Boxoffice-December.17.1962

a
Opinions on Current Productions
^EATURE REVIEWS
Symbol Q denotes color; © CInefnoScope; (^ Vista Virion; (D Superscope; (B PanoWslon; A RegoUcope; t Tech
For story synopsis on eoch picture, see
To Kill a MockingbiTd
Ratio:
Drama
1.S5-1
Univ.-Infl (6306) 129 Minutes Bel. March '63
The combination cl Harper Lee's first novel, which was on
the best-seller list for two years, won the Pulitzer Prize and
has passed 6,000,000 in sales, and Gregory Peck, one of
today's top film stars, in his finest acting role, will insure
strong grosses fcr this powerful picturization of a compelling
tale of anti-Negro prejudice in the South. An Alan Pakula-
Robert Mulligan production, the film is a fine example oi the
adult, thought-provoking fare now reaching the U.S. screens.
As in the novel, the .^tory is told mainly through the eyes of
two youngsters in a small Southern town, whose lawyerfather
is assigned to defend a young Negro accused of
raping a while girl. Two remarkably talented and natural
children, 13-year-old Phillip Alford and nine-year-old Mary
Badham, give extraordinary performances, as does little
John Megra, their only fault being some inaudibility as they
mutter or whisper their lines. Despite these children's importance,
the picture is not suited to the kiddies because of
its subject mat!er. Both Horton Foote's screenplay and
Robert Mulligan's direction build interest magnificently until
it reaches fever pitch in the realism of the courtroom scene,
followed by a terrifying climax. Peck's portrayal is of
Academy Award calibre.
Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Frank Overon
Rosemary Murphy, Paul Fix, Brock Peters.
Joseph and His Brethren
Ratio: Biblical Drama
1.85-1 ©
Coloroma Pictures 103 Minutes Rel. Dec. '62
Biblical spectacles usually are good boxoffice, especially
if produced in color and on a lavish scale, and this Italianmade
film, produced by Luigi Carpentierei and Ermcmno
Donati, will appeal to devotees of this type of fare, especially
the youngsters and action fans. Several familiar British
players, Robert Morley Belinda Lee and Finlay Currie, in
addition to Geoffrey Home, who was featured in "The Bridge
on the River Kwai" and 'Bonjour Tristesse," journeyed to
Paly for this English-language version directed by America's
Irving Rapper. The story follows the Biblical tale faithfully
enough but, except for the scenes between Joseph and his
aged father, Jacob, it is rarely moving and the pace is ohen
as slow-moving as a sermon. Far more of the action deals
with Joseph's life in Egypt as a slave to Potiphar and his
licentious wife, whose advances ore spurned by Joseph.
This port is intensely melodramatic but, because Morley is illsuited
in appearance and speech for a Biblical role, his
scenes cause unintended laughter. Home is sincere, if too
wooden, as Joseph, but Miss Lee is effectively flamboyant
as the temptress and Currie's dignified portrayal is a standout.
The others, all Italian, have been effectively dubbed
into Engli.-h. Production values in Eastman Color are good.
Geoffrey Home, Belinda Lee, Robert Morley, Finlay Currie,
Carlo Giustini, Vera Silenti, Mario Girotti, Marietto.
Run Across the River
Ratio:
1.85-1
Citation Films 74 Minutes Rel.
Melodram
Through a dramatic combination of audience-appealing
happenstances, this filmed-on-New York's Greenwich Village
locations shapes up as competent enough supporting feature
in those thousands of show cases constantly clamoring for
companion product. It is, by no stretch of the imagination,
within the category oi "sleeper" entertainment, but generates
a reasonably satisfying atmosphere of the inevitable
chase-and-effect that go hand-in-hand with obviously modestbudgeted
program features peopled out by principals not
readily recognized by even the regular theatregoers. The
Cameo Production, released by Citation Films on the statesright
market, teams Joan Calislri and William Lazarus, as two
determined young New Yorkers out to ascertain the whys and
wherefores behind the cruel killing of Miss Calistri's engineer
brother, Curtis Conway, newly returned from South
African uranium region. A threesome, no less, consisting of
Everett Chambers, Charles Weiss and David J. Cogen, produced.
Chambers doubling as director, working from a Lee
Gillen screenplay. The obvious right-over-might fadeout happens
soon enough, since the quest for the killer mob is
tipped off not long after the initial sequences.
