Sam Kaufman Movies

Based on the novel by author Jonathan Safran Foer, director Stephen Daldry's post-9/11 drama follows the journey of a nine-year-old boy as he attempts to solve a family mystery. Two years after his father is killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks, the curious boy discovers a mysterious key hidden in a household vase and begins an exhaustive search for the matching lock. Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An old man learns the sad truth of the old saw about being careful what you wish for in this horror outing that is based on the enduring cautionary tale. It all begins with an army sergeant who is given a magical monkey's paw while fighting in India. He learns that the paw contains three wishes. Later the soldier is seen visiting an elderly couple in England. He tells of the paw and how no wish it grants comes without a terrible price. Despite the warning, the old man is tempted by the paw's power and so slyly steals it from the soldier as he departs in the morning. the old man's first wish is for enough money to pay the dowry of the girl her son wants to marry. Sure enough the wish is granted. Unfortunately, money comes from the son's life insurance, for the boy is killed at work. Horrified, the father wishes for his son to be alive, but then fearing that the paw will do something even more dreadful wishes that he had never said that. The next day, as if by magic, the man awakens to find his son hale and hearty. Whew! It was all but a bad dream. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This first film version of the Edward Knoblock theatrical chestnut Kismet stars the actor who made the play famous (and virtually his life's work): Otis Skinner. As he had so many times before, Skinner plays Hajj, the Arabian Nights beggar-magician who enjoys the amorous attentions of the wazir's wife. Hajj manages to secure his daughter's marriage to the young caliph, rid the land of the evil wazir, and bedeck himself in splendiferous clothing, all between sunrise and sunset. Otis Skinner was 61 when he appeared in this film, and looks it; he also looked his age ten years later when he starred in the first sound version of Kismet. Nonetheless, he carries off his trademarked role with the energy and aplomb of a man half (nay, one-third) his age. Though primitively directed by Louis J. Gasnier, Kismet was one of the first significant successes for the young production firm Robertson-Cole, which later matriculated into RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi