O. Henry's Full House
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Time Out says
John Steinbeck, looking and sounding disconcertingly like Ward Bond, hosts five tales by O Henry, of which only Hathaway's segment ('The Clarion Call') is devoid of interest. Negulesco and King both contribute sentimental valentines ('The Last Leaf' and 'The Gift of the Magi') in which love transcends the miseries of illness and poverty respectively. Hawks' 'The Ransom of Red Chief' is about two child-kidnappers who end up paying their victim's dad to take the little horror off their hands. It's noteworthy for the casting of the two most mournful comics of the day as a double act; and for the fact that the adventures of such unprofessional no-hopers interested someone like Hawks in the first place. At the front of the movie, Laughton characteristically generates his own atmosphere of benign fantasy, playing a bum trying to get himself jailed for the winter. This episode ('The Cop and the Anthem') also includes an encounter between two sacred monsters - Laughton's hobo and Monroe's hooker meeting on a windy street corner for a brief demonstration of the virtues of kindliness and respect.Author: BBa
Release details
UK release:
1952
Duration:
117 mins
Cast and crew
Screenwriter:
Walter Bullock, Richard L Breen, Lamar Trotti, Nunnally Johnson, Ben Roberts, 'The Last Leaf' Ivan Goff, Howard Hawks
Cast:
Anne Baxter, Joyce MacKenzie, Dale Robertson, Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne, Charles Laughton, Jean Peters, Gregory Ratoff, Farley Granger, Jeanne Crain, Kathleen Freeman, Lee Aaker, Oscar Levant, Fred Allen
Music:
Art Director:
Addison Hehr, Richard Irvine, Joseph C Wright, Chester Gore, Lyle Wheeler
Producer:
Director:
Henry King, Howard Hawks, Jean Negulesco, Henry Hathaway, Henry Koster
Cinematography:
Lloyd Ahern, Milton Krasner, Joseph MacDonald, Lucien Ballard
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