Daily News from Los Angeles, California • 20

to Film review XV mm The Nelsons have odd credits 'Singin' in the Rain1 s' A rr v. By HOWARD McCLAY Singin' in the Rein," now on regular run at the Loewa State an Egyptian following ita big, razzle-dazzle premiere last night at the latter house, is a swell musical. Bristling with the old Arthur Freed production touch, this MGM Technicolor movie is entertaining in all departments and proves to be a top vehicle for the talents of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Screenplay by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, from their original story, deftly spins a spritely yam about a young silent screen hero and his associates who find themselves fumbling around like rookies at the advent of the talkies. Hollywood's frailties come in (or some solid satirical treatment, which accounts for a great deal of the picture's comedy.

Musically, the film is framed against a raft of hit' tunes written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. Some of these are accorded slick production numbers that will have you humming such old favorites as Singing in the Rain, You Were Meant for Me, You Are My Lucky Star, All I Do Is Dream of You and a few others. Standout In Singin in the Rain are Donald O'Connor's routine to Make 'Em masterpiece of showmanship and terpischore that brings down the house. In fact, this number alone is almost worth the price of ad' mission. Capable Donald, a tough man to beat at this type of stuff, presses Kelly hard individual honors.

Kellys best effort is displayed in the in the Rain Hum ber. Although not quite as socko as OConnor's piece, its novelty and delightfulness make it equally enjoyable. BS- A vv .4 :7 jp 1 jf 4 'for. Debbie Reynolds, who also gets star billing, registers solidly throughout And let's not over look Jean Hagen, who, although she only gets supporting credit does a nifty task as the silent movie queen whose voice murders the sound track and the boxof-fice. We could get analytical and say that one sequence was too long, or that the plot was thin.

But in this case were dealing primarily with music and motion and its ef feet on the audience. Singin the Rain has all the ingredients of a good musical and they are expertly mixed to produce a delightful film. Wedon'i -think -the customer will fee 1 short-changed on this one. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen shared tpe directorial chair for this one and the result is excellent. Others who contribute to the general welfare of the picture are Millard Mitchell, as the producer; Cyd Charisse, who does a slick ballet bit with Kelly; Douglas Fowley, as the director and Rita Moreno, as a jealous actress.

Hal os son's photography is tops and film editing by-Adrienne Fazan is slick. fp -a HOPE IT WORKS! Aldo Ray and Judy Holli- make a lot of money in The Marrying Kind," day havajan idea for an invention which should a tomorrow at Pantagei and Hillstreet theaters. to Dance review Jean Leon Destine By MILDRED NORTON If Haitians set their tlaily living to the rhythms of native drums, there must be few dull moments in the West Indies. Some of these rhythmic activi- 7 Nearly all of the dances exhibited a strong African influence. ties generated a measure of Wilshire Ebell interest on the stage last night, where Jean Leon Destine brought his company of dancers and a complement of native 'drums in a program of songs and dances of.

Haiti. ALEC GUINNESS is the funster in "The Lavender Hill Mob," now screening, Apollo theater. MICHAEL REDGRAVE plays tho rolo.of tha harassed professor in The Browninq Version," now et Fine Arts theater. TOMORROW Film review 'Jack and the Beanstalk1 By ERSKINE JOHNSON CLOSEUPS AND LONG-SHOTS: Ricky and David Nelson, the real-life progeny of Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard, are billed thia way in Vl'a opening credits for the movie, Here Come the Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard in Here Come the Nelsons. With David and Ricky Nelson.

Two characters Created by Ozzie and Harriet Lauren Bacall, warbling a duet of Why Do I Love You" with Bing Crosby on his air show, stuck her fingers in her ears for the last four bars of the song. Lauren later explained the ear-stopping: I get ao fascinated with his, harmony, I cant sing. Audie Murphys soft-pedaling of his Most Decorated Soldier title landed him behind the eight ball in a Kansas City radio interview before the premiere of The Cimarron Kid. A gushy feminine commentator tried to steer him into admitting that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor with: now, Audie what decoration are you proudest of? Audio snapped: If you must know, it was a good conduct ribbon. Clark Gable's new movie is whimsically titled; Never let Me.

Go. No, it'a not dedicated to Sylvia. Ex-western hero Rex Lease; grey-haired and portly, is blushing about his 25-year-old western movies playing the TV channels. The old horse operas show him as a thin, daak-haired young man aa athletic as a Fairbanks. One night his 10-year-old son, Richard, kept looking, puzzled, from the TV screen to' his father and finally asked: Is that really ydli.

Dad or one of your brothers? Rex, who collected $1850 a week as an early day Roy Rogers, now plays movie Jsit roles hes a waiter in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd and he plays the sheriff in the Ms and Pa Kettle films. Bob Hope was baking out a cold in an electric cabinet on the Paramount lot when Claude Binyon passed by. You look just like a loaf of bread, said Claude. Do you mind, if I stick you with a broom straw?" OK, said Bob, but dont shake the oven I might falL Hear about the starlet with tha poodle haircut who broke her leg and was rushed to the nearest veterinarian? Its comic Will Jordan's line about the gun moll who decided that James Cagney and George Raft were too hard to GAT. Character actor Tom Tully, while driving off the Fox lot, waa forced to the curb when a starlet ahead of his car suddenly made a right-hand turn from a left hand lane.

Hey, you! burst out Tully, why didnt you signal? Because, chirped the doll, always turn here, silly! Errol Flynn tells thia He was stopped for exceeding the speed limit pnd muttered that he supposed the traffic guardian was going to give him a ticket Id like to do you a favor, Mr. Flynn, said the policeman, hauling a 50-pound manuscript out of his motorcycle tool box. Tm a writer and this story of mine would make a great movie for you." Errol gulped, looked at tha weighty bundle of paper and groaned: You mean that about doing mo favor, officer? You bet Then save the manuscript for Clark Gable aaid Errol, and give ms the ticket. Flynn got the ticket Madge Kennedy, the former ai- lent star who returns to the screen In The Marrying Kind, tells this as her favorite about W. G.

Fields. iMadge co-starred with Fields on Broadway In Poppy." One of the touching scenes in the play came when a petite actress named Emma Janbier appeared in a fluffy costumL as a princess. Each night Fields would look at her tenderly as the script dictated and would murmur: Go to your bower. But one night Emma was too ill to play the role and her understudy, a large, stoutish woman, was rushed onstage in her place. 1 Fields, who had not been warned of the changh, gazed at the new Amazon: princess in horror and said: Go to your hangar! lIMIflP INOAOIMIN? Sta rtim DONNA ATWOOD and BOBBY SPECHT THI OLD SMOOTHIES MORE THAN 30 ACTS with an occasional thin, veneer of colonial French mannerisms retailing an 18th century court elegance.

'Not much formality was present to slow down the opening number, something titled Congo Tropical that was described as a gay and flirtatious social dance, and that brought Destine and Yolanda Gaffney on stage for some coquettish maneuvering, to the rhythms of a couple of drums. Destine next introdyced a few songs of Haiti, sung Jin Creole patois, and while he is a more expert dancer than a singer, these added up pleasantly enough. An Afro-Haitian dance, performed by Irene McKinney, young woman of pliant sinews, seemed to have some relationship with thq occult not immediately divined by me, although I found it agreeably diverting. Des tines own Slave Dance, Inspired by the liberation of the island's slaves unden Toussaint L'Ouverture, was effective in its earlier portions, which were heightened by a vocal lament of provocatively Moorish flavor. A Creole dance performed by Destine and Miss McKinney in correct calico elegance, was gently charming, while the same team performed more energetic offices in tha Initiation of the Hounsl, a dance detailing the initiation of a novice into the voodoo cult.

If rather too many of the dances were more gently evocative than theatrically forceful, there was enough vitality in the drums' percussion accents to make up for this. High points of thd evening, me, were' Alphonse Cimbera virtuosity on these instruments, as his voluable fingers rapped out entire sagas with an eloquence and expressive range not to be coaxed from our rigid northern mallets. His drumming raises the primitive to the realm of the virtousic. For him, rhythm, the primordial pulse, writes a music without melody, but music none the less, and hearing him has moved me, I suspect, to listen with a fresh ear to latter, day Stravinsky. Festurwif Wilt Diintys ffiDMULil -taA A.

DIG PRODUCTIONS! AT MORI THAN 100 BOX OFFICES -44 TVe AMHCU-U TaA lift hr i By HOWARD McCLAY "Jack and the Beanstalk, latest film adventure for Abbott and Costello, and now showing at Warners Hollywood, Downtown and Wiltem, la a 'rather weak attempt to capture the flavor of the famed story-book favorite. True, all of the props found In tha fairy tale version art there the giant, the hen that laid the golden egg, the talking harp, the beanstalk and tha castle In 'the sky but they alone do not suffice to make the film anything near the real McCoy. The film also lacks much of the old Abbott and Costello comedy punch and appears to have suffered somewhat from meager production efforts. Actually, our chief of the vehicle is the casting of Costello as Jack. We'vs read Jack and the Beanstalk to our own offspring innumerable times, and we think that they're going to be a trifle confused when they see the screen version of' their bedtime hero if they get to see it If Abbott and Costello wanted to do something with Jack and the Beanstalk they should have figured out some way to capitalize on the appeal of the story without gross miscasting.

They could have worked themselves into the story and still preserved much of Its delightfulness. Perhaps Lou could have -been the prince. At least the comic possibilities in that direction would be more apropos. Another disturbing factor about the production is the awkward use of musical numbers and dance routines. They come without provocation and have little meaning.

And what is proved by the dance between Costello and Dorothy Kord? Sorry, but we missed the whole point. The best performer in the movie was Buddy Bear, as the giant We somehow felt that he was one guy who wasn't miscast And if nothing else, hell scare the six shooters and space guns out of the hands of the small fry. Ws caa't say much for the supporting players because they oft fered little support It was photographed in SuperdncColor by Geokge Robinson and we cant complaiq about Robinson's work. Warner Bros, released the film for Exclusive Productions. pan PAcmc AUonoaiuM-yaoo beverly mv.

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