MY SIX CONVICTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 715, 27 March 1953, Page 20

MY SIX CONVICTS

(Stanley Kramer-Columbia) ATEVER it is that Don"ald Powell Wilson’ has"\cand I haven’t read his book myself" to find out-he. certainly has something. His account of his experiénces as..a™prison. psychologist, My. Six Porciicts, appears to. have been enjoyed; by; pedple not" weually found. over One another's shoulders, arid thotigh the film of the bodk. (director,: ‘Hugo ‘Fregonese) doesn’t, I gather, have as much resemblance fo its best-selling, parent, as it might, the two. seem to share a. s6rt.of willingness to please ‘everyone. In.a film which at first looks ‘so; much like becoining a social document this is a serious weakness. It doesn’t knit together like such Kramer productions as The Men and The Sniper, ahd as'a result it lacks real punch. Perhaps it was never Seen ‘to have any. The. prison setting is» impressively established in’ the me shots, and throughout this recurs as a_ notable strength of the, film-the barred doors, the long rows.of célls; the armed guards patrolling: the walls, the many shadowfilled ’ sceries. It’s clear from the: start

that ‘the psychologist (John Beal) isn’t going to have an easy time. The warden is sceptical, and the boss fan among the convict§ (Gilbert Roland) seems likely to stop the psychologist’ getting together a Staff "of convicts. to’ help" with. his aptitude itesting. Even when’: ‘this difficulty s Overcome: the psychologist’s six convicts, including’ the boss’ man and. another entertaining fellow’ played by Millard’ Mitchell, co-operate from mo-. tives that ‘are not all socially desirable, Still, the. psychologist wins the loyalty of most of ‘his staff, ‘and I ‘stppose the film. could be taken. as a plea for a more understanding. attitude to the social misfit. Even if it hasn’t great depth, as far as it goes with its serious ifitention it is reasonably convincing, There’s an effective scene when one of the six is treated under hypnosis for loss of speech, and a sequence in which. a riot is threatened conveys something. of the terror of the occasion. But laughter keeps breaking through, and while some of the funny scenes arise

naturally enough from the story, one has the feeling at times that the fun is carried a bit far-for instance’ in the safébreaker’s account of his day spent on the outside. Undoubtedly this is an entertaining film, but you'll find it satisfying only if you have an unlimited willingness to take it as it comes.