Ronald Howard Movies

Based on a classic exercise in existentialism by Ambrose Bierce, this episode is set during the Civil War. Condemned to death for his anti-Union sabotage activities, Southern gentleman Peyton Farquhar (Ronald Howard) is sentenced to be hanged from Owl Creek Bridge. Just as he plunges off the bridge, the noose miraculously breaks, and Farquhar is able to make a dash for freedom. While escaping his captors, Farquhar journeys through some mighty strange country, and meets some mighty strange people -- including his former slave Josh (Juano Hernandez), who is supposed to be dead. Fans of "fantastic" television will recall that a 1962 theatrical short-subject version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, filmed in France by director Robert Enrico, was adapted as a 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In direct contrast to his later lush-budgeted international epics, director J. Lee Thompson turns his lenses towards the London slums in the sincere but saccharine No Trees in the Street. Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear--including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director John Ford traveled to England to film this adaptation of the novel by J.J. Maraca, which details a typical day in the busy life of a detective for Scotland Yard. Inspector George Gideon (Jack Hawkins) begins his working day by confronting one of his fellow officers who is believed to be accepting graft. The sergeant stubbornly denies the charge, but he dies later the same day in a mysterious hit-and-run accident that piques Gideon's curiosity. While confronting internal strife within Scotland Yard, Gideon also has more typical crimes to investigate, including a murder in Manchester and a burglary in London, both of which were performed by the same vicious criminal. Gideon himself becomes the victim of a holdup and is forced to take a bullet for his troubles, while on the home front he finds himself in disfavor with his family when he forgets to bring home salmon for dinner and lets his daughter's recital slip his mind. Along with Jack Hawkins, Gideon's Day features a stellar cast of British actors, including Cyril Cusack, Anna Massey, Laurence Naismith, Dianne Foster, and Billie Whitelaw. For its initial American release, Gideon's Day (also shown as Gideon of Scotland Yard) was cut from 91 minutes to a mere 54, and distributed in black and white prints instead of the original Technicolor. Fortunately, nearly all the prints currently in circulation are of the uncut, color edition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a woman finds herself addicted to auctions and begins bringing the strangest things back to her home. Her husband, ignorant of her passion, begins suspecting her of kleptomania and hires a detective to spy on her. He next sends her to a psychiatrist. After the woman gets wise to the schemes, she reveals the identity of the real thief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a man discovers that the bank notes he has just received actually belong to someone else--a man who is attempting to save his near-bankrupt fur business by buying pelts infected with anthrax. Later the shady furrier is killed. The first man discovers that he was done-in by an ex-con who is killed after his fur-filled truck crashes and explodes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this domestic drama, a lonely widower decides that it is finally time to remarry. Although his family is opposed to it, he gives up his military career and marries. The bride has a rough go of things as they children fight her at every turn. She eventually wins their love and respect after she arranges marriages for his equally lonely daughters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The title is explained during the course of the British Flannelfoot. We'll just say here that the film stars Jack Watling as a crime reporter, hot on the trail of a jewel thief. When his informant is murdered, Watling goes after the crook himself. He proves a thorn in the side to investigating detective Ronald Adam, but together the two men bring the criminal to heel. B-flick stalwart Maclean Rogers keeps the incidents in Flannelfoot moving at a satisfyingly fast clip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This British psychological melodrama stars Michael Gough as a man who is lost in the Brazilian jungles and presumed dead. He returns to civilization, only to discover that his wife (Elizabeth Sellars) has remarried. When it becomes obvious that Gough's mind has been unhinged by the ordeal, his former wife does what she can to help and comfort him. Instead of being grateful, the addled Gough commits suicide, arranging the evidence so that his wife will be accused of murder. The Night Was Our Friend was the sort of second feature on which director Michael Anderson cut his teeth before being entrusted with such loftier projects as Around the World in 80 Days (56). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three generations of a Scottish clan are chronicled in this melodramatic saga. The film starts with the death of a sickly med student in a Glasgow slum. His fiancee also dies in childbirth. Her brother, who survives, begins raising her baby girl who grows up to have an affair with a lab assistant. Her "father" disapprove and threatens to destroy the wedding. She retaliates by poisoning him and then gets married. She bears a son. Unfortunately she has never recovered from the guilt of her earlier murder and ends up taking her own life. Later her son grows up to discover a vaccine for a fatal disease. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Portrait of Clare is largely offered in flashback. The title character, played by Margaret Johnston, spends 10 years in seclusion with her son (Jeremy Spenser) after the death of her young husband (Ronald Howard). For her son's sake, Clare enters into a loveless marriage with lawyer Dudley Wilburn (Robin Bailey). But she doesn't find true happiness until turning to her cousin, Robert Hart (Richard Todd). Produced by British Pathe, Portrait of Clare was released in the U.S. by Pathe's sister-firm Monogram (aka Allied Artists). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide