FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN

Grant Williams and George Nader

FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN (1957). Written and directed by Jack Sher.  

A Hollywood studio wants to make a biblical epic about Esther, but their biggest star (whose face we never see) wants 50% of the profits. Therefore it is decided to find a new star and bring in four gals to do a screen test: American Kathy (Julie Adams), whose mother (Mabel Albertson) is pushing her to perform; Viennese Ina (Marianne Koch of The Monster of London City), whose husband recently died in a road accident; Italian Maria (Elsa Martinelli of One on Top of the Other), who appears to be a good-time girl who loves the men, especially the ones with money; and French Vicki (Gia Scala of The Big Boodle), who is trying to hide the fact that she has a husband and small son. 

John Gavin comes on to one of the "girls" 

Mike Snowden (George Nader) will helm the young ladies' screen tests, even though he'd much rather direct the picture itself. His best friend, Johnny (Sydney Chaplin) is a film composer nursing a broken heart and many hangovers. Mike is also friends with wealthy playboy Spencer Farrington Jr. (Grant Williams), who pursues women and does little else but attend parties with that end in mind. Tom Grant (John Gavin) is an actor who is chosen to appear in the tests with each of the ladies. Naturally these four men get involved in varying degrees with the "four girls in town." 

Nader with Gavin

I wish I could report that Four Girls in Town is a trenchant drama about Hollywood or at the very least a real trash wallow, but it's neither, although I can't say I ever found it boring. The acting is generally more than professional -- although none of the cast members really stand out -- and the picture has a good pace, but it just never quite comes alive. Maybe it just needed a few sensationalistic scenes to perk up the viewers' interest. An odd sequence has Mike taking some of the ladies and gents on a nighttime grunion hunt, a sequence that was a little more entertaining in Piranha 2: the Spawning, of all things. Jack Sher also directed The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. 

Verdict: At least it has a very attractive cast! **3/4. 

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

The imposing pyramid-tomb

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955). Producer/director: Howard Hawks.

"Strange religion to deny a future to those who failed in the past."

Pharaoh Khufu (Jack Hawkins) has one main goal, and that is to see that his tomb will be completely safe from violation so he can enjoy his treasures in the after-life. Learning that many other tombs have been broken into, Khufu has the slave and architect Vashtar (James Robertson Justice) design and build an impregnable -- and clever -- burying place for him. In the meantime foreign Princess Nellifer (Joan Collins), herself turned into a slave, manages to make herself one of Khufu's wives, and is determined to become Queen of All Egypt no matter whom she has to kill; obviously power has gone to her head. But will she achieve her goal, or succumb to a much more ironic fate ... ? Land of the Pharaohs is a very entertaining movie, with a splendid lead performance from the authoritative and commanding Jack Hawkins [Ben-Hur]. Joan Collins is also very effective, especially in her early confrontations with Hawkins -- as are Sydney Chaplin as Nellifer's lover, Treneh, the captain of the guard, and Alexis Minotis as Hamar, the Pharaoh's good right hand. There's some odd casting in this, however, with Justice (who usually plays blustery characters in such films as Doctor in Love) adequate as Vashtar and Dewey Martin [The Thing from Another World] handsome and acceptable as Vashtar's grown son, Senta. (Hawks used Martin in other movies as well.) At times the brassy musical score [Dimitri Tiomkin] reminds one of a Broadway musical, and Hawks' direction is not as assured or inspired as it might have been, although the settings are always colorful and the movie has an elaborate production. There's a scene when some who have displeased Pharaoh are thrown to the gators. Believe it or not, William Faulkner was one of the screenwriters! Great ending! Oddly, the movie was a commercial failure.

Verdict: Perhaps not as fictional as one might imagine, although this is still Hollywood. ***.