Vincent Winter Movies

Emile Ardolino directed this treacly sequel to Three Men and a Baby. The middle-aged trio of doting fathers -- Peter the architect (Tom Selleck), Michael the cartoonist (Steve Guttenberg) and Jack the actor (Ted Danson) -- have returned, sublimating their swinging bachelor instincts in order to raise 5-year-old Mary (Robin Weisman). The child of Jack and Sylvia (Nancy Travis), Mary was abandoned by Sylvia in the foyer of the boys' apartment house in the first film. In five years, Mary has grown from a diaper-filling infant to a cute kid who insists that the guys sing rap songs to her before she goes to bed. Sylvia now also lives with the bachelors as she pursues a promising Broadway career. Peter, Michael, and Jack dote on the moppet and parenthood has rarely seemed more idyllic. But Sylvia once again disrupts their placid existence. Accepting the marriage proposal of British director and surly cad Edward (Christopher Cazenove), she announces that she and Mary are going to move to England, leaving the boys high and dry. When it turns out that Edward is secretly planning to ship Mary away to a boarding school after the marriage, the three guys race frantically to disrupt Sylvia's wedding. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In a major departure from the tone of the preceding two Superman adventure films, this mix of vile deeds and fantasy heroics drops the "S" out of cosmic and goes for comic instead. Right at the starting gate, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) and a subsequent slapstick sequence upstage (Christopher Reeves again), who later develops an identity crisis. Gorman, newly trained as a computer whiz, starts working for a conglomerate run by the corporate nemesis Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), intent on world domination. Gorman is sent to Superman's small town of Smallville to wipe out Columbia's coffee crop by fiddling with the computer side of a weather satellite. Clark Kent is in town for his class reunion, leading Superman to clash with Gorman, which in turn, leads Gorman to develop a hybrid red Kryptonite. Unwittingly, since Gorman's wits are always in doubt, the Red Kryptonite causes Superman to split into a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde schizophrenia -- but in two separate bodies. As the evil Superman swaggers around town, megalomaniac Ross Webster has other tricks in mind -- and in one of the more memorable action scenes (interspersed with a video game sequence), Superman is chased through the Grand Canyon by a fast-flying, very determined missile. Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole) is on hand for romantic interest (Margot Kidder only appears briefly -- she was growing tired of Lois Lane). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Jackie Collins wrote the best-selling novel The Stud. Her sister Joan Collins starred in the 1978 film version of The Stud. The producer on the film was Joan Collins' then-husband Ron Kass. Need we say more? Well, there is a plot, involving the insatiable Joan's sexual hold over a handsome nightclub manager Oliver Tobias. And there was a sequel, also written by Jackie and starring Joan, titled The Bitch. Need we say more now? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed on location in Paris, Disney's Horse Without a Head stars Jean-Pierre Aumont as police-inspector Sinet. The inspector's well-ordered existence is turned upside down by a group of youngsters who insist upon racing their headless toy horse up and down the streets of Paris. Villainous Herbert Lom decides to take advantage of the kids' innocent faces by hiding a key in the headless horse--a key to a deserted factory, where he has squirreled away 10 million stolen francs. Among the child actors in this breezy adventure is a young Pamela Franklin. Released theatrically in Europe, A Horse Without a Head was originally telecast in two parts on September 29, 1963 and Oct 6, 1963 as the third-season opener of Disney's Wonderful World of Color TV anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Disney's Almost Angels utilizes the legendary Vienna Boys' Choir as a backdrop for a corny but effective fictional yarn. Vincent Winter plays a train conductor's son, who aspire to join the choir. Upon joining the group, he runs afoul of fellow member Sean Scully, but the two eventually become friends. When Scully begins growing out of his soprano voice, Winter arranges for another boy in the choir to "cover" for his lyp-synching pal. Feeling guilty about the deception, Scully is about to quit the group, when he appointed assistant conductor thanks to his faithful service over the past few seasons. During an international tour, both Scully and new soloist Winter receive standing ovations. To remove the "sissy" onus from the Vienna Boys' Choir, the Disney staff goes to great length to show how the boys are regular, trouble-prone kids; even so, there's a scene wherein several of the boys are required to dress as girls for a public performance! Almost Angels performed adequately at the box office, but fared better as a two-parter on Walt Disney's Sunday night TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Disney's Greyfriars Bobby is a remake of A Challenge to Lassie; both are based on the same novel by Eleanor Atkinson, and both feature Donald Crisp in a major role. A true story, set in Edinburgh around 1875, the Disney version stars Alex McKenzie as the shepherd Old Jock, the owner of a loyal Skye terrier named Bobby. When Jock dies of "old age, exposure, and starvation," and is buried in the Edinburgh cemetery known as Greyfriars Kirk, Bobby spends his days playing with street children, begging for scraps, and evading the police constables, but by night he sleeps on his late master's gravesite and refuses to leave, despite graveyard caretaker John Brown's (Crisp) efforts to chase Bobby away. Slowly but surely, the taciturn Brown comes to love the steadfast dog, which brings him into conflict with stiff-necked Constable MacLean (Donald MacRae), who intends to "arrest" Bobby if Brown doesn't pay the minimal license fee. Standing on principle, Brown refuses, but a group of local children raise the necessary funds, setting the stage for a heartwarmingly Disneyesque finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Beyond This Place is a tame murder mystery based on a novel by A. J. Cronin. Van Johnson is cast as an American citizen whose British father has supposedly been dead for years. On a visit to London, Johnson discovers that his father is very much alive, serving a life sentence for murder. Johnson inaugurates his own investigation, retraces the trail of circumstantial evidence, and unearths the real culprit. Director Jack Cardiff was not happy with his work on Beyond This Place, possibly because he was obliged for box office purposes to use an American star in an essentially British story. The film was released in the US as Web of Evidence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Dark Avenger was the European-release title of the Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Warriors; 20th Century-Fox handled European distribution, while Allied Artists released the film stateside. Lensed on location in Hertfordshire, England, the film stars Flynn as Edward, the "Black Prince" of England. At the end of the Hundred Years' war, Edward remains in France to guard the lands taken by his predecessor-father. He is opposed in this by the heavy of the piece, Count DeVille (Peter Finch). The story comes to a rousing conclusion as Edward and his followers defend their castle against DeVille's minions. Joanne Dru costars in Dark Avenger as Lady Joan Holland, who like Count DeVille is wholly a product of screenwriter Daniel B. Ullman's imagination. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi