The Power and the Prize

This is a very "glossy" film in some ways, but it is also filled with well-developed characters. And because they are all well-acted and clearly presented in a dual-stranded storyline, they become very contexted and hard-to-forget. The script is by Robert Ardrey adapted from Howard Swiggett's fine novel. This is a another postwar film like many others that talks about values, and the sort of place the US needs to become--or unfortunately seemed to be becoming. The main characters in this plot are involved with a major international firm; the head of this firm, ably played by Burl Ives, is trying to consummate a deal with a British firm's leaders headed by Cedric Hardwicke. He also has a scheme in mind to cheat his partners, which finally does not sit well with his heir-apparent, played quite intelligently and straightforwardly by Robert Taylor. Complicating the plot for Taylor is his growing regard for a refugee played beautifully by Elisabeth Mueller. An act of courage by Taylor finally resolves the plot nicely; the moral crisis of the film becomes its climax, which gives it unusual power. The cast is very good indeed, with Mueller, Hardwicke, Ben Wright, Richard Erdmann and others also turning in very fine work. The film is B/W as a drama should be, and its values are very fine, thanks to work by MGM's best--Edwin Willis, Sidney Guilaroof and costumer Helen Rose. Music is by Bronislau Kaper with the director, Henry Koster, doing a first-rate job in a film featuring many interior-scenes and little outdoor work. Films about business are one way thinkers have of examining what is right and wrong with the United States' citizens approaches to making their constitutional ideas about individualism work; this work, except for the religious connections of Taylor's father, in my judgment a needless addition, is honest. I cannot recommend this unexpected little gem too highly.