Testimonio Fatal

I love it when Mississippi Mac bangs out a tune on his head using a rubber mallet, a clever touch getting comedy relief from a TV parody of a country and western telethon. Otherwise, it's a pretty somber movie and extended showcase for Rogers then coming off a reverse blacklist of Hollywood right-wingers.

As it is, Rogers gets ninety minutes of snappy dialog with more brass than spent cartridges on a rifle range. But, frankly, all the tough talk and attitude does get tiresome despite her spirited effort. The fact that she's 40-something and starting to bulge strikes me as just right for the aging party-girl part. Remember, Sherry (Rogers) is supposed to have been around the block more than a few times and is now looking back over what she suspects is a misspent life. That's what makes her otherwise hardened character rather poignant and vulnerable.

What a shrewd piece of casting to pair the high-key Rogers with the low-key Bryan Keith. At this career stage, Keith was one of the more subtle actors around, able to convey a lot by doing very little. Director Karlson apparently liked him too, casting him also in his 5 Against the House (1955). And for Robinson and Rogers, it must have seemed like old home week at Warner Bros.

But truth be told, cult director Karlson is wasted in a crime drama that any one of a dozen lesser directors could have handled. At the same time, I didn't see the major plot twist coming which strikes me as the most memorable part of a too-stagey film; although, like other reviewers, that family spat with sister Clara (McVeagh) is a real barn burner and high point. Anyway, the film's an okay crime story that really serves as a vehicle for a Ginger Rogers career revival.

Ginger Rogers sheds her usual movie ways and portrays a girl surviving a sentence for hiding a criminal. She is offered her freedom if she will testify against someone who the government is trying to get. Problem is that her ex-boyfriend has already taken a fatal bullet on his way to testify.

Edward G. Robinson is the D.A. here in this exciting film. There is a marvelous supporting performance by Brian Keith, as the cop, assigned to watch her. Naturally, romance blooms and there is quite a surprise waiting for viewers when we realize who he really is in this film.

Here is a girl telling those in prison to keep their mouths shut and do as little as possible. "Never volunteer" is her motto. How quickly the situation and her beliefs change.

As Sherry Conley, Rogers depicts a girl whose environment led her astray. The film is well worth catching.

Ginger Rogers is good as the tough-talking woman sprung from prison to testify in a trial. What a strange career she had! Best known for her movies with Fred Astaire, she was also a delightful comedienne. She did some serious work in her prime, winning an Oscar for an only-OK soap opera. But she's good in "Primrose Path." She turned tough in many of her fifties outings, and she looked tough too. Here she has sort of a pixie haircut that doesn't quite work with the character and isn't flattering to her. But she's excellent.

Edward G. Robinson, billed second to her, is superb. He always was. That man was incapable of giving a bad performance, no matter how oddly cast he might have been at times. Brian Keith, whom many know for sunny outings in later television, is exceptional as a very tough cop. He really is the focus of this movie, though the Rogers character is the lead.

Who in the world was Lucy Marlow, who got fourth billing? It says prison girl. Hmm. The woman playing the matron, Katherine Anderson, is important to the plot. She is very touching as well.

Lorne Green is another actor who played some mean hombres before he became the benevolent dad on TV's "Bonanza." His character is less nuanced than the one he plays in "Autumn Leaves." But he does well by it.

Phil Karlson was an excellent director, who had some of the nastiest, darkest, roughest noirs of the fifties under his belt. This is among the best of them.

Ginger Rogers' performance (straight out of "Roxie Hart") makes this film. Others have found Ms. Rogers to be too old for the film. I think that the fact that she is a bit "past her prime" adds to her character, which has (let's face it) been "around the block" a few times. She and Brian Keith (doing his patented tough-as-nails copper) make a potent team. It is a pity that they did no more work together. The film itself is a strange mixture of Rogers' comic sass and Karlson's brand of hard-hitting melodrama. Ultimately, the film is sunk by an unbelievable plot contrivance that leaves the audience feeling betrayed. However, the performances (including, of course, Robinson's) make this a worthwhile experience.

Ginger Rogers gives one of her best performances here, as a tough gangster's "moll" turned state witness. Her gutsy, strong and sexy performance carries the conventional plot. Robinson and Keith are fine, but they don't have much to do except get dazzled by Ginger - and who wouldn't be. It is a little hard to believe that Keith, at 34, would fall for Ginger, at 44, but that's all part of the illusion of glamourous Hollywood. Ginger looks great, but she does look her age.

The main problem here is the inadequate adaptation from a stage play - the action is too confined in the one room, and there is too much dialogue. But this is worth catching for the original Ginger Spice in full fireworks' mode.