Variety (April 1959)

REVIEWS It Happened te Jane Most - funny farce loses steam towards the end, but should do good biz off its gen¬ eral success and good marquee names. Hollywood, April 17. Columbia release produced and directed by Richard Quine. Stars Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs. • Executive pro¬ ducer. Martin Melcher; screenplay. Nor¬ man Katkov; from a story by Katkov and Max Wilk: camera (Eastman Color by Pathe), Charles Lawton Jr.; music. George Duning; editor, Charles Nelson. Pre¬ viewed at tbfe Stanley Warner Beverly Hills Theatre, April 17. ’59. Running time, 100 MINS. Jane Osgood. Doris Day George Denham .Jack Lemmon • ■ Harry Foster Malone.Ernie Kovacs l Larry HaU ..Steve Forrest ( Billy Osgood . Teddy Rooney | Uncle Otis . Russ Brown ! Crawford Sloan . Walter Greczai Homer Bean . Parker Fennelyl Matilda Runyon . Mary Wickes ! Wilbur Peterson. Phibp Cooliuge | Selwyn Harris . Casey Adams j Aaron Caldwell.John Cecil Holm . Betty Osgood .Gina Gillespie Clare ice Runyon . Dick Crockett I Porter.Napoleon Whiting j Up to a point, this is funny, comedy. The point is reached about three-quarters of the way through when the film abruptly changes form and loses momentum never to regain it. The Columbia presen-; .tation has good stars in a generally j fresh format, and it has enough ; laughs and romantic interest to in- \ sure good boxoffice response. It is I not a completely satisfying film • because it does not sustain to the . end. The story runs out of steam —\ much as the locomotive in the pic- ! ture that is a central point—be-| cause Norman Katkov’s screenplay; is not clearly either farce or ro- j mantic comedy. It is farce through S the major portion. About half an < hour before the windup. Jack! Lemmon delivers a ringing I. speech about good government. The sentiments are. laudable, but it’s the wrong place for them. The note of serious reality in what has been a framework of lunatic | frenzy brings the proceedings to i a schreeching halt and nothing that , follows can play with the preced-. ing abandon. Katkov’s story has its genesis in thp eastern railroad battles of, some years ago, and the eccentric ' financiers who occasionally got; control of these ancient and debt- ‘; saddled carriers. Ernie Kovacs is j such a money-man. He is a carica- j ture of a capitalist out of the Stone Age of finance, who obviously loathes passengers and stockhold¬ ers with equal enthusiasm. He tangles with Doris Day, a young widow trying to make a livelihood out of Maine lobster pots. One of • her lobster deliveries has died en i route due to the railroad’s casual j neglect. Determined 'to have jus- I tice, Miss Day sics her lawyer and; longtime admirer. Jack Lemmon, j on Kovacs and his legal legions.; Although injustice for a time pro- j liferates, simple, ’ country,’ New ; England virtue in the en d : triumphs over city slickers and their cunning ways. While played for pure.farce, in : which every development and j strategem for laughs is permis-' sible, Quine’s direction gets a great; deal of fun out of Katkovs good script. Kovacs’ scenes, for instance, while they often' have little to do. with the central story idea—except in a general way displaying his' character—are skits of consider- = able humor. Lemmon plays with a broad style that is effective, re-. taining just a remote connection ! with enough reality so that his | romantic attachment to Miss Day; is acceptable. Miss Day, a beguil- j ing figure of outraged womanhood,; doesn’t lose her essential feminin¬ ity in tHe glory of the cause. She is j pugnacious but perceptibly female, * The serious flaw in “It Happened ! To Jane” is the long winciup. It! leaves the impression that the film i is not as amusing as most of it; really was. If some way could be | found to seed up this portion, the' damage caused by shifting gear! from one form of comedy to an- \ other might be overcome. This: might allow the picture to con-; elude in almost the same brainless, | happy spirit in w’hich most of it; now plays. , I As a handsome and likable men- * ace, Steve Forrest does well and. there are a raft of subsidiary char- i acters, many of them New England j types. Notably contributing are s Parker Fennelly, Russ Brown, I Mary Wickes. Philip Collidge and! John Cecil Holm. Teddy Rooney j and Gina Gillespie are pleasant as Miss Day’s children, and Waiter Greaza, Casey Adams and Dick Crockett round out the cast admir¬ ably. There are sequences in New York where a number of tv stars appear and these names may have some added exploitation value. Miss Day sings two songs, a title tune by Joe Lubin and I. J. Roth, and “Be Prepared.” by Fred Kar- ger and Richard Quine, The latter is charmingly staged as a round, Miss Day assisted by Lemmon and some bright children. Technically, the Eastman color print shown for review was dark and often fuzzy, while the sound had a hard and echoing quality. Powe, This Earth Is Mine (COLOR; C’SCOPE) Fuzzy story handicaps star and production values on this heavy-handed opus. Aparajito Import from India, being released in the United States by Edward Harrison, was re¬ viewed in the Nov. 19, 1958, issue of Variety. Reviewer Stef, who caught the production in San Fran¬ cisco, found the story “told . so stunningly well, with such deep feeling and genuine love, that it completely fascinates the audience.” He added: “The picture is well edited and Satyajit Ray’s camera, direction and script are im¬ pressive. The principals are superb — indeed, they never seem to be acting—and Ravi Shankar’s music, performed on native instruments, is a fit¬ ting accompaniment to a me- memorable film.” Opens April 28 at New York’s Fifth Avenue Cinema. Hollywood, April 17. pressive. The principals are Universal release of Vintage Produc ,; on. SUperb —■ indeed, tney never Stars Rock Hudson, Jean Simmons, ”or- seem to be acting—and :Ravi othy McGuire, Claude Rains. Produced by Chanlrar’c rrmcip nprfnrmpd Casey Robinson and Claude Heilmam fenanKar S music, penormea Directed by Henry King. Executive pro- on native instruments, IS a fit- ducer, Edward Muhl; screenplay, Casey ting accompaniment to a me- Robmson; based on the novel, “The Cup » and the Sword,”- by Alice Tisdale Hobart; memorable film, camera (Technicolor), Winton Hoch and Opens April 28 at New Russell Metty; music, Hugo Friedhofer; Vnrk’c Fifth A verm p Cinema editor. Ted J. Kent. Previewed at the * orKS hllin Avenue Uinemd. Screen Directors Guild Theatre, April 10, —— 1 ■ ■ *59. Running time, 123 MINS. _. , . . . , . . John Rambeau . Rock Hudson Simmons achieves involvement but Elizabeth Rambeau.Jean Simmons little sympathy because her mo- Martha Fair on . Dorothy McGuire tivatlons are SO sketchy and SUper- £!?n^F^™n //"V.V. S <?mi?h ficral. Claude Rains fares best. His Charlotte Rambeau .. Anna Lee role is MOt explored for any depth. Buz* 1 :::::' cmd^RobbSS but it has the merit of being easily Mrs. Griffanti.Augusta Merighi recognizable and consistent. Miss Andre Swann.Francis Bethencourt McGuire verges on tragedy, but Monica .................. suc^ Graham she j s tripped by the sentimental- Maria ‘'.V. 7.**’.,. Geraldine Wall ity of the film’s conception. Others -• -.in important roles—Kent Smith, Metrick .:::::::;. P j?ck &r Ken Scott, Anna Lee, Cindy Rob- Yakowitz ... BenAstar bins—are competent. David . Lawrence Ung As Scott’s mother, Augusta Tim Rambeau.Ford DunhiU Merighi is a standout. Her gusty - ’ realism suddenly creates a vivid This film seems to have almost human being in the midst of limp every element needed for a dra- marionettes. Among others • who matic and financial success, num- register are Francis Bethencourt, bers of colorful characters, novel stacy Graham, Peter Chong and background and story, and mar- Geraldine Wall, quee luminaries. However, it is al- Technicolor photography by most completely lacking in dra- winton Hoch and Russell Metty matic cohesion. It is verbose and accomplished, and Hugo Freidhof- contradictory, and its complex plot er » s score ax times is as tangy as relationships begin with confusion the first pressing of the grape, and end in tedium. Boxoffice sue- There is a title song by Sammy cess .must rest on what “This Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen that Earth Is Mine promises, not what deserves better presentation than it delivers. • the bellowing behind the main Edward Muhl, was executive titles it gets. Pome. producer for the Universal release, __ trooper would. The notion that New Englanders would threaten Ladd with a necktie party even be¬ fore Miss Jones’ body is found, is incredible. On the last score, lynchings in New England are most uncommon. And, as anyone knows who has ever been exposed to z commuter community, it is more likely that the natives would sit in taciturn approval if the “outsiders” got to doing away with one an¬ other. The most serious flaw, however, is in the identity of the true murderer. Mystery fiction has at least one rule that should not be violated. That is that while the criminal’s trail can be well covered, the criminal himself should be plainly visible to the audience. There is no point to belaboring the flaws. But Ladd’s portrayal is far from sympathetic. An under¬ graduate student in psychology could tell him that his method of treating a disintegrating personal¬ ity is blatantly wrong. Miss Jones achieves some moments of pathos but she seems at other times to be giving it the old-Bette-Davis, eyes, hands, hips and all. Children are misused for plot and character insight. The kids are good, par¬ ticularly Barbara Beaird, Susan j Gordon and Steven Perry. But J they aren’t given proper treatment either. And that sums up “The Man In The Net.” Powe. The Young Land (COLOR) Mild historical item in C. V. Whitney’s Americana series. Little b.o. response indicated. Hollywood, April 17. Columbia release of C. V. Whitney - production. Stars Pat Wayne, Yvonne Craig, Dennis Hopper, Dan Q’Herlihy. Produced by Patrick Ford. Directed by Ted Tetzlaff. Screenplay, Norman Shan¬ non Hall;.based on a story by John Reese; camera (Technicolor), Winton C. Hoch and Henry Sharp; music, Dimitri Tiomkin; editor, Tom McAdoo. Previewed at the Wednesday, April 22, 1059 it Horrors of the J Black Museum g S Potential horror click in 7 C’Scope and color with good , s sales gimmick, “Hypnovista.” - But offensively gory for non- c addicts. :» Hollywood, April 16. j- American International Pictures re¬ lease of Herman Cohen production. Stars Michael Gough, Graham. Curnow, June r Cunningham; features Geoffrey Keen, * Shirley Ann Field, Gerald Andersen, John c Warwick, Beatrice Varley. Directed by it Arthur Crabtree. Screenplay, Aben Kan- p del, Herman Cohen; camera, Desmond Dickinson; music, Gerard Schurmann, Ken e Jones: editor, Geoffrey Muller. Previewed 1 at Universal, April 13, ’59. Running time, 94 MINS. Edmond Bancroft ...Michael Gough =• Joan Berkley .\.. June Cunningham a Rick ....^ Graham Curnow : s Angela . Shirley Ann Field IS Superintendent Graham Geoffrey Keen p. Dr. Ballan . .. Gerald Andersen Inspector Lodge. John Warwick . j Aggie . Beatrice Varley Commissioner. Wayne. Austin Trevor 1. Peggy . Malou Pantera Tom Rivers.Howard Greene • s Gail . . - Dorinda Stevens IS FunFair Barker. Stuart Saunders e Woman in Hall. Hilda Barry Woman in Hall. . Nora Gordon which Henry King directed. Casey Robinson and Claude Heilman pro¬ duced, and Robinson also did the screenplay from Alice Tisdale Ho¬ bart’s novel, “The Cup and the Sword.” The setting of the film is the The Man In the Yet Unsuccessful whodunit. Star names only lure. Hollywood. April 17. Napa Valley Wine country in the United Artists release of Mirisch Co. W.&Prohibition Con- Sidering first the film S merits, the Mirisch. Directed by Michael Curtis, backgrounds are lush and bounti- Screenplay, Reginald' Rose; based on a ftil are fUctinoHvP book Patrick Quentin; camera, John TUI. inere are a.snncuve aspects Seitz; music , Hans J. Salter; editor. Har- Of wme-making which are fruit- old LaveUe. Previewed at the Hawaii fully explored for noveltv and sub- April 16 ’ ' 59 - Running 96 sidiary interest. The performances, John Hainilt(m .^ Ladd generally, are canablc, and some Linda Hamilton . Carolyn Jones are better than that. Vickie Carey ... Diane Brewster The basic plot is a conflict be- §&&£ -—""—CkSSiiSSSl tween generations — the older, Gordon Moreland ..... Tom Helmore Eurooean-bom vintners, headed by Roz Moreland.Betty Lou Holland Claude Bains, with traditions .of g&£^"r.::":.' , *j8w£?t8S5 dedication to the craft, and the Mrs. Carey . Kathryn Givney vounger men, represented by Rock J° nes . Barbara ^Beaird Hudson, who are interested in sell- Moreland' !*.'.!'. cSries HerbSS ing their crop to the highest bid- Buck Ritter . Mike McGreevy ders eren if it means their napes ^SL ’-::::.;;:;:;;;:; A1 S; v |JnSS Wl‘l be made into bootleg liquor. Charlie Raines . Douglas Evans This is clear enough, and a Mrs. Jones . Natalie Masterson theme Of some value, given fresh- State Troopers.. Pat Miller, Bill Cassidy ness v*a novelty of the background. . , , , . , But when the characters begin to Genuine murder ifiystenes have move, when they get involved in en 4 U F»?^ lately. The background and supplementary Man 111 Tha ^ et T ian ^ £°°d» or nlot threads, the film becomes f even competent. Instead of mys-; digressive and finallv annoyingly ** creates muddle. What is obfuscating. Introduction of anti- intended as the perilous is more Semitic prejudice, and also similar oft ^° Judicrous. r eeiings anainst the Italians, for TT The Mirisch Co. production for instance, is brought in. and then U nite ? Artists has valued names neither developed nor cWred up. Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones, but It is damaging to audience in- ??. lthe T r 1S Particularly satisfactory, terest not to. be sure what is the ^ 1 . ss T 0n ?J ^ handicapped by her blood relationship between Hudson .^add elects to play his so and Jean Simmons. They aooar- stoically that he is likely to leave entlv are first cousins, a startling ^ ie :^ a £ d f^ns feeling relationship, in view of their ro- balked. Reginald Rose s .screenplay mance. The ooint is neither eluci- m ust be faulted on a number of dated nor eliminated. Hudson’s an- counts, and Michael Curtiz’ direc- parent backing of Klan-like raids tl( ? n emphasizes rather than mini¬ on the grane-growers who oooose us deficiencies, his iders indicates there is colora- What the producer,_ Walter Miri- tion to his character not elsewhere aPP^eutly saw m ‘The Man indicated In The Net” was another potential In another plot hinge, and an Th f^ ^ superficial imoortant ore. Hudson Is shown similarities. Miss Jones, Ladd’s forcibly abduc^n**- a vinevard enigmatie \^’ife, disappears from worker. Cirdv Robbins, ^or obvi- the New ^England community nusly carnal nurroces. Mi^s Rob- where they have been living while bins gets with child that she ren- f*edd is haying a go at being a resents as Hudson’s and she is serious artist. Miss Jones wants married off to Ken Scott. Then, in him to go back to Madison Avenue, a sumrise denouement, the audi- He won’t. He wants to have his once is informed the child isn’t chance at art and he also believes I Hudson’s after all. Ibis makes a his wife’s mental problems have ! farce o f precedmg scenes. It is an been aggravated by New York. !un*air device and a bad one. When she disappears, the audi- Some of the scenes are nure ence is supposed to believe none | bathos, such as t*e one where of' the neighbors suspects she was [Hudson learns (or is s»'ooosed to an alcoholic and a psychopath. The [learn: he has known all the time) title refers to Ladd’s being caught that ho is actually the son of his hi a web. (or net) of filmsy cir- uncle. Kent Smith. What’s lacking cumstances indicating he did away mostlv in the script, and not sun- with his wife. The premise doesn’t nlemonted in the direction, is an; hold. . overall intelligence that would It is improbable that when Miss have aonraised these comolexities. Jones arrives at a <party, bruised discarded the irrelevant, and and obviously the worse for wine, welded the remainder into a co- that her word would be unques- hcr^nt story. tiopingly accepted against Ladd's. Hudson gives a svmoathetic It is dubious that a local constable oorfraval, but not a satisfying one. would adopt a bullying, presump- hp n, '” c '' vi j characterization is tive attitude about Ladd’s guilt, riddled by Inconsistencies. Miss l and even less likely that a state Jim Ellison . Pat Wayne Elena de la Madrid.Yvonne Craig Hatfield Carnes .Dennis Hopper Judge Isham .Dan O’Herlihy Roberto de la Madrid Robert de la Madrid Ben Stroud . Cliff Ketchmn Lee Hearn . .... Ken Curtis Santiago.Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Sully . Edward Sweeny Vaquero . John Quijada . Comacho . Miguel Camacho Court Clerk ... Tom Tiner Quiroga . Carlos Romero Drifter . Edward Jaurequi This film is another Jn C. V. Whitney’s Americana serfes, in the current instance concerned with the early days in California. “The Young Land” has a basically inter¬ esting premise but it gets no development, and the result is superficial, repititious and awk¬ wardly naive. Its boxoffice pros¬ pects are poor. The film was made almost two years ago, originally for Buena • Vista, and Is now. being released ! by Columbia. There are some nice young names connected with it, Patrick Ford and Patrick Wayne, for two, as producer and star re¬ spectively. But this is the best and ■ only recommendation for it. j Actually the original story by John Reese has the ring of truth. It is concerned with the murder trial of an American, Dennis Hop¬ per, who has killed a Mexican. The trial is important because the lo¬ cale is California and the time 1848. U. S. justice is also on trial with new citizens of Mexican ex¬ traction or birth. A fair trial will demonstrate that their loyalty to their new government is justified. Norman Shannon Hall's screen¬ play, however, does not enlarge on the theme. It wastes time with a tedious and gawky romance be¬ tween young Wayne and Yvonne Craig, with courtroom recreation of action already depicted and re¬ peated for no effect, with pointles! fringe action, and with talk too often the inadequate substitute for action of any kind. While Hall’s screenplay is not inventive, Ted Tetzlaff’s direction does not do much to enliven what there is. One aspect of this failure is the fact that not until almost the end of film is a single full close-up shown. Even with the paucity of action, real or implied, and wasteful dialog, pointless of any implication or interesting in itself, some greater interest might have been aroused through more skillful use of photography. Wayne is an attractive youngster but he is not adequate to carry such a large load of a featurd film. Miss Craig is similarly endowed, but equally inadequate. Dennis Hopper and Dan O’Herlihy man¬ age to put some bite into their roles. The rest of the cast is beset with stock characterizations. Dimitri Tiomkin’s score is good, but it rather shows up the thinness of the film itself. There is a theme song, “Strange Are The Ways of Love,” sung by Randy Sparks. It was released some time ago. Powe. For the market at which it is aimed, American International's “Horrors of the Black Museum” is potentially big, despite—or perhaps because of—the fact that it panders to base tastes. In lieu of star names, the picture has a handsome production and a built-in sales gimmick, “Hypnovista.” The film vends horror in its most nauseating form for the sake of slaking a thirst for gore. Sa long as this is commercially profitable, such pictures will be made but thoughtful tradesters wonder to what expedients producers will resort when the public is sated with the current extremes. “Horrors,” produced in London by Herman Cohen, is AlP’s first CinemaScope - and - color release. Particular attention has been paid to making the Eastman color as vivid and balanced as possible. When this is used to brin®out the warmth and richness of art direc¬ tor Wilfred Arnold’s sumptuous sets, the result Is gratifying. But when it is used to emphasize the gouts of blood in the. murder scenes, it is disgusting." Scenes similar to the ones shown are less objectionable when done in black and white. For example, the first scene is of a girl who dies from two spikes driven into her brain through her eyes. The spikes are in a pair of trick binoculars. Blood is shown coming from between her fingers as she holds her face and the in¬ strument is shown on the floor covered with blood. Fortunately, it never gets worse than this-although: a girl is guil¬ lotined on her bed; an old woman is impaled on ice tongs; a doctor is slowly electrocuted then dis¬ solved in a vat of acid and his skeleton hung up to dry and two others are bloodily stabbed with a kris. In these latter cases the horror is modified somewhat by skillful editing by Geoffrey Muller. The screenplay" is a rambling affair about a wealthy, crippled author, Michael Gough, who com¬ mits a chain of murders in modern London to obtain material for his crime books and newspaper arti¬ cles. He has his boyish assistant, Graham Curnow, under a hypnotic drug which turns him into a kind of Mr. Hyde. The “Black Museum” is the author’s laboratory. There is scant dramatic suspense past the mid-point of the- film when the author’s homicidal nature is ex¬ posed, except that the view’er is kept . edgy wondering what new horror is in store. Michale Gough ably and force¬ fully limns the author; Geoffrey Keen does his usually competent job as a Scotland Yard inspector; Beatrice Varley is just right as the old w’oman; June Cunningham dis¬ plays an animal vitality which serves in lieu of. thesping talent and the rest of the cast is satisfac¬ tory. “Hypnovista,” it develops, is a 13-minute prolog in which some unremarkable psychological phe¬ nomena are demonstrated in a fairly interesting fashion by hyp¬ notist Emile Franchel. As with the rest of the production, the tech¬ nical aspects of the prolog are expert. Franchel, while not at¬ tempting to hypnotise the audience, uses special effects such as a revolving red and black spiral and a calculatedly monotonous voice to heighten suggestibility in the viewer. It is effective. The taste may be deplored, and certainly small children should be prevented from seeing the picture, but it will probably find -a large audience among those who crave their bucket of blood while it’s I still hot. Glen.