Cinema: The New Pictures, Mar. 19, 1951

  • Share
  • Read Later

(2 of 2)

Three Guys Named Mike (MGM) all want to marry Airline Stewardess Jane Wyman. Considering how her unflagging winsomeness helps keep this lightweight comedy aloft, no one can blame them. Will she accept the adventurous pilot (Howard Keel), the quiet research chemist (Van Johnson) or the dynamic advertising executive (Barry Sullivan)?

Jane plays a small-town girl, brimming with ideas, who has a charming knack for getting into and out of trouble. Before she answers the crucial question, the picture takes a long ride and not an altogether smooth one. It enrolls her in an airline's training course, carries her through stewardess instruction into her trials & errors as a tyro on the job. As the Mikes in her life turn up, the script offers three versions of boy-meets-girl, gives each suitor a chance to show his wares and make his pitch.

The thin idea is spread pretty thin. But Actress Wyman, well-supported by her leading men and occasionally sprightly dialogue, buoys Three Guys into good-humored entertainment.

Under the Gun (Universal). Buried in this routine thriller is a good documentary sequence. Big-shot Gangster Richard Conte, vacationing in Miami, picks up eye-filling Audrey Totter to amuse him on his way north. During an overnight stop in Georgia he gets into a shooting scrape, is sentenced to 20 years for murder on Audrey's testimony. In the prison camp, Conte soon discovers that the way to get out is to become a gun-toting trusty, shoot down an escaping prisoner, thus win a pardon.

With this scheme in mind, he offers Convict Sam Jaffe $25,000 to make a break. If Conte kills him, the money will go to Jaffa's family; if Conte misses, Jaffe gets both the money and freedom. Director Ted Tetzlaff keeps the duel poised tensely against an authentic-looking background. But in the end, Under the Gun reverts to type with a foolish chase through a cypress swamp.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. Next Page