The Exhibitor (1956)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBIT OJR May 30, 1956 backgrounds losing none of their beauty through the absence of color, which would have certainly blurred the dramatic in¬ tensity. The efforts of all concerned have been perfectly coordinated, and the result is superior screen fare. Tip On Bidding: Higher rates. Ad Lines: “Love And Hate ... So Close Together, So Hard To Tell Apart”; “A Man Of Iron, A Woman Of Beauty, Each Day Might Be Their Last”; “A New High In Dramatic Entertainment ... A New High In Boxoffice ■ Power, Kerr And Holden.” RKO Great Day In the Morning (5613) (Superscope) (Technicolor) Outdoor Drama 92m. Estimate: Outdoor action entry has angles. Cast: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Raymond Burr, Leo Gordon, Donald McDonald, Regis Toomey, Peter Whitney, Dan White. Pro¬ duced by Edmund Grainger; directed by Jacques Tourneur. Story: Enroute to Denver in 1861, Rob¬ ert Stack is attacked by Indians and saved by the timely arrival of Virginia j Mayo, escorted by Alex Nicol and Leo Gordon. Mayo wants to start a dress shop; Nicol is an Army man in disbuise investi¬ gating goldmining by southern sympa¬ thizers; and Gordon is a rabid Unionist on his way to join Raymond Burr, who owns the biggest saloon and is antisouth. One of the girls in the saloon, Ruth Roman, falls for Stack and helps him win the place in a crooked card game with Burr. He, however, is attracted to Mayo. He stakes a number of men to digging gold and finds one cheating him. In a gun fight, he kills him. Mayo to forestall mob action stirred by Burr, tells everybody they found him dead. The man’s son, Donald McDonald, arrives and Stack takes him in. When the Civil War breaks out, Burr and his men make it tough for the southern minority. Stack offers them wagons and equipment to take their huge gold cache back home to the south, and he tricks Nicol and his men so that the wagons get away. He also has told the boy he killed his dad, but the boy loves him too much to do anything about it. Nicol catches up with him but permits him to escape, and he heads back home to do his bit for the south. X-Ray: Action and a varied study of characterizations, plus a yarn with a different twist, are to be found here. The cast is efficient and the direction and pro¬ duction are okay. The use of color embel¬ lishes the release. It should make up well as part of the program. The screen play is by Lesser Samuels, based on the novel by Robert Hardy Andrews. This bears a Legion of Decency “B” rating. Tip On Bidding: Higher program rates. Ad Lines: “Gold Drove Men And Set One Against The Other”; “An ActionPacked Yarn About Denver In The Days When Men Were Killed For Little Reason”; “A Yarn About A Man Loved By Two Women.” The Lusty Men (663) Drama 113m. Estimate: Reissue of interesting rodeo action drama has names to help. Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy, Arthur Hunnicutt, Frank Faylon, Walter Coy, Carol Nugent, Maria Hart, Lorna Thayer, Burt Mustin, Karen King, Jimmy Dodd. Produced by Jerry Wald; directed by Nicholas Ray. X-Ray: When first reviewed in The Servisection of October, 1952, it was said: “An interesting yarn, extremely well told, what this will do will depend on how audiences like rod.oes. This has extensive rodeo footage, including much from the actual rodeos, but the paying patrons may find too much of it. Hayward, as always, is competent, and furnishes a woman’s angle, while Mitchum and Kennedy will help on the marquee lure. The picture, although long, has a good pace, except for the overabundance of the rodeo foot¬ age. Several minor performances, by Arthur Hunnicutt, as an old-time rodeo rider; Carol Nugent, a newcomer who is kicked in the posterior by Hayward; and others, add to the interest. The story was written by Horace McCoy and David Dortort.” Tip On Bidding: Reissue price. Ad Lines: “They Tamed The Wild Broncos, The Bucking Bulls . . . But Met Their Match In The Beautiful Untamable Redhead!”; “Nobody’s Gonna Put His Brand On My Woman!”; “The Lusty Men In A Hotblooded Feud For The Redheaded Woman.” IQTH-FOX _ The Proud Ones Outdoor Drama (610) 94m. (CinemaScope) (Color by DeLuxe) Estimate: Well-made outdoor show packs plenty for action fans and western devotees. Cast: Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Middleton, Walter Brennan, Arthur O’Connell, Ken Clark, Rodolfo Acosta, George Mathews, Fay Roope, Edward Platt, Whit Bissell. Pro¬ duced by Robert L. Jacks; directed by Robert D. Webb. Story: The railroad and cattle dealers turn Flat Rock, Kans., into a boom town, also bringing Robert Middleton, hated enemy of marshal Robert Ryan, to set up a. lavish gambling casino. Jeffrey Hunter, son of a gunslinger killed by Ryan, is a member of the first cattle crew and de¬ termined to avenge his father’s death. Ryan breaks up a crooked card game and is wounded, with Hunter saving his life through an inherent belief in fair play. Ryan’s head wound causes spells of tem¬ porary blindness. Hunter accepts Ryan’s story and takes a job as his jailer, becom¬ ing his deputy when Arthur O’Connell quits. Ryan’s girl friend, Virginia Mayo, tells Middleton that the marshal is not afraid of him, but retreated from their last encounter in a neighboring town on her insistence. Ryan arrests Middleton’s associate George Mathews after the latter kills a man in a brawl and holds him for the district judge. Middleton convinces the townspeople to ask for Ryan’s resig¬ nation and engineers a jailbreak in which jailer Walter Brennan is killed. Ryan and Hunter meet with the criminals and best them despite an attack of blindness by Ryan. Hunter finishes the job by killing Middleton and becoming the new marshal. X-Ray: Character development is as important as action in this fine western, although there is plenty of the latter as well. Acting chores are handled admir¬ ably and tight direction builds the ex¬ cellent screen play to an exciting climax. The fine CinemaScope photography asso¬ ciated with such outdoor dramas is also present as an added asset, and this should please action and western fans of all ages, as well as those seeking some¬ thing a little different in their western entertainment. It can be sold on its merits and should hold interest through¬ out. Screen play is by Edmund North and Joseph Petracca, from the novel by Verne Athanas. Tip On Bidding: Higher program rates. Ad Lines: “A Boy’s Pride, A Man’s Guns, A Woman’s Fear Explode Into Violent CinemaScope Action”; “Too Proud To Run, He Faces Death With Only A Boy At His Side.” 23 Paces To ‘Mystery Baker Street (607) io3m. (Color by De Luxe) (CinemaScope) (Made in England) Estimate: Good suspense entry should benefit from extra selling. Cast: Van Johnson, Vera Miles, Cecil Parker, Patricia Laffan, Maurice Denham, Estelle Win wood, Liam Redmond, Isobel Elsom, Martin Benson, Natalie Norwick, Terence de Marney, Queenie Leonard, Charles Keane, Lucie Lancaster, A. Cam¬ eron Grant, Ashley Cowan, Les Sketchly, Ben Wright, Reginald Sheffield. Produced by Henry Ephron; directed by Henry Hathaway. Story: Van Johnson, a blind American playwright living in London, overhears snatches of a conversation between a man and woman in a pub plotting a violent crime. He commits the evidence verbatim to a tape recorder, but cannot interest police in the impending crime because of the slim clues. To humor the edgy John¬ son, Vera Miles, the fiancee he rejected when he became disabled, and Cecil Parker, his secretary, agree to help him investigate. Johnson’s keen memory and senses track one plotter, Natalie Norwick, to the household of a peer, but she has quit her nursemaid’s job. The trail leads from there to a bogus employment agency, which offers the services of nursemaid Patricia Laffan, on whom Johnson detects a perfume the same as that worn in the pub by Norwick. Parker trails Laffan without success, but by this time the trio is entangled with the underworld. Johnson advertises for Norwick to contact him for advice and is lured into a bombed-out building by her “father,” where he is ex¬ pected to fall to his death. Norwick is murdered, but Johnson is rescued by Parker in time to put together the pieces of the conversation, realizing that Norwick was to have kidnapped the invalid daugh¬ ter of Argentine millionaires arriving by ship at Southampton that very moment. By the time Johnson secures the belated assistance of the police, the Argentine girl has disappeared. However, the police shortly rescue the victim from her captors, none of whom can be identified as Norwick’s co-conspirator who, Johnson realizes, will now try to kill him. He barricades himself in his darkened apart¬ ment to await the assailant who, after breaking in, is trapped into discharging six shots from his revolver by Johnson’s tape-recorded voice coming from several rooms at once. Without ammunition, the attacker tries to escape, but is slain by Johnson in a hand-to-hand encounter. When Miles, Parker, and the police arrive, the body turns out to be that of Laffan. Johnson, his self-confidence restored by the ordeal, is reunited with Miles ro¬ mantically. X-Ray: With a little extra selling, this family offering should do better than average business with audiences tired of brutality and violence in films of this kind. Excitement and pulse beat lag occasionally, but a high degree of interest is maintained throughout, and Van John¬ son gives a performance both sensitive and dynamic in a difficult role. The ro¬ mantic angle is played down, but new¬ comer Vera Miles acquits herself well, and Cecil Parker turns in his usual pol¬ ished work. Production values are ex¬ cellent, and the direction is superior ex Servisection 3 3E&r 4167