Millard Lampell Movies
Millard Lampell originally made a name for himself in folk music as part of the influential Almanac Singers, which featured folk legends Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Lee Hays. Lampell and Guthrie wrote songs together and adapted traditional songs into labor anthems and pro-union messages. In 1966, Lampell was awarded an Emmy for his teleplay for the Hallmark Hall of Fame drama Eagle in a Cage. During his acceptance speech he revealed that despite having been blacklisted during the McCarthy era, he had been writing scripts for years under a pseudonym. Some of his screenplays include Chance Meeting (1959) and The Idol (1962). Notable teleplays include The Adams Chronicles and the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (both 1976).Before going professional, Lampell studied at the University of West Virginia on a football scholarship. It was there he gained his first exposure to the folk music that would so influence his life. In addition to song and scriptwriting, Lampell also wrote novels and the play The Wall which Billy Rose produced on Broadway.
Lampell died of lung cancer on October 3, 1997, at the age of 78. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Triumph of the Spirit is the true story of Salamo Arouch, a Greek-Jewish boxer imprisoned in Auschwitz during World War II. Arrested while attempting to help his family and friends escape the Nazi juggernaut, Arouch (Dafoe) is slated for extermination. He manages to survive--and to serve as an inspiration for his fellow inmates--by literally boxing for his life. He does this at the orders of his SS captors, who gamble on the outcome of Arouch's bouts. With each victory, Arouch is rewarded with extra bread rations, which he passes on to his family. Counterpointing the main story is the seemingly foredoomed romantic relationship between Arouch and female inmate Allegra (Wendy Gazelle). An uplifting coda rounds out this grim factual account. Triumph of the Spirit was filmed on location at Auschwitz--the first film of its kind to be lensed in that infamous locale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, (more)
It could be said that without the incredible success of the ABC miniseries Holocaust in 1978, CBS might have thought twice before greenlighting the ambitious, three-hour TV docudrama The Wall four years later. Adapted by Millard Lampell from his own 1960 Broadway play, which in turn was inspired by John Hersey's 1950 novel, The Wall is the heartbreaking but inspiring story of the heroic Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. When it becomes obvious that every Jew in Poland is doomed to be shipped off to the Nazi work and death camps, some 650 members of the newly formed Jewish Fighting Organization mount a last, brave stand against nearly 3000 German soldiers. The story is told through the eyes of Warsaw Jew Dolek Benson (Tom Conti, in his first American TV appearance), who is a passive observer of the atrocities all around him until he learns the truth about the Nazi's "resettlement" program. Rachel Roberts, cast as a former schoolteacher, made her final appearance in this film; she passed away shortly after production ended. Filmed on location in Sosnowiec, Poland and first telecast February 16, 1982, The Wall earned a Peabody Award the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In the second half of the 19th century, some 100,000 abandoned or poverty-stricken New York children were relocated to midwestern families by the Children's Aid Society. Made for television, Orphan Train is a fictionalized account of the early days of the Society in 1854. Top billing goes to Jill Eikenberry as a minister's daughter and Kevin Dobson as a photojournalist. Eikenberry shepherds the first group of orphans from New York to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, with Dobson along for the ride in hopes of getting the exclusive story. En route, the orphans encounter hostility from so-called "respectable" people and danger from a fire and a train crash. The supporting cast includes Glenn Close, five years away from her theatrical-movie debut in The World According to Garp. Based on a novel by Dorothea G. Petrie, Orphan Train was initially telecast December 22, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jill Eikenberry, Kevin Dobson, (more)
- 1978
Another of the many Arthur Hailey literary properties which were transformed into TV miniseries in the 1970s, the five-part, ten-hour Wheels took place in Detroit sometime in the late 1960s. Rock Hudson starred as Adam Trenton, executive in charge of project development at the fictional auto-manufacturing firm of National Motors. Ambitious and ruthless, Adam let nothing stand in the way of his development and production of a new, youth-marketed car known as the Hawk. Meanwhile, Adam's bored and neglected wife Erica (Lee Remick, who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance) drifted into an extramarital affair and a brief "career" as a shoplifter. Eventually, Adam himself acquired a mistress, who in turn fell in love with Adam's son Kirk (James Carrol Jordan). As if things couldn't get any seamier, Kirk's brother Greg (Howard McGillin) was plagued by a blackmailer, while crooked car dealer Smokey Stevenson (played by miniseries stalwart Anthony Franciosa) cooked up a sinister deal that threatened to destroy National Motors. Originally telecast from May 7 to 15, 1978 on NBC, Arthur Hailey's Wheels posted such disappointing ratings that, when it was later rebroadcast, the property was whittled down from ten hours to four -- with episodes three and four summarily dropped from the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1971
- PG
