Jack H. Skirball Movies

Singer and actress Liza Minnelli teamed up with her father, legendary director Vincente Minnelli, to make this evocative drama. Nina (Liza Minnelli) is a popular film star who, in the midst of a press conference, finds herself remembering her life before her big break, when she worked as a chambermaid at an Italian hotel which had seen better days. In the course of her duties, Nina meets Countessa Sanziani (Ingrid Bergman), an aging and eccentric woman who regales Nina with tales of her glamorous younger days. As the Countessa tells her more stories of her days of wealth and adventure, Nina imagines herself living out the same exciting stories, and soon the Countessa encourages her to find the courage to live out her own dreams. A Matter Of Time also featured another family team-up; Ingrid Bergman's daughter Isabella Rossellini has a small part as a nun attending to the ailing Countessa. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Secret Fury works best if one is willing to suspend one's disbelief from the outset. Claudette Colbert stars as Ellen, a famed concert pianist who, on the day of her wedding, is accosted by a stranger who insists that she's already married to someone else. Ellen is willing to laugh this off, until the stranger produces witnesses, records and the justice of the piece. Has Ellen lost her mind, or is she merely the victim of an elaborate scam. With the help of fiancé David (Robert Ryan), Our Heroine begins her own investigation -- and ends up accused of murder and shunted off to a mental institution. And the story isn't over yet! Featured in a pivotal role is future I Love Lucy co-star Vivian Vance, who'd previously worked in an L.A. theatre company with Secret Fury-director Mel Ferrer. For reasons best known to himself, Willard Parker, a fairly well-known film actor in 1950, appears unbilled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Frank Borzage and star Ginger Rogers both came acropper in the lavish but dull historical biopic Magnificent Doll. The usually ebullient Rogers seems encased in wax as Dolly Madison, first lady of the United States in the early 19th century. The story begins as young Washington socialite Dolly Payne, previously and unhappily wed to one John Todd (Horace McNally), can't make up her mind romantically between idealistic politician James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and firebrand Aaron Burr (David Niven). Burr solves that problem when he flees the country after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leaving the field clear for Madison. What should have been the film's highlight, Dolly's rescue of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution during the 1812 burning of Washington, is treated as a throwaway. Told in flashback, the film ends just before Madison's ascendancy to the White House, with Dolly chastely charming the current chief executive Thomas Jefferson (Grandon Rhodes). Magnificent Doll is anything but . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This screwball comedy stars Claudette Colbert as Mary, the wife of bumbling but likeable banker Chris (Dick Foran). Foreign correspondent Joe (Don Ameche) Chris' best friend, is in danger of losing his job because he's not married (his boss insists that all his employees be married-and remember, bosses could get away with this in 1945!) Mary magnamimously offers to pose as Joe's wife, leading to all sorts of comic misunderstandings-the silliest of which finds Mary being accused of living in sin with her real husband. As one critic put it, "It's oh-ho time!" Guest Wife might have even been funnier had it not been hampered by the stringest censorship of the era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Teresa Wright plays Charlie, a small-town high-schooler who enjoys a symbiotic relationship with her favorite uncle, also named Charlie (Joseph Cotten). When young Charlie "wills" that old Charlie pay a visit to her family, her wish comes true. Uncle Charlie is his usual charming self, but he seems a bit secretive and reserved at times. Too, his manner of speaking is curiously unsettling, especially when he brings up the subject of rich widows, whom he characterizes as "swine." When a pair of detectives (MacDonald Carey and Wallace Ford), posing as magazine writers, arrive in town and begin asking questions about Uncle Charlie, young Charlie's curiosity is aroused. Why, for example, has Uncle Charlie torn an article out of the evening newspaper? Rushing to the library, Young Charlie locates the missing item: the headline screams WHO IS THE MERRY WIDOW MURDERER? As the horrified Charlie reads on, the conclusion is inescapable: her beloved Uncle Charlie is a mass murderer, preying upon wealthy old women. And what happens next? Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville (Mrs. Hitchcock) based their screenplay on a story by Gordon McDowell, who in turn was inspired by real-life "Merry Widow Murderer" Earle Leonard Nelson. The casting, from stars to bit players, is impeccable; the best of the batch is Hume Cronyn, making his film debut as a wimpy murder-mystery aficionado. Lensed on location in Santa Rosa, California, The Shadow of a Doubt wasAlfred Hitchcock's favorite film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a schoolteacher battles for women's rights in mid 19th century Wyoming. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A favorite of the 1930s exploitation circuit, Birth of a Baby is a simple, unadorned story of an expectant couple (Eleanor King, William Post Jr.) Concerned about the health factors of the upcoming delivery, the couple consults a kindly obstetrician (Richard Gordon). The birth takes place without a hitch, and everyone is happy. So what's the big deal? It seems that, as a means to "hype" the film, documentary footage of an actual birth was spliced into the last reel. A model of decorum by today's standards, this footage was sufficiently provocative in 1938 to permit the film's exhibitors to ballyhoo the picture as "daring" and "controversial." In many cities, it was shown to segregated-by-sex audiences: men were not allowed in the theatre when women were present, and vice versa. In itself nothing special, Birth of a Baby is a prime example of old-fashioned (and very successful) hucksterism ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide