Marian Seldes Movies
- 1953
An American columnist rails for the rights of a free press in this small screen drama presented as part of the "Studio One" series. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Co-produced by famed documentarian Willard Van Dyke, Lonely Night was filmed in cooperation with the Mental Health Film Board. The 62-minute "docudrama" focuses on a young girl named Caroline, who suffers from emotional depression and is under psychiatric care. As the story progresses, the audience is made aware that Caroline's mental condition is as much the result of her environment as of her own inner demons. Caroline is played by Marian Seldes, the daughter of pop-culture critic Gilbert Seldes and later a prolific stage and soap-opera actress. Lonely Night is narrated by another familiar character actor, Frank Silvera. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Seldes, Charles Moffett, (more)
- 1956
One of a group of captives rescued from the Cheyenne by the Cavalry is a 12-year-old white boy who has been raised as an Indian. Mary Cullen (Marian White) insists that the boy is her own son Dennis, kidnapped from her family in infancy. Despite the combined efforts of Mrs. Cullen and Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness), there's a strong possibility that the boy will ultimately choose to continue living with the Cheyenne rather than accept is "proper" place in white society. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of September 24, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Among the passengers in a westbound stagecoach are gunslinger-for-hire Paladin (Richard Boone) and a Philadelphia girl named Christie Smith (Marian Seldes). It turns out that Christie is a mail-order bride, en route to the husband she has never met. Descending from the coach in the middle of nowhere (actually Lone Pine, California), Christie anxiously awaits her husband's arrival--accompanied by Paladin, who has decided to provide escort and protection to the girl whether she likes it or not ("Someone has to take care of small children and stubborn women!") A pre-Mannix Mike Connors figures prominently in the episode's grimly startling climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Adapting a made-for-TV play that he had directed for the screen, John Frankenheimer made his feature film debut with this sensitive father-son drama. Tom Ditmar (James Daly) is a movie studio executive who has a strained relationship with his teenaged son Hal (James MacArthur). Hal is arrested after an incident in a movie theater in which he was provoked into slugging the manager, Grubbs (Whit Bissell). Hal is rude to the police officer, Sergeant Shipley (James Gregory). Tom Ditmar gets the charges dropped but doesn't believe his son's story. Hal goes back to talk to Grubbs to try to get him to tell his father what really happened. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James MacArthur, Kim Hunter, (more)
Actually, this retelling of the life of outlaw Jesse James is only as true as its predecessor, the highly fanciful 1939 Tyrone Power-Henry Fonda starrer Jesse James. Generous chunks of stock footage from the earlier film are reused here, albeit reframed to accommodate the CinemaScope process. Robert Wagner makes an interesting James, though he is upstaged throughout by Jeffrey Hunter as his brother Frank. Adhering to the Canon, the film insists that the James boys were forced into a life of crime by greedy railroad men -- hence, their ongoing vendetta against trains. Director Nicholas Ray adds a few psychological nuances not found in the more prosaic 1939 film. John Carradine, who played "dirty little coward" Bob Ford in the original Jesse James, appears in the remake as Rev. Jethro Bailey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, (more)
- 1958
Paladin (Richard Boone) comes to the defense of a strong-willed schoolteacher named Molly Stanton (Marian Seldes). It seems that Molly has been instructing her pupils in the facts concerning an infamous band of Civil War vigilantes, incurring the wrath of several former members of the organization who have threatened to burn the schoolhouse down unless the teacher retracts her statements. This is one of several episodes wherein Paladin surreptitiously acts as spokesman for all those blacklisted filmmakers who had been denied the right of free speech during the "Red Scare" of the 1950s. Among the child actors appearing as the schoolkids is Lana Wood, the younger sister of film star Natalie Wood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Those who learned to dislike Conrad Richter's novel The Light in the Forest when it was required reading in high school will be pleasantly surprised by this Disney adaptation. In his second film appearance, James MacArthur plays Johnny Butler, a white youth who was captured by the Delaware Indians in infancy. In 1764, a peace treaty is signed between the Delaware and the British, requiring that all white captives be returned to their families. But 18-year-old Johnny, now known as True Son and now thoroughly assimilated into the tribe, violently resists being torn away from the only life he has ever known. Kindly Indian scout Del Hardy (Fess Parker) tries to help Johnny through his transitional period; the same cannot be said by Johnny's Indian-hating Uncle Wilse (Wendell Corey), who vows to kill every Delaware he meets. Only by defeating Wilse-and, by extention, his own inner demons-will Johnny ever be able to readjust to the white lifestyle without totally turning his back on his adoptive Indian family. Carol Lynley makes her screen debut as Shendandoe, Johnny's white sweetheart; likewise making his entree into films is TV director Herschel Daugherty. Partially filmed on location in Tennessee, Light in the Forest benefited from the expertise of technical advisor Iron Eyes Cody. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fess Parker, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1958
