FRIENDLY PERSUASION

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FRIENDLY PERSUASION (1956). Director: William Wyler.

Although the Quakers in a small town in South Indiana are warned that they may have to defend themselves and their homes against rebel soldiers, Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) is determined that his grown son, Josh (Anthony Perkins), will not fight in the Civil War as it's against his religion. Although the one battle scene late in the picture is well done, the war almost seems like an after-thought in this movie in which Cooper plays it too cute by far in a role that cries out for a more talented and appropriate character actor. Perkins is quite good, however, as is Phyllis Love as his sister Mattie; Mark Richman as her boyfriend Gardner; Richard Eyer [The 7th Voyage of Sinbad] as Josh's younger brother; and Robert Middleton as a friend and rival of Jess's. Dorothy McGuire is all wide-eyed and beatific as Jess' wife, Eliza. Although Marjorie Main is as good as ever, the whole business with her and her three marriage-minded daughters [see photo] seems dragged in from an Abbott and Costello movie. Wyler's direction is solid, and there is excellent photography courtesy of Ellsworth Fredericks/Fredricks -- he used both spellings -- and a nice score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Joel Fluellen [Monster from Green Hell] and Robert Fuller [Brain from Planet Arous] have smaller roles. The talented Phyllis Love appeared almost exclusively on television. A goose named Samantha has nearly as much to do as Gertrude the Duck in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Verdict: Not bad for what it is, but not for every taste. **1/2.

DARK INTRUDER

DARK INTRUDER (1965). Director: Harvey Hart.

In the mid-1960's Leslie Nielsen was tapped for the lead for a show in which he would play occult investigator Brett Kingsford, who works surreptitiously with the police on bizarre bases calling for his expertise. A pilot was made, but when the show [which would have been a kind of forerunner to Kolchak, Night Stalker in every sense of the word as it takes place in the 19th century] called The Black Cloak, wasn't picked up by a network, it was released by Universal as a theatrical feature despite its short [59 min.] running time. In old San Francisco there have been a series of murders in which victims are clawed to death at the same time as the Ripper killings in London. Robert Vandenberg (Mark Richman), a friend of Kingsford's, is especially disturbed because he knows several of the victims, and his dizzy, annoyingly yapping fiancee Evelyn (Judi Meredith of Queen of Blood), has noticed a change come over him in recent weeks. Kingsford wonders if the murders are somehow connected to a deformed boy Vandenberg knew years ago who was brought to America from Bagdad to further his education but who suddenly disappeared. Other suspects include a weird professor of the occult (Werner Klemperer); a doctor who remarks upon the wounds left by the mysterious assailant (Vaughn Taylor); and Kingsford's diminutive man-servant Nikola (Charles Bolender). Dark Intruder is creepy, suspenseful and well-produced with a very good plot and cast and a satisfying wind-up. Nielsen is fine except for when he tries to affect a British accent and wouldn't convince a nine-year-old that he's from England.The screenplay is by Barre Lyndon, who also wrote the original stage play The Man in Half Moon Street, upon which that film was based. Hart also directed The Pyx, Bus Riley's Back in Town, and other theatrical films, and also did a great deal of work for television. He is not to be confused with Herk Harvey, who directed Carnival of Souls.

Verdict: Worthy supernatural mystery with interesting players. ***.