The Exhibitor (1956)

COLUMBIA You Con t Run comedy with Music Away From It 95m. (CinemaScope) (Print by Technicolor) Estimate: Highly amusing comedy. Cast: June Allyson, Jack Lemmon, Charles Bickford, Paul Gilbert, Jim Backus, Stubby Kaye, Henny Youngman, Allyn Joslyn, Jacques Scott, Walter Bald¬ win, Byron Foulger, Richard Cutting, Howard McNear, Elvia Allman, Louise Beavers. Produced and directed by Dick Powell. Story: Heiress June Allyson has been abducted by her father, Charles Bickford, right after her Mexican marriage to for¬ tune hunting Jacques Scott. She escapes from the yacht and pawns her engagement ring to get enough to rejoin him. Aboard the bus, she meets Jack Lemmon, a re¬ porter without a job and with not too much money. A sneak thief steals her bag, and she is left at the slim financial mercy of Lemmon. They become better acquainted and he realizes who she is. He offers to keep quiet in return for the ex¬ clusive rights to her story. They are thrown together by a number of cir¬ cumstances including spending several nights together. Eventually, they wind up in love. Near Houston, he leaves her during the night to go in and pick up an advance from his editor. She thinks she has been abandoned and wires Bickford, who agrees to let her go back to her husband. When Lemmon hears about the reconciliation, he assumes he’s been doublecrossed and is determined to forget about Allyson. His editor assigr^ him to cover the remarriage, where Bickford realizes that they really love each other and brings them together. X-Ray: A smart, fast-moving comedy for the most part, it seemed to entertain a sneak preview audience which was un¬ prepared. The situations are amusing, the cast is valid most of the time, and the direction and production are good. Un¬ doubtedly, it will be compared with its predecessor, “It Happened One Night,” and some will prefer the latter while others will like this modernized version. The addition of music and dance routines serves, in the opinion of some, to slow up the proceedings. To sum up, it emerges as pleasant and amusing entertainment which should please most of the people most of the time. The screen play is by Claude Binyon and Robert Riskin, based on a story by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Musical numbers heard include “You Can’t Run Away From It,” “Howdy, Howdy, Howdy Friends And Neighbors,” “Old Reporters Never Die,” “Temporarily,” “Thumbin’ A Ride.” This bears a Legion of Decency “B” rating. Tip On Bidding: Higher bracket. Ad Lines: “No Matter How Hard You Try . . . You Can’t Get Away From It”; “Jack Hits It Big With June”; “It’s The Fun Fest Of The Year.” M€M Julje Melodrama 97m. Estimate: Good, suspense-filled entry. Cast: Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan, Frank Lovejoy, John Gallaudet, Harlan Warde, Jack &uschen. Hank Pat¬ terson, Aline Towne, Ann Robinson, Ed Hinton, Jack Kelly, Barbey Phillips. Di¬ rected by Andrew L. Stone; produced by Martin Melcher. Story: Pianist Louis Jourdan is overlyjealous of his wife, Doris Day, whom he married after her first husband died a suicide. When friend Barry Sullivan The original Pink Section evaluations of features and shorts Published weekly by Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc., Publishing office: 246-248 North Clarion Street, Philadelphia 7, Pennsylvania. New York: 229 West 42nd Street, New York City, West Coast Representative: Paul Manning, 8141 Blackburn Avenue, Los Angeles 48, California. Jay Emanuel, publisher; P. J. Greenhaigh, general manager; Albert Erlick, editor; Max Cades, business manager; George Frees Nonamaker, feature editor; Mel Konecoff, New York editor. SECTION TWO VOL. 56 • No. 25 OCTOBER 17, 1956 plants a suspicion that maybe Jourdan was responsible for her first husband’s death, Jourdan admits it, and she flees from him with Sullivan. Small town police where tbey seek refuge are helpless since there is no proof. Jourdan traces her to San Francisco and threatens to kill her. Frank Lovejoy of the police tells her there is nothing they can do until the law is broken. She returns to her old job as air line hostess. In the city on a layover flight, she calls Sullivan to meet her. Jourdan ambushes and wounds him, get¬ ting the address where Day is staying. Sullivan manages to notify Lovejoy but is unable to give him her exact where¬ abouts. Day receives an emergency call to man a plane. Jourdan boards the same plane. Lovejoy realizes what has hap¬ pened and instructs the crew accordingly. A showdown has Jourdan killing the chief pilot and wounding the co-pilot seriously before he is killed but Day is forced to take over the controls and with aid of radar and radio instruction from the field, she manages to get the huge airliner down safely. X-Ray: This entry will play havoc with those who can’t stand the extreme in suspense, particularly in the exciting climax as well as in a number of other sequences throughout the film. In addi¬ tion, there is a story that is different and highly-interesting to which are added fine performances and able direction and production. Day is very good in the non¬ singing lead role, well-supported by the others. The story, its development, and presentation deserve much credit, al¬ though at times straying from plausibility. Those who go for this type of presentation should be more than pleased. The story and screen play are by Andrew L. Stone. Musical numbers heard include “Julie” and “Midnight On The Cliffs.” Tip On Bidding: Higher rates for its category. Ad Lines: “People With Weak Hearts Should Be Checked Before Seeing This Film”; “An Absorbing Adventure In Sus¬ pense”; “He Had To Kill Her . . . There Was No Stopping Him.” PARAMOUNT The Search For drama Bridey Murphy 84m. (VistaVision) Estim.'VTe: Exploitation item for the program. Cast: Teresa Wright, Louis Hayward, Nancy Gates, Kenneth Tobey, Richard Anderson, Tom McKee, Janet Riley, Charles Boaz, Lawrence Fletcher, Charles Maxwell, Walter Kingsford. Produced by Pat Duggan; directed by Noel Langley. Story: Louis Hayward, a businessman who becomes actively interested in hyp¬ notism, relates to the audience that the proceedings on screen actually took place. When he becomes adept at the medium, he assists in the local hospital and helps some patients with fixations. He hypno¬ tizes Teresa Wright, the wife of a friend, and finds that she is a good subject, being able to recall an apparent life before this one. The sessions cause much comment pro and con as she gives more and more detail which is recorded on a tape re¬ corder until one day there seems to be danger that she won’t come out of her trance. The probing into the subcon¬ scious is abandoned. The public can either believe or disbelieve. X-Ray: There is some interest here and the subject matter has been batted back and forth since the subject and book first came out. The cast is good, with Wright performing particularly well, and the direction and production are average. With a little exploitation, the results may be better; otherwise, it’s for the program. The screen play is by Noel Langley based on the book by Morey Bernstein. This bears a Legion of Decency “B” rating. Tip On Bidding: Fair program rates. Ad Lines: “The Gal They’re All Talk¬ ing About”; “She Went Back Through The Years For An Exciting, Incredible Story.” Historical The Ten Commandments Drama 219m. (VistaVision) (Technicolor) Estimate: One of the top entertain¬ ments of all time. Cast: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Debra Paget, Anne Baxter, Yvonne De Carlo, John Derek, Nina Foch, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Martha Scott, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson, John Carradine, Douglas Dumbrille, Henry Wilcoxon, Donald Curtis, H. B. Warner, Olive Deering, Frank DeKova, Eduard Franz, Lawrence Dobkin, Julia Fale. Pro¬ duced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille; associate producer is Henry Wilcoxon. Story: When the Pharaoh of Egypt heard that a deliverer was to deliver his Israeli slaves from bondage, he ordered all new¬ born males to be killed. One mother, Martha Scott, placed her son in a cradle of bull rushes and floated it down the Nile. The daughter of the Pharaoh, Nina Foch, adopted him as her own after swearing servant Judith Anderson to secrecy. She named him Moses. The old Pharaoh died, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, 4237