The Independent Film Journal (1954)

Independent t Trade Revien s _ _ ( Continued from page 16) _ Wages Of Fear” (John G. McCarthy) FRENCH 106 Min. Cast: Yves Montand, Vera Clouzot, Charles Vonel, William Tubbs. Credits: A Filmsonor Production; Produced and di¬ rected by H. G. Clouzot. In its first portions a study in economic and moral degeneracy and in its latter sequences a brilliantly executed drama of nerve-wracking suspense, “Wages of Fear’’ registers as one of the most unusually powerful French-language films to arrive here in years. This is strong stuff all the way, and, as such, worthy of art house booking. Although the English titles are helpful in explaining the dialogue, the visual impact of this film is all too clear. Situation concerns the fates of four down-and-outers in a South American hell hole who desperately grasp at the chance of making easy money by driving truckloads of nitroglycerine over bumpy mountain roads. Their exploits while on tjre convoy, which occupy the final hour of the pic¬ ture are excruciatingly suspenseful and all too deadly to make for entertainment. Seeing “Wages of Fear” is, rather, a raw and brutal experience. H. G. Clouzot, who produced and directed, displays a masterful talent at generating sus¬ pense to the ultimate degree in this film. Once M. Clouzot gets started, there is no stopping, no relenting in the nervous tortures he inflicts on his characters and, in turn, on the audience. The truck drivers are shown as completely degenerate in most every respect and unsympathetic as well. They cheat, murder and lie ; one constantly debases his girl. Their character traits rapidly show up in more deadly fashion once the perilous nitroglycerine convoy gets underway. Crisis after crisis unfolds to leave the audience completely drained of its emotions by the time the climax, an ironic episide, delivers the final punch. “Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle” (RKO) 73 Min Cast: Gordon Scott, Vera Miles, Peter Van Eyck, Jack Elam, Zippy, Charles Frederichs, Richard Reeves, Don Beddoe, Ike Jones, Jester Hairston, Madie Norman, Rex Ingram, Lucky. Credits: Produced by Sol Lesser; Directed by Harold Schuster. Latest entry in the popular ‘ ‘ Tarzan ’ ’ series, “Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle” will show good grosses as a general programmer, as audiences retain their interest in the venerable jungle hero. Patrons will like the new Tarzan, Gordon Scott, although he has little to do besides swim and show off his muscles. Sales assist will come from Scott’s current personal appearance tour. Crowd-pleasers, as usual, are shots of playful chimpanzees, a wounded baby elephant, and other animals (although some footage is poorly matched) and scenes played in quicksand and in a lion’s pit. A good chase scene quickens the action towards the end. Femme lead, Vera Miles, is attractive and plays her part well, although Tarzan is interested in action, not romance. As the film begins, a trio of white hunters is furious because Tarzan is driving their game to safety across a river to Sukulu land, where the primitive Africans worship animals and protect them. The Sukulus’ only contact with white men is with a U.N. doctor. When the doctor is tricked by the hunters into taking them across the river, the hunters stampede the beasts back to the other side. The natives, con¬ vinced that the doctor and his nurse have betrayed them, prepare to feed them to the lions. However, Tarzan turns back the horde of animals with his famous call. The hunters are crushed under the hoofs of the returning elephants, as Tarzan rescues the captives and saves the day. “Stranger On Horseback” (United Artists) Ansco Color by Pathe 66 Min. Cast: Joel McCrea, Miroslava, Kevin McCarthy, John Mclntire, Emile Meyer, Nancy Gates, John Carradine. Credits: A Leonard Goldstein Production; Produced by Robert Goldstein; Directed by Jacques Tourneur; Screen play by Herb Meadow and Don Martin; Story by Louis L'Amour. From the late Leonard Goldstein comes this remarkably well-made outdoor drama, the story of how a Federal circuit court judge brings a murderer to trial in the old west. Photographed in Ansco Color and processed in Pathe Color, the film stars Joel McCrea and Miroslava for marquee attraction and runs a neat 66 minutes for perfect supporting feature slotting. Good direction and smooth scripting give “Stranger of Horseback” smart pacing and convincing characters. Performances are top-draw, with John Carradine, John Mclntire and Kevin Mc¬ Carthy especially fine in the support cast. Romance takes a back seat as McCrea, the judge, arrives in the town of Bannerman, named after the principal landowner, and begins to investigate a hushed-up murder case in which the Bannerman heir is the key suspect. McCrea ’s attempts to arrest the suspect, to¬ gether with his endeavors at arranging for a fair trial in the face of local dissent, make up the drama. Plotting is direct, to the point and vigorous. A well turned climax provides the ending with a refreshing, if not too logical, surprise. "Jungle Gents” (Allied Artists) 64 Min. Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Laurette Luez, Bernard Gorcey, Patrick O'Moore, Rudolph Anders, Harry Cording, David Condon, Bennie Bartlett, Eric Snow¬ den, Joel Fluellen, Roy Glenn. Credits: Produced by Ben Schwalb; Directed by Ed¬ ward Bernds; Screen play by Elwood Ullman and Bemds. This is a typical Bowery Boys programmer which has a goodly share of laughs and will please their fans. This time, they are on a safari hunting for a jewel treasure hoard and meet up with beautiful Laurette Luez, who is a female Tarzan. The picture will get the same response as all the previous entries in the series have in the past. Stock footage has been used wisely and gives the effect of the African jungles. Huntz Hall develops the ability to smell dia¬ monds, due to some pills he has been taking on doctor’s orders. When this feat is discovered, he is hired by Patrick O ’Moore to go to Africa with Leo Gorcey, David Condon, Bennie Bartlett and Bernard Gorcey, to find a fortune in stolen diamonds. Hall mistakenly burns their map and they wander around lost, until Hall happens on shapely jungle queen Laurette Luez, who leads them to the diamonds, despite the many traps set up by Rudolph Anders to stop them. After foiling Anders and obtaining the diamonds, they head for home. “Wyoming Renegades” (Columbia) ' '-[—'J 72 Min Cast: Phil Carey, Gene Evans, Martha Hyer, William Bishop, Douglas Kennedy, Roy Roberts, Don Beddoe. Credits: Produced by Wallace MacDonald; Directed by Fred F. Sears; Screen play and story by David Lang. “Wyoming Renegades” is a strong support¬ ing feature that will fit in any category in the general market and can also be hoisted to the top of the bill in neighborhood and small town situations. A very realistic western, well pro¬ duced, it details the exploits of Butch Cassidy and his famous Wild Bunch, who inhabited the “Hole In The Wall” country. The screen writer has twisted the history of the gang a great deal, but he has come up with a strong, earthy story, which depicts the members of the gang as they probably really were, hard, bitter men with no sense of value and no regard for human life. Gene Evans is excellent as Cassidy with Phil Carey extremely good as the outlaw who tries to go straight. Supporting players are well cho¬ sen and all deliver performances which are assets to the film. The Technicolor photography is very good and shows the picturesque locations used in the film to advantage. Carey, a member of Evans’ gang, gets out of prison and sends word to Evans that he plans to go straight. He returns to his home town, re¬ opens his father’s blacksmith shop and is about to marry Martha Hyer, when the townsfolk make it known that they would appreciate his leaving town. Douglas Kennedy, who is in re¬ ality a Pinkerton man, sticks up for Carey and provides money for a partnership. When Evans decides to rob the town’s bank, Carey is turned on and accused of plotting the bank job with Evans, and forced to return to Evans and his gang with Kennedy in tow. When Evans dis¬ covers Kennedy’s true identity, he beats him to death, and the outlaws return to town to get some money that they were forced to leave behind. The women of the town gun them down. “The True And The False” (Helene Davis Pictures) 79 Min. Cast: Signe Hasso, William Langford, Michael Road, Ragnar Arvedson. Credits: Produced by Signe Hasso; Directed by Michael Road; Written for the screen by Bob Con¬ don; Based upon stories by Honore de Balzac and Guy de Maupassant. A modern situation dealing with the anxieties of a girl about to be married is employed as a springboard for the telling of two period pieces, short stories by Balzac and de Maupassant, in this English-language import from Sweden. Signe Hasso stars in all three episodes and acquits herself well therein as an actress. Creak¬ ing plots and hackneyed dialogue, however, gear “The True and the False” toward mid-week program slots. A more polished production could have imparted the picture with a higher box office potential. Best sequence in the film is based on a de Maupassant tale called “The Old Maid,” in which Miss Hasso falls in love with an Army officer in 19th Century France, only to find dis¬ illusionment in the fact that he wants to marry for money. The first tale, Balzac’s “La Grande Breteche,” is weaker dramatically but stronger in exploitation potential. Carrying a similar background, it relates how a jealous husband builds a brick wall in front of a closet in which the wife ’s lover is concealed. A heavy and repetitious musical score, plus confusing edit¬ ing, hamper the effect of this sequence. Full Studio Activities Back Republic Lineup ( Continued from page 18) Company has some package deals in prep¬ aration. One, “Come Next Spring,” will be filmed by Robert Alexander Productions, an independent company headed by Steve Cochran, who will also star. Picture, based on an original story by Monte Pittman, will be shot in Trucolor and wide screen and pre¬ pared for fall release. It is to be filmed on location in some sequences in Arkansas in early May. Springsteen will direct. Additional projects on the company’s cal¬ endar include “Man from Texas,” starring John Payne, Mona Freeman and Lee J. Cobb, in Trucolor; “Rebel Island,” with Yvonne De Carlo, Zachary Scott and How¬ ard Duff, in Trucolor; “The Long Watch,” in Trucolor; “Three Leaves of A Shamrock,” from John Ford, with Tyrone Power, Mau¬ reen O’Hara and Barry Fitzgerald, and “Annie Jordan,” in Trucolor, a story of the Seattle waterfront. 22 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— March 5, 1955