Sandra Dee Movies

Combining familiar movie and TV images with rare, seldom-seen backstage footage, this PBS documentary traces the life and tragic early death of pop singer Bobby Darin. Born in 1936, Darin was a superstar before he was old enough to vote, parlaying such standards as "Mack the Knife," "Artificial Flowers," and his own zany composition "Splish Splash" into gold-record nirvana. He also enjoyed an impressive film career, highlighted by some astonishing dramatic performances in films like Pressure Point and Captain Newman, M.D., and ascended to Hollywood royalty with his "storybook" marriage to another teen idol, Sandra Dee (a union that, alas, was never quite as happy as it seemed). Never encumbered by lack of confidence and humility, Darin nonetheless battled a personal demon all his life; born with a weak heart, he was living on borrowed time, and was convinced that he would die young -- which, tragically, he did, in 1973. The film includes interviews with many of Darin's friends, co-workers, and intimates. Designed to be shown during PBS fundraisers, Bobby Darin: Beyond the Song first aired on December 7, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Made for Canadian television, Lost is a sometimes grueling tale of courage and perserverance. The film is based on the true story of three men whose boat capsizes in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For 74 days, the men cling to their overturned boat, hoping against hope for salvation. Special attention is given one of the men, a religious near-fanatic who believes that their peril is a test from God. Kenneth Walsh, Michael Hogan and Charles Joliffe play the three protagonists, while Helen Shaver and Linda Goranson portray the women who agonizingly wait for their return. Though unrated, Lost is much too tense for younger viewers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The long-running Aaron Spelling TV series Fantasy Island was launched with a two-hour pilot film, which originally aired January 14, 1977. Ricardo Montalban stars as the enigmatic, sartorially splendiferous Mr. Roarke, who welcomes those willing to pony up the $50,000 to spend a weekend on "Fantasy Island." Roarke's assistant, the diminutive Tattoo ("De plane, boss! De plane!") is played by Herve Villechaize. The special guest stars indulging in their fantasies this time around include Bill Bixby, Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Peter Lawford, Hugh O'Brian, Eleanor Parker, Victoria Principal, Dick Sargent and Tina Sinatra. Parker plays a wealthy woman who wants to attend her own funeral, just to see what her relatives really think of her. Businessman Bixby is sent back in time to a bittersweet wartime romance. And bored hunter O'Brian wants to see what it's like to be "the hunted." Mr. Roarke indulges all these fantasies with his usual finesse, just as he would in the series proper, which ran from January 28, 1978 through August 18, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Predating the Oscar-nominated theatrical feature Apollo 13 by over two decades, the made-for-TV Houston, We've Got a Problem dramatized the same real-life crisis in space from a different point of view. It was back in 1970 when an explosion on board Apollo 13 forced Mission Control to scuttle the vessel's intended moon landing. Unfortunately, the astronauts and the NASA control team faced an even bigger dilemma -- the very real possibility that the Apollo 13 capsule would remain hovering in space forever, with no possible hope for a return to the earth. Unlike the film version of Apollo 13, in which the men on board the ill-fated craft were spotlighted, the TV movie focused exclusively on the NASA engineers in Houston, and the families and friends of the endangered space travelers. In fact, Jim Lovell and his crew weren't even shown onscreen, save for a random TV news clip. Houston, We've Got a Problem debuted March 2, 1974, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With a style and tone that wreaks of the late '60s, this cheap-looking adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story plays like an obvious reference to the battle between the establishment and the counterculture. The film stars Dean Stockwell as Wilbur Whateley, a brooding young man who makes a connection with a pretty librarian named Nancy (a very out-of-place Sandra Dee). Whateley wants to get his hands on the Necronomicon, a diabolical book that he believes will help him to open a doorway to a dimension inhabited by unspeakable creatures known as the "Old Ones." Hypnotized by Whateley's spell, Nancy accompanies the man back to his cursed home where he lives with his nutty grandfather (Sam Jaffe) and an unseen "thing" that is kept in an upstairs room. Meanwhile, the Necronomicon's owner, Dr. Armitage (Ed Begley), does some detective work on Whateley when he begins to fear for Nancy's safety. He quickly realizes that Whateley means to sacrifice Nancy in order to accomplish his diabolical plan. Whateley manages to steal the Necronomicon and begins the ritual to resurrect the Old Ones. As Armitage races to stop him, the thing from the upstairs room breaks out and beats a murderous path towards Whateley as well, leading to a final confrontation that leaves a lot to be desired. ~ Patrick Legare, Rovi

In this comedy, an aspiring singer finds herself single and pregnant. The story begins when she is rushed to the hospital to give birth. She is joined by three men; all of them want to marry her. The story of her pregnancy and her rise to stardom are told in flashback. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This late-'60s spy spoof also borrows a page from late-'50s Alfred Hitchcock, with its everyday man becoming embroiled in the violent and baffling world of international espionage. When American businessman William Beddoes (James Garner) is traveling in Lisbon, he's mistaken for an English spy who's thought to possess a cache of industrial diamonds. Soon he is pursued by Aurora-Celeste da Costa (Melina Mercouri), Steve-Antonio (Tony Franciosa), and a host of other colorful troublemakers, all chasing him for something he doesn't have. Note Bert Kaempfert's music, introducing "Strangers In The Night". ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Maurice Chevalier plays Philip Dulaine, a supposedly dying millionaire, while Sandra Dee co-stars as Cynthia, the elderly man's granddaughter. To allow Dulaine to die happy, Cynthia promises to find a husband. Actually, Dulaine is only pretending to be at death's door to get Cynthia married off. Subsequent complications involve Cynthia's personal choice for a husband, Warren Palmer (Andy Williams), and Dulaine's selection, Paul Benton (Robert Goulet). Deanna Durbin fans will quickly detect that I'd Rather Be Rich is a remake of Durbin's It Started With Eve (1941), with a gender switch (in the original, Robert Cummings is the grandson, and Durbin is the instant fiancee) and with Maurice Chevalier filling the sizeable shoes of Charles Laughton as the foxy grandpa. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this generation gap movie of the early 1960s, Sandra Dee is Mollie Michaelson, a teenage rebel enamored with long-haired hippies and radical anti-nuclear political causes. Her involvement in such activities sends her ultra-conservative father Frank (James Stewart) into a tizzy. His reassuring wife is played by Audrey Meadows. Frank's furor deepens when Mollie is sent to Paris on an art scholarship. Back at home, Frank picks up a popular magazine and finds that his daughter has posed on the cover for a radical artist, Henri Bonnet (Philippe Forquet). He pursues her to save her from further degradation, but he ends up in a café in the wrong part of Paris just as it is raided by police. They arrest him on trumped-up and erroneous charges, and he struggles to prove that he's not guilty. This film was based on a play by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

In this emotional romance, the young backwoods girl Tammy lives in a houseboat on the river. She is very sad because she hasn't heard from her college-student boyfriend in ages. Determined to be near him, she cruises her boat down to his university and enrolls. To pay expenses she gets a job. Her new boss is pleased and ends up borrowing Tammy's boat for a short vacation. She then gives the girl an expensive necklace. Tammy soon finds herself pursued by a handsome professor. Later, the niece of Tammy's boss becomes worried at her wealthy aunt's mysterious disappearance and organizes a search party. When she sees Tammy wearing her aunt's necklace, she assumes the worst and has the girl arrested. Later the conniving niece has her aunt tried for mental incompetence. Fortunately, Tammy's pleas are heard by the compassionate judge, her boss is deemed sane, and peace is restored. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Rock Hudson stars in this frothy romantic comedy as filthy-rich American Robert Talbot. Talbot owns an Italian villa, where he traditionally stays only one month out of the year (September), but when Talbot suddenly decides to show up in July, Talbot's major overseer Maurice (Walter Slezak) is shocked out of his skin to see him -- it seems that Maurice has turned Talbot's villa into a hotel for the remaining eleven months of the year. But it's July in Italy, and love is in the air, and Talbot becomes distracted by the beautiful Lisa (Gina Lollobrigida) and soon he is trying to prevent her from marrying another man. Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin (in his first screen role) play young guests of the villa. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though billed fifth, Mary Astor is the one to watch in the Ross Hunter-produced soapera Stranger in My Arms. Astor portrays a neurotically possessive mother who'll stop at nothing to win a posthumous medal of honor for her son. But air force major Jeff Chandler knows that the dead boy was a coward who actually despised his mother. June Allyson, the boy's widow, suspects the truth, but would rather not hear it. Called to testify on behalf of the boy, Chandler is bribed by Ms. Astor to lie on the stand. The painful truth is eventually revealed, but there's some compensation for Ms. Allyson, who falls in love with Chandler. Stranger in My Arms was adapted from Robert Wilder's novel And Ride a Tiger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi