ALL ASHORE

ALL ASHORE (1953). Director: Richard Quine.

This is another sailors-on-shore-looking-for-girls movie (like the Quine-directed So This is Paris), and not one of the better ones. Joe (Dick Haymes) and Skip (Ray McDonald) importune "buddy" Moby (Mickey Rooney) to stake them to an outing to Catalina. Joe and Skip behave so badly toward Moby -- at one point Joe even walks off with Moby's date -- that after awhile it becomes more depressing than funny. There are assorted misadventures, with Moby winding up in bed in the girls' apartment, and so on. The "girls" are Peggy Ryan, Barbara Bates, and Jody Lawrance [The Family Secret] and none of them make much of an impression. Haymes [Irish Eyes are Smiling] has a fine voice, McDonald is a swell dancer, the ladies are pretty, Rooney aims for pathos with a number about how he's a loser etc., but this is not very entertaining. Some of the Wells and Karger songs are okay.

Verdict: Even Mickey Rooney can't save this one. *1/2.

THE FAMILY SECRET

THE FAMILY SECRET (1951). Director: Henry Levin.

David Clark (John Derek, pictured) kills his drunken, knife-wielding best friend in self-defense but he and his father Howard (Lee J. Cobb) decide to keep quiet about it. Unfortunately, an innocent man (Whit Bissell) is arrested for the crime and Howard winds up defending him. The Clarks' silence ultimately proves tragic. Interesting, but irritating, drama has some good performances and situations, but never quite comes to grips with the moral questions and dilemmas it poses. Erin O'Brien-Moore is David's concerned, over-protective mother, and Dorothy Tree is the wife of the man put on trial for David's crime. This could have used a few more plot twists. For one thing, we have only David's word that it was self-defense. Jody Lawrance is appealing as Lee, Howard' secretary and a romantic interest for David.

Verdict: Unsatisfactory but holds the attention. **1/2.