The Independent Film Journal (1954)

122 Min. Independent Trade Reviews “Mister Roberts” (Warner Bros.) CinemaScope-Eastman Color 123 Min. Cast: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond', Phil Carey, Nick Adams, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey, Jr., Robert Roark, Perry Lopez, Tiger Andrews, Fritz Ford, Mar¬ tin Milner. Credits: An Orange Production; Produced by Leland Hayward; Directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy; Screenplay by Frank Nugent and Joshua Logan; from the novel by Thomas Heggen as pro¬ duced on the stage by Leland Hayward. Here is a box-office smash hit! This East¬ man Color-CinemaScope adaptation of a stage play that delighted audiences for several years is the rousing, belly-laugh kind of comedy that has become too rare these days. Many patrons, laughing so hard they will cry, will rank War¬ ner ’s latest with the classic screen comedies. Although boisterous and manly, ‘ 1 Roberts ’ ’ has its human and poignant side also. It’s the story of a broken-down old cargo ship behind the lines in the South Pacific during World War II, whose crew fights a daily battle with boredom and their autocratic captain. “Rob¬ erts” could not be improved upon, but the lion’s share of the credit should go to the late Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan, who con¬ ceived the original stage play. Except for the omission of some ribald passages, the film re¬ sembles the stage version very closely. Henry Fonda repeats his stage role as Mr. Roberts, a decent, efficient, restless officer, al¬ ways badgering his captain for a transfer into combat. He plays his part magnificently, with the forceful understatement that has marked his entire acting career. William Powell is also excellent as the sour, grey-haired ship ’s doctor. But the performances that will create tremendous word-of-mouth are Jack Lemmon’s and James Cagney’s. Newcomer Lemmon wall have them rolling in the aisles as the goldbricking Laundry and Morale Officer, a bigtalking, chicken-hearted Casanova who is im¬ mobilized when the chips are down. And vet¬ eran Cagney, as the captain who knows that his chances for promotion rest on Roberts’ William Powell, Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon in a scene from Warner Bros.' "Mister Roberts," CinemaScope-Eastman Color. friendship with the crew, gives an astonishing performance, the best of his career. His open¬ ing scene, played in long-shot pantomime, is a comic gem. Ward Bond and Betsy Palmer stand out among the large cast, and drawling Martin Milner, as a shore patrol officer, rated applause with an outstanding short scene. Outstanding moments occur when the sea¬ men, on a binocular cleaning detail, discover that their ship overlooks a nurses’ shower. In another port, they get a long-awaited shore leave, and hilariously tear the town apart. And Lemmon’s paper threats to take revenge on the hated Captain finally conclude when he accidentally blows up the ship’s laundry and creates a beautiful mess of soap-suds. Finally, through the efforts of the crew, Fonda gets his long-awaited transfer, and ironically is killed while drinking coffee in the wardroom of his new destroyer. But the poignant ending is still up-beat as Lemmon takes this opportunity to assert his own manhood and enter into his own battle with the captain. “Soldier Of Fortune” (20th-Fox) CinemaScope-DeLuxe Color 96 Min. Cast: Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie, Gene Barry, Alex D'Arcy, Tom Tully, Anna Sten, Russell Collins, Leo Gordon, Richard Loo, Soo Yong. Credits: Produced by Buddy Adler; Directed by Ed¬ ward Dmytryk; Screen play by Ernest K. Gann; From the novel by Gann. A picturesque tale of Oriental adventure, “Soldier of Fortune” sports a hard-to-beat starring combination of Clark Gable and Susan Clark Gable stars with Susan Hayward in 20thFox's "Soldier of Fortune," CinemaScope-De Luxe Color. Hayward which should assure it of top-gross¬ ing results wherever played. Photographed in CinemaScope and De Luxe Color against au¬ thentic Hong Kong locations, this film pos¬ sesses a true-to-life scenic flavor which serves as a considerable asset in the unreeling. Miss Hayward plays an American in search of her husband who, it turns out, is held prisoner by Chinese Communists in Canton. Gable, as the title character, is an expatriate American