linger in the minds of our storytellers. This tale could well have been caught in the vise of run-of-themill yarn-spinning were it not for the fact that David Niven, Alberto Sordi, Michael Wilding and the principals character-weave their respective skeins of the story-pattern so smoothly and suavely that you get out of it a pleasant residue of movie entertainment. What helped hold the tale together, was the productional-directional investiture with which the release is endowed. Nearly always, casting a Niven in a starring role is assurance that if all else fails the Niven dexterity of talent will prevent the vehicle from slipping too close to the boundary of mediocrity. Sordi, the complete tempermental opposite, is well cast. The fact that this is laid in sand-duned Abyssinia calling for Middle East location shooting, didn't do the film any harm in setting the story to this colorful background which looms with compelling beauty before your eyes. Technirama and Technicolor were employed with telling effects. The second World War is in its third year and a British reconnaissance plane lands, in a semi-crash, in Italian-held territory (Abyssinia). David Niven (a captain) and pilot Michael Wilding become prisoners of the Italians. Alberto Sordi is the captain. The dislike of each for the other evidences itself right from the start. Niven makes several discoveries that disturb him. However, for all of the bitterness between Sordi and Niven, the prisoners are treated to the full extent of the Geneva requirements. As the Italians stagger along tired, hungry, dirty toward their next objective, Sordi lets Niven know that if he and Wilding took a long walk (escaped) Sordi wouldn't mind it. Niven thinks it's some kind of trap. Back at headquarters, Niven is given an assignment to capture all patrols. This includes the one lead by Sordi. The British run into trouble, even getting lost. They're harassed by native tribesmen. Yet, the Italians are rounded up. The long march for the nearest British stronghold continues. But, they soon find out that they're not far from Addis Ababa. This is supposed to be held by the Italians. They learn otherwise. The British have taken it. In Addis the parting of Niven and Sordi finally takes place. The Italians are now prisoners of war. They're loaded on railroad cars. Niven pays a final tribute to the beaten Italians. "Company attention!" "Present arms!" These orders are the testament of Niven's respect for the fighting spirit of the enemy. As the leader of the beaten patrol (Sordi) walks into the POW train he looks back at Niven and returns a friendly salute. Thus, two men on opposite sides, in the midst of a godawful war, have managed to overcome national prejudice and become friends. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis; directed by Guy Hamilton; screenplay by Jack Pulman based on a story by Luciano Vincenzoni. General patronage. "Strangers in the City" with Kenny Delmar, Robert Gentile (Embassy, Current; 83 mins.) POOR. No city has formed the basis of so many plot-structures, as New York. Ever in the moil of action, she's never at rest. The mad cacophony of her discordant overture crashes to the very heavens themselves. For some, life is gay in its raucous-like freedom. For most it is a sad, solemn monster who has trapped them. It stands to reason that such a mammoth megalopolis cannot be a melting pot of only a few creeds. It is a city of many, for nowhere on earth with its complexity of the human pattern representing many peoples will you find such a vast variety as in New York. The peoples of some fifty nations are represented in this mad phantasmagoria. Out of all this Rick Carrier, on small budget, tried to make a movie. He used the Puerto Ricans as his protagonists, and the setting is "El Barrio" the Spanish Harlem section which lies gripped in the stench, the crudities, the crowdedness, the rape, the killings, of the ghetto. At best, the results are melodramatic and of very low calibre. It is not easy to transmit to the screen the emotions, passions, mores, make-up of the people. It needs powerful story structure, superb direction and topflight acting talent. It needs fine, sensitive direction. It needs, in short, a productional setup that is well grounded in the experiences such a challenging assignment calls for. The piece is found missing in most of these departments especially in direction, production, story investiture. The fault, of course, lies in the fact that Carrier tried to play triple-threat man (taking on all these individually arduous and challenging chores) and failed in each one of them. This is his first attempt at movie making. It will take a long time to learn the fundamentals of entertaining film production. To attempt all three assignments, on his first time out, is proof however, that here's a newcomer that isn't going to be easily discouraged. Photography, fair. Produced, directed, screenplay by Rick Carrier. He also photographed the ill-fated vehicle. Adults. "A Coming-Out Party" with James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, Eric Sykes (Union Film, August; 98 mins.) GOOD. The very title is tonguc-in-the-cheekish as the British import spoofs, semi-satirizes, twits and then goes serious in a light sort-of way in its approach to the subject of war. In its final analysis, it is offered as a suspense comedy which is held together by the sheer acting brilliance of James Robertson Justice (yes, that man is with us again, this week) . Whatever entertainment qualities the piece achieves, after a slow and tedious start, is to the credit of Justice who, despite his humorless, snappily curt and downright cold rudeness makes him a likeable character full of the warmth brilliant men who won't let you forget their intellectual-organizational ability for one fleeting moment have a habit of doing, if they know how! The film is endowed with the type of British acting folk who know how to inject their kind of flat-tea humor (though the subject be war) and make the whole offering come out like a tasty