Samuel A.Taylor Movies

A remake of a 1954 Billy Wilder romance, this updated version of the play Sabrina Fair was directed by Sydney Pollack. Julia Ormond stars as Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of a kindly chauffeur (John Wood) at the Long Island estate of the upper-crust Larrabee family. Sabrina has grown up enchanted from afar with the Larrabees' sparkling world of privilege and wealth, but she's especially enamored of younger Larrabee brother David (Greg Kinnear), a charming womanizer. After the once-plain Sabrina returns from a sojourn in Paris transformed into a remarkably poised and attractive young woman, she at long last catches David's eye. In a calculated effort to manipulate David away from her and into a more financially advantageous marriage, older brother Linus (Harrison Ford) pretends to woo Sabrina himself, but finds himself unintentionally falling in love. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel The Love Machine, by Jacqueline Susann, this movie concerns the machinations, in the boardroom and in the bedroom, of a group of people--from the chairman of the board down--who are involved in network television. Through his own guile and the sponsorship of his mistress (Dyan Cannon), the wife of the chairman of the board, a lowly television newsman (John Phillip Law) becomes the head of the network in a very short time. He leaves behind very few friends on his climb to the top, however, and he will need some. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Filmed on locations ranging from Denmark to the Universal backlot, Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz is based on a novel by Leon Uris. Frederick Stafford, a veteran of European-filmed James Bond rip-offs of the 1960s, is cast as Andre Devereaux, a French secret agent assigned to snoop around Cuba in the months prior to the 1962 missile crisis. Someone is supplying Castro -- and, by extension, Moscow -- with NATO secrets; it is up to Devereaux to liquidate the "mole." Aiding Devereaux is CIA agent Nordstrom (John Forsythe) and aristocratic anti-Castro Cuban Juanita (Karin Dor), who happens to be the girlfriend of pro-Castroite Rico Parra (John Vernon). The director seems to be in awe of the fact-based storyline, and as a result, the film is more cut-and-dried than most Hitchcock efforts. Three different endings were filmed for Topaz; the Laserdisc version carries all three, as does the print available to the American Movie Classics cable service. According to the MPAA, the film was originally rated M but later changed to PG; however, a number of home-video issues of Topaz officially list it as "Not Rated." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Artist Christopher Pride (Jerry Lewis) has just been commissioned to work in Paris. Wanting to kill two birds with one stone, he plans to bring his soon-to-be bride along to celebrate their honeymoon. Unfortunately, his girlfriend (Janet Leigh) is a psychiatrist trying to contend with a trio of young women who utterly despise men. These women are too unstable to leave alone. In hopes of hastening the women's treatment, Christopher impersonates three men in hopes of helping them realize that not all men are cads. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the Francoise Sagan novel Aimez vous Brahms?, Goodbye Again stars Ingrid Bergman as Paula Tessier, a successful Parisian interior decorator (with a personal wardrobe by Christian Dior) and Yves Montand as her roving-eye lover, Roger Demarest. Worried that she'll be left in the lurch by the unfaithful Montand, Bergman enters into an affair with the much-younger Philip Van Der Besh (Anthony Perkins). Once he realizes that he's lost Paula to Philip, Roger offers to mend his rakish ways. She takes him back, and they are married; soon afterward, however, Roger goes back to his old skirt-chasing habits. Variety noted that Goodbye Again has "strong appeal for a middle-aged distaff audience"; nowadays, they'd call it a chick flick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tyrone Power stars in this tear-jerking biography of the beloved but short-lived pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin. Boston-born Eddy Duchin (Tyrone Power) moves to New York City to pursue a career as a pharmacist. However, Eddy is also a skilled piano player, and when he meets pretty socialite Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak) who hears him play, she encourages him not to short-change his musical abilities. Marjorie helps get Eddy a job playing at the Central Park Casino; his playing goes over well with the crowd, and Eddy goes over well with Marjorie. Able to support himself full-time with his music, Eddy asks Marjorie for her hand in marriage; she accepts, and soon Marjorie is expecting a child. Tragically, she dies while giving birth to their son Peter; Eddy, shattered by the experience, finds himself unconsciously blaming Peter for Marjorie's passing, and leaves the boy behind with his family and their nanny, Chiquita (Victoria Shaw), while Eddy and his manager Lou Sherwood (James Whitmore) head out for the first of many lengthy world tours. Years later, while serving in the Navy during World War II, Eddy realizes the error of his ways, and begins a long and difficult reconciliation with Peter (Rex Thompson), while falling in love with Chiquita. Eddy and Chiquita marry and budding pianist Peter joins Eddy on stage for an emotional duet; however, Eddy's new contentment with life is cut short when he contracts leukemia. Pianist Carmen Cavallaro dubbed in Duchin's piano parts for non-musician Tyrone Power. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Happy Time was adapted from the long-running Broadway play by Samuel Taylor, which in turn was based on the novel by Robert Fontaine. Set in Quebec during the early part of the 20th century, the film concentrates on the activities of a large French-Canadian family headed by Charles Boyer. Most of the humor arises from "coming of age" complications and sexual awakenings, especially when worldly prodigal son Louis Jourdan returns to the fold and exercises his influence on impressionable young Bobby Driscoll. Not permitted to include the racier portions of the play, director Richard Fleischer compensated by adopting a frenetic, farcelike pace, which works about half the time. Happy Time was later musicalized on Broadway in the 1960s, with Robert Goulet in the Louis Jourdan part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide