One Potato, Two Potato
Stars: Bernie Hamilton, Barbara Barrie, Richard Mulligan, Vinnette Carroll
Stars: Bernie Hamilton, Barbara Barrie, Richard Mulligan, Vinnette Carroll
Filmed in Ohio, One Potato, Two Potato was a
"critic's darling" film of 1964 dealing with the then-daring topic of
miscegenation. White Barbara Barrie divorces her husband Richard Mulligan, then
falls in love with and marries African-American Bernie Hamilton. When the
ex-husband sues for custody of Barbara's child, arguing that a mixed household
is an improper place to raise the girl, Hamilton fights for his parental rights
in court. But the judge is driven by the prejudices of the era, and the child
goes back to its natural father. At the time of its release, One Potato, Two
Potato was praised beyond all proportion for its realistic and progressive
dissection of race relations. Only a few renegade critics like Judith Crist
dared to note that sociologically, the film was still mired in the patronizing
Pinky era. Instead of concentrating on the injustices heaped upon black Bernie
Hamilton, the film's sympathies are almost totally directed towards poor,
put-upon Barbara Barrie.
$
8.00
An Act of Murder
Stars: Frederic March, Edmond O’Brien, Florence Eldridge, Geraldine Brooks
Stars: Frederic March, Edmond O’Brien, Florence Eldridge, Geraldine Brooks
In this
provocative drama, a stern hard-liner judge commits euthanasia to save his
terminally ill wife from further suffering. He decides to kill her by driving
the both of them off a cliff. He succeeds in ending her pain, but unfortunately
he survives and ends up turning himself in with a full confession. Now it is up
to his brilliant lawyer to defend him. He not only justifies the old judge's
actions, he also proves that the wife took a fatal dose of poison before
getting in the car; therefore she committed suicide. The judge is freed and
returns to his courtroom where he oversees his cases with considerably more
sympathy and understanding than he did before.
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8.00
No Down Payment
Stars: Joanne Woodward,Sheree North,Tony Randall,Jeffrey Hunter,Cameron Mitchell, Patricia Owens,arbara Rush,Pat Hingle
Stars: Joanne Woodward,Sheree North,Tony Randall,Jeffrey Hunter,Cameron Mitchell, Patricia Owens,arbara Rush,Pat Hingle
The marital difficulties of four
couples living in a southern California housing development become intertwined.
Among the unhappy couples are ne'er-do-well Jerry Flagg and his long-suffering
wife Isabelle, flirtatious Leola Boone and her sadistic husband Troy, hard
working Herman Kreitzer and his understanding wife Betty, and newlyweds Jean and
David Martin.
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8.00
Story of Esther Costello
Stars: Joan Crawford, Rossario Brazzi, Heather Sears
Stars: Joan Crawford, Rossario Brazzi, Heather Sears
Story of Esther Costello is the cinematic
equivalent of eating a whole box of potato chips; you may hate
yourself, but you'll relish every bite in the meantime. Joan Crawford
plays a well-meaning woman who throws herself whole-hog into every
charitable cause that comes down the pike. She is married to Rossano
Brazzi, who is as greedy as Crawford is generous. Crawford rescues blind
deaf-mute Heather Sears from her squalid surroundings, leading to her
creation of a charity campaign on behalf of handicapped children, with
Sears as "poster child." Brazzi, in league with crooked promoter Ron
Randell, seizes upon this as a means to line his own pocket--and one
night, he decides to assert his manhood with the helpless Sears. The
shock of this assault causes the girl to instantly regain her sight and
hearing! Crawford reacts to her husband's outrage by driving her car
into a tree, snuffing out Brazzi's life as well as her own. Sears--or
Esther Costello, for she is indeed the title character--finds happiness
with an honest young reporter (Lee Patterson). Set in America and
released by an American company (Columbia), Story of Esther Costello was
nonetheless filmed in its entirety in England. 1957
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8.00
Bird of Paradise
Stars: Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Louis Jourdan
Stars: Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Louis Jourdan
Richard
Walton Tully's war-horse theatrical drama Bird of Paradise was filmed
twice in Hollywood. This second version stars Louis Jourdan as French
sailor of fortune Andre Lawrence, who joins his Polynesian friend, Tenga
(Jeff Chandler), on a visit to the South Seas. Once he's arrived in the
tropical paradise, Andre falls in love with Chandler's nubile sister,
Kalua (Debra Paget). Alas, their romance brings only disaster to all
concerned. To appease the gods and prevent a volcanic eruption that will
destroy her home and people, the girl offers herself up as a sacrifice.
This Technicolor remake of Bird of Paradise prevented the TV release of
the superior 1932 version, which starred Joel McCrea and Dolores Del
Rio
Rel/1951
Rel/1951
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8.00
About Mrs. Leslie
Stars: Shirley Booth, Robert Ryan
Stars: Shirley Booth, Robert Ryan
Shirley Booth followed up her
Oscar-winning performance in Come Back Little Sheba with the high-gloss
soap opera About Mrs. Leslie. Based on a novel by Vina Delmar, the film
casts Booth as a philosophical boarding house keeper who recalls her
life and loves in a long, long flashback. Born on the wrong side of the
tracks, Vivien (Booth) escapes her surroundings by becoming a cabaret
singer. She meets and falls in love with handsome, secretive George
Leslie (Robert Ryan), then becomes his mistress, assuming his last name
in the interests of propriety. Upon Leslie's death, Vivien discovers
that her lover was actually a fabulously wealthy industrialist. Her
experiences are placed in context with the present-day travails of her
boarders, notably young sweethearts Nadine (Marjie Millar) and Ian (Alex
Nicol). Rel/1954
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8.00
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Stars: Dorothy McGuire, Peggy Ann Garner, Joan Blondell, James Dunn
Stars: Dorothy McGuire, Peggy Ann Garner, Joan Blondell, James Dunn
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 film
relates the trials and tribulations of a turn-of-the-century Brooklyn
tenement family. The father, Dunn, is a likable but irresponsible
alcoholic whose dreams of improving his family's lot are invariably
doomed to disappointment. The mother, Dorothy McGuire, is the true head
of the household, steadfastly holding the family together no matter what
crisis arises. The story is told from the point of view of daughter
Peggy Ann Garner, a clear-eyed realist who nonetheless would like to
believe in her pie-in-the-sky father, whom she dearly loves. Joan
Blondell co-stars as the family's brash, freewheeling aunt, whose means
of financial support is a never-ending source of neighborhood gossip.
This first film directorial effort of Elia Kazan earned a special Oscar
for "Most Promising Juvenile Performer" Peggy Ann Garner. A Tree Grows
From Brooklyn was remade for TV in 1974, and also served as the basis of
a Broadway musical. Rel/1945
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8.00