The Exhibitor (1966)

May n, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR ALPHABETICAL GUIDE {Continued from page 5404) To Trap A Spy — 92m. — MCM . 5377 Treasure of Silver Lake — 82m. — Col . 5321 Trouble With Angels, The — 112m. — Col . 5385 u Ugly Dachshund, The — 93m. — BV . 5362 Underworld Informers — 105m. — Cent . 5335 V Village of The Giants — 80m. — Emb . 5335 Violent And The Damned, The — 62m. — For . 5328 Visit To A Small Planet — 85m. — Re. — Par . 5399 Viva Maria— 1 14m.— UA . 5358 W Walk In The Shadow — 93m. — Cont . 5373 War Lord, The — 123m. — U . 5331 Weird, Wicked World — 82m. — For . 5387 When The Boys Meet The Girls — 110m. — MGM 5351 5403 Where The Spies Are— 1 10m.— MGM . 5351 Who Killed Teddy Bear? — 90m. — Misc . 5338 WIA (Wounded In Action) — 87m. — For . 5387 Wild On The Beach — 77m. — Fox . 5323 Wild, Wild Winter— 80m.— U . 5364 Willy McBean and His Magic Machine — 94m. — Misc . 5324 Winter A-Go-Go — 88m.— Col . 5342 Y Year Of The Horse, The — 58m. — Misc . 5387 You Must Be Joking — lOOm;— Col . 5342 CLOPORTES {Continued from page 5402) his hidden funds. He is sentenced to jail during which he promises revenge. When he does get out, he kills the three and then turns to ring leader Brasseur, who has opened a swank art gallery and is doing quite well. Irina Demick works for him and is attracted to Ventura. They have an affair while Ventura extracts quite a bit of money from Brasseur, who is afraid of him. Brasseur tries to turn Demick against Ventura by promising to leave her everything when he dies, which leads her to double-cross both of them, shooting Brasseur and framing Ventura for it. He winds up in jail again, promising vengeance when he gets out in 20 years. X-Ray: There’s quite a bit of suspense, drama, and irony to be found in this treatment of the French underworld in action, and inter¬ est is well maintained throughout the pertinent running tipie. Acting is efficient, and direction and production are good. Art house audiences should appreciate the import’s better qualities as well as the “name” cast. The screenplay is by Albert Simonin, based on the novel by Alphonse Boudard. Ad Lines: “The French Underworld In Action”; “Four Men Plan A Robbery — One Pays For It.” Enough Rope Artixo Productions (Filmed abroad) (English titles) Drama 104 M. Estimate: Off-beat import for art spots. Cast: Gert Frobe, Marina Vlady, Robert Hossein, Maurice Ronet, Yvonne Furneaux, Paulette Dubost, Harry Mayen, Jacques Monod. Directed by Claude Autant-Lara; executive producer, Yvon Guezel. Story: At a bus stop in southern France, Gert Frobe lures his wife from a stopped bus and murders her as a passing train drowns out her screams. Elsewhere, Maurice Ronet and his wife, Yvonne Furneaux, are coming home from a party, and she accuses him of having an affair with Marina Vlady. He denies it but sug¬ gests that they divorce each other. She refuses. Ronet is intrigued by the story of the Frobe murder, which the police are unable to pin on him as he has an alibi. He visits Frobe at his book shop to get a close look. Things get worse between Ronet and Furneaux, and she decides to visit her ailing mother, going by bus. Before she departs, Ronet admits to having an affair with Vlady and follows the bus. At the first rest stop, he tries to locate Furneaux but can’t find her. The next morning, her body is found in a nearby ravine. Inspector Robert Hossein investigates and becomes suspicious of Ronet, suspecting that he could have pushed his wife to her death. Clippings he kept on the Frobe case bring that back into the limelight. Frobe thinks that Ronet followed his pattern and tries to blackmail him. Hossein thinks they are both guilty but can’t prove it. He eventually breaks Frobe’s alibi, and the latter incriminates him¬ self. When Ronet goes to meet Vlady at a con¬ cert, a deranged Frobe follows, blaming Ronet for uncovering his guilt. In a struggle, Frobe uses his knife as the police close in. X-Ray : A bit on the weird side, this import has moments of high interest while the plot unfolds at a leisurely pace, and the audience sits in on the murder and suicide found in the film. There is some suspense in the telling and in the unorthodox methods used by police inspector Robert Hossein to crack the case. One wishes, though, that a tighter rein had been kept on things. This would have height¬ ened audience interest. The acting is compe¬ tent, and direction and production are ade¬ quate. The screenplay by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost is based on the novel, “The Blund¬ erer,” by Patricia Highsmith. Ad Lines : “A Suspenseful Adventure In Murder”; “Two Deaths Baffle The French Po¬ lice Who Provide The Suspects In Question With — ‘Enough Rope’.” Morgan Cinema V (English-made) Comedy 97M. Estimate: Ravings and actions of a mental case ai'e not very funny. Cast^ Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, Robert Stephens, Irene Handl, Newton Blick, Nan Munro, Bernard Bresslaw. Produced by Leon Clore; directed by Karel Reisz. Story: David Waimer paints at times and lives in a fantasy world at other times. He even manages to squeeze in a bit of play at being married now and again, especially with his society wife, Vanessa Redgrave, who decides to divorce him because he is a bit too unortho¬ dox for her, a view encouraged by her society parents. He refuses to recognize the divorce and is in and out of the house that she is hav¬ ing renovated with proper irregularity and often enough to interfere with her love affair with Robert Stephens, who wants to marry her eventually. Every once in a while, Warner descends to the animal world, playing at being a gorilla. He gets involved in other bits of nonsense to show Redgrave that she is making a mistake by discarding him. Redgrave toler¬ ates him even though her mother often starts to call the police. Warner even goes so far as to kidnap her and keep her a prisoner in the country, and she is no longer amused. He winds up in jail but gets out in time to attend her wedding party in a gorilla costume. This creates quite a stir and finally puts him in an institution. X-Ray: This import, touted as a comedy, is about as funny as a broken crutch with the so-called hero in need of mental treatment and rehabilitation. His antics have several moments of cuteness, and there is even a. chuckle here and there. But for the most part, there is much ado about nonsense that may serve a purpose of sorts for adults in the art and specialty spots. This is the kind of entry where viewers wait for something to happen, and when it does, it doesn’t seem worth all the effort and energy involved. Most of the so-called plot has a quality of irritation which can communicate itself to audiences if they are not carefully resistant. The cast follows the script, and direc¬ tion and production could be called imagina¬ tive. The screenplay is by David Mercer, who also wrote the teleplay on which it’s based. Ad Lines: “The Wackiest Comedy Ever”; “Impatient With Today’s Times — Don’t Miss One Man’s Reaction.” The Sleeping Beauty plus Royal Films Int. (Technicolor) (Soviet-made) Ballet 90M. intermission Estimate: Fine ballet entry for special presentation. Cast: Alla Sizova, Yuri Soloviev, Natalia Dudinskaya, Irina Bazhenova, Vsevolod Ukhov. (The Leningrad Kirov Ballet). Directed by Appolinari Dudka and Konstantin Sergeyev, Story: The king and queen celebrate the christening of their daughter when the evil fairy arrives. Furious at not being invited, she vows that one day the girl will prick herself and fall into a deep sleep, not to be awakened. Fortunately, the good fairy is able to tone down the prediction by stating that her sleep will come to an end when a prince comes to awaken her with a kiss and marry her. On her 16th birthday, she does fall into a sleep, and the good fairy puts the entire kingdom into a sleep lasting a hundred years. At that time, prince Yuri Soloviev arrives. Eventually, after a num¬ ber of incidents, he finds sleeping princess Alla Sizova, kisses her awake, and then asks her to marry him. The wedding is cause for a great celebration. X-Ray: Ballet lovers should be ecstatic over this import, which is a beautiful rendition of the fairy tale. It is not merely a filmed stage attraction, but instead the cameras have been used very effectively over a wide area. This gives the production scope and magnitude, as well as a feeling of size and importance. The enhancing color and excellent camerawork do much to put the work across. Enthusiasts of the dance should be well satisfied. Needless to say, the cast performs with great skill, backed by impressive direction. Special attention and care with playoffs can mean a plus-bonus at the boxoffice. The music is by Tchaikovsky. Ad Lines: “Ballet At Its Best”; “An Un¬ usual Screen Treat.” DO SAVE . . . pink REVIEWS They provide a permanent evaluation of all features as caught by our skilled reviewers. 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