Dorothy Adams

This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes control-obsessed director add information and insight to the story.

A detective is hired to locate a girl adopted 30 years earlier whose birth father wants to bequeath her his fortune.

The story of Virginia Hill, a former prostitute who was the girlfriend of '40s killer and gangster Bugsy Siegel.

An aging lawman and an aging outlaw join forces when their respective positions in society are usurped by a younger, but incompetent Marshal, and a younger, but vicious gang leader.

Alfred Eaton, an ambitious young executive, climbs to the top of New York's financial world as his marriage crumbles. At the brink of attaining his career goals, he is forced to choose between business success, married to the beautiful, but unfaithful Mary and starting over with his true love, the much younger Natalie.

A young, sweet girl from the country moves to Los Angeles with her mother and meets a young man who she thinks is just perfect. That is until she gets pregnant and he's on his way to jail.

Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill. McKay is a man whose values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers and ranch foreman Steve Leech takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish and controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill. The Major is involved in a ruthless civil war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey. The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon and both Terrill and Hannassey want it.

A powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.

Dan Evans, a small time farmer, is hired to escort Ben Wade, a dangerous outlaw, to Yuma. As Evans and Wade wait for the 3:10 train to Yuma, Wade's gang is racing to free him.

A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?

Patricia Medina plays the title character in The Buckskin Lady. Medina is cast as female gambler Angela Medley, who is forced by circumstances to align herself with outlaw Slinger. But Angela has never gotten over her love for honest frontier doctor Bruce Merritt, and at the first opportunity she redeems herself by catching a bullet intended for the doc. Henry Hull delivers the film's most memorable performance as Angela's drunken wretch of a father. Per the title, Buckskin Lady affords the viewer ample opportunity to see Patricia Medina in form-fitting western garb.

Big Arnie tries to make it in a hot-rod gang and get the girl... none who find him all that appealing.

Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as the leader and liberator of the Hebrew people.

A man tries to find a son he gave up for adoption years ago.

An unscrupulous attorney attempts to rig the jury vote in a murder trial. Released in 1956.

In Johnny Concho, Frank Sinatra plays a man who goes from the town bully to town coward!

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

A deputy sheriff defies local ranchers to investigate a Mexican's murder.

A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the High Priest as well.

Molly and Terry Donahue, plus their three children, are The Five Donahues. Son Tim meets hat-check girl Vicky and the family act begins to fall apart.

Carrie's dreams of adventure in the big city are quickly squashed as she discovers all that awaits her there is a bleak life of grueling and poorly paid factory work—that is, until a traveling salesman named Drouet steps into her life and changes her outlook.

Poor health and alcoholism force Grover Cleveland Alexander out of baseball, but through his wife's faithful efforts, he gets a chance for a comeback and redemption.

To ensure a full profitable season, circus manager Brad Braden engages The Great Sebastian, though this moves his girlfriend Holly from her hard-won center trapeze spot. Holly and Sebastian begin a dangerous one-upmanship duel in the ring, while he pursues her on the ground.

Lesley Selander took time off from his directorial duties on Tim Holt's RKO western series to helm the Monogram oater Fort Osage. Rod Cameron stars as frontier scout Tim Clay, assigned to guide a wagon train through Indian territory. Clay knows that he's in for a lot of trouble because of the treaty-violating activities of white criminals Pickett (Morris Ankrum) and Keane (Douglas Kennedy). Fortunately for the hero, Pickett and Keane double-cross each other somewhere along the line, weakening their ability to foment an all-out Indian attack. Jane Nigh co-stars as the in-the-dark daughter of one of the villains. Fort Osage was produced by Walter Mirisch, who later graduated to such big-budgeters as West Side Story and The Great Escape.

Blake Washburn blames manufacturer MacFarland for his defeat in the race for re-election to the state legislature. He takes over his uncle's newspaper to take on big business as an enemy of the people. Miss Martin works in the "Herald" newspaper office. When tragedy strikes, Blake must re-examine his views.

A Catholic priest fights against his colleagues' immediate acceptance of an ambiguous “miracle”.

Bill Lawrence wins a bevy or prizes from a radio program, but ends up having to sell them all in order to pay the taxes he's incurred.

Late in the Civil War, three Confederate soldiers escape from a Union prison camp in Missouri. They soon fall into the hands of pro-Confederate raiders, who force them to act as "outriders" (escorts) for a civilian wagon train that will be secretly transporting Union gold from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to St. Louis, Missouri. The three men are to lead the wagons into a raider trap in Missouri, but one of them starts to have misgivings....

When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret. The classic story of Samson and Delilah as told by Cecil B. DeMille.

After a beautiful but unsophisticated girl is seduced by a worldly piano player and gives up her out-of-wedlock baby, her guilt compels her to kidnap another child.

This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.

Two female con artists from New York City, fleeing the law with loot from their latest scam, hide out in a small Maine town, near the Canadian border. However - the residents of this small town aren't quite as unsophisticated as the girls think they are.

England, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to escape the gallows, to serve fourteen years as a slave in the colony of Virginia, whose inhabitants begin to hear and fear the sinister song of the threatening drums of war that resound in the wild Ohio valley.

An Irish rascal and inveterate gambler uses his considerable skills at the gaming tables of New Orleans to become fabulously rich.

A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he starts becoming successful, he begins to lose sight of what mattered to him before.

In this Academy Award Best Short Subject winner, 11 year old Davy discovers that a chained gentle dog, Buck, is badly wounded around the neck because of the thick, tight collar he is made to constantly wear by his unfeeling owner. When Buck comes through the fence and becomes stuck, Davy removes the collar. Even though the boy tells him to stay in his owner's yard, the dog follows him home.

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

In 1940s Los Angeles, when womanizing composer Keith Vincent is found dead, the inquest concludes it was a suicide but police detective Joe Warne isn't so sure.

A fresh-faced young detective gets set up, framed for murder, and alibied by a smart blonde.

The (O)ffice of (S)trategic (S)ervices' Cmdr. Brady (Patric Knowles) forms Operation "Applejack" (based on a composite of actual incidents during WWII) and sends Lt. (j.g.) Philip Masson, U.S.N.R. aka John Martin as spy Philippe Martine (Alan Ladd) along with Miss Ellen Rogers posing as her college roommate, Madame Elaine Duprez (Geraldine Fitzgerald) and Robert Bouchet, Tech Sgt., A.U.S. as Albert Bernardito (Richard Benedict) to acquire secret Nazi plans. After nearly getting caught they succeed and get new identities. However they discover a secret that could change the war and risk their lives to get the information back to London before it jeopardizes their lives. Martine and Duprez then get reassigned to assist fellow spy Frank Schmidt aka Parker (Richard Webb) embedded in the German army so he can relay important Nazi troop movements. Then she is discovered by an old foe, Col. Paul Meister (John Hoyt) but Martine must radio the vital information and misses her.

An actress becomes taken with Hitty, a young orphan prone to dreaming. Julie soon finds out that she is ill and has only a short time to live. She decides to adopt the child so that her husband Bill will not be alone when she dies. Unfortunately, Bill is not charmed by Hitty.

A student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease.

An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.

While on vacation, the Falcon is arrested for kidnapping after striking up a friendship with a girl who's nurse has been recently murdered.

WWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver and pilot in WWI, to an important person in the early years of civil airline service, after his plane crashed in the South Pacific in late 1942.

This Crime Does Not Pay entry focuses on fake spiritualists. A mother is worried about her son, who is missing in action. Over time, she gives a con man all of the family savings to find reassurance that her son is all right. When she can no longer pay, events take a tragic turn.

A man waits on death row while his son and friend try to prove that he did not kill a grocer with an ax.

A debutante, a serviceman's bride and a girl from a military family join the Women's Army Corps.

A police psychiatrist is enlisted to catch a killer.

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

While husband Tim is away during World War II, Anne Hilton copes with problems on the homefront. Taking in a lodger, Colonel Smollett, to help make ends meet and dealing with shortages and rationing are minor inconveniences compared to the love affair daughter Jane and the Colonel's grandson conduct.

After breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal loophole allows him to enroll as one of her students.

During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Davidson tries to keep up the spirits of her staff, which includes Lieutenants Joan O'Doul and Olivia D'Arcy. They all seek to maintain a sense of normal life, including dating, while under constant danger as they tend to wounded soldiers.

An actress gets involved with a criminal gang and winds up taking the rap for a $40,000 robbery. Before being sent to prison, she steals the money from her partners and hides it, she is thinking to use it as a bargaining chip to be released from prison. However, her former partners don't have the same ideas.

Joe Smith is an ordinary American family man who works in an aircraft factory. Shortly after being a promoted to a much higher position, Joe is kidnapped by enemy agents who are determined to get military secrets out of him by any means possible. Will Joe keep quiet or betray his country...

A Braodway playwright wants to keep on writing plays for his wife to star in, but all she wants is to retire to Connecticut and, following a few 'worlds-apart" discussion of the issue, they get a divorce. The actress marries a banker in a fit of pique only to quickly discover the divorce was not valid. She communicates this information to her not-yet ex-husband and he, to prevent consummation of the invalid marriage rescues her by sending plumbers, waiters, porters, chambermaids, bellhops, desk clerks, exterminators and, finally, a crowd of roistering conventioneers to the suite to ensure no bedtime story would take place there

Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.

The operators of 'Silver Haven', a cultish group bilking gullible rich people out of money, is set to inherit a large sum after the deceased woman's heir also dies. Leader Joesph Jones decides to hurry the process along and kidnaps Wally Benton, his fiancé, and a friend, to further this goal. Wally, 'The Fox', is a radio sleuth who solves murders on the air. Jones wants him to devise a perfect murder, and isn't above killing others sloppily along the way to get his foolproof murder plot.

A young woman marries a man who turns out to be a bank robber.

Young Matt Matthews, an Ozark Mountains moonshiner, hates the father he has never seen, who apparently deserted Matt's mother and left her to die. His obsession contributes to the hatred rampant in the mountains. However, the arrival of a stranger, Daniel Howitt, begins to positively affect the mountain people, who learn to shed their hatred under his gentle influence.

In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing sea captain.

While listening to a recording of Penny Serenade, Julie Gardiner Adams begins reflecting on her past. She recalls her impulsive marriage to newspaper reporter Roger Adams, which begins on a deliriously happy note but turns out to be fraught with tragedy. Other songs remind her of their courtship, their marriage, their desire for a child, and the joys and sorrows they have shared. A flood of memories come back to her as she ponders on their present problems and how they arose.

Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming.

A scientist kills innocent victims in his efforts to communicate with his late wife.

A courageous doctor braves a fierce blizzard in the Canadian wilderness to save a remote community from a deadly epidemic. He has come North to visit and ends up stealing a wife from her husband. When the epidemic hits, he and the wife begin their arduous journey.

A conman arrives in town trying to sell his miracle methods of weight loss to the ladies. It's left to the good Dr. Christian to expose this fake and save a fragile young girl's life.

Two strangers split a sweepstake prize to go on a fake honeymoon with predictable results.

A man violates company policy by getting married.

A runaway heiress hides in a doctor's trailer for a rollicking trip to San Francisco.

A determined newsman pursues his hunch that a charitable maternity hospital is running a ruthless adoption racket.

The Fight for Life was documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz' first "dramatic" film, utilizing the talents of several top New York stage actors. A tribute to the Chicago Maternity Center and its efforts to provide the best possible care for destitute mothers, the film is based on the book of the same name by Paul de Kruif. Myron McCormick plays the largest role as a dedicated intern, while others in the cast include such theatrical heavywrights as Will Geer, Dudley Digges and Dorothy Adams. The film's many vignettes range from the tragic (a mother dying in childbirth in the opening scene) to the exultant (another mother rescued from the brink of death in a disease-ridden tenement). Filmed in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, Fight for Life is a worthwhile effort, though Lorentz seems more comfortable with the "actuality" scenes than with the dramatized passages.

A pregnant prison inmate shares her problems with the patients in a maternity ward.

A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.

Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are inseparable. Gramps is concerned for Pud's future and wary of a scheming relative who seeks custody of the child. One day Mr. Brink, an agent of Death, arrives to take Gramps "to the land where the woodbine twineth." Through a bit of trickery, Gramps confines Mr. Brink, and thus Death, to the branches of a large apple tree, giving Gramps extra time to resolve issues about Pud's future.

Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.

Following an argument with his young protege, the curmudgeonly Dr. Gillespie dumps Jimmy Kildare in a street clinic, hoping to teach him a lesson. While working there Kildare meets pretty nurse Mary Lamont, and ends up treating a hoodlum with a gunshot wound. He purposely fails to write a report on it, and soon finds himself in a heap of trouble. Who else would come to his rescue but good old Dr. Gillespie?

Three women who grew up in an orphanage cross paths later in life: one unhappily married with a young daughter, one an office secretary, and one a nightclub performer.

Fake fortunetellers win the confidence of clients and then get them to part with their money by buying mining stocks which are worthless.

A shoplifter gets sentenced to a women's prison.