Jerry Bresler Movies

Viewers who know Gale Storm only through her chaotic comic performances on TV's My Little Margie and Oh Susanna will be surprised by her subdued dramatic performance in Abandoned. Storm plays Paula Consodine, who comes to Los Angeles in search of her missing sister. Newspaperman Mark Sitko (Dennis O'Keefe), investigating on Paula's behalf, discovers that the sister is dead, a supposed suicide. The whole thing seems a bit fishy to Sitko, and indeed it is: the girl's death was engineered by a black-market adoption racket, headed by one DeCola (Will Kuluva). Paula bravely offers to act as bait to draw the criminals out, a formidable task given the presence of such secondary villains as Raymond Burr and Mike Mazurki. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another Part Of The Forest begins some twenty years before the events of Lillian Hellman's play and movie The Little Foxes and shows how that film's Hubbard family became the ruthless, greedy lot they were. It's fifteen years after the Civil War, and the Hubbards dominate their small Southern town financially, if not socially; The patriarch of the family (Fredric March) sold salt for $8 a pound to the Confederate Army at a time when they needed it most. Edmond O'Brien and Dan Duryea play his sons, the former as mean as his father, the latter and younger one a weakling. When the elder child finds out that his father was responsible for the death of Southern troops during the war, he threatens to expose the truth unless the family fortune is placed in his hands. In the end, only Hubbard's wife (Florence Eldridge) stands by her husband during his inevitable fall, and she banishes her own children from their house. Brilliant acting by all, especially March, Duryea, and O'Brien, plus a sharp script, make this unrelentingly grim melodrama fascinating to watch. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

This fast-paced, entertaining drama set in a high school is directed by Paul Wendkos who has a talent for turning teen-oriented movies into hits, as proven just before this release (his 1959 Gidget). The ever-young Dick Clark plays Neil, a new, dedicated history teacher who becomes involved with the lives of his students and always for the better. He also becomes involved with Joan (Victoria Shaw) the attractive secretary in the principal's office. In an era before cocaine, crack, and school shootings would destroy the nation's image of high schools forever, the problems of "delinquents" like Griff (Michael Callan), or Buddy (Warren Berlinger), whose mother is unfaithful, may seem archaic to some audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Charlton Heston, portraying swaggering bigot land-baron Richard "King" Howland on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, does a spit take when his sister Sloan (Yvette Mimieux) announces that she plans to marry Paul Kahana, a 100% native Hawaiian (played by 100% native Philadelphian James Darren). But Howland, in the meantime, is having a torrid affair with Mei Chen (France Nuyen). During Sloan and Paul's engagement party, Mei Chen's brother comes at Howland with a knife, but Paul intercedes and is killed. Sloan, bitter at Howland for Paul's death, runs off to Honolulu, where she is taken in by Paul's brother Dean (George Chakiris) and his family. Meanwhile, Mei Chen gives birth to Howland's child but dies during childbirth. Howland, ever the rabid racist, refuses to accept the child and Sloan takes it upon herself to care for it. After an angry fight with Sloan and Dean, Howland is confronted with a personal dilemma -- whether to continue on with his closed-minded ways or to welcome his newborn son into his family. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Repeated infidelities and an unexplained death set the stage for this glossy soap opera. Kit Jordan (Lana Turner) is a wealthy woman slipping into middle age who likes attractive men and isn't averse to the notion of paying for their company. Her husband Pete (Cliff Robertson) is a one-time gigolo whom Kit met on the beach of the ocean side community in Acapulco she calls home. Neither are much on fidelity, and Pete sometimes has mistresses just as Kit has her boy-toys whom she meets in much the same way as she met him. One day, a dead body washes up to the shore wearing a bracelet with the inscription "Love Is Thin Ice." It turns out that the man was one of Kit's many former boyfriends, and the police are not sure if the death was an accident, suicide, or possibly murder -- with the Jordans as suspects. Carol Lambert (Stefanie Powers), the dead man's sister, arrives in town to get to the bottom of her brother's death, but she falls into a fling with Pete. Meanwhile, Hank (Hugh O'Brien), another beach bum, has been dallying with rich widow Margot Eliot (Ruth Roman), but with Pete getting more serious about Carol, he begins to think that Kit might be a more lucrative target for his affections. As the police step up their investigation of the death, the parties involved begin to realize that they're all going to have to settle on one partner, once and for all. Turner's costumes were designed by Edith Head, who spent a then-record $1 million on the many stylish beach outfits which are frequently changed by the cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Returning to Singapore after a five-year absence, WWII veteran Matt Gordon (Fred MacMurray) mournfully recalls his romance with, and marriage to, a girl named Linda (Ava Gardner), whom he assumes was killed in a bombing raid on their wedding night. Resuming his prewar profession as a pearl smuggler, Matt gets mixed up with gangsters who are seeking a cache of pearls that he hid somewhere in Singapore during the war. He also meets wealthy Michael Van Leyden (Roland Culver), who is married to a woman who closely resembles the lamented Linda. In point of fact, she is Linda, but has been suffering from amnesia ever since the wartime bombing. Upon being reunited with his lost love, Matt does his best to ditch his unsavory companions and to rescue Linda from her "new" life. Clearly inspired by Casablanca, Singapore was remade as the 1957 Errol Flynn vehicle Istanbul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the whole, the films of producer-writer-director Arch Oboler seldom came up to the lofty standards of his radio work, but each of his movie projects had a few meritorious moments. One of the better Oboler film efforts was The Arnelo Affair, produced by MGM in 1946. Frances Gifford delivers what may be her best performance as Anne Parkson, the loving but neglected wife of busy Chicago attorney Ted Parkson (George Murphy). Upon meeting one of Ted's clients, shady nightclub owner Tony Arnelo (John Hodiak), Anne finds herself inexorably drawn to the charismatic Arnelo. He in turn is equally fascinated by Anne, but his fascination deepens into love. Upon realizing that Arnelo is essentially a cold-blooded thug, Anne tries to break off their relationship. But Arnelo has murdered his cast-off mistress Claire Lorrison (Joan Woodbury), and has arranged the evidence so as to implicate Anne in the killing. To Arnelo's way of thinking, if he can't have Ann, no one can-certainly not her scrupulously honest husband, who has gone on record insisting that he'd prosecute any criminal to the fullest extent of the law, even if that criminal was a friend or relative. Told in Arch Oboler's traditional stream-of-consciousness manner, the story comes to a violent but logical conclusion when Arnelo exhumes his own long-suppressed sense of decency. Despite competition from the three stars, and from such reliable supporting players as Eve Arden and Dean Stockwell, The Arnelo Affair is stolen by Warner Anderson as a soft-spoken, philosophical Chicago detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fourth episode of the "Honeymooners Trip to Europe" story arc, the Kramdens and the Norton continue their vacation with a visit to Rome. While Ralph is otherwise occupied, Alice (here played by Sheila MacRae) is given a guided tour of the Eternal City by a preteen boy named Tony (Jomar Cidoni), who develops a crush on her. One thing leads to another, and before long Ralph jumps to the conclusion that Alice has a secret "Italian lover"! Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler provided the songs for this full-color, 60-minute laughfest. A remake of a Honeymooners sketch that originally aired live on February 23, 1957 (with Audrey Meadows as Alice and young Sandy Renda as Tony), "Confusion Italian Style" was telecast October 15, 1966, as an episode of The Jackie Gleason Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although this 60-minute, full-color Honeymooners episode takes place entirely in Brooklyn, it has been syndicated as part of the ten-episode The Honeymooners Trip to Europe package. Making fun of the fact that his pal Ed Norton is apparently henpecked by his wife, Ralph Kramden insists that he is the king of his castle, advising Ed to adopt the same attitude. As a result, Ed and wife Trixie (Jane Kean) have a terrible argument, which spills over into a domestic squabble between Ralph and his wife Alice (Sheila MacRae). The girls walk out on their husbands, leaving the boys to do their own cooking and cleaning. After a week of bad food and dirty laundry, Ed is all for apologizing, but stubborn Ralph stands firm -- for a few minutes anyway. A remake of the 1954 Honeymooners sketch "Battle of the Sexes," with new songs by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler added to the mixture, "King of the Castle" first aired January 7, 1967, as an episode of Jackie Gleason's Miami-based variety series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second episode of the "Honeymooners Trip to Europe" story arc, the Kramdens and the Nortons board a luxury liner bound for Europe after Ralph wins an all-expense-paid vacation courtesy of Flakey Wakey cereals. But the trip is almost over before it begins when Ralph and Ed both fall overboard! The best moments include Art Carney's imitation of "Crazy Guggenham" (aka Frank Fontaine) and a "guess the actor" quiz in which the letters "J.B." somehow stand for "George Brent." Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean appear as Alice and Trixie respectively in this full-color romp, which features several sprightly songs by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler. "Ship of Fools" originally aired as the October 1, 1966, edition of The Jackie Gleason Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the sixth episode of the "Honeymooners Trip to Europe" story arc, the Kramdens and the Nortons arrive in London, the latest leg of the vacation that Ralph has won in a Flakey Wakey Cereal slogan contest. Invited to appear in a Flakey Wakey commercial on the British variety series The Gaylord Farquard Show, Ralph insists upon producing, writing, and directing the ad himself. He then casts himself and his wife Alice (Sheila MacRae) as "Lord and Lady Chumly Farthing-Gay," with his pal Ed Norton as the butler and Ed's wife Trixie (Jane Kean) as the maid. Not surprisingly, the appearance proves to be a disaster, thanks in no small part to Ralph's own ever-expanding ego and Ed's characteristic ineptitude. Louis Nye appears as Gaylord Farquard and Robert Coote plays TV executive Charles Lewis, while future Mr. Belvedere star Christopher Hewitt is seen briefly as a mealy-mouthed London pedestrian. This time around, Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler have contributed three songs, including the deathless "Everything Stops for Tea." A full-color remake of a Honeymooners sketch that originally aired live on March 9, 1957, "The Honeymooners in England" was telecast November 12, 1966, as an episode of The Jackie Gleason Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide