Dark Intruder 1965 N/R, 59 min. Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Harvey Hart Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Gilbert Green, Charles Bolender, Peter Mark Richman, Judi Meredith, Werner Klemperer, Peter Brocco, Vaughn Taylor, Bill Quinn
In this TV pilot, Bret Kingsford (Leslie Nielsen) is an amateur detective who fights against demons trying to take over the body of San Francisco socialites.
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The High Cost of Loving 1958 N/R, 87 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Jose Ferrer Cast: Jose Ferrer, Gena Rowlands, Joanne Gilbert, Jim Backus, Bobby Troup, Philip Ober, Edward Platt, Charles Watts, Werner Klemperer
In this satire on modern-day life, Gina Rowlands makes her film debut as Virginia Fry, who learns of her pregnancy just as her husband, Jim (Jose Ferrer), is told that his job is in jeopardy.
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Houseboat 1958 N/R, 110 min. Genre: Family / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Melville Shavelson Cast: Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Harry Guardino, Eduardo Ciannelli, Murray Hamilton, Mimi Gibson, John Litel, Mary Forbes, Madge Kennedy, Charles Herbert, Werner Klemperer, Paul Petersen, Brooks Benedict, Susan Cabot
After Tom Winston's (Cary Grant) estranged wife is killed in an accident, Tom reunites with his children–Elizabeth (Mimi Gibson), David (Paul Petersen), and Robert (Charles Herbert). But, the children are not happy to be living with Tom in his small Washington, D.C. apartment. Tom prepares to move to a large house, but plans fall through, and they move onto a rundown houseboat on the Potomac River. Cinzia (Sophia Loren) signs on as the children's governess, and she helps Tom understand the meaning of love when romance blooms between Tom and Cinzia, and the children will now enjoy a happy family life.
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Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 N/R, 190 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Stanley Kramer Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner, Ed Binns, Werner Klemperer, Torben Meyer, Kenneth MacKenna
This classic film about the Nazi war crimes as they were presented at the trial at Nuremberg is spellbinding from start to finish. Spencer Tracy plays the compassionate, yet intelligent, American judge, Maximilian Schell excels as the defense attorney, and Burt Lancaster plays the role of the German judge on trial who chose to give in to Nazi threats. Academy Awards were received for Best Actor (Maximilian Schell) and Best Writing; the film was nominated for nine others, including. Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Director, Supporting Actress (Judy Garland), and Supporting Actor (Montgomery Clift). 1 User Review
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| | Prettry much as "important" as it thinks it is | 1fatts 04/05/2007 | Be wary of "important" movies. The cast and crew, the critics and pundits can become so wrapped in the aura of the message that needs to be imparted to a waiting world that the human story is lost and we find ourselves being barraged by sanctimonious monologues or, worse, symbolism piled on symbolism to express the truth that words cannot express. (Honestly, did anyone really understand the last ten minutes of 2001?)
But this movie is better than that. It doesn't escape it all, I suppose, but the center of the thing is the consideration of what is evil and what is decency, played out on a stage of characters who give it humanity.
I have considered -- rather often, actually -- what has traveled best in this film in the last forty-five years and what has traveled less well. It is the underplaying that still holds us, the messages not spoken but shown on faces and in motions. Maximilian Schell's defense attorney is all words and logic, which, at its best moments, serve as a counterpoint to the quiet humanity which the destroyed reflect and the innocent portray. It was an Academy Award well deserved. I don't think Tracy ever did better work. Montgomery Clift's short scene is among the most moving ever filmed. Dietrich, Garland, so many others do such fine work.
Richard Widmark, on the other hand, is too theatrical, as is Burt Lancaster, Werner Klemperer and too many others. It is the writing and the direction, but most of all, it is the strain of taking on the issue.. It was 1961, and Hollywood was finally putting on film the question of the guilt of the Holocaust. It WAS important. The writing was honest enough to cast shadows of complicity over Western big business, Cold War Political Fears, the growing willingness of a war-weary world to turn a blind eye to last year's injustice and the suffering of those too unimportant to be represented. The responsibility, the scope of all that, and, no doubt, the pride of all that led to too much Hollywood is the writing and direction.
Yet, on the whole, "Judgment" remembers to focus on the people and not the speeches, and that rescues the film and redeems it. It is still, even after nearly half a century, shocking, complex and deeply thought provoking.
And, yes, it is important. How important? I don't think anyone should be allowed to graduate high school without having seen this film and discussed it with a knowledgeable, sensitive adult -- not only as a "Holocaust" discussion, but as the starting point for the question of why good people allow evil into the world and what, if anything, moral people can do to stand against it. |
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Kiss Them for Me 1957 N/R, 105 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Stanley Donen Cast: Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield, Suzy Parker, Leif Erickson, Ray Walston, Jack Mullaney, Ben Wright, Harry Carey Jr., Larry Blyden, Werner Klemperer
Three navy pilots are on R & R in San Francisco where they spend a very enjoyable four days before returning to duty.
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| 1. Dark Intruder (1965)
2. The High Cost of Loving (1958)
3. Houseboat (1958)
4. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
5. Kiss Them for Me (1957)
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