Denise Alexander Movies
Melissa Gilbert stars in the title role of this made-for-television adaption of the novel by Danielle Steel. Gilbert stars as Zoya, an Russian orphan who flees her homeland and falls in love with an American Army soldier stationed in Paris. The two settle in New York, start a family and all seems well, but the dramatic twists and turns for Zoya have only just begun. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner, (more)
- 1989
The "endless game" is espionage, which goes on and on despite government upheavals and changing international attitudes. Albert Finney plays a retired secret agent called back to active duty. Finney is entrusted with the task of finding out why his fellow retirees are being killed off. One of the victims is a woman who'd once been Finney's lover. Anthony Quayle makes his final screen appearance in this made-for-cable suspenser. Endless Game was written and directed by Bryan Forbes--surprisingly, his first foray into the spy-film genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This television mini-series sequel to A Woman of Substance finds aging businesswoman Emma Harte (Deborah Kerr) preparing to hand over her empire to granddaughter Paula Fairley (Jenny Seagrave), much to the dismay of the rest of the family. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The made-for-TV Sakharov stars Jason Robards as famed Soviet nuclear physicist D. Andrei Sakharov. Lauded by his government for his scientific achievements, Sakharov nonetheless becomes an outspoken critic of Russia's human rights violations. He is reclassified as a "non-person" and exiled to the cloistered city of Gorky. He is also awarded the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize. Originally slated for a September 1984 premiere, Sakharov debuted over the HBO cable service on June 20. This coincided with Sakharov's internationally publicized hunger strike, designed to secure much-needed medical attention outside the Soviet Union for his second wife, Dr. Yelena Bonner (played in the film by Glenda Jackson). Sakharov was filmed in England and Austria with two separate crews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Jr., Glenda Jackson, (more)
- 1978
- PG
In The Medusa Touch Brunel (Lino Ventura), a French detective on temporary assignment with Scotland Yard, investigates a mysterious series of disasters. The uncanny events begin happening shortly after writer John Morlar (Richard Burton) was hit over the head by an unknown intruder and rendered comatose. Slowly, Brunel begins to connect the strange things that are happening in the world with the deranged dreams of the comatose Morlar. He gets the final clue he needs from Morlar's reluctant psychiatrist, Dr. Zonfield (Lee Remick), who holds the key to Morlar's past. Once it is discovered that Morlar has the ability to think horrible thoughts and make them come true, Brunel and Zonfield must take off with dispatch to a London cathedral, where the Queen is scheduled to make an appearance -- but Morlar is thinking about the cathedral, and it is crumbling fast. Well-liked in Britain, this movie did not do well in the U.S. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Lino Ventura, (more)
- 1976
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, based on newspaper coverage, court testimony and eyewitness accounts, was dramatized for television by J.P. Miller. Cliff DeYoung and Sian star as Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The couple's 2-year-old son Charles Jr. is kidnapped from the family's Hopewell, New Jersey home on March 1, 1932; though the ransom is paid, the child's body is found a few days later. All circumstantial evidence points to German expatriate Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Anthony Hopkins) as the kidnapper/murderer. While never seriously challenging the notion of Hauptmann's guilt, the film raises several questions concerning the fairness of his trial. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case first aired in a three-hour timeslot on Febrary 26, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
One Life to Life regular Denise Alexander briefly left her day job to star in the late-night videotaped spine tingler A Gift of Terror. Denise plays a woman given to strange, foreboding visions of death. As her friends begin dropping like flies, the girl realizes that the gift of prophecy is no gift at all. This point is driven home (several times, in fact) when Denise begins conjuring up premonitions of her own demise. Gift of Terror was a 1973 entry in the ABC anthology Wide World Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Arriving in a liberated French village, Saunders (Vic Morrow) and his men are greeted by Armand Bouchard (John Dehner), an elderly WW1 veteran. Formerly a general, Bouchard has donned his old uniform for the occasion--and carrying things a bit farther, the delusional old gentlemen loftily announces that he has assumed command of the American forces! For the sake of the man's pretty granddaughter Jacqueline (Denise Alexander), Saunders humors Bouchard, pretending to take orders from the "General" while surreptitiously using the old campaigner as a guide to the local terrain. But will Saunders have reason to regret this deception? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Sequestered in an observation post, a tiny band of German soldiers commandered by dedicated Nazi Kessler (Gunnar Hellstrom) holds off the efforts by Hanley's platoon to capture them. Declaring "the merciful are weak", Kessler threatens to kill his French hostages--including a female librarian named Annette (Denise Alexander) and five children--if Hanley (Rick Jason) makes a move. The only way to break this stalemate and save the hostages is for Annette to play upon Kessler's one and only weakness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Director Richard L. Bare made an impressive Twilight Zone debut with this classic episode. Fritz Weaver and Joe Maross star respectively as scientist William Sturka and test pilot Jerry Riden, who, aware that their country is on the brink of nuclear war, conspire to rescue themselves and their families by blasting off in an experimental spaceship. But first, the fugitives-to-be must escape the watchful eye of odious government functionary Carling (Edward Andrews). Though the episode's punch line is tipped off by its title, "Third from the Sun" scores points with some truly remarkable camerawork, courtesy of director Bare and cinematographer George Clemens. Scripted by Rod Serling from a short story by Richard Matheson, this episode first aired January 8, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Weaver, Joe Maross, (more)
- 1956
Frankie Dane (John Cassavetes) is the leader of the hornets, a local street gang that has had its share of rumbles and other trouble with the police. When one of his members is fingered to the police by a neighbor (Malcolm Atterbury) for having a gun, Frankie vows revenge, and when the same man humiliates him in public, he decides it's got to be murder. But only two members of the Hornets, mentally unstable Lou Macklin (Mark Rydell) and would-be full-fledged member "Baby" (Sal Mineo), are willing to go along, and even one of them is shaky -- the rest of the gang draws a line at killing. Social worker Ben Wagner (James Whitmore), who runs the local youth center, has been trying to reach out to the members of the Hornets and sees that something is splitting Frankie and a couple of the others off from the main gang, and is concerned enough to find out what it might be -- especially when Frankie's younger brother, a really nice kid named Richie (Peter J. Votrian), tells him that he thinks Frankie's planning to kill someone. He tries getting help from Frankie's mother (Virginia Gregg), who's too tired from her job to do much more than keep Richie from becoming like his brother, and Mr. Gioia (Will Kuluva), "Baby"'s father, who doesn't understand what went wrong between him and his son. A three-way battle of wills ensues as Frankie tries to hold his plan together and resist Wagner's efforts to intercede -- in the end, several lives are at risk, as Frankie ends up with his knife at the throat of his own brother, fully ready to use it. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Whitmore, John Cassavetes, (more)
