Evening star., 1961-07-10

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view Hayley's movies but just !
staff challenge our seniority on
Virginia avenue. southeast, bet
will be the scene of the meanest
walk-down since Gary Cooper
shot Frank Miller dead in High
Noon"
The last shred of objectivity
toward little Miss Mills acting
disappears with her latest
movie, THE Parent Trap" at
Loew's Palace. We managed to
be reserved enough not to
shrek with delight, as does the
rest Of the audience, but devo-
ton is no less intense for a pos
ture Of dignity.
Miss Mills plays twins in this
Walt Disney comedy. This is
not the greatest inspiration
since Columbus sailed for
the west from Spain. 1t is
more contemporary meaning
full, however, since 1t gives
Hayley a chance to run the
gamut Of a natural actress
emotions.
She takes these in enchant-
ing stride, now hilariouSly
funny, now poignant. now en-
dearingly malicious, now as
wise as an apprentice Eve. Sim
gle-handedly she is the perfect
rebuttal to the charge that
they don't make movies the
whole family can enjoy.
Disney's David Swift writes
and directs THE Parent Trap"
Hayley makes it his best movie.
the story of twins separated by
girls camp at age l3, and COM
ing up with a plot to unite
their parents.
The screenplay has all sorts
Of neat touches. The most
clever is that which makes
the twins so different. One is
a prim Bostonian, reared by
her divorced mother; the other
a Monterey, Calf, hoyden who
has grown up under the care
Of a casual father. As either,
the introvert or the eXtrovert,
Hayley is perfect in her grasp
Of a character. mercurial in
her emotional shifts, and a
constant delight to watch.
AS are all Disney films, The
Parent Trap" is visual de-
light. It's backgrounds are at
tractive, especially Monterey
forgive us, Boston,, and are
photographed in becoming
color. The adults who sur
rounded Hayley in the film
are worthy of her, including
Maureen OHara as the di-
vorced mother, Brian Keith as
the father, and Cathleen Mes
bitt and Charles Ruggles as
the maternal grandparents.
A refreshing adventure, THE
Parent Trap"
FROM JAPAN: The Stanton
art theater takes up the recent
slack in Japanese film imports
with "Utamaro." The picture
is essentially a comedy with a
sex theme built around the life
of an artist whose models ap-
parently want to wrestle with
him rather than sit still for
their portraits.
This sort of thing can, and
does, get drearily repetitious.
but the ivory-skinned portrait
sitters are attractive and the
gossip they inspire around Edo
Now Tokyo is sometimes
lively and humorous.
"Utamaro's" major weakness
is that it's director seems to
be straining much too hard to
find a western idiom in which
to tell his story. He is ham
pered also by a modest budget
or maybe it is the high price
of Utamaro's models-which
results in a tight, little shoot
ing range.
The photography, in color,
has much of that technical
brilliance for which Japan's
moviemakers are famous. 1t al
most steals the picture, come
to think of it.
\ \
MONDAY MEMOS: The ma
tives may have gone away in
droves these last few days. but
Washington has had a balanc-
ing share of name" trans
tents. One of these was
Producer Perlberg, pausing en-
route for Moscow's film festival
to be briefed . Another, Mil