It's a Big Country
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.
John Sturges
William A. Wellman
Dore Schary
Helen Deutsch
Dorothy Kingsley
Charles Vidor
Richard Thorpe
Clarence Brown
Don Hartman
William Ludwig
Don Weis
Ray Chordes
Claudia Cranston
Charles Palmer
Lucille Schlossberg
Casts & Crew
Ethel Barrymore
Keefe Brasselle
Gary Cooper
Nancy Reagan
Van Johnson
Gene Kelly
Janet Leigh
Marjorie Main
Fredric March
George Murphy
William Powell
S.Z. Sakall
Lewis Stone
James Whitmore
Keenan Wynn
Elisabeth Risdon
Sharon McManus
Angela Clarke
Robert Hyatt
Also Directed by John Sturges
After spending several months in an orbiting lab, three astronauts prepare to return to earth only to find their rockets wont fire. After initially thinking they might have to abandon them in orbit, NASA decides to launch a daring rescue. Their plans are complicated by a Hurricane headed towards the launch site and a shrinking air supply in the astronauts capsule.
Steve Sinclair is a world a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake.
An unhappily married woman has an affair with her husband's law partner. Director John Sturges' lush 1961 melodrama stars Lana Turner, Jason Robards Jr., Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Thomas Mitchell, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton, Barbara Bel Geddes, Carroll O'Connor, Everett Sloane, Yvonne Craig and Jean Willes.
Jim Slater's father (whom he never knew) died in the Apache ambush at Gila Valley, and Jim is searching for the one survivor, who supposedly went for help but disappeared with a lot of gold. In the process, he gets several people gunning for him, and he keeps meeting liberated woman Karyl Orton, who may be on a similar mission. Renewed Apache hostilities and an impending range war provide complications.
Mary Herries has a passion for art and fine furniture. Even though she is getting on in years, she enjoys being around these priceless articles. One day she meets a strange young painter named Elcott, who uses his painting skill to enter into her life. Little does she expect that his only interest in Mary is to covet everything she has.
Danny Mitchell, feeling that he has been misunderstood (nothing new for this kid in this series) by his parents, takes his dog, Rusty, and leaves home, camping out near the trailer of veterinary Dr. Francis Xavier Ray. Gas escapes in the trailer during the night, and Rusty rescues the vet before he is overcome.
The temperamental Carol Maldon leaves New York behind to take control of her father's stable, she inherited. Rick Grayton is a horse racing trainer who lucked into training a champ, the horse 'Gay Fleet'. Only nobody knows 'Gay Fleet' is any good yet. Rick has been intentionally losing so that he can buy the horse with a low-ball offer to the owner Carol. However Mercedes Bellway, a rival barn and in love with Rick, figures out his plan and tells Carol.
A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.
Based on The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras, by Mark Twain.
Fred J. Johnson (Lloyd Corrigan) scores a hole-in-one but his next drive, using the lucky, initialed golf ball, soars out of bounds and lands near a spot where some counterfeiters are burying a murder victim. Then begins a series of events in which he is hounded and threatened by the killers. The consequences of his not reporting what he saw to the police lead to a climax in which is daughter is held hostage by the crooks.
Also Directed by William A. Wellman
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.
Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.
In the 1830's beaver trapper Flint Mitchell and other white men hunt and trap in the then unnamed territories of Montana and Idaho. Flint marries a Blackfoot woman as a way to gain entrance into her people's rich lands, but finds she means more to him than a ticket to good beaver habitat.
War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins Company C, 18th Infantry as this American army unit fights its way across North Africa in World War II. He comes to know the soldiers and finds much human interest material for his readers back in the States.
Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to prominence as district attorney dedicated to closing down such houses. When her underling Dutton proposes killing the DA, she kills the underling and must face execution.
Joe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building.
A very young Joan Bennett tops the cast as Nan Sheffield, the daughter of a college president (George Irving). The nominal leading man is Tommy Nelson (James Hall), the black-sheep son of a wealthy alumnus (Anders Randolph). Though Nelson is an ace football player, President Sheffield refuses to enroll the boy because of his bad reputation, whereupon Tommy's father withdraws his financial backing and bars his son from ever setting foot on Sheffield's campus. Falling in love with Nan, Tommy signs up with the college under an assumed name, giving up his wastrel ways to lead the football team to victory. Joe E. Brown steals the show as Speed Hanson, a goofy gridiron star who emits a loud and long yell whenever scoring a touchdown (this was, in fact, the first film in which Brown's famous "Yeeeeowww" was heard -- but certainly not the last).
Nightclub singer Joan Gordon runs away from her gangster boyfriend to become a mail-order bride to a struggling North Dakota farmer. Their relationship has a rocky start, but just as Joan realizes she's developing feelings for her husband, her old boyfriend arrives to win her back.
To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.
A London artist struggles to complete one last painting before going blind.
Also Directed by Charles Vidor
Gypsy Carmen drives men wild in 1820s Spain, especially the dragoon Don Jose.
A rich, young beauty, Louise Durant, follows the man she loves and hopes to marry to Zurich where he studies violin at the conservatory. A piano student at the conservatory falls madly in love with Louise. The violinist loves his music first and Louise second. The pianist loves Louise first and his music second. Louise must ultimately choose which man she wants.
Frank Sinatra stars in director Charles Vidor's 1957 film biography of nightclub entertainer Joe E. Lewis. The cast also includes Mitzi Gaynor, Jeanne Crain, Eddie Albert, Beverly Garland, Jackie Coogan, Harold Huber, Barry Kelley, Ted de Corsia, Ned Glass, Mary Treen and Sid Melton.
After a long absense from the island, Chester Tuttle returns to Tahiti to find that little has changed. His large family, particularly his scheming Uncle Jonas, would rather dance and romance than earn a living. When Jonas loses the family plantation in a cockfight, Chester saves the day by towing in a large ship abandoned at sea and claiming the salvage. But opening a joint bank account in the name of the Tuttle clan may not have been a wise decision.
A millionaire is found murdered in his apartment. Suspicion falls on a variety of suspects, including his fiancé and her parents, the butler, and a professional mentalist known as The Great Gambini.
Dale Jordan is first accepted by the aristocratic first-cabin passengers on a south-bound Panama-Pacific liner until they discover she is a member of a troupe of cabaret girls led by Trixie Snell en route for the Bull Ring Cabaret in Panama City.
Alden "Bill" Carter III sees a beautiful woman, Jerry, dining alone at the Park Savoy in New York, and after a brief flirtation, introduces himself. After he entreats her to be his "mystery woman" to make his girl friend jealous, Jerry agrees to attend a reception that night with him at the Douglas home. This plays right into Jerry's plans, as she is a jewel thief who intends to steal the Douglas jewels with her cohorts, Uncle John and Jeff...
Popular mailcoach driver Uncle Willie is in fact in league with the town's crooked banker. They plan to have the bank robbed after emptying it, and when Willie's choice for this doesn't show in time, he gets some local boys to do it. When his man does turn up he decides to stick around, as he is pals with the sheriff and also takes a shine to Willie's daughter Allison. This gives the bad men several new problems.
Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter Stefan Janowski. The big city doles out joy and misery indiscriminately: In the apartment below Victor and Steve, Gus Nelson learns that his wife has given birth to quintuplets, while the lonely tenant in the apartment below Gus has given up on life and committed suicide.
When a jury member takes in the defendant he couldn"t convict, she has a bad influence on his son.
Also Directed by Richard Thorpe
A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.
Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart.
In turn-of-the-century New York, an Italian seeks vengeance on the mobsters who killed his father.
David Marshall Williams is sent to a prison farm where he works in the tool shop and eventually develops the precursor of the famous M-1 Carbine automatic rifle used in World War II.
When Lassie's master dies, an old friend tries to convince a judge that the dog's life should be spared.
Joan Howell, a young and pretty maid-for-hire, meets and begins dating wealthy New York City businessman Tom Milford. Embarrassed about bringing him back to her tiny apartment that she shares with her roommate Audrey, Joan brings Tom over to a fancy apartment that she cleans on a daily basis not knowing that it's his place. Tom plays along with the charade despite not knowing who Joan really is, while she tries to tidy up Tom's place not knowing who he really is. Written by Matthew Patay
A soldier falls in love with a newly-married woman after her husband abandons her for a business meeting on their honeymoon.
A young navy lieutenant is brought in as technical adviser on a song-dance-and-swim film being made by screen star Rosalind Reynolds. Having once done a number with her at a Forces show, the young lad somehow believes she should be his girl. Her boyfriend is just one of those disagreeing.
After living abroad for several years, journalist John Royer returns to the United States just after the U.S. enters World War II. His boast that he could easily smuggle rubber, a key wartime natural resource, out of Malaya has him tasked with doing just that. He manages to get someone from his past, Carnaghan, sprung from Alactraz and together they head off to South East Asia posing as Irishmen. Once there, Carnaghan lines up some of his old cronies and with Royer and a few plantation owners plans to smuggle the rubber out from under the Japanese army's watchful eye.
The classic tale of a king and an everyman switching places.
Also Directed by Clarence Brown
This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm. It is a rich story about striving for excellence, the tension of father-son rebellion, and the love of a mother that can never die.
Magazine publisher Van Stanhope is a hard-working, dynamic executive very happily married to his beautiful wife Linda. Although their relationship is built on unconditional trust, friends, and even Van's mother, caution Linda about the dangers of allowing Whitey, her husband's extremely sexy secretary, to continue to have access to him. Although Whitey has a faithful boyfriend, she secretly harbors unrequited feelings for her boss. When they take a business trip to Havana, circumstantial evidence convinces Linda that the rumors she's heard may have a basis in fact.
As lifelong best friends Leo and Ulrich return home following completion of their military training, Leo sees stunning Felicitas at the railway station and, mesmerized by her beauty, is smitten. A scandal follows, for which Leo is sent away. Returning home three years later, he discovers that much has changed.
Susan travels with her father to England for a vacation. Invited to a society ball, Susan meets Sir John Ashwood and marries him after a whirlwind romance. However, American Susan never quite adjusts to life as a new member of the British gentry. Upon the outbreak of World War I, Ashwood is sent to the trenches and never returns. When her son goes off to fight in World War II, Susan fears the same tragic fate may befall him too.
Mike Brannon is a former war hero turned midget car racer. His ruthless racing tactics have made him successful but the fans consider him a villain and boo him mercilessly. Independent, beautiful reporter Regina Forbes tries to interview him but is put off by his gruff chauvinism, and when Brannon's daredevil tactics cause the death of a fellow driver, he finds himself a pariah in the sport thanks to her articles. When she finds him earning money as a barnstorming daredevil driver hoping for a comeback, they begin to become mutually attracted.
Indian aristocrat Rama Safti returns from medical training in the U.S. to give his life to the poor folk of Ranchipur. Lady Edwina and her drunken artist ex-lover Tom Ransome get in the way, but everyone shapes up when faced by earthquake, flooding, and plague.
When Fred Smith's wife dies in childbirth, Emma Thatcher, who has been nanny to the couple's three children, cares also for the family's new addition. Fred becomes rich and successful, then he and Emma marry. When Fred dies, his will becomes a source of trouble between the children and Emma.
Socialite Letty Lynton is returning to New York, abandoning one-time lover Emile Renaul in South America, when she strikes up a shipboard romance with Jerry Darrow. Renault is waiting for her in New York and will not leave her alone, so she poisons him. When detectives take her to the D.A.s office, Jerry cooks up an alibi.
A beautiful opera star kept by a rich older man falls in love with a young clergyman.
Depression Era story set in London about a wealthy shop owner who goes bankrupt and is forced to fire his faithful staff.
Also Directed by Don Hartman
Anabel Sims is determined to find the perfect husband. She thinks she's found her man in Madison Brown, a handsome pediatrician. She then prepares an elaborate scheme to trap him into marriage
A chronic runaway bride is haunted by her conscience, who becomes reality.
Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, who's actually a comparison shopper sent by another store. Steve lets her go, which gets him fired. They spend the afternoon together, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, when he finds out, but delights her young son Timmy, who quickly takes to Steve.
A pretty singer/dancer is becoming an actress whereas the playboy crown prince is becoming a monarch. The both will have their clandestine romance interfered with by their changing circumstances.
Also Directed by Don Weis
Bob Hope is a New York theater critic and his wife (Lucille Ball in their final motion picture pairing) writes a play that may or may not be very good. Now Hope must either get out of reviewing the play or cause the breakup of his marriage. Based on the Broadway play by Ira Levin.
Reporter investigates instances of spontaneous human combustion, and deadly electrical failures at a newly built hospital.
Astronauts Pete Burke and Allan Virdon crash on Earth in the far future and are captured by the apes. The men befriend a chimp named Galen who helps them to escape. In the hopes of finding a way to get back to their own time, the astronauts search for a computer in an eathquake-threatened city, with which they will be able to access their flight records. [The first of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "Escape from Tomorrow" and "The Trap"]
Brand New Life is an American comedy-drama series starring Barbara Eden and produced by Walt Disney Television that aired for five 60-minute episodes on NBC as part of The Magical World of Disney during the 1989–90 television season.
The concept of the series was the showing of unaired and unsold television pilots that did not make the television lineup for CBS. The show was successful during its first few seasons due to the fact that the show's concept, airing unsold and unaired television pilots, was a popular concept in the 1960s. But during its last two seasons on the air, the series did find some trouble due to the fact that the series were running out of pilots to air and, in their 4th season, they began airing repeats from the three seasons prior. During its 1966 summer run, the series aired eights new pilots and two repeats and during its last year airing five new pilots and four repeats.
The Immortal is an American television series, which aired on ABC from September 1970 to January 1971. The series is based on a pilot movie of the same name, which aired in September 1969. The pilot is based on the science fiction novel The Immortals, by James Gunn. Although the series was canceled at midseason, episodes were rerun by ABC in the summer of 1971. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel.
Beyond Westworld was a short-lived 1980 television series that carried on the stories of the two feature films, Westworld and Futureworld. It featured Jim McMullan as Security Chief John Moore of the Delos Corporation. The story revolved around John Moore having to stop the evil scientist, Quaid, as he planned to use the robots in Delos to try to take over the world. Despite being nominated for two Emmys, only five episodes were produced, and only three of them were aired before cancellation.
Partners in Crime is an American crime drama television series that aired from September 22 until December 29, 1984.
An art apraiser plans to sell a fake Rembrandt to a Middle Eastern prince.
A corpse has 24 hours to mastermind a good deed without leaving his crypt, to go "up there" and have his youth restored.