Ellis St. Joseph Movies
- 1970
- R
Taken from the autobiography of the world's first transsexual, George Jorgensen (John Hansen) is a woman trapped in a man's body who opts for surgery and hormone treatments to make him a woman. Events of his childhood are covered, showing young George preferring dolls over contact sports. Inducted into the Army, the sexually confused George learns to hide his emotions during his military experience. He travels to Denmark where a pioneering team of doctors agree to perform the surgical process for the first time ever. His kindly aunt in Denmark (Joan Tompkins) gives George the name of Christine after her late daughter. Hansen is unconvincing as a woman, and there are several passages in this biographical drama that lead to unintentional hilarity. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hansen, Joan Tompkins, (more)
- 1964
In this episode of the well-wrought horror/sci-fi anthology, a hapless miner inadvertently gets involved in a scientific experiment and ends up evolving far beyond the rest of humankind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In Volume 25 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a scientist on a remote world mutates into a vicious killer following a strange rainstorm. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1958
John Wayne's only collaboration with director John Huston turned out to be a major career misstep for both men. Barbarian and the Geisha is the true story of Townsend Harris (Wayne), who in 1856 was appointed the first American consul to Japan. Headquartered in Shimoda, Harris discovers that the Japanese thoroughly mistrust the Americans (and, as it turned out, not without reason). It's an uphill climb, but Harris gradually earns the respect of the local power brokers-and in so doing, is permitted to enter the city of Tokyo. Geisha girl Eiko Ando, originally sent to thwart Harris' mission, falls in love with him and protects him from harm. Though running only 104 minutes, the film seems to drag on for eons. Filmed on location, The Barbarian and the Geisha is consistently good to look at, but the discomfort of both star Wayne and director Huston is painfully obvious in every frame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Eiko Ando, (more)
- 1957
That zany video genius Ernie Kovacs plays it (sort of) straight in this Playhouse 90 adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's satirical stage play Topaze. A man constitutionally incapable of being dishonest, Monsieur Topaze (Kovacs) loses his teaching position at a small provincial French private school when he refuses to give a passing grade to an undeserving pupil. On the advice of Suzy (Sheree North), the attractive aunt of another pupil, Topaze accepts a new job with Castel-Bernac (Stephen Wooton), a crooked politician who happens to be Suzy's "protector." Castel-Bernac takes Topaze on in the secure belief that someone so indomitably honest would never suspect that anything unscrupulous was going on within Castel-Bernac's political machine. But things happen which not only profoundly alter Topaze, but also everyone around him. Carl Reiner costars in this production, which originally aired live. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernie Kovacs, Carl Reiner, (more)
A Scandal in Paris is a liberal adaptation of the life story of Eugène François Vidocq, who was French prefect of police during the Napoleonic era. George Sanders stars as Vidocq, who spends most of the film as an aimless rogue willing to lie, cheat, and steal for his own comfort. The women who affect Vidocq's life include a saucy cabaret entertainer (Carole Landis) for whom Vidocq steals, and a good woman (Signe Hasso) for whom he straightens himself out. Fledgling director Douglas Sirk displayed his love of the Baroque (both in decor and characterizations) that would distinguish his later high-budget Universal soap operas. Most prints of A Scandal in Paris bear the film's alternate title, Thieves' Holiday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Signe Hasso, (more)
- 1944
More a romantic melodrama than the uplifting propaganda piece the producers perhaps envisioned, In Our Time stars Ida Lupino as Jennifer Whittredge, a young antique buyer marrying a Polish count, Stephan Orvid (Paul Henried), after a whirlwind romance in a Warsaw at the brink of World War II. The count's old-fashioned family in general and his aristocratic uncle (Victor Francen) in particular resist the union, but Jennifer brings a breath of fresh air and a sense of good Anglo-Saxon values into the stagnant rooms of the Orvid estate and soon the farm is prosperous once again. When the German military might finally enters Poland, Jennifer and Stephan join the country's scorched earth defense by burning both their property and are soon among the refugees waiting for the day when Poland is once again free from Fascism. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, (more)
- 1943
In the tradition of his earlier Carnival in Flanders and Tales of Manhattan, director Julien Duvivier's Flesh and Fantasy is a "pormanteau" film, consisting of several short stories. Linking the three tales unfolded herein are clubmen Doakes (Robert Benchley) and Davis (David Hoffman), who carry on a spirited debate about Destiny. In the first story, homely Henrietta (Betty Field) is made beautiful through the love of handsome Mardi Gras reveller Michael (Robert Cummings)-and the help of an enigmatic mask-maker (Edgar Barrier). The second story, based on Oscar Wilde's "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime", concerns a fortune teller named Septimus Podgers (Thomas Mitchell) who predicts that socialite Marshall Tyler (Edward G. Robinson) will commit a murder. In the final tale, psychic high wire artist Paul Gaspar (Charles Boyer) dreams that he will meet his doom during the performance of his act-and then falls in love with Joan Stanley (Barbara Stanwyck), who looks exactly like the girl who appeared in that dream. A fourth story, detailing the doomed romance between a fugitive from justice (Alan Curtis) and a blind girl (Gloria Jean), was cut from Flesh and Fantasy, then expanded and released separately as Destiny (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, (more)
- 1942
At first glance, we seem to be watching the 1934 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical The Gay Divorcee, which opens with a montage of Paris nightspots. Suddenly, however, stock footage from that earlier film is cut short, the screen goes dark, and an offscreen radio voice announces the Nazi invasion of France. At this point, the plot of Joan of Paris gets under way. Michèle Morgan plays a Parisian barmaid, Joan, whose patron saint is Joan of Arc. Thus, she considers it her bounden duty to aid Free French pilot Paul Lavallier (Paul Henreid) and his RAF comrades (one of whom is Alan Ladd) in their efforts to escape from occupied France. And if this means that Joan must face death at the hands of slimy Gestapo chief Herr Funk (Laird Cregar), she's eager and willing to make that sacrifice. One of the earliest French Underground dramas, Joan of Paris posted a neat profit for ever-in-the-red RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michèle Morgan, Paul Henreid, (more)
- 1939
The rise of the popular Nevada city is chronicled in this epic drama that begins when Reno was a tiny silver-mining town and ends when it becomes a divorce center and garishly lit gambling town. The film also follows the exploits of a young attorney who comes to town to build a thriving divorce practice. He becomes so involved in his work, that he ignores his own loving wife who leaves him. As a result, the city fathers get on his case about his virtue. The lawyer is subsequently disbarred; he then opens a gambling casino. Years pass and his estranged daughter comes to Reno for a quickie divorce. Father and daughter do not recognize each other as he tries to talk her out of the divorce. When she realizes who he is, she leaves Reno. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail Patrick, Richard Dix, (more)
