Evening star., 1952-05-17

ana Cf1umpnS, so broadly ike CnOS
behold on the screen. In the con-
fidence born on the first films
popularity. goth Century-Fox has
squandered talent on this film.
Only conspicuous absentee in the
new work is Clifton Webb who
fathered the brood originally. AS
in life. so in the movie, he dies
and leaves Myrna 10y with a
myriad of dramatic problems.
No woman could probably bear
them more engaglngly than Miss
10y. She not only holds the family
together against heavy economic
odds. she holds herself together
in the emotional cyclone of Gill
breth family life.
So far as the screen is con-
cerned. she is the mother-of- the
year and deserving of such beauti-
full daughters as Jeanne Grain,
Debra Paget and Barbara Bates.
Bellies on Their Toes" is the
title of the latest Gilbreth saga.
With that many offspring to deal
with. the ScreenScript could not
possibly lack for action. The prob
lem is rather to know which &C
tions to utilize and Director Henry
Levin has been wisely discriminat-
ing in this.
The stories he has chosen to
accent are those of Mrs. Gill
breth'S battle against poverty,
Daughter Anne's romance with a
young Montclair IN. JD doctor,
and adolescent Ernistine's roman
tic brush with a callow giant who
drives Stutz Bearcat. The films
recall of the Stutz Bearcat type
alone is something to be grateful
for. This hilarious American is
one who never should have been
allowed to vanish. He was a card.
X x K x
1t was only just of screen writ
ers Henry and Phoebe Ephron to
make Miss Logs mother the her
oine of Bellies on Their Toes" A
woman who has that many chill
dren is a heroine although it is
doubtful she would look as trim
as Miss 10y.
The Widow Gilbreth is con-
fronted by an economic problem
worthy of Federal aid. 1t is not just
all those evolving small bodies to
feed, but there she is, a woman
engineer in a world which regards
that field exclusively male. It
takes more than technical bril-
lance to solve this. such extras
as spunk and artfulness. Mrs
Gilbreth has them sufficiently to
impress a big manufacturer ed
ward Arnold that he should let
her tutor his f1edgling scientists
Montclair and Marthas Vine
yard are the principal settings OF
Bellies on Their Toes" Both are
converted into busy scenes by the
Gilbreths.
There is young Ernestine, for
instance. simpering semi-hySteri-
cally through first love and being
a problem not only for her mother
but also for her sisters and Hoagy
Carmichael as the family's all
star servant. Anne miss Crain)
is almost old enough and capable
enough to keep from being &
problem. Only almost, however.
The facts of life being what
they always are, she has tht
dramatic dilemma of deciding
whether she owes loyalty to thu
family or love to the young doc.
tor.
The GilbrethS. however, take al
this sort of thing in their multiple
stride. They sing their way ou
of many a ticklish situation, le
themselves be guided by mothe
out of the more inSufferable ones
Among the latter is an ill-ad
vised newsreel feature story abou
the large American family. Thi
is one of the films funniest Sc
quences, a passage which sug
gests they have been made tn
butt of one of the century's mos
gruesome jokes. It turns out for
tunately that the average Ameri
can moviegoer is able to Sc