THIS EARTH IS MINE

 Soap operatic romantic tosh of an unusually high order thanks mainly to the superlative direction of Henry King working, as he so often did, with sub-standard material. The setting is the California vineyards, the period Prohibition and this film, based on a novel by Alice Tisdale Hobart, is clearly a forerunner of such television series as "Dallas" and "Dynasty" with Claude Rains as the ruler of this empire, Dorothy McGuire, his ambitious daughter and Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons his grand-children who are in love with each other, (don't ask!).

It's the kind of film that attracted star players and did the business back in the late fifties with quality usually taking a backseat to quantity but King was something of a master at this sort of thing imbuing the ridiculous plot with a seriousness it didn't warrant. Rains and McGuire and, to a lesser extent, Simmons take the acting credits while Hudson just seems to be having a good time in the sure and certain knowledge he won't be winning any Oscars if he keeps making movies like this. No classic, then, but a very sturdy entertainment nevertheless.

RIVER OF NO RETURN

 One of Preminger's 'entertainments' and while "River of No Return" may be no masterpiece it's actually one of his most enjoyable films and one of the best Cinemascope movies of the early fifties, (Preminger was to prove to be a master of the widescreen). A western of sorts, it has Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe and young Tommy Rettig going down the river of the title to escape some less than friendly Indians. With the river itself playing a major part in proceedings as well as several songs courtesy of Ken Darby and Lionel Newman it's not like any other western of the period. Mitchum is his usual laid-back self, Monroe is excellent and Joseph LaShelle's cinematography is outstanding making this a Grade A entertainment and something of a cult movie.