Motion Picture Daily (Oct-Dec 1959)

Motion Picture Daily Thursday, December 24, 195! has the boxoffice touch! Solomon and Sheba CONTINUED FROM PAGE I outstanding among the women who have essayed portrayals of the seductresses of history. And it has the firm direction, particularly notable in the handling of massive crowd scenes, which justly brought King Vidor fame in a career which stretches from "The Big Parade" to "War and Peace." There are battle scenes, detailing hand-to-hand combat in vignettes cunningly intercut with awe-inspiring scenes of armies which stretch the width of a 60-foot screen. There is a sensuous sequence portraying the rites of a pagan god of fertility, focussing down to a close-up of the prin . cipals in an inflamed love scene which probably sets a record for length t and sensual realism. And there is a bathtub scene. R-— — r -vT_~ ~m The St°ry °f Crane Wilbur, an old and experienced hand in these matEl \M I jr^J lAf ters> and the screenplay by Anthony Veiller, Paul Dudle) and George C | C WW Bruce, builds an elaborate fabric on the single incident, passingly men _______________ tioned in the Old Testament, of the visit of the Queen of Sheba, or Saba, to King Solomon, son of King David and builder of the Temple of Jerusalem. Sheba comes as an ally of the Pharaoh of Egypt, bent on destroying Solomon by discrediting him with his people. She ends by falling in love with him instead, and saving his throne and his life by abandoning her pagan gods and praying to Jehovah. Her son by Solomon, she declares, will be named the Lion of Judah and will establish the kingdom of Jehovah in Sheba. The Bridal Path Launder-Gilliat — Kingsley-Union It's a swift and stormy road Bill Travers must navigate in "The Bridal Path," but he does it so comically well that, aided considerably by Scotland's enchanting highlands which are photographed beautifully in Technicolor, the audience is charmed and amused every misstep of the way. This romantic comedy was filmed in and around the softly scenic countryside of Argyl and introduces Travers, whose most recent like role was as "Wee Geordie," as a young man from the remote island of Beigg who is sent to the mainland by the island's elders to fetch a wife. After a yon bonnie and near bloody search, 'tis a spouse Travers finally acquires, but she is not a mainlander and win her he does not until, battered and baffled he returns home only to sail off again with the blackhaired lass he had followed about most of his life. But during his disastrous three days on the mainland Travers, usually by accident but sometimes through fantastic fits of design, manages to trap, then unspring himself from the nearfatal clutches of an outrageous team of females, and also from the vise of the law. What attracts the women to the handsome, rugged-looking Travers are his good looks and his big bundle: <£400 which he totes around in his knapsack with an abandon fit hardly for money. The jaunty highland ballads that are able sometimes to permeate "The Bridal Path" were composed by Cedric Thorpe Davie, and the haunting songs which echo from high above the great green glens are sung by the Campbeltown Gaelic Choir. The film was directed by Frank Launder who also wrote the screenplay, adapted from Nigel Tranter's novel, with Geoffrey Willans. Punning time, 96 minutes. General classification. December release. Saul Ostrove In the background are the machinations of George Sanders, as Solomon's elder brother, Adonijah, commander of the army of Israel', who lost the throne to Solomon by edict of the dying King David and who enters into a traitorous alliance with the Pharaoh. Individual sequences, such as the storied judgment of Solomon in which he determines the true mother of a disputed child, achieve sharpness and beauty reminiscent of the great paintings which they have inspired. Others achieve extraordinary effect by magnitude alone, such as the destruction of the Temple by a bolt from heaven; by sheer and shimmering beauty of the Technicolor photography and the Technirama processing, such as when Solomon prays to Jehovah in the moonlight after his consecration; or by overwhelming spectacle, as in the final battle sequence in which the Egyptian hordes drive to their death in a deep ravine blinded by the sunlight on the shields of the Israelites. The picture moves rapidly from battlefield, to throne room, to harem, to boudoir to temple and back to battlefield, pouring lush costuming! vivid color and pulsing action on the beholder without a pause. The photography is an extraordinary example of the versatility and the power of the wide film and wide screen process Super Technirama 70. Running time, 149 minutes. Adult classification. December release. James D. Ivers Holidays Bring Lull In Coast Production From THE DAILY Bureau HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 23. With the holidays in view, no new pictures are scheduled to start shooting until after the first of the year, and several Yul Brynner as "Solomon" and Gina Lollobrigida as "Sheba now in production will wind before the end of the year. The total number of pictures currently before the cameras is 28. Two were completed this past week. Completed were: "CinderFella!" the Jerry Lewis Production for Paramount release, and "The Alamo" the John Wayne Batjac Production for United Artists, which was completed last week after 3% months shooting on location in Brackettville, Texas. REVIEW Tiger Bay Rank-Continental Dist. "Tiger Bay" spins faster than top during its final exciting scene^ if but the top is halted suddenly by aj> irrepressible little imp who provoke, a murderer with a chance to escapl, ii the law into saving her life instead^ This brilliantly played drama, pro,, duced by John Hawkesworth and dfy rected by J. Lee Thompson, introduce!, 12-year-old Hayley Mills, daughter o| actor John Mills, as the cunningA blonde and brazen— and altogether tri| umphant— little devil who witnessej an accidental murder committed bv Horst Buchholz who thereafter pury. sues the girl, wins her confidence bu], n is so overcome by her chicanery thatL in the end, however unintentionally she traps him for the law. This is a spellbinding motion pie ture. The action, until the final se£ chase and arrest, is set mostly in TigeiJ, Bay, a multi-racial section of London^, where Buchholz, who plays a Polish, seaman, is observed by Miss Mills asj, he accidentally shoots his girl. With,, his revolver, the imp runs from Buch-C holz, hides, lies to the police, impli-^ cates an innocent man and is pur-( suaded by the murderer to run off into the hills with him, until he can flee the country. The young lady is nabbed and taken to the police where her|, father, John Mills, playing a police} inspector, is frustrated time and again' by her lies. Buchholz, meantime, has) signed on a Venezuelan freighter and; seems to be steaming toward openi; water and freedom. L But he does not escape for long.|[ Mills and the girl confront him, andi, after some questionable turnabouts, L culminating in Buchholz's dive over-s board to save the girl, the murderer's flight is ended and so is the film. "Tiger Bay" is an old-fashioned "chase" picture but it is also much more than that. Miss Mills, following her performance here, is certain to be fired across the film horizon in more exploitable roles, although there ' is no need to rush this juvenile wizard. She is the most captivating new I youngster to be seen in motion pic j tures in quite a few hundred reels and j she makes "Tiger Bay" a terrific mo [ tion picture. Running time, 105 minutes. General | classification. Release, in December. S. O. ; has the boxoffice touch!