Henry Levin Movies
University of Pennsylvania alumnus Henry Levin did a little bit of everything during his years on Broadway: actor, director, stage manager, dialogue coach. In was in the latter capacity that Levin was brought to Hollywood in 1943. He made his film directorial bow with Columbia's Cry of the Werewolf (1944), an inexpensive but atmospheric lycanthropy meller. Columbia kept Levin busy in virtually every genre, from swashbuckler (The Bandit of Sherwood Forest) to screwball comedy (The Mating of Millie) to musical (Jolson Sings Again) to psychological drama (The Guilt of Janet Ames). Levin moved to 20th Century-Fox in 1952, where he occasionally produced as well as directed. His most pleasant memory of his Fox years was his association with waspish comic actor Clifton Webb, whom Levin directed in Mister Scoutmaster (1953), The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) and Holiday for Lovers (1959). Shortly after completing work on the definitive "spring break" picture Where the Boys Are (1960), Levin journeyed to Italy to helm the oddball Arabian nights comedy The Wonders of Alladin (1961) -- starring, of all people, Donald O'Connor. Many of Henry Levin's final projects were tongue-in-cheek espionage escapades along the lines of Murderer's Row (1966) and Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1967). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1980
In this children's movie, a single executive enjoys her life on the fast track, but when she is talked into becoming a den mother to a rambunctious pack of Cub Scouts, her life is temporarily derailed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Star Rod Taylor co-wrote the screenplay for Jamaican Gold. For centuries, the treasure of Morgan the Pirate has been resting somewhere beneath the waters of Carribean. Diver Taylor goes after it, hoping to beat his rivals Stuart Whitman, Elke Sommer and Jeremy Kemp to the punch. All four adventurers must contend with a few scurvy criminal types. Keenan Wynn also shows up as the gloriously yclept "Meat Cleaver Stewart." Filmed in the early 1970s, Jamaican Gold underwent several title and distributor changes before it was released in 1979 as The Treasure Seekers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Four disparate scuba divers go to the Caribbean in search of lost treasure. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1978
- PG
A lame racehorse is healed with the aid of a youngster's loving care and is able to enter the famed Kentucky Derby. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera Miles, Stuart Whitman, (more)
Set amid the exciting, exotic streets of Vegas, LA and Hong Kong, this blaxploitation actioner features a mixture of martial arts, gratuitous sex and comedy as it chronicles an enemy spy's worldwide pursuit of a heroic kung fu fighter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This violent western finds a son leaving his father and family behind in the wake of the elder's violent guerilla warfare against society at large. David Galt (Vince Edwards) leaves his Confederate war-veteran father Josiah (Jack Palance) behind and settles in Texas. The son changes his name, living in relative solitude until his father's gang invades Texas six years later. Father and son battle it out in the inevitable showdown in this family feud. Neville Brand plays the Federal marshall. George Maharis and Christian Roberts play the sons of Parson Josiah Galt, the man driven insane by the death of his wife during the Civil War. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Edwards, Jack Palance, (more)
- 1967
In this, the third in the Matt Helm special-agent series, Dean Martin plays Helm who's called to save those aboard a hijacked U.S. spacecraft. Ambushers is generally regarded as the weakest of the Helm films, lacking inspiration at most levels. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Senta Berger, (more)
- 1966
Dean Martin reprises his role as Matt Helm, famed secret agent who is part James Bond and part Rat Packer, in Murderer's Row. The film concerns the nefarious plan of arch-villain Julian Wall (Karl Malden) to take over the world by kidnapping Dr. Norman Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has invented a "helio-beam" -- a device that can harness the rays of the sun to destroy the earth. To insure his plans go smoothly, Wall has eliminated most of the ICE (Intelligence and Counter-Espionage) agents. But luckily for the world, super-agent Matt Helm, having escaped from being boiled to death in his own swimming pool, is hot on Wall's trail. Traveling to the Riviera, Helm meets Solaris's mod daughter Suzie (Ann-Margret) and they team up to rescue her father. Helm poses as a gunman on the run and Wall hires him. Wall becomes suspicious when Helm saves Suzie's life after she is threatened by one of Wall's goons, but Matt and Suzie escape from Wall and make their way to his island fortress, where they must find Solaris and disarm the "helio-beam" before Wall destroys Washington, D.C. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Ann-Margret, (more)
- 1966
An evil scientist attempts to use his newly designed satellite to sterlize everyone on earth. Fortunately two savvy secret agents are set on the case to stop him. Basically this is a low grade, low budget Italian mish-mash of comedy and spy films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Dorothy Provine, (more)
- 1965
The internationally produced historical epic Genghis Khan sometimes wavers uncertainly between spectacle and self-parody. Though Omar Sharif essays the title role, top billing is bestowed upon Stephen Boyd as Genghis Khan's mentor-turned-enemy Jamuga. It's hard to generate audience sympathy for a Mongolian leader who laid waste to much of the civilized world, but Sharif manages to pull it off. While the battle scenes are impressive, the most memorable sequence involves an outsized fireworks display (which turns out to be a clever bit of military strategy). James Mason is amusing as an epigrammatic Chinese leader, Eli Wallach is appropriately hissable as the film's main villain, and the late Francoise Dorleac is decorative as the romantic bone of contention between Genghis Khan and Jamuga. Most of the film was lensed in Yugoslavia, a country that served as a generic location for many a historical pageant of the 1960s and 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Boyd, Omar Sharif, (more)
- 1964
Intending to marry Cynthia (Anne Helm), Jay Menlow (Robert Morse) is stranded at the alter on the day of the blessed occasion. Left with a paid Honeymoon vacation in the Caribbean, Jay takes along best man Ross Kingsley (Robert Goulet) to the Boca Boca, a "honeymooners only" resort. Ross soon finds an attractive companion in the resort's social director, Lynn Hope (Nancy Kwan). Jay, on the other hand, shows signs of weakening to Cynthia's telephone apologies and Ross desperately attempts to prevent their reconciliation so he may continue to enjoy the arrangement. When Ross' employer Mr. Sampson (Keenan Wynn) arrives on the scene with his blank-headed mistress, Sherry (Jill St. John), things begin to get a bit crazy. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sampson's wife (Elvia Allman) arrives looking for her philandering husband. Finally Cynthia appears on the frantic scene to ensure chaos in the proceedings. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Goulet, Nancy Kwan, (more)
- 1963
The lives and loves of a trio of airline hostesses is the whole story in this piece of fluff from MGM. Each of these perky women have cute and cuddly romances from an assortment of wealthy men as they offer coffee or tea on a flight from New York to Paris. Dolores Hart is searching for a rich sugar-daddy and thinks she's found one in a well-to-do baron (Karl Boehm). Lois Nettleton, on the other hand, opts for hooking a multi-millionaire Texan (Karl Malden). Pamela Tiffin, unluckier than the other two, finally flies starry-eyed for handsome pilot Hugh O'Brien. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Hart, Hugh O'Brian, (more)
- 1962
This long, 135-minute feature is divided into four different segments, three highlighting fairy tales and the first introducing the two Brothers Grimm. Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) is the dreamer, and Jacob (Karl Boehm) is the practical one, and between them, some marvelous fairy tales develop. Seguing into the first tale about the "Dancing Princess," co-directors Henry Levin and George Pal -- also the producer -- allow their special-effects artists full rein. In-between dancing, the princess (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a charming woodsman (Russ Tamblyn). In the second story about the "Cobbler and the Elves," a Christmas miracle of dedicated labor helps the cobbler out when he most needs it. In the last story, a fire-breathing dragon threatens the kingdom until a lowly servant (Buddy Hackett) saves the day. One of the highlights of this production are the Puppetoons, and another is Cinerama -- three projectors working to create a three-paneled (sometimes visibly so), wide-screen panorama. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, (more)
This lightweight, nearly zero-gravity comedy by director Henry Levin relies on a novel by a male writer and a script by another man to come up with a nearly offensive story (in these more enlightened times) about how a woman can lie, manipulate, and generally deceive her husband, all in the "art" of hanging on to him. Sandra Dee is Chantal, married to Eugene (Bobby Darin, Dee's real-life husband), but first comes the story of how she hooked him. Next, comes the story of how he is trained to be a perfect husband, and then the final installment is unveiled. She uses a variety of tricks to keep him wondering whether or not he can trust her. For example, Chantal's mother calls her and "if a man answers" she hangs up, leaving the unhappy husband to think his wife has a clandestine lover. The premise that a woman's only role in life is to get and hold a husband has thankfully undergone a few revisions since 1962. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, (more)
- 1961
Aladdin (Donald O'Connor) is a poor young man living in ancient Bagdad, who is given to flights of imagination, and taken with tales of the wealthy and powerful -- in many ways, he's still a boy, and so caught up in his daydreaming that he doesn't realize how his one-time childhood playmate Djalma (Noelle Adam), now a grown young woman, loves him (even if her merchant father thinks he's a worthless loafer). In a moment of indulgence, his mother buys Aladdin an old lamp so that he can have light at night "like a rich man." He accidentally discovers that the lamp contains a genie $Vittorio De Sica), who will grant him three wishes -- but he is so scatterbrained, that he can't figure out exactly how he called the genie in the first place. Aladdin and Djalma both end up headed for Basra and the wedding of the young Prince Malouk (Mario Girotti) to the princess (Michele Mercier), and both are caught up in the plans of the evil Grand Vizier (Fausto Tozzi) to kill the prince and marry the princess himself. Those plans, helped by a malevolent old magician (Raymond Bussieres), include the use of two full-size magical dolls, one a dancing wonder and the other with a deadly embrace. And only Aladdin and his genie, and the brave young prince, can stand in his way. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald O'Connor, Noëlle Adam, (more)
Yvette Mimeux, Paula Prentiss, Connie Francis, and Dolores Hart star in this frothy teen romance-drama as attractive co-eds who take off from Midwest colleges on the annual spring break to land in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida -- where the boys are. There are plenty of parties, booze, and sex to keep minds off calculus for awhile. Merritt Andrews (Hart) and Ryder Smith (George Hamilton) manage to get together, Tuggle Carpenter (Paula Prentiss) manages to let her comedic talents shine, Angie (Connie Francis) sings the hit title song, but Melanie (Yvette Mimeux) becomes a casualty of too many good times. She will recover, and all the leads will go on to good, even great careers in some cases. Dolores Hart was the only featured player here to leave Hollywood behind -- she became a Benedictine nun in 1963. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Hart, George Hamilton, (more)
- 1959
- G
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There was neither a heroine nor a villain in Jules Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, but scenarist Charles Brackett evidently knew what he was doing by adding both to the 1959 film version. The picture proved to be a significant success in an otherwise disappointing year for 20th Century Fox. James Mason stars as amusingly absent-minded professor Oliver Lindenbrook, whose first step on a fabulous journey is prompted by a lump of lava brought to him by his student Alec McEwen (Pat Boone -- and, yes, he gets to sing). Melting down the curiously composed lump, Lindenbrook discovers a hastily scrawled message from long-lost explorer Arne Saknussem, with directions for reaching the earth's core. Accompanied by Carla (Arlene Dahl), widow of a famed geologist, and Icelandic guide Hans (Peter Ronson), Lindenbrook and Alec head down, down below. They are closely followed by the villainous Count Saknussem (Thayer David), descendant of the lost explorer who wrote the directions; the count hopes to use Lindenbrook's discoveries for his own personal and political gain (we know he's really bad when he eats Han's lovable pet goose). What follows is a festival of superb special effects, fabulous subterranean sets, and gigantized reptiles posing as dinosaurs, all brilliantly accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's ominous musical score. Journey to the Center of the Earth would later be adapted into a Saturday-morning cartoon series, again produced by 20th Century Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Boone, James Mason, (more)
- 1959
Director Henry Levin followed up this light romantic comedy with Where the Boys Are and started a beach trend going. This conventional story stars one of his favorite actors Clifton Webb as Robert Dean, the father of two lively teen-age daughters. He and his wife Mary (Jane Wyman) accompany their daughters on a South American junket. Meg (Jill St. John) and Betsy (Carol Lynley the 17-year-old model turned actress) are the teens. Since Robert is a psychiatrist, one would assume he has the inside scoop on the teen years, but as the family make stops in Lima, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro it is clear that the daughters are winning the day. Handsome young men enter the picture, and it is not long before romance follows right behind. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Jane Wyman, (more)
- 1959
Based on a successful stage play, The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker loses in this adaptation to film by becoming more serious than an all-out farce. The setting is the end of the 1800s and the intrepid Pennypacker (Clifton Webb) runs a sausage company with two thriving plants in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. He shuttles back and forth between the cities and with equal aplomb, between two households. He maintains one wife (Dorothy McGuire) and eight children in one city, and another wife (Jill St. John) and nine children in the other. When one of the Mrs. Pennypackers finds out about his deception, the unruffled businessman sees no reason for her emotional reaction. Victorian inhibitions and rigidities are set against ultra-modern thinking, embodied in the people the bigamist admires -- like Darwin, the feminists (!), and free-thinkers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1958
In this comedy, an auto mechanic and a horse trainer successfully steal $30,000 from a bank and squander it. They buy a race horse with the remainder, but need money to train it, so they rob another bank and are caught this time. The bank takes over ownership of the horse, which becomes a big winner. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Let's Be Happy is an updated remake of Jeannie (1941), one of the most likable British comedies of the 1940s. The premise is basically the same: A working girl inherits a fortune, goes on a fling, is rescued from a caddish seducer by a down-to-Earth salesman. In Jeannie, the girl uses her legacy to get out of Scotland and tour the continent; in Let's Be Happy, the girl (Vera Ellen) is an American who travels to Scotland to assume ownership of her family's castle. Since stars Vera Ellen and Tony Martin (as the salesman) were musical comedy performers, Let's Be Happy obliging becomes a musical comedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vera-Ellen, Tony Martin, (more)
Based on a 1941 movie entitled Shepherd of the Hills, this is the story of a gunfighter who decides to return home after 17 years to make amends with his son. The son blames him for his mother's death and the reconciliation is difficult. Although there are many side action lines -- old enemies still gunning for him and new friends not sure who to root for -- the main theme is that of the interaction between father and son. The push toward one last battle is made secondary. Short on plot, this film features good performances by Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, (more)
- 1957
April Love is a musicalized remake of 1944's Home in Indiana. Pat Boone stars as a potential juvenile delinquent who is sent to work on a Kentucky farm. When he meets apple-cheeked local girl Shirley Jones, Boone decides that mending his ways might be an option. Before long, he is devoting himself to the task of training a horse to become a winning trotter. Nominated for an Academy Award, the film's title song proved to be one of Pat Boone's most durable hits. April Love benefits from its actual Lexington, Kentucky locations, lovingly photographed in CinemaScope and Deluxe Color by Wilfred Cline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Boone, Shirley Jones, (more)
- 1957
Ultra-pasteurized pop singer Pat Boone makes his feature film debut in this comical and tuneful look at adolescent life in the late 1950s. A group of teen-age boys discuss the attributes of the perfect girl and proceed to create a mental image of their dreamboat. Later they find her in the form of Jean, the new telephone operator in town. One of the lads, Sanford Wilson, falls hard for the comely lass. They begin dating, but as final exams approach, Sanford must temporarily shift his attention to his school work. To keep her from the other less-honorable boys who want her, he has handsome Lieutenant Langley Beaumont squire her around. Unfortunately, she and Langley soon fall in love, causing the anguished Sanford to join the military and leave for a year and a half. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Boone, Terry Moore, (more)