Joan Calistri, William Lazarus, Shirley Grayson, George
Cathery, Gordon Peters, Robert Carricarl.
Ot)
Days oi Wine and Roses
°""''
^"ssa
Warner Bros. (256) 117 Minutes Rel. Dec. '62
Capturing the gentle words of Ernest Dowson: "They are
.st'^dn "°' long, fhe dcrys of wine and roses, out oi a misty dream
S oar our path emerge.- for a while, then closes within a dream,"
this Martin Manulis-Jalem (Jack Lemmon) Production for
VAarner Bros, release brings to the screen the triangle of
man, woman — and drink "Days of V/ine and Roses." Based
on the dynamic story by J. P. Miller, and starring Jack
Lemmon, Lee Remick and Charles Bickford, Blake Edwards
has directed with a touch of genius. He has enabled bo'.h
Lemmon and Miss Remick to make their bid for thi- year's
best Oscar per.'ormcmces, as well as paving the road for hi.s
own bid! Last year's Oscar-winning team—Henry Mancini
and Johnny Mercer—hove come up with on equally catching
tune and theme that adds well to the overall impact of this
powertLl drama. Phil Lathrop's photography is intimate ar.d
imaginative. Jack Klugmcm scores well as Lemmon's benefactor
who encourages him to join Alcoholics Anonymous.
This film has a strong message, especially for adult audiences
everywhere, and warrants careful selling—not commercialized
or sensationalized, but presented for its TRUE value.
Stiong word-of-mouth will make this one of the year's top
boxoffice attractions.
Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Elugman.
Alan Hewitt, Tom Palmer, Debbie Mego'.von.
Kill or Cure
"""''
^^Z
MGM (312) 87 Minutes ReL Nov. '62
Terry-Thomas, the gap-toothed British comic vrho has
,-ecently been seen in the Hollywcod-made "Bachelor Flat"
end "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm " comes
to the rescue of a mildly amusing farcical vehicle in which
he plays a bungling private detective. With the reliable
Dennis Price and Lionel Jeffries, both of them familiar from
a score of British films, to contribute humorous portrayals,
this will entertain art house patrons or make a fair supporting
dualer elsewhere. Produced by George H. Brown and
directed by George Pollock, the film is a murder-mystery with
comedy overtones, similar to but not as good as the recent
"Murder She Said." Terry-Thomas accidentally stumbles on
a murder at a health-cure resort and, aided by a blundering
health instructor, he solves the killing quite by accident.
Meantime, he is forced to drink carrot juice, take part in
cold baths, setting-up exercises and other "cures" while his
suspicion falls on first one, then, another of the resort's
guests or staff. There is no romantic interest although attractive
Moira Redmond and Kotya Douglas ore involved in
the doings. The famed American comedienne, Anna Russell,
is seen in the opening scene, before she becomes the murder
victim.
Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, Dennis Price, Moira Redmond,
Lionel Jeffries, Katya Douglas, David Lodge, Anna Russell.
Juke Box Racket
Joseph Brenner Associates
Ratio:
1.85-1
61 Minutes Rel.
Melodr;
At best only fair-to-middlin' entertainment, this J. B. Produc':ions
effort, going into the states-rights market via Joseph
Brenner Associates, can't be touted as the most compact,
comprehensive, dramatic study of juke box racketeering as it
may or many not exist in these burgeoning United Stales.
A cast of predominantly unknowns serve a smattering of
spiri'edness in a tired and trite script of what happens to a
small New Jersey community when rough-arm Peter Clune
takes it into his greedy little head to toss some v/eight
around in the face of a valiant small merchant's (William
DePrato) opposition to a juke box syndicate goon-squad.
Steve Karmen and Arlene Corwin are the teenagers who
don't exactly sit around while the foregoing happens, but
one wonders why the producer-director team of Jim Geallis
and George Harris didn't bother to strike away from the conventional
handling of such an admittedly topical subject
matter. Clune grunts and groans in the accepted bad-man
tradition but he's a far cry from the better-known delinea-
-^ tors in this particular expressive form. The running time—
ilNEi minute over an hour's span—mitigates against .';lctting this
:^olo feature; it will need a supporting attraction or shorts.
Steve Karmen, Arlene Corwin, Lou Anne Lee, Beverly
Nazarow, Seymour Cassel. Peter Clune.
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2692 BOXOFFICE BookinGuide Dec. 17, 1962 2691