Duke Goldstone Movies

The sequel to The Harrad Experiment focuses on the students of a sexually-progressive college who spend the summer finding a practical application for what they've learned. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Introduced as a series of brief sketches on a local Los Angeles daytime variety show in 1952, the pioneering TV sitcom Life With Elizabeth was filmed for syndication the following year, with 39 half-hour episodes produced during its first season. Each half hour is divided into three short segments, portraying the domestic life of lovely young bride Elizabeth (Betty White) and her rising-executive husband Alvin (Del Moore). Future game show MC Jack Narz introduces each segment, sometimes conversing (and even quarrelling) with the on-screen characters. The storylines cast a variety of familiar situations in a gently comic light, including Alvin's efforts to balance the budget, Elizabeth's various experiments with new and tasty dinner dishes, the couples' trials and tribulations with unwanted relatives and overbearing friends, and the occasional attempt to add spice to their lives by planning exotic vacations or redecorating the house. In typical sitcom fashion, Elizabeth is slightly brighter than her headstrong husband, but is wise enough to let him know this fact! At the time the first-season Life With Elizabeth episodes were syndicated nationally, local stations were given the option of running them as half-hour "whole units," or subdividing them into ten-minute vignettes. In either case, the series was a big hit and a major step up in the burgeoning career of the multi-talented Betty White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Producer George Pal assembled an impressive roster of behind-the-camera talent -- including noted science fiction author Robert Heinlein and artist Chelsey Bonestell -- for this pioneering sci-fi adventure. Scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson), former Air Force General Thayer (Tom Powers), and industrial tycoon Jim Barnes (John Archer) believe that it's time that the U.S. blazed new trails and found new adventures. Convinced that exploration of space is the wave of the future (and that America's dominance in space is vitally important if they are to continue to dominate the Earth), the three men begin planning and constructing a spaceship called "Luna" in the Mojave Desert that will take the men to the moon and back. However, anti-American forces begin flooding the press with propaganda against the moon mission, and finally the men make their way to moon without the aid of the federal government. While the men are thrilled to succeed in their mission, it turns out that they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to return -- and that the rocket needs to drop a lot of weight if it is to return to Earth. Destination Moon won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects of 1950; the film also features a brief appearance by cartoon favorite Woody Woodpecker, who helps explain how rockets work. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Old-timer Hobart Bosworth heads the cast of the independently produced Wolves of the Sea. Bosworth is cast as Captain Wolf Hansen, the leader of an expedition to recover a fortune in jewels which was lost in a recent shipwreck. Mutinous seaman Snoden (Warner Richmond) intends to claim the gems for himself and kill everyone who stands in his way. But Hansen's first mate William Rand (Dirk Thane) prevents this, winning the hand of heroine Nadine Miller (Jean Carmen) in the process. A crazy quilt of stock footage, flimsy sets and fluffed dialogue, Wolves of the Sea is directed by Elmer Clifton, of Reefer Madness fame, who does as well as possible under the circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide