Evening star., 1953-01-09


1t is not quite the same "
heir to Runyon's weirdies. It la
which knew just how far to lift
the veil on their eccentricities.
This is a regrettable thing for
the movies have a much larger
audience than Runyon's stories
and it is an audience which
clearly could do with refresh
ing set of characters.
Thus, circuitously, one comes
to Stop. You're Killing Me-"
the Runyon-inSpired comedy at
the Warner and Ambassador
Theaters. For all its funny mo-
mentS, The Warner film starring
Broderick Crawford and Claire
Trevor, falls considerably short
of the easy, sustained laughter
of the original story. In the
hands of Director Roy Del Ruth
and acting company, every one
appears to be breaking his heat
to help out a farce script that
might have got along better on
its own.
"Stop, You're Killing Me-"
originally a play by Runyon and
Howard Lindsay, is story OF
how prohibitions repeal affected
a select group of underworld
figures.
In this set-up, Crawford por-
trays a rum baron whose en-
tourage is incensed that its way
of life should be destroyed by
the sovereign people who used
to buy its bathtub gin. watered
whisky and needed beer. AS
they see it, they have been
robbed of a constitutional right
to earn fortunes bootlegging.
The boss, however. finds a way
to console them, namely to go
legit and operate a brewery by
adapting the business methods
that proved so successful in their
former line. This sounds t1ne,
but proves otherwise. The COM
pany's beer turns out to be hor-
rible and it's business methods
even worse. 'Legit" turns out
to be the worst way to live the
group ever encountered.
y X y X
Most of the frenzied action OF
"Stop, You're Killing Me- is
laid in Saratoga mansion TO
which the baron, his wife,
daughter, mob and an orphan
boy retreat to ponder their dl-
lemma. Before the mansions
life can be organized, the place
Is filled with a collection OF
four dead bodies, a homlcldal
bandit, an army of rum-row's
old playboys and playgirls, a
society dowager and an assort-
ment of public officials.
The rest is bedlam and that's
the way it is going to be lett
here. =,
The really funny moments OF
"Stop, You're Killing Me" are
those dominated by Beer Baron
Crawford's three faithful hench-
men. One of these involves the
trio's joyous conference on now
to dispose of the four oeao
bodies by distributing them on
the lawns of Saratogans by
whom the newcomers have been
gnubbed.
This is all quite pure Runyon
and very funny as is another
sequence in which the corpses
are redeemed when the radlo
informs the gang that each dead
man is worth a reward OF $4,000.
Also good for a long, loud laugn
in the farce at the Warner is
the gag which puts half-a-mll-
lion dollars into the hands OF
the supposedly penniless orphan
at lust the moment when CraW-
ford is in desperate need OF that
sum to save the brewery. /
There is, however. a great deal
more to "Stop. You're Killing
Me" than these few passages.
Unfortunately. it is considerably
less funny which makes the gaps
between laughs longer than IS
good for the film.
DeMILLE NOTE: THE Great
est Show on Earth" offers fur
ther profound evidence on the
score of the unlimited budget
which Paramount grants to Cecil
B. DeMille. According to Variety,
the DeMille circus picture is the
top grosser among films for 1852,
with a total box-office take OF
$12,O00,0OO. And the end, OF
course, is by no means in sight.
There is an idea in the trade
that if any production ever over
takes the earnings of Gone
With the Wind" more than $30,-
100000, Greatest Show" will
be it.
SOCIETY NOTE: Top accept
ance so far-and as far as such