Barbara Morrison Movies

One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan). Achieving fame and prominence (if not full-fledged social acceptance) through a Byzantine series of investments in the oil industry, the elder Armagh was obsessed with the notion of having one of his sons become the first Irish-Catholic President of the United States (does this story sound vaguely familiar?). Along the way, Joseph and his offspring indulged in innumerable romantic liaisons, extramarital and otherwise. Featured in the all-star cast is Patty Duke Astin, who won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Bernadette Hennessey Armagh. Captains and the Kings was broadcast from September 30 to November 18, 1976 in seven installments, two of which ran 120 minutes, and the other six lasting 60 minutes -- a total of nine hours' air time in all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A tough biker gang comprised of African-American women heads off to find a member's mother and her abductor in this exploitation comedy ostensibly designed to make fun of racial stereotypes. The film was later retitled Get Down and Boogie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This evening's case log includes a family of grifters who have been cheating elderly residents out of their money with a phony house-repair racket. The scam comes to an abrupt end when Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) arrive on the scene. Elsewhere, the two patrol officers investigate an arson attempt, haul in a drunk driver, and contend with a well-meaning but bungling "Good Samaritan." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mistaking Samantha for her lookalike cousin Serena, a jealous witch named Brunhilde (Barbara Morrison) zaps Sam back to 1868 New Orleans. Unable to remember who she really is, Sam will remain spellbound in the past until she willingly kisses a mortal. Jack Cassidy guest stars as Southern "gentleman" Rance Butler, who ends up challenging Darrin to a duel. Also in the cast is Isabel Sanford of Good Times fame as family retainer Aunty Jenny. Written by Ed Jurist, "Samantha Goes South for a Spell" first aired on October 3, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

June Lockhart makes her first series appearance as Dr. Janet Craig, the new replacement for Hooterville's Doc Stuart (Regis Toomey). Upon discovering that the town now has a female MD, the menfolk are none too pleased about it--nor are their jealous womenfolk! Although Bea Benaderet) is still billed in the opening credits, the actress died a month before this episode originally aired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It must be spring again, else why would Granny be standing in front of the Commerce Bank and giving away free samples of her special spring tonic? Granny's benevolence irritates her old nemesis, Beverly Hills physician Dr. Clyburn (Fred Clark). Hoping to drum Granny out of the medical profession once and for all, Clyburn comes up with a foolproof plan -- and he's just the fool to prove it. "The Doctors" first aired on March 22, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a rebellious East German athlete forgoes her dowdy uniforms in favor of daring miniskirts. Soon the leggy track star attracts a lustful villain. To escape, she pole vaults over the Berlin Wall. There she is befriended by a broke black marketeer who has secretly agreed to return her to the communists in exchange for badly-needed money. He hides her in the apartment of an old army buddy of his who secretly works for the CIA. The smuggler is preparing to turn the girl over when he realizes that he is in love. The fellow is still busted and so tries to convince his pal to let her work for the CIA. When the athlete learns about this, she is crushed and decides to return to East Germany. Later, to prove he does love her, the smuggler dresses in drag and sneaks into East Berlin to see her. The woman is bowled over and together, they creep back into West Germany. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Much to the dismay of a wealthy female customer (Barbara Morrison), Lucy (Lucille Ball) stakes a claim to a fancy dinette set during a major department-store sale. It is only after putting a deposit on the set that Lucy realizes a bargain is a bargain only if you can afford to pay for it. In desperate need of the necessary funds, Lucy takes a job at the same store -- only to come face to face with the indignant socialite who had wanted to buy the dinette set herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Cold War time-capsule, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Della Street (Barbara Hale) venture behind the Iron Curtain to save the life of Emma Ritter (Jeanette Nolan), the wife of expatriate East German physicist Hans Ritter (Wolfe Barzell). Emma and Hans have been lured back to East Berlin with the promise that their granddaughter Elke (Eileen Baral) would be released from an orphanage and allowed to emigrate to the U.S., but things go awry and Emma is charged with the murder of Franz Hoffer (Ronald Long). It doesn't take Perry long to realize that the cards have been stacked against Emma from the get-go, and that he will have to do some clever and fancy maneuvering to outwit the Communist legal system. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adrian Messenger (John Merivale) asks his friend, British colonel Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), to check on the whereabouts of the eleven men named on a written list. Not long afterward, the plane on which Messenger is travelling is deliberately blown up. The mystery killer slipped the bomb on the plane while disguised as a priest, and we soon learn that the killer adopts a different guise for each of his subsequent murders. As Gethryn tracks down the men on Messenger's list, he discovers that all had been POWs in the same Burmese stockade during World War II, and he deduces that the murderer, who is methodically decimating those on the list, had been a traitor and informer. Gethryn traces the killer to the British estate of The Marquis of Gleneyre (Clive Brook), where his visit coincides with the return of "prodigal" American relative George Brougham (Kirk Douglas). Gethryn is convinced that Brougham is the killer, and that he plans to murder the only heir who stands in the way of the family fortune, but he has no tangible proof. Filmed primarily in Ireland, The List of Adrian Messenger received good theatrical bookings by virtue of its gimmick: several of the bit characters are played by famous stars in heavy makeup, and each of these stars -- Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Curtis -- "unmasks" in the epilogue. In truth, only Douglas and Mitchum did any real acting under their mounds of collodion and crepe hair; the others showed up only to shoot their unmasking scenes (at a salary of $75,000 each!) and were "doubled" in the film itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Since it was released in the same year as his masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), it is ironic that this drama was probably the least liked of director Robert Mulligan's films. A stiff adaptation of a novel by Dutch author Jan DeHartog, the film stars Rock Hudson as Dr. Anton Drager, an opportunistic atheist who travels with his wife Els (Gena Rowlands) to the jungles of Java in 1936. Drager is to become the new right-hand man of famed Dr. Brits Jansen (Burl Ives), a legendary humanist who works with lepers and is rumored to have done groundbreaking work that Drager believes could make him famous and wealthy. Trouble with a native witch doctor practicing black magic leads to a crisis of conscience for Drager, however, forcing him to reevaluate his self-centered philosophy. A former divinity student at New York's Fordham University, Mulligan may have been intrigued by the material's spiritual bent, but his direction is uninspired, and The Spiral Road (1962) was not considered a success. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Unlike some of the "twist" movies that hit the theaters in the early '60s when the dance craze flourished, Twist around the Clock has something resembling a plot. Mitch Mason is an out-of-work promoter who sees people doing the "twist" in a regional backwater -- and immediately understands that the dance could be a real hit. His problem lies in getting anyone to believe him, and making money in the process. It turns out that the daughter of the head of a major agency could be his ticket to fame and fortune but he ignores her interest in him, at least for awhile. In the end, this teen-oriented tale is best remembered for two of Dion's hit songs, Runaround Sue and The Wanderer. Other vocals are supplied by Chubby Checker, The Marcels, and Vicki Spencer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide