Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1951)

4 Motion Picture Daily Tuesday, October 2, 1951 Motion Picture Daily Feature Reviews "Havana Rose" {Republic) HUNKS of zany comedy are punctuated with musical interludes in a ^ routine entertainment in "Havana Rose." Effervescent Estelita plays the focal role, providing the vocal numbers as well as the plot entanglements. Estelita's father, the ambassador of mythical Lower Salamia, is pressing hard to raise a $5,000,000 loan for his country. Just as he is about to get Hugh Herbert and his domineering wife, Florence Bates to sign for the loan, Estelita comes bouncing in, accidentally knocks a pot of coffee over the signatories, and thus upsets the deal. In a wild series of slapstick events that follow, Estelita disguises herself as a gypsy fortune teller and tries to lead Herbert to believe that the stars are right for his signing the loan. In the meantime an insurrectionist group in Lower Salamia is out to spike the loan, even if it has to resort to assassination. Thus through a mistaken identification mixup, Estelita is presumed to be Miss Bates and comes close to death. Luckily for her, she has fallen in love with Bill Williams, a strapping cattleman, who soon disposes of the would-be assassins. Among the songs in the picture are "Noche De Ronda," "Babalu," and "Repiquetea Timbalero." Sidney Picker was associate producer and William Beaudine directed, from a screenplay by Charles E. Roberts and Jack Townley. Running time, 77 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, Sept. 15. Mandel Herbstman "The Medium" ( Transfilm) A PICTURE of exquisite delight and satisfaction is offered in this cinematic version of Gian-Carlo Menotti's English-language opera, "The Medium," which won rare critical claim and an extended run on Broadway in 1947. It shapes up as top-grade product for discriminating houses. The selective patron will find this sensitively photographed, expertly acted drama a rewarding adventure in screen entertainment. Filmed in Italy and directed by author Menotti, "The Medium" is a rare artistic blend of realism and poetry. Marie Powers, who starred in the original stage production, is the spiritualist of the title. She is a powerful, tragic figure, who, with less competition, would dominate the picture. However, every member of the cast (many of whom appeared in the stage presentation) gives a flawless performance. The best known player is young Anna Maria Alberghetti, the Italian prodigy. She is completely captivating as the medium's sensitive daughter. The story is simple, but it is a perfect vehicle for Menotti's superb musical score. Miss Powers earns her living by pretending to communicate with the dead. With the aid of Miss Alberghetti and Leo Coleman, a mute gypsy boy, she has won a wide reputation for her occult powers. One day, while practicing her fraudulent art, the medium feels a hand clutch her throat. Terrified that she has, in fact, come in contact with the spirit world, Miss Powers suffers a complete breakdown. She suspects the mute boy of having touched her as a prank, but he is unable to express his innocence. Ridden by fear, Miss Powers is soon transformed into a drunken neurotic. Her decline is reminiscent of a Greek tragedy. She vents her wrath on the gypsy boy, sending him from the house. Then one night, Coleman reenters the medium's home to visit Miss Albergetti, whom he loves. Miss Powers hears a noise behind a screen and thinks it is a spirit come to torture her. She shoots and the gypsy boy falls dead. Many talents contributed to make "The Medium" a tragedy of classic proportions. Much of the credit must go to Menotti and the inspired cast, but Enzo Serafin, too, deserves a deep bow for his vivid camera work. The Symphony Orchestra of Rome, under Thomas Schippers, provided the music. Walter Lowendahl produced, and Milton Perlman was associate. Running time, 85 minutes. General audience classification. Release date, not set. M. Herbstman "The Basketball Fix" (Jack Broder — Realart Pictures') THE STORY of corruption in college basketball, recently carried on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country, is here given a graphic motion picture treatment. There is no subtlety of rendition to the drama but it is indeed a good exploitation picture. The story follows the career of Marshall Thompson, a promising young basketball player who falls into the clutches of a big-time gambler, William Bishop. Thompson is told that all he need do to earn big "rewards" is to do less than his best on the court. Presently his conscience bothers him about it and when he decides to quit he learns to his chagrin that the underworld will not permit him to without reprisal. The romantic element that threads through the story centers around Thompson and Vanessa Brown, a young beauty whom he met at a swimming pool in a fashionable resort. John Ireland rounds out the cast as a sports writer who wages a campaign against dishonesty in sports and goes a long way toward influencing Thompson for the better. The screenplay, by Peter R. Brooke and Charles Peck. Jr., present the plight of Thompson in sympathetic and understandable outlines. In the finale, Thompson refuses to be intimidated by the racketeers and goes on to win a crucial game. The promise of cleaner sports is in the offing as the police close in on the corrupt elements. A Jack Broder Production, it was