Word: actor
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...picture, Actor Hudson spends most of his time exercising the vocabulary of uplift ("Your good deeds are your purest prayers") with the local Confucius (Philip Ahn), and conferring candy bars on an incredibly clean and healthy-looking horde of refugee Korean children. In fact the picture is so ineffably high-minded that the heroine (Anna Kashfi) never finds herself in anything more exciting than the hero's alms. He sends her candy bars too. By the time the lights finally go up, the sugar count of this picture is so dangerously high that theater managers might be well advised...
...Wings of Eagles (MGM) is a massively expensive sentimental gesture, involving about $2,600,000 worth of hearts and flowers, prepared by Director John Ford and Actor John Wayne in tribute to the memory of their friend, a prominent screenwriter named Commander Frank ("Spig") Wead, who died in 1947. Starting adult life as a naval aviator, Commander Wead joined the daredevil team that brought the Schneider Cup to the U.S. for the first time in 1923.* Wead himself once set five world records with Lieut. John Price, and at 30, he became (according to studio publicity) the youngest squadron commander...
...however, Wead fell down a short flight of steps-in the movie, Actor Wayne crashes down about 20 of them, scattering staves like matchsticks-and broke his neck. The doctors said he would never move his legs again, and the Navy retired him. But Wead had an invincible will to get well. For the better part of five years he lay helplessly in bed, driving the life "back into his limbs by sheer force of determination, until at last, with the help of two canes, he was able to walk...
...Sullivan also emerges as an actor of professional capabilities. On paper, the part of Lefranc is the most vaguely defined of the three, but Sullivan succeeds in drawing a sharply-edged portrait of a tragic character. His performance is suffused with pity for the man--but just the right amount. The performance clearly is the product of much thought and insight. And the only other member of the cast, Robert Hesse, shows in his brief appearance as a guard that his work is promising...
Another cause for encouragement is the acting of Burt Lancaster as Starbuck, the rainmaker. Like many another motion picture actor, Lancaster began to learn his trade only after he had won stardom. His talent was evident as long ago as From Here to Eternity, but now his education is complete. The present film proves that he can deliver a long and involved speech, and that he possesses enough technique to outline a character with wit and skill and economy. His is an admirable job of acting...