50% OFF

• Director
• William Beaudine
• Writers
• Tim Ryan(original screenplay)
• Charles R. Marion(original screenplay)
• Stars
• Robert Lowery
• Dona Drake
• Tim Ryan

Robert Lowery and the comedy team of Tim Ryan and Irene Ryan star in this pleasant musical-comedy about a jingle-writer (Lowery) attempting to turn his girlfriend (Dona Drake) into a band vocalist. Unfortunately, there is a case of mistaken identity and the bumbling recording studio owner (Tim Ryan) instead signs his dim-witted secretary (Irene Ryan). Everything works out for the best, of course, and rather than facing bankruptcy, Beacon Recording Company can launch no less than two new stars. In his penultimate feature film role, silent screen clown Harry Langdon is seen all too briefly as a perplexed recording studio manager.

• Director
• John Griffith Wray
• Writer
• C. Gardner Sullivan
• Stars
• Florence Vidor
• Lloyd Hughes
• Theodore Roberts

This drama, produced by Thomas Ince, featured an excellent cast and a powerful story. Although she only had a second lead, Madge Bellamy felt her role was the best one she was ever given. Oliver Beresford (top character actor Theodore Roberts) is a bigoted, chauvinistic, New England farmer. His son David, who is studying for the ministry (Lloyd Hughes), lives in fear of him. Because he shies away from his father's disapproval, he secretly marries Nan Higgins (Bellamy), the daughter of an "odd jobs man" (Tully Marshall -- another great character actor of the silent screen). The elder Beresford discovers that Nan is expecting, and that David is the father, but Nan protects her weak-willed husband by steadfastly refusing to reveal their marriage. As a result, Oliver buys off Nan's father, who beats her and casts her from his home. Nan travels up to New York where she becomes a prostitute after the child is born. The cowardly David remains silent. David's sister, Judith (Florence Vidor), sticks up for Nan, and Oliver drives her from his home. She encounters Nan in New York, and takes care of the child after Nan's death. Nan had revealed her marriage to Judith before she died, and Judith decides that her brother must clear Nan's name. She returns to New England on the day that David is to be ordained, and confronts him with the child in front of the congregation. Filled with remorse, David confesses all and accepts the child.

• Director
• Samuel Fuller
• Writers
• Harry Kleiner
• Samuel Fuller(additional dialogue)
• Stars
• Robert Ryan
• Robert Stack
• Shirley Yamaguchi

Samuel Fuller directed and cowrote this typically hard-boiled drama set in Japan following World War II. Eddie Kenner (Robert Stack) is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson (Robert Ryan), a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals who use their muscle to take over Tokyo's pachinko racket and commit a series of train robberies, targeting deliveries of military ammunition. Eddie is supposed to gather evidence on the murder of a soldier believed to have fallen in with the gang, and Eddie tries to blend in with the group to find out how they work. Hoping to learn more, Eddie also begins romancing Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi), a Japanese woman who was married to the slain gangster, and he learns that the ruthless Dawson kills men who are injured during robberies rather than leave them behind to possibly testify against him. After a burglary goes wrong, Dawson becomes convinced that there's an informer in the group; wrongly believing it's Griff (Cameron Mitchell), Dawson kills his loyal soldier and makes Eddie his second in command. Veteran Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa appears as Inspector Kito, a Japanese police detective working with Eddie to crack the case.

• Director
• Paul Wendkos
• Writers
• Ruth Brooks Flippen(screenplay)
• Katherine Albert(screenplay)
• Dale Eunson(screenplay)
• Stars
• James Darren
• Cindy Carol
• Jessie Royce Landis

Gidget Goes to Rome was the third film to be inspired by the beach-happy characters created by Frederick Kohner back in the mid-1950s. This time, surfer gal Francie "Gidget" Lawrence is played by newcomer Cindy Carol. Per the title, the film finds Gidget vacationing in the Eternal City with faithful boyfriend Jeff, aka Moondoggie (James Darren). Chaperoning the pair is Aunt Albertina (Jessie Royce Landis), but that doesn't stop Gidge and Jeff from experiencing brief extracurricular flirtations in Rome. The question: how do the producers get Cindy Carol into a bikini without diverting from the plotline? The answer: a slapstick setpiece during a fashion show. The last of the theatrical Gidget features, Gidget Goes to Rome was followed by a handful of TV-movie sequels and two separate weekly sitcoms.

• Director
• Otto Preminger
• Writers
• Graham Greene(novel)
• Tom Stoppard(screenplay)
• Stars
• Richard Attenborough
• Nicol Williamson
• Derek Jacobi

This routine espionage drama is based on a novel by Graham Greene about a low-level British informant who is caught in a trap. Castle (Nicol Williamson) has a desk job in British intelligence. Around him are heavyweights like Col. Daintry (Richard Attenborough), Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), and Percival (Robert Morley) who will cold-bloodedly stop at nothing to do their jobs as they see fit. And Castle certainly is a nobody compared to them. One day when a friend of his in Africa needs some help, Castle is conned into supplying the Eastern block countries with info on demand. No one suspects him because of his low position, but when his office partner is hauled off, Castle begins to rethink his situation. This was director Otto Preminger's last film.

• Director
• Frank McDonald
• Writers
• Betty Burbridge(original screenplay)
• Bradford Ropes(original screenplay)
• Stars
• Gene Autry
• Smiley Burnette
• June Storey

Gene Autry rescues a young boy from a gang of kidnappers in this delightful musical-Western from Republic Pictures. Having lost their jobs with the rodeo, Gene and sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) are heading west when they discover a young British stowaway, Ronnie Willoughby (Clifford Severn Jr.), who mistakenly assumes that the two cowboys represent his father's large "Rancho San Quentin." Gene, however, doesn't have the heart to tell the boy that San Quentin is no ranch at all, but the state penitentiary. Along the way, the merry little group picks up a couple of pretty hitchhikers, runaway society bride-to-be Joyce Halloway (June Storey) and her kid sister, Patsy (Mary Lee), and they, too, keep mum about "Rancho San Quentin." In fact, Joyce nobly arranges for her own family ranch to be renamed after the prison lest the boy should learn the truth. Wrongly assuming that Gene and company are kidnappers, Ronnie's father, Frederick (Lester Matthews), makes a daring escape from San Quentin but Gene manages to make it appear as if the escapee is returning from a long and arduous cattle drive. The real kidnappers turn up soon enough, of course, and after the inevitable chase, Willoughby's establishes his innocence and Gene agrees to stay on as Joyce's foreman. Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and girl singer Mary Lee perform no less than seven musical numbers, including the title tune, "The Singing Hills," "Give out With a Song," Headin' for the Wild Open Spaces," and "Wooing of Kitty MacFuty." A television print entitled Keep Rollin' also exists, but without many of the songs and all the Mexican cantina production numbers.

• Director
• Tommy O'Haver
• Writer
• Tommy O'Haver
• Stars
• Sean Hayes
• Brad Rowe
• Armando Valdes-Kennedy

Tommy O'Haver wrote and directed this gay lifestyle comedy about aspiring photographer Billy (Sean P. Hayes) who encounters rocky romantic roads intersecting among an assortment of Los Angelenos -- handsome Fernando (Armando Valdes-Kennedy), who has a steady boyfriend; blond waiter Gabriel (Brad Rowe), who has a San Francisco girlfriend; Billy's roommate Georgiana (Meredith Scott Lynn); and pal Perry (Richard Ganoung). Entranced by Gabriel, Billy takes him on as a model and introduces him at gallery openings and parties, only to see Gabriel leave for better modeling assignments with well-known fashion photographer Rex Webster (Paul Bartel). Fantasy sequences parody Vertigo, '30s musicals, and From Here to Eternity. Shown at 1998 film festivals, including Berlin and Sundance.

• Director
• John Rawlins
• Writer
• Louis Lantz
• Stars
• Dane Clark
• Ben Johnson
• Peter Graves

Fort Defiance stars Dane Clark as Civil War deserter Johnny Tallon. Despite his checkered past, Johnny is idolized by his blind brother Ned (Peter Graves). All this changes when Ben Shelby (Ben Johnson), whose brother's death was caused by Johnny, comes to town in seeking revenge. Though it hardly seems possible at this juncture, Johnny sets about to redeem himself by defending the denizens of Fort Defiance against a Navajo attack. The wholly dispensable heroine is played by Tracey Roberts. Fort Defiance was lensed in Cinecolor, which was more eye-pleasing during the exterior scenes than during the interior dialogue passages.

• Director
• Jim McBride
• Writers
• François Truffaut(story "A Bout De Souffle")
• Jean-Luc Godard(screenplay "A Bout De Souffle")
• L.M. Kit Carson(screenplay)
• Stars
• Richard Gere
• Valérie Kaprisky
• Art Metrano

A botched attempt to remake Jean-Luc Godard's classic nouvelle vague entry, Á Bout de souffle, Breathless follows Jesse (Richard Gere), a fugitive wanted for the murder of a police officer. In the course of his flight from the law, he hitches up with a beautiful French college student (the stunning Valerie Kaprisky), and together the two attempt to escape to Mexico. From start to finish, Breathless places style over substance; the film is almost insufferably hip, although its hipness now seems more dated than a time capsule. More attention seems paid to wardrobe, set design and soundtrack than anything else, yet it lacks any of the stark visual impact the original managed to achieve. Gere is passable as the sociopathic killer (although he relies on shirtlessness to carry him through much of the film), but Kaprisky, though beautiful, demonstrates limited acting range.

