Josef Leytes Movies

This routine western finds Gannon (Tony Franciosa) as a lone drifter on the Kansas plains. He never looks for any trouble because trouble always manages to find him. Gannon takes on a young Eastern dude named Jess (Michael Sarrazin) and teaches him the ropes of being a cowboy. The two end up in conflict with the widow Beth (Judy West) when she desires to erect a barbed wire fence to corral the cattle. The widow also wishes to corral Gannon before he is befriended by Mattie (Susan Oliver), the local hooker with a heart of gold. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

This action drama is adapted from a TV movie, The Faceless Man. The story centers around a secret service agent who goes undercover as hitman into a counterfeit ring. Most of the story takes place at a waterfront bar. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Movie Maker relates the last days of an old-fashioned Hollywood mogul. Mike Kirsch (Rod Steiger) built his studio from nothing in the 1920s; now, four decades later, he is on the way out, the victim of a corporate takeover. We follow Kirsch as he exercises his waning authority on a temperamental movie star (Sharon Farrell), browbeats his alcoholic wife (Anna Lee), rebellious daughter (Sally Kellerman) and longtime yes-man associate (James Dunn), and vainly attempts to push through an outdated pet movie project. Finally he is wrenched off his throne by a former assistant (Robert Culp), who is now in cahoots with the conglomerate buying the studio. Kirsch is left alone to weep in his projection room as one of his past hits plays upon the screen. The Movie Maker was originally a one-hour drama titled "A Slow Fade to Black," written by Rod Serling and telecast in 1963 on The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. To pad the running time to two hours, Universal filmed a series of badly written and acted flashback sequences set in the 1920s, with Michael Pataki delivering an overbaked Rod Steiger imitation as young Mike Kirsch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The winning combination of producer Benedict Bogeaus and director Allan Dwan once more struck box-office gold with Passion. Set in 19th century California, the film stars Cornel Wilde as a young rancher seeking vengeance for the murders of his wife Yvonne de Carlo and his parents. The guilty parties are a group of terrorists, headed by Rodolpho Acosta, whom Wilde, now a fugitive from justice himself, intends to knock off one by one. Loyally standing by her man is the sister of Wilde's slain wife, also played by Yvonne de Carlo (one character is demure, the other fiery). Featured in the cast is Raymond Burr as a police chief determined to follow the letter of the law--at least, until things get too personal. Passion was effectively color-photographed on location in the mountain ranges between California and Nevada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The state of Israel was still not officially in existence when the 50-minute documentary Tales of Palestine was released in early 1947. Produced in Britain, the film unsurprisingly takes the British point of view of the ongoing Palestinian crisis, though politics are by-and-large set aside during the proceedings. Producer-writer-director Joseph Leytes prefers to concentrate on the positive aspects of Palestine, showing how the previously uninhabitable desert regions were being successfully converted into decent living quarters for hundreds of thousands of wartime Jewish refugees. Special emphasis is placed upon the children of the region, who in Leytes' eyes represent the hope for a brighter future. Complementing the image throughout is the symphonic musical score by Mischa Spoliansky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide