Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1947)

'R1DE THE PINK HORSE' MONTGOMERY IN SJSPENSEFUL MELODRAMA Rates • • generally; slighlly higher in Universal-International 101 minutes Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, Thomas Gomez, Andrea King, Fred Clark, Art Smith, Richard Gaines, Tito Renaldo, Ritz Flores, Grandon Rhodes. Martin Garralaga, Edward Earle, Harold Goodwin, Marta Cortez. Directed by Robert Montgomery. Superior acting, scintillant dialog, plenty of action and suspense more than compensate for the hackneyed plot of "Ride the Pink Horse." Director-star Robert Montgomery, hot off his fine job with "Lady In The Lake," is another strong asset. Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer's script, based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes, is witty and fast-paced, save for one or two lags and a somewhat unsatisfactory ending. Producer Joan Harrison's colorful presentation of the story — an underworld melodrama set in a New Mexico town during a fiesta— reflects her years of profitable "as ac+ion houses sociation with Alfred Hitchcock, and gives the picture high production quality. High spot of the film is the performance of Wanda Hendrix as a teen-age Indian girl. Wellrounded entertainment for every type of patronage, "Ride the Pink Horse" should bring in fair-plus grosses in all situations, with above-average receipts in action spots. EXPLOITATION: Play up the performances of Robert Montgomery and talented newcomer Wanda Hendrix, the colorful New Mexican fiesta, the name of co-scriptcr Ben Hecht. The film's key situation — beaten almost unconscious, the Ihero suffers temporary amnesia as victory is within his grasp — is a strong selling point. War veteran Robert Mont.ijcmery arrives at San Pablo. N.M.. during a fiesta in search of powerful mobster Fred Clark to avenge the murder of his pal. Seeking a room, Montgomery' is directed to a shabby' c-nt-n i by wistful Indian girl Wanda Hendrix who attaches herself to him with doglike devotion. At a mee*:ing in his hotel suite. Clark agrees to pay $30,000 for an incriminating check Montgomery holds. Clark's girl friend Andrea King asks Montgomery to help her double-cross the mobster. Her suggestion spurned, she subsequently maneuvers him into a spot where two of Clark's men can jump him. He kills one, disables the other, but is seriously stabbed. Wanda finds the bleeding Montgomery, treats his wound, finds shelter for him with merry-go-round operator Thomas Montez. Two Clark thugs beat up Gomez in a vain effort to make him reveal Montgomery's whereabouts. Wanda takes the bleeding, delirious Montgomery to the cantina .knocks out a Clark henchman as he's about to slug the half-conscious youth. She tries to take him to her village but he wanders away from her at the bus station and in delirium goes back to Clark's suite, followed by Wanda. Clark's thugs beat him up again, then start sl."pp'ng Wanda in a vain effort to make them reveal the v/hereabouts of the incriminatingcheck. FBI agent Art Smith arrives, gun in hand, covers the mobsters. W^nda takes the check from her blouse, gives it to Montgomery who turns it over to Smith, thus finally allying himself with the law. ■LOUISIANA' HOMESPUN SUCCESS-STORY-MUSICAL HAS EXPLOITATION VALUE Rates • • as dualler generally; nnore In Monogram 85 minutes Governor James H. Davis, Margaret Lindsay, John Galludet, Ralph Freeto, Mary Field, Eddy Waller, .Andrew Toombes, Tristram Coffin, Edna Holland, Dorothy Granger, Ben Erway, Dottye Brown, Alan Edwards, Russel Hicks, Larry Rio, Allen Mathews, Lee "Lasses" White, Bill Kennedy, Eddie Dunn, Ray Teal, Stanley Blystone. Directed by Phil Karlson. This novel, corny feature, a simplified biography of Louisana's colorful Governor Jimmy Davis, should prove pleasant enough screenfare for family audiences, especially in small towns. In the rural areas and in the deep South "Louisiana" will be a good bill-topper. Elsewhere it will serve as a fair supporting feature. Governor Davisvoice, personality and appearance are pleasing, his half-dozen already-popular song numbers presented with professional effect. The action is somewhat repetitious, too rural and Southern houses much of the footage being devoted to political rallies, but the simple, homespun narrative has a certain inspirational quality in depicting the opportunities awaiting the lowliest citizen of