• Director
• James Fargo
• Writers
• Franklin Thompson
• James Fargo
• Stars
• Chuck Norris
• Mary Louise Weller
• Camila Griggs

In this martial-arts actioner, a pugnacious, taciturn Vietnam vet begins working for an honest casino owner to help keep the evil gangsters at bay.

• Director
• Nathan Juran
• Writer
• Nathan Juran
• Stars
• Mala Powers
• Marshall Thompson
• James Lanphier
• The Woolner Brothers, ever on the cutting edge of cinema with rank imitations of popular hits, strike again with Flight of the Lost Balloon. In response to the upcoming release of Mysterious Island in 1961, the Woolners put together this cheapjack tale which, like Island, is partially set in a flying balloon. Doctor Faraday (Marshall Thompson) is an American adventurer living in Africa, who is sent to locate a scientist, missing since his plane went down in the wilderness. Since the area is inaccessible by motor flight, Faraday mans his balloon and takes off. Unfortunately, the film never does.

• Director
• James Cruze
• Writers
• Byron Morgan(story)
• Marion Fairfax(scenario)
• Stars
• Wallace Reid
• Ann Little
• Theodore Roberts

The silent Roaring Road delivered just what the fans of star Wallace Reid craved: youth, romance and speed. Reid plays an ambitious automobile salesman, in love with boss' daughter Ann Little. He also loves auto racing, and wants more than anything to enter an upcoming car-vs.-train race from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Reid talks his boss Theodore Roberts into allowing him to represent Roberts' company in the race. Does he win? Does he get the girl? Even 1919 audiences knew the outcome three reels before the fact, but Wallace Reid's popularity was such that he could have made a 6-reel version of the L.A. city directory and still packed the theatres.

• Director
• Don Weis
• Writers
• Samson Raphaelson(play "A Rose Is Not a Rose")
• Charles Schnee
• Stars
• Keefe Brasselle
• Sally Forrest
• Lionel Barrymore

Bannerline was Don Weis' first solo directorial credit for MGM. Keefe Brasselle stars as cub reporter Mike Perrivale, who devises a heart-tugging promotional stunt. Upon learning that crusty old history teacher Hugo Trimble (Lionel Barrymore) is dying, Mike writes up a glowing tribute, ascribing all sorts of fabricated accomplishments to the venerable Trimble. The stunt backfires when crime boss Frankie Scarbino (J. Carroll Naish), angered that some of the civic reforms credited to Trimble may put the kibosh on his own operation, threatens to make trouble for Mike. As it turns out, it is the impulsiveness of Scarbino's hired thugs which sets the wheels of reform in motion--simply by beating Mike to a pulp.

• Director
• William Beaudine
• Writers
• Tim Ryan(screenplay)
• Victor Hammond(screenplay)
• Stars
• Robert Lowery
• Marjorie Weaver
• Tim Ryan

Surprisingly, leading lady Marjorie Weaver isn't the Fashion Model in this tongue-in-cheek Monogram meller. When two employees of a clothing factory are murdered, the shadow of suspicion falls upon lowly stock boy Robert Lowery. One of the victims (Lorna Gray) was the titular model, whom Lowery may or may not have been romancing. The hero's loyal girlfriend (Weaver) sleuths around until she comes face to face with the real killer. Fashion Model was co-written by Tim Ryan, who plays the irascible detective assigned to the case.

• Director
• Fred Zinnemann
• Writers
• Baynard Kendrick(book "The Odor of Violets")
• Guy Trosper(screenplay)
• Howard Emmett Rogers(screenplay)
• Stars
• Edward Arnold
• Ann Harding
• Donna Reed

Edward Arnold made the first of his two screen appearances as Bayard Kendrick's blind detective Captain Duncan McLain in MGM's Eyes in the Night. The plot is set in motion by Norma Lawry (Ann Harding), whose stepdaughter Barbara (Donna Reed) has been keeping company with washed-up actor Paul Gerente (John Emery). Norma feels that Gerente, an ex-lover of hers, is a bad influence for Barbara, but the girl merely assumes that Norma wants Gerente all to herself. When the ageing actor is murdered, Barbara assumes that Norma committed the crime. Rather than go to the police, Norma heads to her old friend Duncan McLain, but when the detective arrives at the scene of the murder, the body has disappeared. Detecting the odor of violets in the room, McLain uses this tiny clue to build a case against a gang of Nazi spies, headed by the Lawry's butler Hansen (Stanley Ridges), with whom the late Mr. Gerente had been collaborating. Just knowing who did it isn't enough in this case, however: getting the drop on McLain and his associates, the villains hold the detective and Lawry prisoner until they are able to get their hands on a secret formula developed by Barbara's father (Reginald Denny). In true movie-serial fashion, it is McLain's faithful seeing-eye dog Friday (played by "himself") who saves the day. A "B" picture with "A" entertainment value, Eyes in the Night proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, 1945's The Hidden Eye.

History of Edinburgh Castle.

• Director
• Jean Valère
• Writers
• Paul Gégauff
• Jean Valère
• Stars
• Monica Vitti
• Maurice Ronet
• Robert Hossein

This dark comedy finds Lucie (Monica Vitti) planning to kill her boyfriend (Maurice Ronet), and then herself, after discovering that he has cheated her out of her inheritance and left her penniless. She decides to binge on champagne and caviar before committing suicide, but is rendered intoxicated and daydreams. Lucie later meets a man (Robert Hussein), and reveals to him her intentions to end it all. He desperately tries to locate her as she continues to binge while waiting for her ex-boyfriend. Soon she decides no man is worth dying over and she later meets the stranger who had cared about her condition in her depressed state of mind.

• Director
• John Hughes
• Writer
• John Hughes
• Stars
• Jim Belushi
• Kelly Lynch
• Alisan Porter

John Hughes dishes out the sentiment by the ladle-full in Curly Sue. The film stars James Belushi as Bill Dancer, a down-on-his-luck drifter who lives by his wits on the highways and byways of the United States, stealing free meals, slipping into movie theaters, and sleeping in welfare hotels. Bill is also the guardian of cute pint-size moppet Curly Sue (Alisan Porter), a cutey pie cross between Little Orphan Annie and Tatum O'Neal's Addie Loggins character from Paper Moon. Bill and Curly Sue are a perfect con team, and they practice their scams when they need money for food. Pulling a knockdown car-accident scam, Bill makes hard-bitten Chicago lawyer Grey Ellison (Kelly Lynch) think that she slammed into him with her car. She buys dinner for the two mountebanks before being taken away by her snotty boyfriend Walter McCormick (John Getz). But the next morning, Grey actually does hit Bill with her car, and she takes the two back home with her. At first, Grey can't seem to get Curly Sue out of her mind, but then she finds herself falling in love with Bill. They begin to form a perfect family until Walter puts in a call to the Department of Children and Family Services.

• Director
• Stuart Paton
• Writer
• Paul Willett(original story and screenplay)
• Stars
• Lloyd Hughes
• Rosalind Keith
• William Janney

Ever since he was a boy, Mickey wanted to fly planes like his big brother, Jerry, who was shot down during a mission in World War I. Unfortunately, Mickey is booted from flight school.

• Director
• Herbert Ross
• Writer
• Sarah Kernochan
• Stars
• Mikhail Baryshnikov
• Alessandra Ferri
• Leslie Browne

Choreographer and filmmaker Herbert Ross directs the romantic backstage drama The Dancers, which features a production of Giselle by the American Ballet Theatre. Mikhail Baryshnikov stars as macho lead dancer Tony Sergoyev, the director of a ballet company beginning a production of Giselle in southern Italy. Tony has been involved with several of the dancers in his troupe, but has recently become close to Contessa (Mariangela Melato). When American teenager Lisa (Julia Kent) arrives, he becomes attracted to her during rehearsals. The conclusion involves the final production, with Tony in the role of Albrecht. Tony's other lover, Francesca (Alessandra Ferri), plays the role of Giselle, while cynical Nadine (Leslie Browne) plays the role of the Queen of the Wilis.

• Director
• Ralph Ince
• Writers
• David Hume(from the novel by)
• Brock Williams(screenplay)
• Ralph Smart(screenplay)
• Stars
• Esmond Knight
• Lilli Palmer
• Cecil Parker

A police recruit goes undercover to bust a gang of jewel thieves who are mysteriously commanded by a leader whom nobody has ever seen.

• Director
• Ivan Passer
• Writers
• Newton Thornburg(based on the novel "Cutter and Bone" by)
• Jeffrey Alan Fiskin(screenplay by)
• Stars
• Jeff Bridges
• John Heard
• Lisa Eichhorn

After emigrating to the United States in 1969, Czech-born director Ivan Passer finally broke through to American audiences with his fourth film, a unique blend of mystery and social commentary. Cutter's Way is set in Santa Barbara, CA, a community of wealth and power. Its main characters, however, are among the town's have-nots: Richard Bone Jeff Bridges, a beach-boy gigolo starting to go to seed; Bone's best friend Alex Cutter (John Heard), a Vietnam veteran maimed in body and spirit; and Mo (Lisa Eichorn), Cutter's alcoholic wife. When Cutter spots one of the community's most prominent citizens in the act of covering up a murder, Bone insists that the police would never take their word over that of a man of wealth and prestige. Cutter seizes the opportunity to blackmail the killer, as a means of striking back at a system he thinks sent him off to an unjust war and ruined his life. The film was fortunate to fall into the hands of United Artists Classics, a new division of the company crippled by the financial disaster of Heaven's Gate. UA Classics adroitly marketed Cutter's Way, riding a wave of rave reviews and good word-of-mouth among more discriminating filmgoers to modest box-office success.

• Director
• Sam Peckinpah
• Writers
• Bill Norton(screen story)
• Chip Davis(song)
• Bill Fries(song)
• Stars
• Kris Kristofferson
• Ali MacGraw
• Ernest Borgnine

The CB (citizen's band) radio fad had nearly run its course when this feel-good action film was made by director Sam Peckinpah. In the story, based on C.W. McCall's song "Convoy", a group of struggling truckers (who stay in touch by CB) run into a situation which ignites their indignation. They arrange to form a truck convoy under the leadership of the man whose CB nickname is "Rubber Duck" (Kris Kristofferson). He is the most aggrieved of the bunch, having been harassed beyond the point of endurance by Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine) a blackmailing traffic cop who pursues him ever more frantically through several states after he fails to submit to the phony speed trap he had set up. As news of the truck convoy spreads, unexpected allies join the line, and the now-gigantic illegal protest becomes the subject of national news reports.

• Director
• Joan Micklin Silver
• Writers
• Ann Beattie(based on the novel "Chilly Scenes of Winter" by)
• Joan Micklin Silver(screenplay by)
• Stars
• John Heard
• Mary Beth Hurt
• Peter Riegert

Joan Micklin Silver's writing and direction are at the heart of this wistful recollection of a romance, based on Ann Beattie's novel Chilly Scenes of Winter. The film concerns Charles (John Heard), who recalls his love affair with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). It has been a year since Laura has left him and returned to her husband Ox (Mark Metcalf) and stepdaughter Rebecca. But Charles thinks about her all the time and even has imaginary conversations with her. Charles met Laura in the filing room at Utah's Department of Development in Salt Lake City, and it was love at first sight. Laura was married but had moved out of her house six weeks before. Charles musters up the courage to ask her out, and soon after they are living together. Living with Charles, Laura has never been happier. But she feels she doesn't deserve her happiness, since she has walked out on a family who had done nothing wrong to her. She can't understand why Charles loves her so much, "You have this exalted view of me, and I hate it. If you think I'm that great then there must be something wrong with you." So Laura decides to move back in with Ox. As Charles muses, Laura is more comfortable with "someone who loves you too little over someone who loves you too much." Charles becomes obsessed with winning her back from her family, watching her pick up her daughter from school, driving past her house, and becoming friendly with her flirtatious fellow worker Betty (Nora Heflin) in order to find out more about Laura.

• Creator
• Stanley Roberts
• Stars
• Betty Hutton
• Dennis Olivieri
• Peter Miles

A talkative manicurist inherits a legacy and the custody of three children from a rich Wall Street broker customer.

The story of 15th-century ruler Vlad the Impaler is related.

• Director
• Don Schain
• Writer
• Don Schain
• Stars
• Cheri Caffaro
• Richard Smedley
• Patrick Wright

Don Schain directed this second installment in the Ginger series starring Cheri Caffaro as the blond heroine. In this episode, Ginger must rescue three cheerleaders who have been forced into white slavery. The usual sexual and violent escapades ensue. Cult-film devotees will recognize one of the cheerleaders as Jeramie Rain, then-wife of Richard Dreyfuss and star of Last House on the Left (1972). Caffaro returned the following year in Schain's Girls Are for Loving.

Stars

• Robert Duvall
• Thomas Haden Church
• Greta Scacchi

Sideways star Thomas Hayden Church appears alongside Academy Award-winner Robert Duvall in a dramatic mini-series shot in the classic western tradition. The year is 1897. As Print Ritter (Duvall) and his estranged nephew Tom Harte (Church) travel the slow road to reconciliation, they reluctantly find themselves forced to care for five abused and abandoned Chinese immigrants while simultaneously attempting to deliver a herd of horses across the plains. Soon confronted by a gang of malevolent kidnappers who intend to abduct the girls and use them for the own nefarious purposes, Print and Tom determine to keep their young charges out of harms way while ensuring that their valuable delivery reaches its intended destination.

• Director
• Don Hulette
• Writer
• Terry Chambers
• Stars
• Chuck Norris
• George Murdock
• Terry O'Connor

A typical Chuck Norris vehicle from the late '70s, Breaker! Breaker! is neither the first nor the last Hollywood attempt to translate the wide appeal of trucking into big-screen profits. Alhough, it is probably the least successful. In this "modern" Western, a small California town is ruled by the nefarious Judge Josh. Using CB technology, the Judge and his gang of henchman lure wayward truckers into their town in order to do them bodily harm. Eventually their evil ways catch up to them in the form of J.D. Dawes (Norris), who comes in search of his brother. What he finds, however, is nothing a little Tae Kwan Do and a case of dynamite can't fix.

• Director
• Steven Hilliard Stern
• Writers
• Matt Braun(novel "Black Fox")
• John Binder(teleplay)
• Stars
• Christopher Reeve
• Raoul Max Trujillo
• Tony Todd

Christopher Reeve stars in this made-for-TV western drama in which a former slave looks to make peace between the Indians and homesteaders in the wild west.

A historically informative glimpse is offered into the many royal palaces of Spain, including the Moorish architecture of the esteemed Alhambra.

• Director
• Maury Dexter
• Writer
• Harry Spalding
• Stars
• James Mitchum
• Alana Ladd
• Jody McCrea

In this western, a young cadet is expelled from West Point and goes looking for the brother who was accused of stealing from the Union Army. En route, he befriends a young man and then meets a young woman at a church dance. During the festivities, a fight erupts and the three new friends end up escaping. Just outside of town, they meet a young man who was raised by the Comanches. He and the girl get married and the four continue searching for the brother. They are then joined by a cattle rustler. The group is pursued by the girl's angry father, angry ranchers, and Indians. Eventually they learn that the brother was robbed and murdered by greedy soldiers. Mayhem ensues as their pursuers catch up to them. In the end, the woman's husband dies and the young hero retrieves the money. His name is cleared and he marries the woman.

• Director
• Denis Sanders
• Writer
• Stanford Whitmore
• Stars
• John Saxon
• Charles Aidman
• Sydney Pollack

When a cease-fire temporarily halts the Korean war action, Private Endore (John Saxon) can't put down his rifle. He continues to make one-man raids behind enemy lines at night. When he takes along a young Korean refugee to personally witness the mayhem, Private Roy Loomis (Robert Redford) attempts to save the boy and stop the murderous and obviously insane Endore. This film marks the big-screen debut of Robert Redford. Sydney Pollack, who would collaborate with Redford on future film projects, plays the role of Sergeant Van Horn.

• Director
• Robert Zemeckis
• Writers
• Robert Zemeckis
• Bob Gale
• Stars
• Kurt Russell
• Jack Warden
• Gerrit Graham

Used Cars is one of Robert Zemeckis' pre-Roger Rabbit and pre-Forrest Gump efforts starring Kurt Russell is a devious car salesman who goes to work for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Jack Warden. Warden's principal rival is his more prosperous twin brother, also played by Warden, who schemes to take over the "good" brother's lot. After a series of raunchy vignettes, the film boils down to an every-man-for-himself price war between the two Wardens, which rages on even after we're one Warden short. The supporting cast of Used Cars is populated by such reliables as David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Al Lewis, Dub Taylor, Dick Miller and Betty Thomas.

• Directors
• Peter Sykes
• Don Sharp(uncredited)
• Writers
• Christopher Wicking(screenplay by)
• John Peacock(adaptation by)
• Dennis Wheatley(from the novel by)
• Stars
• Richard Widmark
• Christopher Lee
• Honor Blackman

Christopher Lee stars in this weak occult melodrama as Father Michael Rayner, an excommunicated priest who decides to save the world from its decadence by teaming up with Satan. Richard Widmark is on hand as John Verney, out to stop Rayner's satanic rituals and helped along on the path of goodness by friends Anna Fountain (Honor Blackman) and David (Anthony Valentine). The plot centers on distraught father Henry Beddows (Denholm Elliott), who has signed over his daughter Catherine (Nastassja Kinski) to Rayner in order to save his own skin and now regrets it.

• Director
• Alan Johnson
• Writers
• Thomas Meehan(screenplay)
• Ronny Graham(screenplay)
• Edwin Justus Mayer(1942 screenplay)
• Stars
• Mel Brooks
• Anne Bancroft
• Ronny Graham

Mel Brooks and his real-life wife Anne Bancroft play Frederick and Anna Bronski, musical comedy stars in 1939 Poland. The highlight of the Bronskis' act is Frederick's imitation of Adolf Hitler, but he is forced to eliminate this turn for fear of offending the Nazis. Meanwhile, Anna enters into a harmless flirtation with Polish bomber pilot Andre Sobinski (Tim Matheson). The pilot's nightly signal to visit Anna in her dressing room is "To Be or Not to Be," spoken by Bronski during the Shakespearean portion of his act. When the Germans march into Warsaw, the Bronskis and the rest of their troupe are forced into hiding (notably the homosexual Lupinski, played by Lewis J. Stadlen, who is forced to endure the humiliation of wearing a pink star). Flying for the Polish resistance in England, Sobinski asks kindly Professor Seletzky (Jose Ferrer) to deliver his "To Be or Not to Be" message to Anna. When Seletzky doesn't seem to recognize the name of Anne Bronski, Warsaw's biggest star, Sobinski suspects that something is amiss. Sure enough, Seletzky is a Nazi spy, heading to Warsaw to help Col. "Concentration Camp" Ehrhardt (Oscar-nominated Charles Durning) destroy the underground movement. Parachuting into Poland, Sobinski enlists the aid of the Bronski troupe to foil the Nazis. What follows is an uproarious series of disguises and deceptions, capped by Bronski's impersonation of Der Fuhrer.

• Director
• Peter Duncan
• Writer
• Peter Duncan
• Stars
• Judy Davis
• Sam Neill
• F. Murray Abraham

Children of the Revolution is an Australian film whose cinematic roots go back to the sardonic comedies of Billy Wilder. It is set in two time periods, the 1950s and 1990s, and goes back and forth between them. In the 1990s, Australian politician Joe Welch (Richard Roxburgh) is having some serious difficulties. We learn just how serious they are through a series of interviews with important political commentators. Joe blames his mother, Joan Fraser (Judy Davis), for his problems. This claim seems ridiculous until we flash back to the 1950s and discover that Joan, an ardent communist, had a very brief fling with Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham) and that Joe Welch could be Stalin's love-child. Welch was brought up accompanying his mother on her political rounds, and acquired a fondness for jack-booted women -- something which haunts him in his adult life. Double agent David Hoyle (Sam Neill) also had an affair with Joan during her one brief trip to Moscow, and his shadowy influence also follows Welch into the time of the film.

• Director
• Rex Ingram
• Writers
• June Mathis(scenario)
• Honoré de Balzac(story "Eugénie Grandet")
• Stars
• Alice Terry
• Rudolph Valentino
• Eric Mayne

Director Rex Ingram's The Conquering Power served as the much-anticipated reteaming of Ingram's stars from Blood and Sand, Alice Terry (aka Mrs. Rex Ingram) and Rudolph Valentino. The latter plays an impoverished French aristocrat who falls in love with Alice, the stepdaughter of his wicked uncle Eric Mayne. Uncle is dead set against this romance, and to that end place insurmountable roadblocks in the lovers' path. But Valentino, who has proven that he can make his own way in the world, eventually wins Alice away from Mayne-but not before the old man has suffered a suitably gruesome demise. The Conquering Power is a prettied-up adaptation of Honore de Balzac's Eugenie Grandet.

• Director
• Ken Annakin
• Writers
• Eleanore Griffin(screenplay by)
• James Ramsey Ullman(book "Banner in the Sky")
• Stars
• Michael Rennie
• James MacArthur
• Janet Munro

Filmed on location in Switzerland, Walt Disney's Third Man on the Mountain was based on Banner in the Sky, a book by James Ramsey Ullman. James MacArthur plays a Swiss youth who vows to be the first to scale a formidable Matterhorn-like mountain called the Citadel. The fact that MacArthur's father was killed attempting a similar climb only strengthens the boy's resolve. Though discouraged by his mother and uncle, MacArthur prepares for his ascent by taking practice climbs with his friends, learning vital lessons about safety and cooperation along the way. Finally, MacArthur begins making his way up the Citadel in the company of four other hardy souls. The title is a giveaway as to who doesn't reach the top of the mountain first; even so, there's a happy, satisfying ending for the so-called "loser." The film's breathtaking full-color shots of the Matterhorn are brilliantly augmented by the matte work of the legendary Peter Ellenshaw. Watch for Helen Hayes, the mother of Third Man on the Mountain star James MacArthur, in an amusing cameo role.

• Director
• Wallace Fox
• Writers
• Sam Robins(original story)
• Gerald Schnitzer(original story)
• Harvey Gates(screenplay)
• Stars
• Bela Lugosi
• Luana Walters
• Tristram Coffin

Despite the typical Monogram drawbacks -- murky photography, stolid staging, ramshackle sets -- The Corpse Vanishes remains one of the more deliciously outrageous horror exercises of the 1940s. Bela Lugosi, as hammy as ever, stars as Dr. Lorenz, a European horticulturist whose octogenarian wife (Elizabeth Russell) needs fluids from the glands of young virgins to remain forever young and beautiful. Jumping to conclusions, the insane medico's rationale seems to be that the best place to find a virgin is at the altar. Consequently, seven young women are in short order poisoned by a mysterious orchid just before their "I do's" and brought in a catatonic state to Dr. Lorenz' mansion in Brookdale. Cub reporter Pat Hunter (Luana Walters) is on to the scheme and visits the Lorenz estate under the pretense of researching an article on orchids. With a typical sound-stage storm brewing up, she agrees to spend the night, and what a night it proves to be. Not only is poor Pat awakened by a visit from Dr. Lorenz' slobbering, hunchbacked helper, Angel (Frank Moran, who stalks her while eating a drumstick), the reporter is also slapped in the face by the disagreeable countess, snubbed by a nasty dwarf (Angelo Rossitto), and nearly suffers the same fate as the poor brides when rescued in the nick of time by an enraged housekeeper (Minerva Urecal) and her boyfriend, Dr. Foster (Tristram Coffin).

Star

• Alexander Morton

Explores the romantic history of the clans through tours of the structures that have witnessed centuries of war and tribal treachery. Legends of fairies, secret rooms and ghosts enliven the history of a brave people who proudly defended and preserved their Caledonia - land of the Thistle and the Lion.

• Director
• George Cukor
• Writers
• Clare Boothe Luce(from the play by)
• Anita Loos(screen play)
• Jane Murfin(screen play)
• Stars
• Norma Shearer
• Joan Crawford
• Rosalind Russell

Based on the Clare Booth Luce play of the same name, this MGM comedy is famous for its all-female cast and deft direction by George Cukor. The plot centers on a group of gossipy high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily wedded Mary Haines (Norma Shearer) finds her marriage in trouble when shopgirl Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford) gets her hooks into Mary's man. Naturally, this situation becomes the hot talk amongst Mary's catty friends, especially the scandalmonger Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell), who has little room to talk -- she finds herself on a train to Reno and headed for divorce right after Mary. But with a bit of guts and daring, Mary snatches her man right back from Crystal's clutches. Snappy, witty dialogue, much of it courtesy of veteran screenwriter Anita Loos, helps send this film's humor over the top. So do the characterizations -- Crawford is as venomous as they come, and this was Russell's first chance to show what she could do as a comedienne. And don't discount Shearer -- her portrayal of good-girl Mary is never overpowered by these two far-flashier roles. The only part of The Women that misses is the fashion-show sequence. It was shot in color -- an innovative idea in its day -- but now both the concept and clothes are dreary and archaic. Do keep an eye on the supporting players, though, especially Mary Boland as the Countess DeLage. The role was based on a cafe society dame of that era, the Countess DiFrasso, who had a wild affair with Gary Cooper; that romance is satirized here.

• Director
• Richard Murphy
• Writers
• Richard Murphy(screenplay)
• Herb Margolis(screen story)
• William Raynor(screen story)
• Stars
• Jack Lemmon
• Ricky Nelson
• John Lund

Hijinks and spyjinks lighten this effective comedy by Richard Murphy, based -- very loosely -- on an actual incident in World War II. The place is somewhere in the Pacific and the not-so-good ship USS Echo, captained by the comic Lt. Rip Crandall (Jack Lemmon), has a very specific assignment. The floating anachronism has to safely carry an Australian spy deep into enemy territory where he will be stationed to report on the Japanese fleet's activities. Since the Echo should have been dismantled and sold for its parts long ago, this assignment is not easy. As the military and its stereotypical traits are parodied with sophistication and sharp humor, the Captain and his motley crew do their best to successfully complete their mission.