The Independent Film Journal (1954)

“On The Waterfront” (Columbia) 108 Min. Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, Leif Erickson, James Westerfield, Tony Galento, Tami Mauriello, John Hamilton, John Heldabrand, Rudy Bond, Don Blackman, Arthur Keegan, Abe Simon. Credits: A Horizon Picture; An Elia Kazan Produc¬ tion; Produced by Sam Spiegel; Directed by Kazan; Screen play by Budd Schulberg; Based upon and original story by Schulberg; Suggested by Pulitzer Prize-winning articles by Malcolm Johnson; Music by Leonard Bernstein. An extremely topical and highly provocative melodrama, ultra-realistically set against the murky docks of Hoboken, N.J., literally springs from the newspaper headlines in this inde¬ pendent Sam Spiegel production. Timely and exploitable theme about gangsterism in the longshoremen ’s union, plus the casting of Mar¬ lon Brando in the top role, should help spell solid box office. The makers of the film have pulled no punches in dramatizing the more sordid aspects of waterfront warfare. Three murders and at least one savage beating take place in a story that is supposedly based on actual happenings. Certainly the manner in which an aggressive parish priest, deploring violence, brings about a waterfront showdown will create strong word-of-mouth for this film ; so will the powerful acting and inimitable de¬ livery of some harsh and vulgar dialogue by Brando. The talent-charged trio of Elia Kazan, di¬ rector ; Budd Schulberg, author, and Brando have imbued '‘On The Waterfront” with in¬ triguing cinematic values to make the dramatic aspects of the picture as compelling as possible. Performances are vigorous. Brando plays an ex¬ fighter and flunkey for the gangsters while Karl Malden turns in an especially fine stint as the priest. A newcomer named Eva Marie Saint, a very photogenic blonde, contributes to the romantic portions of the story. “Rear Window” (Paramount) Technicolor 112 Min. Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn, Ross Bagdasarian, Georgine Darcy, Sara Berner, Frank Gady, Jesslyn Fax, Rand Harper, Irene Winston, Havis Davenport. Credits: Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Screen play by John Michael Hayes; Based on the short story by Cornell Woolrich. Top drawer diversion is afforded in abund¬ ance during the course of this latest Alfred Hitchcock suspense enterprise, with word-ofmoutli and the presence of excellent star names almost certain to catapult “Bear Window” in¬ to a heavy money category. James Stewrart and Grace Kelly and James Stewart in Alfred Hitch¬ cock's "Rear Window" Marlon Brando, Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint in "On the Waterfront" Photographed almost entirely along the streets, on the roofs and in the bars of the New Jersey dock area, “On The Waterfront” capitalizes on its atmosphere for an astounding degree of melodramatic punch. Brando, wit¬ nessing the vicious murder of a fellow long¬ shoreman who bucked the gangster-ridden union, is sought after by his honest neighbors to make a clean breast of what he knows to the crime commission investigating waterfront illegalities. Brando is reluctant to talk, but when the cor¬ rupt union commits additional murders and kills his brother, he submits to Malden ’s insistence that he cleanse his conscience. As a result of Brando ’s appearance before the commission, Lee J. Cobb, head of the union, faces a murder indictment. Cobb consequently has Brando thrashed in front of the other members to main¬ tain gang control of the union. Brando, despite his beating, summons up enough physical effort to stage a final act of defiance against Cobb and cleanse the union. Grace Kelly are the romantic stars, playing an engaged couple who accidentally discover that a hacksaw murder has been committed right in their owrn backyard. Their attempts to convince detective Wendell Corey on the basis of rather filmsy evidence that the crime was perpetrated, and their subsequent encounters with the culprit provide plenty of thrill situa¬ tions. Hitchcock carries these off in a manner guaranteed to keep the patron on the edge of his seat for many a long moment. Photographed in Technicolor and ultilizing only one set, a Greenwich Village backyard sur¬ rounded by rear window tenement apartments, story receives an atmospheric charge of cram¬ med tension right from the start. Clever delivery of humorous lines by Thelma Bitter helps to counterpoint the tension while some sultry ro¬ mantic moments between Stewart and Miss Kelly provide another form of change-of-pace. Villainy is supplied by Baymond Burr and a number of other capable character actors, taking effective direction by Hitchcock, round out the cast with pantomine performances as neighbors going through the motions of daily living. Events take on weight when Stewart, a newrs photographer confined to a stifling apartment due to a broken leg, spots an occupant of an apartment across the court yard in a series of acts which smacks suspiciously of murder. His theories are shared by Miss Kelly but scoffed at by Corey, his detective friend. Subsequent events almost spell curtains for Miss Kelly at the hands of the culprit and a near strangula¬ tion for Stewart during an exciting climax. The disabled Stewart ’s attempts at slowing down the killer’s approach via exploding of blinding flashbulbs in his face is superby cal¬ culated to quicken the pulse beat. “Betrayed” (M-G-M) Eastman Color 108 Min. Cast: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature, Louis Calhern, O. E. Hasse, Wilfrid Hyde White, Ian Carmichael, Niall MacGinnis, Nora Swinburne, Roland Culver. Credits: Directed by Gottfried Reinhardt; Screen play by Ronald Millar and George Froeschel. A healthy box office, due to smart top¬ casting, should greet this adventure romance of the Dutch underground during World War II. Photographed in tasteful hues of Eastman Color, and utilizing locations in Holland wherever possible, ‘ ‘ Betrayed ’ ’ tells a story of espionage activities against the Nazi occupiers of the Netherlands in a manner that is at times both haunting and suspenseful. Full utilization of the valuable Clark Gable, Lana Turner and Victor Mature names rate top playing time in any situation for this film. Extra lures are to be found in the fact that Miss Turner is a brunette in “Betrayed,” and also sings a song, a sultry downbeat number. Suspense is gen¬ erated by intriguing play on a situation where¬ in an underground guerrilla leader is suspected of working for the enemy. Audiences will be guessing during the latter portions of the film as to the guilt or innocence of this personality, whom Mature portrays in flamboyant style. In the course of the story, sufficient action is intermingled with a load of romance to properly show off the principals for adequate GableTurner fan gratification. Mood shots suc¬ cessfully capture the quaint flavor of the Dutch countryside and also help immeasurably to off¬ set the routine maneuvers. Cast as a Free Dutch intelligence officer, Gable is rescued from Nazi captors by underground guerrilla leader Mature. Beturned to England, Victor Mature, Lana Turner, Clark Gable in "Betrayed," in Eastman Color Gable enlists Miss Turner, widow of a murdered Dutch millionaire, in an involved plan aimed at co-ordinating Mature’s activities with the British. Since she takes the job reluctantly, sus¬ picion falls her way when Mature’s men are betrayed in dozens to the Nazis. Confronted by Gable, Miss Turner brands Mature as the traitor. Latter’s guilt is established and he is killed by Gable who then clinches with Miss Turner as Holland is liberated. “Susan Slept Here” (RKO) Technicolor 98 Min. Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Glenda Farrell, Alvy Moore, Horace McMahon, Herb Vigran, Les Tremayne, Mara Lane, Rita John¬ son, Maidie Norman. Credits: Produced by Harriet Parsons; Directed by Frank Tashlin; Screen play by Alex Gottlieb; Based on a play by Gottlieb and Steve Fisher; Songs by Jack Lawrence and R. Myers. A solid Technicolor comedy that hits on all cylinders, “Susan Slept Here” contains both the charm and the hilarity to get off to a top start in the moneymaking derby. A merry romp about the battle of the sexes, the film stars Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds as a duo who go through a marriage of ‘ ‘ expediency, ’ 7 only to discover by the final clinch that they 12 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— July 24, 1954