Evening star., 1952-05-02

LiZabeth Scott, is drab piece O
with the vigor of the cast and
is a romantic triangle laid in a
cave, of all settings, and mixed
up with the gold rush and the
dying days of the Civil War.
1t is no doubt possible to bring
these three story elements into a
dramatic arrangement. What
counts in the case of Red Noun
tain" is that a veritable horde
or writer's failed to do it.
Miss Scott, who is not much
of an actress in any setting, nev-
ertheleSs has managed to create
a more favorable impression in
those murky nightclubs she used
to work in AS the frontier ga
Zelle fought over by Ladd and
Arthur Kennedy. she can count
herself lucky she is the only
woman in the picture. One rival
would have been her undoing.
Xxx **
Boulder, Colo, is the setting
of Red Mountain" It was
hot spot in 1865, shortly before
Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
Here Kennedy has found a vein
of gold that will enable him to
marry Miss Scott. Here Ladd
comes, apparently. to shoot a gold
aSsayer he does not like.
Within a few hours of these
happenings, all three are in flight
from sheriff and a posse. Lynch
law is the force that has made
them strange cavefellows, bedfel-
lows. too, in a careful way.
This would seem to be enough
trouble for any three Colorado
visitors, but not in Red Noun
tain" Before the trio settles its
intracave and posse problems, up
rides old Confederate guerilla, Ben
Quantrell John Ireland).
He adds them. as prisoners, to
the raiding band Of whites and
Indians with which he intends
to capture the entire West while
the North and South are battling
in the East. What happens there
after is much too complicated,
and too lacking in genuine drama,
to be discussed here.
An obviously unintended flavor
of comedy creeps into the murder
Gus violence of Red Mountain"
by the time the last complication
is injected into the plot.
This centerS in poor Miss Scott'S
effort to act the impossible role
of a girl who is trying to be
loyal to Kennedy while slowly
Succombing to the muscular charm
Of Ladd. She is not the cavewoman
type. Moreover, this is defect
emphasized by the fact that
through gun dulles, attempted as
saults, night flights, ETC., her nail
polish never cracks and her hair
do remains perfect.
Still another handicap under
which she labors is the dialogue of
Red Mountain" Just what nerv-
Gus humans would say to cne an
other under the circumstances is
debatable. but what. they would
. not say constitutes most of the
dialogue of the Paramount film.
x \ 4 4
The willoWy, siren-type heroine
is not the only handicapped player
: in Red Mountain" All that is
asked of Ladd and Kennedy is
that they do walk-throughs of
routine fighting-man roles and
pretend that Miss Scott is their
type instead of being merely the
only girl in Colorado.
Actually the meatiest role in the
picture is that of Quantrell. This
Confederate marauder who ter
rified the West in the mid SOS is
pictured as a madman, dreaming
always of empire and new atroci-
ties to terrify the countryside.
Ireland plays him with far more
: relish than the others manage to
show in their work.
He is especially enthusiastic
A. for his job in those passages in
+ which he is trying to decide the
best and quickest way to kill Miss
Scott. yWillowy women, it seems,
were anathema to Quantrell.
X X X y
BULLETIN BOARD: Encore"
the latest w. Somerset Vaughan
composite film, will follow MY Six
Convicts" at the Trans-Lux. +.
: 1t is the sequel to Quartet" and
'Trio," Vaughan story combina-
tions that proved among the great
film attractions of their seasons
:. Topf1ight films still on display
: in the neighborhood theaters in
clude Decision Before Dawn" "A
Place in the Sum-" Sailor Be-
ware" ''Flesh and Fury" and for
the kiddieS, "Jack and the Bean
stalk" Washington dancer
Ethel Butler will present a concert
in New York tomorrow at Kauff-
mann auditorium, YM-YWHA
dance center. Montgomery
Blair High School dramatists last
night presented their Wizard of
OF" at Oakview School .. Ad-
ditional performances are set for
Parkside School May Z and Forest
Grove, May 13. Film feature
at international Student House
tomorrow night will be Stairway
to Heaven" English production
starring David Niven.