Original Film Writer
Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.
Himself (archive footage)
The career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is halted by a witch hunt in the late 1940s when he defies the anti-communist HUAC committee and is blacklisted.
Self (archive footage)
A look at the War on Terror and the threat it's causing to our civil liberties and political discourse. Academy Award nominee James Cromwell presents Janek Ambros' directorial debut. The feature doc tackles the War on Terror's impact on civil liberties and the strange coalition it's creating between the progressive left and libertarian right. The doc examines the NSA, drones, the war on journalism and other encroachments on civil liberties started by the Bush era and expanded by the Democratic establishment.
Self (archive footage)
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) caused a great impression on the lives of most of the American artists of that era, so many movies were made in Hollywood about it. The final defeat of the Spanish Republic left an open wound in the hearts of those who sympathized with its cause. The eventful life of screenwriter Alvah Bessie (1904-1985), one of the Hollywood Ten, serves to analyze this sadness, the tragedy of Spain and its consequences.
Writer
The story of a young American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of the First World War. The film takes place in the mind of a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, 20 year-old Joe Bonham slowly discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him forever trapped within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
Himself (archive footage)
Through a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath. They were blacklisted and imprisoned. We follow Trumbo to prison, to exile in Mexico with his family, to poverty, to the public shunning of his children, to his writing under others' names, and to an eventual but incomplete vindication. Actors read his letters; his children and friends remember and comment. Archive photos, newsreels and interviews add texture. Written by
Himself
The story behind the novel and the film Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
Original Film Writer
Aerial firefighter Pete risks himself and his vintage World War II airplane in a constant and death-defying quest to fight forest wildfires, much to the dismay of his girlfriend, Dorinda . His love for Dorinda and the advice of fellow pilot Al convince Pete to give up his perilous career, but he flies one last mission. Pete heroically saves Al's plane from certain destruction, but with supernatural consequences.
Director
2 of One is a video album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on June 6, 1989, through Elektra Entertainment and features two versions of the group's first music video, "One", from their fourth studio album "...And Justice for All". The music video One was directed by Bill Pope and Michael Salomon and was filmed in Los Angeles, California. It features clips from Dalton Trumbo's anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun (1971). All parts of 2 of One are also included on the DVD "The Videos 1989–2004", released in 2006.
Original Film Writer
Remake of the 1953 original. Princess Elysa is touring Rome, and decides to get "out and about" away from her normal life. She meets with an American reporter and his photographer, who show her the sites. The reporter is initially more interested in a story than the Princess, but begins to fall for her.
Writer
The last of a northern California tribe tries to assimilate with the help of an anthropologist.
Commandant (uncredited)
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Screenplay
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.
Screenplay
Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination in this speculative agitprop.
Additional Writing
Two desperate people have a wonderful romance, but their political views and convictions drive them apart.
Writer
A documentary about a political troupe headed by actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland which traveled to towns near military bases in the US in the early 1970s. The group put on shows called "F.T.A.", which stood for "F**k the Army", and was aimed at convincing soldiers to voice their opposition to the Vietnam War, which was raging at the time. Various singers, actors and other entertainers performed antiwar songs and skits during the show.
Screenplay
In the poor, desolate northern provinces of the mountainous feudal Sunni kingdom of Afghanistan (before the Soviet-engineered republican revolutions), the status of the proud men and their clans is determined less by wealth or even military power (both rare) then by victories in the ancient, though game of buskashi, a vicious form of polo dating back to Genghis Khan, in which the chapendaz (participating horsemen) use their horse-whips on both mounts and rivals in a ruthless fight for a heavy 'ball', a dead calf, which must be carried a long way, almost impossible with all the others mercilessly assailing. Tursen, a former champion, now holds the status of village notable thanks to his position as stable-keeper of the regional lord Osman Bey, and has finally bred a horse without equal, the white stallion Jahil, in time for the royal tournament on the plain of Bagrami, just outside the capital Kabul...
Screenplay
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed with a fate worse than death as a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories.
Novel
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed with a fate worse than death as a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories.
Orator
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed with a fate worse than death as a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories.
Director
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed with a fate worse than death as a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories.
Screenplay
Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish peasant Yakov Bog who was wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime - the “ritual murder” of a Gentile child in Kiev. We witness the unrelenting detail of the peasant handyman's life in prison and see him gain in dignity as the efforts to humiliate him and make him confess fail.
Screenplay
Abner Hale, a rigid and humorless New England missionary, marries the beautiful Jerusha Bromley and takes her to the exotic island kingdom of Hawaii, intent on converting the natives. But the clash between the two cultures is too great and instead of understanding there comes tragedy.
Screenplay
A free-spirited single mother forms a connection with the wedded headmaster of an Episcopalian boarding school in Monterey, California.
Screenplay
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
Screenplay
Brendan O'Malley arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O'Malley's heels is lawman Dana Stribling who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both men join Breckenridge and his wife on the drive. As they near Texas tensions mount, not least because Stribling is starting to court Belle, and O'Malley is increasingly drawn by her daughter Missy.
Screenplay
Based on Leon Uris' novel, this historical epic provides a dramatic backstory to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, in the aftermath of World War II. Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.
Screenplay
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.
Writer
Playwright James Lee adapted his off-Broadway play for the screen in this high-strung adaptation, directed by Joseph Anthony. In this simplistic, backroom show-business-success saga, Anthony Franciosa plays Sam, a struggling young actor who will forsake his family and take any type of menial job in order to become a Broadway star. Dean Martin is on hand as Maury, an aspiring director also trying to claw his way up the ladder of success. When Maury gets his big break, Sam wants a part in his show, but when Maury, who is unwilling to cast Sam in the production, turns down Sam's request, Sam seduces and marries Maury's girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine). In spite of everything, Maury wants his girl back, and Sam agrees to a divorce on the stipulation that Maury cast him as the star in his next show. Once again, Maury reneges and, before Sam can exact his revenge, Uncle Sam comes to the rescue and he is drafted into the army.
Screenplay
Armed with a harpoon, a Swedish whaler is out for revenge after the death of his father. A greedy oil man trying to buy up the Swede's land might be the guilty party.
Screenplay
Chicago hotel clerk Frank Harris dreams of life as a cowboy, and he gets his chance when, jilted by the father of the woman he loves, he joins Tom Reece and his cattle-driving outfit. Soon, though, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for...
Writer
Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (working under the pseudonym “Sally Stubblefield”) tells a rough-edged tale of life inside a 1950s women’s reformatory. Set in the Martha Washington School for Girls—an institute for wayward teenagers and unwed mothers—THE GREEN-EYED BLONDE tackles a range of topical social issues as the inmates band together to help out one of their own when she refuses to give up her child.
Screenplay
After The Deerslayer, a white man reared by the Mohicans, and his blood brother Chingachgook, a Mohican chief, save trader Harry Marsh from the hostile Huron Indians, they learn that the Hurons will attack Old Tom Hutter and his two daughters, Hetty and Judith, who live on a floating raft fort on the river.
Screenplay
Eddie Rico, the erstwhile bookkeeper for a big Mafia boss, is now making a living as an honest merchant in Florida with his family. Things go sour when the police start a search for his syndicate-linked brothers who are on the lam after a big hit, forcing Eddie to get involved with the Mafia again.
Screenplay
A young Mexican boy tirelessly tries to save his pet bull from death at the hands of a celebrated matador.
Story
A young Mexican boy tirelessly tries to save his pet bull from death at the hands of a celebrated matador.
Story
Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.
Screenplay
Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.
Screenplay
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl's apartment.
John Gilvray's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Los Angeles, California. A cop who, unhappy with his job, blames others for his work problems, is assigned to investigate the case of a prowler who stalks the home of a married woman.
Screenplay
Los Angeles, California. A cop who, unhappy with his job, blames others for his work problems, is assigned to investigate the case of a prowler who stalks the home of a married woman.
Story
Dr. Helen Hunt is a physician married to millionaire Peter Judson Kirk Jr., who is jealous his wife is spending too much time with her male patients. He makes a fool of himself trying to prove her guilt.
Screenplay
Bart Tare is an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, he meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, on Starr's behest, they embark on a crime spree for cash.
Self
A brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House Un-American Activities Committee and their controversial and self-incriminatory questions during the red scare. With that act of defiance, they were sentenced to one year in prison simply for speaking their minds and exercising their constitutional rights as concerned citizens. This is their story, their version of the facts, and their opinions.
Screenplay
Welcome to Fuller Junction, Wisconsin, a friendly small town settled by Norwegian farmers. Here we see the exploits of two young cousins, Selma and Arnold, who learn about their world and experience the ups and downs of life as the season pass.
Story
A female cabbie is suspected of killing her drunken husband.
Screenplay
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
Writer
Jo Jones, a young defense plant worker whose husband is in the military during World War II, shares a house with three other women in the same situation.
Screenplay
A cocky Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female flier. After he's killed on a mission, he is sent back to Earth by heavenly General with a new assignment.
Additional Writing
Rocksford, New England, 1672. Puritan witch hunter Jonathan Wooley is cursed after burning a witch at the stake: his descendants will never find happiness in their marriages. At present, politician Wallace Wooley, who is running for state governor, is about to marry his sponsor's daughter.
Writer
Brothers feud over a girl they both fall for while covering World War II.
Screenplay
When Andrew Long, hyper-efficient small town accountant, finds a $1240 discrepancy in the city budget, his superiors try to explain it away. When he insists on pursuing the matter, he's in danger of being blamed himself. In his trouble, the spirit of Andrew Jackson, whom he idolizes, visits him, and in turn, summons much high-powered talent from American history...which only Andrew can see.
Story
A playboy marries a woman doctor then grows jealous of her male patients.
Screenplay
Kitty Foyle, a hard-working white-collar girl from a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania low, middle-class family, meets and falls in love with young socialite Wyn Strafford but his family is against her.
Screenplay
A man violates company policy by getting married.
Writer
Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.
Screenplay
Two theatrical producers plan to get even with a demanding actress by tricking her into starring in the worst play they can find.
Story
Although young and beautiful, schoolteacher Anne Gladden fears a dull future. She finally decides to take a walk on the wild side, splurging on some fashionable new clothes and setting off to find adventure. Her new confidence inspires her to flirt with complete strangers. When a gangster pays unwanted attention to her, she ditches him and flees in his car, unaware that there's a corpse in the trunk. Determined to recover his stolen vehicle and its incriminating cargo the thug begins a desperate search. The oblivious Anne, comes to the aid of a handsome young man stranded alongside the road. Romance blooms, but after the shocking discovery of a body in the trunk, the duo decide they have to return the car. The bickering lovebirds head back to the city, trailed by both the angry gangster and the cops, who suspect the young couple of murder.
Story
Delia Jordan's father is murdered and some very valuable jewelry stolen. She hires The Lone Wolf.
Story
New York store clerk joins a hobo and an illegal immigrant heading for his newly bought land in Arizona.
Screenplay
New York store clerk joins a hobo and an illegal immigrant heading for his newly bought land in Arizona.
Writer
Set in a tiny midwestern town, this sentimental drama centers on the rivalry between two life-long acquaintances whose early friendship falls apart when they woo the same woman.
Screenplay
Twelve people are aboard Coast Air Line's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.
Story
Gruff boxing manager "Square Shooting Murph" Murphy manages a naive boxer from Indiana, Homer Baston.Homer is willing to give up his boxing career searching for his parents, so Murphy hires two jailbirds to play his long lost parents to keep him in the ring.
Screenplay
A young girl begins to wonder if she really fits into the upper-class sorority she's trying to join.
Screenplay
This is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan. Mr. Corrigan starred in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, Mr. Corrigan loaded 320 gallons of gasoline (40 hours worth) into the tiny, single engine plane. While expressing his intent to fly west to Long Beach, CA, Mr. Corrigan flew out of Floyd Bennett Field heading east over the Atlantic. Instrumentation in the plane included two compasses (both malfunctioned) and a turn-and-bank indicator. The cabin door was held shut with baling wire. Nearly 29 hours later, he landed in Baldonnel near Dublin. He forever claimed to be surprised at arriving in Ireland rather than California. He returned to the US as a hero, with a ticker tape parade in New York and received numerous medals and awards.
Screenplay
On the day of his funeral, a dedicated smalltown doctor is remembered by his neighbors and patients.
Screenplay
A faded star is suspected of killing a studio executive.
Writer
An elevator operator in a swanky apartment building falls in love with a homeless girl who sneaks in one night looking for a place to keep warm. In order to keep her near him, he wangles a job for her as a maid at the building.
Writer
A remake of Frank Capra's Submarine (1928), Devil's Playground is a snappy Columbia "B plus" picture starring Richard Dix and Chester Morris. Submarine officers Dorgan (Dix) and Mason (Morris) battle on land for the affections of dance-hall girl Carmen (Dolores del Rio). She marries Dorgan but makes a play for Mason when her husband is on duty. The romantic rivalry is forgotten when Dorgan must rescue Mason and his crew from a sunken sub.
Story
When her parents are drowned at sea, "Princess" Judy is adopted by a soft-hearted old sea captain, Captain Zack, and brought to live on his tugboat.
Screenplay
A henpecked husband tries to help his daughter marry the man she loves and his wife loathes.
Screenplay
A crusading young reporter planning a series of articles about a corrupt politician is framed for a crime and sentenced to serve five years at a prison farm.