Oswald Morris Movies

The history of color photography in motion pictures is lovingly detailed with vibrant film clips and first-person interviews in this 60-minute cable TV special. Beginning with such experimental processes as hand-tinting each frame of film (a specialty first of Edison, then perfected by the French Pathe company) and the "Kinemacolor" technique (a cumbersome procedure requiring special high-speed projectors and two separate strips of film), the special then moves on to the swaddling days of Technicolor, with rare vignettes from such silent films as The Toll of the Sea (1922), The Black Pirate (1926), and Ben-Hur. The two-color Technicolor process gives way in 1933 to an improved three-strip format, yielding such splendiferous results as Becky Sharp (1935), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone With the Wind. But because of the dictatorial policies of Technicolor consultant Natalie Kalmus (who gained control of the company in a divorce proceeding), moviemakers were forced to adhere to firmly controlled policies of how the colors could be arranged and toned, with no wiggle room for individual creativity. Fortunately, Kalmus did not wield as much power over British filmmakers like Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who freed the Technicolor process from the shackles of conformity and corporate thinking in the 1940s, yielding such visual feasts as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. The special concludes with the final years of the three-strip format in the early '50s, with interviews from such Technicolorful stars as Esther Williams and Arlene Dahl. Drawing heavily from Turner's vast MGM film library, Glorious Technicolor originally aired over the Turner Classic Movies service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Great Muppet Caper is the second Muppet film and it is considerably more complex than its predecessor, The Muppet Movie, which was essentially just a road movie. As the film begins, Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are reporters who have failed to bag a story of a London jewel heist, which happened under their watch. The real criminals managed to escape and frame Miss Piggy as the thief. Kermit, Fozzie and the Great Gonzo set out on a mission to solve the mystery and track down the criminals who stole the Baseball Diamond. There are fewer star cameos and songs in The Great Muppet Caper than in The Muppet Movie, although appearances from John Cleese and Charles Grodin are particularly memorable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Sidney Lumet's The Wiz is the film version of the popular Broadway musical that retells the events of L. Frank Baum's classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz through the eyes of a young African-American kindergarten teacher who's "never been below 125th Street." Leaving a large family dinner to chase her dog into a snowstorm, Dorothy (Diana Ross) is swept up by a cyclone and transplanted to the land of Oz -- which looks suspiciously like a skewed version of the run-down Manhattan of the late '70s. Landing on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, the puzzled Dorothy is greeted by munchkins who peel themselves from a graffiti mural and sing to her about the Wiz (Richard Pryor), a powerful wizard living in Emerald City who can help her get home. On her journey down the yellow brick road, she encounters a garbage-stuffed scarecrow (Michael Jackson) in a junkyard, a broken-down tin man (Nipsey Russell) caught in the decay of an old amusement park, and a cowardly lion (Ted Ross) posing as a stone statue outside a museum. The quartet tangles with a subway station that comes to life, a poppy den, and a gaggle of motorcycle henchman on their way to the Wiz -- who orders them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West (a sweatshop tyrant) before he will grant them their wishes. The Wiz has about double the large-scale production numbers of The Wizard of Oz (1939), with songs written and composed by Charlie Smalls. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Nicholas Meyer based his screenplay for the "retro" Sherlock Holmes adventure The Seven Percent Solution on his own best-selling novel. As any Baker Street Irregular will tell you, the title refers to the dosage of cocaine taken by Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Great Detective's friend and chronicler Doctor Watson (Robert Duvall), concerned that Holmes' drug dependency is getting out of hand, suggests a cure under the auspices of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (top-billed Alan Arkin). While undergoing treatment, Holmes comes to the realization that his archival Professor Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is not the Napoleon of Crime, but instead a somewhat pathetic philanderer. Not yet completely cured, Holmes recharges his deductive batteries by undertaking a tricky conspiracy case involving another ex-addict, beautiful actress Lola Devereaux (Vanessa Redgrave). The traditional Holmesian sleuthing and split-second rescues of the film's second half are not as innovative as the Holmes-Freud scenes at the beginning of The Seven Percent Solution, but they provide this largely cerebral effort with a rousing climax. A success with both critics and filmgoers, The Seven Percent Solution opened the floodgates for subsequent TV and movie "reprises" of Conan Doyle's immortal literary figure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man With the Golden Gun, Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond (Live and Let Die was the first), whisks our hero off to Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, and then the South China Sea in search of a solar energy weapon. His opponent is Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), who rules the roost on a well-fortified island. Scaramanga's aide-de-camp is Nick Nack, played by future Fantasy Island co-star Herve Villechaize. Britt Ekland plays the bikinied Mary Goodnight, whose clumsy efforts to help Bond thwart Scaramanga are almost as destructive as the elusive solar device. The Man With the Golden Gun was adapted by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz from Ian Fleming's last James Bond novel, which had to be published posthumously in "rough draft" form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This TV-movie adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel of the "undead" was adapted by Richard Matheson and photographed by Oswald Morris. As the titular count, Jack Palance is a reluctant victim of an unwelcome fate, rather than a grinning bloodsucker. Nigel Davenport co-stars as Van Helsing, vampire-hunter deluxe, who pursues the count with his bagful of hammers and stakes. Much of the Stoker novel that had been eliminated in earlier versions has been restored by Matheson. Originally slated for telecast in October of 1973, Dracula was reshuffled to February 8, 1974, due to the late-breaking vice-presidential nomination of Gerald Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The mystery stage play by Anthony Shaffer was adapted by the author into this stylish film from director Joseph L. Manciewicz. Laurence Olivier stars as Andrew Wyke, a best-selling author of detective fiction living in a grand 16th century mansion. Andrew is visited by Milo Tindle (Michael Caine), owner of a hair salon chain, and reveals to his guest that he's aware of Milo's affair with his wife Marguerite. Rather than being vengeful, however, Andrew professes he's glad to be rid of his troublesome spouse. To avoid paying heavy alimony, Andrew suggests that Milo disguise himself as a clown and steal his wife's expensive jewelry. That way Marguerite and Milo can obtain financial security while Andrew claims the loss on his insurance and all walk away rich. Andrew's plan is a devious one, however, designed to toy with his wife's lover, and a series of deceptions and counter-deceptions are launched in which nothing is as it seems, unfolding as an elaborate game of comeuppance between the two men. Ten years after Sleuth, Caine would assay a role not unlike Olivier's in the similarly-themed Deathtrap (1982). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Norman Jewison's adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical is set in the Ukranian ghetto village of Anatevka (the film was actually lensed in Yugoslavia). Israeli actor Topol repeats his London stage role as Tevye the milkman, whose equilibrium is constantly being challenged by his poverty, the prejudicial attitudes of non-Jews, and the romantic entanglements of his five daughters. Whenever the weight of the world becomes too much for him, Tevye carries on lengthy conversations with God, who does not answer but is at least more willing to listen than the milkman's remonstrative wife Golde. After arranging a marriage between his oldest daughter Tzeitel and wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf, Tevye is forced to do some quick rearranging when the girl falls in love with poor tailor Motel Kamzoil. Fancying himself more broad-minded than his gentile oppressors, Tevye cannot accept the notion that his other daughter Chava would want to marry Fyedka, a non-Jew. And after shouting the praises of "tradition," Tevye must change his tune-and his entire life-when he and his neighbors are forced out of Anatevka by the Czar's minions. Topol's co-stars include Norma Crane as Golde, Yiddish theater legend Molly Picon as Yente the matchmaker, and Leonard Frey as Motel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This chilling mystery begins when Lucy Dawson (Flora Robson) is found strangled in her apartment. Her nephew Tim (David Hemmings) is the former-drug-addict-turned-successful-author who wrote a book about his experiences. When Tim looks into his aunt's death, people give sketchy answers and the police offer little help. Apparently they think his pleas are simply a drug-addict's ravings. As he investigates he begins to find himself plagued by threatening phone calls, and his own paranoia. The pressure begins mounting until at last he suffers a complete breakdown. As a result, the murder is never solved. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Inspired by Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, Lionel Bart's 1961 London and Broadway musical hit glossed over some of Dickens' more graphic passages but managed to retain a strong subtext to what was essentially light entertainment. For its first half-hour or so, Carol Reed's Oscar-winning 1968 film version does a masterful job of telling its story almost exclusively through song and dance. Once nine-year-old orphan Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) falls in with such underworld types as pickpocket Fagin (Ron Moody) and murderous thief Bill Sykes (Oliver Reed), it becomes necessary to inject more and more dialogue, and the film loses some of its momentum. But not to worry; despite such brutal moments as Sikes' murder of Nancy (Shani Wallis), the film gets back on the right musical track, thanks in great part to Onna White's exuberant choreography and the faultless performances by Moody and by Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger. The supporting cast includes Harry Secombe as the self-righteous Mr. Bumble and Joseph O'Conor as Mr. Brownlow, the man who (through a series of typically Dickensian coincidences) rescues Oliver from the streets. Oliver! won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and a special award to choreographer Onna White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mae West was never permitted to make a film version of her bawdy historical romp Catherine Was Great, yet this British adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Great Catherine made it to the screen. Where is the justice in this? Anyway, Jeanne Moreau braves it through the nearly unplayable role of Catherine, mother of All the Russias, while Peter O'Toole and Zero Mostel struggle manfully to breathe life into the proceedings. The plot has something to do with Prince Patiomkin's efforts to splice Catherine with Captain Edstaston, thus assuring that the queen's reign will be a happy one. The Captain would rather dally with Claire (Angela Scoular) and spends the rest of the running time escaping the queen's wrath. Throughout Great Catherine, Shavian wit is given short shrift in favor of 2-reeler slapstick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A scam artist is forced to pose as a miracle worker in this adventure tale with comic touches. Joe Moses (Robert Mitchum) is a confidence man and jewel smuggler from America who somehow finds himself in Africa, attempting to pull a fast one on some natives who quickly prove to be sharper than he expected. Tossed into the river for his troubles, Joe floats downstream, where he's eventually rescued by Julie Anderson (Carroll Baker), the daughter of Rev. Anderson (Alexander Knox), a missionary doing the Lord's work in a small village. The village is to be flooded when a new dam becomes operational in a few days, but while government functionary Robert (Ian Bannen) attempts to relocate the villagers, most of them refuse to budge. Robert has told them that they cannot bring their animals with them, and since they consider their animals members of the family, they would prefer to stay and face the inevitable. Hoping to amuse the people who helped save his life, Joe performs a few sleight-of-hand tricks for the natives and sets a bush on fire. Soon they believe that Joe is the Moses that they've heard about from the Holy Bible, and that he's come to lead the people of the village to safety. Joe's not so sure that he's the right man for the job, but when Julie hears of Joe's criminal past, she gives him the option of helping to save the villages, or being turned in to the police. However, Ubi (Raymond St. Jacques), a native who was educated in the U.S., has the feeling that Joe is up to no good, and doesn't appreciate the way he's been preying on the naiveté of his people, even if it is supposedly for their own good. This was Carroll Baker's last film before her massively-hyped title role in the biopic Harlow, whose box office failure proved disastrous to her career. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide