Evening star., 1961-04-04

1t is hardly reasonable,
asked simultaneously to cope v
of "All in a Nights Work" at
in this farce is again one of tt
the queer behavior of sleek,
sophisticated American buSi-
ness, this time magazine pub
fishing.
Her problem and that Of the
film is that her nationality
keeps showing, mainly in an
expression which implies a dis
taste for the waste of her ear
nest effort.
Victims of the same feeling
among moviegoers will trace it
to a conviction that an i'm
portant ingredient has been left
out Of a familiar comic pastry.
Say the chocolate out of a choc-
olate cake.
r = =
y "All in a Nights Work" opens
promiSingly enough with Shir-
ley running through the boudoir
Of a millionaire guest of one of
those palatial Florida hotels.
She is clad in only a beach
towel, odd and suspicious mid
night wear, but one whose point
Is instantly sacrificed in the
revelation that Shirley is a
good girl.
1t is only her predicament
that is bad. Just how is it bad?
Well, running away from an
elderly roue, she gets into this
other mans room, he is dead,
she works as researcher for his
magazine chain. the chains di-
rectors want the thing hushed
up. and get set for a spot of
Expensive blackmail.
Corporations, in Hollywood's
mind, have just the staff to
deal with this problem. The
man in this particular case is
Dean Martin, a playboy type
president who sets up the cor
porate defense in total ignor-
ance of the heroine's moral
identity.
All she wants, of course, is
to forget the whole incident, an
attitude incomprehensible to
the magazines directoral
dopes. This leaves it up to the
demanding moviegoer to con-
clude that bright, sensible
girl like this has no business
associating with such dullards.
This is sound conclusion.
Joseph Anthony, the most
talented chap around in the
making Of light entertainment,
directed "All in a Nights
Work" Clearly he and Miss
MacLaine got together some
time and decided that if the
pace Of the action were furious
enough, its script defects
might be partially masked.
They gave it vivaciouS try,
as do such others as playboy
Martin, an outrageously un-
likely publisher, Jerome Cowan
and Jack Weston. The best of
The lesser performances, how
ever, is that of Charles Ruggles
as a country drunk in a fash
lonable New York biStro.
"All in a Nights Work" is
opulent in appearance, what
With its luxurious settings,
costly wardrobe, and color.
A LA RECHERCHE ETC:
Life was all smiles around the
drama department yesterday
Fhen Lew Harmon called. tt
emained so until he got around
o mentioning that "Donny-
lrook!" the musical he and
Sol jacobson are representing,
another title that takes the
exclamation point.
Even touch system critics,
Iuch as this one, resent the
Hxtra effort of that punctua-
lon although "Oklahoma!",
he original, taught them to
i've with it. Uncomfortably.
"Donnybrook!", whoever gets
he last laugh. gave the first
me to drama departments. Its
ource is the inspiration of the
Jacobson Harmon office to
rave exclamation points put
IN their typewriters' keyboards.
Was that a foul-up?" Lew
asks.
ECHO: That Joseph H. Ham,
hon who plays the bit part Of
he prison chaplain in "The
Ioodlum Priest" may sound like
someone middle-agers around
Washington may once have
Snown. They probably did, ac-
,,ording to a relative of his,
Mrs. Charles Prettyman of
Rockville. Md.
Mr.. Hamilton, she reports,
S a Rockville native who spent
boyhood around here. most