Elaine Stewart Movies

Reportedly, Vincente Minnelli turned down the opportunity to film Brigadoon on location in Scotland insisting that MGM's studio mockups looked more Scottish than the genuine article. This lavish adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical stars Gene Kelly as an American tourist who stumbles upon an enchanted Scottish village. Every 100 years, the people of Brigadoon awaken for a 24-hour period, then go back to sleep for another century while Brigadoon itself vanishes in the mists. Tommy Albright (Kelly) falls in love with village lass Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse) while his hard-drinking pal, Jeff Douglas (Van Johnson), dismisses the legend -- and indeed the existence of Brigadoon as a result of delirium. Fiona's betrothed Harry Beaton (Hugh Laing), upset by Kelly's intervention, threatens to leave Brigadoon -- an act that will spell doom for its residents. When this crisis has passed, Tommy is persuaded against his better judgment to escape Brigadoon himself and return to his own fiancée (Elaine Stewart) in New York. But the love between Tommy and Fiona results in a miraculous finale. Most of the Lerner-Loewe score remains intact, including the hit songs "Almost Like Being in Love," "Heather on the Hill," and "Come to Me Bend to Me." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Desperate Search is a lower-echelon MGM programmer, elevated by the crisp direction of cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis. Jane Greer plays the mother of two small children who are on board an airliner which crashes. The children survive, but are stranded in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. With the help of forest ranger Keenan Wynn and bush pilot Howard Keel, Greer launches an agonizing all-points search for the missing children. Desperate Search was an entertaining and efficient means for MGM to keep its contract players busy at minimum cost. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The husband and wife dance team of Marge Champion and Gower Champion are aptly cast as Chuck and Pamela Hubbard, a pair of happily married hoofers, in this musical. The Hubbards have dreamed for years of taking their act to Broadway, and after much hard work and perseverance, they finally get their shot at the big time, only to discover that Pamela is pregnant, and her doctor forbids her to dance. Chuck hires Sybil Meriden (Monica Lewis) to substitute for Pamela in their act, but Pamela begins to wonder if Sybil is taking her place on Chuck's dance card offstage as well as on, while she stays at home with the baby. Everything I Have Is Yours features six songs, including "Derry Down Dilly," "17,000 Telephone Poles," "Serenade for a New Baby," and the title tune. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Italian domestic drama stars Daniela Rocca as the young wife of an industrialist. Though there's temptation aplenty while she's on vacation, Rocca vows to remain faithful to her husband. Then she discovers that he has been fooling around. Familiar plot, lovely scenery. Hollywood expatriates Mark Damon and Elaine Stewart also appear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Night Passage is so similar in spirit to the successful collaborations between star James Stewart and director Anthony Mann that it comes as a surprise that this film is directed by James Nielson. Stewart plays Grant McLaine, ex-railroad employee and the level-headed brother of firebrand gunslinger The Utica Kid (Audie Murphy). When Grant is entrusted to guard a train delivering $10,000, The Kid's gang holds up the train and steals the money. Grant takes off to hunt his felonious brother down and attempts to convince him to go straight. Unfortunately, The Kid refuses, and the brothers face off in a showdown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rogue's March was described by one observer as an eastern western. A mustachioed Peter Lawford stars as Capt. Dion Lenbridge of His Majesty's Service. Branded a traitor, Lenbridge is cashiered from the regiment. In fact, Lenbridge isn't a traitor, but he spends the next 84 minutes proving it. He makes it his mission in life to rid India of the insidious influence of Russia, whose leaders intend to establish a stronghold in the Jewel of the British crown. Though the Russians depicted herein are of the Czarist variety, they spout curiously communistic dialogue, a reflection of the Red paranoia then prevalent in Hollywood. With the grudging assistance of Captain Thomas Garron (Richard Greene), Lenbridge valiantly thwarts the rascally Russians' schemes during a climactic desert battle. Janice Rule is on hand as the nominal love interest, while Leo G. Carroll does a C. Aubrey Smith routine as Lenbridge's stiff-upper-lip father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hollywood, 1927: the silent-film romantic team of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is the toast of Tinseltown. While Lockwood and Lamont personify smoldering passions onscreen, in real life the down-to-earth Lockwood can't stand the egotistical, brainless Lina. He prefers the company of aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), whom he met while escaping his screaming fans. Watching these intrigues from the sidelines is Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor), Don's best pal and on-set pianist. Cosmo is promoted to musical director of Monumental Pictures by studio head R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) when the talking-picture revolution commences. That's all right for Cosmo, but how will talkies affect the upcoming Lockwood-Lamont vehicle "The Dueling Cavalier"? Don, an accomplished song-and-dance man, should have no trouble adapting to the microphone. Lina, however, is another matter; put as charitably as possible, she has a voice that sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. The disastrous preview of the team's first talkie has the audience howling with derisive laughter. On the strength of the plot alone, concocted by the matchless writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Singin' in the Rain is a delight. But with the addition of MGM's catalog of Arthur Freed-Nacio Herb Brown songs -- "You Were Meant for Me," "You Are My Lucky Star," "The Broadway Melody," and of course the title song -- the film becomes one of the greatest Hollywood musicals ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"You guys will never be soldiers!" With these words Richard Widmark opens and closes Take the High Ground. Widmark plays a tough drill sergeant, whipping his recruits through basic training in preparation for shipment to Korea. Carleton Carpenter is the standard-issue private who just can't seem to cut it, despite Widmark's relentless special attention. To prove that the behemoth sergeant has a tender side, the script contrives a romantic triangle involving Widmark, Elaine Stewart, and Karl Malden. The film is an amalgam of rugged realism and Hollywood hokiness, with Widmark terrific as the topkick you love to hate. Filmed at Fort Bliss, Texas, Take the High Ground utilizes several real-life soldiers in the drill sequences (you can recognize the real ones; they aren't afraid of Richard Widmark). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kirk Douglas plays the corrupt and amoral head of a major film studio in this Hollywood drama, often regarded as one of the film's industry's most interesting glimpses at itself. Actress Gloria Lorrison (Lana Turner), director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) are invited to a meeting at a Hollywood sound stage at the request of producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon). Pebbel is working with studio chief Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), whose studio is in financial trouble and needs a blockbuster hit. If these three names will sign to a new project, he's convinced that there's no way he can lose. But there's a rub -- all three of these Hollywood heavyweights hate Shields's guts. He dumped Gloria for another woman, he double-crossed Fred out of a plum directing assignment, and he was responsible for the death of James Lee's wife. All three are ready to tell Pebbel to forget it, until they hear the voice of Shields, calling from Europe to discuss the project by phone. The Bad and the Beautiful won five Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Gloria Grahame. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Ed Fury, hero of many a sword and sandal epic, once more dons tunic for the Italian Seven Revenges. This time, Ed and a cohort find themselves in the service of Genghis Kahn. In order to prove their worth, they must carry out the titular revenges. Hollywood expatriate Elaine Stewart is the heroine. Among the scriptwriters of Seven Revenges was Sergio Leone, on the brink of bigger thinks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

You for Me stars Peter Lawford as a profligate playboy who's a nice guy underneath. After suffering a hunting accident which leaves him with a butt full of buckshot, Lawford is interred in the hospital that his donations have kept afloat. Nurse Jane Greer refuses to treat Lawford any better than any other patient, which of course makes him adore her all the more. Gig Young is once more the poor schlemiel who loses the girl--but this time Young deserves it, since he encourages Jane to make goo-goo eyes at Lawford so the donations will keep on coming (there's a word for that sort of thing where we come from, stranger). You for Me was directed by Don Weis, whose MGM films are often so lightweight that they're in danger of floating away. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide