Daniel Petrie Movies

This second presentation of the classic dramatic anthology Du Pont Show of the Month is a lavishly mounted adaptation of Mark Twain's historical novel The Prince and the Pauper. Although virtually every film version of this work has either cast twin boys in the roles of young Prince Edward and his ragamuffin lookalike Tom Canty, or has employed split-screen photography to convey the impression that one child actor is actually two different people, this production aired live and was unable to recruit twins at such short notice. Thus, Rex Thompson, best known for his portrayal of Prince Chulanlongkorn in The King and I, plays Edward, while the remarkably similar-looking Johnny Washbrook, previously the star of the TV series My Friend Flicka, plays Tom. Twain's familiar plot remains intact, with the royal Edward and the peasant Tom trading places, leading to all manner of complications for the high- and lowborn citizens of 16th century England. Heading what was advertised as "a cast of 60" is Christopher Plummer as Sir Miles Herndon, who while seeking revenge against the brother who betrayed him befriends the incognito Prince Edward; Hurd Hatfield as that evil sibling, Sir John; Rosemary Harris as the brothers' mutual sweetheart Lady Edith; and Sir Cedric Hardwycke as the scheming Earl of Hartford, who knows that the youngster claiming to be the Prince of England isn't anything of the kind. Also seen is a very young Patty Duke as Edward's sister Princess Elizabeth. "he Prince and the Pauper" was adapted for television by Leslie Slote, who spent much of the 1950s fronting for fellow writers who had been blacklisted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While this original movie version of Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning play may have dated somewhat, it was groundbreaking when first released in 1961, and a wealth of future plays, films, and TV productions have taken their lead from this socially conscious drama about a struggling African-American family. Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) is a strong, proud woman who has raised a family in a crowded apartment on the South Side of Chicago. Her son Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier) works as a chauffeur; intelligent and ambitious but impulsive and often angry, he desperately wants to get ahead in a world that offers him few opportunities. His wife Ruth (Ruby Dee) takes in laundry to help make ends meet and watches over their son. Younger daughter Beneatha (Diana Sands) is a college student who wants to become a doctor and often speaks of searching for her cultural identity. On the death of her husband, Lena becomes the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance payment, and suddenly the family is in conflict over how the money should be spent. Lena wants to use the money for a down payment on a house. Beneatha is hoping that Lena will help her pay for medical school. And Walter Lee wants to go into business with friends who plan to open a liquor store, which he's convinced will be a sure money maker. The cast, nearly all reprising their roles from the original Broadway production, offers a collection of superb performances; also keep an eye peeled for a young Louis Gossett Jr. as George Murchison. While Daniel Petrie's direction never takes A Raisin in the Sun very far from its roots as a stage play, it captures the power and tension of a strong ensemble cast working with an intelligent and moving script. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Stolen Hours is the overlong, overglamorized 1963 remake of the 1939 Bette Davis vehicle Dark Victory. Susan Hayward plays a rich, neurotic socialite who discovers that she only has a year to live. Acting resentfully at first--especially towards handsome doctor Michael Craig, who withheld this information from her "for her own good"--Hayward eventually adopts a philosophical attitude towards her fate. By the time she begins slipping into "that undiscovered uncountry," Hayward is practically a candidate for sainthood. A plot device not utilized in the original involves Hayward's virtual adoption of a young boy (Robert Bacon), who is neglected by his own mother. Novelist Jessamyn West and playwright Joseph Hayes did their best to "contemporize" the outdated elements of the original Dark Victory, even unto having Susan Hayward learn to dance the Twist! Stolen Hours was filmed in England, affording us lovely Technicolor glimpses of the Cornish coast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

Although advertised as a "reunion" of former I Dream of Jeannie stars Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, the made-for-TV A Howling in the Woods is actually a vehicle for Eden, with Hagman contributing a glorified cameo role. The scene is a remote wooded area in Nevada, where disillusioned housewife Liza Crocker (Eden) has arrived for a solitary camping trip. It so happens that Liza's "sanctuary" is located near the small and cloistered town where she was born -- a town that does not necessarily want to have her back. As Liza's husband, Eddie (Larry Hagman), searches for her in hopes of a reconciliation, the heroine is terrorized by the mournful sound of a howling dog, which triggers painful and frightening memories that she had hoped were long, long buried. Based on a novel by Velda Johnston, the underrated and almost unbearably suspenseful A Howling in the Woods debuted November 11, 1971, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "trouble" that comes to a small southern town is (ostensibly) Thomas Evans, an African American youth from the north. Town sheriff Lloyd Bridges, whose life was saved in Korea by Evans' father, invites the boy to live with his family. Racial tensions run high, but temporarily remain under control. All this changes when a rash of auto thefts hits Bridges' town. The belief that Evans is responsible polarizes the community and nearly triggers an all-out race war. Trouble Comes to Town deftly sidesteps the cliches that usually attend issue-oriented TV movies, wrapping the story up with a logical and well-crafted climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The police are stymied by a lack of witnesses and clues as they investigate the murder of a pretty coed in San Francisco park. Hoping to arouse the conscience of The Public, Ironside (Raymond Burr) appears on an all-night TV debate show, begging people to come forward with any information that might help collar the killer. The Chief hopes that he can either panic the perpetrator into tipping his hand, or play for time until his assistant Ed Brown (Don Galloway) can ferret out the one clue that will crack the case. Featured in the cast is a young Ed Begley Jr. (who undoubtedly was bicycling to the studio even back in those pre-Global Warming days). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A college-educated sheriff takes on an older crimefighter as his deputy in this western. (AKA Century Turns) ~ All Movie Guide

Former evangelist Marjorie Gortner had a brief flurry of activity as an actor in the early 1970s. Gun and the Pulpit was a made-for-TV movie designed as the pilot for a potential Gortner series. Marjoe plays a gunslinger who disguises himself as a preacher to escape a false murder charge. He finds that his somewhat direct proselytizing technique--wielding a six-gun whenever faced with hostile nonbelievers--makes him popular throughout the west. Gun and the Pulpit was filmed on location at the Old Tucson studios, originally built in 1940 for the Columbia feature Arizona and currently a major Southwestern tourist attraction. The film's premise was workable, but not with Marjoe Gortner; Merlin Olsen came along in 1981 with a more successful variation on the theme, Father Murphy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Mousey a made-for-TV thriller, a disturbed and obsessed man seeks to regain his son from his overbearing, controlling wife. Kirk Douglas, nick-named "Mousey" by his high-school student, is left by his wife, Laura (Jean Seberg) who also takes her young son who "Mousey" has adopted. "Mousey" begins to stalk her, murdering strangers in the vain hope of impressing her. Kirk Douglas, well-directed by Daniel Petrie, gives a strong, chilling performance, portraying a vengeful man obsessed over his lack of power. Mousey is exceptionally well done and engrossing. It presents a portrait of obsession and gives Douglas the opportunity to explore and build on his character. While Jean Seberg, in the last role before her death, is quite good, this is Kirk Douglas' movie and he never lets it go. Mousey was also released as Cat and Mouse. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Returning Home attempts to do in 72 minutes what the Oscar-winning 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives did in 172. This TV movie is a potted remake of that classic film, tracing the lives of three returning World War II servicemen. Dabney Coleman plays the Fredric March role as a married banker with two grown children. Tom Selleck fills Dana Andrews' shoes as a decorated ex-pilot who is grounded in peacetime by a dead end job and an unhappy marriage. And James Miller is a sailor who has lost both arms in the war, a fact that his family and fiancee struggle to come to grips with. Just as in the case of Best Years of Our Lives' Harold Russell, James Miller is a genuine amputee who'd been wounded in Vietnam. Why did Returning Home try to pack so much plot and so many characters into so short a running time? Because it was the pilot for an unsold TV series...titled The Best Years of Our Lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The winner of 11 Emmy awards, the made-for-TV Eleanor and Franklin stars Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt. The film traces the first four decades of the lives of cousins Franklin and Eleanor, beginning with their marriage in 1905. Conflicts loom in the form of FDR's domineering mother (Rosemary Murphy) and Eleanor's discovery of an affair between her husband and artist Lucy Mercer (Linda Kelsey). After Franklin is stricken by polio in 1921, Eleanor emerges as a formidable and influential public figure. James Costigan wrote the teleplay for Eleanor and Franklin, which first aired as a two-parter on January 11 and 12, 1976. The film was followed several months later by a multipart sequel, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First aired March 13, 1977, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years was the brilliant follow-up to the equally praiseworthy 1976 TV movie Eleanor and Franklin: The Early Years. The film is framed in a flashback experienced by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Jane Alexander) while accompanying the casket carrying the body of her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Edward Herrmann) to its final resting place in Hyde Park. Elected in 1933, FDR endeavors to pull the country out of the Depression with the New Deal during his first term, while Eleanor emerges as a formidable public figure in her own right during the second term, tirelessly working on behalf of social change and reforms. Ever under the baleful eye of his mother Sara (Rosemary Murphy), Roosevelt tries to maintain family equilibrium in the White House as he seeks an unprecedented third term. Sara dies in December of 1941, two days before Roosevelt, in his "Day of Infamy" speech, declares war on Japan. Despite health problems, FDR successfully pursues a fourth term in 1944; he dies in office in April of 1945, a scant few months before the end of World War II. Despite her long-standing displeasure over her husband's long-ago affair with artist Lucy Mercer (Linda Kelsey), a stiff-lipped Eleanor puts on a brave front when Roosevelt dies in the company of Deakins at a health spa in Georgia. Based on Joseph P. Lash's Pulitzer prize-winning biography, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years earned Emmies for "Outstanding Special" and for director Daniel Petrie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide