The New Pictures

Battle Circus (M-G-M), a war movie with a Korean background, is dedicated to the indomitable human spirit," but it seems to be composed mostly of indestructible Hollywood heroics. It has a few authentic scenes depicting the helicopter rescue of wounded men and the operation of a mobile hospital unit under enemy fire. But most of its casualties are romantic.

A hard-boiled major (Humphrey Bogart) in a mobile Army surgical hospital unit appears to spend more of his time pursuing Rookie Nurse June Allyson than attending to his job. At first, June retreats as Bogart advances. "I'm a pushover for only one thing--winning the war," she informs him. But soon she is commenting admiringly on his professional technique: "It was a beautiful job of surgery." He retorts, with a Bogart leer: "It's a beautiful job I'm looking at."

The Story of Three Loves (MGM) is rich, triple-scoop helping of boy-meets-girl aimed at the matinee carriage trade. Dressed up with Technicolor, an assortment of stars and a variety of Continental backgrounds, the picture presents more than two hours of romance in three loosely linked episodes:

THE JEALOUS LOVER pulls out all the heart throbs in a teary story about a British ballet impresario (James Mason) and a dancer with a weak heart (Moira Shearer). This yarn has all the trappings of high romance: shadowy settings, flickering candlelight, crashing music and overwrought passions. But its poetry is buried beneath a heavy load of prosaic moviemaking.

EQUILIBRIUM is a melodramatic vignette about a French aerialist (Kirk Douglas) and his partner (Pier Angeli). Although it has some fine, dizzy trapeze shots, its high-flying theme is mostly grounded in earthbound dramatics.

MADEMOISELLE casts Leslie Caron as a French governess whose twelve-year-old ward dreams he has grown up and become handsome Farley Granger. Neatly directed by Vincente Minnelli, this romantic romp toys amusingly with its subject.

Big and slick, The Story of Three Loves is at its simple and touching best in the individual performances of its three lovely leading ladies. Red-haired Ballerina Moira (The Red Shoes) Shearer dances gracefully and acts appealingly as the tragic heroine of The Jealous Lover. Leslie (Lili) Caron brings a fresh, bright-eyed personality to the role of the young governess. And pensive Pier (Teresa) Angeli, with her child's face and Garbo-like eyes, gives the part of the trapeze artist a passionate sensitivity that is only vaguely hinted at in the script and direction.

Justice Is Done (Robert Dorfmann; Joseph Burstyn) is an unconventional, Frenchmade courtroom film that puts a jury on trial. But even with its provocative theme, the picture never quite does justice to its subject. It tells of a young woman (Claude Nollier) who is accused of being responsible for the death of her incurably ill employer. Was it a mercy killing--or murder? Justice Is Done focuses its camera on the seven jurors rather than the accused, and attempts to show how their different personalities and problems influence their verdicts--e.g. a farmer (Marcel Peres) who believes his wife is betraying him finds the defendant guilty, while a cafe waiter (Raymond Bussieres) who is in love finds her not guilty.

Directed and co-authored by onetime Lawyer Andre Cayatte, Justice Is Done is well acted, and the strands of its many characters and incidents are adroitly interwoven. But the screenplay is often on the super-melodramatic side. Subtitled The Secret Lives and Loves of a French Jury, the picture goes in for such farfetched plotting as having the defendant's lover (Michel Auclair) woo an elderly lady juror (Valentine Tessier) in order to win over her vote. And, even for courtroom drama, Justice Is Done is far too talky.

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