THE BIG CIRCUS

THE BIG CIRCUS (1959). Produced by Irwin Allen. Directed by Joseph M. Newman. 

Circus owner Hank Whirling (Victor Mature) has just split off from his former partner and is determined to make a go of it on his own. Randy Sherman (Red Buttons) is assigned by the bank that loaned him money to keep him on the financial straight and narrow and also hired a public relations woman named Helen (Rhonda Fleming). For reasons that are never quite explained, Hank objects to having a woman doing publicity for him, and the two come to figurative blows almost immediately. A bigger problem is that an unknown person working with Hank's former partner is committing dangerous acts of sabotage. A variety of problems seem to be working against the circus' success as the bank keeps threatening to foreclose ... 

Red Buttons and Victor Mature

Producer Irwin Allen later became famous for his disaster flicks but The Big Circus is no disaster. The film is well-paced and quite entertaining, with some very satisfying performances. Red Buttons and Gilbert Roland as a first-class high-wire aerialist, come off best, along with Kathryn Grant, saucy and sexy, as Hank's sister. Mature saunters through the movie with his usual aplomb and Fleming is also appealing as his very feminine combatant. Vincent Price is adept if under-utilized as the ringmaster, and David Nelson [The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker], although he has little to do until the climax, plays a role very different from his part on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Peter Lorre is as lovable as ever as a clown in greasepaint. Although the process work isn't always great, the best and most suspenseful scene has to do with Roland's thrilling walk on a cable across the entire length of Niagara Falls! 

Verdict: This is superior to Jumbo and The Greatest Show on Earth. ***. 

CAPTAIN KIDD

Charles Laughton as Captain Kidd

CAPTAIN KIDD (1945). Director: Rowland V. Lee.

Captain William Kidd (Charles Laughton) presents himself to King William III (Henry Daniell) and is assigned to keep pirates from attacking a British ship filled with booty. Kidd, of course, has other ideas about what to do with that ship. Kidd gathers a crew of cutthroats under sentence and offers them a pardon if they serve on board his ship. One of these men, Adam Mercy (Randolph Scott), hides a secret: that Kidd murdered his father. When the British ship is destroyed and stripped of her bounty, the beautiful Lady Anne (Barbara Britton) is taken aboard -- she and Adam will form a romantic alliance, but getting away from Captain Kidd may not be so easy. 

Laughton with John Carradine

Captain Kidd is a good movie with a great lead performance. The movie has humor, and Laughton makes the most of it without ever descending into parody. Although he appears briefly, Daniell is wonderful as the king, and John Carradine is also notable as a not-so-friendly associate of Kidd's. Reginald Owen also has a nice turn as Shadwell, a gentleman's gentleman who has been hired to remove all the considerable rough edges from Kidd -- who desires a peerage -- and who winds up allying himself with Adam and Lady Anne. Although they have a lot to do, Scott and Britton are outclassed in this company. Barbara Britton became better-known for her television work on Mr. and Mrs. North with Richard Denning. Gilbert Roland is one of Kidd's crew, as is Sheldon Leonard, whom I didn't even recognize. 

Verdict: Heavily fictionalized but entertaining look at the infamous alleged pirate with an absolutely marvelous Laughton. ***.  

THE OTHER LOVE

Richard Conte and Barbara Stanwyck

THE OTHER LOVE (1947). Director: Andre De Toth.

"I'm not fooled, doctor. I know death is a guest here. Though he sent me his compliments."

Karen Duncan (Barbara Stanwyck) is a successful concert pianist who comes to a sanitarium for treatment of an unspecified illness. She and her doctor, Anthony Stanton (David Niven), find themselves falling for one another, and he suggests that Karen spend many months just resting. But Karen is restless for life, and goes off with race car driver Paul Clermont (Richard Conte) for a romantic and wearying time in Monte Carlo. Trying to evade her fate, Karen only gets sicker ... The Other Love is based on the story "Beyond" by Erich Maria Remarque. Fourteen years after The Other Love was released, Remarque wrote the novel "Heaven Plays No Favorites," which was filmed as the Al Pacino starrer Bobby Deerfield, which also deals with a dying woman and a race car driver. The Other Love proves no more convincing than Deerfield and Stanwyck's fine performance is wasted in a trite, superficial soap opera. Although Stanwyck is never that good at portraying vulnerability, she easily out-acts her two male co-stars. Gilbert Roland has a nice turn as a croupier who tries to take advantage of Karen, and Joan Lorring [The Corn is Green] is notable as another doomed patient in the sanitarium. Natalie Schafer briefly appears to sparkle in that certain sleazy way of hers as a guest at Monte Carlo. Miklos Rozsa' score doesn't help at all. Roland had a much more memorable appearance with Stanwyck in The Furies. NOTE: For more on Bobby Deerfield see Al Pacino In Films and On Stage.

Verdict: Dark Victory this isn't. **.

THE FURIES

Gilbert Roland and Barbara Stanwyck

THE FURIES (1950). Director: Anthony Mann.

Vance Jeffords (Barbara Stanwyck), daughter of rancher T.J. Jeffords (Walter Huston) on a ranch called the Furies in 1870, certainly has her problems. She's in love with swaggering banker Rip Darrow (Wendell Corey, not exactly the swaggering type, but not bad), who'd rather have her father's money. Her friend Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland), one of a family of squatters, is in love with her but he doesn't quite make her engine rumble. Worst of all, daddy has brought home a strong, conniving lady named Flo (Judith Anderson), who threatens Vance's status on the ranch -- watch for those fireworks! Anderson, Huston and Stanwyck are splendid in this fascinating sex-western dealing with the [nearly incestuous] love and hatred between equally strong father and daughter. As Juan's sharp-shooting mother, Blanche Yurka is nearly as vengeful in this as she was in A Tale of Two Cities. Albert Dekker of Dr. Cyclops shows up briefly and Beulah Bondi has a small but effective bit late in the picture. John Bromfield has one of his more significant roles as Stanwyck's brother, Clay, although his character is never developed that much. Franz Waxman's excellent score, and Victor Milner and Lee Garmes' striking widescreen photography make this a pleasure to look at as well as to hear. Although some scenes, such as a hanging in which the victim goes meekly to the rope, don't quite come off, The Furies is consistently absorbing and -- best of all -- unpredictable. Written by Charles Schnee from a novel by Niven Busch.

Verdict: Highly satisfying western melodrama. ***1/2.

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR SEASON 1

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR [1962 - 1965]. First season. 

The half hour Alfred Hitchcock Presents expanded into an hour with a name change to match but with the same droll introductions by the inimitable Alfred Hitchcock. As usual the stories ran the gamut from chillers to crime dramas to suspense stories to murder mysteries. Surprisingly, many of them lacked a final twist or other clever aspect, but were more matter-of-fact, rescued by a good plot or excellent performances. Most of the episodes of the first season were in the "B" or "C" category -- with a couple of "D's" -- but there were also several outstanding "A" episodes. These include: "Captive Audience," with a superb James Mason as a writer losing his grip on reality over a beautiful woman (Angie Dickinson); "Hangover," with Tony Randall trying to piece together the past few days with the help of Jayne Mansfield (whose appearance and solid non-sex kitten performance are a very pleasant surprise); "Paragon," a strange story about a completely self-absorbed woman played winningly by Joan Fontaine; the very moving "Lonely Heart," in which Nancy Kelly is convinced that Gena Rowlands was accidentally given her own baby [both actresses are excellent]; and the completely unpredictable "Death and the Joyful Woman," in which Gilbert Roland ferociously plays a monster father and Lorraine Day is equally good as the secretary who is in love with him. Even the less interesting shows are quite entertaining and well-acted. 

Verdict: Good show, Hitch! ***.

OUR BETTERS

OUR BETTERS (1933). Director: George Cukor.

"Think of the people who have married for love. After five years do they care for each other any more than those who married for money?"

An American gal named Pearl (Constance Bennett) marries an impoverished British Lord and becomes Lady Grayston, only to learn on her wedding day that all her husband is interested in is her money and that he already has a lover on the side. Thereafter cynical, sophisticated Pearl becomes the giver of some of England's most notorious parties. Her friends include gossipy Thornton (Grant Mitchell, the father in The Man Who Came to Dinner); Duchess Minnie (Violet Kemble Cooper) and the gigolo, Pepi (Gilbert Roland), that she's keeping; and Arthur (Minor Watson), a pleasant middle-aged man who's in love with her. Then there's the dance instructor, Ernest (Tyrell Davis), who shows up at the end and is as ludicrous a gay stereotype as anything in The Producers. Taken from a play by Somerset Maugham, the movie is full of good dialogue and has some funny scenes, especially a rib-tickler involving Pepi. Bennett is arch and hard and very good, Roland is amusing, and Cooper nearly steals the picture as the somewhat unrealistic, addle-pated, but hopelessly romantic Minnie. As Pearl's more upright younger sister, Bessie, Anita Louise gives one of the worst and most affected performances ever seen in a movie.

Verdict: An amusing, occasionally trenchant, trifle. **1/2.