James Lanphier Movies
John Van Druten's stage comedy Bell Book and Candle starred Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer on Broadway. The 1958 filmed version stars James Stewart and Kim Novak, fresh from their successful teaming in Hitchcock's Vertigo. Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a genuine, bonafide witch. Falling in love with publisher Sheperd Henderson (Stewart), Gillian casts a spell on him, obliging him to dump his fiancee and rush to her side. All of this goes against the grain of Gillian's mentor Mrs. De Pass (Hermione Gingold), who does her best to counterract the love spell. Meanwhile, Gillian's wacky warlock brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon) courts disaster by coauthoring a book on black magic with pompous, bibulous novelist Sidney Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Kim Novak, (more)
In an idealized New York City during the early '60s, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a charming socialite with a youthful zest for life who lives alone in a nearly bare apartment. She has such a flippant lifestyle that she won't even give her cat a name, because that would be too much of a commitment to a relationship. Maintaining a childlike innocence yet wearing the most perfect of designer clothes and accessories from Givenchy, she spends her time on expensive dates and at high-class parties. She escorts various wealthy men, yet fails to return their affections after they have given her gifts and money. Holly's carefree independence is changed when she meets her neighbor, aspiring writer Paul (George Peppard), who is suffering from writer's block while being kept by a wealthy woman (Patricia Neal). Just when Holly and Paul are developing their sweet romance, Doc (Buddy Ebsen) appears on the scene and complicates matters, revealing the truth about Holly's past. Breakfast at Tiffany's was nominated for several Academy awards, winning Best Score for Henry Mancini and Best Song for Johnny Mercer's classic tune "Moon River". ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, (more)
Bank teller Lee Remick is accosted in her garage one dark night by asthmatic psycho Ross Martin. He forces her to go through with an elaborate robbery scheme, threatening to kill Lee's teen-aged sister Stefanie Powers if the police are summoned. FBI agent Glenn Ford suspects that something is amiss and advises Lee to play along with Martin, hoping in this way to capture this dangerous criminal with a minimum of bloodshed. Unfortunately, Martin is as clever as he is deadly, always managing to stay one step ahead of Ford. The now-famous climax of Experiment in Terror finds the feds closing in on Martin during a crowded night baseball game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Experiment in Terror is based on the Gordons' novel Operation Terror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1961
The Woolner Brothers, ever on the cutting edge of cinema with rank imitations of popular hits, strike again with Flight of the Lost Balloon. In response to the upcoming release of Mysterious Island in 1961, the Woolners put together this cheapjack tale which, like Island, is partially set in a flying balloon. Doctor Faraday (Marshall Thompson) is an American adventurer living in Africa, who is sent to locate a scientist, missing since his plane went down in the wilderness. Since the area is inaccessible by motor flight, Faraday mans his balloon and takes off. Unfortunately, the film never does. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mala Powers, Marshall Thompson, (more)
- 1966
Mercenary anarchist Imry Rogosh (Fritz Weaver) has concocted a scheme to kill off most of the population of Los Angeles. With only 36 hours at their disposal, the IMF must "break" the unbreakable Rogosh to uncover his plans. Their strategy hinges upon convincing Rogosh that he has been imprisoned in his own country--two years after his arrival in L.A. Originally telecast on October 1, 1966, "Operation Rogosh" was written by Jerome Ross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Hill, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1957
In this frantic service comedy, a group of bored-to-tears American GI's stationed at a medical facility in France would like nothing more than to have a big party to let off steam -- except for the possibility of having a big party with some of the nurses they work with. However, it seems that the nurses are officers and the GI's are enlisted men, which means the Army forbids them to socialize, and Capt. Locke (Ernie Kovacs), the camp's Commanding Officer, is not a man to bend the rules. But Private Hogan (Jack Lemmon) is not the sort of guy to let the rules get in the way of a good time, and with the help of Yancy Skibo (Mickey Rooney), a sergeant with a talent for scaring up needed supplies, and Mme. LaFour (Jeanne Manet), a local hotel manager with a soft spot for making money off American servicemen, Hogan hatches a plan to make his dream a reality. Hogan's lady friend, Lt. Betty Bixby (Kathryn Grant), isn't quite as convinced as her beau on the potential success of this scheme. Operation Mad Ball was the first directorial effort from former actor Richard Quine, and afforded Jack Lemmon his first starring role; Blake Edwards also contributed to the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Kathryn Grant, (more)
Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) visits the submarine Sea Tiger on the morning of its decommissioning and reminisces about his time as the first commander of the boat, in 1941. Three days after Pearl Harbor, the sub is damaged during an enemy air raid in the Philippines; rather than abandoning her, Sherman and his chiefs refloat the boat. He's forced to accept the services of Lt. (jg) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), who has no sea experience. Sherman appoints Holden -- a born conniver, deal-maker, and scrounger (his motto: "In confusion, there is profit") -- as supply officer, and through a series of burglaries and petty thefts he gets the Sea Tiger seaworthy again. Up to this point, the movie is an increasingly amusing service comedy, akin to the lighter moments of Mr. Roberts, running on Grant's wry exasperation and Curtis's cool arrogance, coupled with Arthur O'Connell's periodic sardonic yet optimistic jabs at their situation and Gavin MacLeod's fidgety nervousness. The Sea Tiger puts to sea ahead of the Japanese with a quintet of stranded army nurses aboard. The film shifts to a new level of humor as the officers and crew try to cope with living in close quarters with five attractive women in their midst. Grant gives a very witty performance as a man who is both exasperated by the situation he is in, having to adjust his masculinity to keep it from clashing with the feminine sensibilities of his guests, and also trying to control the mating urges of his men, starting with Holden, who can't stay away from Lt. Duran (Dina Merrill). Complicating matters more is Grant's awareness that the Sea Tiger is a "virgin" -- she has never engaged the enemy, but when they finally do, the accident-prone Lt. Crandall (Joan O'Brien) causes their torpedo to miss a tanker and sink a truck (probably the funniest sight gag in the movie). The boat also gets an accidental coat of pink paint when their supply of red and white runs low, and ends up carrying several Filipino families -- including two pregnant women. Since neither the Japanese nor the Americans officially has a pink submarine, the Sea Tiger ends uphunted by both sides and come under attack by an American destroyer. That's where the women's presence becomes a godsend. The movie ends 18 years later, with Holden a serious career navy man and responsible father, married to Duran, and Grant married to Crandall, who is as accident prone as ever. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, (more)
- 1965
Every prediction made by a fortune teller to Patricia Kean (Julie Adams) has come true, including her marriage to her wealthy boss Max Armstead (Jesse White). This is why Patricia begins worrying when the seer predicts "You'll wear white. . .then widow's black." Sure enough, Max ends up being fatally poisoned--and as he breathes his last, he accuses Patricia of being his murderer. This place Patricia's lawyer Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) in an uncomfortable position, inasmuch as both he and Lt. Drumm (Richard Anderson) were present when Max spoke his final words! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This is the one in which the "villain" is a huge, carnivorous praying mantis. After the titular insect has attacked several people in a remote Arctic region, Col. Joe Parkham (Craig Stevens) swings into action. Parkham and his associates, Dr. Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and Ned's assistant Margie Blake (Alix Talton), track the predatory mantis as it heads southward to Washington DC (how did it get past customs?) The green monstrosity meets its Waterloo in "Manhattan Tunnel", where it is bombarded with poison gas (a little Raid or Black Flag might have come in handy). Some of the Arctic scenes in The Deadly Mantis were clumsily culled from the 1933 drama SOS Iceberg and a handful of Air Force training films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Stevens, William Hopper, (more)
- 1966
Under the alias "Bill Garrison", fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) falls in love with sexy nightclub chanteuse Gail Martin (Marlyn Mason). Though she quickly ascertains Kimble's true identity, Gail nonetheless arranges for him to be hired as a chauffeur by Alan Bartlett (a pre-Hawaii 5-0) Jack Lord), the husband of wealthy invalid Norma Bartlett (Patricia Smith). What Kimble doesn't know is that Gail and Alan are planning to murder Norma and pin the blame on...guess who. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Film star Lylah Clare is dead, but her legend lives on. Movie-producer Barney Sheean (Ernest Borgnine) hires Elsa Brinkmann (Kim Novak), the living image of the late Lylah, to star in a film based on Ms. Clare's life. Barney hires director Lewis Zarkan (Peter Finch), Lylah's former husband, to transform the talentless Elsa into a facsimile of the deceased screen queen. Elsa not only learns to imitate Lylah but, at crucial junctures, becomes the dead woman. While restaging the accident that killed Lylah, the obsessed Zarkan deliberately drives Elsa to her doom -- and in so doing reveals his complicity in the death of his wife. The film ends with Lylah's onetime housekeeper (Rosella Falk), gun in hand, lying in wait for Zarkan to return home while her TV blasts forth a grotesque (and possibly symbolic) dog-food commercial. A trash masterpiece, Legend of Lylah Claire works so hard at vilifying the Old Hollywood (there's even a vicious Hedda Hopper caricature) that it's a wonder the actors could keep a straight face. The film was based on a 1962 Dupont Show of the Week TV drama co-written by Wild in the Streets creator Robert Thom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Novak, Peter Finch, (more)
Peter Sellers plays a bumbling foreigner once again (but this time he's not from France) in this cult-favorite comedy. Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) is an accident-prone actor from India who has come to California, hoping to make a name for himself in Hollywood movies. However, Bakshi quickly makes the wrong impression on producer C.S. Divot (Gavin MacLeod) and studio chief Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) when he accidentally blows up the set for his first film. Clutterbuck jots down Bakshi's name to remind himself to have the actor blacklisted, but he doesn't realize that he's put the name on the guest list for an upcoming party at his home. Bakshi sees the social event as an opportunity to get back in Clutterbuck's good graces, but from the moment he arrives, one thing after another goes wrong, with increasing effect; it doesn't help that he finds himself infatuated with Michele Monet (Claudine Longet), Divot's latest starlet discovery. Director Blake Edwards shot The Party with a minimal script to allow Peter Sellers and the other comic actors greater room for slapstick improvisation, which helps explain why many of the film's most memorable scenes feature little or no dialogue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, (more)
- 1958
In this frothy romantic comedy, a hard-working female Army shrink (Janet Leigh) devises the "perfect furlough" for battle weary men and convinces the brass to let her try it on selected men stationed at her base. According to her plan, selected men would be given three weeks, tailor made to fit their deepest desires. Her first test-case is a handsome ladies' man (Tony Curtis) who chooses to go to Paris with his favorite movie star. Naturally the psychologist chaperones. Romantic mayhem ensues and eventually the furloughed soldier and the shrink fall in love. The story is also titled Strictly for Pleasure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, (more)
In the first in a series of detective comedies from director Blake Edwards starring Peter Sellers as bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the mishap-prone snoop is actually a supporting player. David Niven stars as Sir Charles Litton, a suave jewel thief known as "The Phantom." Vacationing in a deluxe Alpine resort, Litton's real purpose is to purloin the Pink Panther, a gem of enormous worth owned by a princess (Claudia Cardinale). On his trail for years, Inspector Clouseau keeps losing his quarry, perhaps because his wife Simone (Capucine) is Litton's lover and alerts him every time her husband draws near. Also after the Panther is Litton's American nephew, George (Robert Wagner). At a posh costume ball at the princess' villa, the bauble is stolen and Clouseau, still trying to determine the bandit's identity, is framed for the crime himself. The Pink Panther made Sellers and his Clouseau act so popular that the character moved to center stage in a series of farcical sequels. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1966
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In this service comedy set during World War II, Capt. Cash (Dick Shawn) and Lt. Christian (James Coburn) are given orders to invade a small but strategically important village in Sicily. To their surprise, none of the natives offer the slightest resistance to the Americans taking over their town, who present only one stipulation -- the main event on the town's annual social calendar, a football match followed by a wine festival, is scheduled to happen in a few days. If the Americans would be kind enough to let them have their party, they'll hand over the town without a fight. Cash and Christian think that this plan sounds reasonable enough, and a few days later they and their men are drunkenly whooping it up with the townspeople when both German and U.S. surveillance planes spot the festivities. Thinking the wild party looks more like some sort of battle, both the Germans and Americans make plans to send in troops. Screenwriter William Peter Blatty would enjoy greater success a few years down the line with The Exorcist, a novel about a different sort of conflict. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Dick Shawn, (more)
