Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Sep 1953)

LATE REVIEWS Second Chance RKO — Suspense in 3-D ( Color by Technicolor) In “Second Chance,” Howard Hughes and company certainly have put together one of the best of the 3-D pictures to be released so far, starring the most “name-worthy” trio yet to be seen in three dimensions — Robert Mitchum, Linda Darnell and that current chief of menace, Jack Palance. In or out of a new technique, this is an action melodrama to make money. Story-wise it is a suspense-packed narrative, topical and fast-moving, laid in a small South American country today and involving principally an American prizefighter playing the “peanut league” after having inadvertently caused the death of a ring opponent in the States ; a beautiful former girl friend of an American gang lord, and a gun-happy killer hired by the gang lord to put the doll away so she won’t return to testify before a Senate investigating committee. The action covers j ust a little more than 24 hours in the lives of the three and, from the time the film opens on Palance efficiently rubbing out a minor stoolie who also has skipped the country, the tension and suspense mount steadily to what is probably the most spectacular and hair-raising climax current in 3-D ; Mitchum and Palance fighting it out in a disabled cable car suspended several thousand feet between a couple of Andean peaks. To add that extra soupcon, the cable is slowly pulling apart, threatening to send all concerned to a craggy death below. Pearl White never had it so good. It’s no surprise which of the two guys eventually gets tossed to the mountain goats, but that’s as it should be. Miss Darnell and Mitchum thus get their second chance— she to go back to testify and he to return to Madison Square Garden, and, of course, they have each other. 1 he two-camera photography is uniformly excellent. To catch the Latin American flavor, director Rudy Mate took his crew to Taxco and Cuernavaca, Mexico, where, in color by Technicolor and three dimensions, festivals, fireworks, market places and local flora and tauna have been faithfully recorded to fine effect. Special 3-D tricks have been avoided almost entirely so that which emerges is mature suspense drama. Miss Darnell has never looked lovelier and the two male stars are rugged and singleminded in their respective pursuits. Assisting them are Sandro Giglio, as the whimsically honorable captain of the ill-fated cable car and Roy Roberts as Mitchum’s fight manager. Principal credit should go to Mate who has put together a film without a dull moment, as well as to Oscar Millard and Sydney Boehm, who wrote the script based on a story 'by D. M. Marshman, Jr. Edmund Grainger was executive producer and Samuel Wiesenthal producer. Seen at the RKO 8 6th Street theatre in New York, where an audience of trade press, magazine and newspaper reviewers sat glued to their seats throughout. Reviewer’s Rating: Very Good. — Vincent Canby. Release date, July 18, 1953. Running; time, 82 minutes. PCA No. 16452. General audience classification. Russ Lambert Robert Mitchum Clare Shepperd Ljnda Darnell happy Jack paiance Sandro Giglio, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., Reginald Sheffield Margaret Brewster. Roy Roberts. Salvador Baguez, Maurice Jara, Judy Walsh, Dan Seymour, Fortunio Bononoya, Milburn Stone, Abel Fernandez, Richard Vera, Michael Tolan, Martin Garralaga, Tudy Lanclon, Mark Wilde The Maze AA — Mystery in 3-D Showmen who’ve been saying all along that the proof of 3-D couldn’t be had until a picture came along that used stereoscopy as naturally as photography, recording, or any of the stand URGES "VOICE" PROPAGANDA IN TOP HOLLYWOOD FILMS by J. A. OTTEN WASHINGTON : j. Cheever Cowdin, recently named to head the Government’s overseas film program, would like Hollywood studios to put Government propaganda messages into films destined ultimately for overseas showings. This is one of four ways he wants the help of the U. S. motion picture industry, he declared. The three other ways, he said, are for the industry : to make films for the Government program at rock-bottom cost; to distribute some of the films through private channels and pay rentals to the Government; and to do a better job screening out films or sequences that might hurt this country abroad. Mr. Cowdin outlined these views, some of which may provoke considerable industry controversy, at a closed-door session of a House Appropriations sub-committee on June 24. His testimony was made public only last Tuesday. The International Information Administration is seeking $87,900,000 for the year ending next June 30; film division would get $6,400,000. The sub-committee