Evening star., 1952-01-10

has happened to everybody's inno
makes him look more like an old
codger than a monster. True he
goes around grinding people up in
mill wheels. having knives thrown
into their inviting backs. etc. In
stead Of giving people the creeps,
however, as Universal Pictures in
tended, the old man merely gives
the impressio nof having an odd
sense Of humor.
This Is not reflection on Stev-
enSon's genius for writing evil or
Charles Laughton's ability to por-
tray it on the screen. It is merely
that it takes a lot more to make
the blood run cold these days
than a movie shocker called ''The
Strange Door"
+ -
It is an interesting thing about
the new screen feature at Keith's
that the rather good cast does not
seem to be taking 1t with the old
seriousness. Even IN the case of
Laughton, a man with q gourmet's
relish for the sinister. there is q
suggestion that no one really is
going to be afraid of him.
AS for the set builders who
turned out the machinery that
topples castle walls on pretty girls
like Sally Forrest, they knew they
could not compare their work with
that Of the men who invented the
flame thrower. the fire bomb or
the block buster.
The horror business simply has
slipped away from such as Holly
wood.
'.. ~ *A
If memory is no more than
usually unreliable, it seems that
Jerry Sackheim's screenplay fol-
lows pretty much the original
Stevenson story.
There's old M. Maletriot sitting
in his castle dreaming new INSTALL
ments of the hideous revenge onl
the beautiful woman who married
his brother. He has the brother
downstairs in a dungeon, his beau
tiful niece prepared for q sacri-
fetal marriage, and as the film
opens, he has just landed q hand
some young lecher to serve as
bridegroom.
It is an eerie piece Of real estate
on which the Sire's door closes
and the things that 60 on there
are not exactly pleasant. The
worst thing about them, how
ever, is that they are not con-
vincing.
While Laughton slobbers over
his joints Of beef, lisps his poison
GUS plans for his assorted house
guests, and pays periodic visits toI
his brother cached in the castle
cellar, it is in the movies code
that he has to lose.
1t is constantly apparent that
the forced marriage Is going to
be a love match between Miss Fora
rest and tall, dark Richard Stap-
ley. 1t is equally evident: that
Boris Karloff slipping around In
the guise of a deranged old SER
want is going to get on the right
team and figure in the key play
that will win the game for virtue.
The one moment when "The
Strange Door" doffs its doldrums
or when it is not turning into
comedy, is at the climax when the
old Sire's mills start grinding the
castle walls together to crush the
good humans he has trapped.
There is a feeling here that some
thing might 60 wrong with the
machinery and cause some real
damage to q bystander. innocent
or otherwise.
There's a foreword on the pic
ture that anyone who is afraid
to go home in the dark after see
ing the film can have an escort.
It is silly waste Of words.
- 4 +
Bulletin board: "Rasho- Mon,
the japanese Aim which won the
New York Critics prize as the
best foreign movie Of 1851, has
been booked for the Dupont the
ater January 80. A couple Of
other prizes won by the Japanese
production are the National Board
of Review blue ribbon and the
Venice festival prize. Its en-
gagement at the Dupont is un-
limited. :. The University Won.
ems club will have a theater party
for its own benefit. The clubs
lounge will be the scene of the
presentation Of j. B. Priestly'sI
Dangerous Corner" on January
IL and IL. Mt. Vernon Play
ers have started rehearsals of
Thomas Jobs thriller, Uncle