Eva Gabor Movies

Ernst Lubitsch was the original director for A Royal Scandal, but illness forced him to bow out; his replacement was Otto Preminger, who did his utmost to retain the "Lubitsch touch." Based on a play by Lajos Biro and Melchior Lengyel, the film dwells upon a fictional incident in the life of Russia's Catherine the Great, here played with blue-blooded bawdiness by Tallulah Bankhead. Catherine falls in love with a handsome young army officer (William Eythe), who turns out to be an insurrectionist planning her downfall. At the last moment, Catherine relents, allowing the officer to escape with his true love, lady-in-waiting Anne Baxter. A bit too cute for its own good, Royal Scandal has some choice moments: Most notable are Tallulah Bankhead's pained reaction upon being hailed as "The Mother of All Russias," and supporting actor Grady Sutton's southern-accented reference to the "U-ral Mountains". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First filmed under the supervision of Orson Welles in 1942, Eric Ambler's espionage thriller Journey Into Fear was effectively adapted to an hour-long format fourteen years later by by the CBS dramatic anthology Climax. John Forsythe stars as Graham Johnson, an American engineer working on a secret project in Turkey. For reasons that he cannot quite fathom, Johnson has been targetted for death by a group of sinister foreign spies. The local Turkish police arrange for Johnson to be quietly shipped to safety on a tramp steamer, which is already bearing a number of other passengers--most of whom look like they'd cut Johnson's throat for the fun of it. Climax was originally telecast live from New York City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this war drama, a commercial pilot joins the air corps of a South Pacific island, and there he finds that he must contend with a dictator. He also falls quietly in love with the leader's girlfriend. Unfortunately, the evil leader is the head of the air corps, and to get rid of the young man who threatens his relationship, he send the hero on a suicide mission. The two rivals end up in a dogfight. Fortunately, the hero wins the fight and gets the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The third of producer Paul Henning's enormously successful "rustic" comedies of the 1960s, Green Acres made its CBS bow on September 15, 1965. Reversing the situation established on Henning's The Beverly Hillbillies, in which a group of yokels was transplanted to luxurious Beverly Hills, Green Acres stars Eddie Albert as prosperous Manhattan attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas, who to fulfill a lifelong dream forsook his sophisticated surroundings to become a farmer in the tiny rural community of Hooterville. Reluctantly going along for the ride was Oliver's sexy Hungarian wife, Lisa (Eva Gabor), who though she eventually resigned herself to farm life still insisted upon wearing expensive clothes and jewelry while milking cows and plowing the North 40. Alas, she never quite learned to cook, and her rock-hard hotcakes would soon become the source of many hearty laughs from the viewers. Unfortunately for Oliver, the farm he purchased was in deplorable condition, and the surrounding 160 acres weren't much better. Our hero had been suckered into this situation by bucolic con artist Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram), who continued to fleece the Douglases by selling them expensive -- and generally useless -- farm implements and creature comforts throughout the series' six-season run.

Mr. Haney was but one of the many eccentric characters who seemed to have been put on earth to make Oliver Douglas' life miserable. Others included county agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore), who never made a statement without immediately contradicting himself ("Good morning, Mr. Douglas. Well...it isn't really good because it's gonna rain...and it's after noon, so it's not really morning..." etc., etc., etc.); doltish handyman Ed Dawson (Tom Lester), who looked upon the Douglases as his surrogate parents and constantly prevailed upon them to bail him out of trouble (usually girl trouble); carpenters and twin siblings Alf and Ralph Malone (Sid Melton and Mary Grace Canfield), who never quite managed to finish construction on the Douglases' bedroom; and neighboring farmer Hank Ziffel (Hank Patterson) and his wife, Doris (played first by Barbara Pepper, then by Fran Ryan), owners of a TV-watching pig named Arnold, who regarded himself as a human being -- and who developed into the series' biggest "superstar"!

Inasmuch as Green Acres was the sister series to Paul Henning's Petticoat Junction -- also set in the mythical village of Hooterville -- there were a number of crossover episodes between the two programs. Also, Frank Cady appeared as storekeeper Sam Drucker on both shows, while one of Petticoat Junction's main characters, Uncle Joe Bradley (Edgar Buchanan), dropped in from time to time. One of the series' most endearing trademarks was its strain of surrealistic humor. This manifested itself in many ways, but none quite as memorable as the method in which the opening credit titles were presented. In several installments, a confused Lisa Douglas would comment upon "those little names" that appeared in front of her on the screen; and in at least one instance, the directorial credit showed up on a newly laid egg! Although it is not generally known, Green Acres was based on a radio series titled Granby's Green Acres, which like its TV counterpart was created by Jay Sommers and written by Dick Chevillat. All but one of the TV series' episodes was directed by Richard L. Bare, a past master at depicting comic frustration, as could be seen in his wonderful "Joe McDoakes" theatrical shorts of the 1940s and '50s. Green Acres might well have run forever had CBS not decided during the 1970-1971 season to purge itself of all its "rural" comedies; thus, the series came to an end on September 7, 1971, still as popular and hilarious as ever. ~ All Movie Guide

City slickers Oliver and Lisa Douglas (Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor) make the best of another year of "farm livin'" in bucolic Hooterville as Green Acres enters its second season. Still stubbornly determined to make a profit on his rundown farm, Oliver continues to be flustered by such local looneys as con artist Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram), dopey handyman Eb (Tom Lester), and terminally self-contradictory county agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore). Meanwhile, the sophisticated, cosmopolitan Lisa Douglas has resigned herself to her rural environs, though she still can be found donning her most glamorous gowns and most valuable jewels to perform such simple chores as milking the cows and raking the leaves. (She still has not learned to cook, however, despite her most valiant efforts!) Gaining prominence throughout season two is Arnold, the pet pig of neighboring farmers Fred and Doris Ziffel (Hank Patterson, Barbara Pepper). Beginning with an episode in which Arnold is mistakenly drafted into the army, the porcine superstar will by the end of the season become the second most popular nonhuman actor on television, losing first place only to Lassie. Conspicuous by their presence during season two are two additional supporting characters: carpenter Alf Monroe (Sid Melton) and his sibling and partner Ralph -- who happens to be a girl (played by Mary Grace Canfield). Of the 30 second-season Green Acres episodes, the most memorable is the one in which Oliver, Lisa, and Hank Kimball appear in a charity-show staging of the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies -- which, like Green Acres, was produced by Paul Henning (what a coincidence!). ~ All Movie Guide

It's hard to believe that the producers of Green Acres could come up with fourth-season episodes that are even crazier than those seen in the previous three seasons, but that's just what happens as city slickers Oliver and Lisa Douglas (Eddie Albert, Eva Gabor) continue to weather the trials and tribulations of farm life for another year. This season begins as the Douglases, along with the entire town of Hooterville, win an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii, only to end up staging a luau right back where they started. In later episodes, Oliver and Lisa imagine themselves as their own 19th-century ancestors; the Douglases take a two-part journey to Washington, while con artist Mr. Haney (Pat Buttram) transforms their farm into a "tourist inn" during their absence; Uncle Joe Bradley (Edgar Buchanan), a refugee from Green Acres' "sister" series Petticoat Junction, makes a few memorable appearances; and throughout the season, the opening writing and directing credits continue to pop in clever and surrealistic fashions, with Lisa making constant comments about "those little names" on the screen. Season four of Green Acres ends on a characteristically zany note, as Lisa becomes convinced that Eb has died and been reincarnated as a dog (what will Arnold the pig have to say about sharing the animal-star spotlight?). ~ All Movie Guide

The merriment continues unabated as Green Acres enters its sixth and last season, with city slickers Oliver and Lisa Douglas (Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor) no more successful at managing a rural farm than they'd been in season one. New to the cast is Judy McConnell as Darlene Wheeler, the latest of handyman Ed Dawson's (Tom Wheeler) girlfriends; and, during the first few episodes of the season, little Victoria Meyerink as the Douglases' youthful house guest Lori Baker. Also, Fran Ryan replaces Barbara Pepper in the role of Doris Ziffel, co-owner of the celebrated Arnold the pig. In other developments, women's lib comes to Hooterville, with typical 1970-era chauvinistic results; Oliver and Lisa run against each other for the office of mayor; the Douglas farm plays host to a war hero who happens to be a duck; and, in the very last episode filmed (though not the last to be shown), the citizenry of Hooterville decide to secede from the state -- and appoint Oliver as their king! The two final sixth-season episodes were intended as spin-offs for a pair of new (and ultimately unsold) series. "Hawaiian Honeymoon" introduces Don Porter as Bob Carter, owner of the Moana Rexford Hotel, and Pamela Franklin as his daughter Pam. And "Ex-Secretary" was designed as a potential vehicle for Elaine Joyce, in the role of Oliver Douglas' former legal secretary Carol Rush. ~ All Movie Guide

While burrowing through a wall in their farm, Oliver and Lisa come across a very old mail-order catalog. This yellowed volume soon morphs into a "wish book" for the Douglases, as they experience another of those Green Acres flashbacks in which they play different characters in an earlier time period. On this occasion, Oliver and Lisa are recast as 1890s newlyweds Calvin and Tessie Whitaker, who become movie pioneers with their travelling magic-lantern show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Long before trading her Park Avenue apartment for a ramshackle farm on Green Acres, Eva Gabor shed her Saks' Fifth Avenue duds for a South Seas sarong in Love Island. Gabor plays Sarna, a Balinese beauty, courted by stranded Navy pilot Lt. Richard Tabor (Paul Valentine). Bad guy Jaraka (Malcolm Beggs) doesn't like this arrangement, so he has Sarna's father arrested on a trumped-up charge. Jaraka then drops a few subtle suggestions that the old man will never survive his incarceration unless Sarna marries him. If nothing else, Love Island offers acres and acres of exposed male and female epidermis, lovingly photographed in Cinecolor. The film was directed by exploitation king Budd Pollard, who a few years earlier had specialized in films aimed at the African American market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set to Tchaikovsky's score, this Japanese animated effort chronicles the adventures of a young girl dreaming of a magical land of anthropomorphic mice that are under the spell of a wicked two-headed mouse. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Paris Model is quickie producer Albert Zugsmith's answer to such multistoried films as Tales of Manhattan. Linking the four stories presented herein is a Paris-original gown, "Nude at Midnight." The gown is first purchased by "good bad girl" Gogo Montaine (Eva Gabor), who hopes to impress her date for the evening, the Maharajah of Kim-Kepore (Tom Conway, who happened to be Gabor's brother-in-law at the time, a fact that wasn't ignored in the film's publicity). Next, the gown is illegally copied in the U.S., leading to a major social gaffe involving secretary Betty Barnes (Paulette Goddard), her boss Edgar Blevins (Leif Erickson) and Blevins' wife Cora (Gloria Christian). Next, Marion Parmelee (Marilyn Maxwell) wears the gown to coerce her husband's boss (Cecil Kellaway) into giving hubby a promotion. And finally, Marta Jensen (Barbara Lawrence) dons the gown in hopes that her erstwhile beau Charlie Johnson (Robert Hutton) will pop the question. Tom Conway makes a return appearance in this final sequence, as does 1930s comedy favorite El Brendel and Hollywood restaurateur Prince Michael Romanoff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide