Variety (March 1959)

60 TELEVISION REVIEWS UfiRiBFf Wednesday, March 18, 1959 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦4»444»*»444444i44444444444+444444»»44++4+4»+++444»4444»+»444444»44444444444444444444444444444444444-4+4+44+4-444444444 «► • \ Foreign Television Reviews 4444444+444 4 44+444444444444»44444444444 4 44f+44+444444444444444444 4 444444444444444-»444444444444»++444444»4»+444444444444444444 A MEMORY OF TWO MONDAYS With Jonathan White, Stuart Nichol, Ada Ship, Patty Thorne, Martin Miller, Gordon Phillott, Alan Bates, Jon Sullivan, Garry Colleano, Tom Busby, Brian Mc¬ Dermott, John McLaren, Mark Baker Director: Silvio Narizzano Writer: Arthur Miller 60 Mins., Fri., 9 p.m. Granada-TV, from Manchester For all the sensitivity and crafts¬ manship that clearly were applied here in telepresentmg a play that Arthur Miller himself considers one of his best, the result was a failure — albeit on a high level. Somehow the personalized view of the charcters was lost, and with it much of the compassion and urge to rebellion that Miller must have felt. Instead, the piece came over rather as a statement of frustration, futility and despair, negative in outlook. The answer lies possibly in the simple fact that Bert (Jonathan White), who views events in the place where he works on two Mon¬ days during the 1930s, emerged as little more than commentator on incidents such as the attempt to conceal the drunkenness of Tom (John McLaren), the death of Gus (Martin Miller) and his own de¬ parture from a cell of remorseless routine and defeat. The love that Bert bears his fellow creatures which ought to have permeated the action didn’t in fact come over in places other than those in which he addressed the camera direct. Yet in all departments, the con¬ tributions were tops. Handling of complex cast movements was mas¬ terly, camerawbrk fluent, work¬ shop setting suitably airless and drab. Playing of all concerned, with an extra handclap for Martin Miller, Ada Ship, Stuart Nichol and Gordon Phillott, was polished. Erni. THE WIM SONNEVELD SHOW With Ellen Vogel, Conny Stuart, Marianne Hilarides, Martin Scheefers, Hans Van Manen, Al¬ bert Mol, Joop Doderer, Jan Hil- liger, Johnny Jordaan. Producer: Dennis Main Wilson 45 Mins., Wed., 836 p.m. BBC-TV, from London Wim Sonneveld is something of a wow in his native Amsterdam, and his personal success in a pre¬ vious BBC-TV show inspired th^ notion of his bringing over a gang of fellow’ artists for a complete pro¬ gram. The notion may have been good, but . . . In comparison with the slick, modern type of vaude bill this sa¬ tire intended. Sonneveld himself scored personality-wise, but his material was corny. Albert Mol worked hard with comic impres¬ sions of a chorine, as did Conny Stuart in putting over a song against an untidy kitchen baek- ground while extravagantly dressed, but neither really came across. Ellen Vogel’s rendering of an ex¬ tract, in Dutch, from Shaw’s “Saint Joan” and some ballet to music by Vivaldi came nearest to earning hearty applause, but Johnny Jor- daan’s songs failed to get the ap¬ propriate Continental atmosphere backing and accordingly carried as much impact as oldtime music-hall ballads sung lento. Direction was competent enough. Design suggested that the whole show has been done on a minimum budget. Erni. THE JUDGE’S STORY With Clive Brook, Elizabeth Sellars, John Robinson, John Merivale, Joan Philips, Mary Hinton, others Director: Michael Currer-Briggs Writer: Charles Morgan Adaptation: Diana Morgan 90 Mins., Tues., 8:30 p.m. Associated-Rediffusion from London Improbable in plot, rarefied in atmosphere and often Victorian in dialog, this adaptation of Charles Morgan’s novel managed frequent¬ ly to win through as arresting drama by virtue of its psychologi¬ cal undertones. It’s a pity that toe basic plot, of a plutocrat's mania to force two people to be untrue to themselves, couldn’t have been expressed in less unlikely terms. But that’s largely the book. An opening scene, revealing all the signs of an adaptor’s battle for condensation, established that toe judge is Sir William Gaskony • (Clive Brook) in whose general makeup, specific interest in Greek history and married ward Vivien (Elizabeth Sellars) one George Severidge (John Robinson) shows a peculiar and searching interest. Severidge, inordinately rich, be¬ lieves everyone and everything has a price; and finally he tempts Sir William into selling him his copy of “Marius The Epicurean,” to S tiich the judge is sentimentally tached, for $70,000. The judge is entering the deal, however, simply to help Vivien’s husband Henry (John Merivale) out of $ financial scrape. And in his new poverty, Sir William finds new happiness. If that sounds like a farrago, add that all this is told against very Upper Set backgrounds. But it’s the philosophical stuff and toe Devil-versus-integrity conflict that gives it life. The acting was on a high plane, though Clive Brook was a shade trick-laden as the judge. John Robinson, Elizabeth Sellars and John Merivale were excellent in their contrasting ways, with Michael Currer-Briggs’s di¬ rection helping them skilfully over some tough patches of triteness. Erni. THE BIRD, BEAR AND ACTRESS W’ith Barry Jones, Harry H. Cor¬ bett, Kate Reid, Lee Montague, Jon Sullivan, Paul Whitsun- . Jones, Annabel Maude, David Spenser, John Serret.Tlose How- lett Producer: Sydney Newman Director: William Kotcheff Writer: John Glennon Designer: Timothy O’Brien 65 Mins., Sun., 9:35 pjn. ABC-TV, from Manchester Barry Jones was making his first British tv appearance in this ve¬ hicle that bore a title heralding either toe poetic or the preten¬ tious. He was first-rate. So was the play, if only for those viewers sufficiently concerned with the conflict between integrity and compromise and who, furthermore, had some feeling for the way such conflict can harry in an art-cum- : business such as the theatre. Skillful production, imaginative¬ ly staging the action in a Mediter¬ ranean mountain village during a mistrial, brought out the poetry in the basically simple tale of an old designer, T. G. B. (Jones) who is discovered in his retirement by Broadway producer P. Panghurst Shippers (Harry H. Corbett). T. G. B. is kidded into creating sketches for a play in the belief that his own conception will be translated without change onstage. Shippers, whom the old boy styles “The Bird,” plans all the while merely to use T. G. B.’s name as a billing aid. It’s up to the actress (Kate Reid) to decide whether she shall tell T. G. B. and so be true to herself, or string along with Shippers to gain toe stardom she’s long sought. She tells. Writer Glennon may have show ? n a sentimental streak and leaned to the pretentious at times, but by and large he put over his convic¬ tion that truth pays off, at least in coin of the soul, with down¬ right dramatic force. An especial¬ ly effective contribution was the characterization of Shipper’s wife, a woman who'd sold out and be¬ come a lush. Performance here by Annabel Maude was nicely re¬ strained. Harry H. Corbett clever¬ ly conveyed the deep inner illness- at-ease of the producer, while Lee Montague excellently handled the role of the weak director (“The Bear”) wedded to the actress. Kate Reid, as the last-named, gave a warm study of tempted incor¬ ruptibility. The mistral effect was occasion¬ ally overdone at the expense of dialog audibility. Direction - and settings were tops. 'Erni. THE RED OPTICS With Thilo Koch, narrator Producer: NWRV, Hamburg 40 Mins.; Fri., 8:26 pan. West German TV, from Hamburg Another contribution to the W-German documentary series about the purpose and methods of Soviet Germany’s tele. As usual with such items, this is extremely interesting and, for the less in¬ formed viewer, even depressing. It opens the eyes of those who are apt to underestimate the influen¬ tial power of Commie television. Thilo Koch, narrator-creator, shows excerpts from East German pro¬ grams and latter practically speak for themselves. There’s an excerpt from toe Red series “Tele-Studio West,” a spe¬ cial program aimed at West Ger¬ man viewers; a military expert tells his viewers that “toe Ameri¬ cans have followed in Hitler’s foot¬ steps” They (the Americans) have made out of W-Berlin “a military point of support” with obvious at¬ tacking (toe East) aims. Speaker explains that W-Berlin streets have been (broadened so that tanks can. easily move in Eastern direction, that there are now three important military airports (Gatow, -Tegel and Tempelhof) here and that toe oc¬ cupation forces (10,000) along with the local police have toe character of “atomic brigades.” No comment. There’s also light program over there but also that is nearly always in the service of the Party. Koch’s program shows an East Berlin car¬ nival ball at which songs are sung that praise the glorious fame of the Sputniks and ridicule the “poor scientific American efforts.” Inter¬ esting byline: The Commie young¬ sters' dance “Lipsy,” an East Ger¬ man creation, apparently an effort to combat the r&r craze which also spread over East Germany. An East German favorite item: Inter¬ views with West Germans who moved over to East Germany. In¬ terviewed persons mostly reveal “that they were exploited (by toe capitalists) in W-Germany and/or were not willing to help preparing an atomic war.” East Germany’s tele time comes now up to 46 hours per week which is more than W-Germany has to offer. Number of tv set owners is climbing rapidly. It’s now 340,000 which means that about one and a* half million East Germans keep seeing the political or semi-politi¬ cal propaganda. - Hans. FACE TO FACE With Bertrand Russell, John Free¬ man Producer: Hugh Burnett 45 Mins., Wed., 9:15 p.m. BBC-TV, from London Trading on the fact that some of the best television derives from interesting words spoken interest¬ ingly by interesting characters, BBC-TV is putting out this oc¬ casional program in which one chosen subject just talks. And with camera and mike” focussing almost exclusively on Lord Rus¬ sell for 45 minutes, this instance provided arresting stuff, certainly for the eggheads and probably for a wider viewing audience. The 87-year-old mathematician- philosopher - antiwar humanist, who’s challenged the accepted ideas and conventions of the day throughout his active life, remi¬ nisced and theorized with dry humor, charm, frankness and sin¬ cerity. Typical of his style: one question in an admirable range ably put by the seldom-in-shot John Freeman, devoted to the be¬ ginnings of Russell’s skepticism, brought an anecdote recalling a dream at four years of age. The twinkling-eyed Russell told how. after hearing the story of Red Riding Hood; he dreamed that he himself had been eaten by a wolf —“but instead of going to heaven, I was in the wolf’s stomach.” Russell had some sly digs at the U.S. in the course of the for-from- insular program. Pre-filmed, the fireside chat was a shade grainy in quality, but admirably edited. Erni. THE FABULOUS MONEY MAKER With Ronald Lewis, Yolande Tur¬ ner, Rupert Davies, Paul Whit- sun-Jones, Edward Woodward, others Producer: Sydney Newman Director: George More O’Ferrall Writer: Norman Ginsbury 65 Mins., Sun., 9:35 p.m. ABC-TV, from Manchester Author Ginsbury faced a tough task when commissioned by ABC- TV to write a play on Sweden’s “Match King” who flourished in the 1920s and whose crash caused worldwide financial confusion. He didn’t exactly soar triumphant over all hazards. For one thing, too much had to be laid on the sacri¬ ficial stone of explanation; for an¬ other, in presumably avoiding drowning the viewer in deep financial waters, the narrative almost made ludicrous the ease with which the financier was able to kid along astute fellow money¬ bags. Nonetheless the piece had its moments of interest as it outlined how Kreuger (Ronald Lewis) oper¬ ated by lending money to foreign governments in return for match monopolies, how he could reel off columns of figures seen once only, and how his personal magnetism swayed his mistress Ingrid (Yo¬ lande Turner) and a weak partner, Aberg (Edward Woodward). It gained no real power, however, until an arresting passage between Kreuger and J. P. Morgan Jr. (Rupert Daviefe), this leading to exposure of the tycoon’s double¬ shuffling and his suicide. This last scene tried to whip up some emo¬ tionalism but the necessary round¬ ness of character hadn’t been achieved for true pathos to be gained. Ronald Lewis acted extraordi¬ narily well in the key role, con¬ veying much of toe man’s power and charm. Yolande Turner made an attractive Ingrid and Edward Woodward did well with his con¬ ventional scared-partner part, but Rupert Davies took toe palm with his impression of the shrewd, un¬ trusting J. P. Morgan. Other roles were competently played, direction was alert to chances, and settings were effective. Erni. DER FLECK AN DER WAND (The Spot On The Wall) With Reinholt Bernt, Katharine Brauren, Inken Sommer, Fritz Schulz, Trade Hesterberg, Ernst Jacobi, Ewald Wenck, others Producer: NWRV (Hamburg) Director: Gustaf Burmester Writer: Wolf-Dietrich Schnurre 45 Mins.; Sun., 8 p.m. West German TV, from Hamburg Location is a Berlin apartment house and plot centers around two families which are all but friendly towards each other. One represents the newrich arrogant and the other one the envious type. So there’s tension among these two units. The arrogant family suddenly discovers a strange spot on their wall and thinks it a creation of bugs. The family one flight down, the envious one, hears about that and bursts with malicious joy: vermin in those people’s apartment—that- will kill their reputation. A rat-catcher is called and the expert says that toe bugs may very well have come from the apartment "below. All, however, ends satisfactorily: There aren't bugs in either apartment and the strange spot just happens to be a common spot. Piece is rather banal and it would have been seen and forgotten if Wolfdietrich Schnurre weren’t its creator. Schnurre is, after all, one of the better known authors around here. Last year, he captured the Prize of toe Young Generation of Berlin and his reputatipn is such that he belongs to toe few new authors who are able to write funny things. Piece, in all, is disappointing, but there is a certain plus with regard to its dialog sequences. Also, there are some comical situa¬ tions which reveal toe author’s ability. “Spot” has a number of satirical touches wife topical un¬ dertones. Fun, f.e., is poked at the well-known category of newriches and toe German economical mir¬ acle. But it’s pretty oldhat stuff that comes off here. Direction is conventional while toe acting is mostly very good. Most of the cast consists of estab¬ lished local players. • Hans. SEARCHLIGHT With Kenneth AUsop, Elaine Grand, Sir Harold Scott, Rt. Hon. J. Chuter Ede, Hon. Rich¬ ard Stanley, M.P., George Wiggs, M.P. Director: Mike Wooller Writer: John Haggarty 30 Mins., Mon., 10:15 p.m. Granada-TV, from Manchester. There’s a measure of infra-red in toe beam that Granada-TV in¬ tends to throw on Britain, 1959, in this new series, judging by the kickoff contribution. For where¬ as many probes’ into many sub¬ jects have hit tv screens, few have been so searching and in such a burning manner. British gam¬ bling laws are crazy, and even proposed reforms, now before Parliament don’t really correct the situation said the program, more or less categorically. Such posi¬ tive, chin-out editorializing came as a stimulus in a land where many programs take a look at affairs and sit on toe fence. Brisk-paced interviews with ex- Police Commissioner Harold Scott, foxmer Home Secretary J. Chuter Ede and others who knew what they were talking about were in¬ terspersed with clearly presented statistics, clips showing the pub¬ lic placing bets illegally, and opin¬ ion forthrightly delivered by Ken¬ neth Allsop who made a promising debut as interlinker. Skedded for airing once every two weeks, and intending to focus'mi matters to praise as well as those to castigate, the program looks like rating high with viewers interested in what’s going on in the world. Ernie. HIPPODROME With Marffa La Corse & Her Tigers, Don Saunders, Henry Trio, Conelly, Karoly Horses, Ida Rosaire & Her Pekinese, Bobby Britton, Les Palmas, Chy Bao Guy, Derek Waring, Norrio Paramor orch, Michael Sammes Singers Producer: Will Roland Director: John Phillips Settings: Frank Nerini 60 Mins., Thurs., 9 p.m. Associated-Rediffusion, from Lon¬ don To break away from formula, Associated-Rediffusion turned to circus acts to provide the main¬ stream of this spectacular. One or two vaude spots were inter¬ polated, but the prime bid was to capture toe atmosphere and excite¬ ment of the big top. Productionwise, toe result was a considerable achievement. The sad fact is, however, that most of the material was oldhat, while every now and then preparations inside the pseudo-sawdust ring slowed down the pace that Will Roland, producer on lend-lease to A-R from CBS-TV, tried to set. Much of toe seven minutes or so running time of toe kickoff item, Marffa La Corse .& Tigers, for instance, was occupied by rigging up devices on which toe cats could do their tame stuff. Henry Trio, from Germany, went through some zany acrobatics en¬ ergetically; toe Karoly Horses, from Norway, responded to their unspoken orders like automatons; Les Palmas clambered up and teetered on a ladder professionally; and Ida Rosaire’s Pekinese tail- wagged gaily through cute paces. Clown Don Saunders scored a reasonable hit with his knockabout goings-on, while Conelly, who did some tricky maneuvering on a high-hung crescent, was aided in his bid to thrill hy clever camera- placing and mixes. Click of the circus side of the proceedings was the Chy Boa Guy group, who really got moving with superbly timed aero. Derek Waring made a pleasant interlinker and Bobby Britton re¬ vealed good voice and presence in a Jerome Kern number.. Troupe of dancers did well in their two or three big moments, while throughout Nome Paramor’s Orch and the Michael Sammes Singers provided tops in backing. None of these contributions could quite compensate, though, for the lack of the true circus gusto" and smell. Erni. THIS WONDERFUL WORLD With John Grierson Producer: Rai Purdy Director: James Sutherland 30 Mins.; Men., 10:15 p.m. Scottish Tele virion, from Glasgow In. this very personal program John Grierson, one of Britain’s pioneers of the documentary movie, introduced short films with keen observation of toe human scene as their common link. There was “Tenderly,” from New York, an animated one-reeler about court¬ ship; an extract from a National Film Board of Canada production covering an Eskimo childbirth; shots from a picture about a Boliv¬ ian festival; and a Polish short set in a home for old ladies. It all added up to holding fare, though technically rough. Grierson’s personality and dedi¬ cation were compelling, though he tended to stress the glories of the British documentary movement some 20 or 30 years ago without paying any tribute to the consider¬ able work that’s still being done, albeit without so much limelight. As an occasional program for a late-ish hour—and that’s how f it appears on the schedule—“This Wonderful World” should continue to be worth watching. Erni. TYRANNY With Kenneth Harris, Alan Bul¬ lock, Lord Strang, Paula Wolf, Julius Schaub, Wilma Schaub, others Director: Peter Morley Writer: Cyril Bennett 60 Mins., Wed., 8:30 fun. Associated-Rediffusion, from Lon¬ don Two factors imde this much- heralded study, “The Years of Adolf Hitler,” stand nut from other programs in which the rise and fall of the dictator has been covered. One was toe inclusion of rare film clips and stills. The other was an atmosphere seldom free from the consciousness -of toe .Nazi thug, maintained largely (Continued on page 72)