Evening star. [volume], July 28, 1954, Page C-6 **, Image 55

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
C-6 **
THE EVENING' STAR, Washington, D. C.
WEDNESDAY, TOLY *«. IM4
The Passing Show
Clair at Peak of His Form
In 'Beauties of tine Night'
» By Jay Carmody
So vou’rc fed up. And want to get away from it all.
Well, it happens that this is the very thing Rene Clair takes
up in “Beauties of the Night.” which opened today at the Dupont
Theater. Clair, an extraordinarily amusing fellow, provides a most
inviting escape from the period’s frustrations. He does it all the
more engagingly by pointing out with gleeful Gallic wisdom that
there is no escape. *
“Beauties of the Night,” of;
course, is the picture in whichj
Gina Lollobrigida takes that:
nude bath but the shapely Ital
ian’s ablutions are merely a pass
ing fancy (very fancy) in the
course of Clair's reverie on mod
ern man. That modern-man. by
the way, is played by Gerard
Philipe, an intelligent young
chap with a firm grasp on the
picture’s elfin theme.
Forgive it an occasional small
excess of whimsicality and last
year’s Venice Festival prize film
will prove just the comedy fan
tasy for what ails you.
** * *
“Beauties of the Night,” an
Idea Clair plucked from a casual
reading of the philosopher Pas
cal, is built around a sensitive,
frustrated young composer in
contemporary Paris.
Fed up with everything from
street noises and the solicitude
of his dreary neighbors to his
inability to peddle even one tune,
the young man falls back on
dreams as an escape into happi
ness. He is a prodigiously suc
cessful dreamer, dropping back
at will into any of France’s
great periods in each of which
he is an idol. ,
He is a French idol, to be sure,
with all that that implies; most
notably a happy attraction for
women. There are four of these
beauties in the nights of Clair’s
hero. In chronological order, the
first is lovely Martine Carol.
Philippe meets her in his 1890
dream and it is she who arranges
to have his work performed by
the Paris opera.
A hero this triumphant in
escaping the sordid realities of
pneumatic hammers, no job, etc.',
has nothing to do but go on from
a dream like this. Philipe does,
back to the great days of the
French Foreign Legion in Algeria
where he meets Miss Lollo
brigida, a sultan’s daughter. In
a picture so impish as Clair’s it
Is Inevitable that a girl the likes
of Miss Lollobrigida must take
a palace bath. It is a luxurious
Hollywood Diary
Dan Is Pleased
To Get TV Rights
By Sheilah Graham 1 11
HOLLYWOOD. |
Dan Dailey, getting his long
seught rights to do television —in
his new 20th Century-Fox con
tract—says that it was just as :
much to the advantage of the
studio as it is to him. Now he
can make TV appearances and
keep his career alive. In the past
year people have been asking
Dan, “How come you gave up
movies?”
Debbie Reynolds has made it a
home rule that, between 5 and 7
p.m., all telephones in the house ,
are disconnected so the family
cannot be interrupted at dinner
—that is. only when Eddie Fisher
is not in town.
Lana Turner, still the sexiest
actress in town, reverts to blonde |
—silver-blonde hair—and wears j
a gown costing $4,000 in “The
Prodigal.”
Mike Todd is paging Fred ;
Mac Murray and June Haver for i
a Broadway play. . . . Rosalind j
Russell will have 12 top stars j
grouped around her for one scene
in “Girl Rush.”
** * *
Want to know what happened
to Farley Granger? He's getting
$4,000 a week touring the sum
mer theater circuit with “Hasty
Heart.” ... It took Tony Curtis
two weeks to overcome his em
barrassment and shoot the bath
soene in “So This is Paree.”
Oleg Cassini, while courting
Grace Kelly here, has been call
ing Ann Gunning in New York
City Rhonda Fleming is get
ting together with CBS for a
color musical TV show. ... A
hamburger at the Stork Club or
21 in New York City costs $3.75:
Mocambo and Ciro’s here charge
only $2. Just thought you might
want a hamburger.
Alan Ladd wants Pier Angeli’s
sister, Marisa Pavan, for an
other picture. . . . Bob Hope
has the inside track for “Eddie
Foy and the 7 Little Foys” at
Paramount. Incidentally, here’s
an unexpected angle x orf Porflrio
Rubirosa: When Hope asked him
to appear on a telethon recently,
Porfy begged to be excused on
the grounds that he doesn’t like
publicity. He sent Bob a check
for SSOO instead.
** * *
Edmund Purdom went to a
bullfight in Tiajuanna, became
ill watching the slaughter and
had to leave Julia Adams and
baseballer Ted Williams are
talking long distance every day.
The Ray Millands spent two
weeks in Balboa so the house
help could take a deserved va
■F’ '' ' '*!!'
"BEAUTIES OP THE NIGHT.” •
Loom Films picture, distributed through
! United Artists, directed by Bene Clair.
, screenplay by Mr. Clair, Pierre Barillet
: and Jean-Plerre Oredy. At the Dupont.
The Cast.
1 Claude Oerard Philipe
Fdmee : Martine Carol
Leila ; Gina Lollobrigida
Suzanne Magall Vendeull
Mme. Bonacieux Marilyn Buferd
Opera Director . Paola Stoppa
Roger, the mechanic
Raymond Busslerea
I Leon, the policeman
Bernard Lalarrige
Paul, the pharmacist Jean Paredes
i Gaston . Raymond Cordy
The old gentleman - Palau
The postman Albert Michel
:
bath, one whose Oriental splen
dor Cecil B.' de Mille himself
might envy.
Two other periods of French
i greatness remain to be covered
iin Clair’s fanciful sequence of
! dreams. One of these is the
French revolution in which the
| hero finds himself the people’s
1 redeemer and, for flavor, the
i j favorite to Magali Verideuil, a
i: fragile and aristocratic beauty
! with u n adaptable political faith.
Last of the beauties in the
I dreamer’s life is Marilyn Buferd
: whom he meets in, of all eras,
' that of the Three Musketeers.
! | . * * * *
As a wonderfully knowing
; human with an incomparably
, amusing touch, Clair knows how
;! to get the most out of dreams
■ j involving such fascinating char
; acters as this lot. But, being
i wise, he knows still another
i thing’that provides “Beauties of
, the Night” with its point; that
i dreams are just fine, but reality
i is better for all its dreary, dis
■ j tracting aspects.
Members of the cast of
11 “Beauties of the Night” lend
themselves with enthusiasm as
, captives of Clair’s capricious and
i comic imagination. History, po
, litical, social and amorous, has
s seldom been played with more
i relish by any director’s actors.
Philipe is at his comic best
i as the sensitive, romantic es
: capist hero of the Dupont’s film.
> There is becoming gusto in his
s affair with Miss Lollobrigida,
» nicely shaded delicacy in his
cation. ... It seems that every
one in trouble claims to be Lex
Barker’s brother—but Lex has
no brothers.
Universal - International is
ready to roll with “The Sophie
TV's Ann Sothern Is Tops
As Night Club Star, Too
By Harry MacArthur
Ann Sothern, who won a host
of friends as Maisie Revers in the
movies and another nost of
friends as Susan McNamara on j
television, now is doing some
more of the same in night clubs
as a girl named Ann Sothern. It
is a bang-up, thoroughly enter
taining show she is whipping
through these nights at the Ca
sino Royal.
This 45-minute song-and
idance session is a considerable
cut above the casual entertain
ment which is more the norm
in the cabarets. It has been'
staged with a sure touch by Le-
Roy Prinz, Hollywood dance di
rector, and Miss Sothern per
forms it with zest and a definite |
flair.
** * *
• Throughout this enterprise the j
star has excellent support from j
the Escorts, a singing and danc- |
ing group assembled for her. j
What with their solid backing |
and Miss Sothern’s sure show- j
manship and sparkling person- |
ality, there’s nothing very closfty j
resembling a dull moment dur- j
ing this turn.
Star and Escorts start out j
with a set of happy songs, with
the emphasis on “Happy Talk”
and “I Want To Be Happy” and
happy is what any body around
must be during the next three
quarters of an hour. The effec
tively garbfed platinum blond
zips along with a fine bounce
through her parade of special
material.
** * *
She goes sentimental with a
long Irving Berlin medley and
she gets in some good comedy
by turning to both her old movie
Maisie character and her “Pri
vate Secretary” Susan Mc
i Namara of TV. She socks home
| rousing delivery of “Too Darn
| Hot” - and, as Maisie beset by
i sailors, makes a fine comic thing
of something titled “As You
!was.” She throws in a bit of
i dancing and gets around to a
spot of ragtime piano-playing.
This is really one of the best
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•-* JJ'' •
A DREAMER FINDS LOVE Philipe, a disheartened
composer, in one night’s dream becomes a hero of the French
Foreign Legion and meets Gina Lollobrigida, the Algerian
Sultan’s daughter, in “Beauties of the Night,” opening today
at the Dupont.
gentler amour with Mile. Ven
deuil, and just the right pitch
of bravado in those with the
other two dream beauties.
Director Clair’s own impec
cable taste in loveliness was
never more rewarding than in
his choice of heroines for this
picture, nor in the way they are
employed to illustrate the de
lightful folly of flight from real
ity.
“Beauties of the Night” well
earns its garlands.
** * *
BULLETIN BOARD: Three-D
dead? .., . Not in the opinion of
Don King who runs the Branch
Drive-in theater. ... He has
booked a pair of depth produc
tions, “Hondo” and “The Phan
tom of the Rue Morgue” for
►
Tucker Story.” ... Paul Cam
eron, UCLA’s ex-All America
football player, is learning to be
a producer at Allied Artists. . . .
Wild Bill Elliott, a cowboy for
20 years, will wear modern dress
for the first time when he plays
a movie detective.
Songbird Anna Maria Alber
ghetti has $115,000 in the bank,
earned $125,000 this year in 18
weeks, and wants just one more
thing in life—a nice husband.
(Releftoed by NANA.)
items the Casino Royal has come |
up with in its attempt to enliven
the local night life. Miss Soth
ern’s personality lends it an
abundance of verve and her
talent and show business know
how bring it off ever so smoothly.
The Hollywood star who tours
the country trying to get by on
talent rather than fan magazine
reputation is 'still enough of a
rarity to make Miss Sothern
stand out. And she truly is a
standout.
f HEALTHFULLY AIR - CONDITIONED ]
WUIAII ACHIEVEMENTS
■AI I ' I
HUMPHREY JOSE
BOGART • FERRER
VAH FRED
JOHNSON-MacMURRAY
mi tntfO*«*f
ROBERT FRANCIS • MAY WYNN
A CttWHi* PICTURt ■ A STHW.U M»Mt» PROP
of the Year!
Room
fiewiw
HELD OVER!
league make-
Cm, toil
Carmody, Sin
nonium!"—
Donnelly, NOwi
audience doubled
Sullivan, Fori
~ ~ "AMUSING!”
—Carmodt. Star
•
tgi TRANS-LUX \
t Kgferf
mt H 1
tlajoMß 10:*5 A.M.
nAxt Tuesday and Wednesday
nights. . . . Opening tonight at
Olney: Brian Donlevy in Clif
ford Odets’ drama, “The Coun
try Girl”. . . . Frances Stern
hagen plays the courageous wife
role, the one Uta Hagan did on
Broadway, that Grace Kelly
plays in. the forthcoming film
version. . . . There will be late
shows, at 11:45 p.m. for Keith’s
“The Caine Mutiny” on both
Friday and Saturday nights this
week.
O CMTHUOW PEtfORMAHCES
1 CHEATER THAN EVER
IN WIDE SCREEN!
IMVffl O.SEIZNICX'S
'GONE
WITH THE
OWIND'
" , 7icA*u£*4rt
ymmjny
1® I*' ROW *1
I § UNCONQUmABIBI
: : jHBHRri no man
- v .HR ever
'H loosed
|| fury
BHBHH WRH no
woman
ever
■LIP
WWE»MfIH such
RHQHH fire I
II BURT LANCASTER
i Apache
7 I JEAN PETERS
I ‘'PRISONER 1
I OF WAR-
»mr« M, . , ,Tj|
Scoring Smash Hit
You've loved her as
"Private Secretary" on TV
i -■ i
STAGED BY
Leßoy Prinz
I Gewni Deslraed fcr Den Leetr and
EleU Jenssee
[ "Brought down the Wouie"
Louella Partont |
"Now charm girt of the cases" |
tmrl Wilton :
"A truly divinely talented show j
women" lo»h soboi :
Plus a Smash Broadway Revue i
Bob Simpson's Orch.
Shows 9:30 & 12:30
i
WASHINGTON'S SMARTESTCASABET
14flh A N St K.W. MA. 1-7701
- _ Ii« ■■Mil ■HIM mmmmmmmmimmmmmmmmmmrnmmmmmm 11 ■ ", ' 111 ■* ' 1 1111
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Last Today
mickey. PATHECOLOR,
Ring of Fear • lETtßflfr■
in Cinemascope [fat 10th ♦Open 11 a. m. - Re. 7-0512 J Col. Rd.-CO. 5-5595 -Open Ip. «n.|
"" " " . ~ || I, 1 i i - - ,
“Gina Lollobrigida in a very scanty harem + r r mTT
costume, which reveals she sure isn't kidding, is ANO 1 Hfljß 1 IvILJJVII ll
a formidable attraction all alone." —N. Y. TIMES fOT
J" - SHIRLEY BOOTH
"NOW WE KNOW THAT SHIRLEY
' i BOOTH IS THE BEST ACTRESS
ON STAGE OR SCREEN AT THIS
— ** *
LRD PHILIPE”* GINA lOILOIRIGJDA
TINE CAROL • MAGALI VENOEUIL
in French with English sub*titles j
| triumph in “Come Back. Little Sheba"
| frZZf ’ SHIRLEY BOOTH
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■ » E3 EL. n I n l r"% ■ w
• OU 7 JXC • OMN
Hi Co starring
MARJ,E N,COL
Screenplay by KETTI f RINGS end HAL KANTER J
j- from the novel by VINA DEIMAO
A PARAMOUNT PICTURE.
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