Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

THE CHRISTMAS FAIRY ARRIVED IN OCTOBER ■ When Jean Simmons was a seventeen-year-old starlet in Britain, there was such a shortage of clothing that everyone was issued a book of clothing coupons. For the ordinary person it was difficult enough to find clothes to wear; for the entertainers, it was a nightmare. Jean had already appeared in several films, and achieved some favourable notices. But she knew that if she were to get anywhere big, she would have to be seen in the best places. And getting different clothes for all these appearances was quite a problem. One October evening she received a call from her drama teacher and agent who had just been given a number of tickets for a very important film premiere and planned to take a group of her most talented artistes. Needless to say, each girl was supposed to look magnificent. The clothing coupons were taken out, and lliere were just enough to buv a simple evening frock. Al such short notice there wasn't time to get a gown made for her — and there just wasn't a huge range in the fashionable shops. Everything was supposed to be for utility wear, not for film premieres. But Jean finally found a gown, pink, flecked with white, and it made her look very much the film star. . . . As she was about to step from the taxi she had taken to the London theater, she saw some of her friends waiting for her. One of them was wearing exactly the same dress as her own. At that moment, another friend arrived — also wearing this pink-and-white dress. Jean ordered the driver to turn 'round, and look out for a store where she could buy some trimmings to disguise her dress. But soon she was forced to realize that all the shops were closed — and it was too late to drive home and change into something else. Then the driver spotted a shop still open. He drove near it. It was a stationer's shop — and Jean's heart fell. How could magazines, postcards, books or calendars help her? But, perhaps . . . ? The wizened old shop proprietor eyed her. and asked what she wanted. She told him the whole story — and he shook his head. He couldn't think of anything at all. Suddenly he shouted that he had an idea, if she was willing to risk making a fool of herself. He'd received his stock of Christmas decorations that day. and if she could use anything like tinsel, he would get it for her. . . . Ten minutes before the film started Jean Simmons arrived at the entrance to the cinema, looking happy and radiant. She stepped from the taxi-cab. and waved to her friends who , stared at her in disbelief. Curious fans gazed at her and smiled — while photographers rushed towards her and started clicking away. Next day pictures of seventeen-year-old Jean Simmons appeared in most of the morning papers, and in one the caption read The Christmas Fairy Arrived in October. It was an appropriate caption too. because Jean Simmons disguised the pinkand-white dress with garlands of glittering tinsel, and gorgeously technicolored snowflakes ! 80 new movies (Continued from page 79) growth, and of family ties that can strangle a well as provide, in their close moment; poignant and unforgettable love. — Cinema scope, 20th-Fox. ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS Robert Wagne. Natalie Wooc . . . eating their hearts out Susan Kohner George Hamiltor Pearl Baile ■ Cannibals are notorious for eating people (after boiling them in a big pot). This movie'a potboiler, all right, in which the cannibaleat each other; that they don't all die of acute; indigestion is one of the miracles of moviemaking. The dinner starts in Texas where barefooted Natalie Wood has changed her name from Sarah to Salome on the theory thai life holds more for her than what she finds in her father's house — a shanty filled with barefooted brothers and sisters. Robert Wagner: tortured son of a minister, hopes that life holds more too. but has no notion how to get whatever it is. For a starter, he gets Natalie! pregnant; he would also like to marry her but she, fearful of being trapped, runs out on him. Lucky for her George Hamilton boards the same train she does. George, playboy son off a rich Texan, is trying his best to ruin Vale's reputation as an institution of higher learning. He proposes to Natalie and she hastily accepts him. Back home Wagner befriends Pearl Bailey, a famous singer who has decided to quit her career and die because her boyfriend jilted her. Before she kicks off, however, shei discovers that Wagner is a great horn player and insists on taking him to New York. There he finds fame and Susan Kohner. George's playgirl sister, who writhes with boredom. To get even with Natalie. Wagner marries Susan. Get the picture? George loves Natalie and the child he thinks is his; Natalie loves nobody: Susan loves Wagner; Wagner hates Natalie: Pearl Bailey's dying. The pot boileth over in no time. — Cinemascope, MGM. IT STARTED IN NAPLES Clark Gable Sophia Loren , , , Vittorio De Sica — and ended in love Marietto Paolo Carlini ■ When Clark Gable arrives in Naples he's as smug and businesslike as you'd expect a Philadelphia lawyer to be. He's not on vacation; he wants to settle the estate of his brother who deserted an American wife ten years before and died in Naples with a girlfriend. Much to Gable's cynical amusement, his brother left behind an eight-year-old son (Marietto) and "a carton of firecrackers. Marietto smokes, drinks wine, ignores school, makes suckers out of tourists and is, all in all, one of the most delightful waifs in film history. He lives with his aunt, Sophia Loren, who, aside from dancing in a honky-tonk, has other, questionable, methods of survival. Gable wou'd like to take Marietto back to America — or at least send him to school in Rome, but Sophia won't part with him. Acting on the advice of his lawyer (Vittorio De Sica) Gable tries to win his way with "sweetness and light." His romance with Sophia provides a colorful tour of tourist attractions in Naples and Capri, but it doesn't provide him with Marietto — not when Sophia discovers that Gable is about as marriage-minded as his late brother. The dialogue is clever and — in endearing Italian style — animated. The mood is as gay and carefree as a Neapolitan love song. It's a fun picture. — Technicolor, Paramount.