John Stevens Movies
- 1992
An educational program that offers a lesson in preconceptions and acceptance. When a boy get to know the town recluse, he finds him to be an accomplished folk musician who was a friend of the boy's dead father. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
This strange, disjointed feature film boasts a performance by Muhammed Ali as himself, clowning his way around a Black rodeo held near Harlem at Randall's Island, NY. Among the features of this film is an extended discussion by actor Woody Strode on the long-suppressed history of the Black Cowboy. Another unusual feature of the film is the running commentary by rodeo spectators, as they relate what it means to them to be at such an event. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Advertised as the 100th production of American International studios, Blacula stars actor/singer William Marshall in the title role. An 18th century African prince, Blacula is transmogrified into a vampire while visiting Transylvania. Two centuries later, he rises from his coffin to wreak havoc in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Blacula's particular target is Tina (Vonetta McGee), whom he thinks is the reincarnation of his long-ago lady love. Thalmus Rasulala assumes the "Van Helsing" role as the vampire hunter who can't convince the authorities to cooperate. Yes, that is the same William Marshall who later played "The King of Cartoons" on TV's Pee-wee's Playhouse. A sequel, Scream, Blacula, Scream!, appeared not long after. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, (more)
- 1971
With a barrage of cinematic distancing devices at hand (flashbacks and flash-forwards, super-imposed titles, missing frames, projectionist cue-marks placed in the wrong locations in a film reel), Dennis Hopper concocts a hallucinatory acid-trip concerning an American movie company making a western in Peru. In a remote mountain village in Peru, a Hollywood film company wraps up shooting a western and returns to California. Staying behind is a young stunt man, Kansas (Dennis Hopper). In the village, he takes up with the resident whore, Maria (Stella Garcia). At this point, the film flash-forwards to Kansas being crucified by the villagers. Back in the old time frame, the Peruvians decide that they want to make their own movie. Not having the necessary film equipment, but plenty of local raw material, the villagers construct the needed cameras, microphones, and sound recorders out of bamboo, and although the equipment is faked, the villagers substitute real, bloody violence for the make-believe violence of Hollywood. During this eruption of violence in the Peruvian village, the local priest (Tomas Milian) blames Kansas for the carnage. The priest decides that movies are the root of all worldly evil and convinces the villagers to seize Kansas. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, (more)
- 1965
This family comedy stars James Stewart as Dr. Robert Leaf, a college professor who dislikes science and tries to instill in his children a love of art and music. So Robert and his wife Vina (Glynis Johns) are dismayed to discover that their eight-year-old son Erasmus (Billy Mumy) is tone-deaf and color-blind; what's worse, he has a genius-level talent for mathematics. Robert isn't sure what to do about Erasmus, but while his older sister Pandora (Cindy Carol) puts his skills to work by getting him to do her homework, his older friend Kenneth (Fabian) has a better idea. Kenneth and Erasmus come up with a foolproof plan for picking the winners in horse racing -- so foolproof that it draws the attention of two con men, Upjohn (John Williams) and Argyle (Jesse White), who want to use Erasmus's skills to clean up at the track. Robert at first refuses, and then relents only when they agree to use a cut of the proceeds to endow a humanities scholarship, though Robert is about the only one surprised when the men prove not to be good to their word. Meanwhile, Erasmus is head over heels in love with French screen siren Brigitte Bardot -- so much so that he's been writing her love letters. In return, the lucky boy has received an invitation to come meet her, and Robert and Erasmus use some of their racetrack winnings to fly to Paris and take her up on her offer. Nunnally Johnson, who received no credit, contributed to the screenplay; Miss Bardot, of course, plays herself (who else could?). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Fabian, (more)
- 1964
Suspense builds around the investigation of a plane crash that caused 53 deaths in this dramatic adaption of Ernest K. Gann's novel. Authorities systematically eliminate probable causes, finally placing blame on the pilot, who was seen drinking before the flight. The airline's director of flight operations, Sam McBane (Glen Ford), knowing the pilot's excellent WW II record, refuses to accept the authorities' conclusions and begins his own investigation. With the help of the only survivor, a stewardess (Suzanne Pleshette), McBane re-creates the events leading to the crash in an attempt to discover the true cause. The character of the incriminated pilot, Captain Jack Savage (Rod Taylor), is revealed through a series of flashbacks, from a wartime army camp (with a cameo by Jane Russell) to the climactic moment of the thrilling crash. Milton Krasner's crisp cinematography earned him an Oscar nomination. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, (more)
- 1963
British teens struggle to win the right to vote in this swinging musical from England. When the established political parties pay no mind to the young campaigners and so the youths decide to start their own party and use some of England's most popular singers to help them campaign. Among the artists lending their support are Freddy Cannon, Bobby Vee, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the Spotniks and Joe Brown and the Breakaways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Wynter, Bobby Vee, (more)
- 1957
Original slated for release through United Artists, the Wisberg-Yarborough production Women of Pitcairn Island was ultimately distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The film purports to detail the aftermath of the mutiny on the Bounty in the late 18th century. When the last of the male mutineers dies, the wives and daughters of the Bounty crew are left behind to make the best of things on Pitcairn Island. Trouble arises in the form of a band of pirates, who've landed on Pitcairn with the intention of hiding a cache of stolen pearls. After dallying with the ladies, the pirates come to grief by fighting amongst themselves. James Craig hams it up as the bearded pirate captain, while second-billed Lynn Bari seems grimly determined to get the film over with as quickly as possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Craig, Lynn Bari, (more)
- 1951
Mr. Denning (John Mills) is bedeviled by a blackmailer with whom his daughter Liz (Eileen Moore) has fallen in love. In a sudden fit of rage, Denning murders the scoundrel. Panicking, he drives northward with the corpse in the back seat, dumps the body in a lonely rural area, and carefully eliminates all traces of his involvement in the crime. To deflect the authorities, Denning places a highly distinctive ring on the body's finger, so that the dead man will be misidentified. A perfect crime? Well, it seems that Denning's new prospective son-in-law (Sam Wanamaker) is an American attorney with a very inquiring mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Phyllis Calvert, (more)
- 1949
A confirmed bachelor and a reclusive movie star tangle in this lively French comedy. The trouble begins when the bachelor vows to disprove the star's Garboesque claim that she wants to be alone. Saying that all women are alike, he sets out to seduce her. First he poses as a Realtor and offers to let her hide out in his lavish country estate. There he and she gradually get to know each other. Much to his surprise, she is quite sincere on wanting to be alone. When the woman discovers the "Realtor's" ruse she decides to teach him a lesson by promptly marrying him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Jeanne de Casalis, (more)
- 1947
A grieving war widow goes upon a coastal retreat to deal with her loss and heal in this drama. There she soon finds herself romantically involved with a man whom she believes to be a smuggler. This threatens to thwart their affair until she learns the truth--he is actually an undercover cop posing a smuggler to break up a black market ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Sleeping Car to Trieste is a remake of one of the best railroad melodramas of the 1930s, Rome Express. The film's "maguffin" is a diary containing important political information. Stolen from a diplomat in Paris, the diary finds its way on board the Orient Express. Already, the two thieves have double-crossed each other, and among the passengers there are plenty of interested parties-heroes and villains alike-who hope to claim the diary for their own purposes. When one of these parties is murdered, police chief Jolif (Paul Dupuis) takes charge of the case, but there's still many a plot twist to come before the guilty are punished and the innocent rewarded. An inordinate amount of footage is devoted to the wisecrackery of Bonar Colleano, cast as yet another stereotyped American. The climax of Sleeping Car to Trieste is a classic, endlessly imitated by future-and lesser-Orient Express espionagers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Kent, Albert Lieven, (more)
- 1944
The Yellow Canary was one of several wartime collaborations between British producer-director Herbert Wilcox and Hollywood's RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Wilcox's wife Anna Neagle as pretty aristocrat Sally Maitland. Having alienated many of her friends with her prewar Nazi sympathies, Sally continues hobnobbing with the Third Reich once war has been declared. Actually, her pro-German activities are a sham; she's actually working hand and glove with the British government to smash an Axis spy ring in Canada. Along for the ride is British intelligence officer Jim Garrick (Richard Greene), who ultimately falls in love with Sally. There's a "mystery" angle to the plotline of The Yellow Canary, but it is largely ignored when the story takes a melodramatic turn in the last few reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Richard Greene, (more)
