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• Director
• George Stevens
• Writers
• A.B. Guthrie Jr.(screenplay)
• Jack Sher(additional dialogue)
• Jack Schaefer(based on the novel by)
• Stars
• Alan Ladd
• Jean Arthur
• Van Heflin

The simple story of a Wyoming range war is elevated to near-mythical status in producer/director George Stevens' Western classic Shane. Alan Ladd plays the title character, a mysterious drifter who rides into a tiny homesteading community and accepts the hospitality of a farming family. Patriarch Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) is impressed by the way Shane handles himself when facing down the hostile minions of land baron Emile Meyer, though he has trouble placing his complete trust in the stranger, as his Marion (Jean Arthur) is attracted to Shane in spite of herself, and his son Joey (Brandon De Wilde) flat-out idolizes Shane. When Meyer is unable to drive off the homesteaders by sheer brute strength, he engages the services of black-clad, wholly evil hired gun Jack Wilson (Jack Palance). The moment that Wilson shows he means business by shooting down hotheaded farmer Frank Torrey (Elisha Cook Jr.) is the film's most memorable scene: after years of becoming accustomed to carefully choreographed movie death scenes, the suddenness with which Torrey's life is snuffed out -- and the force with which he falls to the ground -- are startling. Shane knows that a showdown with Wilson is inevitable; he also knows that, unintentionally, he has become a disruptive element in the Starrett family. The manner in which he handles both these problems segues into the now-legendary "Come back, Shane" finale. Cinematographer Loyal Griggs imbues this no-frills tale with the outer trappings of an epic, forever framing the action in relation to the unspoiled land surrounding it. A.B. Guthrie Jr.'s screenplay, adapted from the Jack Schaefer novel, avoids the standard good guy/bad guy clichés: both homesteaders and cattlemen are shown as three-dimensional human beings, flaws and all, and even ostensible villain Emile Meyer comes off reasonable and logical when elucidating his dislike of the "newcomers" who threaten to divest him of his wide open spaces.

Pie Moment or Plot Twist: A special apple pie baked for dinner guest, Shane sets in motion a competition between Shane and Joe to see who is the better man.

• Director
• Melville W. Brown
• Writers
• George Waggner(screenplay)
• John C. Brownell(based on his play: "The Nut Farm")
• Stars
• Wallace Ford
• Betty Alden
• Florence Roberts

This amusing lampoon of low-budget filmmaking is set in motion when fly-by-night entrepreneur Bradley Page talks small-towner Mrs. Bent (Betty Alden) into financing a movie. Mrs. Bent's shiftless brother Willie Barton (Wallace Ford) is appointed director of the film, which turns out to be a big-time bomb. The day is saved when the film, a "serious" desert melodrama, is re-edited as a slapstick comedy. The winner in this instance is Mrs. Bent's long-suffering husband (Oscar Apfel), who'd wanted all along to invest his wife's money in the nut farm of the title. Based on a 1929 play by John C. Brownell, The Nut Farm is an interesting precursor to such later moviemaking satires as After the Fox and Sweet Liberty.

• Director
• Edwin L. Marin
• Writer
• Frank Dolan(original story)
• Stars
• Joseph Calleia
• Florence Rice
• Thomas Mitchell

One of the advantages of holding an MGM stock-company contract in the 1930s was the occasional opportunity to star in one of the studio's "B"-pictures. Maltese character actor Joseph Calleia, hitherto confined to supporting villainy, was permitted to play the hero in MGM's Man of the People. "Drawn from today's headlines," the story dealt with small-town political corruption. Unable to make a living as a lawyer, Italian-born Jack Mareno (Calleia) sells out to a high-pressure political machine. Elevated to the position of assistant District Attorney, Mareno is expected to "play ball" with the local racketeers. Finally rebelling against this set-up, Mareno turns his back on his dirty-handed sponsors and runs for office as an independent. Designed as just another programmer, Man of the People turned out to be something rather special, thanks in no small part to the heartfelt performance by star Joseph Calleia.

• Directors
• Harry O. Hoyt
• Albert H. Kelley
• Writer
• Leah Baird(story and scenario)
• Stars
• Anita Page
• Charles Starrett
• Kenneth Thomson

A young woman believes that an actor committed the murder for which her brother has been imprisoned, and she gets her fiancé--a newspaper reporter--to accompany her in following the suspected killer aboard a ship headed for South America. While they're at sea, disaster strikes and the ship is sunk. The three of them, plus the actor's friend, are washed up on a deserted island. Complications ensue.

Stars

• Powers Boothe
• Billy Kearns
• Kathryn Leigh Scott

Private detective Philip Marlowe solves many crimes in Los Angeles during the 1930s.

• Director
• Blake Edwards
• Writers
• Arthur A. Ross(screenplay)
• Blake Edwards(original story)
• Stars
• Tony Curtis
• Natalie Wood
• Jack Lemmon

Tony Curtis stars as The Great Leslie, a hero among heroes whose purity of heart is manifested by his spotlessly white wardrobe. Leslie's great rival, played by Jack Lemmon, is Professor Fate, a scowling, mustachioed, top-hatted, black-garbed villain. Long envious of Leslie's record-setting accomplishments with airships and sea craft, Professor Fate schemes to win a 22,000-mile auto race from New York City to Paris by whatever insidious means possible. The problem is that Fate is his own worst enemy: each of his plans to remove Leslie from the running (and from the face of the earth) backfires. Leslie's own cross to bear is suffragette Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood), who also hopes to win the contest and thus strike a blow for feminism. The race takes all three contestants to the Wild West, the frozen wastes of Alaska, and, in the longest sequence, the mythical European kingdom of Carpania. This last-named country is the setting for a wild Prisoner of Zenda spoof involving Professor Fate and his look-alike, the foppish Carpanian king. When Leslie and Fate approach the finish line at the Eiffel Tower, Leslie deliberately loses to prove his love for Maggie. Professor Fate cannot stand winning under these circumstances, thus he demands that he and Leslie race back to New York. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk as Fate's long-suffering flunkey Max, Keenan Wynn as Leslie's faithful general factotum, Dorothy Provine as a brassy saloon singer, Larry Storch as ill-tempered bandit Texas Jack, and Ross Martin as Baron Von Stuppe. The film also yielded a hit song, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's The Sweetheart Tree. The Great Race was dedicated to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy".

Pie Moment or Plot Twist: A pie fight between the racers scene that last 5 minutes on screen and uses 2357 pies in what is probably the largest pie fight in cinema history.

• Director
• William Alland
• Writer
• Laurence E. Mascott
• Stars
• Paul Anka
• Ruth Roman
• Alex Nicol

The only film directed by sometime actor and producer William Alland, Look in Any Window is an uninspired melodrama that relied on the star power of teen heartthrob Paul Anka to attract the younger set when it was released in 1961. Anka plays Craig Fowler, a disturbed kid whose main pleasure and pursuit in life is donning a mask and peeking into windows in his neighborhood. Craig's missing pistons are attributed to his dysfunctional family; his mother (Ruth Roman) favors the bottle over him, and his parents' marriage has gone down the tubes. As a host of unsavory characters wanders in and out of his life, it is obvious that Craig has a few reasons for being slightly wacko.

• Director
• Phil Rosen
• Writer
• Tristram Tupper(screenplay)
• Stars
• Ralph Forbes
• Vivienne Osborne
• Arnold Gray

This brisk Monogram melodrama includes all the requisite entertainment elements: Talented cast, solid story, a plenitude of suspense, and a few bonus song numbers. Arnold Gray plays Grant Murdock, a popular radio crooner who, truth be told, can't sing a note. For appearance's sake, the handsome Murdock is propped up before the microphone while his voice is supplied by homely hunchback Norman Wilder (Ralph Forbes). When Murdock is murdered, suspicion immediately falls upon Wilder -- who in fact had intended to bump off the phony, except that someone beat him to it. Knowing that no one will believe his story, Wilder scurries off into the night, with police hot on his heels. The actual culprit very nearly gets off scot-free but is ultimately undone by a sudden attack of conscience -- too late, alas, to save Murdock from his inexorable fate.

• Director
• Sidney J. Furie
• Writer
• Charles Eastman
• Stars
• Robert Redford
• Michael J. Pollard
• Lauren Hutton

Little Fauss (Michael J. Pollard) and Halsy Knox (Robert Redford) are competing motorcycle racers who form an unusual partnership. The pompous and arrogant Halsy agrees to race under Fauss' name while Fauss serves as his mechanic. Rita (Lauren Hutton) is the rich girl recovering from drugs who catches the eyes of both men. She chooses Halsy and eventually has a child by him after he halts his sexual pit stops with the racetrack floozies. Later, Rita bails out and returns to the sheltered environment of her wealthy parents in elite Palm Springs. Little Fauss and Big Halsy pair off in a race for a big prize. All events are witnessed by the lecherous photographer (Ray Ballard). An excellent musical soundtrack has Johnny Cash singing his own songs, one written by Bob Dylan, and another by Carl Perkins, who also sings one of his self-penned tunes.

• Director
• King Vidor
• Writers
• Lenore J. Coffee(screenplay)
• Margaret Echard(novel "A Man Without Friends")
• Stars
• Richard Todd
• Ruth Roman
• Mercedes McCambridge

In Lightning Strikes Twice, Ruth Roman stars a Shelley Carnes, a stage actress who champions the cause of Richard Trevelyan (Richard Todd), whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife. Freed on a technicality, Trevelyan is nonetheless adjudged guilty in the court of public opinion. Carnes stands by her man, eventually marrying him. On the wedding night, however, it appears that Carnes has made a horrible mistake. It won't be long before she, too, will fall into the clutches of a killer--but is it Trevelyan? Based on a novel by Margaret Echard, Lightning Strikes Twice is given novelty value through its unique setting: instead of taking place in the standard Big City, the events transpire in the wide-open spaces of Texas. Of the supporting actors, Mercedes McCambridge stands out as a woman scorned, while Zachary Scott does his usual as a lazy playboy.

• Director
• Alan Parker
• Writer
• Alan Parker
• Stars
• Jodie Foster
• Scott Baio
• Florence Garland

Here's the basic "shtick" of Bugsy Malone: it's a gangster picture enacted by children. Acted out before scaled-down sets, the film details the career of Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio), who rises to the top of the criminal ladder in 1920s New York. Whenever gunfire is called for, the kiddie crooks substitute whipped cream for bullets. Paul Williams contributes several songs, which are performed by adult singers and lip-synched by the pint-sized actors. The cast includes John Cassisi as diminutive Capone clone Fat Sam, and then-13-year-old Jodie Foster as the sultry nightclub thrush Tallulah.

Pie Moment or Plot Twist: A G rated Godfather spoof with gangsters played by kids is capped by gigantic pie fight sequence complete with pie shooting guns.

• Director
• Tim Metcalfe
• Writers
• Thomas E. Gaddis(book "Killer: A Journal of Murder")
• James Long(book "Killer: A Journal of Murder")
• Tim Metcalfe(screenplay)
• Stars
• James Woods
• Robert Sean Leonard
• Ellen Greene

Based on a true story, this psychological study concerns Henry Lesser (Robert Sean Leonard), a prison guard who witnesses the brutal beating of an inmate, Carl Panzram (James Woods), who attempted to escape. Lesser tries to befriend the convict, whom he senses has an intelligence that has gone unrecognized by his jailers; he gives Panzram a notebook and pencils and encourages him to keep a journal. Panzram responds by writing the story of his life of crime -- a shocking litany of violence and brutality in which he takes credit for 21 murders, numerous armed robberies, several acts of arson, and over 1,000 homosexual rapes. Lesser has a difficult time reconciling the intelligent, articulate man he sees in his cell every day with the monster documented in his writings (though as far as anyone can tell, his claims are entirely accurate). Lesser believes that there's a humanity in Panzram that can be brought out, and that he can be redeemed and perhaps rehabilitated. Panzram, however, doesn't seem so convinced; his violent behavior continues behind bars, and attempts by opponents of the death penalty to prevent his execution only inspire his scorn -- as he sees it, society made him a killer, and it's society's responsibility to stop him once and for all. Killer: A Journal of Murder was the first directorial project for screenwriter Tim Metcalfe.

• Director
• George P. Cosmatos
• Writers
• David Webb Peoples(story)
• Jeb Stuart(screenplay)
• Stars
• Peter Weller
• Richard Crenna
• Amanda Pays

Leviathan, a sci-fi thriller directed by George Pan Cosmatos, is the story of a group of scientists who discover a sunken Russian submarine which contains a monster that is the product of a genetic experiment. This film, a hybrid of both The Abyss and Alien, has a decent cast, including Peter Weller as Beck, the lead oceanographer. Working with a good budget, action director Cosmatos, should have been able to put together better action sequences and a more frightening monster, but he gives this derivative, silly film below-par special effects and no particular visual style. Leviathan, while it may entertain a less-sophisticated viewer, has little to offer fans of the genre who are looking for thrilling special effects.

• Director
• Errol Taggart
• Writers
• Robert Hardy Andrews(screenplay)
• Cortland Fitzsimmons(novel "The Whispering Window")
• Stars
• Robert Young
• Florence Rice
• Ted Healy

The Longest Night is a curious title choice for this fast-paced mystery; at 50 minutes, it was the shortest feature film ever produced by MGM. Robert Young plays the manager of a department store targeted by gangsters. Young's romance with store clerk Florence Rice is threatened when the bad guys start muscling in. Accused of stealing merchandise, Young has to cogitate--and utilize his fists--to clear himself. Screenwriter Robert Andrews adapted The Longest Night from a short story (evidently a very short story) by Cortland Fitzsimmons.

• Director
• Elmer Clifton
• Writer
• Elmer Clifton(story)
• Stars
• Hobart Bosworth
• Jean Carmen
• Dirk Thane

Old-timer Hobart Bosworth heads the cast of the independently produced Wolves of the Sea. Bosworth is cast as Captain Wolf Hansen, the leader of an expedition to recover a fortune in jewels which was lost in a recent shipwreck. Mutinous seaman Snoden (Warner Richmond) intends to claim the gems for himself and kill everyone who stands in his way. But Hansen's first mate William Rand (Dirk Thane) prevents this, winning the hand of heroine Nadine Miller (Jean Carmen) in the process. A crazy quilt of stock footage, flimsy sets and fluffed dialogue, Wolves of the Sea is directed by Elmer Clifton, of Reefer Madness fame, who does as well as possible under the circumstances.

Directors:

André Charlot,  Jack Hulbert   

Writers:

Adrian Brunel,  Walter C. Mycroft 

Stars:

Gordon Begg,  Teddy Brown,  Helen Burnell

In emulation of such "all-talking, all-singing, all-star" Hollywood extravaganzas as The Show of Shows and Hollywood Revue of 1929, Britain's Elstree Studios served up its own big-budget revue, Elstree Calling, in early 1930. This plotless melange of musical numbers and "Heavens My Husband!" comedy sketches rises or falls on the merits of the individual stars. Among the Elstree contractees taking part herein are Will Fyffe, Tommy Handley, Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, and Lily Morris, together with such British International Pictures "regulars" as Anna May Wong and Gordon Harker. The tenor of the production can be measured by the scene in which the exotically beautiful Ms. Wong participates in a Keystone-style pie-throwing sequence directed by Alfred Hitchcock. According to the film's credits, Hitchcock was responsible for "sketches and other interpolated items," reportedly taking over direction of the film when Adrian Brunuel was fired; other sources adamantly deny that Hitchcock had anything at all to do with the film.   

• Director
• Robert Montgomery
• Writers
• Steve Fisher(screenplay)
• Raymond Chandler(novel)
• Stars
• Robert Montgomery
• Audrey Totter
• Lloyd Nolan

Robert Montgomery is the director and star of the film noir mystery Lady in the Lake, adapted for the screen by source novelist Raymond Chandler. Montgomery plays detective Philip Marlowe, a private eye who just wants to publish his own crime stories. Kingsby Publications editor Adrienne Fromsett (Audrey Totter) meets with Marlowe, but offers him a job as a detective instead of a writer. She wants him to find the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby (Leon Ames). (Adrienne wants them to proceed with their divorce so she can marry Kingsby herself.) Marlowe accepts the job and goes looking for clues at the home of the wife's sometime lover, Chris Lavery (Dick Simmons). When Marlowe gets knocked out and picked up for drunk driving, he decides to drop the case. He is drawn back in, however, when Adrienne suggests that Kingsby's wife is responsible for the murder of a mysterious lady in the lake. Lloyd Nolan and Tom Tully play two police detectives also on the case. Lady in the Lake is remembered as being filmed with a subjective camera -- almost entirely from Marlowe's point of view -- and subsequently hyped by an MGM ad campaign.

• Director
• Stanley Donen
• Writers
• Julius J. Epstein(screenplay)
• Luther Davis(play "Kiss Them for Me")
• Frederic Wakeman(novel "Shore Leave")
• Stars
• Cary Grant
• Jayne Mansfield
• Leif Erickson

Luther Davis' racy wartime comedy Kiss Them for Me was expurgated a bit for the 1957 film version. Cary Grant, Ray Walston and Larry Blyden portray three navy war heroes who've been booked on a morale-building "vacation" in San Francisco. Eluding their ulcerated public relations officer (Werner Klemperer), the trio arranges a wild party with plenty of pretty girls. Cary Grant is paired with knockout Suzy Parker, an icy socialite who eventually thaws under his charms. Also on hand is Jayne Mansfield, playing a "good time girl" whose profession was a bit more explicit in the original play; the role was originated by Judy Holliday, who brought a wistfulness to the character that Ms. Mansfield couldn't quite manage. TV sitcom fans will get a kick out of the supporting cast of Kiss Them For Me: Ray Walston, later star of My Favorite Martian plays a libertine navy officer; Werner Klemperer, shorn of the accent he'd use as Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heroes, is hilarious as the flustered p.r. man; and Richard Deacon (Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show) pops up unbilled as a dour businessman who can't understand the war-hero mystique.

• Director
• Eddie Granemann
• Writer
• Eddie Granemann(narration written by)
• Stars
• Cliff Howell
• Teeto
• Minta

In this adventure, members of a Ceylon village attempt to cope with a plague of vampire bats and other dangers in the jungle as they attempt a dangerous journey to obtain a blessing for a wedding between two villagers. Obstacles ensue when the young bride's former suitors becomes jealous and attacks her true love.

• Director
• Albert Lipton
• Writers
• Alan Marcus(screenplay)
• H. William Miller(novel)
• Stars
• Elaine Stritch
• Steven Hill
• Gene Lyons

In this tense psychological drama, an emotionally unstable young woman and her brother drift from town to town. When a sympathetic motel maid (Elaine Stritch) takes pity on the girl -- and becomes romantically involved with her brother -- it could inadvertently spell doom for all of them.

Directors:

Victor Heerman, Richard Wallace (uncredited)

Writers:

Marion Dix (scenario), George Marion Jr. (story)

Stars:

Jack Oakie, Eugene Pallette, Lillian Roth

Here we go again. Sailor "Searchlight" Hogan (Jack Oakie) has a yen for every pretty girl who crosses his path. Imagine his delight, then, when Hogan is assigned to the European vessel captained by a man (Albert Conti) with a host of gorgeous daughters. The most gorgeous of the bunch is Adrienne (Lilian Roth), who lets Hogan chase her until she catches him. By way of plot development, a two-million-dollar inheritance is wedged into the storyline, with our man Hogan as the sole heir. Eugene Pallette and Harry Green offer their patented comical embroiderings as Hogan's best pal and Jewish lawyer, respectively.

Final pie fight between Sainte Cassettian and American sailors that breaks out in the pastry shop.

• Director
• Nicholas Ray
• Writers
• Philip Yordan(screenplay)
• Ray Bradbury(narration)
• Stars
• Jeffrey Hunter
• Siobhan McKenna
• Hurd Hatfield

One major film star referred to director Nicholas Ray as a "loser," because of Ray's alleged willingness to let his more temperamental actors walk all over him. Evidently, Ray had a very compliant and cooperative cast in King of Kings, inasmuch as the film emerged as one of the most disciplined Biblical epics ever made. Jeffrey Hunter is cast as Jesus Christ, delivering a wholly credible performance in this most taxing of roles (never mind the wags who referred to the film as "I Was a Teenage Jesus"). Siobhan McKenna is a radiant if somewhat overaged Mary; Hurd Hatfield offers a properly preening Pontius Pilate; Rip Torn portrays Judas more for the tragedy than the treachery; Robert Ryan (a personal favorite of Ray's) is one of the best John the Baptists you're ever likely to see; and Harry Guardino convincingly interprets Barabbas as a firebrand political extremist. The only false note in the casting is the MGM-dictated selection of teenaged Brigid Bazlen as Salome. The best aspect of the film is its handling of the days after the Resurrection; the "Jesus sightings" are offered as secondhand information, so as to retain some of the mystery inherent in the Scriptures. King of Kings was previously filmed in 1927 by Cecil B. DeMille, with a middle-aged H.B. Warner as Jesus.

• Director
• Michael Curtiz
• Writers
• Seton I. Miller(screen play)
• Francis Wallace(from the story by: Saturday Evening Post)
• Stars
• Edward G. Robinson
• Bette Davis
• Humphrey Bogart

Fight manager Nick Donati (Edward G. Robinson) has just lost his best fighter to crooked promoter Turkey Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). During a party at Donati's apartment, a bellhop (Wayne Morris) kayos Morgan's boxer, who has insulted the honor of Donati's girlfriend, Louise "Fluff" Phillips (Bette Davis). Sensing a good thing when he sees it, Donati takes the bellhop under his wing, promoting the erstwhile pugilist as Kid Galahad. Morris is shipped to Donati's farm for training, where he falls in love with Donati's sheltered kid sister, Marie (Jane Bryan). Angered at this, Donati sets up Kid Galahad for a fall, ordering him to take a dive in an upcoming bout and betting his bankroll on Morgan's boy. Kid Galahad takes a terrific beating until, at the urging of Fluff and Marie, he abruptly changes his ring strategy. When Galahad wins, Morgan, feeling he's been double-crossed by Donati, shoots the latter. Morgan manages to fatally wound Morgan before expiring himself; as he breathes his last, he gives his belated blessing to Galahad and Marie's romance. To avoid confusion with Elvis Presley's 1962 remake of Kid Galahad, the earlier film was retitled The Battling Bellhop for TV.

• Director
• Elmer Clifton
• Writer
• J.D. Kendis(original story)
• Stars
• Martha Chapin
• Wheeler Oakman
• Bryant Washburn

"Suggested" by the notorious trial of gangster Lucky Luciano, this typical low-budget sexploitation-melodrama came complete with the promise to rip "the lid from a vicious phase of American life." In reality, the sordid little film, which was instantly banned by New York censors, depicted little more than a standard tale of illicit gambling augmented by shots of starlets in their underwear. Mae Miller (Martha Chapin), the bleach blond wife of an aging medical student (Robert Frazer), is arrested for shooting Lucky Wilder (Wheeler Oakman) during a raid on Wilder's gambling den. The events leading up to the killing are then told in flashback. At a society garden party, Mae befriended Molly Murdock (Gay Sheridan), who promptly lured the young innocent into Lucky Wilder's den of inequity. Mae eventually accrued 9,000 dollars in gambling debts was forced into prostitution by Wilder and Mrs. Murdock. Lucky's seduction of Mae's kid sister Carolyn (Janet Eastman) and the latter's death following a back alley abortion finally drove Mae to shoot and kill her tormentor. Produced by J.D. Kendis, a well-known procurer of exploitation-thrillers, Gambling With Souls was directed by Elmer Clifton, a former protegée of D.W. Griffith who had fallen on hard times. The film was not screened in New York City until May of 1937, when it was re-released under the title Vice Racket. Like most exploitation films of the 1930s, Gambling With Souls was cast with a combination of unknown starlets and down-on-their-luck silent screen players, all of whom either overacted hilariously or didn't act at all. Florence Dudley, however, provided a bit of intentional comedy relief as a rather zoftig call girl. Footage from Gambling With Souls later found its way into Teen Age (1944).

• Director
• Richard Thorpe
• Writers
• Guy Trosper(screenplay)
• Nedrick Young(story)
• Stars
• Elvis Presley
• Judy Tyler
• Mickey Shaughnessy

One of the best of Elvis Presley's pre-Army films, Jailhouse Rock offers us the sensual, "dangerous" Elvis that had won the hearts of the kids and earned the animosity of their elders. Presley plays a young buck who accidentally kills a man while protecting the honor of a woman. Thrown into prison, Elvis strikes up a friendship with visionary fellow-con Mickey Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy suggests that Elvis perform in the upcoming prison show. Ol' swivel-hips scores a hit, and decides to stay in showbiz after his release. Together with pretty Judy Tyler (the former Princess Summerfall Winterspring on Howdy Doody, who would die in a horrible traffic accident shortly after completing this film), Elvis sets up his own record company. Alas, success goes to his head, and soon Elvis plans to ditch Tyler in favor of signing with a big-time label. Shaughnessy shows up long enough to punch out Elvis for his disloyalty; as a result, Elvis' vocal chords are damaged and he is unable to sing. Deserted by his flunkeys and hangers-on, Elvis learns the value of friendship and fidelity when Tyler and Shaughnessy stay by his side in his darkest hours. His voice restored, Elvis climbs back up the charts--but this time, he's a much nicer fellow, and a lot more committed to Tyler. Usually the musical numbers in a Presley picture (this one has a doozy, complete with chorus boys dressed as convicts!) are more compelling than the plot. Jailhouse Rock is a perfect balance of song and story from beginning to end; seldom would Elvis be so well showcased in the future.

Love In A Goldfish Bowl (1961)

Director:

 Jack Sher

Writers:

 Jack Sher (screenplay), Irene Kamp (story)

Stars:

 Tommy Sands, Fabian, Toby Michaels

In this comedy drama, two troubled college freshmen find themselves united by their mutual family woes and so decide to spend the summer together in a beachhouse belonging to the boy's mother. They are platonic friends until the girl gets in trouble during a sailing accident and is rescued by a handsome Coast Guardsman who finds the pretty lass irresistible and starts showing up regularly at the beachhouse with his friends. Wild parties ensue and great fun is had until the boy's mom suddenly appears. Seeing that her son is cohabitating with a woman, she immediately makes lurid assumptions, the result of which makes the two mixed-up kids realize that they have somehow fallen in love. 

• Director
• Elmer Clifton
• Writer
• Robert Dillon(original screenplay)
• Stars
• Lona Andre
• Donald Reed
• Wheeler Oakman

A police raid on a roadhouse leads to a war on vice that results in the downfall of a vicious gangster and the sadistic madam who runs his prostitution ring in this sordid crime drama from director Elmer Clifton. While she may be beautiful on the outside, on the inside Belle Harris (Florence Dudley) is a hateful monster who relishes the opportunity to turn innocent young girls into money-grubbing prostitutes as she oversees the day-to-day duties at the Berrywood Roadhouse. Though Belle may be a cold corrupter, her physically abusive boss, Jim Murray (Wheeler Oakman), is even worse. As the police close in on Murray's lawless syndicate and his empire comes crumbling down, the truth comes out for all to see when the city reporters descend upon the hapless women he has so callously enslaved.

• Director
• Douglas Sirk
• Writers
• Eleanore Griffin(screenplay)
• Allan Scott(screenplay)
• Fannie Hurst(novel)
• Stars
• Lana Turner
• John Gavin
• Sandra Dee

This glamorized remake of the 1934 film Imitation of Life bears only a passing resemblance to its source, the best-selling novel by Fannie Hurst. Originally, the heroine was a widowed mother who kept the wolf from the door by setting up a successful pancake business with her black housemaid. In the remake, Lana Turner stars as a would-be actress who is raising her daughter on her own. She chances to meet another single mother at the beach: African-American Juanita Moore. Moore goes to work as Turner's housekeeper, bringing her light-skinned daughter along. As Turner's stage career goes into high gear, Moore is saddled with the responsibility of raising both Turner's daughter and her own. Exposed to the advantages of the white world, Moore's grown-up daughter (Susan Kohner) passes for white, causing her mother a great deal of heartache. Meanwhile, Turner's grown daughter (Sandra Dee), neglected by her mother, seeks comfort in the arms of handsome photographer John Gavin. When Moore dies, her daughter realizes how selfish she's been; simultaneously, Turner awakens to the fact that she hasn't been much of a mother for her own daughter, whose romance has gone down the tubes.

• Directors
• William Dieterle
• George Cukor(uncredited)
• Writers
• Marion Parsonnet(screen play)
• Charles Martin(based on a radio play by)
• Stars
• Ginger Rogers
• Joseph Cotten
• Shirley Temple

Ginger Rogers gives a dramatic performance in this moving romantic drama in which a woman named Mary Marshall, who was convicted of manslaughter (she defended herself when her lecherous boss attempted to rape her and she accidentally killed him), is granted a ten-day furlough for Christmas to visit relatives. Once out, she encounters a shell-shocked vet (Joseph Cotten) on leave from the VA psych ward on a train. The unstable vet has been allowed out by his doctors to see if he is ready to function in normal society. At first, the vet is nervous around Mary, but something clicks and she invites him to stay at her house during their respective breaks. Together they attempt to have a happy Christmas while dealing with the vet's problems. At first Mary keeps her own past and troubles to herself, but as they begin falling in love, she decides to tell him the whole story. In this way, the two reconcile their pasts and move closer toward forming a relationship.

• Director
• Howard Hawks
• Writers
• Charles Lederer(screen play)
• Leonard Spigelgass(screen play)
• Hagar Wilde(screen play)
• Stars
• Cary Grant
• Ann Sheridan
• Marion Marshall

Howard Hawks directed this classic farce about how love attempts to triumph over military red tape after the close of World War II. Capt. Henri Rochard (Cary Grant) is a French officer who is assigned to put a stop to a black market operation in occupied Germany with the help of Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan), an American WAC. While their initial meetings are hardly harmonious, in time Rochard and Gates find that opposites really do attract, and they fall in love. The two decide to get married, which seems simple enough, but the moment Gates receives orders to return to the United States and Rochard wants to join her, they soon discover just how complicated the U.S. Army can make things. While the Army has a strict protocol for dealing with "war brides," there is no similar routine for men who marry female Army personnel, so in order to follow his new wife into the States, Rochard has to disguise himself as a WAC. From this moment on, nearly everything that happens to Rochard is an affront to his dignity and/or his patience, from his inability to share a bunk with his new bride to his discovery that Army regulations prevent him from driving a motorcycle (Gates has to take the handlebars, while her husband is forced to ride in a sidecar). As more than one writer has pointed out, while Grant gives a deft comic performance, it's a bit of a stretch to imagine that he's French (but probably no more than to imagine that anyone would really believe that he's a woman).

• Director
• Chester M. Franklin
• Writers
• William Makepeace Thackeray(novel "Vanity Fair")
• F. Hugh Herbert
• Stars
• Myrna Loy
• Conway Tearle
• Barbara Kent

First filmed in 1911, William Makepeace Thackeray's satirical novel Vanity Fair has undergone several cinemadaptations, most memorably as the pioneering Technicolor feature Becky Sharp (1935). This 1932 version is perhaps the least known, probably because it has been updated to the 20th century and it isn't terribly good. In her first starring role, Myrna Loy plays the modernized Becky Sharp, a crafty lass who'll do anything to advance herself socially, even if it means romancing several older men whom she doesn't love. Going from rags to riches and back again several times, Becky continually bounces back, though the same cannot be said for many of her male companions. Of the large cast, the biggest surprise is former 2-reel comedy star Billy Bevan, who makes a surprisingly effective Joe Sedley (the character played in the 1935 Becky Sharp by Nigel Bruce). Not a classic by any means, Vanity Fair gets by on its curiosity value.

• Directors
• Joshua Logan
• Arthur Ripley
• George Cukor(uncredited)
• Writers
• Allene Corliss(novel "Summer Lightning")
• David Hertz
• Stars
• Joan Bennett
• Henry Fonda
• Louise Platt

An undying love is chronicled in this "women's picture." The sweeping tale begins in a quiet New England village during the late '20s. There an introverted young man and a restless young woman (Henry Fonda and Joan Bennett) are happily in love until a dashing, sophisticated fellow (Alan Marshall) comes to town and sweeps her away to the exotic City of Light. There the two find a charming Parisian loft and live in unwedded bliss with their baby daughter. Unfortunately, the sophisticate turns out to be a lush and dies of alcoholism within ten years. Alone, Bennett returns to her hometown only to find that the townsfolk are still angry with her for breaking Fonda's heart. They are also appalled that she be so wanton as to bear a child out of wedlock. While she was gone, Fonda became a professor of biology and has worked at the local university for many years. Having been once burned, he made a solemn vow to remain forever single so when he sees her again, he pretends he is no longer interested. At the same time, he also tries to discourage the unwanted attentions of a determined young coed from romantically pursuing him. So, will Bennett and Fonda overcome their many obstacles and reunite for a happy ending? Of course, but how they do it will not be revealed here.

• Director
• E. Mason Hopper
• Writers
• F. Hugh Herbert(screenplay)
• Paul Perez(story)
• Will Ahern(additional dialogue)
• Stars
• Mary Brian
• Russell Hopton
• Don Dillaway

In this drama, a recently convicted criminal boards a train bound for the prison where he will be hanged. His wife rides with him and en route tells a reporter how her husband had accidentally killed a man while protecting her. The reporter, who is dying of tuberculosis, is touched by the story and decides to help them by knocking out a guard, helping the man to escape and jumping off the train to his death. When authorities find the corpse, the assume it belongs to the young convict, and the real killer and his wife are free to start a new life.

• Director
• Mel Brooks
• Writers
• Mel Brooks
• Ron Clark
• Rudy De Luca
• Stars
• Mel Brooks
• Madeline Kahn
• Cloris Leachman

This is Mel Brooks' spoof of over ten Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds (Brooks actually used the bird trainer from that classic suspense movie in making his film). Brooks plays Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, a renowned Harvard psychiatrist with a concealed fear of heights, or High Anxiety. Thorndyke takes over as the newest director of the PsychoNeurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous after the last director dies under suspicious circumstances. He soon finds himself to be in the company of some very strange colleagues, including longtime Brooks collaborators Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman, with Madeline Kahn as Victoria Brisbane, the eccentric daughter of a patient at the institute and Thorndyke's love interest. Korman takes on the role of Dr. Charles Montague, a psychiatrist with a closeted habit of his own. Leachman plays Charlotte Diesel, a charge nurse with a dark sneer and tendency towards domination. As Thorndyke heads to a psychiatry conference, he is faced with saving the Institute, his reputation, and his own sanity. Although the film was not well-received by critics, it picked up a 1978 Golden Globe nomination for best picture (musical or comedy) and landed Brooks a nomination for best actor. The movie has a number of cameos, from a young Barry Levinson's spot as an unstable bellboy to a small part by Hitchcock's right-hand special effects man, Albert J. Whitlock, who plays Kahn's father.

• Director
• George Melford
• Writers
• Paul Edwards(story)
• Frances Hyland(screenplay)
• Stars
• Monte Blue
• Lila Lee
• Charles Delaney

Police officer Tom Malone is the only honest man left who can salvage his crooked city after his partner is killed on his motorcycle by a wealthy playboy on a careless joyride. With criminals and crooked city officials at every turn, it will take courage, duty, and decency for Tom to make right what has for so long been terribly wrong.

• Director
• Martin Goldman
• Writers
• James Bellah(story)
• Martin Goldman(screenplay)
• Larry G. Spangler(screenplay)
• Stars
• Fred Williamson
• D'Urville Martin
• Don Pedro Colley

Set in the pre-Civil War South, this western adventure follows three escaped Virginia slaves on their journey into the West. The already arduous journey is made worse by the dogged bounty hunter who pursues them. Along the way the fugitive trio add others to their group, doing good wherever they go. A sequel The Soul of Nigger Charley followed this blaxploitation western.

• Director
• Mark Griffiths
• Writers
• Steve Greene(screenplay)
• Eric Alter(screenplay)
• Mark Griffiths(screenplay)
• Stars
• Grant Cramer
• Teal Roberts
• Gary Wood

Three middle-aged men take off for the beach in search of sex and happiness in this comedy that does not think much, and so it partly is. When the three older men arrive at the sea and surf, sex is not exactly forthcoming because they have lost the knack of picking up women. Enter the local hunk Scotty (Grant Kramer) who brings them up to speed, and, voilà, the men are miraculously able to overcome their obvious flaws and attract the younger women they desire. Even though they are together, the three men are not alike -- Hunter (Gary Wood) is a dedicated lecher and when he gets involved with Scotty's girlfriend Kristie (Teal Roberts), trouble starts to brew. Rounder (Michael Rapaport) is likeable and funny, and Ashby (Sorrells Picard) finally opts out of their joint venture. Most of these characters and their sexual hang-ups and interests and humor soon pale like a tan in winter, long before the last sunset has faded into night.

• Director
• John G. Avildsen
• Writers
• Claude Lelouch(film "La bonne année")
• Warren Lane(screenplay)
• Stars
• Peter Falk
• Charles Durning
• Claude Lelouch

Happy New Year is an Americanized remake of the 1974 French film of the same name. Peter Falk and Charles Durning play Nick and Charlie, a pair of seedy but suave jewel thieves. Preparing to rob the exclusive Florida jewelry store managed by Tom Courtenay, Nick and Charlie meticulously pre-plan their heist, adopting a variety of false identities and silly costumes along the way. Unfortunately for our heroes, Nick becomes enamored of Caroline (Wendy Hughes, in her American film debut), the beautiful owner of the antique shop next door to the jewelry store. Nick's fascination with Caroline effectively scuttles his and Charlies' "perfect" crime. Claude Lelouch, writer/director of the original Happy New Year, appears in an amusing cameo role. Bedeviled with production problems, the Falk-Durning Happy New Year didn't see the light of day until nearly a year after its completion; after a fitful theatrical release, the film went straight to video, where it finally built up a following.

• Director
• David Lean
• Writers
• Charles Dickens(by)
• David Lean(adapted for the screen by)
• Ronald Neame(adapted for the screen by)
• Stars
• John Mills
• Valerie Hobson
• Tony Wager

Immediately grabbing the audience's attention with a heart-stopping opening scene in a dark graveyard, acclaimed British director David Lean realizes the cinematic potential of Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel, and the result is considered by many to be one of the finest literary adaptations ever made as well as one of the greatest British films of all time. Crystallized into a tight 118-minute running time by Lean, Ronald Neame, and a corps of uncredited contributors, this is the story of young Pip, a lad of humble means whose training as a gentleman is bankrolled by a mysterious benefactor. Along the way, Pip falls in love with the fickle Estella, befriends the cheerfully insouciant Herbert Pocket, has memorable encounters with the escaped convict Magwitch and the lunatic dowager Miss Havisham, and almost (but not quite) forgets his modest origins as the foster son of kindhearted blacksmith Joe Gargery. The role of Pip is evenly divided between Anthony Wager as a child and John Mills as an adult; Alec Guinness makes his starring film debut as the jaunty Pocket; Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson are costarred as the younger and older Estella; and Martita Hunt is unforgettable as the mad Miss Havisham ("It's a fine cake! A wedding cake! MINE!") Remade several times, Great Expectations resurfaced in 1989 as a TV miniseries, with Jean Simmons, originally the young Estella, tearing a passion to tatters as Miss Havisham; and in 1998 it was remade again, in a contemporary version, with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro, and Anne Bancroft in the Miss Havisham role.

• Director
• Robert Emmett Tansey
• Writers
• Barry Barringer(story)
• Robert Emmett Tansey(dialogue)
• Stars
• Hal Taliaferro
• Bobby Nelson
• Myrla Bratton

This B-grade western from director Robert Emmett Tansey stars Bobby Nelson, Jimmy Aubrey and William Desmond, in its tale of beleaguered cattle rangers, forced by circumstance to do battle with irritating shepherds whose sheep are systematically eating away all remaining grazing land. Badly in need of a foreman, Dad Parker (Fred Parker) turns to burly cowpoke Wally Gordon (Hal Taliaferro), who has earned his loyalty and trust by rescuing Dad's daughter, Fiery (Myrla Bratton) from imminent danger. Meanwhile, Cash Horton (Desmond) grows hellbent on driving the Parkers off of the land. Wally gets framed for murder and then thrown behind bars, which enables Horton to harass Wally's friends unchecked.

• Director
• Phil Rosen
• Writers
• Lee R. Brown(story)
• Philip Graham White(screenplay)
• Stars
• Hoot Gibson
• Roy D'Arcy
• Merna Kennedy

Hoot Gibson's first 1932 western was the breezy The Gay Buckaroo. The ol' Hooter plays Clint Hale, a rancher in love with winsome Mildred Field (Merna Kennedy), the daughter of his best customer. But Mildred is sweet on suave gambler Dave Dumont (Roy D'Arcy), who happens to be a crook. Ultimately, Clint forces Dave to reveal his true colors, leading to the inevitable Ride Into the Sunset with sweet Mildred. With characters like "Hi Low," "Faro," and "Sporty Bill," one might conclude that Gay Buckaroo was a stray Damon Runyon yarn.

• Director
• Phil Rosen
• Writers
• Adele Buffington(adaptation and dialogue)
• Will Ahern(additional dialogue)
• Charles E. Blaney(based on the stage play "Red Kisses" by)
• Stars
• Dorothy Mackaill
• Regis Toomey
• Dorothy Libaire

Although released as an "Allied Pictures Special," Picture Brides revealed its Poverty Row origins in almost all departments, including casting and choice of material. Waning silent star Dorothy Mackaill was top-billed as Mame, one of five mail-order brides arriving at Lottagrasso, a remote Brazilian gold mining community. The fifth girl, Mary Lee (Dorothy Libaire), is actually there about a job but knowing the reputation of the mining boss, Von Luden (Alan Hale), Mame supplies the girl with a picture of Dave Hart (Regis Toomey) and tells her to pretend to be a bride as well. Hart, meanwhile, is wanted in the States for embezzlement and rejects Mary. During a night of wanton revelry, Dave saves Mary in the nick of time from being ravished by the unscrupulous Von Luden. The villain attacks instead Mataeo (Mary Kornman), the half-breed daughter of the mining community's doctor (Harvey Clark), who is found dead in a nearby swamp the following morning. In front of a couple of American detectives, there to apprehend Dave, Mataeo's distraught father kills his daughter's murderer. Dave returns the money he had embezzled and begins to plan a new future with Mary. Although performing with her usual assurance, nominal leading lady Dorothy Mackaill was given very little to do by producer M.H. Hoffman, who was obviously more interested in promoting young Dorothy Libaire, the wife of stage and screen director Marion Gering. Libaire, unfortunately, did not live up to her billing and her screen career went nowhere. Esther Muir and the ever-popular Mae Busch did well with what little they were given and Alan Hale chewed up the scenery in a role most likely created for Jean Hersholt.

• Director
• Sidney Lumet
• Writers
• Walter Bernstein(screenplay)
• Eugene Burdick(from the novel by)
• Harvey Wheeler(from the novel by)
• Stars
• Henry Fonda
• Walter Matthau
• Fritz Weaver

Based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail-Safe is set for the most part at Strategic Air Command headquarters, where a misguided transmission sends a squadron of bombers hurtling towards Russia, fully prepared to drop their atomic weaponry on Moscow. Air Force commander Frank Overton desperately tries to establish radio contact with the bombers, but once the pilots have passed the "fail safe" point, they've been instructed to disregard any reversal of orders. Racing against time, US President Henry Fonda, through his interpreter (Larry Hagman), informs the Russian premiere of the impending nuclear disaster. Working in concert with SAC, the Russians send up interceptors to shoot down the American bombers, while some of the planes run out of fuel and crash. Unfortunately, one aircraft, piloted by Edward Binns, manages to escape destruction and continues on its fatal mission. Realizing that Moscow is doomed, the President must decide how to avert World War III. Featured in the cast of Fail Safe are Walter Matthau as a hawkish scientist, Fritz Weaver as a round-the-bend colonel, and Dom DeLuise (billed as "DeLouise") as a weeping sergeant. Fail-Safe is followed by a government-dictated disclaimer insisting that the events leading up to the nuclear disaster depicted in the film could not possibly happen.