Dinah Anne Rogers Movies
- 1977
In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Olivia (Michael Learned) has a crisis of faith during a Christmas visit from two British children (Sally Boyden, Jeff Cotler) who may have been orphaned in the London blitz. But the situation takes a positive turn thanks to Jim-Bob's expertise with shortwave radio. Elsewhere, Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) tries to arrange a Yuletide visit with her husband, who is serving with the US Medical Corps; and Ben (Eric Scott) comes to the rescue when a neighbor is robbed of all the money she has collected for the war effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
Enemy agents hope to persuade defecting cabinet official Victor Dorman (David Frankham) to return to his own country--or, failing that, they plan to have him killed. For this purpose, the bad guys engage the services of Nicholas Blok (Eric Braeden), a coldblooded troubleshooter who specializes in abduction and assassination. Blok endeavors to force his prey into the open by kidnapping Dorman's daughter Katrina (Dinah Anne Rogers)--and he has no intention of allowing FBI Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to get in his way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Touted by 20th Century-Fox as a follow-up to their enormously successful The Sound of Music, Star! reteams that earlier film's leading lady Julie Andrews and director Robert Wise. Andrews plays legendary musical comedy star Gertrude Lawrence, while Daniel Massey appears as Lawrence's friend, co-worker and severest critic Noel Coward (Massey's real-life godfather). The film jumps back and forth in continuity at times, its transitions bridged by fabricated newsreel footage; essentially, however, William Fairchild's script traces Lawrence's progress from ambitious bit actress to the toast of London and Broadway. Her success is offset by a stormy private life, which is given some ballast when she falls in love with an American financier (Richard Crenna). The film is way too long for its own good, though the musical set pieces -- especially the Andrews-Massey duets -- are superb. Julie Andrews welcomed the chance of playing a character as far removed from her goody-two-shoes heroine in Sound of Music as possible; Gertrude Lawrence was temperamental, sarcastic, profane and at times self-destructive, and Andrews makes a meal of the role. Unfortunately, Andrews' fans, conditioned by the Fox publicity machine to expect a continuation of Sound of Music, rejected her outright in this "new" characterization. Star! was a huge box-office bomb, so much so that Fox desperately attempted a shortened re-release under a misleading new title, Those Were The Happy Times. They weren't: it remained a financial disaster, though it has developed a loyal cult following in recent years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, (more)
This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
- 1965
A crisis develops when Martin (Ray Walston) develops an allergy to his brain-power pills, breaking out in embarrassing green blotches. Thinking quickly, Martin feeds the pills to Tim (Bill Bixby), figuring this will make Tim smart enough to discover a cure for the allergy. Trouble ensues when "super-genius" Tim ends up working on a top-secret government space project, an assignment that could end in disaster literally with the snap of the fingers! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
A fine upstanding wife finds it difficult to keep her sordid past as a criminal a secret from her husband and neighbors. The trouble begins when someone robs a neighbor. As the wife suddenly vanishes thereafter, the police immediately label her the prime suspect. Meanwhile, her husband searches the city in hopes of proving her innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
