John Collier Movies

After a man living in Los Angeles purchases a sleeping beauty from a carnival, he wakes her and finds she is not what he expected. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Adapted by John Collier from a story by H.G. Wells, this episode is built around the talents of child actor John Megna, best remembered for his role as the Truman Capote counterpart in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. Obsessed by magic and magicians, Tony Grainger (Megna) begs his father, Steven (Leslie Nielsen), to take him to Mr. Dulong's magic shop as a ninth birthday present. What seems to be a harmless excursion into the black arts becomes something else entirely when Tony steps into a magic cabinet and temporarily disappears -- followed by Mr. Dulong (David Opatoshu), who disappears for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After an all-night binge, carnival owner Leo Torbey (Norman Lloyd) discovers he has purchased a trained monkey, whom Torbey's wife, Carol (Nita Talbot), despises at first sight. What Leo doesn't know -- at least at first -- is that his monkey, named Maria, is not a monkey at all, but instead a human female dwarf (Venus DeMars). And what nobody knows, until it is too late, is that Maria has fallen hopelessly in love with Leo...and that she has an insatiable thirst for vengeance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

David Manning (John Collier), an old friend of Beaver's who now lives several miles away, invites Beaver (Jerry Mathers) to his birthday party one week in advance. Alas, by the time seven days have passed, Beaver has forgotten all about the party and has gone of on a photo-taking excursion with Larry (Rusty Stevens). Frantically, Ward (Hugh Beaumont), June (Barbara Billingsley), and Wally (Tony Dow) scour the town in search of the absent Beaver, who will ultimately be forced to make a difficult decision to avoid hurting David's feelings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Domineering Hermione Carpenter (Isobel Elsom) wants to take a trip to America and then return home to home to England for Christmas, but her henpecked husband Herbert (John Williams) has other ideas. Murdering Hermione, Herbert buries her in the cellar and heads to America on his own. He is smugly certain that, by the time he's back in England, the cement covering Hermione will have hardened and he'll be in the clear. Unfortunately, it turns out that the late Hermione has planned a little homecoming surprise for Herbert. Based on a story by John Collier, "Back for Christmas" had previously been adapted several times on the radio anthology Suspense, most memorably with Peter Lorre in the leading role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like so many other Hitchcock "heroes," Seymour Johnston (Hurd Hatfield) thinks that he has planned the perfect murder. Disguising himself as another person, Seymour kills his wealthy Aunt Muriel (Mildred Dunnock). Certain that the police will blame the "other person" for the crime, Seymour is more than willing to cooperate with their investigation -- but alas, he makes the proverbial "one fatal slip." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This anthology film tells three stories of love involving the passengers of an ocean liner at sea. In the first, "The Jealous Lover," James Mason plays Charles Coudray, a well-known ballet director. When someone asks Coudray why he staged his masterpiece, "Astarte," only once, he tells the story of Paula Woodward (Moira Shearer), a superb dancer he found practicing in his theater. He was awestruck by her technique and her beauty, but he discovered that she had a secret -- due to a cardiac condition, she has been forbidden to dance too strenuously, as it could tax her heart and eventually kill her. Charles urges Paula to perform for him, so he may use her movements to choreograph his next great work; she agrees, but the exertion proves too much for her and she dies. He arranges for the work she inspired to be performed only once, in hopes that she will somehow see it from on high. In the second segment, "Mademoiselle," Tommy (Ricky Nelson) is a 12-year-old boy travelling with his French governess and tutor (Leslie Caron); she's tired of spending her days watching over a child, and he'd like to get away from Teacher for a while. Mrs. Pennicott (Ethel Barrymore), a older woman who happens to be a witch, hears Tommy wishing he could be a grown-up, and she grants his request: suddenly Tommy is a grown man (played by Farley Granger), but only for the next four hours. The Governess meets the mysterious stranger Tommy has become, and soon they fall in love. In the final segment, "Equilibrium," Kirk Douglas plays Pierre Narval, a high-wire artist who retired from performing after his partner died while performing a trapeze act, an accident Pierre blames on himself. He begins to reconsider his decision when he saves the life of Nina (Pier Angeli), a woman who attempted to drown herself; her husband died in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and she feels she is to blame for his death. Their shared fatalism equals fearlessness in Pierre's eyes, and he teaches Nina the art of the trapeze; however, when he begins to fall in love with her, he's no longer so certain that he wants her to risk her life. "The Jealous Lover" and "Equilibrium" were directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, while "Mademoiselle" was directed by Vincente Minnelli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Deception is an operatic rehash of the 1929 film Jealousy. Music teacher Bette Davis--who evidently has a large student pool, judging by the size of her penthouse apartment--is reunited with her cellist lover Paul Henreid, whom she believed to have been killed in the war. Henreid wants to marry Davis, but he is unaware that she has, for the past several years, been the "protege" of composer Claude Rains. Rains agrees to keep quiet about his affair with Davis, but takes sadistic delight in tormenting the woman and working behind the scenes to sabotage Henreid's career. When Rains tells Bette of his plans to publicly humiliate Henreid, she shoots her ex-lover dead. Henreid agrees to stand by Davis no matter what is in store for her. Director Irving Rapper had originally wanted to treat the hoary plot twists of Deception comically, with the three principals walking off together at the end with a "what the hell?" attitude. He was tersely told to stick to the script; after all, people didn't pay to see Bette Davis but to see her suffer. Like the 1929 version of Jealousy, Deception was based on a play by Louis Verneuil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The unusual amalgam of documentary maven Robert Flaherty and pure-entertainment producer Zoltan Korda resulted in the 1937 money-spinner Elephant Boy. In his screen debut, eleven-year-old Indian-born Sabu plays the title character, a mahout named Toomai. When his father is killed by a tiger, Toomal is left alone and unprotected and not long afterward loses his beloved elephant to a sadistic "driver." Stealing back the pachyderm and heading into the wilderness, Toomal stumbles across a herd of wild elephants, which the British government has long been seeking. With visions of a huge reward in his head, Toomal offers to lead the authorities to the elusive herd -- whereupon the "dramatic" portion of the story gracefully gives way to the "documentary" portion. More intriguing than entertaining, Elephant Boy was nonetheless one of the most successful films of its kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide