Marion Gray Movies
- 1956
Awakening in a strange bed and suffering from a terrible headache -- not to mention the mysterious bruises all over her body -- alcoholic Karen Stewart (Phyllis Thaxter) tries to piece together the events leading up to her present condition. All she can recall at first is her most recent promise to her boyfriend Jeff (Warren Stevens) that she will stop drinking, and stop drinking for good. But Jeff had heard that song many times before, and he was in no mood to put up with her subsequent drunken binge. From this point forward, Karen's mind is a blank...but the blank will soon be filled in a horrific fashion. In light of the serious nature of the story, host Alfred Hitchcock foregoes his usual humorous epilogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The Search for Bridey Murphy was inspired by the purportedly true story of a Colorado housewife named Virginia Tighe, who while under hypnosis insisted that she'd lived a previous life as an 18th century Irish housemaid named Bridey Murphy. The hypnosis sessions were conducted under the supervision of Dr. Morey Bernstein, who later wrote a book on the subject. This hastily assembled filmization of Dr. Bernstein's book stars Teresa Wright as Ruth Simmons (Ms. Tighe's pseudonym) and Louis Hayward as Bernstein. Except for the "astral world" sequences, Search for Bridey Murphy adopts a semi-documentary approach, often to the point of tedium. Bridey Murphy herself is portrayed at various ages by Teresa Wright, Ruth Robinson, Denise Freeborn and Hallene Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Teresa Wright, Louis Hayward, (more)
- 1950
Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton make a surprisingly copacetic screen team in Let's Dance. Hutton plays a more sedate role than usual as war widow Kitty McNeil. Not wishing to have her young son Richard (Gregory Moffatt) grow up in the stiff and stuffy environs of her Boston in-laws' mansion, Kitty sneaks off with the kid and resumes her prewar show-business career. She is reunited with her USO dancing partner Donald Elwood (Astaire), who hopes to give up performing in favor of the business world. Inevitably, Kitty and Donald resume their old act, while, equally inevitably, Kitty's Bostonite grandmother-in-law Serena Everett (Lucille Watson) sets the legal wheels in motion to gain custody of little Richard. Fred Astaire manages to match Betty Hutton's patented raucousness during the hillbilly musical number "Oh, Them Dudes", though he is given the opportunity to do the sort of dancing he does best--notably a brilliant routine atop and around a piano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Betty Hutton, (more)
