The Exhibitor (1960)

4686 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR March 16. I960 ' PARAMOUNT Conspiracy Of Hearts Paramount (Rank) (English-made) Estimate: Potent, line, and heart-rending drama. Cast: Lilli Palmer, Sylvia Syms, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Lewis, Albert Lieven, Peter Ame, Nora Swinburne, Michael Goodliffe, Megs Jenkins, David KossofE, Jenny Laird, George Coulouris, Phyllis Neilson-Terry, Rebecca Dignam, Josephy Cuby. Produced by Betty E. Box; directed by R^ph Thomas. Story: A group of nuns at a convent in Northern Italy during World War II, headed by Mother Lilli Palmer, help Jewish children escape from a Nazi transit camp. The Italian troops dislike being the children’s jailers and their commander Ronald Lewis is heartsick over his job and turns a blind eye on the nims activities. The Germans, however, begin a tightening-up process which brings Colonel Albert Lieven and his staff officer Peter Arne to take control and stop the escapes. Their investigation leads to a raid on the convent, the sentencing of Palmer and two other nims to be shot. The Italian firing squad, how¬ ever shoots over the nuns’ heads, and as Lewis turns on Lieven and kills him, the soldiers shoot Arne. The nuns proceed with their work, as the Italians leave to join the Partisans. That the communion of hearts can overwhelm the powers of evil is proven as a truth. X-Ray: Magnificently produced, directed, and enacted by the entire cast, including the children, this emerges as a most heartbreak¬ ing dramatic war incident that cries out for Rowing anywhere and everywhere. Palmer is magnificent and turns in an Academy Award rating performace. The episode where kindly rabbi David Kossoff is conducting se¬ cret Yom Kippur ceremonies for the children in a basement room of the convent only to be discovered and shot down by the Ger¬ mans is one to be long remem^red, as is the entire film. No too lavish praise can be given to this. It is a dynamic plea for brotherhood. Filmed on location in Italy, this has a screenplay by Robert Presnell, Jr., based on original material by Dale Pitt. All in¬ volved in its making can take well deserved bows. There won’t be a dry eye in the house when this is played — that can be guaranteed! Tip on Bidding: Top Rates, but will have to be sold. Ad Lines: “ A Poignant, Dynamic Drama Of The Love For Litfie Children”; “A Rev¬ erent, Potent Drama That Will Tear Your Heart Out.” Heller In Pink Tights Comedy-Drama ® 100m Parsunount (Technicolor) Estimate: Colorful yarn has “names” to help. Cast: Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Marg¬ aret O’Brien, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Edmund Lowe, Ramon Novarro. Produced by Carlo Ponti and Marcello Girosi; directed by George Cukor. Story: Two show wagons arrive in Chey¬ enne in the 1880’s after escaping creditors from a neighboring state. They contain owner-actor Anthony Quinn, continental act¬ ress Sophia Loren, Margaret O’Brien and her mother, Eileen Heckart, Edmund Lowe, and bit player drivers. Their first show is a hit at which point a creditor arrives. Loren is attracted to gimman Steve Forrest, who kills several men on instructions from Ramon Novarro, who promised him a large amoimt of money for the assignment. Leren gets into a poker g£ime hoping to win enough to pay off Quinn’s debts. She puts herself up for security as a large amoimt is at stake and loses to Forrest. Before he can collect, the troupe sneaks out of town. The wagons are faced by hostile Indian country as Forrest catches up on his way to Novarro. He uses his guns against the would be redskin killers, guiamg tne company tnrough the unfamiliar territory. The next mcident has to do with a gunman sent out to kill Forrest so that he Cein't show up to collect from Novcirro. The gunman woimds Quinn instead. The latter recuperates m a mission wmle Forrest persuades Loren to go on anead and collect his money, hoping to meet her later. When she does get tne money, she buys an abandoned building and turns it into a theatre named alter Quinn. The show tney put on IS a hit. When iorrest arrives looking lor his money, Novarro’s men start looking for him. Quinn and Loren help him escape, and he leaves town hoping to collect the money another day. X-Ray: To be found here is a colorful mixture of romance, action, comedy and histriomcs as the performers stick to the axiom that the show must go on even in the early, unsettled west, interest is well enough mamtamed because of the off-beat quMities of the story which keeps viewers guessing as to what comes next. The proficient ctist does well by its assignments, and the direction and production values are good for the pace of the entry, which should do satisfactorily boxofficewise given a bit of a campaign as¬ sist. The presence ol the quality cast should also be ol assistance in the finM accounting. The screenplay is by Dudley Nichols and Walter Bernstein, based on the novel “Heller With A Gun,” by Louis L’Amour. Tip On Bidding: Higher program rates. Ad Lines: “She Had A Way With The Men Of The Wild, Wild West”; “Looking For Something Different in the Way of En¬ tertainment? Don’t Miss This Tale of Show People In The Early West.” 20th-FOX Can-Can Musical 131m 20th-Fox (Technicolor) (ToddAO -7 0mm.) Estimate: High rating musical. Cast: Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Juliet Prowse, Marcel Dalio, Leon Belasco, Nestor Paiva, John A. Neris, Jean Del Val, Eugene Borden, Jonathan Kidd. Produced by Jack Cummings; associate producer, Saul Chaplin; directed by Walter Lang. Story: In 1896, in the Montmartre district of Paris, lawyer Frank Sinatra and judge Maurice Chevalier enter the cafe own^ by Shirley MacLaine. When she signals for the start of the Can-Can, the police raid the place for putting on a lewd and lascivious per¬ formance and the girls are jailed. Chevalier winds up as chief judge at the trial where a new associate justice is introduced in the per¬ son of Louis Jourdan, The charges are dis¬ missed for lack of evidence. Jourdan, irked by Sinatra’s telling defense, goes to the cafe looking for evidence himself and almost gets more than he bargained for until MacLaine is tipped as to his identity. She thinks that she has his approval to proceed with the Can-Can but is arrested in a raid. She is at¬ tractive to Jourdan and Sinatra frames a foto showing him kissing her, hoping to get her off this way. It develops he was going to dismiss the charges anyway as he has fallen in love with her. She tries to get Sinatra to marry her since she is in love with him, but he has an aversion against marriage. When Jourdan proposes to her she agrees to be¬ come engag^ to him, but Chevalier pleads that this will hurt his chances emd career. He doesn’t care. Sinatra decides to do what he can to interrupt the marriage plans of the pair and gets her to make a fool of herself at a sedate engagement party. She later tricks Sinatra into becoming owner of her cafe, whereupon she will do the Can-Can and he will be arrested and disbarred. He is arrested and tried, but MacLaine can’t go through with the frame and the charges are dismissed. TTie woman head of the reform movement and the judges are persuaded to come over and witness a performance of the dance to see whether it is really evil, and it delights all who see it. Sinatra and MacLaine are recon¬ ciled and their affections for one another may yet be legcdized — if he won’t marry her, he may adopt her. X-Ray: Full of fun, joy, laughter, tuneful songs and extraordinary dances, this musical seems sure-fire quality entertainment for adults. It’s a treat for the eyes and ears with its colorful settings in magnificent Todd-AO and Technicolor, and the music that is famil¬ iar and pleasing. Word-of-mouth has buUt the entry to tremendous proportions and viewers will certainly not be disappointed by the result. The all-star cast does much to in¬ sure the success of the entry, while direction and production are very good. Shirley MacLame gets the lion’s share of audience atten¬ tion, and Louis Jourdan really will impress femme viewers. Naturally, Sinatra and Che¬ valier are in their element, seemingly enjoy¬ ing every minute of what transpires on the large-sized screen. The choreography is out of tiiis world, as are the costuming and other bits and pieces that go into the making of the film. Some of the costumes really get down to the bare facts. The screenplay is by Dor¬ othy Kingsley and Charles Lederer, based on the musical comedy by Abe Burrows. Some of the Cole Porter songs heard are “Montmarte,” “C’Est Magnifique,” “Live And Let Live,” “It’s All Right With Me,” “I Love Paris,” “Let’s Do It,” “Just One Of Those Things,” “You Do Something To Me.” Tip On Bidding: Higher rates. Ad Lines: “The Most Talked About Musi¬ cal Of Them All”; “It’s Naughty But Nice.” When Comedy Was King coMPiLAnoN (008) 20th-Fox Estimate: Compilation of silent comedy reels makes cute entry. Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Ben ’Turpin, Fatty Arbuckle, Wallace Berry, Gloria Swanson, Mable Normand, The Keystone Cops, Charlie Chase, Edgar Kennedy, The Sennett Girls, Stuart Erwin, Andy Clyde, Chester Conklin, Snub Pollard, Produced and v^itten by Robert Youngson; narrated by Dwight Weist. Story: Charlie Chase and family visit a neighborhood theatre in the 1920’s and nm into all kinds of difficulties as the various films are seen. All of the siforementioned comedians appear in a number of their old efforts that show off their talents nicely. X-Ray: A fine entry for the lower half of the program, this can serve both as a novelty and curiosity piece for old and yoimg alike. Its accent on comedy makes it readily ac¬ ceptable, and its unusual aspects msJce it easily marketable. The large cast of “names” from yesteryear is a good selling point, and the narration ties the various subjects to¬ gether as does the expert editing. This has been put together by the same producer who made “The Golden Age Of Comedy” several years ago. It is in similar vein. The compila¬ tion is divided into parts such as “The Good Old Days At Keystone”, “The Immortal Baby” with Harry Langdon; “Hal Roach — In and Out Of The Twenties”; “The Great Stone Face” devoted to the talents of Buster Kea¬ ton; “The Wacky World of Mack Sennett”; and “The Fiddle and The Bow” devoted to Laurel and Hardy. Ad Lines: “The Big Parade of Comedy In The Fastest, Funniest Film Of All Time”; “The All-Time Greatest Comedy Cast In The Fun Fest of the Century,” UNIVERSAL TheClenn Miller Story musical d^m^ u-i (Technicolor) Estimate: High rating reissue.