Tag Archives: USA

The Star (1952) Stuart Heisler, Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden, Natalie Wood, Drama, Romance

The Star (Stuart Heisler, 1952)
Middle-aged Oscar winning actress Margaret Elliot – Maggie to those that know her – is a Hollywood has-been. Her life is in shambles. She clings to the hope of resurrecting her past movie stardom as a leading ingénue. No one will hire her, she’s penniless with creditors selling off anything that she owns that is of monetary value, and she has no one to turn to that can see her through financially. She has in the past supported her sister and brother-in-law, who still want to use her as their meal ticket. Divorced from her actor husband, she shares joint custody of their teen-aged daughter Gretchen, from who Maggie tries to hide her problems. When it looks as if Maggie has hit rock bottom, Jim Johannsen re-enters her life. Jim, who once had the stage name Barry Lester, got his big break in Hollywood movies by Maggie. He came to the quick realization that he was neither good as an actor or that he wanted to do it as a profession. He now works as a boat parts supplier and mechanic.
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The Five Pennies (1959) Melville Shavelson, Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Biography, Drama, Music

The Five Pennies (Melville Shavelson, 1959)
Loring “Red” Nichols is a cornet-playing country boy who goes to New York in the 1920s full of musical ambition and principles. He gets a job playing in Wil Paradise’s band, but quits to pursue his dream of playing Dixieland jazz. He forms the “Five Pennies” which features his wife, Bobbie, as vocalist. At the peak of his fame, Red and Bobbie’s daughter, Dorothy, develops polio. Red quits the music business to move to Los Angeles where the climate is better for Dorothy. As Dorothy becomes a young teen, she learns of her father’s musical past, and he is persuaded to open a small nightclub which is failing until some noted names from his past come to help out.
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The Flight That Disappeared (1961) Reginald Le Borg, Craig Hill, Paula Raymond, Dayton Lummis, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

The Flight That Disappeared (1961)
A transcontinental flight from Los Angeles to Washington DC, carrying three top scientists, unexplainedly begins a climb to 10 miles up. With all other passengers unconscious, the scientists find themselves in a dimension where time does not exist. There they are put on trial by denizens of the future for their potential involvement in the creation of “the ultimate weapon”.
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The Last Voyage (1960) Andrew L. Stone, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Drama

The Last Voyage (Andrew L. Stone, 1960)
Cliff Henderson and his family are traveling aboard the SS Claridon en route to Japan. The Claridon is an old ship, on its last voyage before heading to the scrap heap. An explosion in the engine room weakens the hull and the ship is now taking on more water that the bilge pumps can deal with. The Captain seems to have difficulty accepting that his ship will sink. Henderson’s wife Laurie is severely injured and trapped under a fallen beam. While the men in the engine room work frantically to shore up the hull, Henderson tries to free his wife from the wreckage with the help of one of the crew, Hank Lawson.
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The End of Violence (1997) Wim Wenders, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Bill Pullman, Drama, Thriller

The End of Violence (Wim Wenders, 1997)
Mike Max is a Hollywood producer who became powerful and rich thanks to brutal and bloody action films. His ignored wife Paige is close to leaving him. Suddenly Mike is kidnapped by two bandits, but escapes and hides out with his Mexican gardener’s family for a while. At the same time, surveillance expert Ray Bering is looking for what happens in the city, but it is not clear what he wants. The police investigation for Max’s disappearance is led by detective Doc Block, who falls in love with actress Cat who is playing in ongoing Max’s production.
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Loan Shark (1952) Seymour Friedman, George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Loan Shark (1952)
A vicious loan shark ring has been preying on factory workers. When several workers at a tire factory suffer violence at the hands of the loan sharkers, a union leader and the factory owner try to recruit ex-con Joe Gargan to infiltrate to the gang. At first Joe does not want to get involved, but changes his mind when his brother-in-law dies at the hands of a savage loan shark hood. Joe works his way into the mob, but in order to keep his cover, Joe can’t tell anyone what he is up to. This results in him being disowned by his sister and girl friend.
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Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942) Edward Dmytryk, James Craig, Bonita Granville, Frank Jenks, Action, Drama

Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)
After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and his pal Jimbo to a desperate escape attempt which lands them on a tiny lighthouse island, where they take over. The five inhabitants are stymied in their efforts to summon aid. But the island also figures in the schemes of a big Nazi spy ring; which will win out, the gangsters’ greed or their patriotism?
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Lady by Choice (1934) David Burton, Carole Lombard, May Robson, Roger Pryor, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Lady by Choice (1934)
Fan dancer Alabam Lee is convicted of breaching the morals code with her racy shows. Her agent has her adopt a “mother” from an old ladies home as a publicity ploy to improve her image. Alabam chooses Patricia”Patsy” Patterson, a drunk and disorderly street lady with a past. Patsy has a protector in Johnny Mills, the lawyer son of her old flame. When Johnny comes to visit Patsy he meets Alabam and the two eventually fall in love. Both Patsy and the everpresent Judge Daly think that Alabam is golddigging for Johnny’s money and their attempts to break things up puts the relationship on shaky ground.
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The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) Del Tenney, Roy Scheider, Helen Warren, Robert Milli, Horror

The Curse of the Living Corpse (Del Tenney, 1964)
Rufus Sinclair was a cranky old millionaire with a terrible fear of being buried alive. After his apparent death, clauses in his will meant to prevent his being buried alive are violated by his uncaring family, and soon a masked figure begins prowling the family’s Connecticut estate, slaughtering the family members one by one in a variety of separate, horrible ways.
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