who owns a fleet of junks and carries a torch for Miss Hayward. Fruition of romance between the two stars comes after a series of highly contrived incidents which will supply audiences with satisfactory topical diversion. “Soldier of Fortune” runs in tone from straight narrative to romance, from comedy to rough-house brawls. Climax takes the form of a chase, with Gable and Michael Rennie, play¬ ing a British police officer, rescuing Miss Hay¬ ward ’s husband, Gene Barry, from the Com¬ munists. The chase takes place on Chinese waterways, affording magnificent views of river boats in action. Earlier in the story, Miss Hayward’s prolonged and vain search for Barry furnishes eye-filling vistas of winding Hong Kong alleys. Fused loosely to the main story line are a couple of sub-plots. One deals with an exiled White Russian princess, Anna Sten, and her barroom marriage to a drunken hanger-on, Russell Collins. The second shows how a Nationalist general turned tourist guide meets his fate at the hands of the Communists. These incidents provide ‘ ‘ Soldier of Fortune ’ ’ with an international flavor in keeping with the Hong Kong locale. “Love Me Or Leave Me” (M-G-M) CinemaScope-Eastman Color Cast: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith, Tom Tully, Harry Bellaver, Richard Gaines, Peter Leeds, Claude Stroud, Audrey Young. Credits: Produced by Joe Pasternak; Directed by Charles Vidor; Screen play by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart; Story by Fuchs; Songs by Nicholas Brodszky, Sammy Cahn, Chilton Price, Irving Berlin, DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, Walter Donaldson. Arthur Freed, Gus Kahn, McCarthy and Monaco, Rodgers and Hart and Turk and Ahlert. Metro has a box office winner in this biog¬ raphy, with music, of Ruth Etting, famed popular chanteuse of the late 1920 ’s and 1930 ’s. Besides serving as a vehicle for delivering many, many old favorite songs as rendered by Doris Day, ‘ ‘ Love Me Or Leave Me ’ ’ presents an unusually strong dramatic story that could easily stand on its own without musical em¬ bellishment. The song-and-plot combination is nicely cloaked in a tasteful Joe Pasternak pro¬ duction which Charles Vidor directed with a knowing hand. Dialogue is punchy throughout, with James Cagney delivering a top-notch per¬ formance that ranks with the best character portrayals of his career. The solid story and musical assets of the film, together with the Day-Cagney marquee bait and the CinemaScope-Eastman Color pho¬ tography, will mean excellent general audience response. Due to the pains taken by the script and direction to make the characters spring alive, the story projects a broad range of emo¬ tion. Cagney, playing a character based on real life and called ‘ ‘ The Gimp, ’ ’ goes to town with snappy deliveries as well as poignant and stinging interpretations of the various facets of the personality he is enacting. Here he plays a Chicago gangster, influential in the night life of that big town, and stuck on an attractive dime-a-dance girl. Although Cagney exercises a tremendous amount of ambition and skullduggery to push the girl, Miss Day, to the top of the show business ladder, she never reciprocates emotionally. Her heart, torn between the desire for personal success and affection for an appealing piano player, Cam¬ eron Mitchell, makes her blind to reality. Con¬ sequently, she succumbs to Cagney’s overbear¬ ing manner and at the height of her career marries him without love. Miss Day’s years with Cagney are devastating on her personal¬ ity. She takes to drink to escape the barbs of his coarse nature. Eventually, in Hollywood, where she is making a picture, a meeting with Mitchell recurs. Cagney, utterly frustrated by her antagonistic nature, seizes upon their re¬ union to satisfy his distorted ego. Facing de¬ mands for a divorce from Miss Day, he shoots down Mitchell in a fit of jealousy. Ridden with guilt, Miss Day then decides to do what she can to re-build Cagney’s ego. It is understood at the finale, however, that Cagney will face trial while Miss Day will marry Mitchell, who has recovered. The drama of ‘ ‘ Love Me Or Leave Me ’ ’ is interlaced with such songs as “You Made Me Doris Day and James Cagney co-star in Metro's "Love Me Or Leave Me," CinemaScope-Eastman Color. THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— May 28, 1955 13