Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1959)

MOVIES continued Taken from the real life saga of a San Francisco harlot convicted of murder, it is one long searing look at life’s seamiest side. Its last section, dealing with the intricate details of execution in the gas chamber, is unrelievedly grim. Some of its points are vague, its logic fuzzy. But as an exercise in sheer power, it has few peers. In the year’s finest editing job, director Robert Wise rockets the viewer from one scene to another without letup. Wise has further extracted complete effectiveness from iiis largely unknown supporting cast, no small achievement. As a woman who made all the wrong choices, Susan Hayward mixes amoral abandon and human heartbreak in a performance that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater. adult My Uncle, Mr. Hulot CONTINENTAL, EASTMANCOLOR '/'VVV' Sequels rarely approach the level of their predecessors but this follow-up to “Mr. Hulot’s Holiday” is even better than that memorable frolic. On one level, it’s a hilarious satire on modern architecture, presenting a house crammed with malfunctioning buttons and gadgets and crowned by a monstrous fish-head fountain which spews water straight up into the air. A hysterically funny garden party fixes that. Then there are a couple of zany strolls through a plastics factory, and a few sessions with the local truants that are the living end. This screwball antic is hard to pin down, plot-wise, but writer-producer-director-star Jacques Tati has an uncanny eye and ear for the quirks in human nature, and it’s all the little bits and pieces along the way that make this such a gem. Except for Tati, the cast are all unknowns and all priceless. If you like a good laugh (and who doesn’t?), please go and see this film — you’ll have a bushelful. family 'The Restless 1 ears u-i, cinemascope V'V'V' As if the business of growing up weren't hard enough in itself, Sandra Dee and John Saxon (below right) are here burdened with the problems of their parents as well. In a gossip-ridden small town, Sandra is the girl who is “different.” somehow set apart from the highschool crowd. Everybody but Sandra knows the unhappy truth: that she is illegitimate. Her mother, dressmaker Teresa Wright, lovingly shields her from life, gives her ruffly. childish clothes. As for John, he’s also on the outside, because lie's the new kid in town. His sympathy for Sandra and their growing love are opposed by his salesman father (James Whitmore) and snobbish mother (Margaret Lindsay), who want him to cozy up to l he “right” people. Jody McCrea. for instance, is a big wheel — ar d a bully. And Luana Patten, queen of the school set. is a catty creature, insecure because of her home life, with a stuffed-shirt dad and an alcoholic mother. At least, these teenagers are neither giddy nor delinquent — and that’s refreshing. adult The Last Hurrah Columbia V'V' Edwin O’Connor’s rousing and hilarious tale of a rogua who served New England as governor and mayor is now brought to the screen by producer-director John Ford. The novel lias been well served as to detail — all of its people are here either aiding or opposing Frank Skeffington (Spencer Tracy, page 111 in his last campaign. But the scope of the film is merely moderate when it should he vigorous, sporadically alive when it should pulse with vitality. Ford’s telescoping of the election itself loses much of its punch, and the majority of the characters are in and out too fast. Still there are some excellent scenes, many of the book’s gems of wit and, as hangers-on of varying stripe, Edward Brophy. O.Z. Whitehead and Arthur Walsh are per fection. As it is, “Last Hurrah” is a good film ; it could have been a better one. FAMILY The Roots of Heaven 20th; cinemascope, DELUXE COLOR V'V' This Darryl Zanuck-John Huston collaboration is probably the year’s most exasperating film. Roughly the picture poses this question : Since we have to change our likes and dislikes every few years (Germans, Japanese, Russian;, etc.), why not simplify things by rejecting all mankind and loving elephants? Which might be a fine jumping-off spot for ridicule except that the quality of the ideas raised in this film — and in the Romain Gary novel on which it is based — forbids it. It deals with H-Bomb lunacy, pacifism, nationalism and similar topics that most films wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Angered by the systematic slaughter of elephants in his beloved Africa. Trevor Howard takes to pot-shotting hunters, thus becoming an international sensation. There are some fine talents at work here — Mr. Howard. Juliette Greco, Errol Flynn (all seen below center, from 1. to r.) , Orson Welles. Eddie Albert, Paul Lukas, others. But the film jumps all over the place and never really comes to grips with anything. And by giving everybody a voice and trying to speak for everyone, it comes perilously close to speaking for no one. ADULT Bell, Book and Candle V'V1 Shortly after this film begins, Kim Novak. Jack Lemmon and Elsa Lanchester (witches all) conspire to drive James Stewart's fiancee Janice Rule cuckoo. Absolutely hilarious. Then, in two brief scenes, Hermione Gingold (also a witch — inspired casting!) comes on in a red fright wig and lays everyone in the aisles. Having enjoyed a long run on Broadway. John Van Druten's sparkling fantasy about a witch who fell in love with a P 10