Audrey Swanson Movies

Adapted by John Collier from a story by H.G. Wells, this episode is built around the talents of child actor John Megna, best remembered for his role as the Truman Capote counterpart in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. Obsessed by magic and magicians, Tony Grainger (Megna) begs his father, Steven (Leslie Nielsen), to take him to Mr. Dulong's magic shop as a ninth birthday present. What seems to be a harmless excursion into the black arts becomes something else entirely when Tony steps into a magic cabinet and temporarily disappears -- followed by Mr. Dulong (David Opatoshu), who disappears for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Head over heels in love with brassy nightclub singer Niki Carroll (Diana Dors), Dr. Don Reed (John Gavin) intends to marry her despite the objections of his father, Horace Reed (Carl Benton Reid), and Niki's former boyfriend, Bill Floyd (Scott Brady). Even the fact that all three of Niki's former husbands met with violent deaths will not deter Don from popping the question. It would be nice to report that Don's instincts are on target, and that Niki is a "good girl" despite her reputation -- but that just isn't true, as Don learns to his everlasting grief during his honeymoon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bank teller Lee Remick is accosted in her garage one dark night by asthmatic psycho Ross Martin. He forces her to go through with an elaborate robbery scheme, threatening to kill Lee's teen-aged sister Stefanie Powers if the police are summoned. FBI agent Glenn Ford suspects that something is amiss and advises Lee to play along with Martin, hoping in this way to capture this dangerous criminal with a minimum of bloodshed. Unfortunately, Martin is as clever as he is deadly, always managing to stay one step ahead of Ford. The now-famous climax of Experiment in Terror finds the feds closing in on Martin during a crowded night baseball game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Experiment in Terror is based on the Gordons' novel Operation Terror. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Going through a familiar rite of passage, teenager Wally (Tony Dow) purchases his first car -- a dilapidated old clunker which cost him all of twenty-five dollars. Well, it cannot be said that Wally hasn't gotten value for money -- the car's engine lasts just long enough to stall in the Cleavers' driveway. And as if this wasn't crisis enough, Ward (Hugh Beaumont) had been dead set against Wally buying a car -- and now the old heap is blocking Ward's own vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Solid Gold Cadillac was adapted from the George S. Kaufman-Howard Teichmann Broadway hit of the same. Both the play and film were predicated upon the notion of a humble ten-share stockholder triumphing over a corrupt big-business board of directors, but there was one significant difference. In the stage version, septuagenarian Josephine Hull starred as Laura Partridge, a sweet little old lady who asks several embarrassing questions at a stockholder's meeting. In the film version, Laura's age is lowered by at least four decades to accommodate star Judy Holliday. In both versions, a romance develops between Laura Partridge and Edward L. McKeever, the owner of the corporation she takes on. McKeever (played in the film by Paul Douglas, Holliday's co-star in the Broadway version of Born Yesterday) is an honest man, which is more than can be said for his self-serving board of directors (Fred Clark, John Williams, Ray Collins et. al.) With McKeever's covert help, Laura, who has been given a dummy executive position in the corporation in hopes that she'll shut up, forms a stockholder's association intent upon throwing the rascals out. Though the dialogue in Solid Gold Cadillac is consistently entertaining, the film's best line goes to Judy Holliday: Describing her brief career as an actress in a Shakespearean troupe, she recalls ruefully that "No one's allowed to sit down unless you're a king." George Burns, taking over from the stage version's Fred Allen, provides the wry scene-setting narration. Currently available TV prints of The Solid Gold Cadillac have restored the original Technicolor final shot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi