OPERATION MAD BALL

Mickey Rooney and Jack Lemmon

OPERATION MAD BALL (1957). Director: Richard Quine.

In France at a U.S. Army hospital just after the end of WW2, Private Hogan (Jack Lemmon) wants to do something to give his pal Corporal Berryman (Roger Smith of 77 Sunset Strip) a chance to spend time with his nurse girlfriend, even though she outranks him and shouldn't be fraternizing. Somehow this segues into a "mad ball" held off the base in a restaurant where nurses and men can get together for some dancing, drinking and fun. But there are complications, such as Colonel Rousch's (Arthur O'Connell) brother heading for the base and being the guest of honor at Rousch's own party -- now the nurses won't be allowed any passes (literally and figuratively). However, the fertile mind of Private Hogan will figure a way around this.

Kathryn Grant and Arthur O'Connell

Judging from its title, Operation Mad Ball should be a riotous service comedy, but the only time it really comes to life is in the last few minutes (the party) and when Mickey Rooney shows up and shows "em how it's done. He's a breath of fresh air in a "comedy" that is surprisingly dull for most of its length. Lemmon is okay, but other players make more of an impression, including the wonderful Rooney, Dick York as Corporal Bohun, Kathryn Grant as Lt. Bixby, who ignites Hogan's romantic interest, Jeanne Manet [Slightly French] as Madame LaFour who owns the aforementioned restaurant, and especially Arthur O'Connell as the head officer of the hospital. Ernie Kovacs, one of the three leads, is also okay, but not especially funny. Other soldiers are played by James Darren, William Leslie, and L. Q. Jones. Darren and Grant appeared together in The Brothers Rico.

Verdict: Generally good-natured but distinctly minor. **1/4.

THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL

Lord Olivier and La Monroe

THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (1957). Director: Laurence Olivier.

"We are not dealing with an adult but an unruly child."

On the eve of the coronation of the new British King in 1911 London, the Grand Ducal Highness of the Balkan nation of Carpatha, AKA Charles (Laurence Olivier), invites a pretty American showgirl named Elsie (Marilyn Monroe) to supper at the Carpathian embassy. Alas, the Grand Duke doesn't realize that Elsie is a lot smarter than she looks -- and not quite as "easy" as he hopes. During the night and the following day, the two argue and banter, and Elsie manages to wend her way into Carpathian politics and  more via the Duke's son Nicky (Jeremy Spenser), soon to be king, and the prickly if lovable Queen Dowager (Sybil Thorndike). The cast in this entertaining if overlong comedy, including Jean Kent as an actress friend of Charles and Richard Wattis as Northbrook, a liaison, is uniformly excellent. Olivier is fine as the rather stuffy if amorous duke, and Monroe is natural, unaffected and marvelous -- luminescent, in fact -- as Elsie. I'm not the first to think that she sort of out-acts Olivier at times, but both are splendid. The ending is a bit strange, but this is a colorful, unusual picture.

Verdict: The High and the Horny. ***.

THE LONG HAUL

Diana Dors and Victor Mature

THE LONG HAUL (1957). Director/co-screenplay: Ken Hughes. Colorized. 

American ex-GI Harry Miller (Victor Mature) lives in England with his wife, Connie (Gene Anderson) and little boy, Butch (Michael Wade). Desperate to find work he comes afoul of crooked trucker, Joe Easy (Patrick Allen of Night Creatures) and Easy's "easy" girlfriend, Lynn (Diana Dors), who transfers her affections to Harry after Joe is brutal with her. Naturally this doesn't sit well with either Connie or Joe. Still Joe, Harry and Lynn wind up driving a truck full of stolen furs to the river for an illicit rendezvous. They've been told they must get on the ship and sail to America with the furs to avoid prosecution, but Harry may not be able to leave his wife and child behind no matter what ...

Patrick Allen with Mature

The Long Haul is a very good example of British film noir with all of the usual elements. Of course these elements -- desperate man pulled into crime, a tug of war between wife and mistress, sexy femme fatale with redeemable features -- are all quite familiar to the viewer, but they are all blended together quite well and bolstered by some fine acting. In the right role, as this is, Mature can certainly deliver and his portrait of this weak, confused man is right on target. Dors proves that she isn't just big breasts and blond hair. Patrick Allen is also terrific as the slimy Joe, calculating the odds until the last. Liam Redmond and Peter Reynolds are also notable as two ill-fated gentlemen, Casey and Lynn's brother, Frank. Trevor Duncan has crafted an exciting score as well. Reynolds and Dors both appeared in Man Bait. Ken Hughes also wrote and directed Heatwave. 

Verdict: Absorbing, well-acted British crime thriller. ***. 

NO DOWN PAYMENT

Patricia Owens and Jeffrey Hunter

NO DOWN PAYMENT (1957). Director: Martin Ritt. Colorized. 

David and Jean Martin (Jeffrey Hunter of Brainstorm and Patricia Owens of The Fly) move into a lovely post-war housing community called Sunrise Hill. Their neighbors include Jerry and Isabelle Flagg (Tony Randall and Sheree North); Troy and Leola Boone (Cameron Mitchell of Garden of Evil and Joanne Woodward); and Herman and Betty Kreitzer (Pat Hingle and Barbara Rush). The last couple seem to have the most stable and successful lives and marriage. Jerry cheats on Isabelle and puts on a bluff as a supposedly successful car salesman. Troy hopes to become the chief of police but is brutal to his wife when he is upset. Both men drink too  much. When Troy doesn't get the job he wants, he takes out his anger in horrible fashion on poor Jean Martin, who fears what her husband's retaliation might be ... 

Cameron Mitchell and Joanne Woodward

No Down Payment is an absorbing drama which looks at a variety of situations and marriages and does so with a degree of sensitivity and intelligence -- as well as some fine acting. Although she's playing in her over-familiar "poor dumb Southern waif" mode, Woodward gives one of the best performances, along with the always-underrated Mitchell. Tony Randall is a bit miscast as the sleazy lover boy and doesn't quite pull it off. Sheree North successfully subdues the "sex kitten" aspect of her persona. Robert H. Harris is given a couple of good scenes as Randall's boss. There's a very interesting sub-plot with Kreitzer's store employee, the Japanese-American Iko (Aki Aleong), hoping his boss will help him get a house in Sunrise Hill. At the time he appeared in this film, Hunter had been divorced from co-star Barbara Rush for two years. 

Verdict: Notable fifties drama with a fine cast. ***. 

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW

George Nader

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW (1957). Director: Richard Carlson. 

Paul Baxter (George Nader) once had a reputation as an outstanding reporter, but that reputation has been demolished by his alcoholism. His girlfriend, Penny (Joanna Moore), wants to stand by him -- despite the attitude of her highly disapproving brother, Lt. Spencer (Brian Keith) -- but she's reaching the end of her limit. Paul begs her for one last chance, and then fate intervenes. Paul almost literally runs into a gangster, Dutch Hayden (Frank DeKova), after he has supposedly just been shot down in the street by cops a moment before. Now there are two questions: will anyone believe that a notorious drunk like Paul actually saw Hayden, and will the real Hayden arrange to have Paul knocked off before anyone takes him seriously? 

George Nader and Frank DeKova

George Nader was a better actor than people gave him credit for, but the problem in this film is that he never quite comes off like a dissipated drunk -- he should look much, much worse for one thing. Moore makes a sympathetic girlfriend, Keith is on target as usual, and DeKova nearly walks off with the movie. Another important player is Virginia Field, who plays Hayden's girlfriend, the lady who fingered him without the cops being aware that it was actually Hayden's lookalike brother (talk about brotherly love). Nader and DeKova have a good confrontation scene near the end. The script doesn't really make the most of an interesting situation, but it's a fair to middling melodrama. Actor Richard Carlson directed several other films besides this one, as well as episodic television. 

Verdict: **1/2.  

THE GIRL IN THE KREMLIN

Michael Fox and Lex Barker

THE GIRL IN THE KREMLIN (1957). Director: Russell Birdwell.

Joseph Stalin (Maurice Manson) has faked his death with a lookalike corpse, changed his face via plastic surgery, and is hiding out in Greece with associate and assassin Igor Smetka (Michael Fox of The Lost Planet) and his nurse Miss Gresenko (Zsa Zsa Gabor). This woman is the twin of Lily Gresenko (also Gabor) -- the two women were separated and one was taken to Moscow some years before. Lily desperately wants to find her sister, and hires callous private eye Steve Anderson (Lex Barker of Tarzan's Savage Fury) for the job until he deems it too impossible to finish. Importuned by Lily to continue, he teams up with an old friend, a one-armed agent named Mischa (Jeffrey Stone of Money, Women, and Guns). Learning that the monster Stalin may be alive, and that Lily's sister may be with him, the hunt is on. But others are aware of this search, and are going to do their best to stop it, by murder and kidnapping if necessary. 

Zsa Zsa gives two mediocre performances

The Girl in a Kremlin is a lurid melodrama that is caught somewhere between being a serious, if far-fetched, spy thriller and a wild, rather absurd Man from UNCLE episode. Zsa Zsa Gabor, never much of an actress although they kept giving her parts, is slightly better as the Stalin associate than she is as the concerned Lily, but that's not saying much. Lex Barker doesn't put himself out too much, playing the role in a flippant style that makes you wonder why his character bothers doing anything. Jeffrey Stone, the model for Disney's Prince Charming, is much better as the attractive and very appealing Mischa. Perennial supporting player Michael Fox has a good role as an assassin who carries a bullet-firing umbrella, and Maurice Manson is effective as Stalin, and even more so in his new identity, which I won't reveal here. 

Jeffrey Stone and Lex Barker

William Schallert also gives a good performance as Stalin's son, Yakov, who somehow survived his death in a German concentration camp after his father sent him to the front and refused a prisoner exchange that would have brought him home! Norbert Schiller (of The Return of Dracula) scores as Brubov, who is told he must kill Steve if he wants to see his wife and boys again, and dresses up as a nun to carry out his assignment. Elena Da Vinci makes a sinister, whip-wielding Olga, Smetka's wife, and Phillipa Fallon sneers competently as her associate, Nina. At one point Steve is whipped by Olga. Meanwhile Zsa Zsa has a cat fight with herself. 

Natalie Daryll gets her head shaved

One cast member you can only feel pity for is Natalie Daryll, who plays Russian prisoner, Dasha. In an early, protracted sequence, she has her locks shorn and head shaved in almost pornographic detail, right down to the use of a straight razor and shaving cream. This whole business is not faked and one can only hope the poor woman was well paid for this disturbing exhibition. This was her first and last movie; and she had only two TV credits afterwards. The whole sequence is rather pointless aside from illustrating Stalin's weird tastes and cruelty. As for the movie, it is strangely compelling and entertaining if impossible to take entirely seriously. DeWitt Bodeen was one of the screenwriters. No composer is credited, but the score, presumably stock music, really helps put the movie over.

Verdict: Here's a strange one! ***.  

THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT

Anthony Franciosa, Jean Simmons, Paul Douglas

THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT (1957). Director: Robert Wise. 

Anne Leeds (Jean Simmons of Angel Face) is a schoolteacher who inexplicably gets part-time work as a secretary for one of the partners, Rocco (Paul Douglas), in a Manhattan nightclub. Rocco's partner, playboy Tony Armotti (Anthony Franciosa), thinks Anne, due to her upper-crust education, is stuck up and doesn't belong in the club, but Rocco takes a shine to her. As Tony and Anne work out their differences, other denizens of the club interact with our trio: singer Ivy (Julie Wilson); dancer Patsy (Neile Adams) and her mother Crystal (Joan Blondell); Hussein (Rafael Campos), a busboy who slowly warms up to Anne; and slick lawyer, Devlin (Tom Helmore). Will Anne and Tony ever get together, and what will Rocco think of it when they do?

Jean Simmons and Anthony Franciosa

This Could Be the Night came out two years after the film version of Guys and Dolls, which also starred Jean Simmons, and while it's a quite different story and may take place in a different time period, I doubt if it's a coincidence that it presents a "greenhorn" (virgin) interacting with various gangster and nightclub types. There are musical numbers in this, too, although they are integrated into the nightclub setting and This Could is not a musical as such. The three leads all give very good performances. However, one has to say that while Franciosa is a very good and intense actor, he is not a charm boy. He plays a scene with some schoolchildren with absolutely no humor at all!

Simmons, Franciosa, and Rafael Campos

Although one can understand why no cult grew up around singer Julie Wilson as it did around Judy Garland, she is a snazzy entertainer and is okay as an actress; she was essentially a cabaret star. Filipino Neile Adams appeared on Broadway, in a couple of films and several TV shows, but her chief claim to fame was as the wife of eventual superstar Steve McQueen (from 1956 - 1972). Joan Blondell is fat, unpleasantly brassy, and unappealing in this. Along with the leads Adams and Blondell are shown in the end credits, but not Rafael Campos, which is distinctly unfair. Talented Campos [Lady in a Cage] is exuberant and quite good in the film and has at least as much to do as the other two. (Frankly, I didn't understand the whole business with Hussein being able to change his name if he passes an algebra test!?) 

Franciosa with William Joyce

Another interesting player is William (Ogden) Joyce, who plays Bruce, a fellow teacher of Anne's who, oddly, never gets to first base with her -- he isn't treated all that well. (Joyce is handsome and adept in this but his only leading role was in I Eat Your Skin.) Attractive bandleader and trumpeter Ray Anthony [Girls Town], one-time husband of Mamie Van Doren, is cast as himself and exudes charm, and J. Carrol Naish plays the club chef with his usual charisma.  While the three lead characters are fairly well-developed, and there's some attempt to flesh out the supporting characters, the portraits tend to be on the superficial side. This is a somewhat unusual directorial assignment for Robert Wise. The film is sharply photographed by Russell Harlan. 

Verdict: With good actors and several interesting sequences, this is smooth entertainment. ***. 

SAY ONE FOR ME

Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner

SAY ONE FOR ME (1959). Produced and directed by Frank Tashlin. 

Father Conroy (Bing Crosby) has a parish in the middle of the theater district and holds services at two in the morning. When one parishioner, Harry (Les Tremayne), falls ill and can't work, his daughter, Holly (Debbie Reynolds), takes up the slack. Harry and Father Conroy think she's working as a secretary, but Holly is actually appearing in a nightclub with her smooth and handsome partner and boss, Tony Vincent (Robert Wagner). Now the trick is to keep that wolf Tony at bay while both of them jockey for stardom. When Father Conroy gets a chance to put together a TV special, Tony thinks he's In Like Flynn -- but is he?

Ray Walston with Der Bingle

Say One for Me is artificial from the first frame to the last, and comes off more like something out of the 1930s than the 1950s. Bing doesn't strain too much to put over his familiar portrayal of Father Conroy, and Reynolds and Wagner are perfectly professional. Wagner sings and dances in this, but he's no threat to Fred Astaire. The supporting cast is perhaps of more interest: In addition to Tremayne, we've got Connie Gilchrist as the priest's cook and housekeeper; Joe Besser -- "Stinky" on The Abbott and Costello Show -- as Tony's manager; and especially Ray Walston in a terrific turn as an alcoholic associate of Tony's. Father Conroy cures the man of his addiction overnight! 

Judy Harriet as June January

There are a few songs by Cahn and Van Heusen, most of which are forgettable, with the exception of Bing's "I Couldn't Care Less" and "Christmas All Year Through." Judy Harriet plays a girl who is rejected for the nightclub by Tony and tells him in a year she'll be a star, which happens at the end of the movie as she warbles her hit record, "The Night Rock n Roll Died" -- also forgettable. The best music in the movie is actually the theme music by Lionel Newman. If the movie weren't treacly enough, it also throws in a baby and an unwed mother. Sebastian Cabot shows  up briefly as a fat Monsignor, and Herb Alpert is the sexy trumpet player in the background of one of the numbers.

Verdict: You can stand this for about an hour but unfortunately it's two hours long! **.   

APRIL LOVE

Sing out: Shirley Jones and Patty Boone

APRIL LOVE (1957). Director: Henry Levin. 

Nick Conover (Pat Boone of State Fair) is supposedly a "bad boy" who was sent from Chicago to Kentucky by his mother after his being arrested for taking a joy ride. Living with his Aunt Henrietta (Jeanette Nolan) and grumpy Uncle Jed (Arthur O'Connell of Anatomy of a Murder) on their farm, he fixes the old man's tractor and develops a crush on the neighbor gal, Fran (Delores Michaels). This doesn't sit well with Fran's sister, Liz (Shirley Jones), who develops a yen for Nick herself. And besides, Fran already has a boyfriend in Dan (Matt Crowley). Before a major triangle can develop, however, Nick bonds with a beautiful horse named Tugfire, who used to belong to Jed's son (who was killed in the war), and before you know it he's off to the races! But will his bad behavior back in Chicago catch up with him? 

Off to the races!

Hardly a classic, April Love succeeds on sheer amiability and the likability of its players. With a credible Boone in the lead the film becomes a musical, with him and others warbling several numbers. A couple of these are instantly forgettable but "A Gentle Girl" and the title tune are pleasant numbers, very well-sung by Boone, who now and then reminds one of Crosby. Delores Michaels [The Wayward Bus] was an attractive and talented actress who had a limited number of credits. Second lead Matt Crowley mostly had television credits. Henry Levin was a very busy director who worked with Boone on three films. 

NOTE:  April Love is a remake of Home in Indiana, which has a bit more pathos and sentiment but is not as smooth and entertaining as this. This version turns the two rivals for the hero's affections into sisters, and also gives the uncle a son who died in the war. It eliminates the likable if stereotypical black characters. There are no musical numbers in the original film.  

Verdict: The horse nearly steals the show! ***. 

THE WAYWARD BUS

Jayne Mansfield, Delores Michaels, Rick Jason

THE WAYWARD BUS (1957). Director: Victor Vicas. 

Johnny Chicoy (Rick Jason of This is My Love) drives his bus on a route across the border into San Juan while his wife, Alice (Joan Collins of Land of the Pharaohs), runs the truck stop diner where the passengers embark. Both are afraid that they are not truly loved by their spouse. As Johnny walks out in anger, he gets involved with some of the passengers, who include the dyspeptic Van Brunt (Will Wright); Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard (Larry Keating and Kathryn Givney); their daughter Mildred (Delores Michaels), who has a yen for Johnny; travelling salesman Ernest Horton (Dan Dailey); and erotic entertainer Camille Oaks (Jayne Mansfield), who dodges passes from both Horton and Pritchard but winds up falling for the former. Not only is there the question of whether or not the passengers' assorted issues can be resolved, but if they'll even survive the trip when very dangerous weather conditions threaten their very lives. 

Rick Jason and Joan Collins

The Wayward Bus, taken from a John Steinbeck novel, is an unusual, imperfect, but ultimately worthwhile picture. With his handsome, masculine features and decided acting ability -- he gives a very strong performance in this -- Rick Jason should have become a major star, but the film was not a big hit. Almost completely deglamorized for this role of a drab housewife and cook, Joan Collins is less miscast than you might imagine and is effective. The romance between Dailey and Mansfield is never convincing, although Dailey is winning and Mansfield is at least competent, but there are dozens of actresses, Monroe included, who would have been stronger. Delores Michaels is lovely in the movie -- making much more of an impression than Mansfield -- but she only had a few credits after this. In addition to the actors already named, we have nice performances from Betty Lou Keim, as Norma the counter girl, and (Mr.) Dee Pollock as Kit, the teenager who assists Johnny and Alice; he had a long career. Robert Bray makes an impression as Morse, who has a hankering for Alice. 

In addition to some very good acting, The Wayward Bus has other plusses, such as the widescreen cinematography by Charles G. Clarke and a fine, evocative and highly interesting musical score by Leigh Harline. There is also a splendid action sequence when the bus must travel over a very, very long and crumbling wooden bridge directly over rushing rapids  -- this sequence is a nail-biter. The film was undoubtedly made just to take advantage of the publicity for the earlier Bus Stop, which starred Monroe, also featured bus trips and truck stops, and even had Robert Bray in the cast. 

Verdict: Memorable "lost" film with some very good performances. ***. 

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957). Director: Alexander Mackendrick. 

"You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." 

Powerful newspaper columnist J. J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), who seems to have an incestuous yen for his sister, Susan (Susan Harrison), is determined to keep her from marrying a musician (Martin Milner), and importunes press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) to help him break the couple up. This study of loathsome and immoral characters isn't really about show biz or newspapers or even columnists but it seems almost as hollow at its center as its protagonist. Part of the problem is that you never really believe Lancaster as Hunsecker, although by no means does he give a bad performance. Then the secondary love story isn't that convincing or moving. Susan Harrison and Barbara Nichols have some nice moments -- Milner is okay if a bit stiff -- but the picture is positively stolen by a ferocious, charismatic and altogether splendid performance by Tony Curtis. That's the main reason to watch the film. 

Verdict: Curtis' finest hour. **1/2.

POOR WHITE TRASH (1957)

Timothy Carey, Peter Graves and Lita Milan

POOR WHITE TRASH (aka Bayou/1957). Director: Harold Daniels. 

New York architect Martin Davis (Peter Graves of Stalag 17) comes down to the bayou hoping to get assigned to a building project, but he's told by the man who called for him (Douglas Fowley) that he has to fight for the job. Martin is an intelligent man who refuses to sink down to other people's levels whether it comes to scrabbling with competitors or in actual fist fights. Martin, however, learns that he may have to fight for Marie Hebert (Lita Milan of I Mobster), a pretty Cajun woman who has innocently ignited the lust of shop owner Ulysses (Timothy Carey of Paths of Glory) and with whom Martin falls in love.  

Lita Milan and Peter Graves

Poor White Trash is actually the 1961 re-release title of a film originally called Bayou, which has some additional footage and a prologue where a man sings the catchy title tune. The most lurid -- and somewhat cinematic -- sequence has Ulysses chasing Marie through the mud of the swamp and finally cornering the exhausted woman. Marie is clearly raped (even if it isn't depicted graphically) but she has no reaction to this, offering Ulysses some money she owes him the next day as if nothing had happened instead of kicking him in the balls or telling her fellow Cajuns. This is clearly the fault of the script, although Milan herself registers nothing but a mild weariness after what would have had to have been a traumatic experience. 

"an orgiastic, self-flagellating dance"

Otherwise, Milan is attractive and appealing in the film. Graves was never a great actor, and this film offers more evidence of that, although he does register competence and likability. Douglas Fowley is fine as Martin's friend but he gets into a bit of trouble when he also essays Marie's dotty father, Emil. Timothy Carey, the Nicolas Cage of an earlier generation, displays his trademark intensity and is quite good as Ulysses, although one doesn't know quite what to make of the sequence when he does a kind of orgiastic, self-flagellating dance halfway through the movie. This uncomfortable sequence goes on for far too long, which is also the case in a love scene over which the storm outside is not-so-cleverly superimposed.  

Ed Nelson has a small role, but although Jonathan Haze of Little Shop of Horrors is also in the film I didn't spot him. There is some atmospheric photography and a vaguely evocative score by Gerald Fried. One of the film's most disturbing scenes is actually a party scene celebrating the marriage of an elderly man to a very young girl who looks like she'd like to run away from the oldster as fast as her feet could take her. 

Verdict: A trashy curiosity indeed. **. 

FOUR BOYS AND A GUN

Hinnant, Franciscus, Sutton, and Green -- with the gun

FOUR BOYS AND A GUN (1957). Director: William Berke.

Four young neighborhood buddies have their problems. Eddie (Tarry Green) learns that his girlfriend, Marie (Diana Herbert), is dating their boss, who fires him. Ollie (Frank Sutton) has gambling debts that could get his legs broken. Johnny (James Franciscus of I Passed for White), who has a wife and baby on the way and has high hopes for a boxing career, is told he's strictly an amateur with no future. Stanley (William Hinnant) is a little nerd who can't get a girlfriend. To make matters worse, the proceeds for a dance they put together, hundreds of dollars, are stolen by some hoods.

James Franciscus

The "boys" -- with the exception of Johnny -- go on a nasty spree where they mug a cab driver and walk out of an expensive restaurant without paying. They then importune Johnny in joining them in a robbery of the arena where he had his last fight. Unfortunately, during the botched robbery, a police officer with a family is shot and killed. Although technically all four of the participants are guilty of murder, the DA wants to know specifically which one fired the gun. Amidst flashbacks showing events leading up to the robbery, the boys contemplate their future and try to blame each other for what happened.

Frank Sutton and Tarry Green

Four Boys and a Gun is an unusual feature with an intriguing storyline. None of the characters are especially likable, however, even the more sympathetic Stanley and the more mature Johnny. In fact, most of them come off like total creeps. The boys develop some very unlikely nobility at the end, which is otherwise uncompromising. The dialogue as they analyze each other's shortcomings in crude fashion rings true, although the legal aspects are suspect. The performances are too stagy at times, with Sutton making the best impression. Of the four actors, Franciscus had the biggest career, although Sutton eventually played the nasty marine on Gomer Pyle. This was the only film Tarry Green appeared in, although he did have a couple of TV credits. William Hinnant had a few more credits and also did a lot of stage work. He died at 42 in a drowning accident. Smaller roles are played by Frank Campanella as a cop, Nancy Devlin as Eddie's sister, who likes Ollie, and Patricia Bosworth as Johnny's pregnant wife.

Verdict: Something different. **3/4. 

PATHS OF GLORY

Kirk Douglas and George Macready

PATHS OF GLORY (1957). Director: Stanley Kubrick.

"There is no such thing as shell shock." -- General Mireau

French WW 1 General Paul Mireau (George Macready) initially makes it clear to General Brouard (Adolphe Menjou) that there is no way his battalion can possibly take a strategic position known as the "anthill." But Mireau changes his tune when Brousard talks about a promotion, even though they expect at least 60% casualties among their men.

Wayne Morris and Ralph Meeker

Now Mireau's second-in-command Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) is told in no uncertain terms that the men -- already exhausted and demoralized -- must take the hill the next day or else. Although the soldiers try their damnedest, it is an impossible and indeed suicidal task, and Mireau accuses them of cowardice. (Mireau even wants to fire on his own men because they aren't moving fast enough!) Mireau is talked out of shooting a hundred soldiers, but three are to be court-marshaled as an example. These three men are Private Arnaud (Joe Turkel of The Glass Wall); Private Ferol (Timothy Carey of The World's Greatest Sinner and Kubrick's The Killing); and Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker), who is picked because he knows that his superior officer, Lt. Roget (Wayne Morris), essentially murdered one of his soldiers. Dax represents the men in what is basically a kangaroo court with an outcome that is clearly pre-ordained.

Old pros: Macready and Menjou

Paths of Glory is a powerful and maddening film, examining the outrageous miscarriages of justice and heartlessness that can take place during war time even among men fighting on the same side. The performances are excellent: a borderline slimy Menjou; an upright and morally-repulsed Douglas; Meeker, whose trademark cockiness eventually vanishes when he faces his own mortality; and Wayne Morris giving an unexpectedly strong performance as the morally-bankrupt Roget. Turkel and Carey are also notable -- as is Richard Anderson as the prosecutor --  but the one actor who positively walks away with the film is George Macready, who gives an absolutely ferocious and mesmerizing portrayal of the utterly loathsome and infuriating Mireau -- forget Gilda (in which I didn't think Macready was even all that great), this is the performance he should be remembered for.

Kubrick beautifully -- or rather horrifically -- recreates the WW 1 battlefield, and scenes of the men in the trenches as bombs explode unnervingly all around them are compelling, The film almost goes a bit off-course in the second half when it has aspects that remind one of the later Dr. Strangelove, but for the most part this is one of Kubrick's most successful and effective movies. Several years later the film King and Country had a similar theme but was not as good.

Verdict: George Macready's finest hour and a half and a highly memorable if imperfect picture for Kubrick. ***1/2. 

THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN

Jane Russell and Ralph Meeker

THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN (1957). Director: Norman Taurog.

Movie star Laurel Stevens (Jane Russell of Foxfire) is planning to attend the premiere of her new film The Kidnapped Bride, when she's actually kidnapped by two, fortunately, nice guys named Mike (Ralph Meeker) and Dandy (Keenan Wynn). Mike spent four years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, which makes Laurel feel sympathetic towards him. It also doesn't hurt that he's a rather sexy man. While Laurel's assistant Bertha (Una Merkel) and agent (Robert H. Harris) try frantically to find her, studio head Arthur Martin (Adolphe  Menjou) wants to keep it out of the papers, afraid it is -- or at least everyone will think it is -- nothing more than a publicity stunt. If Laurel admits she was kidnapped Mike could go to jail, but if she doesn't, her public could turn on her.

Adolphe Menjou, Una Merkel, Robert H. Harris

The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown has an interesting premise and holds the attention, but the movie could only have worked if it was a riotous farce, which it isn't; the picture has only a few chuckles. Yet a scene wherein Laurel and Mike drive off in a police car is so ridiculous that even Ralph Meeker looks irritated. The performances are good enough on one level -- although Meeker would never make a deft comedian -- but the leads take a back seat to Robert Harris, who is quite funny as the agent. Although Russell did appear in a few more movies, this was her last starring role, and her age was beginning to show -- it didn't help that Fuzzy was a flop. Ralph Meeker [Jeopardy] was seen to good advantage in Paths of Glory that same year.

Verdict: Ironically, Jane Russell's swan song as a major movie star. **1/2. 

THE BURGLAR

Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea

THE BURGLAR (1957). Director: Paul Wendkos.

Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) leads a small gang of criminals, including Gladden (Jayne Mansfield), the girl he was raised with. They steal a very valuable necklace from a old lady spiritualist, Sister Sarah (Phoebe MacKay), who lives in a sprawling mansion. Now the question is whether to sell the necklace at a great loss or wait until the heat is off, a suggestion that does not sit well with Baylock (Peter Capell of The Fury of the Cocoon), who is desperate to get out of the country. None of them are aware that another person is watching them and scheming ...

Martha Vickers and Dan Duryea

The Burglar is an interesting crime melodrama that just misses being special. Duryea gives a solid performance, although Mansfield comes off like an amateur, and one doesn't buy that she "hungers" for Duryea (the only actor billed above the title). Stewart Bradley, who was "introduced" in this picture (he had had previous TV credits but this was his first movie role) makes a definite impression as the cop, Charlie. Martha Vickers (one of Mickey Rooney's ex-wives and who also appeared in The Big Bluff) also makes an impression as Della, a woman who picks up Nat in a bar and has a few secrets of her own. Mickey Shaughnessy  plays Dohmer, another member of the gang who is a little too trigger-happy. The Burglar features interesting settings in Philly and Atlantic City, such as a shack on the lonely coast and a fun house where the climax takes place. Paul Wendkos also directed the excellent Brotherhood of the Bell.

Verdict: Not quite top-drawer but it does hold the attention. **3/4. 

BERNARDINE

Pat Boone and Dick Sargent

BERNARDINE (1957). Director: Henry Levin.

Some high school pals in a club imagine the perfect woman and for unaccountable reasons call her "Bernardine." One afternoon Sanford Wilson (Dick Sargent) meets a beautiful young lady named Jean (Terry Moore of Mighty Joe Young), and he is instantly smitten -- she is his Bernardine. The other guys in the club also think Jean is special, but her relationship with Sanford hits the rocks when she meets Langley (James Drury), the handsome older brother of Sanford's friend, Beau (Pat Boone). With a little help from his friends, Sanford tries to win the hand of fair lady.

Terry Moore and Dick Sargent

Although Pat Boone and Terry Moore are top-billed in Bernardine, the main character and the one who gets the most running time, is Dick Sargent's Sanford. Pat Boone, playing a very unlikable person (although most of the boys in the film are unlikable) does have some screen time and gets to warble three numbers, the okay title tune, the highly sexist "Technique," and the more memorable "Love Letters in the Sand," which I believe was a big hit for Boone, who kind of imitates Der Bingle a bit. Terry Moore actually has very little to do in the film considering she is the leading lady. Bernardine asks us to accept Sargent, Boone, Ronnie Burns, and others as high school students when they have clearly left their teenage years far behind them. This makes their behavior at times seem borderline grotesque. They are particularly obnoxious to a nerd named Kinswood (Hooper Dunbar), although eventually he's somewhat accepted by the others.

Janet Gaynor

Natalie Schafer plays Boone's mother in a couple of brief scenes, but the stand-out in this is Janet Gaynor [Sunrise], who plays Sargent's mom and is given a couple of strong moments. "It's crazy, it's wild, it's improbable -- but don't tell me you passed!" she says to Sanford, who is not a great student. Sargent has some good moments, too, but again he's too old, his character isn't very appealing, and the more serious moments when he's dealing with heartbreak are almost worse than the comedy sequences. Although Sargent subsequently appeared with Boone in Mardi Gras, his film career never really developed and he mostly did television. Walter Abel and Dean Jagger are also in the film. This was Pat Boone's first movie and Janet Gaynor's last; she had two television credits after that.

Verdict: In spite of "Love Letters in the Sand," this is so bad it's depressing. *1/2. 

UNTAMED YOUTH

Mamie Van Doren, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson

UNTAMED YOUTH (1957). Director: Howard W. Koch.

Two sisters heading for Hollywood -- Penny (Mamie Van Doren of The Girl in Black Stockings) and Jane (Lori Nelson) -- are arrested for vagrancy and sent to a work farm for thirty days by Judge Steele (Lurene Tuttle). The farm is owned by Russ Tropp (John Russell), whose housekeepers are girls who offer certain services in exchange for "special privileges." Tropp orders his latest "housekeeper," Lillibet (Jeanne Carmen) back to the barracks with the other girls, resulting in a catfight. The judge sends her son, Bob (Don Burnett), to work at the farm as a regular employee -- he doesn't know that his mother and Tropp are secretly married. And the judge doesn't know about the deplorable conditions at the farm ...

Cougar? The judge (Tuttle, right) hankers for Russell

Untamed Youth is a hoot. Wayward girls, handsome guys, Mamie Van Doren, John Russell, catfights, a female judge who's a cougar -- all this and the movie is a musical, too! Yes, there are several snappy if unmemorable rock 'n' roll numbers supposedly warbled by Van Doren, who zestily shows off her impressive figure when dancing all over the place. The matronly Tuttle and hunky Russell certainly make a comically mismatched pair, Carmen is vivid as Lillibet, and Burnett [Damon and Pythias] is appealing as the sensitive Bob, who falls for Jane.

Mother and son: Don Burnett and Lurene Tuttle

And then there's Mamie, in a role best suited for her talents. In this she's a good girl, not a slut, and she resists advances by Russell. Her performance is more than adequate and she has an out-sized personality that helped her get a minor foothold in Hollywood B movies. Lurene Tuttle gives the best performance as the middle-aged woman who falls in love not at all wisely but well. Wally Brown makes his mark as the deceptively sympathetic cook, Pinky (even if he feeds the kids dog food!) and Michael Emmet [Attack of the Giant Leeches] shows up as a kindly doctor who treats one ill-fated pregnant girl, Baby (Yvonne Lime of Dragstrip Riot).

With a better script Untamed Youth might have emerged a credible melodrama instead of the somewhat campy exploitation picture it is. But on that level, the movie is fun.

Verdict: Catch Mamie doing "Slimy as a Salamander!" **1/2. 

BAND OF ANGELS

Clark Gable and Yvonne De Carlo

BAND OF ANGELS (1957). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In Kentucky in the 1880's, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) discovers after her father's death that her mother was a slave, she is mulatto (although that term is never used), and she has lost everything, including her father's plantation, to his creditors. She is sold into slavery and acquired for $5000 by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), who treats his slaves with more kindness than others. But Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), whom Bond has raised like a son, feels that no amount of kindness can make up for his not being free. Rumblings from up North indicate that the so-called glory days of the South may just about be over.

Sidney Poitier and Carolle Drake

Band of Angels is based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men), and it had to be much, much better than this film version, which is more along the lines of a Clark Gable Retread of Gone With the Wind than anything else. The shame of it is that there is plenty of provocative material in here, but the picture is a morally ambiguous mish mash that throws scenes at the viewer without any great coherency or momentum. One wishes that many of the characters, especially the black characters, had been better developed.

Amantha sets herself apart from her people

The treatment of racism is also comparatively trivialized and confused, to put it mildly. On the one hand, the film focuses on an interracial relationship (although both characters are played by white actors). On the other hand, Amantha spends most of the movie denying her heritage. Gable's character is also problematic, a slave trader who supposedly buys up slaves to keep them out of the hands of nastier owners out of guilt over his former actions. He mentions the real-life African King Gezo, who sold his own people, but this hardly excuses the actions of white slave traders. In Warren's book Bond comes to a much more satisfying end than he does in the movie.

Gable's performance is professional but comparatively passionless, while De Carlo is somewhat better. Notable in smaller roles are Andrea King as a supposed friend of Amamtha's, Rex Reason [This Island Earth] as a minister-turned-soldier who falls for Amantha, and Torin Thatcher [The 7th Voyage of Sinbad] as an old comrade of Bond's. Sidney Poitier gives the best performance in the film as the servant-son who becomes an understandably vengeful sergeant in the Union Army, and there is also good work from Carolle Drake as Michelle, another servant who seems to love Bond unconditionally. (Ms.) Tommie Moore plays another servant, Dolly, as if she thought she were appearing in an operetta! Robert Clarke and Ann Doran show up in bits and Patrick Knowles plays another plantation owner who nearly has a duel with Gable. Lucien Ballard's cinematography is first-rate, as usual, but Max Steiner's score can in no way be compared to his fine work on Gone With the Wind and other films.

Verdict: Patronizing and contrived, with an interesting plot pretty much muffed. **.

NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957)

NIGHT OF THE DEMON (aka Curse of the Demon/1957). Director: Jacques Tourneur. Screenplay by Charles Bennett and Hal Chester. Based on "Casting the Runes" by M. R. James.

Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham), who has challenged the abilities and veracity of a warlock named Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis), finds himself under a deadly curse, and is found dead and mutilated the following morning. Another skeptic, psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews), arrives in London and hooks up with Harrington's beautiful niece, Joanna (Peggy Cummins), who is convinced that her uncle's death was not a grotesque accident. Holden is a complete non-believer, but he admits he is baffled by some of the things that have happened since he has encountered Karswell, whose supernatural claims he has come to investigate. Holden discovers that Karswell has secretly passed him a parchment covered in runic symbols which mark Holden as the next victim of a legendary demon. Although Holden scoffs at first, Joanna's near-hysteria and certain occurrences make him wonder if he really has something to fear ...

Dana Andrews and Peggy Cummins

Night of the Demon was released in the U.S. under the title Curse of the Demon with fifteen minutes cut from the running time. It is a superior horror film, with very good performances, a wonderfully creepy atmosphere, adroit direction from Tourneur, and sequences that stay in the memory. Clifton Parker's music adds just the right note, and Edward Scaife's [Tarzan's Three Challenges] cinematography is first-rate. At the time of the film's release and later, there were some who objected to the producers' insistence on including a demon during key sequences, suggesting that this ruined the ambiguity of the film -- is the supernatural real or is everyone over-reacting? -- but there are other sequences in the film (footprints suddenly appearing in the ground where no one is walking; a cat that turns into a much larger feline creature; those hands on the banister) that make it clear that the supernatural events are actually occurring. Besides, the monster looks great. Andrews' panicky run through the midnight woods with something after him is chilling, and despite the film's essential grimness, there is an amusing seance that features comic actor Reginald Beckwith, with Athene Seyler  [I Thank a Fool] as Karswell's conflicted mother. Brian Wilde makes an impression as the haunted prisoner, Rand Hobart, a member of Karswell's sect who has been driven insane. Tourneur also directed I Walked with a Zombie, among many others, but this is by far the better film.

Verdict: A highly effective, engrossing, well-made and scary horror film without a single severed limb and with a fine script by Charles Bennett and Hal Chester. ***1/2.