Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-03-13

Sdp1OO1' OIISC Hull IL pICoC1lGS "
homicidal maniac, this one per-
haps the Sheerest fiend in the
actress career.
Beyond the frenzied melo-
drama on the screen, however,
lies Doretta Morrow, a vocalist
whose charm and talent on the
stage show puts life back in
pleasant perspective. Miss Nor
row will be wildly recalled as
the singing partner of Mario
LAMA in Because You're Nine"
a girl whose real life loneliness
will have to be set down as
reproof to MGM's cameramen.
The legend is that they make
girls prettier.
A story by Maurice Zimm,
adapted by Mel Dinelli, is the
basis of the Capitol's new screen
feature.
1t purports to be a study of the
behavior of a woman who is
forced to throw herself upon the
mercy of a maniac killer in order
to save her husbands life. It's
moral, at least obliquely, is that
a woman should look beyond this
type when she is in need of a
reScuing male angel.
The situation which filings to-
gether the four characters in
Jeopardy" is not in itself i'm
plausible even if the treatment
is. It's setting is the remote Mexi-
can coast. Here Miss Stanwyck,
Barry Sullivan as her husband,
and their young son have gone
on a fishing vacation. The hus-
band is trapped under a falling
pier pile with the tide rising
and Miss Stanwyck is sent out
into the Mexican wasteland to
find help.
What she finds, of course, is
the escaping murderer who nat
urally is more interested in saw
ing his own neck than the life
of a man married to so seductive
a girl as Miss Stanwyck. 1t
would not be honorable to tell
how it works out, but every one
can be sure it is not altogether
honorably.
AS a woman oblivious of all
else when her mans life is at
stake. Miss Stanwyck fights
back vigorously against the perils
of her script. She gets competent
support from Barry Sullivan as
the husband, and rather more
interesting help from Ralph
Meeker as the villain. In the
first few hundred feet of his
association with the heroine
Meeker gives a performance that
looks like sheer mimicry of the
Marion Brando style. He is too
good an actor to keep this up but
1t is undeniably fun while it lasts.
It's not supposed to be fun, of
course.
Miss Morrow. who jumped out
of THE King and I" to co-star
with LAMA in a picture without |
even screen test, is the person.
able performer every one had a
right to expect. She is a SPAR
king sort who would obviously |
prefer to be a singer than a song
stylist. an altogether admirable
discretion which she backs up |
with an impressive voice.
1t is an agreeable set of COL
leagues that the Capitol has pro-
vided for Miss Morrow, especi- |
ally Smith and Dale, young male |
vocalist Stuart Foster and the |
Wells and Four Fays.
They provide nice contrast to
Miss Stanwyck's acute suffer-
ing.
4 4 y
Miss Helen Hayes who, fit
tingly, is turning into the con-
tinuing president of the Ameri-
can Theater Wing, was guest of
honor at luncheon by the local
wing at the Statler yesterday.
In brief speech, she described
the Wings postwar activities,
with especial emphasis upon it's
continuing entertainment pro-
gram in service hospitals.
She also spoke briefly as a
former Washington girl, and as
an intense advocate of more liv-
ing theater, on the pleasure of