Harold Jacob Smith Movies
- 1958
Enchanted Island bears only the faintest traces of its source material, the Herman Melville novel, Typee. 19th century-whalers Abner Dana Andrews and Tom Don Dubbins jump ship, finding refuge on a tropical island inhabited by cannibals. When Tom disappears, Abner jumps to the logical conclusion and vows not to end up in the pot himself. Returning to his ship, Abner is drawn back to the island by Fayaway (a miscast Jane Powell), the tribal chief's daughter, with whom he has fallen in love. The film's "official" synopsis suggests that the story is unresolved at the end; in fact, the film comes to a satisfying if not altogether believable conclusion. Produced in Mexico by Benedict Bogeaus, Enchanted Island was to have been released by RKO Radio, but the collapse of that studio forced Bogeaus to distribute the film through Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Jane Powell, (more)
The Evolution vs. Creationism argument is at the center of the Jerome Lawrence-Robert E. Lee Broadway play Inherit the Wind. Lawrence and Lee's inspiration was the 1925 "Monkey Trial," in which Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in violation of state law. Scopes deliberately courted arrest to challenge what he and his supporters saw as an unjust law, and the trial became a national cause when The Baltimore Sun, represented by the famed (and atheistic) journalist H. L. Mencken, hired attorney Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes. The prosecuting attorney was crusading politician William Jennings Bryan, once a serious contender for the Presidency, now a relic of a past era. While Bryan won the case as expected, he and his fundamentalist backers were held up to public ridicule by the cagey Darrow. In both the play and film versions of Inherit the Wind, the names and places are changed, but the basic chronology was retained, along with most of the original court transcripts. John Scopes becomes Bertram Cates (Dick York); Clarence Darrow is Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy); William Jennings Bryan is Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March); and H. L. Mencken is E. K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly). Dayton, Tennessee is transformed into Hillsboro -- or, as the relentlessly cynical Hornbeck characterizes it, "Heavenly Hillsboro." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, (more)
The most elaborate and successful art heist in modern history is detailed in filmmaker Rebecca Dreyfus' cinematic account of the daring raid on Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner museum staged in the early morning hours of St. Patrick's Day, 1990. By the time the ruse of the well-organized and cleverly disguised thieves was discovered, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum had been stripped of 13 priceless works including Vermeer's "The Gardener" -- one of only 35 works by the master known to currently exist. As respected art detective Harold Smith attempts to uncover the labyrinthine mystery surrounding the bold burglary while dealing with the frightening effects of his lifelong battle with skin cancer, the obsessive efforts of the cunning gumshoe are interwoven with interviews in which contemporary authors ponder the power of Vermeer's impressive body of work. Additional details concerning art collector Isabella Stewart's turn-of-the-century correspondence with personal advisor Bernard Berenson are voiced by actress Blythe Danner and Campbell Scott, respectively, and serve to give a more personal perspective to the investigation while simultaneously putting into context the true value and ultimate fragility of these plundered treasures. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1957
After having been recently shipwrecked, a group of survivors begin dealing with both the reality of being stranded on a remote island as well as with feelings of alienation and isolation. Adapted from the novel by Johann Wyss, this was the pilot episode for a proposed television series co-produced by Edgar G. Ulmer and Louis Hayward. Filmed in Mexico in 1957 and bearing a 1958 copyright, Swiss Family Robinson: Lost in the Jungle was not "released" until 2000, when it was included as an extra feature on the DVD version of Ulmer's The Pirates of Capri. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi
Convicts Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier escape from a chain gang. Curtis' character, John "Joker" Jackson, hates blacks, while Poitier's character, Noah Cullen, hates whites. However, the men are manacled together, forced to rely on each other to survive. Captured at one point by a lynch-happy mob, the convicts are rescued by Big Sam (Lon Chaney Jr.), himself a former convict. The men are later sheltered by a lonely, love-hungry widow played by Cara Williams, who offers to turn in Cullen if Joker will stay with her. By the time the two men are within hailing distance of a train that might take them to freedom, they have become friends. The script for The Defiant Ones is credited to Harold Jacob Smith and Nathan E. Douglas. The latter was really Nedrick Young, a blacklisted writer, whom producer Stanley Kramer hired knowing full well that Young was using an alias (when "Douglas"' credit appears onscreen, it is superimposed over a close-up of a truck driver -- played by Nedrick Young). Both the script and the photography by Sam Leavitt won Academy Awards. If you look closely, you'll notice that the actor playing Angus is former Little Rascal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, making his last screen appearance. The Defiant Ones was remade for TV in 1986, with Robert Urich and Carl Weathers in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Set in the immediate post-Civil War era, The McMasters stars Brock Peters as a black Union soldier who finds he must figuratively fight the war all over again. Returning to his southern hometown, Peters quickly learns that nothing has really changed: he is a "free"man in name only. Peters' ex-master Burl Ives magnanimously gives the former slave a plot of land, but only Native-American David Carradine and his tribesmen are willing to work for a black man. The "invasion" of Indians serves to stir up the racial divisiveness even farther, thanks to local rabble-rouser Jack Palance. The McMasters was originally released in two versions with two different endings, succinctly summing up the film's "no easy answers" stance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burl Ives, Brock Peters, (more)
A bank robber's avarice and obsessive quest for freedom lead to his downfall in this adventure-packed crime drama that was shot on location in Mexico. After lifting a cool million from a U.S. bank, the crook is anxious to sneak across the border into Mexico, but to do so he must hire an experienced wilderness guide. He goes to the guide's ranch and finds his ex-lover, now the guide's wife, preparing to leave her husband. The crook offers to take her to her home town. There is trouble with a border guard and the crook runs him over with his car. Terrified, the girl tries to escape, but the crook runs after her and they go back to the ranch where they meet the guide (who was beside the border guard when he died). Desperately, the crook forces the guide and his wife to head into the mountains with him. As they traverse the treacherous terrain, the crook becomes increasingly desperate and makes it plain that he will kill anyone who stands in his way. He also makes it clear that he would rather die himself than give up the money. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn, (more)
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