There's no shortage of suspects when vitriolic society columnist Mary K. Davis (Marian Seldes) is murdered. Even so, the police charge the dead woman's nurse Leona Walsh (Josephine Hutchinson) with the crime...mainly because Leona has given a full confession to DA Hamilton Burger (William Talman). Inasmuch as Leona's lawyer is Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), she is of course not guilty, but Perry has a tough time proving it--and to make matters worse, Burger intends to discredit Mason in court by calling his secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) to the stand to testify that her boss has tampered with the evidence! This episode is based on a 1957 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Charlie Brailing (Norman Lloyd) dreams of leaving his wife, Lydia (Marian Seldes), and flying off to Rio. Of course, if he were to do this, it would cause nothing but shame and humiliation for all concerned. Thus, Charlie concocts a "foolproof" scheme to make his getaway without detection: he builds a robot lookalike, intending to leave his mechanical double with his wife while he skips town. Trouble is, the robot has a few plans of its own. One of the few "supernatural" Hitchcock episodes, "Design for Loving" was written by no less than Ray Bradbury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
The lush romanticism of director Frank Borzage (Seventh Heaven, Street Angel) is subsumed by the plodding reverence of producer Rowland V. Lee's screenplay (co-written with Howard Estabrook), based on the best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Howard Keel stars as a stalwart Simon-Peter, the apostle of Christ called "the fisher of men" and the "Rock" upon whom the Christian Church was founded. The film, on the surface, deals with Simon-Peter's conversion from a self-sufficient fisherman to a believer in the inspirational teachings of Christianity. Simon-Peter also serves the needs of the real story: how Simon-Peter succeeds in joining together two lovers from the other side of the tracks. John Saxon is Voldi, an Arab prince who wants to follow in his father's footsteps as the chief of an Arab tribe and marry his beloved, Fara (Susan Kohner). But Fara, wants to see her father, Herod Antipas (Herbert Lom), dead for the misery he has inflicted upon her mother -- abandoning her for the lustful Herodias (Martha Hyer). When Voldi and Fara hear the teachings of Christ, they realize that their love must be put in abeyance to their Christian beliefs. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Keel, Susan Kohner, (more)
- 1959
Handsome, twenty-year-old George Hamilton had his first starring role in this so-so drama by Denis Sanders inspired by Feodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Robert Cole (Hamilton) is a law student whose certainty that he is a cut above anyone else leads him to murder a pawnbroker with the belief he is too good to get caught. But Inspector Porter (Frank Silvera) begins to suspect that Cole has blood on his hands, even before there is any real proof that he is guilty. As the two play the same cat-and-mouse game that drove Dostoyevsky's hero over the edge, the modern Roskolnikov finds himself in a steadily deteriorating situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Hamilton, Mary Murphy, (more)
Filmmaker George Stevens chose Monument Valley, Utah for his exterior sequences in The Greatest Story Ever Told, this ($20 million) adaptation of Fulton Oursler's best-selling book. The "Greatest Story" is, of course, the life of Jesus Christ, played herein by Max Von Sydow. The large supporting cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Claude Rains as Herod the Great, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Donald Pleasence as Satan (identified only as "The Dark Hermit"), David McCallum as Judas Iscariot, Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and Martin Landau as Caiaphas. Even Robert Blake as Simon the Zealot, Jamie Farr as Thaddaeus, and motorcyle-flick veteran Richard Bakalyan as Dismas, the repentant thief, are well-suited to their roles. Originally roadshown at 260 minutes, Greatest Story Ever Told was later available in a 195-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1965
Jason McCord (Chuck Connors) must act quickly when Caleb Reymer (Steve McNally) shows up on the land owned by little Jimmy Whitlaw (Michel Petit), the orphaned son of Jason's old friend. Claiming to be Jimmy's uncle, Caleb also insists that the land belongs to him. The only person who knows the real story is the boy's Native American housekeeper Neela (Maria Seldes)--and she refuses to talk. Featured in the cast as the town doctor is Walter F. O'Malley, the then-president of the Los Angeles Dodgers (and thus an old "baseball buddy" of former pro ballplayer Chuck Connors). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dustin Hoffman was only a few months away from his star-making role in The Graduate when he appeared in this television adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's satiric dark comedy. A disgruntled inventor (Orson Bean) whose career is going nowhere finally comes up with something that could change the world -- a device he calls the "Star Wagon," which allows its users to travel back and forth in time. Before unleashing his new gizmo on the world, the inventor uses it for a few pet projects of his own, with the help of his less-than-enthusiastic assistant (Dustin Hoffman). Shot for educational television in 1967, The Star Wagon also features Eileen Brennan, Marian Seldes, and Richard Castellano. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Learn about art propaganda and the power of art harnessed by political regimes with this informative video. ~ All Movie Guide
Jimmy Angelelli (Harvey Keitel) wants to be a concert pianist. Jimmy's dad, Ben Angelelli (Michael V. Gazzo), wants his son to go into the family business. So far, so banal. But the "family business" depicted in Fingers is organized crime, and therein lies the film's perverse appeal. Fingers represents the directorial debut of screenwriter James Toback, who also wrote the script. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, (more)
