STRANGER FROM VENUS

Patricia Neal and Helmut Dantine

STRANGER FROM VENUS (aka Immediate Disaster/1954). Director: Burt Balaban.

A spaceship lands on earth, in England, and a weird if handsome man comes out who tells people in an inn that he is from Venus. He has a message he wishes to give to representatives of the world's governments, and is annoyed when only the British reps show up. The stranger (Helmut Dantine) saves the life of Susan North (Patricia Neal) after his landing causes her car to crash; she is engaged to undersecretary Arthur Walker (Derek Bond), who is uncooperative with the alien to say the least. The Venusian can heal people, and is afraid that the use of hydrogen bombs will move earth out of its orbit and endanger the other planets in the solar system. While one can understand why the producers of this cheap movie wanted Patricia Neal to star in this blatant rip-off of The Day the Earth Stood Still, it's hard to fathom why she signed for this picture once she read the script -- if she did. For most of its length the movie is dull, with a TV-like production, but it has some suspense in the final moments when the Venusian warns that if the military tries to ensnare the ship bringing the "higher officers" to earth, the mother ship will retaliate by incinerating the whole area. The movie actually has a sad conclusion as well as a nice score by Eric Spear. The actors, including Dantine [Call Me Madam] and Martigold Russell as Gretchen, a bar maid, are professional; Neal is fine but utterly wasted in this. Neal was obviously in the middle of a career slump. Balaban, who handles at least one sequence in this with some flair, also directed Lady of Vengeance.

Verdict: Gets better as it goes along but never quite hits the mark despite a good conclusion. **.

CALL ME MADAM

CALL ME MADAM (1953). Director: Walter Lang.

Entertaining if minor adaptation of Irving Berlin musical stars a vibrant Ethel Merman as Sally Adams, who becomes ambassador to the Duchy of “Lichtenbourg” (Adams thinks that “Duchy” means that the people are Dutch!) She falls hard for General Cosmo Constantine, who is very well played by George Sanders. The delightfully irritable Billy DeWolfe is annoyed by Adams' usurping of his power so he causes trouble any way he can, while her young press attaché (Donald O'Connor) finds himself falling for the princess (Vera-Ellen) who is betrothed to a handsome sourpuss (Helmut Dantine). It all works out okay in the end, of course. Merman and Sanders are a rather odd pairing, but they actually play very well together, and the other cast members are all fine. There are times, however, when some of the funny lines aren't given the best delivery. Songs include such standards as “It's a Lovely Day Today” and “I Wonder Why/You're Just in Love” (“I hear music and there's no one there”), and there are other nice tunes as well [“Old-Fashioned Idea;” “International Rag;” “The Best Thing for You”]. By the way, Sanders' singing is not dubbed. He reveals an excellent baritone voice in this. Sanders was signed to replace Ezio Pinza in the Broadway production of South Pacific – and would have been both dramatically and vocally marvelous in it – when he chickened out at the last minute.

Verdict: Not a masterpiece, but tuneful and entertaining. ***.