Sidney Smith Movies
- 1965
Former silent-movie idol Ramon Novarro guest-stars as Jose Ortega, a prevaricating old windbag who claims to possess a Spanish land grant deeding him the Ponderosa and most of the surrounding territory. Of course, nobody believes Ortega, and everybody takes turns beating him up. Rescued from another pummelling by Joe Cartwright, Jose rewards Joe with a valuable gift, which leads the Cartwrights' lawyer to conclude that maybe Ortega was telling the truth about his land holding after all-and that the Ponderosa may indeed no longer belong to Ben Cartwright. Michael Dante costars as Ortega's avaricious nephew Miguel. First telecast September 26, 1965, "The Brass Box" was written by Paul Schneider. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1958
Long, long, after her days of filmic glory in the 1930s and 1940s, skating star Sonja Henie made her last movie appearance in the British Hello, London. Henie plays herself, a rich-as-Croesus ice-show celebrity making a tour of Europe. Michael Wilding and Eunice Gayson contrive to keep Sonja in London long enough so that she'll feel obliged to perform at a charity function. Also appearing under their own names are such British showbiz luminaries as Ronnie Graham, Stanley Holloway and Dennis Price; in addition, Oliver Reed shows up in a surly bit part. In the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, Hello London was released in the US by Ms. Henie's longtime home studio, 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Anita Ekberg amply fills the title role in the offbeat western Valerie. Clearly inspired by Rashomon, the film offers contradictory flashbacks during a lengthy trial. The defendant, Civil War hero John Garth, Sterling Hayden, is accused of seriously wounding his wife Valerie and murdering her parents. At first, the jury's sympathy is with Garth, who claims that his faithless wife was running off with preacher Blake (played by Ekberg's then-husband Anthony Steel) and that the death of his in-laws was accidental. But as testimony proceeds, it is revealed that the highly respectable, much-beloved Garth is a beast in human form. The complicated outcome of the trial has so many twists and turns that it would be criminal to reveal any one of them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Anita Ekberg, (more)
- 1914
In the early days of animated cartoons, many of these one-reel "comics" were drawn and directed by professional newspaper artists. The Selig studio's Seligettes were the brainchild of the Chicago Tribune's Sidney Smith, who, five years later, created the popular "family" comic strip The Gumps. These early attempts at animation were written off as unfunny by most contemporary reviewers, and there is little reason to question this assessment. It should be noted, however, that most cartoons of this era were unfunny; the theory seemed to be "as long as it moves, who cares if it's any good." So obscure are the Seligettes that they aren't even cited in the standard animated-cartoon encyclopedias. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
