Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1955)

D\ Motion Picture Daily Monday, December 5, 1955 Jeleuision 7*2^3 f NtPassing in Review MOTION PICTURE COMPANIES already in— or about to enter— the elevision ranks would do well to glance at the material turned out by ''Mh Century-Fox for its General Electric-sponsored hour on CBS-TV. Last Wednesday night's (November 30) adaptation of Sidney Howard's 'Christopher Bean," starring Gene Lockhart and Thelma Ritter, was a landy in all departments, including the unobtrusive and informative trip iround the 20th-Fox lot. Hollywood, incidentally, continues to be something of a bugaboo subject or television dramatists. They seem particularly taken by the awe-full spects of the Hollywood has-been who must, as one might say over cockails, come to grips with reality. Wednesday night writer Dick Berg orestled the subject to a draw in his "Once a Genius," about a transplanted Viennese film director, presented over NBC-TV's Kraft Theatre. Ux nights before (Thursday, November 24) writer Rod Serling's "Portrait n Celluloid" for CBS-TV's Climax told of the particular problems of a tcenarist who had gone down hill ever since he won an Academy Award n 1936. Hollywood, of course, is a legitimate subject for fiction, but criters seem hard put to tell their stories without using the very cliches hey would satirize and/or making their very particular subjects pertinent o those of us who toil in a world unreported by Louella, Hedda, Sidney, sJi 'immy and Sheila. A glance at Jackie Gleason Saturday night (November 26, CBS-TV) hows that he and Audrey Meadows (and a group of the best writers in he business) are continuing to turn out comedy of extremely high order, "hat million-dollar contract was no mistake. CBS-TV also has a winner n its Thursday night Wanted film series, a model of the crime documentary genre. Using only "real" people who actually knew the person potlighted, the show beautifully integrates candid interviews, location m^hots ("X" marks the spot where . . .) and over-all reporting to tell a tory that more often than not creates a vivid impression of life. Also: :iro [SSIGNMENT: INDIA. NBC-TV, , / Hour. Thursday, November 24, j 1955, 5 P.M., EST. Compatible color. Film. i The remarkable potentiality of he television medium in bringing Into the average American home interesting, timely and importantly nformative material was demontrated in its finest sense in this Spectacular from NBC. With Cheser Bowles, former U. S. Ambassaior to India and former Governor f Connecticut, as host, narrator nd chief participant, the program tsed a "by-line" technique attribited to Ted Mills, who produced nd directed the show. Mr. Bowles n effect wandered, but not aimlessy, about the countryside of India, nterpreting this great people and heir way of life to Americans, threaded through the hour was a jertinent and intimate interview of ?rime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru if India by Mr. Bowles. Another Especially interesting facet of the >rogram were the pictures of Inlia's great Mahatma Gandhi. Field lirector and associate producer vas Robert Graff, and much credit hould go to him. Mr. Bowles iroved himself a capable, natural PREVIEW YOUR PICTURE in modern luxury! * STEREOPHONIC SOUND * WIDE SCREEN * CONTINUOUS INTERLOCK PROIECTION * 16 and 35 mm MAGNETIC TAPE * CUTTING and EDITING ROOMS SERVICE DAY* AND NIGHT PREVIEW THEATRE, INC. 1400 Broodwoy, N«w York, N. Y. • CI 6-0665 and sincere figure in his friendly and sympathetic discussion of India, its people and its manifold problems. The use of natural sound on the ground was particularly effective in imparting a sense of authenticity. The camera work throughout was of the highest quality. Here was a fine job. — by all hands. ALCOA HOUR: Thunder in Washington," NBC-TV, 1 Hour, 9 P.M., EST, Sunday, November 27, 1955. Live, from New York. For Alcoa. This thoughtful and provocative drama by David Davidson must certainly be classed as one of best original teleplays of the season. A study of the ordeal-by-fire undergone by a successful businessman who accepts a top Washington post, it succeeded surprisingly well in detailing both sides in the kind of controversy stirred up by Defense Secretary Wilson and his shares of General Motors stock. Mr. Davidson's writing was topnotch, and so were the performances of Melvyn Douglas, as the hard-headed and slightly naive businessman, and Ed Begley, as the House Appropriations Committee chairman whose motives were about equally inspired by politics and personal conscience. Also effective in supporting roles were Audra Lindley, Russell Collins, Howard St. John and Philip Coolidge. The physical production was unostentatiously lavish, with the atmosphere of a fairly chaotic House hearing room graphically and amusingly recreated. Alcoa can be proud of having put together a topical piece which was as exciting as it was intelligent and might please Republicans as well as Democrats. That's something of a coup in these last days of a pre-election year. THE WORLD AROUND US TV Tolay George Brewer, vice-president of the Conservation Foundation, New York, is "talking longer than he intended," at the showing of three shorts Monday evening, in New York, a sample of RCA Recorded Programs' new series, "The World Around Us." With Mr. Brewer, whose organization endorses such educative endeavors, are Thomas Craven, left, co-producer; John H. Storer, naturalist and photographer, and Paul White, RCA's special adviser on TV film programming. General approval and some awe seemed the consensus among the guest writers. To this reporter, a question is the translation from color and form as in nature to the black and white receiver screen. The series appears earnest, almost pedagogical, and with a necessary humorous leavening only in "chalk talks" at beginning and end of each subject. These subjects are uninterrupted in continuity or narration, and therefore are more "educational." For television this may be an asset. Shown were "Chain of Life," describing interdependence, even including natural, beneficial cannibalism, of life forms in and above a swamp; "King of the River," a now familiar record of the salmon runs against current to birth and spawning place, and "Nature's Plan," the continual drain of water to the sea, its absorption to the atmosphere, its descent and again its Mr. Storer, who as a photographer also is an expert in macro and time-lapse work, and whose skill is evident, wrote the scripts adapted by Alan Stern; Mr. Craven co-produced with Ellis Sard; Tex Antoine, who did the chalk talks, narrates along with Robert Middleton, and the Music is by Corelli Jacobs. Pictura Film Corporation is the producer. There will be 26 subjects, each 15 minutes. NAVY LOG, CBS-TV, </2 Hour, 8:30 P.M., EST, Tuesday, November 29, 1955. Film. For W. A. Sheaffer Pen Company (alternating with Maytag). Navy Log appears to be one of the most solid of the half-hour film shows that eschew the paths of both domestic comedy and cryptic mystery in favor of a semi-documentary look at life as it really is/was. Drawing on official Defense Department film libraries, the series carefully and successfully combines actual battle footage with staged photography to tell complete, dramatic tales from the Navy Log. It is technically excellent and often exciting. Last week's chapter, starring Bobby Driscoll as a near-sighted Navy corpsman who inadvertently becomes a hero on a Korean battlefield, suffered slightly from an over-abundance of redundant dialogue, but still was several notches above comparable shows. Sam Gallu is the enterprising producer. MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY, ABCTV, i/2 Hour, 9 P.M., EST, Tuesday, November 29, 1955. Film. For Dodge Division of Chrysler (alternating with American Tobacco). Danny Thomas and Jean Hagen were performing a good distance above and beyond the call of "Old Girl Friends," in last week's installment of this slickly filmed family series. The major premise — that Miss Hagen would become insanely jealous when Danny receives several letters from old flames — is about as old, arch and artificial as one can get without digging back into a Victorian translation of "Lysistrata." However, it did serve to cue in several imaginative daydreams in which Mr. Thomas saw life as it might have been with three other girls, each played in turn by Miss Hagen, who happens to be a fine actress and comedienne. The quality of the film and the camera work are first rate which, unfortunately, only serves to point up the essentially synthetic heart of this particular installment. Louis Edelman is producer for Marterto Productions. FILM COSTS GlASHED/ Guaranteed RAPIDWELD process restores used, worn film, removes scratches — HAP1DTREAT piotects new film. 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