Teresa Wright Movies

Filmed on location, Escapade in Japan stars child actors Jon Provost and Roger Nakagawa. Separated from their parents, Tony (Provost) and Hiko (Nakagawa) wander through such sites as a Shinto temple, the teeming streets of Kyoto and a geisha house. Believing that they've somehow broken the law, the boys do their best to elude the authorities, who of course only want to reunite the kids with their families. Teresa Wright and Cameron Mitchell co-star as Provost's parents, Kuniko Miyake and Susumu Fujita play Nakagawa's mom and dad, and a young Clint Eastwood shows up as a Marine named "Dumbo." Produced by rapidly fading RKO Radio Pictures, Escapade in Japan was distributed by Universal-International. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 20th Century-Fox Hour (later syndicated as The Hour of Stars) ran on CBS just shy of two years, from October 1955 through September 1957. An anthology program, the series typically featured readaptations of 20th Century-Fox feature films for a sixty-minute TV airslot. The 1955 production of Miracle on 34th Street - a reworking of George Seaton's 1948 blockbuster and Christmas perennial - was just such an example and became one of the first episodes of the series. The program makes its home video debut following recent appearances on The Fox Movie Channel. In this slightly condensed version of the Seaton story, Thomas Mitchell takes over the Edmund Gwenn role, portraying Kris Kringle, Teresa Wright plays Doris Walker, and Sandy Descher stars as her daughter, Susan Walker, filling the role originally made famous by Natalie Wood. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this experimental 1954 Western, director William Wellman uses black-and-white backgrounds with occasional splatches of color on certain characters' bodies and clothes. On a snowbound ranch in northern California, the Bridges family is trapped by winter weather and its own internal conflicts. It is run by a stern matriarch, Ma Bridges (Beulah Bondi), who lords it over her weak, alcoholic husband (Philip Tonge) and her bitter, unmarried daughter, Grace (Teresa Wright). The three sons squabble constantly. Staying at the ranch is a young neighbor, Gwen Williams (Diana Lynn), who is smitten with one of the sons, Harold (Tab Hunter). But the arrogant Curt (Robert Mitchum) wants to take control of the ranch and take possession of Gwen too. During the winter, a black panther has been killing the cattle on the ranch. Curt and the third brother, the quiet Arthur (William Hopper), set out to kill the panther, but when Curt leaves to get more food, the cat kills Arthur. The grief-stricken family blames Curt, who then sets out on his own to kill the beast. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The Actress is based on Years Ago, one of several autobiographies by actress/playwright Ruth Gordon. Jean Simmons stars as blossoming teenager Ruth Gordon Jones, who is determined to become a famous stage star despite the objections of her stubborn ex-sea captain father Clinton Jones (Spencer Tracy). Papa wants Ruth to become a physical-education instructor, but she wants none of this. With the covert help of her understanding mother (Teresa Wright), Ruth seeks out stage work--any stage work. Ultimately, it is Papa who dips into the Jones family's limited coffers to bankroll his daughter's first big break. The Actress represented the movie debut of Anthony Perkins, here cast as Ruth Gordon Jones' gawky boyfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joseph Cotten plays a assistant bank manager who steals $500,000 from the safe late on a Friday. He plans to fly to Brazil with his wife (Teresa Wright) and child. They get as far as New Orleans; the wife finds out about the robbery and walks out on Cotten. Stricken by guilt, Cotten must now return to his home town and replace the money before he's found out on Monday morning. Writer/director Andrew L. Stone smooths out the unrealistic elements of The Steel Trap by filming extensively at real locations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Virtually ignored at the time of its release, Capture has built up a small but enthusiastic following since its lapse into public domain. American oil man Lew Ayres kills a coworker whom he suspects of robbery. Thinking it over, Ayres wonders whether or not the man was innocent. He seeks out his victim's widow, played by Teresa Wright. They fall in love and marry, which does nothing to soothe Ayres' guilty conscience. When he discovers who was actually behind the robbery, Ayres goes after the real culprit, who is accidentally killed before justice can be done. Falsely accused of murder, Ayres now fully understands the untenable position of the man he'd killed so long before. The Capture was produced by Niven Busch, the then-husband of Teresa Wright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Chased by a posse to a remote cabin, Jeb (Robert Mitchum) is joined by his fearful wife Thorley (Teresa Wright), awaiting the arrival of the men tracking them, as they try to reason out what has gone wrong in their lives. Jeb can't remember anything about his early childhood except for a horrible incident in which the people around him were killed by a mysterious stranger, whose flashing spurs were all the boy saw. He was raised by Ma Callum (Judith Anderson), alongside her two children, Thorley and Adam, as one of her own. But every time Jeb seemed poised to find peace, or even simple stability in his life, lurking nearby was Grant (Dean Jagger), a one-armed stranger who seemed bent on tormenting Jeb -- Jeb doesn't know who he really is, much less who Grant is, but Grant knows enough about him and is good enough at manipulating human nature to make Jeb a target for jealousy and murder. Making Jeb's life even more complicated is the fact that he and his adopted sister Thorley fell in love with each other, while Adam (John Rodney), his adopted brother, has come to hate him. The machinations around Jeb and Thorley come home to roost in multiple shootings and murder, a deadly chase and a long-planned lynching. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this improbable romantic drama set in Gay Nineties London, a member of Parliament jeopardizes his career when he falls in love with a music hall dancer. When his stodgy older brother finds out about the affair, he sternly counsels the dancer to jilt her lover, lest she damage his political career. Not wanting to hurt her beloved, she leaves him and goes back to the dancehall. Unfortunately, trouble begins one night when the police mistake her for a hooker. She flees and ends up hiding in the apartment of a concert pianist. He has his own troubles when he is arrested for a murder he did not commit. Only the dancer can prove him innocent, but he doesn't know how to find her. While the police begin a city-wide search for the girl, her true-love decides he loves her more than politics and proposes to her. She joyfully accepts. The next day, a formal announcement and picture of the happy couple appears in the newspaper. The police find and question her, but she, fearful that a scandal could jeopardize her nuptials, denies ever having seen the pianist. His case goes to court and things look bleak until the girl finds her courage and shows up to clear his name. Fortunately, her confession generates a happy ending all around. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When he finds out his ex-wife has just had his child and plans to give her up for adoption, a timid English instructor dashes to the child's rescue and attempts to care for her in a hotel room. Before too long, however, his new fiancee and his ex confront him and he must decide what he will do. This light comedy starring Gary Cooper, Theresa Wright and Anita Louise garnered Oscar nominations for Sound and Art Direction and was previously filmed under the title Little Accident in 1930 and 1939. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class British home front during World War II sometimes seems over-calculated and contrived when seen today. In particular, Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance in the title role often comes off as artificial, especially when she nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband (Walter Pidgeon) participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. However, even if the film has lost a good portion of its ability to move and inspire audiences, it is easy to see why it was so popular in 1942-and why Winston Churchill was moved to comment that its propaganda value was worth a dozen battleships. Everyone in the audience-even English audiences, closer to the events depicted in the film than American filmgoers-liked to believe that he or she was capable of behaving with as much grace under pressure as the Miniver family. The film's setpieces-the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, an annual flower show being staged despite the exigencies of bombing raids, cleric Henry Wilcoxon's climactic call to arms from the pulpit of his ruined church-are masterfully staged and acted, allowing one to ever so briefly forget that this is, after all, slick propagandizing. In addition to Best Picture and Best Actress, Mrs. Miniver garnered Oscars for best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), best director (William Wyler), best script (Arthur Wimperis, George Froschel, James Hilton, Claudine West), best cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg) and best producer (Sidney Franklin). Sidebar: Richard Ney, who plays Greer Garson's son, later married the actress-and still later became a successful Wall Street financier. Mrs. Miniver was followed by a 1951 sequel, The Miniver Story, but without the wartime setting the bloom was off the rose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Playwright Lillian Hellman first wrote of the horrible Hubbard family in her 1939 play The Little Foxes. In this lavish 1941 film version, Bette Davis takes over for Broadway's Tallulah Bankhead in the role of conniving turn-of-the-century Southern aristocrat Regina Hubbard Giddens. Regina's equally odious brothers (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid) want her to lend them 75,000 dollars to help build a cotton mill. To do this, she must make peace with her long-estranged husband, Horace (Herbert Marshall) -- and failing that, she tries to arrange a wealthy marriage between her daughter, Alexandra (Teresa Wright), and her slimy nephew Leo (Dan Duryea). Horace refuses to give Regina the money, whereupon Leo is pressured by his father (Reid) to steal bonds from the family business. Regina uses this information as a means of blackmailing her brothers for a share in the new mill. In retaliation, Horace claims that he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal. When Horace suffers a heart attack, Regina makes no effort to give him his medicine, and he dies without revealing his willingness to loan the money to Leo. Regina is thus still able to strongarm her brothers into giving her a piece of the mill -- but the price for her evil machinations is the loss of her daughter's love and respect. The Little Foxes caused a censorship stir in 1941; by refusing to give Horace his medicine, Regina technically gets away with murder. However, the censors decided that Regina was punished enough when her daughter left her to marry an honest newspaperman (Richard Carlson). Given the usual Tiffany treatment by producer Sam Goldwyn, The Little Foxes was a success; several years later, Lillian Hellman wrote a "prequel" to The Little Foxes, titled Another Part of the Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide