Manhattan Melodrama

W.S. Van Dyke

Academy Award winner Clark Gable stars with William Powell and Myrna Loy in the story of two orphaned brothers who grow up to lead lives on different sides of the law in a Manhattan Melodrama. Gambler Blackie Gallagher (Gable) and his brother, straight arrow attorney Jim Wade (Powell), although pursuing radically different paths in life, remain close. But when Wade marries Gallagher's former girlfriend, Eleanor (Myrna Loy), their lives eventually lead to opposite sides of a courtroom battle.


Key to the City

George Sidney

Academy Award winners Clark Gable and Loretta Young star as two mayors from opposite sides of the United States who meet and fall in love at a mayoral convention in San Francisco.


Scaramouche (1952)

George Sidney

Let danger befall him. Let the winds of fate blow where they may. Andre Moreau will strike a blow for vengeance and the French Revolution. First, he must hone his skill with the blade. By day, Andre secretly perfects his parries and lunges... and hides his true identity at night behind the mask of stage clown Scaramouche. A climactic duel that's one of the greatest sequences ever to lay steel to foe caps this bravura adaptation of the Rafael Sabatini (Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk) novel. George Sidney (1948's The Three Musketeers) nimbly directs all the swordplay, wordplay and horseplay. And Stewart Granger brings dash and deviltry to his portrayal of a hero "born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." En garde!


Jeanne Eagels

George Sidney

Possessed with a relentless drive to succeed, actress Jeanne Eagels (Kim Novak) pesters producer Sal Satori (Jeff Chandler) for more substantial roles before her voice coach, Nellie Neilson (Agnes Moorehead), helps her land a spot in a Broadway chorus line that catapults her to stardom. When aging actress Elsie Desmond asks her for help in reviving her career, Jeanne's selfishness drives the fading star to suicide. Yet, after Jeanne becomes involved in a highly publicized affair with John Donahue (Charles Drake), the strain brought on by the collapse of the ill-fated union jeopardizes her career, too. And despite Sal's best efforts, it is a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol that finally leaves Jeanne Eagels to die sad and alone.


Kiss Me Kate

George Sidney

Shakespeare's timeless comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" serves as the basis for this musical adaptation of the Cole Porter Broadway smash. Howard Keel ("Kismet," TV's "Dallas") and Kathryn Grayson ("Show Boat," "Anchors Aweigh") star as a married couple whose stage roles become involved in their real lives! With an Oscar-nominated score and a spectacular dance sequence by Academy Award-winner Bob Fosse ("All That Jazz," "Cabaret"). Featuring Ann Miller ("On the Town"), Keenan Wynn ("Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"), Oscar-nominee James Whitmore ("The Shawshank Redemption," "Battleground"), and Kurt Kasznar (TV's "Land of the Giants," "Lili"). Directed by the acclaimed George Sidney ("Bye Bye Birdie," "Show Boat," "The Three Musketeers").


The Red Danube

George Sidney

Janet Leigh and Peter Lawford star as lovers trapped on either side of the newly fallen Iron Curtain, a man and a woman stranded on opposite sides of The Red Danube. Post World War II Vienna. In a city that now lies across the river from Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, British Major John McPhimister (Lawford) works to repatriate war refugees – to reunite families but also to sometimes force displaced people back to their native countries against their will. Now, he falls in love with beautiful ballet dancer Maria Buhlen (Leigh) who is desperately trying to flee Eastern Europe. Bound by duty, honor, and love, will these two find a future together? The Red Danube also features Angela Lansbury as a proud military woman who stands her ground against sexist male colleagues.


Pal Joey

George Sidney

Pal Joey stars Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak in a sophisticated musical comedy. Sinatra plays Joey Evans, a cabaret singer who romances wealthy socialite Hayworth into financing his own nightclub, but then falls for voluptuous chorine Novak. Pal Joey took 17 years to get to the screen. Based on a series of stories written as letters by John O'Hara for The New Yorker, the letters were all signed "Your Pal Joey" by a mythical dancer. O'Hara later adapted the stories as a book for the Broadway musical which starred Gene Kelly. When Columbia bought the film rights, studio chief Harry Cohn wanted Kelly for the lead and Hayworth for the younger role of Linda. But Kelly was already contracted to MGM and the project was shelved. At one time, Billy Wilder was interested in doing the picture with Marlon Brando and Mae West but the studio passed. It finally took the combined talents of Hayworth, Sinatra and newcomer Kim Novak to bring Pal Joey to the screen. The gossip columns were filled with stories of an impending battle over credits. Sinatra was at the height of his film popularity, but Hayworth's contract stipulated she receive top billing. The battle however, was never fought. Sinatra gladly took the second slot "I don't mind being in the middle of that sandwich," he quipped. Pal Joey contains some of Rogers and Hart's best songs including "My Funny Valentine," and one of Sinatra's biggest hits, "The Lady Is A Tramp." Hayworth's vocals were dubbed by Jo Ann Greer, Novak's by Trudi Erwin. Pal Joey was nominated for four Academy Awards® (1957) for Art Direction-Set Decoration, Sound Recording, Costume Design (by Jean Louis) and Film Editing. Although Pal Joey was a huge commercial success, it would be Rita Hayworth's swan song for Columbia. The studio machine that had turned Margarita Cansino into the glamorous Rita Hayworth, would now turn its attentions to Chicago-born Kim Novak, the last in a long line of studio-made stars.


The Three Musketeers (1948)

George Sidney

"All for one and one for all!" as Gene Kelly leads the celebrated French swashbuckling trio against the evil Cardinal Richelieu in this adventure-filled classic. Academy Award-winning picture stars Oscar-winner Kelly ("Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris") as the high-spirited D'Artagnan, Oscar-nominee Lana Turner ("Peyton Place") as Countess de Winter, Oscar-nominee Angela Lansbury (TV's "Murder, She Wrote," "Gaslight") as Queen Anne, Vincent Price ("The Fly," "The House of Wax") as the evil Richelieu, Oscar-winner Van Heflin ("Shane"), Frank Morgan ("The Wizard of Oz"), and June Allyson ("Little Women"). Produced by Academy Award-recipient Pandro S. Berman ("Ivanhoe," "Top Hat," "Father of the Bride") this adaptation of the classic French tale remains one of the best.


The Harvey Girls

George Sidney

It's a high-spirited Oscar-nominated musical clash between respectable waitress Judy Garland and wicked dance-hall queen Angela Lansbury when a restaurant chain opens up along railroad lines in the wild west of 1880's New Mexico. Get on board for the Oscar-winning song, "On the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe." A lavish MGM production, based on a true story. Starring Academy Award-winners Garland ("The Wizard of Oz," "Meet Me in St. Louis") and Lansbury (TV's "Murder, She Wrote," "Gaslight") with Ray Bolger ("The Wizard of Oz"), Marjorie Main ("Meet Me in St. Louis"), Academy Award-nominee Chill Wills ("The Alamo," TV's "Francis, The Talking Mule") and Cyd Charisse ("Singin' in the Rain"). Directed by the acclaimed George Sidney ("Bye Bye Birdie," "Show Boat," "The Three Musketeers") and produced by Oscar-winner Arthur Freed ("An American in Paris," "Gigi").


Viva Las Vegas

George Sidney

Superstar Elvis Presley ("Jailhouse Rock") stars as a race-car driver who falls for a pretty swimming instructor (Oscar and Emmy-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Ann Margret "Grumpy Old Men") who wants him to slow down his career. One the King's all-time classics, featuring a collection of great songs, including "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and the title track. Co-starring Oscar-nominee William Demarest ("The Lady Eve," TV's "My Three Sons").


Show Boat (1951)

George Sidney

It's an Oscar-nominated musical look at the lives and loves of a show boat theater troupe aboard an old-fashioned Mississippi riverboat. Featuring all-American classic songs by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern, including "Ol' Man River." Starring Kathryn Grayson ("Kiss Me Kate"), Oscar-nominees Ava Gardner ("Mogambo," "The Night of the Iguana") and Agnus Moorehead (TV's "Bewitched," "Citizen Kane") and Howard Keel (TV's "Dallas"). Produced by Oscar-winner Arthur Freed ("An American in Paris," "Gigi").


Bathing Beauty

George Sidney

Emmy-winner Red Skelton (TV's "The Red Skelton Show") stars in this musical romantic comedy as a love struck Broadway composer who suddenly decides to retire and marry college swim teacher, Esther Williams ("Zigfeld Follies"). Things get delightfully complicated when his greedy producer, Oscar-nominee Basil Rathbone ("The Adventures of Robin Hood," "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"), tries to intervene. Directed by the acclaimed George Sidney ("Bye Bye Birdie," "Show Boat," "The Three Musketeers").


Half a Sixpence

George Sidney

"If I had the money, I'd buy me a banjo!" says struggling sales clerk Arthur Kipps (Tommy Steele). Soon he'll inherit enough to buy a whole bloomin' orchestra. But can his newfound wealth buy happiness? Multi-talented Steele brings his London and New York stage smash to the screen in this big, cheerful, tune-filled production based on H.G. Wells' charming novel Kipps. Cyril Ritchard costars as a thespian who introduces Arthur to the joys of Edwardian London's music halls. And a huge cast of high-stepping, high-spirited singers and dancers have the time of their lives. Enjoy, because Half A Sixpence gets you a million dollars worth of fun! (English)


Bye Bye Birdie

George Sidney

Lots of laughs and great songs have made this all-time favorite based on the hit Broadway show one of the most memorable musicals of all time. When rock star and teenage heart-throb Conrad Birdie gets drafted, the nation's teenagers go haywire and Conrad's manager, Albert (Dick Van Dyke), faces unemployment. So Albert and his girlfriend (Janet Leigh) organize a nationwide contest in which one lucky girl wins a farewell kiss from Conrad on the Ed Sullivan Show. Kim McAfee (Ann-Margret) turns outto be the lucky teenager and Conrad's whole entourage moves into her quiet, Midwestern home much tothe chagrin of her ever irritable father (Paul Lynde) and her jealous boyfriend (Bobby Rydell). Theresult is chaos and a series of hilarious romantic complications.


Anchors Aweigh

George Sidney

Oscar-winners Gene Kelly ("Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris") and Frank Sinatra ("From Here to Eternity," "The Manchurian Candidate") star as two sailors on leave in Hollywood who sneak into a movie studio so they can win an audition for aspiring singer Kathryn Grayson ("Kiss Me Kate," "Show Boat"). Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, it won for Best Score. Kelly received a nomination for his outstanding performance, including a wonderful dancing duet with "Jerry," the cartoon mouse. Great songs from legendary Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. With Oscar-nominee Dean Stockwell ("Married to the Mob," TV's "Quantum Leap"). Directed by the acclaimed George Sidney ("Bye Bye Birdie," "Show Boat," "The Three Musketeers").