Geraldine Wall Movies

Acquitted for the murder of her husband Jameson (John Hart), Louise Selff (Marion Moses) hires Perry Mason (Perry Mason) to find the real killer--or at the very least, to locate Jameson's still-missing body. Things get really dicey for Louise when she starts having visions of her supposedly deceased spouse, culminating with a visitation by Jameson's "ghost", who advises Louise to invest heavily in a new laser process. Of course, it turns out that Jameson isn't dead at all--but he soon will be, and since "double jeopardy" doesn't apply here, Louise is again put on trial for murder! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perry (Raymond Burr) visits the campus of Manzana Valley Prep School to confer with his client, Dean Aaron Stuart (Milton Selzer). Someone is working very hard to destroy Dr. Stuart's reputation, and that someone turns out to be assistant dean Tobin Wade (H.M. Wynant)--whose own reputation has been tarnished by embezzlement and the theft of a rare book. When Wade is murdered, the police pounce upon Dr. Stuart, but Perry is (as always!) thoroughly convinced of his client's innocence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Druggist Herbert Simms (Linden Chiles) hopes to change careers and become a TV writer. To this end, he submits his first script to unscrupulous producer Charlie Cory (John Lasell)--who proceeds to steal Simms' story idea and pass it off as his own. The outraged Simms consults his family's attorney, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who tells him that nothing can be done because no contract had been signed. Not long afterward, Cory is bludgeoned to death--and Simms is spotted fleeing the murder scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A confused Ritchie (Larry Mathews) stops Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) cold during breakfast one morning with a big question: Why is Ritchie's middle name "Rosebud"? In answer, Rob and Laura flash back to a family gathering at the Petrie home a few months before Ritchie's birth, where virtually every one of their relatives was throwing out suggestions as to the best name for the new arrival. Without giving away the episode's punch line, it should be noted that among the guests are Rob's father Sam (J. Pat O'Malley) and the formidable Grandfather Petrie (Cyril Delevanti), who favors the name "Ulysses David." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man wearing dark glasses steals a valuable necklace from the showroom window of a jewelry store--then returns the item and walks away. It turns out that this is a mere "dress rehearsal" for an actual robbery planned by store employee Karl Addison (John Conte), who intends to use the fact that an upcoming operation will render him temporarily blind as his alibi. Alas, things go terribly wrong, and Addison is killed. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) enters the scene when his client James Kincannon (Jack Ging) is charged with Addison's murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entertaining comedy by Charles Walters, everyone seems to get in on the act, even the dog and especially the four overactive kids in a wildly challenging family. David Niven co-stars with Doris Day as Lawrence and Kate Mackay, distinctive parents struggling with home, life, and family. Lawrence opts for leaving his job teaching at Columbia University in New York for a post as a drama critic for a Gotham newspaper, bringing new problems to the pile the family already owns. First, they are forced to move out -- far out -- to the countryside with their brood and canine. And next, while Kate handles home, hearth, and hellions, Lawrence proceeds to alienate one of his best friends with a shattering review. That unhappy beginning to his new career also brings in one of the actresses damaged by his cutting remarks (Janis Paige), who wreaks her own form of havoc on poor Lawrence. In the meantime, Day gets to sing some songs which add to the light-hearted attitude of it all. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel The Cup and the Sword by Alice Tisdale Hobart, this drama examines the trials and tribulations of three generations of French-American California vineyard owners. It's set during the Prohibition era, when wine makers were financially challenged and had to decide whether or not they wanted to cooperate with bootleggers to survive. Claude Rains plays Philippe Rambeau, an older grower in the Napa Valley who approaches his work like a craftsman. His grandson John (Rock Hudson) wants to make money by getting the family a cut of the bootleg market for wine. John's cousin Elizabeth (Jean Simmons) arrives from England summoned by Philippe, who hopes that she will bring stability to the business. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Every time the family of teenager Alice Denning (Luana Anders) moves to a new town, mysterious fires begin breaking out. Circumstantial evidence would suggest that Alice is responsible for these fires, even though she is never anywhere near the flames. Can it be that the girl is demonically possessed. . .or have the fires been caused by that curious phenomenon known as spontaneous combustion? Featured as Alice's long-suffering father is Edward C. Platt, better known as "The Chief" in the 1960s sitcom Get Smart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse) is a dancer at a night club in early 1930's Chicago. A healthy cynic who still possesses some ideals, she entertains no illusions about the "invitation" (or the $100 that goes with it) that she gets to a party hosted by mob kingpin Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb) -- but she still won't let Angelo's head torpedo Louis Canetto (John Ireland) get near her. Angelo's attorney Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor) is another story -- he's a more complicated than the men he defends, and still enough of an idealist so that when he and Vicki cross swords about who is the worse hypocrite, it actually affects him. Farrell, whose right leg has been crippled from birth and getting worse, took the easy way to success by pursuing a criminal practice, including getting Canetto off a murder rap -- but after meeting Vicki he starts to see another path to take, and also embarks on a year of surgical procedures to cure the worst of the pain in his leg. And he comes out a new man, with a new plan in life, including starting over in a practice that doesn't involve criminal law. But Angelo plans on having Farrell fight an old friend, prosecutor Jeffrey Stewart (Kent Smith), who is trying to indict Angelo's associate Cooky La Motte (Corey Allen). Farrell resists, until Angelo threatens to harm Vicki -- and when the case and the trail blow up in both sides' faces, he finds himself caught between the mob and the law, with Vicki urging him to do the right thing. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Kathy Ferguson (Barbara Stanwyck) is a cynical newspaper columnist in San Francisco, handling women's advice -- by chance one day, the paper's city editor assigns her to cover the woman's angle on the arrival of a pair of L.A. police detectives, Capt. Manny Alidos (Royal Dano) and Lt. Bill Doyle (Sterling Hayden), on the hunt for a murder suspect known to be hiding somewhere in the city. They're both pretty button-down types and seem like fish-out-of-water in the more easy-going Frisco, and Kathy quickly clashes with them both, especially when her column appealing to the missing suspect as a woman yields serious dual results -- not only does Kathy boost her profile and readership, but the missing suspect makes contact and is ultimately brought in; in the process, Kathy goes from journalistic back-bencher to media star. That would be the end of the issue, except that Kathy and Bill have become attracted to each other amid their clashes, parries, and thrusts, and decide to get married -- she spurns the offer of a job in New York to move to Los Angeles and settle down to the life of a wife and homemaker. But that proves impossible -- Kathy quickly chafes at what she regards as the empty vacuous chatter of her fellow detective wives' lives and social interactions, and also her place in their pecking order as determined by their husbands' ranks and assignments (and Bill just doesn't rate high enough). Her own life suddenly cut off from career and ambition, and an ability to act on either, she becomes fixated on Bill's career and advancing it and him as a substitute. She contrives to cross paths socially with Alice Pope (Fay Wray), the wife of Inspector Tony Pope (Raymond Burr), who is both the head of an elite detective unit and the top man in her husband's division, and is soon not only getting Bill invited to parties with Pope and the police commissioner, but also cutting her husband's boss Manny Alidos and his wife Sara (Virginia Grey), to whom she's taken a special dislike, out of those same events.
It's not quite enough, however, and Kathy starts socializing on her own with Tony Pope, on Bill's behalf, and the two soon have their own relationship. Bill is still too much of a nice guy, and not careerist enough or assertive enough -- until she feigns distress at receiving poison-pen letters accusing her of having an affair with Pope, and blames Manny and Sara. This drives Bill to confront and assault Alidos, leading to a hearing in Pope's office where the chief of the division -- now very much beholden to Bill for Kathy's sake -- comes down on Bill's side. When the smoke clears, Manny is bounced back into uniform and Bill is made acting captain and put in charge of the homicide unit that Alidos formerly headed. Bill is on his way, and so is Kathy and Pope's relationship. But Pope proves to be a distressingly honorable and loyal man -- when his wife's health takes a turn for the worse, he decides to put in for retirement, and Kathy wants him to recommend Bill as his replacement. He considers it but decides that regardless of what he's done outside of his marriage, the department is too important to compromise the detective division, and that Bill just doesn't have what it takes to head it. Kathy is too deep in her strategy to back off, and also feels betrayed by Pope; now pushed over the edge, she contrives to threaten him with a gun, and is prepared to make good on her threat. Ironically enough, Bill may get his shot yet at heading the division, as he's head of homicide and takes personal charge of the biggest case the department has seen in years -- bringing in Tony Pope's killer. The only question is if and how he can put together the clues and pieces of the puzzle leading back to Kathy. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

A mysterious veiled woman hands Perry (Raymond Burr) $2000 in cash, and one-half of a $10,000 bill, as a retainer to defend a woman on a murder charge. Shortly therafter, Perry pays a visit ot embezzling businessman Albert Tydings (George Neise), only to find the man's body stuffed in his closet. Now Perry must earn his money by proving that Carol Stanley (Judith Braun), whose trust account Tydings was handling, is innocent of his murder. Counterpointing the drama is a humorous subplot wherein faithful secetary Della (Barbara Hale) nurses Perry through a vicious cold. This episode is based on a 1940 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin) takes in young actress Nanny Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) while his wife (Gene Tierney) is out of town. When Nancy is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, the two prime suspects are Peter and the neglected husband (Reginald Gardiner) of temperamental Broadway star Ginger Rogers, who had also been dallying with the dead girl. Detective Bruce (George Raft) figures out the true identity of the killer, but the audience may be well ahead of him. Despite its resplendant color photography, Black Widow is a "film noir" at heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vernon Sewell, a mercurial filmmaker who preferred to lens his pictures on chunks of his own property, was the director of Black Widow. We don't know which of Sewell's real estate holdings served as the locale for this amnesia meller. We can, however, tell you that the film was inspired by the BBC radio serial "Return from Darkness." Returning from you-know-where is Robert Ayres, who learns that his wife (Christine Norden) is planning to bump him off with the help of her boyfriend (Anthony Forwood). Ayres continues feigning a loss of memory until he is able to get the drop on his would-be murderers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide