Word: plot
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Director John Cromwell treats this trite subject matter in an unimaginative way, with the result that the picture rarely seems realistic, despite the fine acting of Miss Greer. At many points, the plot is crippled by weak dialogue. When Miss Scott asks the parole board to return her rival's civil liberties so she can marry the newsman; she says, "Please give her back her civil liberties." Small wonder that the answer...
...Fontaine-Gotten affair 'is thrust upon them by a plot gimmick, as if it were fate. Strangers on a plane that stops in Naples for repairs, they miss its departure while sightseeing. The plane crashes. Listed as dead, they are free to make a new life far from Cotten's wife (Jessica Tandy) and son. For a while, until the past (and the Production Code) catches up with the lovers, life becomes an idyl in a palazzo. Renunciation finally comes not so much from themselves as from the prodding of other characters...
...lower level, September Affair has been turned out with as much skill as Brief Encounter. The plot meshes smoothly, the dialogue is suavely written and spoken, the score puts Kurt Weill's lovely September Song to good sentimental use, and a soft haze of glamor rises from lavish interiors and antiseptically romantic Italian vistas. The effect is as shimmeringly pretty as a soap bubble, and just as hollow...
King Solomon's Mines. The plot (with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger) is easy to see through, but the Technicolor shots of African animals and vistas are well worth looking at (TIME...
There is no love element to confuse the plot--"Billy Budd" has an all-male cast. But there are other distractions, apart from the distilled characters of Billy and Claggart. The early dialogue contains too many quick jumps from the humblest prose to polysyllabic poetry, and the first act is talkly and slowpaced. The last two acts, however, are far more convincing and dramatic. This improvement is probably due more to the appearance of Dennis King and better writing than to any effort by director Norris Houghton, whose work is often uninspired. Paul Morrison has designed some excellent, atmospheric sets...