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Villain Brazzi is passing through Timbuktu on his way to find a lost city and bring back silver, gold and rubies the size of eggs. "I hate men," Sophia tells him. "If I could only start over." "Sin," Brazzi assures her, "is a wound that can be healed." Sneers Wayne: "If you want to scrub up her soul ... it may take a little time." Off they go into the desert, where they spend less time, digging for treasure than grabbing at Sophia, who has a tantalizing habit of silhouetting her lush curves against the barren sands when she isn't pouring water over her bare flesh.
Will they get the treasure? Will the treasure get them? Will they get each other? Well, after Brazzi fails to get Sophia ("Everybody else—why not me?"'), he tries to get Wayne with a knife. But Sophia finally gets Brazzi with a bullet, and Wayne gets Sophia.
The Safecracker (MGM) is an amusing illustration of how the British, who so thoroughly deplore their black sheep, nevertheless make sensible use of their wool—by pulling it over the eyes of England's enemies. The hero of this picture is an eminent British cracksman (Ray Milland) who, when World War II broke out, found himself already in uniform—one with plenty of stripes on it. But war is a funny thing. The society that had locked the man up for opening one safe was soon offering him his freedom if he would open another. Since the other one happened to be in a German intelligence HQ in Belgium, the better part of the picture is devoted to Commando tactics—a nasty bit of work, but very nicely underplayed by the British cast. Actor Milland is no great shakes, but Director Milland is altogether satisfactory. The huggermugger at the German headquarters comes off particularly well — flitting shadows in a pretty gloaming, a sudden flash of teeth and knives, the falling of a body, and the shadows move on. And all the while, strain as he may, the watcher cannot hear a sound.
Old Yeller (Buena Vista) is another little nugget mined by Walt Disney, one of Hollywood's most successful prospectors. It comes from Disney's thoroughly proved mother lode: movies for the kids that adults will stay to enjoy themselves. Old Yeller propounds a major tenet of Disney philosophy : a dog should be a dog, and a boy should act like a man.
Set in the pioneer days in Texas, the picture is populated with a few nice people — including a pretty, lovable frontier mother (Dorothy McGuire), a strong, tender father (Fess Parker), a couple of attractive kids (Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran) — and with a slew of terribly cute animals, including a horned toad, a snake, a couple of bears, jack rabbits, squirrels, hogs, buzzards, raccoons, horses, cows, frogs, deer, quail, catfish and dogs.