Ruth Nelson Movies
Essentially a stage actress, Michigan-born Ruth Nelson appeared sporadically in films from her first movie appearance in Of Human Bondage (1934) to her last in Awakenings (1990). Few of Ms. Nelson's roles were large enough to afford attention from critics -- notable exceptions were the 1943 wartime drama North Star and the 1947 Tracy /Hepburn vehicle Sea of Grass -- and... (read more) unfortunately she made few TV appearances, so it's hard to provide anyone unfamiliar with her work a frame of reference. She did, however, pop up frequently as a peripheral interview subject during the late-'70s heyday of director Robert Altman. Ms. Nelson had married another director, John Cromwell, in 1946, and both Mr. and Mrs. Cromwell acted together in Altman's 1978 film A Wedding. Fans who tried to grill Cromwell on his own film accomplishments (Anna and the King of Siam, Dead Reckoning, et al.) were obliged to filter their request through Ruth Nelson, who was able to "interpret" her husband's nods, shrugs and snorts of disapproval. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Lethal Innocence
1991
There oughta be a law against TV-movie "title thinker uppers." Lethal Innocence is not a crime or judicial melodrama, but instead an innocuous family-oriented effort about a...
Awakenings
PG13 1990
Based on a true story as related by neurologist Oliver Sacks, Awakenings stars Robin Williams as the Sacks counterpart, here named Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Something of a klutz...
The Haunting Passion
1983
Jane Seymour stars in The Haunting Passion as Julia Evans, a woman forced to make a decision between two lovers. The gimmick here is that one of her suitors is an...
Skokie
PG 1981
Skokie is the true story of a critical test of Constitutional rights in Illinois. In 1977, a small band of American neo-fascists calling itself the National Socialist Party of...
A Christmas Without Snow
G 1980
A Christmas Without Snow originally premiered December 9, 1980. The title refers to the film's setting: the snowless San Francisco. The story is told from the point of view of...
A Wedding
PG 1978
Robert Altman's over-frenetic satire on American marriage rituals and hypocrisy concerns the upper-crust marriage between Dino Corelli (Desi Arnaz Jr.) and {%Muffin...
The Late Show
PG 1977
Even though he barely makes enough money to cover his expenses and finds divorce cases (his bread and butter) unsavory, aging detective Ira Wells (Art Carney) is determined to...
3 Women
PG 1977
Robert Altman's Three Women takes a surreal, improvisational and rather eerie look at the lives of three women in a western desert town. The plot centers around the youngest...
Arch of Triumph
1948
Based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, Arch of Triumph is a complicated war romance directed by Lewis Milestone. Dr. Ravic (Charles Boyer) is a refugee...
The Sea of Grass
1947
Usually associated with erudite, urbane comedies, the legendary screen team of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy goes intensely dramatic in the expensive western Sea of...
Mother Wore Tights
1947
A woman looks back at her childhood in show business in this musical comedy. At the turn of the century, Myrtle McKinley (Betty Grable) is working her way through business...
Humoresque
1946
Fannie Hurst's novel Humoresque is the lachrymose tale of a famed Jewish-American violinist who forgets all about his friends and family in his rise to fame. Screenwriters...
Sentimental Journey
1946
A real three-handkerchief affair, Sentimental Journey stars John Payne and Maureen O'Hara as a Broadway producer Bill and his actress-wife Julie. Unable to have children,...
Till the End of Time
NR 1946
Sometimes dismissed as a derivation of Samuel Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives, RKO Radio's superb Till the End of Time was actually based on Niven Busch's novel They...
Guest in the House
1945
A Guest in the House is an involving psychological melodrama, well directed and acted, concerning a young woman's obsessive love. Evelyn (Anne Baxter), an emotionally...
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
PG 1945
One-time movie song-and-dance man James Dunn won an Academy Award for his "comeback" performance in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith,...
The Girl of the Limberlost
1945
A widow's grief turns to blind maniacal rage against the daughter she holds responsible for her husband's death in this, the second of three melodramatic films based on a novel by...
The Keys of the Kingdom
1944
Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom was the first big-budget effort of movie-newcomer Gregory Peck. This is the 137-minute chronicle of a Scottish...
Wilson
1944
Producer Darryl F. Zanuck had high hopes that Wilson would immortalize him in the manner that Gone With the Wind did for David O. Selznick. The notion of bringing the...
None Shall Escape
1944
In this drama, a crippled German veteran of WW I attempts to reconcile his recent experiences with his former ideologies in this drama. After the war he goes back to his hometown...