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    CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope
    CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope
    CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope
    Ebook364 pages3 hours

    CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope

    By John Howard Reid

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    This book details some very interesting – indeed essential – anamorphic films, plus some equally important wide-screen attractions of the 1950s and 1960s. Leading anamorphic movies covered in exhaustive detail include "And God Created Woman", "Auntie Mame", "Ballad of Josie", "The Black Shield of Falworth", "Comanche Station", "Hombre", "How To Steal a Million", "Imitation General", "John and Mary", "Kissin' Cousins", "The Last Hunt", "The Lion", "Lola Montes", "Love Is a Ball", "Manhattan", "Man of the West", "Marooned", "McCabe and Mrs Miller", "Never So Few", "Never Too Late", "No Love for Johnnie", "No Sun in Venice", "Plunder Road", "Merry Andrew", "Raggedy Ann and Andy", "The Son of Cleopatra", "Star Wars", "Summer Holiday", "The Swan", "10 North Frederick", "Tess of the Storm Country", "They Came to Cordura", "The Three Faces of Eve", "Tickle Me", "Tony Rome", "20,000 Leagues under the Sea", "23 Paces to Baker Street", "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?", "The Wreck of the Mary Deare", "The Year of Living Dangerously", "The Yellow Rolls Royce", "You Can't Run Away from It". "You Lucky People", and "Zulu Dawn". Wide-screen movies lovingly recalled and described include "Gorilla at Large" (in 3-D), "Inferno" (also 3-D), "Johnny Nobody", "Morituri", "Pal Joey", "Robin and the Seven Hoods", and "Strategic Air Command" (in VistaVision). In addition to CinemaScope, other anamorphic processes are described. Also summarized is the historic press conference given by Professor Ernst Abbe in which Abbe pointed out that Fox had wasted well over $6 million dollars developing CinemaScope when they could have used a similar but far, far superior process (namely Franscope or Naturama) entirely free of charge, except for the comparatively piffling cost of the lens. On the other hand, I'd point out that if Professor Chretien had not brought his anamorphic process to the attention of Fox executives, CinemaScope may not have happened at all, and we might still be looking at postage stamp cinema screens. Finally, I'm happy to say that a great many of these movies described in my book, are available right now in 2011 on DVD in their original 'Scope formats. The following review by editor, Ross Adams, appeared in the August 2010 issue of "DRESS CIRCLE", the Movie Enthusiasts and Collectors Magazine: Like John Howard Reid's other books in this series ("Cinemascope Two: 20th Century Fox" and "CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge"), "CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope" is a worthy addition to your library and no doubt will become a collector's item in years to come. As usual, JHR gives a thorough insight to almost every piece of information sought by the collector and historian. In this edition, he reviews 95 movies. He not only covers well-known and loved movies such as "Auntie Mame, "Pal Joey", "Star Wars", "23 Paces to Baker Street", "Comanche Station", "Hombre", "Manhattan", "Man of the West", "McCabe and Mrs Miller", "Pal Joey", "The Swan", "Three Faces of Eve", "23 Paces to Baker Street", "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" and "Wreck of the Mary Deare", but a large number of less familiar titles. Many of the films reviewed in this book are now available to hire or buy on DVD. John also lists Fox's first 20 CinemaScope shorts. There is also (under an amusing review of "You Lucky People") an outline of the various 'Scope processes. Finally, it's surprising to find how many of these movies have alternative titles. This is yet another feature that makes this excellent JHR guide such a valuable edition to a film enthusiast's library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateApr 27, 2011
    ISBN9781458175212
    CinemaScope One: Stupendous in 'Scope
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

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      Book preview

      CinemaScope One - John Howard Reid

      CinemaScope One

      STUPENDOUS IN ’SCOPE

      John Howard Reid

      ****

      Published by:

      John Howard Reid at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

      Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

      ****

      Books in the Hollywood Classics series:

      1. New Light on Movie Bests

      2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

      3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

      4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

      5. Memorable Films of the Forties

      6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

      7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program

      8. Hollywood’s Movie Miracles of Entertainment

      9. Hollywood Gold: Famous Films of the Forties and Fifties

      10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

      11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

      13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

      14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

      15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

      16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

      17. Hollywood Classics Index Books 1-16

      18. More Movie Musicals

      19. Success in the Cinema

      20. Best Western Movies

      21. Great Cinema Detectives

      22. Great Hollywood Westerns

      23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

      24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

      25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

      --

      Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid

      CinemaScope One: Stupendous in ’Scope

      CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

      CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

      Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

      Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD

      WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

      British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

      --

      Table of Contents

      A

      Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)