has voted to give ITA only $60,000,000. Mr. Cowdin also told the sub-committee that he had recruited an advisory group of top-notch industry names, men who will serve without pay “and give what amount of time I ask to be given.” Frank Capra will serve as chairman, Mr. Cowdin said, and members include Frank Freeman, Milton Pickman, Edgar Mannix, Gunther Lessing, Roy Brewer, Walter Pidgeon, Richard Breen, George Sydney, Carey Wilson, William Pine, Sam Briskin, Charles Brack ett, Arthur Freed, and, as an ex-officio member, ITA film consultant Cecil B. DeMille. He hopes soon to make a personal tour of film libraries and other overseas operations of the film program, Mr. Cowdin said. He urged that the film budget be greatly expanded — possibly to twice the $6,400,000 request. Mr. Cowdin said the idea of getting propaganda messages into Hollywood films is not entirely wishful thinking “because I have discussed it with two or three studio heads.” He indicated his approach would be to draw up a list of “do’s and don’t’s” — items that should be eliminated from Hollywood films as harmful to U. S. interests and other items that should be included to help the United States Government’s foreign policy. “You cannot ask someone who is making a $4 million picture on private capital to ruin his script,” Mr. Cowdin admitted. “But I am close enough to that side of the business to know there are an awful lot of places in that script where a few lines can be put in without hurting the value of the picture and which will help fulfill some of our missions without any cost to us.” Mr. Cowdin said he had discussed with his new advisory committee the subject of having Hollywood make films for the Government program, and “we figured out the costs of making pictures with the top brains of this industry. As against our current cost, I find we can make them more efficiently and cheaper, by the use of those technicians and brains, than we can with what we are doing.” ard tools of the trade, can stop doubting 3-D now. For that is the way stereoscopy is used in this finely developed presentation of a story in which a mystery of extraordinary but eminently authentic kind is maintained throughout a methodical building of suspense which explodes in the sharpest audience-response any 3-D film has elicited so far. There is never a moment of letdown here from the well mannered performance of a story about intelligent people drawn together by right motives in a castle where mystery utterly dominates the activities of the household. Terror is created logically, plausibly, and the explanation, when it comes, fully justifies the anticipation. It would be a fine job of melodramatic narrative in any medium. It is a finer one in 3-D, and certain to run up a record of box office earnings pleasant to contemplate. Richard Carlson’s is the top name for marquee purposes in this country, and Veronica Hurst’s doubtless is the best abroad, as she’s a British actress not seen in American films heretofore but sure to be hereafter. Others in the relatively small but accomplished cast are Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Fraser, Lillian Bond, Owen McGiveney and Robin Hughes. William Cameron Menzies, a world-famed stickler for artistic integrity, designed the production and directed its performance, both superlatively. The producer was Richard Heermance, the executive producer Walter Mirisch, and the script was by Dan Ullman, based on a story by Maurice Sandoz. Harry Neumann’s skilled camera made the most of the work of all concerned. The time is now. The principal scene is Craven Castle, in Scotland, to which Carlson, heir to the baronetcy, is summoned on the eve of his marriage to Miss Hurst. When he writes a strange letter in which he releases her from their engagement, she and her aunt go to the castle, where they find so much to bewilder and frighten them that they send for friends to come unannounced and join them. This is as much of the synopsis as anybody ought, to tell. Seeing it from the beginning should be strongly recommended. Reviewed at the Paramount theatre, Hollywood, on the afternoon of the opening day of its run, which ought to he long and prosperous if the enthusiasm of the cash customers meant what it’s always meant since show business started. Reviewer's Rating: Very Good. — William R. Weaver. Release date, July, 1953. Running time, 81 minutes (not counting intermission). PCA No. 16453. General audience classification. Gerald McTeam Richard Carlson Kitty Murray Veronica Hurst Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Fraser, Lillian Bond, Owen McGiveney, Robin Hughes MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JULY II, 1953 21