- 1983
This biography video looks at the famed dance legend, Louis Horst. This is part of the "Eye on Dance' series. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1987
The Gotham Book Mart in New York City has been considered a center for avant-garde literature for years. At the heart of this cultural gem is Frances Steloff, who at the time of the film was 100 years old. This documentary, narrated by Marian Seldes, tells the story of a woman and her dream to bring people together. She began with only $100 in 1920 at a time when e.e. cummings, Gertrude Stein, and others were in need of an outlet for their art. The Gotham Book Mart provided a venue for creativity and can certainly be viewed as an important historical landmark. ~ Cara Saposnik, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Seldes
- 1989
Ballet and modern dance (a closely related artform) owe an unpayable debt to the Russian emigre choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983). In addition to being a master teacher, a famously demanding and perfectionistic director of both the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet, as a choreographer he developed a new language of dance expression which was less ethereal, more immediate, than the previous century's classical ballet. In so doing, he created a uniquely "American" ballet, and established America as a powerhouse in the ballet world. He was a friend of the great artists of his era, from composer Igor Stravinsky to poet W.H. Auden. This documentary includes film of some of the works he choreographed, as well as reminiscences of some of his dedicated dancers. His troubled personal life is only glancingly alluded to: the focus of this documentary is on his transcendent artistry. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Tallchief, Mary Ellen Moylan, (more)
- 1989
The Hotel Copacabana is about to host members of the tobacco industry for a convention of some sort. It is unclear why they have chosen this particular ill-managed and slightly run-down hotel. Perhaps the odd scientific studies by the hotel's owner, which seek to prove that tobacco is harmless, are the reasons for the choice. Shortly before the convention is to begin, Isabel Purvis (Mabel Seldes), a rather starchy and quite suspicious tobacco industry p.r. representative checks into the hotel to make sure that all the necessary arrangments for the convention have been made. The bumbling management and incompetent hotel staff make her stay a memorable one. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Seldes, David Canary, (more)
- 1991
The ongoing debate over parental rights in medical procedures comes to the forefront when a five-year-old girl dies from a relatively minor throat infection. The child's parents, Ted and Nancy Driscoll (Byron Jennings, Kaiulani Lee) are arrested, whereupon they argue that their religious beliefs compelled them to deny medical treatment for their daughter. Incidentally, the unfortunate youngster is played by an uncredited Michelle Trachtenberg, who later co-starred on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
Soon it will be the very first Christmas for baby Avery, and Murphy (Candice Bergen) has planned a very quiet, simple ceremony, inviting only Eldin (Robert Pastorelli) and her "FYI" colleagues to the event. All this changes when Murphy's bombastic father Bill (Darren McGavin) and her wealthy Aunt Brooke (Marian Seldes) sweep into Washington laden with presents for Avery. There's only one teeny-tiny problem: Bill and Brooke intensely despise one another. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
The community players of Cabot Cove have chosen to stage a play about a 17th century witch who had placed a curse on the town just before her execution. Cast in the lead role is Mariah Osborne (Mary Crosby), a newcomer to the town. Before long, strange things begin happening, convincing the townsfolk that Mariah is not merely acting, but is in truth the reincarnation of the notorious witch. Assisting Jessica (Angela Lansbury) in her investigation of the inevitable murder is the town's new deputy Dave Anderson, played by Louis Herthum--who in his previous series appearance was known as "Deputy Andy Bloom." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- PG13
- Add The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag to QueueAdd The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag to top of Queue
Penelope Ann Miller's delightful performance as the shy, part-time librarian Betty Lou Perkins is the saving grace of this comedy from Touchstone Pictures. Betty Lou is the neglected wife of small-town police detective Alex Perkins (Eric Thal). She soon feels even more neglected when Alex can't make their anniversary dinner because he has to investigate a brutal motel room slaying. Taking her dog for a walk, Betty Lou finds a gun by the river's edge that just happens to be the missing murder weapon in Alex's murder investigation. In order to get some attention, she announces that she was the one who committed the murder. Hauled behind bars, Betty Lou gets some quick assertiveness training from her cell-mate, hard-boiled prostitute Reba Bush (Cathy Moriarty). She also becomes an instant media celebrity, with crowds clamoring around her and television news reporters elevating her to legendary status. But Alex doesn't believe she committed the murder (she tells him the dead man was her lover) and continues investigating the crime. Her husband is not the only one who's suspicious -- the FBI wants to use her to lure crime lord Beaudeen (William Forsythe), who they suspect actually committed the murder, out into the open. It turns out the FBI is right; Beaudeen killed the motel room victim because he planned to blackmail him with an incriminating cassette. Beaudeen is convinced that Betty Lou has the tape and musters his forces to get it from her one way or another. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penelope Ann Miller, Eric Thal, (more)
