Evening star., 1948-11-12

Richard Widmark is up to his
usual psychopathic tricks in "Roao
House" new Capitol Theater screen
attraction. Moviegoers seeking q
quick blood freeze will find the re-
suit to their liking. True. there is
a synthetic look about the Edward
Chodorov production from time tc
time, but the overall effect is one
of considerable excitement
Twentieth Century-FoX, the pro-
ducing studio, obviously is still ex-
pansively happy about the discovery
of Widmark as the cinema'S new
iceman. 1t has surrounded him in
his current enterprise with such
costars as Ida Lupino, Cornell Wilde
and Celeste Holm. These are ex-
pensive playmates for any villain
but Widmark's bosses are confident
he is worth the money. The odds
are that they are right.
Widmark moves several notches
up in the social scale on this occa-
sion. He is the spoiled son of
wealthy Small-town family, not a
gangster, but he still suffers from
the same neurotic tWitch and his
laughter carries the old cold note
of madness He is a dangerous
one to have around, the more SC
since he reacts downright murder
ously to the torch songs which Miss
Lupino sings.
The plot of Road House" is artful
however. in that it provides Wild
mark with enough passive moments
to give the picture some sharply
contrasting areas of nervous COM
edy.
The drama of Owner Widmark' S
road house starts when he imports
Miss Lupino to entertain the GUS
toners with her bitter-Sweet songs
One look at her convinceS Wilde
manager of the place. that a new
menace has come onto the prem
iSeS.
He never made better snap judg-
ment Miss Lupino is hardly into
her hot heartbreak act on the piano
than things begin to pop. Ignoring
Widmark's play for her. the torch
singer begins to make a play for
Wilde. The latter, who knows what
a spoiled psychopath his boss is,
makes a smart effort to Sidestep his
allotted spot in the triangle 1t turns
out he is not that amotiQnally agile,
From this point on, It is just a
matter of what Widmark is going to
do about things What he does is
plenty, all of it far more diabolicelly
clever and ultimately violent than
1t would be fair to go into at this
point.
A dozen listless screenplays in
nightclub settings are redeemed by
Widmark's appearance in Road
House These old tired premises
suddenly come to life as he stalks
around like an insane little rich
boy thinking of proper fates for
those who have spoiled his fun.
His mind does not work fast, but
he sees that it does work fascinat-
ingly. He knows how to play soft
when he is thinking hard. He plays
his mercurial changes to the hilt,
and while everything he Goes is
strictly repeat performance, it re-
talns its usual elements Of high and
dangerous drama.
Miss Lupino is the nearest match
for Widmark that his studio has
vet found, a girl whose neuroSis is
as deep. if not as dangerous, as his
own. The idea is always visible that,
tough as Widmark is, Ida might be
the very girl to bump him off, which
is not as far-fetched as you may
be thinking
Wilde is logical odd-man in the
cast assembled by Producer Cho-
dorov and Director Jean Negulesco.
AS a handsome, muscular normal
version of herohood. he leaves the
melancholy heroine the exactly
proper margin of choice between
the two men in her life.
Miss Holm, blithely funny girl.
has a minor sized part in Road
House" but sne brings it up TO
something quite impressive.
Comedian Pat Henning is this
weeks stage headliner at the Capt.
tol. His support. mostly dancing,
comes from Mage and Karr, ball
room pair, and the Dolinoffs and
Raya Sisters in a variety of imagi-
native impressions. The vocal de-
partment is left to Viola Layne, who
handles it competentlY enough.