Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1956)

Motion Picture Daily 5 I REVIEWS: Stagecoach to Fury 20th-Fox — Regal Films Hollywood, Oct. 14 Forrest Tucker, Mari Blanchard, Wally Ford and Margia Dean are the top names with which to bill this Regal Films, Inc., production for 20th Centurv-Fox release, but these players have no monopoly on the performance honors piled up by the entire cast under William Claxton's skilled direction. Responding alertly to the guidance furnished them bv this earnest, forward-minded young director, the starred players together with Rudolfo Rovos, in the heavy assignment, Paul Fix, Rico Alanis, Wright King and a dozen others run up a state of tension in the opening sequence that holds and builds until the film's climactic episode. In the first sequence and in the last, as likewise in some between, death is dealt quicklv from bad guns and good, but suspense is so steadily maintained, and the story is so smoothly told, that killings appear strictly in order as necessary incidents in a criminal chronicle. Filmed in Regalscope, another name for black-and-white CinemaScope, the picture stands an excellent chance of a rewarding exhibition experience. The screenplay bv Eric Norden, from, a story by Producer Earle Lyon and himself, opens with the stopping of a stagecoach bound for Fury by a Mexican bandit and his men who believe the coach carries government gold. When the bandit is convinced that the gold is coming by another coach, to be transferred to this one, he detains the passengers, under gunpoint hospitality, to await the transfer. As in "Petrified Forest" and other stories in general kind, characters clash, tempers crack, emotions flare and subside, all on a rising note of tension, until the situation is resolved in a dramatic ending. "Stagecoach to Fury" owes nothing to any of its predecessors, and towers over most of them professionally. Running time, 74 minutes. General classification. For October release. William R. Weaver ABPC's Plans ( Continued from page 1 ) no intention of selling its ABPC holdings." His organization will open a television outlet in the Midlands of England, he said. "We have the Saturday and Sunday program contracts for the area," Latta added, "and the third station will begin telecasting shortly from Yorkshire." He said that ABPC already operates stations in Birmingham and Manchester. Latta said that motion pict u r e theatre business in England "has been good in recent weeks. The imof television has not been as great in recent months because the novelty has worn off. The public still wants see films." Commenting on International Variety Clubs, of which he is the European representative, Latta said that the London Tent has appointed a number of committees to work out details for the 1958 convention which will be held in London. C. J. Latta to out and Calling Homicide Allied Artists Hollywood, Oct. 14 In sixty swift, actionful minutes Bill Elliott, as Sergeant Doyle of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office, clears up two murder mysteries as complex as any county's likelv to come up with in even these days of distorted criminal practice, and puts a lethal bullet into the murderer in self-defense. The intricate and unfamiliar story is by the practiced, proficient Edward Bernds, who also directed it. The picture moves swiftlv and steadily from surprising start to convincing close. It's better melodrama than tv dishes up, and isn't interrupted by commercials. The picture opens with the murder, by booby-trapped automobile, of a detective known to have been catching up with some racketeers otherwise unknown to the authorities. Before Elliott gets far in the solving of this murder, another is committed, a girl this time, and in a while it becomes clear that the two killings are connected. The girl, who appears in the film only after death, turns out to have been operating a model-training school in Los Angeles as a front for a baby-adoption ring that was operated for purposes of obtaining ammunition for blackmail. Elliott finds out that a great number of people who knew her would have been glad to knock her off, but it's a long, exciting time before he sifts out the one that did it. It's a faster sixty minutes than exhibitors find it easy to come by in these days of long-running primary features. Running time, 60 minutes. General classification. Release date not set. W. R. W. 'Silent' on Omnibus The ABC television program Omnibus will devote portions of three shows to Columbia Pictures' underwater feature film, "The Silent World." The first was on the program's second show of the new season yesterday. TOA's Stellings Arrives Ernest Stellings, president of Theatre Owners of America, will arrive in New York today from Charlotte to finalize his organization's program for the coming year. Stellings is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow. Burma Embargo ( Continued from page 1 ) the licenses, the spokesman added. "But the embargo situation was the result of a misunderstanding," he explained. "The Burmese government was apparently only interested in obtaining a tighter control of film imports rather than trying to crowd out American product." 'Oscar Morgan Week' Started by Paramount Paramount yesterday started celebrating "Oscar Morgan Week" in honor of the short subjects sales manager's 42 years with the company, as a part of the company's "Salute to George Weltner" sales drive. "Oscar Morgan Week" will be marked by intensified activity by the field sales force on behalf of the product under Morgan's supervision — short subjects, Paramount News and special VistaVision subjects. Plan Lab Course Film laboratory executives will meet with a group from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers this week to discuss the creation of a course in lab techniques at a New York college in the near future, Emmett Salzberg, sales manager of Criterion Film Laboratories, has announced.