Junius Matthews Movies

"Bears love honey and I'm a Pooh bear," sings Winnie the Pooh setting the stage for the goings-on in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, the first of four Disney featurettes based upon the A.A. Milne characters. Indeed, Pooh has rather an insatiable desire for honey, and when he spies a group of bees making some of the lovely sticky stuff in the top of a nearby tree, he taxes his mental resources -- difficult for "a bear of very little brain" -- and comes up with a scheme. Enlisting the aid of Christopher Robin, he covers himself in mud, grabs hold of a big blue balloon and (thinking himself cleverly disguised as a little black rain cloud), tries to get some of the honey. The bees are not fooled, but soon Pooh finds an easier way of getting what he wants: visiting friend Rabbit at lunch time. Rabbit has a tremendous store of honey -- so much so that, after ingesting it all, Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's doorway and can get neither in nor out. There's nothing to do but wait for Pooh to lose enough wait to squeeze out. When he does finally get rescued, Pooh somehow ends up in another sticky situation -- but one that is much more pleasing to the little bear. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

The Jorgensons are a wealthy family spending the summer on a resort island. Ken (Richard Egan), Helen (Constance Ford) and daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) settle in to a beach house on the island where Ken was a young lifeguard twenty years ago. He rediscovers Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire), with whom he had an earlier affair before she married Bart Hunter (Arthur Kennedy). The Hunter's son Johnny (Troy Donahue) and Molly fall in love, much to the objection of her mother, a cold and cynical woman. When Ken and Sylvia start another torrid affair, the exposure of the liaison leads to the divorce of both married couples. After Johnny and Molly are stranded overnight on a beach, Molly is forced by her heartless mistrusting mother to undergo a physical examination and a pregnancy test. Tests results are negative, but more negative is the mother-daughter relationship. Ken and Sylvia get married and Molly gets pregnant. The newlyweds then compassionately guide unwed couple to marriage. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A steamship docks in San Francisco, and as one of the passengers, Philip Dressler (Raymond Bailey), is waiting for a cab after clearing customs, a baggage handler suddenly grabs one of his cases and throws it into a taxi, which takes off. In the ensuing getaway, a police officer is killed, but not before he gets off a shot that takes the fleeing cab driver's life. What Lieutenant Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) and Inspector Al Quine (Emile G. Meyer) can't figure out is why two men are suddenly dead within a matter of seconds, all for a seemingly inexplicable baggage snatch. The truth begins to come out when an examination reveals that a small ornamental statue in Dressler's case is loaded with half a million dollars in pure heroin. Then the bodies start turning up -- beginning with a baggage handler at the docks. Guthrie and Quine uncover a plan by a drug syndicate to use innocent, unsuspecting tourists visiting the Far East as unknowing drug couriers -- and now that the original method of retrieval at the docks has unraveled, thanks to the wheelman being an addict who got himself killed, another method is improvised.

Enter a pair of hitmen from out of town, Dancer (Eli Wallach), a soft-spoken psychopath with a perfect memory and not a trace of conscience, and his philosophical mentor and "handler," Julian (Robert Keith). Taken around San Francisco by their mob-employed driver, Sandy McLain (Richard Jaeckel), a juicehead who's not quite as good a wheelman as he thinks he is, the hitmen start collecting the latest shipment of heroin from three new arrivals: a ship's crew member who knows too much for his own good, a wealthy husband and wife, and a woman and her young daughter. They calmly go about their business, Dancer and his silenced pistol taking care of any "problems" while Julian runs interference and discusses issues of grammar and speech with him, and adds to his collection of "last words" from Dancer's victims -- until the last shipment turns up missing. It seems the little girl (Cheryl Callaway) found the bag of white powder hidden on the doll her mother bought her, and used it to powder the doll's face....Now Dancer and Julian have to disrupt the planned drop to "The Man" (Vaughn Taylor) to explain the short count, and to do that they have to keep the little girl and her mother (Mary Laroche) alive, at least long enough to tell their story. Meanwhile, Guthrie and Quine keep getting closer, following the trail of bodies and putting together a description of the two killers. But can they find them before the kidnapped mother and daughter join the other victims? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

A nightclub manager has been murdered, and it is the job of Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to find the killer. At first, it appears that there were no witnesses to the murder. Ultimately, however, someone steps forward with an eyewitness account of the crime, sending the detectives on the trail of two most likely perpetrators. Featured in the cast is future TV producer-director Bill Idelson of M*A*S*H fame. This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of September 21 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are stymied by a series of well-planned safe burglaries, pulled off right under the authorities' noses. A clue provided by the owner of a fix-it shop turns out to be the latest in a long of false leads, but finally the investigation bears fruit when two witnesses identify a prematurely gray young man who is fascinated with all things mechanical. Based on a Dragnet radio program first heard on May 1, 1952, this episode features a cameo appearance by future TV producer Aaron Spelling as a hopped-up suspect. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Even at age 38, Loretta Young could successfully pull off her ingenue duties in the innocuous comedy Half Angel. Young plays Nora, a prim and proper nurse, engaged to the stuffy Tim (John Ridgely). Unbeknownst to both, Nora is a sleepwalker; during her nocturnal forays, the less-inhibited side of her personality takes over. While somnambulizing one evening, she heads to the home of her former boyfriend John (Joseph Cotten) and makes amorous advances towards him. Fascinated, John tries to get Nora to behave the same way while she's awake, but it takes eight reels to accomplish that formidable feat. Half Angel bears no resemblance to the 1936 Claire Trevor vehicle of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical set in late 19th-century Boston, a suffragette secretary finds that her political beliefs are standing in the way of her romantic bliss with her beloved boss. Back then the notion of women's rights was considered scandalous and her lover will not stand for such nonsense in his office. Mayhem and music ensue until he is eventually convinced. Some of the tunes were composed by the late George Gershwin to which lyricists Kay Swift and Ira Gershwin added new words. These songs include: "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Aren't You Glad We Did?," "Stand up and Fight," and "Waltz Me No Waltzes." Other songs include: "Changing My Tune," "Back Bay Polka," "One, Two, Three," "But Not in Boston," "Sweet Packard," "Waltzing Is Better Sitting Down," and "Demon Rum." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Without Reservations has to be the least typical John Wayne picture of the postwar era. Top billing is bestowed upon Claudette Colbert as Kit, a best-selling novelist heading westward to oversee the film version of her latest novel. Taking it upon herself to select the man who should portray the hero of her novel, Kit chooses war hero Rusty (John Wayne), whom she meets during her train trip to Hollywood. Unaware of Kit's true identity, Rusty and his pal Dink (Don DeFore) rail against the factual errors in her book. One thing leads to another, and before long Kit, Rusty and Dink have all been thrown off the train for annoying the other passengers. After a hectic stopover at a New Mexico farm, Kit reveals who she really is to Rusty and Dink, who are understandably put out. All is forgiven in the end, of course, with Kit and Rusty altar-bound at fadeout time. The Hollywood scenes feature such guest celebrities as Cary Grant, Louella Parsons and Jack Benny; and yes, that is an unbilled Raymond Burr as Claudette Colbert's dancing partner. Without Reservations was based on Jane Allen and May Livingston's novel Thanks, God, I'll Take it From Here (too bad they couldn't use that title!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi