Robert Stevenson Movies
One of England's best and most successful action directors of the '30s, Robert Stevenson became a filmmaker whose work was seen by tens of millions of filmgoers well into the late '60s His name was seldom noticed, however, as the director of such Walt Disney hits as Mary Poppins, Son of Flubber, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Old Yeller, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Love Bug. The son of a businessman, Stevenson was a science student at Cambridge, and was led to film through his graduate work in psychology. He began directing movies in 1932, and soon proved himself equally adept in all genres and subject material, capable of deriving bracing tension and excitement from material as diverse as historical drama, African adventure epics, and contemporary thrillers -- among his most notable movies in those categories, respectively, are Tudor Rose, King Solomon's Mines (the 1937 version with Paul Robeson), and Non-Stop New York. Like Alfred Hitchcock, he was signed by David O. Selznick in 1939 and brought to America, but unlike Hitchcock, Stevenson never made a movie for Selznick during the 10 years he was under contract to him. He joined the Disney organization in 1957, and became their top filmmaking hand in live-action films, directing at least a half-dozen Disney classics and another half-dozen confirmed hits over the next 20 years. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1955
Forced to leave New York in a hurry, impoverished gambler Charlie Raymond (Peter Lawford) answers a newspaper ad from a fellow Londoner named Walter Hendricks (John Williams), who wants someone to drive with him to San Francisco and share expenses. En route to the West Coast, Raymond discovers that Hendricks is on his way to collect a huge inheritance. Seizing the opportunity, Raymond murders Hendricks and assumes his identity, certain that the Frisco authorities will fall for the ruse and that he will fall heir to 200,000 dollars. Want to bet that things don't quite work out as planned for our "hero"? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullavan star in this adaptation of Fannie Hurst's tearjerking novel about a woman who chooses to stand beside a man who cannot marry her. Rae (Margaret Sullavan) is a woman from Ohio who meets a dashing gentleman from out of town, Walter (Charles Boyer). They soon fall for each other, but he's due to leave town shortly. As he's about to leave, he calls her from the ship with a question: there's a minister on board who can marry them. Will she join him? As she dashes to the docks, she meets an old flame, and the delay causes her to miss the boat. Five years later, Rae is in New York City and unexpectedly runs into Walter; assuming that she left him behind intentionally, he married another woman. When he realizes that she still loves him, they begin an affair. Rae is content to live her life as "the other woman" until Walter travels to Europe and neglects to call her when he returns; convinced that their romance is over, Rae goes back to Ohio and agrees to marry Curt (Richard Carlson), who loved her long ago. When Walter discovers that Rae has gone back home, he races to Ohio to reclaim her hand. This was the second film version of Back Street, following a 1932 adaptation starring Irene Dunne and John Boles and preceding a 1961 remake with Susan Hayward and John Gavin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Margaret Sullavan, (more)
- 1928
The ill-advised battle of Balaclava, immortalized as a moral victory in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Charge of the Light Brigade, was lavishly re-created in this British historical spectacle. Among those converging in the Crimea in the mid-19th century are "good" British officer Cyril McLaglen and his "bad" counterpart Miles Mander. The latter falsely accuses the former of murder, whereupon McLaglen is dishonorably discharged from the service. He returns to the Crimea as a common horse soldier, whereupon heroine Benita Hume warns him of the presence of a Russian spy amidst the British troops. This minor revelation snowballs into the "heroic" military blunder at Balaclava ("Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die"). Completed as a silent film by the prolific Maurice Elvey, Balaclava was extensively re-shot as a talkie under the direction of Milton Rosmer; the dialogue was written by Robert Stevenson, later an important director in his own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Blackbeard's Ghost was one of the first Disney productions released after Walt's death. Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to come to aid of his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester. The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Dean Jones evokes the spirit of Blackbeard to thwart the bad guys. The supporting cast ranges from Richard Deacon to Gil Lamb, while Peter Ellenshaw performs the visual effects with mattes, miniatures, and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, (more)
- 1961
In this children's movie, an adorable newsboy, his dog, and his friend the hobo accidently stumble across a briefcase containing $100,000. It belongs to a desperate thief who definitely wants it back. The honest child, not knowing the loot is stolen, looks for its owner. Fortunately the police save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wanda Hendrix, Roger Mobley, (more)
- 1959
- Add Darby O'Gill and the Little People to QueueAdd Darby O'Gill and the Little People to top of Queue
Baby boomers who may not remember the plot particulars of Walt Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People nonetheless retain fond memories of Disney's publicity campaign, which included an episode of the producer's weekly TV series, wherein the actor playing leprechaun king Brian (Jimmy O'Dea) was passed off as a genuine little person. One look at Darby O'Gill itself and one is willing to believe Disney's subterfuge. The story, based on the writings of H.T. Kavanagh, involves one Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) an Irish tall-tale spinner who works as a caretaker. On the night that he is replaced by a younger man (Sean Connery), Darby heads home to tell his daughter Katie (Janet Munro) that he has lost his job. En route, he stumbles into the underground leprechaun kingdom, thanks to the intervention of King Brian, who wants to save Darby the shame of telling his daughter about his job. Advised that he will never be able to leave the land of the leprechauns, Darby escapes, and Brian follows. Because he stays above ground until dawn, Brian loses his powers and becomes the property of Darby, who won't let the leprechaun go until he grants three wishes. Brian tricks Darby out of the first two wishes, but is honor-bound to grant the third: that Darby's daughter Katie be wed to the handsome new caretaker. Before this can happen, Katie is seriously injured. As she lies comatose, the Death Coach descends from the sky to gather her to the heavens. Darby rapidly alters his third wish and begs that he be taken in Katie's place. Brian saves Darby's life by tricking him into making a fourth wish, which immediately cancels the first three. The young caretaker wins Katie on his own merits, and Darby has a whole new slew of stories with which to regale the villagers. The principal drawing card of Darby O'Gill and the Little People is its special effects, the most famous of which finds a life-sized Darby O'Gill fiddling away as hundreds of tiny leprechauns dance about him. Even in this era of computerized "F/X," few films have been able to duplicate the sublimely convincing visual magic -- and the effortless charm -- of this 1959 Disney effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, (more)
In this drama, Madeleine Damien (Hedy Lamarr) is a successful magazine editor with a free-spirited private life, but a number of failed relationships and years of burning the candle at both ends have taken their toll and Madeleine is suicidal and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Caieb (Morris Carnovsky), advises her to find a less stressful and more personally satisfying line of work, so Madeleine leaves the publishing industry and moves to a flat in Greenwich Village, where she pursues a long-standing dream of becoming an artist. Madeleine falls in love with a scientist living in her building, Dr. David Cousins (Dennis O'Keefe), and they plan to marry. However, shortly before they are to wed, David is called out of town and Madeleine decides to visit a nightclub, where she runs into Felix Courtland (John Loder), a jeweler with whom she once had an affair. Felix invites Madeleine back to his apartment, but before long she begins to think better of it and tries to slip out the back before he gets the wrong idea; however, at the same time Jack Garet (William Lundigan), a former employee of Felix, arrives at the front door. Jack stole some jewels from Felix but begs him not to turn him in to the police; a fight breaks out, and Jack kills Felix. Since Madeleine was the last person to be seen with Felix, she is accused of murdering him, and David, not knowing of her stormy personal life before he met her, refuses to have anything to do with her. Hedy Lamarr and John Loder were married when they made this film, though perhaps appropriately given their contentious relationship in Dishonored Lady, they divorced before the year was out. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedy Lamarr, Dennis O'Keefe, (more)
- 1959
In its promotional material for the 1959 theatrical feature Darby O'Gill and the Little People, the Disney studio went into whimsical overdrive, hoping to convince the younger viewers that the leprechauns appearing in the film were not merely normal-sized actors made small via special effects, but instead the genuine article. As part of this delightful deception, the weekly Walt Disney Presents TV anthology offered an episode in which Walt Disney explained how he personally persuaded the King of the Leprechauns to appear in his film. It all begins when actor Pat O'Brien, returning from a trip to Ireland, regales Walt Disney with stories of the "little people" of the Emerald Isle. Banking on the fact that he is himself half-Irish, Walt travels to Old Erin to see for himself. After conferring with a local "shanachie," or storyteller (played by Darby O'Gill's titular star Albert Sharpe), Disney is granted an audience with his majesty himself, King Brian (Jimmy O'Dea) -- who has quite a healthy ego for one so tiny. This episode expertly blends new footage with previews from the upcoming film, which among other actors features a young Sean Connery (who was so obscure a performer at the time that he isn't even billed in the TV Guide listings!) While the actual Darby O'Gill scenes were directed by Robert Stevenson, the new transitional scenes were helmed by Harry Keller -- who after handling retakes of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil had no trouble seamlessly matching Stevenson's distinctive style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walt Disney, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1957
The first half of this live-action Disneyland episode is an entertaining promo for the upcoming Disney theatrical feature Old Yeller. Narrated by Dorothy McGuire, one of the film's stars, this segment features behind-the-scenes footage pertaining to the training of the dogs used in the film, as well as random vignettes of Man's Best Friend eagerly performing a variety of tasks (Swiss rescue dogs, seeing-eye dogs, bloodhounds, etc.). The episode concludes with a telecast of Arizona Sheepdog, a 1955 entry in the Disney theatrical short-subject series "People and Places." When "The Best Doggoned Dog in the World was rebroadcast in February of 1961, the Old Yeller segment was replaced with a newly filmed promo for Disney's animated feature 101 Dalmations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy McGuire, Rex Allen, (more)
- 1957
This 1957 Disneyland episode is essentially a promotional film for the upcoming Disney theatrical release Johnny Tremain. An early segment, chronicling man's struggle for liberty as manifested in the Magna Carta and the exploits of Robin Hood, leads smoothly into a lengthy excerpt of the new film, wherein young Johnny Tremain (Hal Stalmaster) joins the 18th century underground group, the Sons of Liberty. The remainder of the episode consists of the 1953 cartoon featurette Ben and Me, based on the book by Robert Lawson and told from the viewpoint of Amos the Mouse (voiced by Sterling Holloway, friend and confidant of none other than Benjamin Franklin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luana Patten, Jeff York, (more)
- 1961
The first half of this 1961 Walt Disney Presents episode shows the work that went behind the delightful animated opening titles of the upcoming Disney theatrical feature The Parent Trap. Famed studio artists Bill Justice, X. Attencio, and T. Hee are seen bringing the titles to life, from storyboard to final print; as a bonus, excerpts from The Parent Trap are previewed, and Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello are shown recording the film's hit title song The rest of the episode consists of Disney's Oscar-winning "True-Life Adventure" short subject Nature's Half Acre, originally released theatrically in 1952. Narrated by Winston Hibler, the film follows the four seasons of nature, from the viewpoint of several species of birds, insects, and plants. "Title Makers and Disney's Half Acre was Walt Disney's final TV-anthology episode for the ABC network, and the last one telecast in black-and-white. Beginning in the fall of 1961, the producer's series would air on NBC under the title Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Sands, Annette Funicello, (more)
- 1933
This musical tells the love story of a manicurist and a night waiter who discover that they are sharing the same apartment. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1959
In the fifth episode of Walt Disney's ten-part miniseries Elfego Baca, gunslinger-turned-lawyer Baca (Robert Loggia) tackles his first big court case. Elfego must defend his old pal, reformed outlaw Fernando Bernal (Edward Colmans), who has been accused of robbing the Santa Fe bank. Former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello appears as Fernando's teenaged daughter. Originally telecast on the Walt Disney Presents anthology, "Attorney at Law" and the sixth Elfego Baca episode "The Griswold Murder" were edited together in 1962 and released as a theatrical feature, Six-Gun Law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
This drama is set upon a floating platform, used for oil drilling, located in the Atlantic. The owners of a rival platform are desperate to destroy it. The film was originally made in German and titled F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Fenton, Conrad Veidt, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy, two rival reporters vie for the scoop on the whereabouts of a missing heiress. They find her in Switzerland. One of the journalists falls in love with her and saves her from marrying an aristocrat. His rival gets to write the story as a consolation prize. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hulbert, Dame Cicely Courtneidge, (more)
- 1954
Charles Chaplin Jr. makes his film starring debut in the location-filmed meller Fangs of the Wild. It's the old "boy cries wolf" story, featuring a lad named Tad (Freddie Ridgeway) who is inclined to stretch the truth now and then. Thus, when Tad insists that he's witnessed a murder, no one believes him. No one, that is, except the killer (Chaplin), who now realizes that he must put Tad out of the way as well. As indicated by the film's title, Tad's fate is in the paws of his faithful dog Shep (played by Buck, who also "starred" as the bibulous St. Bernard on the Topper TV series). Fangs of the Wild was one of the better efforts to emerge from bargain-basement Lippert Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Jr., Onslow Stevens, (more)
- 1943
The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1977
Just before purchasing a Christmas present for her foster mother, Willona (Ja'net DuBois), Penny (Janet Jackson) is robbed of her wallet. Desperate to get Willona a gift, Penny resorts to shoplifting -- and ends up in police custody. Will this unpleasant episode lead to Willona losing her opportunity to legally adopt Penny? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Matt Dillon's former girlfriend Cara (Jorja Curtwright) arrives in Dodge City, apparently hoping to renew their romance. But Matt (James Arness) finds that the intervening years have made Cara too cynical and jaded for his tastes. Then word arrives that notorious bank robber Tolliver (Douglas Odney) is in the vicinity--and with startling suddenness, Matt learns the real reason that Cara has come back into his life. This episode is adapted from the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of November 7, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Mail-order bride Ann Smithwright (Mary Carver) travels all the way from Philadelphia to Dodge City, whereupon she identifies Matt Dillon (James Arness) as her future husband. Thing of it is, Matt has never heard of Ann: it seems that Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver) had sent a picture of Matt to Ann, passing it off as his own likeness. But even after Ann finds out that Chester is her "intended", she intends to remain in Dodge, and never again return to her prosperous Philadelphia family. By now, Chester realizes that it would be a big mistake to wed Ann--but it is up to Matt to resolve the sitution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Crooked gambler Ben Sissle (Vinton Hayworth) intends to get even with Matt Dillon (James Arness) for exposing him as a cheat. To this end, Sissle callously uses feeble-minded Cooter Smith (Strother Martin) as a dupe in a scheme to force Matt into a fatal gunfight. Cooter is persuaded that the whole thing is a "joke", but no one is laughing in the final scene. Featured as one of Sissle's card-playing victims is a young, pre-Man from UNCLE Robert Vaughn. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of July 27, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
If ever Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) had an idol, it was fast-talking sharpster Dutch George (Robert Middleton). But times have changed, and now George is on the opposite side of the law as a horse thief. Though Matt has managed to avoid trouble with George and his gang, it looks like he'll have to take action when Jimmy McQueen (Tom Pittman) is robbed of his horse. As it turns out, however, Dutch George has less to worry about from Matt than from the deceptively helpless-looking McQueen. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of November 20, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Future action-film superstar Charles Bronson is cast against type as Crego, a coward who has built up a reputation as a fast gun by only challenging kids and oldsters who aren't quite as quick on the trigger. Goading his victims into slapping leather, Crego kills every one of them--and Matt (James Arness) can do nothing, since Crego is always able to claim self defense. Somehow, Matt must expose Crego as a yellow-belly without breaking (or even bending) the law himself. Featured in the cast as a townsman is James Nusser, long before he became established in the recurring Gunsmoke role of town drunk Louie Pheeters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1932
In this musical, a frail artist is victimized by a con artist who cheats her out of her life savings. Two window washers named Willie stop the girl from sinking any lower and simultaneously fall in love with her. They help her become an incredibly popular singer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lilian Harvey, Jack Hulbert, (more)
- 1962
The statue of St. Francis, standing in the courtyard of California's San Luis Rey mission, has been stolen. Father Clare (David Garner) prevails upon Paladin (Richard Boone) to retrieve the statue with the least possible amount of gunplay--a task that proves easier said than done, thanks to the omnipresence of a band of hostile Indians. Evidentally the only thing that can defuse this situation is a miracle--and a miracle is just what happens! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
