Dorothy Gordon Movies
An ailing criminal and his excitement-starved nurse decide to knock over a bank for fun and profit in this comic suspense story. Legendary bank robber Henry Manning (Paul Newman) pushes his luck too far and ends up in prison, where he suffers a massive stroke. He is transferred to a nursing home, in the care of Carol Ann McKay (Linda Fiorentino), a high school prom queen who married her boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), the star of her school's football team, and whose glamour days are well behind her. After a few of her personal effects mysteriously disappear, Carol Ann starts to suspect that Henry isn't as sick as he seems, and she and Wayne are soon working with Henry to plan his last and greatest score. The title comes from the remark attributed to the outlaw Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied, "Because that's where the money is." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, (more)
- 1997
29-year-old defense lawyer Nick Donahue (Rick Schroder) is still tied to the apron strings of his possessive mother Diana (Judith Light)--so much so that, when he tries to move out of the family home, Diana is able to bind him even tighter by attempting suicide. While visiting Diana in the hospital, Nick meets and falls in love with Abby (Sarah Trigger), his mother's nurse. Ultimately, Nick and Abby marry, much to Diana's dismay. When Abby announces she is pregnant, it is too much for the unbalanced Diana to bear--and thus she promptly begins plotting her daughter-in-law's murder. This fact-based melodrama culminates in an intense courtroom scene, in which accused killer Diana is defended by--guess who? Made for the CBS TV network, Too Close to Home originally aired April 29, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A priest has been murdered in the neighborhood of Inspector Paul Fein's youth, and it's up to the seasoned cop to crack the case in director David Greene's entry into the tense Family of Cops series. It's not going to be easy going back to the streets of his childhood, but despite the demons that linger in the shadows of every corner, this is one case he's not willing to let slip through the cracks. With all evidence pointing to the Russian Mafia as being responsible for the crime, Inspector Fein searches desperately for a witness who's willing to talk. As fear tightens its grip on the scared Russian community of Milwaukee, bodies continue to pile up and an unspoken code of silence threatens to stonewall the investigation. Now, with both his life and the lives of his family hanging in the balance, Inspector Fein must make the decision to pull back, or press forward and pray that the killer won't get to him before he gets to them. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Angela Featherstone, (more)
In this British exploitation film, an elderly husband and wife begin torturing young women whose behavior offends their puritan sensibilities. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In this routine mystery story by director Basil Dearden, someone who favors mysteries and comedies, Stewart Granger is John Brent, a VIP in a shipping company with a prison record behind him. When a quarter of million dollars goes missing from the company's vault, he is the primary suspect of Detective Superintendent Hanbury (Bernard Lee). Complications arise when Hanbury starts looking carefully at John's estranged wife Nicole (Haya Harareet) and the men she has on a string. The suspect list has suddenly expanded. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Haya Harareet, (more)
- 1960
The Motion Picture Production Code was still in effect (albeit weakly) when Sons and Lovers was filmed in 1960, so don't expect a thoroughly frank and faithful adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel. Set in an English mining town, the film focuses on Paul Morel (Dean Stockwell), the sensitive son of a roughhewn, alcoholic miner (Trevor Howard) and his gentle, repressed wife (Wendy Hiller). Intent on becoming an artist, Paul is not above depending upon the financial kindnesses of the young women of the town. Many of the girls carry a torch for him, but his strong bonds to his mother leave him emotionally sapped. Freddie Francis's evocative, grimy industrial-town cinematography won him an Academy Award. Despite censorial restrictions, this admirably captures the essence of the dour Lawrence original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, (more)
- 1959
This film is based on the popular British TV series Emergency Ward 10. A surgeon arrives from the U.S. with a new heart-lung machine in order to save a young boy who has a hole in his heart. The doctor is treated coolly by a jealous rival, and an old man dies while on the new life-saving machine. Controversy erupts, among his more traditional colleagues, over the American doctor's experimental methods. Character diversity is well-represented by the patients; a woman waiting to bear quadruplets, the old man, the young boy, and the neglected wife. Romance, humor and drama surround the doctors, nurses and patients, all leading to an inevitable hospital party. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Craig, Dorothy Alison, (more)
- 1958
There's a bit of Oedipus Rex in The Haunted Strangler, though it's not readily apparent at first. Boris Karloff plays 19th-century novelist James Rankin, who becomes obsessed with the long-closed case of the Haymarket Strangler. Twenty years earlier, a man named Styles (Michael Atkinson) was executed for the Strangler's crimes, but was he guilty? It turns out that the actual culprit was the surgeon who performed Styles' autopsy. Coming into possession of the surgeon's scalpel, Rankin is overwhelmed by mixed feelings of bloodlust and guilt. It is at this point that Rankin realizes that he is truly his own, and London's, worst enemy. Originally released in England as Grip of the Strangler, The Haunted Strangler was distributed by MGM in 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Anthony Dawson, (more)
- 1956
- NR
Crusading publisher Austin Spenser (Sidney Blackmer) wants to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence. Spencer talks his prospective son-in-law Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) into participating in a hoax, the better to expose the alleged ineptitude of conviction-happy DA (Philip Bourneuf). Tom will plant clues indicating that he is the murderer of a nightclub dancer, then stand trial for murder; just as the jury reaches its inevitable guilty verdict, Spencer will step forth to reveal the set-up and humiliate the DA. Somewhat surprisingly, Tom eagerly agrees to this subterfuge. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event renders their perfectly formed scheme useless. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was the last American film of director Fritz Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1956
Set in the early '40s and directed by Raoul Walsh, The Revolt of Mamie Stover stars Jane Russell as Mamie, a San Francisco prostitute who is run out of town just as the second world war has begun to intensify. Mamie (Russell) settles down in Hawaii, hoping to start a new life. Though her prospects look good when she falls in love with a science-fiction writer (Richard Egan) who treats her with the respect she deserves, the dawning war and the fallacies of her previous lifestyle complicate their budding romance. Mamie cannot fully remove herself from her former profession, and provides some of her old services to the sailors stationed in town. Searching for another means of financial security, Mamie invests in several pieces of real estate and becomes quite wealthy, though her bad reputation has not been forgotten by the locals. The part of Mamie Stover was originally intended for Marilyn Monroe, but Russell stepped in when Monroe passed up the offer. The Revolt of Mamie Stover also features Joan Leslie, Agnes Moorehead, and Jorja Curtright. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Richard Egan, (more)
- 1956
Frank Tashlin directed this comedy about a man whose marriage hits the skids when his wife gets caught in the draft. Gregory Whitcomb (Tom Ewell) served with distinction in the Army during WWII, but he now makes his living as a television writer. Gregory's wife Katy (Sheree North), several years his junior, was also a member of the military as a WAC. When the armed forces find themselves strapped for qualified personnel, Gregory and Katy are ordered to return to active duty; after his physical, Gregory is reclassified 4-F for health reasons, but Katy is judged 1-A and put back in camouflage. Now poor Gregory finds himself having to look after the home by himself and waiting for his spouse at the base, while both Katy and Gregory try to figure out how to free her from her military obligations. The Lieutenant Wore Skirts also features Rita Moreno and Rick Jason. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Ewell, Sheree North, (more)
- 1956
Jill Day plays Mary in this frolicksome British comedy. While on vacation in Switzerland, Mary finds herself the object of several tourists' affection. Two of the men, Nigel Patrick and David Tomlinson, are British. The third, Leo McKern, is a wealthy, boorish Greek. Throughout the film, the actors remain vastly superior to their material. All for Mary was adapted from a play by Harold Beck and Kay Bannerman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Patrick, Kathleen Harrison, (more)
- 1955
An 18-month-old baby disappears in London. The parents, US embassy worker David Knight and his wife Julia Arnall, are panic-stricken. Detective David Farrar tries to locate the child, but clues are scarce. At the last possible moment, Farrar rescues the infant from a grueling fate and collars the kidnappers. This nail-biting film is filled to capacity with many of Britain's top supporting players, including Thora Hird, Everley Gregg, Joan Sims, Shirley Anne Field, Joan Hickson, Dandy Nichols, Mona Washbourne, Barbara Winsor and George Woodbridge. Released in the US by Republic, under the title Tears for Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, David Knight, (more)
- 1955
In this comedy sequel to Wonderful Town (a popular Broadway musical), Kim, a museum worker from Providence, Rhode Island, inherits half ownership of a Las Vegas hotel when her father dies. She and her Aunt Clara go there to learn more about it. Unfortunately, just before they arrive, the other owner, Ether Ferguson, gambles the hotel away. When Kim and Clara arrive, Kim is led to believe that the hotel she co-owns is the Flamingo Hotel which is really owned by Victor Monte. Victor finds the naive lass charming and so allows the delusion to persist. Eventually they fall in love. Songs include: "An Occasional Man," "Take a Chance," "We're Alone," "The Girl Rush," "Champagne," "Birmingham," "Out of Doors," "Choose Your Partner," and "My Hillbilly Heart." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Fernando Lamas, (more)
A "Hobson's Choice," as any slang expert will tell you, is no choice at all. In this 1953 filmization of Harold Brighouse's 1915 play Hobson's Choice, hero John Mills finds after several reels of evidence to the contrary that he does have a choice over how he'll conduct his life after all. Mills is the assistant to domineering boot-shop owner Charles Laughton, who lords it over his employees and three daughters by day, then tumbles through the streets on many a drunken evening. Laughton's "old-maid" daughter Brenda DeBanzie breaks free of her father's tyranny, marries Mills, and together with her new husband sets up a rival boot shop when Laughton refuses her a dowry. Father rants and raves, but finally agrees to a merger with his daughter that will assure Mills a large measure of freedom over managing things. The winner of the British Film Institute "Best Film" award of 1954, Hobson's Choice chalked up another international success for director David Lean. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, John Mills, (more)
- 1953
This fanciful British farce stars Bernard Braden as an impoverished artist. The uncle of Braden's wife Barbara Kelly agrees to bankroll the couple if Braden will start making his work more commercial. Uncle sends an attorney over to the couple's house to assess their net worth. In order to pay for the necessary home repairs, Kelly pawns her husband--not her husband's paintings, but hubby in the flesh. When Kelly can't make the payments, Braden remains on the pawnshop shelf, hence the film's title. Future Saint producers Robert Baker and Monty Berman were the perpetrators of this wobbly piece of whimsy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Braden, Barbara Kelly, (more)
- 1953
Black-market babies in a British boardinghouse provide the basis of this brutal crime drama. Though the landlady is outwardly upstanding and self-righteous, she is really the brains behind the operation. Her newest tenant is the pregnant lover of a convicted killer who has come there to avoid publicity. There the hapless girl is horribly mistreated as are all of the "guests." But despite the abuse, the young woman refuses to report it. Another boarder, who lost her baby due to the landlady's refusal to call a doctor, becomes the young woman's friend. Eventually things become so bad that a houseworker phones the police. Just before they arrive, the evil landlady shoves the pregnant woman down a flight of stairs and leaves her there to die. The wicked woman is then arrested and goes on to get her just desserts. This film received the very first British "X" rating. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Meet Me Tonight was the American title for the British-filmed Tonight at 8:30, adapted from the Noel Coward stage production of the same name. Several rotating playlets were presented in the original Tonight at 8:30, most of them starring Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. The film version utilizes three of these short plays. "The Red Peppers" stars Kay Walsh and George Pepper as a brash music-hall team (their big number is "Has Anybody Seen our Ship") on the verge of splitting up. "Fumed Oak" stars Stanley Holloway as a man finagled into marriage by a domineering woman (Betty Ann Davies). And "Ways and Means" stars Valerie Hobson and Nigel Patrick as a pair of impoverished "professional guests" who have worn out the welcome of every wealthy host in Europe. Meet Me Tonight was given its American TV premiere on the ABC network in November of 1956, at which time its original title was restored. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1952
The Women of Twilight in this controversial British production are the unwed mothers living in a group home. Helen Alistair (Freda Jackson), owner of the shelter, uses a veneer of kindness and generosity to mask her true character: Helen exploits the young women as cheap labor, then farms out their babies to the black-market adoption market. The story concentrates on one of the young unfortunates (Rene Ray), whose tragic plight finally arouses the suspicions of the authorities. Considered raw meat in 1953, Women of Twilight seems to pull most of its punches today. The film was based on a play by Anatole de Grunwald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freda Jackson, Renee Ray, (more)
- 1943
In this war drama set during WW II, an engineer in a Dutch shipyard assists the Nazis with the construction of two new kinds of submarines and finds himself a social pariah. Even his wife turns against her apparently traitorous husband. During the maiden voyage of one of the subs, the engineer talks high-ranking Nazis into joining him aboard their vessel. The Germans are unaware that the engineer has loaded the hapless vessel with dynamite. As that ship explodes, a group of commandos capture the other sub and smuggle it to England. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Richardson, Googie Withers, (more)
- 1943
In this weird crime drama the murder of a ventriloquist is solved by a midget who goes undercover as a dummy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1927
The epic 1927 Australian film For the Term of His Natural Life is set on the "Down Under" penal colony of Vandeman's Island. The time is 1827, long before Queen Victoria abolished this hell-on-earth isle. Taking the blame for a murder to save the reputation of his high-born mother, a young man (Arthur McLaglen) is shipped off to Vandeman's, where he stoically accepts the worst that life has to offer at the hands of his sadistic jailers. Even under these trying circumstances, the hero manages to fall in love with the warden's daughter (Eva Novak), and she with him. It takes a spectacular escape attempt and an even more spectacular shipwreck before the boy's name is cleared and his marriage to the girl can come off. Long regarded as the single most important Australian silent production, For the Term of His Natural Life was poorly preserved and today exists only in fragments. A TV-miniseries version of the same story was produced in 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Fisher, Eva Novak, (more)
- 1922
Wallace Reid plays against type in this comedy-drama, based on the play by Booth Tarkington. As a matter of fact, he does a fair imitation of Alfred Lunt, who played the title role on Broadway. He even parts his hair in the middle and wears horn-rimmed glasses, just as Lunt did. Clarence Smith (Reid) is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler (Edward Martindel) primarily because he has overheard a family argument. And the Wheeler household is going through quite a bit of turmoil -- Mrs. Wheeler (Kathlyn Williams) feels neglected by her husband and is jealous of Violet Pinney, the governess (Agnes Ayres). Daughter Cora (May McAvoy) is planning to elope with her father's secretary, Hubert Stem (Adolphe Menjou). Son Bobby (Robert Agnew), meanwhile, has been making passes at the maid. Clarence manages to solve the Wheelers' various problems -- he kidnaps Cora back from Stem, repairs everyone's hurts and ends up with Violet. Reid, incidentally, was directed by both DeMille brothers -- Cecil B. and William C. -- at one point or another during his career. Sadly, the star would be dead from drug abuse within six months of this picture's release. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Reid, Agnes Ayres, (more)
- 1922
This lighthearted film was based upon the play The Impostor by Leonard Merrick and Michael Morton. After the death of her parents, Mary Fenton (Agnes Ayers) discovers that her inheritance adds up to nothing. She can't even afford to stay in a cheap boarding house and finds herself homeless. After searching for work and having no luck, she is about to faint from hunger when she mistakes Charlie Owen (Robert Schable) for an acquaintance. A gossipy friend of Owen's discovers innocent Mary in a compromising position, and her only way out is to pretend that she is a wealthy heiress. She winds up staying with Loftus Walford and his wife (Edward Martindel and Sylvia Ashton). They try to fix her up with their son, Blake (Tom Gallery), but he hesitates because of her supposed fortune. Mary finds herself in even more trouble when she is implicated in a jewel robbery, but her innocence is eventually established. When he discovers that she is actually poor, Blake is eager to wed Mary. ZaSu Pitts was playing leads in films by 1922; she probably shows up in a supporting role here merely because she was married to leading man Tom Gallery. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agnes Ayres, Tom Gallery, (more)
- 1920
When a musical comedy goes to New Haven for a try-out before hitting Broadway, actress Marcia Meadows (Viola Dana) stumbles into the life of Yalie Horace Tarbox (Gareth Hughes), the son of a rich man. The honor student and the actress wind up hitched and go back to New York, where they find themselves penniless. After a run-in with Marcia's ex-dancing partner, Horace becomes a vaudeville athlete and learns how to adjust to his new life and new wife. This comedy-drama was adapted from a Saturday Evening Post story written by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
