The Independent Film Journal (1954)

Independent Trade Reviews _ ( Continued from page 14) _ :imes the acting is unintentionally funny. The Flynn and Lollobrigida names, however, should jwercome the narrative drawbacks to a great degree. Action fans will find the duelling sequences to their liking. When the dukedom of Sidona in medieval Italy passes a law to encourage marriage, Flynn a homecoming; bachelor, find life miserable. Ro¬ mantic complications between Flynn and Miss Lollobrigida — the latter desirous of marriage — grow into a series of palace intrigues in which Roldano Lupi tries to do in Flynn. When an assassin fails, Lupi hires mercenaries and (also plots to take over the dukedom. Flynn in¬ duces the local women to court the mercenaries, then sets out to battle the foe. He duels Lupi to the death and clinches with Miss Lollo¬ brigida. “Human Desire” (Columbia) 90 Min. Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Craw¬ ford, Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Case, Peggy Maley, Diane DeLaire, Grandon Rhodes, Dan Seymour, John Pickard. Credits: Produced by Lewis J. Rachmil; Directed by Fritz Lang; Screen play by Alfred Hayes; Based on a novel by Emile Zola. Sex and roughhouse are the two mainsprings .of this American film version of the Zola story ‘ ‘ The Human Beast, ’ ’ and smart showmen will capitalize on these points to realize nice grosses from engagements of the feature. Three solid performances are contributed by stars Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Broderick Crawford, with Miss Grahame scoring notably in the visual department. ‘ ‘ Human Desire ’ ’ tells a very po¬ tent story of lust and murder, and, as such, it’s a natural for exploitation houses. However, the film is based on a classic of modern French lit¬ erature, and one great French film has already been made from it. With this in mind, director Fritz Lang lias obviously attempted more in this one than in the average exploitation yarn. In so doing, he has succeeded in creating some very noteworthy scenes, but they are not always in harmony with the brassier aspects of the film. ' And it is on the latter level that the film will best be sold. Miss Grahame, playing an adulterous wife, has been flitted out with a provocative wardrobe of tight skirts and sweaters. She uses her body to get her husband, Crawford, back his railroad job, but when the latter learns the truth, he kills the other man. Gloria then turns her charms on Ford, who first believes her completely innocent. He backs out, however, when Miss Grahame tries to persuade him to kill Crawford for her. Several love scenes are played before the walkout, so that the audience will not be disappointed on that score. Left to her own devices, Gloria taunts Crawford until he kills her in a fit of rage. The film ends on this scene of violence, but there is at least the cheering thought that Ford will return to the sweet home town girl who loves him. Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford and Gloria Grahame in "Human Desire." “Duel In. The Jungle” (Warner Bros.) Technicolor 102 Min. Cast: Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain, David Farrar, Patrick Barr, George Coulouris, Charles Goldner, Wil¬ frid Hyde White, Mary Merrall, Heather Thatcher. Credits: A Moulin Production; Produced by Marcel Heilman and Tony Owen; Directed by George Mar¬ shall; Screen play by Sam Marx and T. J. MorrisonBased on a story by S. K. Kennedy. Authentic location shots of ferocious African jungle beasts in action provide the chief ex¬ citement in this Technicolor adventure tale filmed on location. Starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews, the feature follows the pair on a search for a crazed millionaire, David Farrar, who has feigned death to collect in¬ surance money. The chase starts out in Eng¬ land, continues aboard ship and ends in the interior of the African jungle. The journey is fraught with all sorts of perils so that both Miss Crain and Andrews are in almost con¬ stant danger. After a slow beginning, the film hits its stride when it readies the jungle scenes. There, the animals take over, and Miss Crain comes within inches of being devoured by a lion and bitten by a snake. A wild ele¬ phant stampede very nearly crushes the entire group. When not battling live beasts, the stars are forced to battle nature in other forms, such as a swirling whirlpool, or escape from the bullets of the maddened Farrar. Having placed the accent so heavily on theaction, the scriptwriters have ignored all subtle¬ ties of plot, and the events are fairly predict¬ able. The characters never get much of a chance to reveal any depth because they are too busy battling nature and each other. Sev¬ eral romantic scenes are played at the begin¬ ning of the film, but once into the action this theme is put aside for the rest of the running time. The search gets started when Andrews, an insurance agent, suspects that Farrar is not really dead but only pretending in order to collect a multi-million dollar policy. Miss Crain, Farrar’s fiancee, is tricked into making the voyage to Africa. Andrews attaches him¬ self to Miss Crain, and both of them finally find Farrar alive. When his villainy is revealed, the latter decides to kill Andrews. Andrews and Miss Crain escape with the help of a last minute rescue. “The Law vs. y Billy The Kid’* (Columbia) 72 Min. Cast: Scott Brady, Betta St. John, James Griffith, Alan Hale, Jr., Paul Cavanagh, William "Bill" Phil¬ lips, Benny Ribin, Steve Darrell, George Berkeley, William Tannen, Richard Cutting, John Cliff. Credits: A Sam Katzman Production; Produced by Sam Katzman; Directed by William Castle; Screen play and story by John T. Williams. This is another film version of the violent life of Billy the Kid, also known as William Bonney. This time, it stacks up as a good programmer in the outdoor market. Followers of western fea¬ tures will find that this will satisfy tlieir appe¬ tite for action. In this film, Billy the Kid is given a semi-heroic buildup with the story line making it seem that Billy was more sinned against than sinner. His relationship with Pat Garrett, the sheriff who eventually killed him, is depicted as much stronger than in many historic accounts and in previous features about the Kid. Scott Brady turns in a creditable stint as Billy the Kid while Betta S. John delivers a strong performance as Billy’s sweetheart. Color by Technicolor is a decided asset to the feature. Scott Brady is forced into hiding after he kills a man in self defense. James Griffith joins him and they get jobs at Paul Cavanagh ’s ranch. Here, Brady meets Betta St. John, Cavanagh ’s niece, and falls in love with her, gaining the hatred of the ranch foreman, Alan Hale, Jr. When Cavanagh, who has befriended Brady, is killed by a crooked sheriff and his cohorts, Brady proceeds to kill off members of this group. Griffith is forced to shoot Brady down. The outdoor values of this feature are strong with the camera work on this feature way above average. The straight story line as depicted here is one well known to almost every theatre goer. Foreign Notes Bolivia Each Bolivian distributor is required to submit a list of films which he desires to import, giving the title, producer, names of stars, date of release in the country of origin, whether black and white or color, and the reviews of the film by U.S. or Ar¬ gentine trade papers. The Subsecretary of Press, Information and Culture will select its program from the above list and allocate foreign exchange for its importation. In addition, the Bolivian Government will waive all import taxes on construction materials, supplies and equipment for new motion picture theaters for five years. The Bolivian film market includes 82 theaters showing 35-mm. films with a total seating capacity of 44,774 and about 80 percent of the films shown are of U.S. origin. Israel The Israel Government has passed a law for the encouragement of Israel produced films which rules that all movie showings of 90 minutes or longer in length shall in¬ clude an Israel produced newsreel, and that all exhibitors must show a minimum of four hours of other types of Israel produced film each week. To benefit under this law an Israel newsreel must be at least 250 meters long (9 minutes) of which 200 meters must contain “matter of Israel public interest.” Sweden As of Jan. 1, 1954, there were 2,494 mo¬ tion picture theaters in Sweden exhibiting 35-mm. films. This is a decrease of 10 from the previous year and of 55 from the 2,549 theaters on Jan. 1, 1950. Trade sources esti¬ mate that the total seating capacity of these theaters is 620,000. During the calendar year 1953, a total of 324 feature films were released in Sweden, of which 190 or 59 percent wrere of U.S. origin. Austria Austria has approximately 1,100 motion picture theaters exhibiting 35-mm. films, of which about 425 are in the Soviet Zones. Total seating capacity of these theaters is estimated at 290,000. About 30 percent of the total screen time in the non-Soviet Zones of Austria is devoted to the exhibition of United States films, with most of the re¬ maining time used for the showing of Aus¬ trian and West German motion pictures. Venezuela There are 496 motion picture theatres in Venezuela exhibiting 35-nnn. films with an estimated total seating capacity of 345,000, according to the U.S. Department of Com¬ merce. The 496 theatres in operation reflect an increase of 77 theatres compared with the number in 1949. About 65 percent of the 35-mm. films shown in Venezuelan theatres are from the United States. Denmark Statistics show that there are 458 motion picture theaters in operation exhibiting 35mm. films in Denmark with an estimated total seating capacity of 146,337. It is esti¬ mated that approximately 60 percent of the screen time in Danish theaters is devoted to the showing of U.S. films. THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— August 7. 1954 37