Go Out To A Movie
THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER
M-G-M; Panavision, Metrocolor; Director, Vincente Minnelli; Producer, Joe Pasternak (Family)
WHO’S IN IT? Glenn Ford, Shirley Jones, Ronny Howard, Dina Merrill.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Girls angling for a widower must reckon with his small son.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT ? From a start full of genuine, deep feeling, it shifts gears smoothly into happy romantic comedy, and Glenn manages both moods with skill. In a generally likable cast, Stella Stevens is a surprise hit. Sets and clothes are so eye-soothing that even grubby Times Square looks clean and cozy.
I COULD GO ON SINGING
U.A.; Panavision, Eastman Color; Director, Ronald Neame; Producers, Stuart Millar, Lawrence Turman (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Judy Garland, Dirk Bogarde, Gregory Phillips, Jack Klugman.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Successful and yet lonely, a singer tries to claim the son she abandoned to his father’s care.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? The story sounds like all the sobby old melodramas of “Madame X” vintage. but it’s real. Judy, well-cast and doing a commendable acting job, is the neurotic egotist as well as the yearning mother. In song numbers, naturally, she’s a believable top star.
MY SIX LOVES
Paramount; VistaVision, Technicolor: Director, Gower Champion; Producer, Gant Gaither (Family)
WHO’S IN IT? Debbie Reynolds, Cliff Robertson, David Janssen, Hans Conried.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? An actress seeking a rest at her Connecticut home finds her-self mothering a family of waifs.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Seems the small fry have taken over. Surrounded by riotous kids, Debbie looks better in high style than she used to in blue jeans. But the picture’s sentiment is plastered on a bit thick, and director Champion should have remembered his dance timing, to give the slapstick scenes the rhythm they need.
Embassy; Directors, François Truffaut, Renzo Rossellini, Shintaro Ishihara, Marcel Ophuls, Andrzej Wajda; Producer, Pierre Roustang (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Jean-Pierre Leaud, Eleonora Rossi Drago. Zbigniew Cybulski.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Present-day living is a challenge for young people of France, Italy, Japan, Germany, Poland.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Variety in mood and background makes this an unusually fascinating episode film. Yet the stories remind us how much the world’s youth has in common; we hardly need the English titles to see into each young heart—not always a cheerful view. The bitter finale (Polish) leaves a lasting mark.
CRITIC’S CHOICE
Warners; Panavision, Technicolor; Director, Don Weis; Producer, Frank P. Rosenberg (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Bob Hope, Lucille Ball. Marilyn Maxwell, Rip Torn, Jim Backus.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? A tough stage critic lands in a difficult domestic spot when his wife turns playwright.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? The veteran comics who co-star in this talkative farce both work hard for laughs. Teamed a couple of years ago in “Facts of Life,” Lucy and Bob showed then that they could put human warmth and pathos into their clowning. This time, the plot’s too special and trivial to give them such a chance.
THE TRIAL
Astor; Director, Orson Welles; Producers, Alexandre and Michel Salkind, Yves Laplanche (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Orson Welles.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Told that he’s under arrest, an office worker can’t discover the charge or his accusers’ identity.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? The foreword promises “a dream, a nightmare,” and that’s all that is delivered. Tony’s frantic wanderings through endless hallways and rooms do record the vague terrors that wake you up at three A.M. There’s not one hint of reality; any meanings suggested in Kafka’s novel have been lost.
FOLLOW THE BOYS
M-G-M; Panavision, Metrocolor; Director, Richard Thorpe; Producer, L. P. Bachmann (Family)
WHO’S IN IT? Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Janis Paige, Russ Tamblyn.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? U.S. Navy wives and sweethearts trail a ship from one Medi-terranean port to the next.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Evidently intended as a follow-up to the smash “Where the Boys Are,” this rambling love comedy hasn’t as much gusto. Its best points are Paula’s wry humor, the lovely Riviera locales and Connie’s songs. When Connie isn’t singing, she can’t recapture the ease of her first performance. But it’s fun.
THE FOUR DAYS OF NAPLES
M-G-M; Director, Nanni Loy; Producer, Goffredo Lombardo; Italian Dialogue, English Titles (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Lea Massari, Jean Sorel, Raffaele Barbato, Donıenico Formato.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? In 1943, war-sick Neapolitans rebel against Nazis who try to hold the city after Mussolini’s fail.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Each moment in this stirring account of actual events is so convincing that you might think a news cameraman had shot it. Still, its spirit is proud patriotism, rather than the detachment of straight reporting. It pays tribute to the courage of individuals: soldier, housewife or reform-school kid.
Major; Director, Dino Risi; Producer, Mario Ceechi Gori; Italian Dialogue, English Titles (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Vittorio Gassman, Anna Maria Ferrero, Dorian Gray.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? A flop onstage, an actor turns con-man and prospers, till a nice girl comes along. what’s THE verdict? Good-looking Gassman suddenly blossoms out as Italy’s answer to England’s Guinness and Sellers, with a whole series of hilarious impersonations. The plot’s mostly a bunch of outrageous swindles, tied up neatly in a double-switcheroo finish. Anna Maria and Dorian supply generous female charm.
Union; Director, Jean Renoir; French Dialogue, English Titles (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur, Claude Rich.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? As a P.O.W. in Germany, a casual-seeming Parisian becomes an escape artist, undaunted by failures.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? Ex-dancer Cassel, who was a light-hearted kook in “The Love Game,” again shows a deft touch with a comedy gag. But this time he also draws a serious portrait of a remarkable guy, brave, stubborn and resourceful. In the same manner, the movie is funny without ridiculing a tragic situation.
M-G-M; Director, Henri Verneuil; French Dialogue, English Titles (Adult)
WHO’S IN IT? Jean Gabin, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Suzanne Flon.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT? After years on the wagon, an old Normandy innkeeper joins a young drunk and chases dreams again.
WHAT’S THE VERDICT? A high-powered acting team turns in a beautifully delicate job in another French film that’s both amusing and sad. White-haired now, Gabin still may be called France’s Spencer Tracy. Belmondo might be their Brando (but a more reliable actor than ours). The score has wit and imagination, too.
It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE MAY 1963
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