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Monsoon (The Film Group; United Artists) is a parched little melodrama set in a torrential downpour. An about-to-be-married couple (Diana Douglas and George Nadar) arrive at the village of Ginjim in southern India to visit the girl's family. In Ginjim, the barometer is low and human passions are high. The family's younger daughter (Ursula Thiess), a child of nature who runs around in scanty outfits, takes the eye of her sister's fiance. Before long they are cuddling in an abandoned temple, exchanging such lines as: "I will love you with my whole being and forever" and "Half a love is worse than none." To go with this deluge of dialogue, a monsoon sets in, to the accompaniment of native drums and chants. Filmed entirely on location, Monsoon is notable for a few vividly Technicolored views of the Indian countryside.

Invasion, U.S.A. (Albert Zugsmith-Robert Smith; Columbia) is a shoddy little shocker that combines a futuristic theme with old-hat moviemaking. A quintet of characters in a Manhattan bar hears the news that the U.S.S.R. is atom-bombing the United States. In the ensuing carnage, the quintet--a tractor manufacturer (Robert Bice), a rancher (Erik Blythe), a Congressman (Wade Crosby) a TV reporter (Gerald Mohr) and a beautiful blonde (Peggie Castle)--are killed off.

A trick ending reveals all the preceding events to have been nothing more than a pipe dream resulting from mass hypnosis induced by a mysterious stranger (Dan O'Herlihy) as a plea for preparedness. To go with this stock plot is a good deal of stock newsreel footage of atomic explosions and battle scenes. The newsreel shots give the picture what little authenticity it has.

Curtain Up (J. Arthur Rank; Fine Arts) gets some comic byplay out of the rehearsal of a play by a British rural repertory company. The play itself is a rather improbable confection called Tarnished Gold, in which most of the characters seem to be named Jeffrey and Reggie and most of the dialogue seems to consist of "dahling" and "deah boy." Rehearsals are almost at a standstill because the aggressive authoress (Margaret Rutherford) is at loggerheads with the director (Robert Morley), who is at odds with the cast and crew. Additional complications set in when the director falls into the orchestra pit and the authoress takes over his job. Curtain Up has a mildly comic sparkle, but it is often more giddy than witty.

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