Evening star., 1950-07-08


~sat the Metropolitan.
- This is the work of Republic, a
small but intense studio, and
= whatever its flaws, there is no dis
y putting that an effort was made to
A. inject few fresh licks into this
production. For one thing. Rock
Island Trail" introduces a whole
new set of faces into railroad
building, the chief face that of
. Forrest Tucker, a former Arling-
ton boy. His distinction in the
role is that he looks less like
q man who might build a railroad
n than even Enrol Flynn.
u The really novel touch in the
s Metropolitan feature. however. is
: one that is likely to stop you cold
I, in your air-cooled seat.
This is the introduction of an
/. Indian princess into the proceed
ings, such beautiful princess
that the frontier white males were
fools for not joining the Indians
instead of conquering them.
Aleeta is this girls name and
she is like no other Indian since
before Columbus intruded into In
:, dian affairs. She has been edu-
Gated in Paris, speaks French bet
ter than Anatole France, wears
clothes with a distinction that
would floor Dior, and even has a
French maid. None of this, how
ever. has corrupted her for she
; still can get pretty savage about
two types of men, the first those
she likes. the others those she dis
likes.
With more Aleetas in them
played by dusky Adrian Booth
the movies really would be better
than ever just as the slogan keeps
saying.
Apart from her redeeming pres
ence, however, Rock Island Trail"
is a duly acted historical fiction
more concerned with the romance
between Tucker and Adele Mara
than the story of how the West
was opened up by iron horses.
Tucker is one of those huge, raw
boned dynamo types who looks
more at home with a track-laying
gang than counting dainty, rich
Miss Mara. They are drawn to
each other by the scripts opening
scene and thereafter divide their
time between discussing railroad
problems and playing an elephan-
tine game of amour.
The negative of fuckers rug
ged virtues is represented by Bruce
Cabot who offers constant inter-
ruption to both the amour and
the business of getting the rail-
road built. =.
Joseph Kane has sought to give
"Rock Island Trail the light
touch in his direction but he has
not been notably successful. One
of the big handicaps to his effort
Ia this direction. is dialogue that
is about as archaic as If 1t had
been cu1ied from Beowolilf !. or at
least Chaucer. A fine sample that
sticks in the mind is Miss Mara's
speech to Tucker: Father says
the contracting of freight indi- 1
Gates that business will exceed all
expectations."
There is not much a director
or an actress can do about a
speech like that. Audiences either,
for that matter.
Until Aleeta comes along to liv-
en- up things. Rock Island Trail"
puts its major faith in few
physical encounters between Tuck
,er and Cabot. One of these de-
parts from custom in that it shows
the two fighting a duel with floor
mops dipped in hot vegetable
soup. In another violent sequence,
a touch Of novelty is introduced
when Tucker pours whisky over
the clothing of labor boss and
then drops a lighted match on
the poor devil to see what will
happen.
The two big dramatic attempts
of Cabot to frustrate the track
laying which will ruin his steam
boat business. are much more con-
yentional. One of these involves