Television veteran Fielder Cook brings a TV-like intimacy to his direction of Eagle in a Cage. This underrated film stars Kenneth Haigh as Napoleon Bonaparte, in his years of exile on St. Helena. The story is told from the point of view of the island's governor (John Gielgud), a former schoolteacher who finds greatness thrust upon him upon becoming Napoleon's jailer. By necessity, the emphasis is on conversation rather than action, but it holds the ear throughout. Eagle in a Cage is one of a handful of theatrical films released by the American broadcasting firm of Group W. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An amoral American makes his way through genteel British society in this drama. Marco (Michael Thomas Parks) is a self-centered would-be artist from the United States who is living in England while supposedly studying his craft. Marco is close friends with Timothy (John Leyton), a native studying medicine, but when Marco meets Timothy's girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Hilary), he makes plans to steal her away from him. Marco seduces Sarah at a party thrown by Timothy's mother Carol (Jennifer Jones); when Carol happens upon the couple in flagrante delicto, she decides that Marco is beneath contempt and shares this opinion with her son; Sarah moves in with Marco shortly afterward. Timothy forgives Marco after he comes to his aid in a fight, and Carol begins to think that she may have been wrong about the young man. But Marco decides that he's tired of Sarah, and he plans to break up with her; when Timothy gets wind of this, he rushes out to give her the bad news in advance. Marco, however, plans to meet Sarah at Timothy's house; when instead he encounters Carol, he decides to add her to his list of conquests. The Idol was scripted by Millard Lampell, a dramatist and musician who was once a member of the folk singing group The Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Jones, Michael Parks, (more)
- 1964
This documentary, sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, chronicles the history of the garment workers from 1900 to 1964. Director Harold Mayer uses old photos and newsreel footage combined with more recent film to tell of the history of the union. Folks songs are included in the film to explain the political and historical changes of the union. The film depicts management unfavorably and does not gloss over the violence that occurred during labor strikes. Of course, no mention is made about any "alleged" ties between the industry and organized crime. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Based on an actual escape from East to West Germany staged on January 28, 1962, this routine docudrama by director Robert Siodmak re-enacts the tale. Kurt Schroeder (Don Murray) is a chauffeur, the young East Berliner who gets the idea of digging a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall. Thus well-assured that no guards will be able to see him escaping, Kurt carefully implements his plan. But he is not thinking of himself alone, and when the time comes to use the tunnel and leave East Germany behind, he takes his family and a few dozen other people along with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1959
Award-winning director Joseph Losey guides this suspenseful mystery through its paces, beginning with an apparently guilty Dutch artist, Jan Van Rooyen (Hardy Kruger), caught in an upscale cottage where a woman lies murdered. Hard-nosed, irritable Inspector Morgan (Stanley Baker) is certain Van Rooyen is guilty and begins to grill him about his story. The artist finally admits that he and the dead woman, Jacqueline Cousteau (Micheline Presle), had met by accident and eventually began a love affair. She was married, so they kept their liaison a secret. Inspector Morgan then informs him that the woman was single but involved with a high-level diplomat. So what is going on? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hardy Kruger, Stanley Baker, (more)
- 1951
John Derek plays a Polish-American immigrant who excels in high school sports. Though no great shakes academically, Derek wins a scholarship at an exclusive Southern university. Sidney Blackmer is a wealthy alumnus who sees to it that Derek is allowed to coast in his classes so that he can play football--and help Blackmer win a series of lucrative wagers on the games. When Derek is sidelined by an injury, Blackmer loses interest, but the rich man's niece (Donna Reed) remains faithful to the boy. The cold business of subsidizing (and exploiting) college athletes is given a critical scrutiny in Saturday's Hero, though the film ends happily with Derek bearing down on his classroom work and making something of himself without relying on football. Featured in a supporting role is ex-athlete Aldo DaRe, later known as Aldo Ray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derek, Donna Reed, (more)
Harry Brown's honest, unsentimental WW2 novel A Walk in the Sun has been effectively adapted for the screen by Robert Rossen. Dana Andrews stars as Sgt. Tyne, a platoon squad leader in Italy who ends up assuming command of his platoon after a series of deaths. As they prepare to attack an isolated Nazi-held farmhouse, each of the infantymen reveals his true character as he dwells upon his background and contemplates the job at hand. The film's effectiveness lies in the non-cliched characterizations by a carefully chosen all-male cast. Huntz Hall of "East Side Kids" fame is particularly good in a scene wherein he argues over whether the human body or the leaf is the most complicated natural structure. Director Lewis Milestone's use of a ballad to link the action predates High Noon by some seven years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, (more)
