Muriel Smith Movies
- 1964
Five years after their first motion picture release The Crowning Experience, the Moral ReArmament Movement (MRA) produced this morality piece calling for humanity and racial understanding in British East Africa. It is there where a group of white liberals attempt to make progress between black revolutionaries and bigotted white colonists. Muriel Smith, who also played in MRA's first film, leads in this drama as a determined rebellion leader. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Muriel Smith, Phyllis Konstam, (more)
- 1960
Produced and distributed by Moral Re-Armament, this standard musical drama about moral re-armament is an obvious plug that could have benefitted from a broader perspective. Loosely based on the life of Afro-American educator Mary McLeod (played by Muriel Smith), the tale oddly de-emphasizes how she devoted all her considerable energy into her impressive goal of starting a university. Instead, she is shown teaching school in a poor area (the school is on a hillside, no building is involved), and she features in several of the songs that brighten the movie. How the script came to ignore her magnificent achievements to focus on her singing and final quest for personal spiritual growth is probably due to the focus of the producers and funders. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Muriel Smith
Moulin Rouge is the story of 19th century French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, portrayed by José Ferrer. The film records his frustration over his physical handicap (the growth in his legs was stunted by a childhood accident), his efforts to "lose" himself in Paris' bawdy Montmartre district, and his career as a painter, which brought him money only when he turned out advertising posters--but what posters! Toulouse-Lautrec's drinking and debauchery lead to his early death, which in the hands of director John Huston is staged (brilliantly) in the manner of a musical comedy finale. This is the film in which Zsa Zsa Gabor actually acts, in the role of demimonde entertainer Jane Avril. As a bonus, the film's musical score (by Georges Auric) managed to hit the Top Ten charts in the U.S. When this immensely successful film was released to television in the late '50s, Moulin Rouge proved to be one of the strongest-ever incentives to purchase a color TV set. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Colette Marchand, (more)