      All This and Money Too (see Love Is a Ball)

      And God Created Woman (1956)

      And Woman Was Created (see And God Created Woman)

      Another Time, Another Place (1958)

      Apache Rifles (1964)

      Apache Uprising (1965)

      Auntie Mame (1958)

      B

      Bachelor in Paradise (1961)

      Bad Day at Black Rock (1954)

      Ballad of Josie (1967)

      Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)

      Bigger Than Life (1956)

      Black Shield of Falworth (1954)

      Bullwhip (1958)

      C

      Campaign Burma (see Never So Few)

      Captain Lightfoot (1955)

      Caravan to Vaccares (1974)

      Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971)

      Cent mille dollars au soleil (1965)

      Chisum (1970)

      Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

      Christine (1983)

      Cimarron (1960)

      Circus World (1964)

      Cloportes (1965)

      Comanche Station (1960)

      Come Blow Your Horn (1963)

      the Comedy of Terrors (1964)

      the Corrupt Ones (1967)

      Cromwell (1970)

      D

      Day Mars Invaded Earth (1962)

      Desert Hell (1958)

      Desire in the Dust (1960)

      Desperados Are in Town (1966)

      a Distant Trumpet (1964)

      Don’t Make Waves (1967)

      E

      Et Dieu Crea la Femme (see And God Created Woman)

      F

      Fall of Lola Montes (see Lola Montes)

      False Witness (see Zigzag)

      Figlio di Cleopatra (see Son of Cleopatra)

      Frontier Gun (1958)

      G

      Ghost Diver (1957)

      Gorilla at Large (1954)

      the Great War (1961)

      Greed in the Sun (see Cent mille dollars au soleil)

      Gun Runner (1956)

      Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)

      H

      Hell in the Pacific (1969)

      Hell on Devil’s Island (1957)

      Hombre (1967)

      How to Steal a Million (1966)

      I

      Imitation General (1958)

      Inferno (1953)

      Inside Daisy Clover (1965)

      J

      Johnny Nobody (1961)

      John and Mary (1969)

      K

      Kissin’ Cousins (1964)

      L

      Last Hunt (1956)

      the Lion (1962)

      Lola Montes (1955)

      Love Is a Ball (1963)

      M

      Magoo Breaks Par (1957)

      Manhattan (1979)

      Man of the West (1958)

      Marooned (1969)

      McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971)

      Merry Andrew (1958)

      Morituri (1965)

      N

      Never So Few (1959)

      Never Too Late (1965)

      Night of the Quarter Moon (1959)

      No Love for Johnnie (1961)

      No Sun in Venice (1958)

      O

      Oh! For a Man! (see Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?)

      Once Upon a Horse (1958)

      P

      Pal Joey (1957)

      Peking Medallion (see Corrupt Ones)

      Plunder Road (1957)

      R

      Raggedy Ann and Andy (1977)

      Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964)

      S

      Saboteur—Code Name Morituri (see Morituri)

      Sait-On Jamais (see No Sun in Venice)

      Sandokan the Great (1964)

      Santiago (see Gun Runner)

      Sierra Baron (1958)

      Sins of Lola Montes (see Lola Montes)

      Son of Cleopatra (1964)

      Space Travelers (see Marooned)

      Spencer’s Mountain (1963)

      Star Wars (1977)

      Stranger in My Arms (1959)

      Strategic Air Command (1955)

      Summer Holiday (1963)

      Survival City (1955)

      the Swan (1956)

      Switzerland (1955)

      T

      Ten North Frederick (1958)

      Tess of the Storm Country (1960)

      They Came to Cordura (1959)

      a Thoroughbred Is Born (1956)

      Three Faces of Eve (1957)

      Thunder Island (1963)

      Tickle Me (1965)

      Tony Rome (1967)

      Tuna Clipper Ship (1955)

      20,000 Eyes (1961)

      20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954)

      23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)

      Two on a Guillotine (1964)

      U

      Unknown Terror (1957)

      Up Jumped a Swagman (1966)

      Up Periscope (1959)

      V

      Vesuvius Express (1953)

      W

      When the Devil Drives (see No Sun in Venice)

      Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968)

      Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

      Witness for the Defence (see Johnny Nobody)

      Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)

      Y

      Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

      Yellow Rolls Royce (1964)

      Yesterday’s Enemy (1959)

      You Can’t Run Away From It (1956)

      You Lucky People (1954)

      Z

      Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984)

      Zigzag (1970)

      Zulu Dawn (1979)

      --

      For descriptions of various ’Scope processes, and other ’Scope information, see YOU LUCKY PEOPLE.

      For a listing of Fox’s first twenty CinemaScope shorts, see VESUVIUS EXPRESS.

      For a short account of Regal Films, see MORITURI

      --

      Welcome

      Welcome to the first book in a series detailing The CinemaScope Revolution. As this survey serves as an Introduction to the whole series, I have tried not to focus on most of the well-known CinemaScope blockbusters like The Robe, How To Marry a Millionaire, The King and I, etc. These I have saved for a later book that specifically homes in on the Revolution’s initiator and leader, 20th Century-Fox. 3-D, of course, is an intrinsic part of the Revolution, as are non-anamorphic widescreen innovations such as Metroscope and VistaVision. Here, I have lined up many of the usual suspects, including:— the popular successes like No Sun in Venice, The Black Shield of Falworth, Auntie Mame, And God Created Woman, Lola Montes, Manhattan, Hombre, Man of the West, Pal Joey, Year of Living Dangerously, Star Wars and Comanche Station, nearly all of which have managed to retain a considerable cult following today; the films that I admire personally such as Love Is a Ball, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Inferno and Johnny Nobody; the mixed blessings that both picturegoers and critics raved on about at the time, but that have since passed into obscurity; the movies I’ve always hated like Merry Andrew and Up Periscope; plus a few disasters that everyone wants to forget (especially Doris Day). And the historically important, You Lucky People.

      --

      Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

      Eddie Hodges (Huckleberry Finn), Archie Moore (Jim), Tony Randall (the king), Mickey Shaughnessy (the duke), Patty McCormack (Joanna Wilks), Neville Brand (Finn), Judy Canova (sheriff’s wife), Andy Devine (Carmody), Sherry Jackson (Mary Jane Wilks), Buster Keaton (lion tamer), Finlay Currie (Captain Sellers), Josephine Hutchinson (Widow Douglas), John Carradine, Dean Stanton (slave catchers), Royal Dano, Fred Coby (sheriffs), Parley Baer (Grangerford man), Dolores Hawkins (river boat singer), Sterling Holloway (barber), Minerva Urecal (Miss Watson), Sam McDaniel (servant), Henry Corden, Fred Kohler, Jr (mates), Roy Glenn (drayman), Rickey Murray (cabin boy), Patric Whyte (Uncle Harvey), Virginia Rose (woman at circus), Eddie Fetherstone (townsman).

      Director: MICHAEL CURTIZ. Screenplay: James Lee. Based on the 1884 novel by Samuel Langhorne Clemens [Mark Twain]. Photographed in CinemaScope and Eastman Color by Ted McCord. Film editor: Frederic Steinkamp. Art directors: George W. Davis, McClure Capps. Costumes designed by Jack Martell. Songs by Burton Lane (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics). Music: Jerome Moross. Make-up: William Tuttle. Special effects: A. Arnold Gillespie. Sound recording: Franklin Milton. Producer: Sam Goldwyn, Jr. A Samuel Goldwyn Jr—Formosa Production. Location scenes filmed in Stockton, California, and on or near the Sacramento River, California.

      Copyright 1960 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at Loew’s: 3 August 1960. U.S. release: May 1960. U.K. release: 14 August 1960. Australian release: 24 December 1960. 9,612 feet. 107 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Hannibal, Missouri, 1840s: A daredevil youngster runs away from home.

      COMMENT: This large cast, under the expert direction of Mike Curtiz, does more than justice to the Twain novel. In fact, with its beautiful photography, large budget and fine music score, one wonders why this really superior version of the Clemens’ classic has rarely been shown on TV (and then, of course, in a grossly mutilated version). As far as I’m aware, it’s not at present available on DVD either. Amazing! Episodes such as that on the deserted boat, tipped at a crazy angle, lapped by the green slime of the swamp, and the scene on board the steamer in which Finlay Currie expounds, in his delightfully resonant voice, the splendor and treachery of the Mississippi, are absolutely unforgettable.

      --

      And God Created Woman

      Brigitte Bardot (Juliette Hardy), Curd Jurgens (Eric Carradine), Jean-Louis Trintignant (Michel Tardieu), Charistian Marquand (Antoine Tardieu), George Poujouly (Christian Tardieu), Marie Glory (Madame Tardieu), Jeanne Marken (Madame Morin), Paul Faivre (Monsieur Morin), Jean Tissier (Monsieur Vigier-Lefrance), Jacqueline Ventura (Madame Vigier Lefrance), Isabelle Corey (Lucienne), Jean Lefebvre (man who wants to dance), Philippe Grenier (Perri), Jany Mourey (good woman), Jacques Ciron (Carradine’s secretary, Eric), Leopoldo Frances (dancer), Jean Toscano (René), Roger Vadim (a friend of Antoine), Claude Vega (Roger), Raoul J. Levy (a player).

      Director: ROGER VADIM. Screenplay: Roger Vadim, Raoul J. Lévy. Photographed in CinemaScope and Eastman Color by Armand Thirard. Film editor: Victoria Mercanton. Assistant film editor: Suzanne Cabon. Art director: Jean André. Assistant art directors: Louis Née, Robert Florent, Marc Champion. Set decorator: Jean André. Assistant set decorators: Jean Forestier and Georges Petitot. Make-up: Hagop Arakelian. Music: Paul Misraki. Music director: Marc Lanjean. Songs: Mon coeur éclate [My Broken Heart] by Gilbert Bécaud and Dis-moi quelque chose de gentil [Tell Me Something Nice] by Solange Berry. 2nd unit director: Bernardi. Stills: Leo Mirkine. Script girl: Suzanne Durremberger. Assistant directors: Paul Feyder, Pierre Boursaus. Production administrator: Jacqueline Leroux-Cabuis. Production manager: Michel Choquet. Unit production manager: Claude Ganz. Sound recording: Pierre-Louis Calvet. Assistant sound engineers: Maurice Dagonneau, Georges Vaglio. Westrex Sound System. Producer: Raoul J. Lévy.

      An Iena-UCIL-Cocinor Production, made in 1956. A Raoul J. Lévy Presentation. U.S. release through Kingsley International. New York opening at the Paris: 21 October 1957. U.K. release through Miracle. London opening at the Cameo-Royal: March 1957. U.K. general release: 17 June 1957. Australian release through Columbia: 11 April 1958. Sydney opening at the Victory. 95 minutes. Censored in the U.K. and Australia to 91 minutes and 90 minutes, respectively.

      U.K. release title: And Woman... Was Created.

      Original French title: Et Dieu Crea la Femme. Released in France by Cocinor.

      SYNOPSIS: A boat-builder’s eighteen-year-old wife is in love with his older brother.

      NOTES: Exterior locations in St Tropez.

      First film directed by Roger Vadim (then the husband of Brigitte Bardot), a scriptwriter and former assistant director.

      U.S./Canadian rentals grossed $4 million, making it one of the top twenty-five box-office attractions of the year.

      COMMENT: For fans of Brigitte Bardot (and they are legion), this vehicle is an absolute must. Occasionally hoydenish BB dances up a storm, but mostly she just pouts, swaggers and sulks her way through a somewhat contrived, unsatisfying and unsatisfactory story of a teenager and her three admirers. Two of her lovers are just as unsympathetic and mixed-up as she is. In fact it’s hard to pick who is the least likeable — emotionally immature Jean-Louis Trintignant or viciously opportunistic Christian Marquand. In fact, the only player who manages to engage audience sympathy is Curd Jurgens who presents a nicely rounded study of a businessman distracted by our teenage tyrant.

      Vadim has directed with a main eye on Miss Bardot and only a secondary glance at some magnificent St Tropez scenery. All the same, no doubt thanks to the skill and advice of cinematographer Thirard, he does manage to fill the CinemaScope screen attractively.

      Despite its word-of-mouth reputation and its box-office success (particularly in France and the United States), Et Dieu Crea la Femme is not one of Vadim’s best films by any means. Nonetheless, he was soon to hit his stride with No Sun in Venice (see later in this book). Also worthy of note are the wonderfully exotic Barbarella (1968) and the tingling suspenser Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) which features (in my opinion) Rock Hudson’s best performance.

