Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1951)

LATE FEATURE REVIEWS Distant Drums Warner Bros. — Adventure Story With an acute feeling for the screen's need for old-fashioned, thrill-packed adventure drama, United States Pictures here has handed Warners an exciting film that should register solidly with old and young. Shot for the most part in the jungles of the Florida Everglades, “Distant Drums” has just about everything the action fan could ask for, and more. It’s all about a brave little band of soldiers who, after destroying an old fort used by gun runners to supply the Seminole Indians, are forced into the Everglade swamps and must make their way back to base through this danger-ridden country which no white man has crossed before. To lead them they have Gary Cooper, the Army’s most feared and deadly swamp fighter, whose bravery and resourcefulness finally brings some of his troops back to safety. But not before old-fashioned, thrill-packed adventure drama crosses the screen. To bring the background more vividly to the attention of the audience, the picture is shot in color by Technicolor. The color obviously helps, but at this particular viewing it was oddly inconsistent, which may have been due to lighting difficulties on location. Even so, however, it adds value to an already rousing screen adventure. Producer Milton Sperling and director Raoul Walsh have left out no thrill and missed no cue in dramatizing their story. It’s full of screaming Seminoles leaping to the attack, wild beasts like snakes and crocodiles preying on their helpless victims, a brush fire and, overwhelmingly, the men’s struggle through the matted green curtain of the jungle where danger lurks everywhere. Some of the photography is excellent and helps to create tension and atmosphere. Mari Aldon is Cooper’s love interest and makes a good impression in her first role. Ray Teal and Arthur Hunnicutt come through fine as soldier and grizzled scout and Robert Barrat as General Zachary Taylor is effective in a brief part. Richard Tufts, a naval observer with the Cooper party, narrates the film, which is based on a screenplay by Niven Busch and Martin Rackin. Alex North’s music is very good. There are so many highspots in the film, it’s difficult to pick the real climax. Perhaps it is the capture of the fort, and then again it might be the terrific underwater struggle between Cooper and the Seminole chief which sets the Indians to flight. All around, “Distant Drums” has that touch which should pay off at the box office. Seen at the Warner screening room in New York. Reviewer’s Rating: Very Good. — Fred Hift. Release date, December 29, 1951. Running time, 101 minutes. PCA No. 15280. General audience classification. Capt. Quincy Wyatt Gary Cooper Judy Beckett Mari Aldon Richard Webb Richard Tufts Private Mohair Ray Teal Monk Arthur Hunnicutt Gen. Zachary Taylor Robert Barrat Sgt. Shane Clancy Cooper Week End with Father brothers leave for adjoining camps at the same time. Under the production hand of Ted Richmond and the competent direction of Douglas Sirk, the resulting complications are largely expected, of course, but no less entertaining for all that. Van Heflin is the father, Patricia Neal the mother, while the girls are the appealing Gigi Perreau and her sister Janine Perreau, and the boys Jimmy Hunt and Tommy Rettig. Heflin and Miss Neal fall in love and decide to spend a week-end with their children at camp, there to break the news of the impending family shift. But there the complications start, compounded by Virginia Field, TV star, who thinks she is engaged to Heflin ; Richard Denning, camp counselor, who falls for Miss Neal, and chiefly, the children’s objection to the plans of their respective parents It’s all good fun as Heflin proves himself “not the athletic type” in father-and-son camp contests, with quite obvious results, and Miss Neal misunderstands. Only when the children realize how things really stand, reconcile their own problems, and take matters into their own hands are things straightened out to the satisfaction of all concerned and to the discomfiture of those others who have caused the complications. Sell it happily and with complete confidence that your family audience will find it a light delight. Previewed at the RKO 23rd Street theatre, New York, zvhere a full house had fun — and voiced it. Reviewer’s Rating: Very Good.' — Charles S. Aaronson. Release date, December, 1951. Running time, 83 minutes. PCA No. 15445. General audience classification. Brad Stubbs Van Heflin Jean Bowen Patricia Neal Anne Stubbs Gigi Perreau Phylhs Reynolds Virginia Field Don Adams Richard Denning Gary Bowen Jinuny Hunt tatty Stubbs Janine Perreau David Bowen Tommy Rettig Gary Pagett, Frances Williams. Elvia Allman. Files Claim for Back Fees from Universal T. T. Cooke, attorney, has filed suit in Federal District Court, New York, against Universal Pictures Corporation, asking for $135,000 which he claims the company owes him for services in connection with antitrust matters between June, 1946, and February, 1951. He charges Universal has paid him only $15,000 of an agreed fee of $150,000. Fine and Stecker Buy Hotel Meyer Fine and Sam Stecker, of Associated Theatres, Cleveland, are members of a group which has purchased the operating lease of the Hollenden Hotel there. 3 MGM FILMS BRING $3,535,000 TO HALL U-I — Family Comedy Delightfully entertaining family comedy, “Week-end with Father” offers the exhibitor the kind of attraction for which he can extend an invitation to the family as a whole, happy in the assurance that he has a film they all will like. The bachelors and the spinsters and the childless couples will find many a chuckle herein, while the mothers and fathers and the kids themselves will enjoy themselves immensely. Taken from a story by George F. Slavin and George W. George, Joseph Hoffman’s screenplay treats simply of a widower with two cute daughters and a widow with two boys. They meet, accidentally, as the sisters and the Including "An American in Paris" which this week concluded a sevenweek run at Radio City Music Hall, New York, three MGM films have accounted for 25 weeks of the Hall's bookings since May and a total of $3,535,000 at the box office. "The Great Caruso" began a 10-week run in May, followed by eight weeks of "Showboat." "American in Paris" opened in October. Ticket Prices Off Slightly In Quarter WASHINGTON : Motion picture admission prices in large cities fell slightly during the third quarter, dropping for the second consecutive three-month period, after having hit an all-time high at the end of March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed. Children’s admission prices, which hit a post-war low during the second quarter at 49 per cent above the 1935-39 base period, fell still further to 47.8 per cent above the base period, the bureau reported. The index for adult admission prices also fell, but only a fraction of a per cent. At the end of the second quarter the index was 75.9 per cent above the base figure, and at the end of the third quarter it was 75.8 per cent above. This is well below the 78.0 per cent at the end of the first quarter, but still the third highest figure on record. All three highs are for the quarters of the current year. As a result of the drops in the two indices, the combined adult-child index fell from the June figure of 72.3 per cent above the average to 72.1 per cent above. The March figure was 75.1 per cent above the 1935-39 level. The bureau collects price figures each quarter in 18 large cities, and contends the figures to be representative of price trends in the 34 largest cities. Springfield, III., Owners Fight Municipal Tax A proposal for adoption of a three per cent municipal amusement tax in Springfield. 111., was strongly opposed by theatre owners last week in a letter to members of the Springfield City Council. Signed by George Kerasotes, chairman of the Springfield Theatre Owners Association, the letter contended that the proposed tax would be “discriminatory and unfair” in that it singles out one form of business to pay the tax. The letter further pointed out that Springfield theatre owners four years ago voluntarily agreed to increase their local licensee fee from a flat 50 cents to $1 per seat. Estimates that the proposed amusement tax would yield $80,000 from the 10 motion picture houses in Springfield were termed a “gross error.” The theatre owners said the yield would be around $25,000 and offered their books to support that figure. New Art Theatre Program The publication of a new art theatre program, The Marquee, was announced this week. It will be distributed free to patrons of New York’s leading art theatres. Tesbee, Inc., are the publishers and Charles Barron is editor. The Marquee is a monthly publication but will become a weekly in March. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 24, 1951 35