our great democracy. All of the exterior scenes were photographed in Louisiana, many of them enacted in part by local dignitaries. Performances by the large but little-known cast are uniformly good, thanks to Phil Karlson's sympathetic direction. Production quality is adequate, photography and song recording of a high order. EXPLOITATION: Play up Governor Jimmy Davis' name , songs and personality. His many song hits. "You Are My Sunshine" among them, should lead to profitable tieups with disc jockeys, radio stations and music stores. Davis' favorable two-page mention in John Gunther's best-selling "Inside U.S.A." should serve as a basis for counter and window displays in book stores and rental libraries. Jimmy Davis, one of eleven children of a destitute sharecropper, is fired with ambition and determimtion to get a good education. He works his way through Louisiana State U., then becomes a professor at a girls' college. Always a lover of music, he gives up his professorship to become a ballad-singing radio entertainer. He teams up with fellow song-writer John Gallaudet, through whom he meets Margaret Lindsay. He weds Margaret and enters politics, first as a city court clerk, and subsequently is elected Shreveport's police commissioner. He cleans up the town, thereby incurring the enmity of vice baron Tristram Coffin whom he has imprisoned. Offered the gubernatorial nomination by a powerful clique, he turns down the offer since he knows the "machine" would expect favors in return for its support. Heartened by Margaret's faith, he runs as an independent, conducts with his hilly-billy band a whirlwind campaign and, against almost overwhelming odds, wins the highest office in the state. •TAWNY PIPIT' BRITISH COMEDY FULL OF WHIMSY— AND DULL MOMENTS Rates • ^ as dualler generally; better io ^ Universal-International 81 minutes Bernard Miles, Rosamund John, Nial McGinnis, Jean Gille, Lucie Mannheim, Christopher Steele, Arthur Burne, Billy Bridget, Jackie Christie, John Salew, Mar.jorie Rhodes, John Rae, Ann Wilton, Ernest Butcher, Tawniy Pipit, Mr. and Mrs. Pipit, Brefni O'Rorke, George Carney, Wylie Watson, Lionel Watts, Scott Harold. Directed by Charles Saunders and Bernard Miles. This J. Arthur Rank Presige Picture, despite its charm and novelty, is too slow and heavily whimsical for most American audiences. The average moviegoer will find the film's fantasy and dry humor too droll and dull for their taste; in art spots, however, it may bring in gratifying receipts. Save for Bernard Miles and Rosamund r art houses John, the large and capable cast is virtually unknown to U. S. filmgoers; both have been seen here before, and to better advantage: Miles as the blacksmith in "Great Expectations," Miss John in "Green for Danger." Production quality is high; locales are particularly beautiful; music and scoring are good; photography excellent, and British accents not too pronounced. The film, dealing with a village's attempts to protect a nest wherein a seldom-seen bird known as the Tawny Pipit is hatching a clutch of eggs, was co-produced, co-written and codirected, evidentlv with ton<rtie-in-cheek, bv co-star Bernard Miles and Charles Saunders. Wounded aviator Nial McGinnis. convalescing near the village of Lipsbury Lea with nurse Rosamund John, espies a rare bird knov;n as the Tawn^ Pipit nesting in a field. Told by Rosamund's uncle, an authority, that only once before have Pipits nested in England, she and McGinnis enlist the vil lagers in a campaign to protect the eggs from marauders. When the nest is menaced by some army tanks on maneuvres, Rosamund vamps the commanding officer into operating elsewhere. Danger again threatens when, because of a local feud with Col. Bernard Miles, the field's owner insists on plowing up the land; Rosamund, Miles and McGinnis become enmeshed in miles of governmental red tape before they can contact a cabinet minister sufficiently sympathetic to the Pipits' plight to issue a decree barring ploughs from the field. To Lipsbury Lea come dozens of leading ornithologists, among them Wylie Watson. Blackmailed by imscrupulous egg-collectors John Salew and Marjorie Rhodes, Watson dons a sniper's garb and rifles the nest, refilling it with plaster eggs. Caught with the priceless eggs in his possession, he confesses, implicating Salew and Miss Rhodes. At end, McGinnis weds Rosamund, rejoins his squadron. SEPTEMBER 15, 1947 9