JohnHowardReid Copyright 1960. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Criterion: 22 September 1960. U.K. release: May 1960 (sic). Australian release: 29 August 1960. 10,990 feet; 122 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Physically and mentally scarred by the cruelty of his clergyman father, Chad Bixby turns to Salome, the hard-working daughter of poor and puritanical Joshua Davis; but she rejects him and flees to New York, where she marries a playboy student.COMMENT: Even a few songs from Pearl Bailey and a few snatches of hot trumpet-playing cannot save this hoke. All four principals are both uninspired and unconvincing. The plot is a tired amalgam of trite clichés, and director Anderson (who has slipped a long, long way from his peak with "Around the World in 80 Days") seems as utterly bored with the absurdly melodramatic proceedings as we are. Ludicrous, preposterous and utterly ridiculous, this movie is every bit as boring as its catchpenny title suggests.

proggey This film suffers from most of the shortcomings mentioned in many of the comments above. Nevertheless, it's worth watching for two principal reasons: The breath-taking, youthful beauty of Natalie Woods, the most beautiful young woman I've ever seen, and the performance of Pearl Bailey, a fascinating personality and a marvelous actress and singer. Sadly, Pearl doesn't get to sing nearly enough (2 blues songs), but her part alone was decently written, and she acquits herself quite well in the meaty role. Wagner does a creditable job despite having to recite the idiotic and banal lines of his character, and the others are passable at best. Hamilton is borderline OK and Kohner munches the scenery something awful in most of her scenes. Were it not for Woods' stunning beauty and Bailey's excellent work, this one would truly stink.

Kelt Smith You see the provocative title ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS. Then you see the cast; NATALIE WOOD, ROBERT WAGNER, PEARL BAILEY and you think, this one's going to be good ! Very glossy with obviously decent production values hardly compensates for this awful movie. Four young and very attractive actors (WOOD, WAGNER, HAMILTON & KOHNER) interact with one another in over the top soap opera that has got to be one of the most unnecessary melodramas of all time. Actresses (NATALIE WOOD & SUSAN KOHNER) are gorgeous and dressed and coiffed to the nines thanks to Helen Rose and Sydney Guilaroff, but they almost come across like little girls in dress up as you watch them wallow in miseries of their own making. WAGNER tries too hard as hip trumpet player who is befriended by PEARL BAILEY, an alcoholic singer hellbent on self-destruction over a lost love. All involved must have thought that they were making something 'cutting edge' because of the relationship of white boy WAGNER with black woman BAILEY. WAGNER evens gets to get on a soapbox, slap KOHNER afters she refers to BAILEY'S character 'Ruby' as the 'N' word and then describe the black woman as the only truly decent person he's ever known ! Aside from the visual richness of the film, you'll quickly realize that the story is so apparently vacuous that it's like witnessing a vicious circle in motion. TRIVIA : The piano player 'Redd' is none other than REDD FOXX, a good dozen years before the success

Poseidon-3 No, the film isn't about natives sitting on a log eating arms and legs. It's a metaphor for the cast of four brunettes who take turns devouring each other with their words and actions. Wood is the dirt poor daughter of a (very fertile!) farmer and spends much of her time washing off and feeding her 6 younger siblings. She does find time, however, to get cozy with Wagner before leaving town. Wagner is her childhood sweetheart who lacks ambition, but not talent. He blows a horn like no other. (The film insists he blows it well, but viewers will see otherwise as he enacts the most ridiculous and unintentionally uproarious "routines" imaginable - speaking his thoughts and then interpreting them to "music"!) Wood hooks up with rich kid Hamilton (whose hair never moves one millimeter throughout the film) and soon bobs her hair and goes from backwoods beauty to brittle, shellacked mannequin. (She is strikingly beautiful throughout though, even when one character puts her looks down, she is gorgeous.) Hamilton has a crazed, incestuously-inclined sister (Kohner) who wreaks all sorts of havoc while gnashing, salivating and shrieking continuously. Meanwhile, Wagner finds his calling with the help of down-on-her-luck singer Bailey. She decides to wish herself into dying because her man left her and refuses to sing under any circumstances. (Yet, when Wagner finally gets her to warble again, she won't shut up, singing a three-song set that seems like it might not ever end!) The romantic complications reach a fever-pitch with lots of over-the-top dialogue and face-slapping, glass-throwing and other melodramatic touches until a fairly unbelievable "happy" ending comes along. Wagner is pretty bad here. He looks nice, at times, and is clearly trying, but the script is surreally bad and he is in over his head anyway. Wood isn't in top form either, her character's motivations aren't always clear and her moods swing like a pendulum. Hamilton's character has no meat to it, so he basically stands around looking unconvincingly concerned. Kohner is too much. Nothing about her is real. She is so overwhelmingly grating and almost alien-like with her prominent eyes and throaty, screeching voice. Like most of the other characters, she resembles nothing close to a real human being. All of the leads sport the world's most horrible in-and-out Texas accents. It is astonishing how bad and intermittent they are. It sometimes seems like a high school got funding from MGM to film their latest play (though the MGM gloss is still intact with a few eye-popping sets and some lovely clothes, hairstyles, etc...) Bailey probably provides the best acting onhand, but her character is pitiful. The bulk of the supporting cast don't have a lot to do, but Gregg tries to interject some life into her role as Wood's stepmother and Albertson raises the camp level with her snooty portrayal of Hamilton and Kohner's mom. The film contains a few points of interest, but fails as human drama. You need humans for that.