Modern Screen (Dec 1954 - Dec 1955)

WORTH SEEING THIS MONTH NEW MOVIES FOR SHIVERS The Naked Street Simba Target Zero The Big Knife FOR LAUGHS i It's Always Fair Weather The Bar Sinister FOR SPECTACLE Helen Of Troy Lady Godiva The African Lion FOR A GLOW The Left Hand Of God Count Three And Pray PICTURE OF THE MONTH: Michael Kidd, Dan Dailey and Gene Kelly meet after ten years of separation, but the only one who's happy about it is Cyd Charisse—a woman of many plots! IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER Sophisticated, smash musical ■ It's Always Fair Weather is one of the most delightfully clever musicals I've ever seen. Its story centers around three G.I.'s (Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Michael Kidd) who, having parted with the Army, part with each other in a Third Avenue bar. They vow to meet again in ten years at the same place, but ten years sure change a fellow. Kelly, when he isn't being a ladies' man is managing a fighter up at Stillman's Gym; Dan develops a mustache and severe dyspepsia as an extremely successful artist, doing tv commercials; Michael goes the way of more usual flesh — he gets married, has a flock of kids and runs a nice little eatery. After ten years they faithfully keep the vow to meet, but it's easy to see they can't stand each other. What happens next is skillfully maneuvered by career woman Cyd Charisse. Secretly, she arranges to have them all meet again on a tv show that specializes in sentiment and tears. Dolores Gray emcees the show with gusto. The songs she sings are terrific — but so are all the songs, they're witty, fast and satiric. That and the choreography (by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen) make for the kind of sophisticated charm you expect to find on Broadway but are rarely fortunate enough to see in a movie fresh out of Hollywood. CinemaScope — MGM HELEN OF TROY Rossana Podesta — The face that launched a thousand ships ■ Here's spectacle to end all spectacles — about the Trojan War and Helen (Rossana Podesta) who 70 allegedly started it— and it beats mc where Warners' amassed that magnificent collection of ancient battle armor. The scene opens in 1100 B.C. in peace-loving Troy, where Paris (Jack Sernas) has convinced his father, the king, to send him to Sparta on a mission of peace. Sister Cassandra prophesies disaster but no one listens. So off Paris goes to be shipwrecked and saved by Helen, Queen of Sparta (incognito). She knows that her husband Menelaus is planning to attack Troy with a lot of other Greek leaders, including Ulysses (Torin Thatcher) but she's just a pawn of Fate herself, and can't warn Paris. Menelaus makes him prisoner but he escapes and with Helen flees to Troy. So the war begins — a thousand Greek ships set sail for Troy, and the war goes on for years. Finally it appears that the Trojans have won, for the Greeks sail away. But they leave a sacred gift behind — a huge wooden horse which, unbeknownst to the Trojans, is chockful of armed Greeks. It's a mammoth production done with mammoth skill. CinemaScope — Warners THE LEFT HAND OF GOD An unusual st&ry of the spirit ■ During the second world war Humphrey Bogart, a pilot shot out of the sky in a remote part of China, found himself in the service of a corrupt warlord (Lee J. Cobb). His only way to escape was to pose as a priest. It is a difficult masquerade, but in the Chinese Mission where he is known as Father O'Shea all come to love him — including nurse Gene Tierney who is deeply shocked by her attraction to a priest. ' This is an adventure story with a spiritual quality and neither one lessens the effect of the other. In posing as a priest. Bogart gains spiritually to the point where he not only turns himself in but is willing to accept whatever punishment the church sees fit. In the course of events he shoots a game of craps with Lee J. Cobb to settle the fate of a village. Sensitive performances and beautiful scenery add much to a precarious subject matter that never falls from good taste. CinemaScope — 20th-Fox THE BIG KNIFE Melodrama of a movie idol ■ Behind the big-box office name in Hollywood often lurks a man you wouldn't recognize. Take Charlie Castle (Jack Palance) who seems to have everything, but is on the verge of nervous collapse. Why? Because his wife (Ida Lupino) has left him. She feels he's sold his soul for a Cadillac and she can't respect him that way. He can't respect himself, either, but somehow the magnetic power of movie mogul Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger) keeps him signing on the dotted line whenever a long-term contract is offered. Castle's so anxious to win back his wife (and some self-respect) that he's willing to promise he'll never make another movie again, but Hoff won't have that. He wants Castle, and one way to keep him is through blackmail involving starlet Shelley Winters. The plot's interesting but what holds you is the telling dialogue, the dynamic character portrayals and the sense of being behind the scenes of the world's most fascinating industry. With Wendell Corey. From the play by Clifford Odets.— U.A. THE NAKED STREET Crime still doesn't pay ■ Anthony Quinn is one of those king-pin racketeers out of Brooklyn who keeps going back every Sunday for a hot dinner cooked by Mom. At one of those dinners he discovers that his sister (Anne Bancroft) is not only pregnant but her boyfriend (Farley Granger) is about to sit on the electric chair, for murder. Quinn finagles a new trial, frees Granger and is best man at the wedding. Granger's grateful, but not so grateful his weak character doesn't get the best of him. Meanwhile, a young newspaper reporter (Peter Graves) is busy writing columns in a feeble attempt to expose Quinn. Peter gets invited to dinner, and while there becomes friendly with Anne — fortunately for her. She needs a friend by the time her no-good husband is framed by her no-good brother and the whole family falls apart. — U.A. THE BAR SINISTER Presenting a dog's life ■ If you've ever wondered what goes on in a dog's head, see The Bar Sinister, the tale of an English Bull Terrier (Wildfire), told, naturally, by himself. He's just an old waterfront dog till a bowery character (Jeff Richards) picks him up and makes a fighter of him. He fights other dogs for money but Richards never lets him keep the change. When Wildfire loses his biggest fight, fond master nearlv kills him. And that would be that if Edmund Gwenn didn't find and take Wildfire to a beautiful estate in the country. Dean Jagger, estate owner, thinks Wildfire's just a toughie who deserves to be shot (Jagger's partial to the St. Bernards he raises). But danged if Wildfire doesn't turn out to be the finest of his breed — with blue ribbons to prove it. CinemaScope— MGM SIMBA Blood and violence in Africa ■ Simba is Swahili for "lion" and nowadays in Kenya, Africa, "lion" means sudden, horrible death. This movie is based on more or less true incidents concerning the Mau Maus (native terrorist groups) and their victims. Dirk Bogarde arrives in Kenya to find his brother murdered and "Simba" written in blood on the door. Virginia McKenna, who lives with her family in Kenya, loves Dirk, but sympathizes with the Africans and feels they can all live in peace together. Dirk distrusts all natives and suspects Earl Cameron, an African doctor, of being the terrorist leader. Dirk's own conflicts are resolved in a head-on clash with a Mau Mau massacre party. It's a graphic film, made more impressive by the fact that the Mau Mau do exist and carry on in exactly the way shown here. Eastman Color — Lippert Pictures COUNT THREE AND PRAY An original bit of folklore ■ Bad enough when a southerner fights for the north in the Civil War, but when he comes back home and sets himself up as a preacher it's not likely anyone'll come to church. That's not all of Van Heflin's problem. First, he has to build a church (the original one is a war ruin) then he has to commandeer the broken down parish house next door which a ragged waif (Joanne Woodward) is defending with a rifle. The townspeople's hatred for Heflin turns to sheer amaze _