produced by Edward Leven and directed by Felix Feist. Running time, 68 minutes. General audience classification. September release. M. Herbstman "The Lady from Texas" (Universal-International) \ CHARACTER study of an eccentric old lady is sketched against an out* door action-drama background in "The Lady from Texas." Produced in Technicolor by Leonard Goldstein, the film is made along conventional lines and is designed to meet the needs of many situations. It has comedy, gunplay, fisticuffs and romantic complications. Josephine Hull, who portrayed the pixilated lady in "Harvey," plays a similar role in this one, as the owner of a ranch which villain Craig Stevens covets because a railroad line is expected to run through it. Other aspects of the story center around Howard Duff, a fighting cowboy with a reaction against "being pushed around" ; Mona Freeman, a genteel young lady with a crush on Duff and a protective instinct for Mjss Hull ; Jay C. Flippen, a comic sheriff, and Gene Lockhart, a country judge. After pulling some strings, Miss Freeman manages to recruit Duff to her side to protect Miss Hull's interests. It seems that Miss Hull has escaped out of the world of reality into the realms of hallucination. Thus she keeps a skunk as a pet, talks to animals, and maintains that her husband, long dead, is still alive. As part of the scheme to get her property, Stevens brings proceedings to have her declared not responsible. In an unexpected turn, Miss Hull wins the admiration of both judge and court spectators by reciting a personal letter from President Lincoln in which he asked that the memory of her heroic husband be kept alive. In mood with the happy ending is the marriage of Duff and Miss Freeman, and a clout on the jaw for bad boy Stevens. Joseph Pevney directed, from the screenplay by Gerald Drayson Adams and Connie Lee Bennett. Running time, 77y2 minutes. General audience classification. For October release. M. Herbstman "Silver City" (Paramount Pictures) A COMBINATION of name stars, action and sweeping scenery of the West in Technicolor are the exploitable angles in "Silver City," which follows the standard plot found in most Westerns. In situations which attract audiences which like such features, it should do satisfactorily. Top stars Edmond O'Brien, as a hard-hitting miner, and Yvonne De Carlo, who falls in love with him, perform competently. Barry Fitzgerald as an old, penny-pinching, colorful villain, turns in another excellent performance, although the film would have been strengthened if he had a bigger role. The story opens with a hold-up staged with the connivance of O'Brien, who is an assayer. His partner, played by Richard Arlen, finds out about O'Brien's part in the hold-up and plagues him for years throughout many mining camps, although O'Brien returned all the money gained in the robbery and is following the straight and narrow path. Things reach a climax when O'Brien opens an assay office in Silver City. There, ailing Edgar Buchanan and his daughter Miss De Carlo, strike it rich in a mine leased from Fitzgerald. Following many twists and turns of the plot, highlighted by fisticuffs, O'Brien is finally convinced to join Miss DeCarlo's father in the mining venture. Always stalking in the background is O'Brien's past and Fitzgerald's scheming efforts to thwart the mining venture. O'Brien finally is marked to be killed, but turns the tables and shoots his would-be assassin. Others in the cast include Gladys George, Laura Elliot, Michael Moore and John Dierkes. Produced by Nat Holt with Harry Templeton as associate producer, the film was directed by Byron Haskin, from a screenplay by Frank Gruber, based on a story by Luke Short. Running time, 90 minutes. General audience classification. For December release. Murray M. Horowitz "The Path of Hope" (Lux Films) THE deeply moving story of a group of people on a work-seeking odyssey from Sicily to the Italian Alps, "The Path of Hope" arrives in this country with an impressive string of Italian, French and German awards to its credit. In the tradition of recent Italian imports, it is a starkly realistic drama that will find a ready acceptance among art house audiences. There is no escape here, however, for the patron, burdened by his own woes, who seeks light entertainment. The action opens in a poor Sicilian town whose economy depends upon a sulphur mine and then moves slowly up the Italian boot. With the closing of the mine, a group of desperate, jobless men, their women and children succumb to the arguments of an unscrupulous guide and determine to emigrate illegally to France, where they hope for a chance to work. The trip is dogged by bad luck as the impoverished miners trek north. The guide absconds with their money, the emigrants are arrested in Rome, they are beaten by strikers in northen Italy, and a rejected lover betrays them. All ends happily, however, as the Sicilians, their number greatly reduced, finally arrive in France to start a new life. The central characters, who, incidentally, provide the romantic interest, are Raf Vallone, who emerges as the leader of his fellow miners, and beautiful Elena Varzi, a wicked womanreformed by the love of a good man. The film was skillfully directed by Pietro Germi, and Leonida Barboni is responsible for the imaginative camera work. Luigi Rovere produced. Running time, 104 minutes. Adult audience classification. Release date, not set.