Modern Screen (Jan-Nov 1956)

WORTH SEEING THIS MONTH NEW MOVIES FOR SHIVERS The Spoilers Hell's Horizon Hold Back Tomorrow FOR TEARS Lease Of Life I'll Cry Tomorrow FOR LAUGHS The Tender Trap The Rose Tattoo FOR SPECTACLE Oklahoma! The Tall Men FOR LOVE View From Pompey's Head Girl In The Red Velvet Swing PICTURE OF THE MONTH: Richard Egan (center) steps into a southern hotbox when he attempts a closer look at the high-tension marriage between Cameron Mitchell and Dana Wynter. THE VIEW FROM POMPEY'S HEAD A touch of the new South ■ Heaven help the man who takes a trip into his own past, because he'll find it almost impossible to help himself. After fifteen years of prospering up north with a lovely wife and family, lawyer Anson Page (Richard Egan) goes down south to his boyhood home on a peculiar mission. The wife of Garvin Wales (Sidney Blackmer) a famous novelist, has sent a threatening letter to his publishers claiming that Garvin's literary nurse had embezzled $20,000 in royalties before he died. Anson takes a train to Pompey's Head, and the minute he steps off it, is assailed by memories. The trouble is — they're in the flesh. Of Dinah Blackford (Dana Wynter) for one. She's a typically proud southern belle who'd vowed to reclaim the estate which her family was forced to sell. Dinah always loved Anson, but she embodied the tradition of ancestor worship and snobbery which made him head north in the first place. To get back the estate Dinah had to marry an ambitious social climber (Cameron Mitchell), who needed to be born again to be a gentleman. When Dinah and Anson meet sparks fly — and Mitchell gets a little explosive himself. Face to face with novelist Garvin Wales, Anson learns how the caste system (of which Wales is a victim) has crippled his personality. (The secret of the $20,000 is so shameful Garvin's afraid to reveal it to his ancestor-ridden wife, Marjorie Rambeau.) The view from Pompey's Head, or from Dinah's magnificent mansion is lush or decadent, desirable or ugly depending on your place in the hierarchy and the extent of your liberation from it. Anson, being human and a dreamer, is almost trapped by this dreamland. CinemaScope — 20th-Fox OKLAHOMA! A classic musical ■ To begin with it's one of the most expensive movies ever made (cost $6,800,000), is in Eastman Color, has an orthosonic six-channel magnetic sound track and is filmed in Todd-AO. Todd-AO is a new process that uses one camera, one projector and a very deeply curved screen. The movie isn't going on before our eyes. Oh, no. We are practically surrounded by it — (like Cinerama withaut distortion. Depth, depth, depth. Breadth, breadth, breadth.) The picture's fine. It's about a pretty girl named Laurey (Shirley Jones) and her romance with a cowboy, Curly (Gordon MacRae), which the hired man, Jud (Rod Steiger), would like to smash. Jud is an old-time villain, who scares Laurey so much she agrees to go to a basket party with him. When Curly outbids him, for Laurey 's basket old Jud goes berserk and tries to burn down the whole countryside. Then there's Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame) who "cain't say no" to cowpoke Gene Nelson or peddler Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert), but her father (James Whitmore) solves the problem with a shotgun. The songs you've known and loved ever since Rodgers and Hammerstein introduced them to Broadway in 1942 are still fresh and alive as sung by this cast, and the choreography by Agnes De Mille is always impressive. If you've never heard of Oklahoma! you're in for a real treat. And even if you know every song by heart you'll want to see this movie, which is bound to become a Hollywood classic. -Prominently cast are Charlotte Greenwood, J. C. Flippen, Barbara Lawrence. Magna. THE TENDER TRAP Captivating big city comedy ■ Charming's the word for The Tender Trap. Everything about it — the luxuriously appointed bachelor apartment in which Frank Sinatra cavorts with countless chic women, the atmosphere of bright sophistication, the expensive cut of everyone's wardrobe, the smooth lines and the carefree throwingaway of same will captivate you like nobody's business. That is to say, this movie is sheer delight, though it is built on gossamer thread. David Wayne, a married friend from out of town, moves in with Sinatra for a brief fling. Sinatra has more numbers than the phone book but the one he likes best belongs to Celeste Holm, who plays violin in a symphony orchestra. Enter Debbie Reynolds, very young, stagestruck, talented and independent. She has her life all figured according to schedule. The schedule includes a husband pretty quick but Sinatra can't see himself in that role. But, involved in the tender trap, he proposes ■ — to Debbie and Celeste. At different times, naturally. That's all — except for songs, snappy dialogue and some genuine hilarity. CinemaScope — MGM THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING A "true-life" scandal ■ If you were not around when Evelyn Nesbit was prettily balancing a married millionaire and a maniacal millionaire in her daintily gloved hand you will want to see T.G.l.T.R.V.S. Evelyn (Joan Collins) was a knockout but she did not want to be. She posed for magazine covers, showed her ankles in a chorus and went home to Mama (Glenda Farrell), who was generally found sweating at a sewing machine. That was before Evelyn met architect Sanford White (married millionaire Milland) who set her up on a red velvet swing (he just happened to have one) and chortled, "Reach for the moon!" The moon and, alas, Milland, exceeded her grasp. Still, he loved her so much he sent her to a dentist (for a cracked tooth) and to a finishing school (for an education?). Sanford was a thorn in the side of Harry K. Thaw (Farley Granger) who always traveled with two bodyguards, a sackful of money and a disquieting flair for dramatics. This flair, as you shall see, rivaled that of John Wilkes Booth. What could Evelyn do but marry Farley? He loved her enough to send her to Europe and then nearly sent her flying off an Alpine peak in a jealous rage. Lily white, that girl was. If you suspected different, this movie will dissolve your doubts. CinemaScope — 20th-Fox THE TALL MEN Gable, Russell and 1500 miles to go ■ Driving a herd of cattle through 1500 miles of Indians, mountains, rivers, plains, snowstorms and occasional outlaws is not half so hard as driving sense into Jane Russell's head. That's just about what this movie boils» down to for Clark Gable. The King is here in his s'ory: Jane is more often in a painted bathtub, singing out the latest news about whether she prefers tall men (Gable) or other kinds of men (Robert Ryan). Most of the time it's Ryan since he has big dreams (money) while Gable, who planned to rob him and then hired on as partner, has small dreams (a ranch, a cow and you — Janie). He also has a nervous, trigger-happy, younger brother (Cameron Mitchell). The plot's complicated (after all, it's 1867 and there's a lot of untamed land it hato unwind on), the scenery is often spectacular am; the going is rough. But with Russell and Gable along it's nearly always fun. CinemaScope — 20th-Fox THE ROSE TATTOO The tragi-comedy of Anna Magnan ■ The deep understanding that Tennessee Williambrings to the eccentric people and off-beat themes hi writes about is brilliantly highlighted by the actini of Anna Magnani. She plays the immigrant wife b a truckdriver in a Mississippi town, and the mothei of a sensitive, bright, young teenager (Marisa Pavan). Anna adored her husband, who had a rosi