      OTHER VIEWS: The much-touted BB is on display here for all to see and admire. But frankly, she looks more provocative in the stills and posters outside the cinema than she does in the movie itself. It’s an uninspired little quadrangle tale in which a boring lot of unsympathetic characters posture pathetically against authentic St Tropez backgrounds. In the course of over ninety minutes, nothing much of interest happens. It’s one of these stories in which a lot of detailed groundwork is constantly being laid to give the audience the impression that something dramatically involving is just about to happen — but it never does. The businessman’s efforts to acquire waterfront land suddenly bear fruit halfway through by a simple stratagem (and why is the anchorage allegedly worth millions anyway?) and how come the Morins who are painted as villainous step-parents at the beginning and from whom we expect some dazzling opposition to BB’s plans, supportively change colour without any explanation? Even the long-awaited climax in which one of the leading characters gets shot proves an absolute fizzer.

      — John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.

      The early scenes indicate a sharp eye for social behaviour and a wry sense of humor. The subsequent plot manipulations are less convincing, thanks partly to an absence of depth in the characterization. Bardot’s acting has improved since her earlier pictures, but it still lacks force.

      — Monthly Film Bulletin.

      --

      Another Time, Another Place

      Lana Turner (Sara Scott), Barry Sullivan (Carter Reynolds), Glynis Johns (Kay Trevor), Sean Connery (Mark Trevor), Sidney James (Jake Klein), Terence Longden (Alan Thompson), Doris Hare (Mrs Bunker), Martin Stephens (Brian Trevor), Julian Somers (hotel manager), John Le Mesurier (Dr Aldridge), Cameron Hall (Alfy), Robin Bailey (Captain Barnes), Bill Fraser (R.E. sergeant), Jane Welsh (Jonesy).

      Directed by LEWIS ALLEN from a screenplay by Stanley Mann, based on the novel entitled Another Time, Another Place in the U.K. and Weep No More in the U.S.A. by Lenore Coffee. Photographed in VistaVision by Jack Hildyard. Film editor: Geoffrey Foot. Art director: Tom Morahan. Music composed by Douglas Gamley and conducted by Muir Mathieson. Title song (for U.S. version) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Wardrobe: Laura Nightingale. Hair styles: Ann Box. Make-up: Stuart Freeborn. Assistant director: Rene Dupont. Production manager: John F. Workman. Camera operator: Jim Bawden. Set continuity: Lee Turner. Dubbing editor: Leslie Hodgson. Assistant producer for Lanturn company: Del Armstrong. Associate producer: Smedley Aston. Sound recording: Gerry Turner and J.B. Smith. Producer: Lewis Allen. Executive producers: Joseph Kaufman and Lana Turner.

      A Kaydor/Lanturn Production released by Paramount. Australian release date: 4 July 1958. U.S. release date: June 1958. New York opening at Loew’s State: 2 May 1958. U.K. release: 2 June 1958. Running times: 95 minutes (8,593 feet) (U.K.); 98 minutes (U.S.); 75 minutes (Australia).

      SYNOPSIS: In London during World War II, American newspaperwoman Sara Scott falls in love with BBC war correspondent Mark Trevor. Just as she is about to break her engagement to her employer, Carter Reynolds, she learns Mark has a wife and child. The next day Mark is killed in a plane crash and Sara suffers emotional collapse. After six weeks in a rest home, she visits the little village of Cornwall where he lived and meets his widow Kay. Keeping her association with Mark a secret, Sara helps Kay write a biography of her late husband. Eventually...

      NOTES: Locations in the fishing village of Polperro, Cornwall. Interiors filmed at Elstree Studios, London.

      COMMENT: Out of a dime-store women’s novel, Stanley Mann has constructed a screenplay of stupefying boredom, indifferently acted, and directed with suitable dullness. The film’s only attractive feature is Jack Hildyard’s black-and-white VistaVision photography, particularly of the locations in a small village in Cornwall. For a while there, it looked as if VistaVision was going to pose as a serious rival to CinemaScope, but this didn’t happen. The fact that VistaVision (a non-anamorphic process achieved by the simple expedient of running standard 35mm film horizontally – instead of vertically – through the camera) produced a much sharper image failed to impress audiences who were sold on the much wider ’Scope screen.

      OTHER VIEWS: Fine players trying to force their way through the gloom of this sob story is indeed sad to see. Lewis Allen lacks the persuasive style of such directors as John Stahl and Frank Borzage who might have made something of it and his mediocrity permeates the whole production.

      — E.V.D.

      Despite some nice black-and-white views of a little Cornish village, (it) is a generally drab and sadly undistinguished film with strong leanings toward the soap opera genre... Incessant shots of telephones, radios, coffee cups, tea cups and door buzzers. This... can be quite telling a device for pointing up suspense in a dramatic story, but in this instance there simply isn’t enough drama to make such a device anything but boring.

      — Paul V. Beckley in The N.Y. Herald Tribune.

      Paramount is rushing release... hoping to pick up some business on current headlines. Film will need some such stimulant, because otherwise it is a weeper without anything special to recommend it... A conclusion that is neither satisfactory nor believable... Miss Turner is photographed beautifully... but she only occasionally cuts loose with the kind of dramatic fireworks the picture needs. Glynis Johns, less tenderly lensed, makes a poignant and convincing figure of the wife. Sean Connery, who gets ‘introducing’ billing... is obviously capable but plays somewhat pallidly for a romantic lead... Sidney James is a standout, bringing some needed humor to the otherwise soggy drama.

      — Powe in Variety.

      When Actress Turner’s name flashed on the screen, cheers rocked the galleries. The picture itself might more suitably be greeted with groans... Unfortunately Actress Turner is responsible for more than her own acting. As proprietor of the company that co-produced this picture, Cinemagnate Turner must also take some of the credit for the picture’s treacly taste, clumsy structure and prevailing mood of moral Lanarchy.

      — Time.

      A long way from making any contact with interests that might serve to entertain... Made in England by Joseph Kaufman, a fugitive from Hollywood, evidently as a part of the current Go-Home-Yank plan... Miss Turner’s performance does more credit to her hairdresser than it does to Lewis Allen, who directed.

      — Bosley Crowther in The N.Y. Times.

      --

      Apache Rifles

      Audie Murphy (Jeff Stanton), Michael Dante (Red Hawk), Linda Lawson (Dawn Gillis), L.Q. Jones (Mike Greer), Ken Lynch (Hodges), Joseph A. Vitale (Victorio), Robert Brubaker (Sergeant Cobb), Eugene Iglesias (Corporal Ramirez), J. Pat O’Malley (Captain Thatcher), John Archer (Colonel Perry), Charles Watts (Crawford Owens), Howard Wright (Thompson), Peter Hansen (Captain Green), Robert Karnes (sheriff), Hugh Sanders (Arizona delegate), Sydney Smith (general of the army), S. John Launer (General Nelson), Robert B. Williams (Miller).

      Director: WILLIAM WITNEY. Screenplay: Charles B. Smith. Photographed in DeLuxe Color by Arch R. Dalzell. Supervising film editor: Grant Whytock. Art director: Frank Sylos. Music: Richard La Salle. Production manager: Joseph Small. Sound: Lambert Day. Producer: Grant Whytock. Original story: Kenneth Gamett and Richard Schayer. Set decorator: Morris Hoffman. Make-up: Vincent Romaine. Hair styles: Gladys Witten. Wardrobe: Alexis Davidoff. Property master: Max Frankel. Assistant director: Herbert S. Greene. Music editor: Sid Sidney. Sound editor: James A. Richard.

      Copyright 30 September 1964 by Admiral Pictures. Released by 20th Century-Fox. U.S. release: 30 September 1964. No New York opening. U.K. release: 16 November 1964. Australian release: 25 March 1965. 8,260 feet. 92 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A racist army commander in Arizona, falls for a half-breed missionary.

      NOTES: Crunch time for Fox. For the first time since 1953, the number of the studio’s non-CinemaScope releases exceeded the number of its CinemaScope movies. Here was a movie presented in an ordinary wide-screen format, a result that was achieved not with any special anamorphic lens. but by simply masking the top and bottom of the frame to achieve the desired wide-screen ratio. Mostly, the masking was actually left to the cinema, so sometimes the movie was simply projected on to the theater’s normal postage-stamp screen. In order to prevent this happening, meticulous directors asked the photographer to mask the film in the camera, so that even if projected on the old 1.33:1 screen, the 1.85:1 aspect ratio was preserved and carefully composed scenes were not compromised by a lot of waste space top and bottom. And in some cases, the sound boom actually penetrated this top space where normally it would be masked from view.

      COMMENT: Yes, this entry does have a superior script to the usual run of Audie Murphy westerns, but it is saddled (hah!) with William Witney’s steadfastly routine and completely lackluster direction. Fortunately, Mr Witney’s usual reliable hand does come into play in the action sequences (despite obvious use of stock footage) and the climax itself is put across with a reasonable amount of well-judged suspense. A bit of location lensing also helps.

      Performances are no more than

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