Variety (January 1958)

* n ' We<&Wciay, January 29*, 11958 Oregon Passage (C’SCOPE— COLOR) Good Cav«lry-Indian* yanx f or gatisf action in action market. Hollywood, Jain. 21. --J Allied Artists release of Llnddey Parions production. Stars John Ericson,Lola Albright. Toni Gerry, Edward Platt; fea¬ tures Judith Ames, H. M. Wynant, John Shepodd, Walter. Barnes. . Paul Fierro, Harvey Stephens. Directed by Paul Lam dres. Screenplay. Jack DeWitt, from novel by Gordon D. Shirreffs; camera (DeLuxocolor), F.lljg Carter; editor, Maury Wright; music, Paul Duolap. Previewed Jan. 20, *58. Running time, SO MINS.' Lieut. Niles Ord. . . . .. John Ericson. Sylvia Dane ....... _ _ _ Lola Albright Little Deer Toni Gerry ' Roland Dane . . . . Edward Platt Marion ...... i . -_JudithAmes Black Eagle ....... H. M. Wynant Xieut. Baird Dob$otto»**»« Jon Shepodd Sgt. Jed Ershick . Walter Barnes Nato . . . Paul Fierro Capt. Harvey Stephens The U.S. Cavalry gets a run for Its money In this story of the early Northwest, When peace depended upon the capture of the sole hold-, out against burying the hatchet. Film is an interesting actioner with the type of movement, backed by effective use of Cinemascope, and color to lend spectacular pictorial values, which comes off as good entertainment for the playdates at which it’s aimed. Paul Landres’ direction of the Llndsley Parsons production is fast, fitting the rugged elements of the Jack DeWitt screenplay. Pic¬ ture was lensed in the Bend coun¬ try of Oregon, which provides atmospheric backgrounds for this tale of the cavalry’s search for Black Eagle, the Shoshone warrior who refused to smoke the peacepipe^ and thus bring quiet to the Cascades region of 1871. The Sho¬ shone character is based upon truelife incident; thus film benefits by historical overtones. John Ericson plays a young cavalry lieutenant intent upon cap¬ ture of the Shoshone chief, whose plans are constantly being opposed by his new commanding officer, a martinet insanely jealous of his wife, whom he thinks had an affair years before with Ericson. Com¬ mandant’s ignorance of Indian war¬ fare leads to several tragic inci¬ dents which wipe out patrols, de¬ spite Ericson’s warning. When his wife is captured by Black Eagle’s men, the. commandant tries to res-, cue her, but both are killed. Eric¬ son makes use of slick strategy in defending the fort against an at¬ tack by the Shoshone, and he kills Black Eagle in a savage hand-tohand fight. Entire cast perform in acceptable fashion, Ericson seen to. advantage In a hard-hitting role; Edward Platt Is properly aggressive as his su¬ perior, who allows personal feel¬ ings to color his judgihent, and Lola Albright scores as his wife, willing to doublecross her husband to get away from him. As an Indian girl whom Ericson rescues from the Shoshone camp, Toni Gerry is in for romance with Ericson, well cast in character. H. M. Wynant is colorful as Black Eagle, and bal¬ ance of cast are okay. Ellis Garter’s color photography Is particularly outstanding, Maury Wright’s editing is tight and music by Paul Dunlap well done. Whit. Chase a Crooked Shadow (BRITISH) her insane and then murder her o\€r a Jitti# matter of costly dia¬ monds missing horn her late father’s business. Final twist is a sock climax; Director Michael Anderson , has carefully built up the suspense and at one time or other even the most case hardened patron will be won¬ dering about motives and who is really double crossing who. There are. also the advantages of the. breathtaking Costa Brava scenery and : a rousing racing car sequence. Anderson, . an ex-rsutter, has . edited the film with Gordon Pilkington very ingeniously and there is one sudden closeUp which is as drama-, tically effective as anything that has been seen on the screen, ErWih Hillier’s lensing Is tOpnotch and; to tie up with the; title, skilful use of shadows helps to bring, out the eerie atmosphere at which the director is aiming.. Act¬ ing throughout by a small Cast is smooth. Miss Baxter gives a con¬ vincing display as a young woman nearly off her rocker with fear. Todd is a suave villain and Faith Brook also does a useful job as his sinister female companion. Her¬ bert Lom turns in one of his subtle studies as a Spanish chief of police and , Alexander Knox .'fills a com¬ paratively small part with complete competence. ‘■Shadow” has most Of the ingre¬ dients needed TO keep audiences absorbed and the combination of Todd and Miss Baxter, plus Michael Anderson’s name as director will certainly give a lift to the film in British theatres. Rich. Ike Beggar Student (*Der Bettelstudent’) (GERMAN— COLOR) ( English Titles ) Okay escapist entertainment with an art house potential* hut lack of ' names may hurt. Sam Baker Associates Inc. release of a Carlton-Film production. Stars. Gerhard Riedmann, Waltraut Haas; features Elma Karlowa, Ellen Kessler, Alice Kessler, Directed by Werner Jacobs; Screenplay, Fritz Boettger, from operetta by Carl Milloecker; music, Bruno Uher;' camera (Eastmancolor); Ernst W, Kalinke, Heinz Schnackerz. Previewed N.Y., Jan. 22, ’58. Running time, 97 MINS; Symon Rymanowlsz. . ..Gerhard Riedmann Countess Laura . . . . Waltraut -Haas Countess Bronislawa . ..... .Elma Karlowa Katya . . . . Ellen Kessler Mira . Alice Kessler Count. Kaminsky ............. Dick Price Countess Palmatlca ....... Fita . Benkhoff Jan Janicki ..... Gunther Philipp CoL OUendorff .......... Gustav Knuth Enterich .. .... . . ......... Rudolf Vogel ; Major Wangenheim ....... Karl Lieffen, Lieutenant Schweinitz . .'. .... Jost. Siethoff .Smooth absorbing thriller drama with excellent star per¬ formances and more twists than a corkscrew. Good book¬ ing for most houses. ; London, Jan. 21. Associated British-Pathe . release of Associated Dragon. Filins production. Stars Richard Todd, Anne Baxter. Herbert Lom. Directed by Michael Anderson. Screenplay by David D. Osborn and Charles Sinclair; camera, Erwin Hiller; editor, Gordon Pilkington: music, Matyas Seiber. At Warner Theatre, London. Run¬ ning time, 92 MINS. Ward . . . . :..... Richard Todd Kimberley . . . Anne Baxter Vargas . . . . . Herbert Lom Cbandler Brisson — . . . Alexander Knox Mrs. Whitman .. ......... .. Faith. Brook -Carlos . . . . Alan Tilverri Maria ........ : Thelma d’Aguiar "Chase a Crooked Shadow” is. a glossy, well-directed drama that ’ has its fair quota of absurdities which occasionally strain credulity to the limit. Nevertheless, there are enough twists and artfully planned kicks to keep most audiences guessing. Both in Britain and U.S"Shadow” should pay off as a safe booking. The yarn concerns Anne Baxter as an heiress who becomes a frightened lady when Richard Todd arrives at her Costa Brava hang¬ out and claims to be her brother, who Miss Baxter knows was killed in a car crash in South Africa a year before. What is. the purpose of his visit? Is he a crook? A fortune hunter? Todd builds up. as much evidence that even the local chief cop is convinced that his stoiy is true. There begins a nightmare of terror for the stair, as she believes the plot is to drive: Wine, Women and song have al¬ ways been a forte of German and Austrian film-makers. "The Beggar Student,” based on the operetta by Carl Milloecker, falls in. that tradi¬ tion. For. there are lilting melodies; attractive femmes and an air of fraternity throughout the 97 min¬ utes running time of this Germanmade. Carlton-Film production. If it can’t be denied that the book is dated and the Fritz Boettger screenplay does little to freshen, the original, film, nonethe¬ less, has an art house potential for those patrons in search of escapist entertainment. It Will need strong, selling since the cast is composed of unknowns for the American market Import, incidentally, . is the sec¬ ond edition, of the Milloecker operetta for UFA released, a black and white version in 1936 with Marika Rokk in the top femme role. Current adaptation, filmed in Eastman Color, ; naturally takes on a lavish aura due to a wealth of hues. Print has adequate English titles for those who don’t savvy German. An 18th-century period piece, yarn is. basically one of those boymeets-girl affairs in Which the lovers finally overcome a multitude of adversity to live happily aver after in the best fairy tale tradi¬ tion. Villain of the piece is a colonel whose affections have been rejected by a Countess. As a means of revenge the colonel deceives her into wedding a beggar student. But things aren’t so tough since the student actually is a captain in the Polish army and the couple have found true love. Gerhard Riedmann, who portrays the title xole, dashingly interprets the part and sings in fine voice. Waltraut Haas, as the. countess, pleasantly moves through the creaky plot. Elma. Karlowa pro-, vides occasional comic relief as Miss Haas’ always hungry sister. Of a decided visual asset are the Kessler Twins, Ellen and Alice, who dance most appealingly. Gustav Knuth does a stock char-, acterization of the colonel’s role while Dick Price, Fita Benkhoff and Gunther Philipp, among others, provide okay support in lesser roles. Werner Jacobs’ direction paces the proceedings nicely de¬ spite a lag here and there while the . color lensing of Ernst W. Ka¬ linke and Heinz Schnackerz is . good. Bruno Uher’s musical arrange¬ ments are highly listenable. Gilb. Japanese Slowly Turn Te Self-Criticism In Pix, Visitors Report Taking a leaf from Hollywood’s ■book, Japanese films are only now beginning to hold up a critical mir¬ ror to their audiences,, reflecting people and relationships in a real¬ istic .and sometimes negative way, two Japanese film personalities said this week (27); . They are Hideko Takamine, one = of the leading Japanese actresses,! and . ;her . husband, scriptwriter j Zenzo Matsuyama; Both are in ! N. Y.‘ for the Japanese film week, I which resumes today (29) at the ! Museum of Modern Art. | it is one of the greatnesses of j the American film that it can deal critically with relationships and, to a surprising ’extent, can show peo¬ ple, the way they really are,” said Matsuyama. “In Japan, we haven’t been able to do this very : much till, nbw.” He added, that he had written a. film, "I Am Going to Buy. You,” which deals with Jap-1 anese baseball and. which has ele¬ ments of self-critcism; However, the picture didn’t do well outside the big cities, and — in Japan— it’s the rural areas that tip the boxoffice scales. Miss Takamine and Matsuyama have, been married three years. It’s his first trip to the States and her second. The actress was frank in admitting that she didn’t care for the type of publicity she was being asked to do.' ’It’s a country with a fast pace, and I suppose the publicity meth¬ ods have to be fitted to it,” she commented. In japan, , she does little publicity, and she’s very rarely on television. Japanese tv still makes too many errors, she explained, "and also I can’t see myself.” Star System Star system in Japan is declin¬ ing gradually. Miss Takamine and Matsuyama said. Actually, while there are a lot of newcomers who. shine brightly for a while and then fade, there’s a .group of about 10 top actresses and it’s very difficult to break into that circle. "Often, a .girl will win a beauty contest, and then they right away push her into a starring role, with the spot¬ light on her,” Miss Takamine ob¬ served. "I am sorry for these peo¬ ple. They get no chance to der velop.” Film actors don’t receive any percentage . contracts from the Japanese studios. Miss. Takamine reported. She herself is a free¬ lance and gets paid on a per-picture basis; How much?. The acfress would only give a round¬ about answer. “In order to live decently, and meet Pur expenses, we have to make at least three .pic¬ tures a year,” she said. “That’ll give you . an: idea.” Miss Takamine and her husband said there were three types of so¬ ciety in Japan today — the pre-war generation, the generation raised during the war, and the postwar generation. Latter, is thoroughly western-oriented while, the pre¬ war group is conservative in its outlook,.. The wartime generation, to. which she and Matsuyama be¬ long, is. caught in the middle be¬ tween the mores of the old and the ; . progressive and modernistic thinking of the young. Japan being a very literate country, with books ‘read widely, has actually very high film stand¬ ards, Matsuyama held. He said be wrote many originals along with the screenplays, but also adapted popular novels to the screen. As in the U. S., the results of the transition aren’t always appreci¬ ated by either, the critics or the public. . Matsuyama pointed out that Japan support four high¬ brow mags on. film. The "samurai” action pix are produced primarily for the teenage rural market. . MS* Japanese Jftlm 3Heelt ' t:/ < ; The Sleepy Family . Toel Motion Picture Co. release of Koichi Akagawa production. Stars Naotaro Nakamura, Noriko Haluoka, Snsho Matsumoto, Directed by Hideji Tashiro. Screenplay, Nobuo Shimizu; original story, Sayolo Nakada. Presented in N.Y., at' Museum of Modem Art during Japanese Film .Week, Jan. 24, ’58. Running t^jne, 45 MINS. The Japanese apparently have a way with short films and "The Sleepy Family” is an excellent ex¬ ample. The 45-minute featurette is simple; yet it is amazingly ap¬ pealing and touching. It tells the story of an improverished family who through love and understanding manage to overcome economic setbacks. There’s the hard-working father who -likes his saki, the mother who tends house, the cute teenage daughter who is studying to be a teacher, the bright kid brother, and the mischievous baby sister. . The family’s livelihood depends on a horse and when the horse, em¬ ployed for the father’s modest haul¬ ing business, dies, the family unites to meet the economic disaster. The father becomes a laborer, the mother goes to work making artifical flowers, the teenage daughter gets a job in a factory, and the twO youngsters perform odd chores around the house. At school, the young son submits a composition in a contest. It’s about his family and their eco¬ nomic problems and how they’re all so sleepy because of their many tasks. His entry wins first prize and is to be broadcast over the ra¬ dio. At first ashamed because the son had aired the family’s woes, the mother and father are proud and pleased after the broadcast when they receive the congratula¬ tions of their friends. The com¬ position serves to point .up to the family the love that exists in the group. Naotaro Nakamura, Noriko Haruoka and Sensho Matsumoto are all excellent in their portrayals. Much of the credit for the picture’s success is due. Sayolo Makada for the original story, Nobuo Shimizu for the screenplay, and Hideji Tashiro for his sensitive direction. Picture might well go over as an opener in an art situation in the U.S. Holl. in terms of physical production but is primitive In motion picture technique. It could hardly be con¬ sidered worthwhile for any but partisans of the film industry of the Orient. Commercial values iii the states are nil, excepting, of course* regular Japanese outlets. Feature undertakes to relate Russian aggressiveness shortly after the turn of the century, a benevolent Japanese emperor Who authorizes war after extensive ef¬ fort to effect peaceful settlement of differences, the great battle at Port Arthur and Japanese victory. Kunio Watariabe,..the director, has framed the battle scenes com¬ petently blit the performances of his main players and the behaviour of the soldiers are so Obviously Staged as render the work ineffec¬ tive. Further detracting from realism Is the use of an off-screen voice describing what’s going on on the . screen, this in lieu of the usual titles translating the dialog: In the instances /where titles are used, the brightly-colored type . set against the illuminated screen is difficult to read. Numerous walkouts at the screening of "Russo-Japanese War” whenf shown during the Jag Film Festival at N.Y.’s Museum of Mod¬ ern Art attest to the production’s inadequateness. Gene, The Lord Takes a Bride Toel Motion Picture Co. release of Hiroshi Okawa production. . Stars Ryutara Ohtomo, Yumlko Hasegawa, Hiltomi Wakahara, Eitaro Shiijdo, Takshi Shimura. Directed by . Sadatsugu Matsuda. Screen¬ play, Fumio Nakayaina; camera (C’Scope), Shintaro Kawasaki; Estmh-Toei color. Presented, in N.Y., at Modern Museum of Art during Japanese Film Week, Jaii. 24, ’58. Running time, 14. M|NS. The Lighthouse Shochiku Co. production. Stars Hideko Takamine. Keiji Sada; features Masako Arisawa, Katsuo Nakamura, Hiroko lto, Shizue Natsukawa. Directed and written by Keisuke Kinoshita; camera (color), Hiroyuki Kusuda; music, Chuji Kinoshita. Running time, 153 MINS. Play in Selznick Plans Hollywood, Jan. 28. A $20,000,000 production budget has been set by David O. Selznick for three films and a Broadway musical version of “Gone With the Wind.” With the $4,000, 000-plus spent on; "Farewell to Arms,” this will bring Selznick's total alloca¬ tion to almost $25,000,000 in less than two years. Films being prepared are “Mary Magdalene” and "Tender is the Night;” both Jennifer Jones starrers to be released by 20th-Fox, and' "Vanity Fair,” based on the William Thackeray classic. Though it was a top grosser in Japan (where another 2;00Q feet were tacked on to the already long runningtime), "The Lighthouse” isn’t much of an entry for the States. It has many things to com¬ mend it— from the performances down to the exquisite photography — but this cavalcade, telling the story of a lighthouse beeper and his wife from 1932 through 1957, moves at a tedious pace . and it’d have to be drastically .edited, for American audiences. Top roles are well filled by Keiji Sada and the beautiful Hideko Ta¬ kamine and the production values pf the film, which was shot all over japan, are evident. Yet, the jour¬ ney from one lighthouse, to the other barely holds interest after a while, and there is such a profusion of climaxes that it’s hard to stay with it. Despite many emotional and weepy scenes, the plight oF the characters never becomes real and director Keisuke Kinoshita. tends to overdirect. For Western tastes, the love, story doesn’t come through, and what tenderness there, is expressed mostly in the dialog which at times sounds trite.. Also, the English titles don’t read very well. Lenser Hiroyuki Kusuda comes through with striking shots, in ex¬ cellent Eastman color, and the pas¬ sage of time is well handled in terms of the lead characters. It’s an ambitious production that badly needs trimming. Bift . Emperor ftleiji and The Great Russo-Japanese War Shin. Toho Co. release of Mitsugi Oknra production. Stars Kanjuro Arashi; fea¬ tures Jyun Tazaki, Kan Hayashi. Directed by Kunio iWatanobe. Reviewed at Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., Jan. 23, ’58. Running time, 113 MINS. A Nipponese counterpart to. "War and Peace,” this account of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05 [rates as an ambitious undertaking The Lord Takes a Bride,” the first Cinemascope film produced in Japan, is apparently an example of the country's popular film fare. Viewed tongue-in-cheek from the American standpoint, it is a fre¬ quently amusing period piece as the hero out-Flynns Errol in feats of derring-do. A young lord leaves his domain and travels incognito to the nearest, large city to perform his filial duty— -the search for a bride. A naive sort of a guy, he is fleeced by various characters. During his adventures he rescues the daugh¬ ters of a rich merchant who are about to be kidnapped by rene¬ gade samurai. It’s. love at first sight for the bride-seeking lord, but his inexperienced, oafish wooing of one of the girls hardly gets him to first' base. There’s a smashing climax, how¬ ever, wfien the girls again fall in the hands of the bandits. Our hero arrives in time to. respue the girls as they are tied to a stake and single-handedly knocks over sev¬ eral dozen villains. It has all the earmarks of an American cowboyIndian picture. There are good performances by Ryutaro Ohtomo, Yumiko Hase¬ gawa and Hitomi Nakahara, all cf whom have captured the spirit of the film. Miss Nakahara is a looker who exudes considerable charm. Technically it’s superb. And once again the Japanese reveal their mastery of color photography. It’s not the kind of a picture that will go over in the U.S. either in gen¬ eral or art situations, but it has its moments as a dempnstration. of what the masses in Japan probably go for. Holl. Film Copy SS Continued from page 4 J the title role and the Mary Ander¬ son Theatre, Louisville, stated with¬ out equivocation that “She’ll put you on the spot and kill you with romance! Her racket is love! What a Racket! What a girl! What a show!” (7) Boudoirs Of The Eilerny New York’s Globe Theatre was in the running with "Boudoir Di lomat,” Universal’s contender the amour sweepstakes of the era, Ian Keith "Had a royal command to love; he won victories for his coun¬ try in the boudoirs of the enemy.” (8) Clutching Elsie Ferguson Then there was ' Elsie Ferguson, emoting in "Scarlet Pages” at the N.Y. Strand. "I killed him . . . but . . . I’m not sorry,” stammered Miss Ferguson. "Oh! how to escape? And then ... that night . . . his lustful figure in my room . • Clutching! Tearing! There was one way out . . . Am I. to blame!.