Evening star., 1955-07-04

OMNIBUS uluS III WHICH q SET OF I
or other and while away the tir
Of their pasts.
These delight contin en- Il
movie producers who are labor
ing under the impression that
they are Honore de Balzao. In
the case of Niccolo Theodoli, who
produced 1.-THE Bed" this is less
and impression than a delusion.
This seems to have been quite
an extensive un d ertak king,
though. The cast is headed by
Vittorio de Sica of Italy. Richard
Todd of Great Britain, Jeanne
Moreau and MARITIME Carol of
France and Dawn Addams. Brit
ish-born Miss Addams is the
truly international member of
this group, having gone to Holly
wood by way Of Brazil and from
there to Italy, where she is an
authentic princess. This makes
her the only Italian princess,
though she was not yet one at
the time, with whom I ever at
tended a jousting tournament in
some wild reach of Virginia, but
this is beside the point.
Four directors were required
to put together "The Bed" To
guide them they had the collec-
tive labors Of some 10 writer's. It
is q multi-lingual film. too.
Sometimes the merry raconteurs
speak French which is commune
Gated by English subtitles and at
other times they seem to be talk
ing Italian while English words
come from their mouths-or
from somewhere in the same
room. 1t is not the best clubbing
Job ever encountered.
\ \ X y
The first episode, "The Billet" I"
concerns a wartime adventure of
o British officer who sinks ex-
haustedly into a borrowed bed
one night only to be awakened by
a scream and pressed into serv-
ice as a midwife. It completely
avoids the leer and is given some
warm charm by the tasteful
playing Of Miss Moreau and
Todd.
Miss Carol turns up in 1.-THE
Pompadour Bed" - frequently,
come to think Of it. It's deliv-
1ered to her by mistake and so
inspires her that she becomes the
greatest courtesan Of all France.
Miss Carol plays her role with
some deftness, but in general this
adventure is more crude than
Gallo. It has all the delicate
Partisan nuance Of an old Minsky
burlesque sketch.
1.-THE Divorce" attempts to
have some fun with the new
York State divorce laws, which
demand proof of infidelity. Mr..
De Sica plays the husband po-
litely arranging the evidence for
his wife, Miss Addams a proper
school teacher who augments her
income by providing the evidence
land nothing but the evidence)
in cases like this. It has its comic
moments. but 1t prattles on and
on. Miss Addams and Mr.. De
Sica do give the scenario a bat
tie, but 1t leaves them resem-
bling q pair of ballet dancers
trying to perform while wearing
hip boots.
Marcel Mouloudji and Fran
coise Arnoul are the principals
in Riviera Express" the fourth
fable. about a poor but happy
truck driver and his encounter
with q rich but unhappy girl.
The major fault to be found
with "The Bed" is that it sets
out to recount four anecdotes
which should have taken about
five minutes each and spends an
hour and 20 minutes belaboring
them.
\
EXPLOITATION-The major
Hollywood holdout against tele-
vision has succumbed. MGM,
which fatty refused to let its
stars appear on Tv (until Ed
Sullivan did Toast Of Dore
Schary), has signed pact with
the American Broadcasting Co.
The half-hour weekly show the
movie studio will produce, "The
MGM Parade" will start in mid
September.
Metro. In going along with the
rest Of the motion picture in
dustry. is singing the same song
that the other major movie stu
dos have sung. Entertainment
always is promised. but exploi-
-