Reviews (25)

Excellent resource for teachers
As a fifth grade teacher, I have found this book to be an excellent choice as a class novel. Almost every young person fantasizes at some time what it would be like if he/she would strike out on his own to survive in the wilderness. Most students, therefore, enjoy learning the numerous ways Sam, the main character, adapts to a life of self-sufficiency in a forest in the Catskill Mountains.

Students also appreciate that the novel lends itself to ways of evaluating their comprehension beyond the typical "quiz-discussion-book report method" that often does little to promote a love of reading. Our class has had fun as each student used clay, grass,leaves, rocks and sticks to build his/her own idea of how Sam's treehouse might look, as each student wrote his/her own diary in which he/she explained how he/she used some of Sam's own survival techniques to survive in a wilderness adventure, and as each student wrote and illustrated an "ABC" book that showed 26 important aspects of the book.

We also really enjoyed finding the book in Amazon's website. My students like reading other people's reviews of the book, and appreciate being able to add their own as follows: Brian Billman-I gave this book an 8 becauseI learned how to survive in the wilderness,but there was not enough action. Heidi Bonnes-I give this story a 3 because Ididn't like how the author jumped from time to time.I also didn't like how it was written in first person. Kerstin Noelle Brooks-I give this book a 10 because I liked how Sam made the clothes and I also liked when he was brave enouph to fight the mother falcon.I rated it a 10 because he had interesting tools and it was interesting when he met the English teacher and didn't over-react to him.He just acted normal.My favorite part was when Sam took the falcon for a pet.You should buy this book because it's great!!I've read it 3 times!!It's great!!!I also like how he made all of stuff.My favorite part was when the skunk sprayed him.So buy that book before it's too late!!!! Lisa Clapp-I loved MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN!!! I would rate it a 10 at the least. I liked the survival tips, how Sam got Frightful, and once it ended, I wanted more!!! John D-I rate this book a 1. The reason I didn't like the book was because it was in diary form. It would have also been better if it had more excitement. Alison F-I would givethe book an 8 because I liked Frightful. Frightful is a perigrine falcon that Sam trained. She is exciting and good at hunting. Kristy F.-I thought this book was unrelalistic because most parents wouldn't let their child runaway. If you ask your parents to runaway I don't think they would say you could. Also it jumped around from thing to thing. I rated this book 3. I thought it was boring,too. Laura G.-I give this story a 9 , because it has alot of survival technigues and it has very good action.I feel the book was exciting. Janette Kielmeyer-I gave the book a 4, because I did not like the way the author jumped from time to time in the book. I did not like the fact the parents let him run away like that. R.M From my opinion,I Hated the book. It would be better if it had more acition. If bando was a robber that was wanted. by the police. Brad Pendy I would give this book an 8 because I didn't like how it jumped from place to place.But I liked the rest of the book. AmandaS.-I would give this book a 3.Because,it was unrealistic how the parents let Sam run away.I aslo thought that it needed more action. John S.- I would give it a 3 because T thought that it was too long. Also seeing it through the eyes of Sam made it seem very dull.But all the survival techniques were okay. Amber T.- I would rate it a 7. I liked the part when Sam climbs a towering cliff to claim a baby falcon, for a pet. If it had more action, I think it would have been more interesting. Kelly W.- I would rate this book a 3 because I didn't like how he jumped from time to time. I also didn't like how he wrote in his diary so much. Andy W -I think it was a good book because you learn about survival in the mountains. I will read it again. I think the book was real good. I give it a 9. William White- I give it a 3 because it gave you survival techniques, but there was not much action. Overall, it was a quality book. Brad Christopher Williams-I would give this book an 8. I liked the book because of the survival techniques. I especially liked the egg boiled in a leaf. END

Wild Boy Lives in Mountains on Nuts and Venison
As a fifth grade teacher who shows this movie to my class AFTER they read the novel, I find that they prefer the book. Why? There is more detail in the book, and they don't appreciate the unrealistic scene with Frightful in the middle. However, the movie does serve a valuable purpose, which is why I show it each year. We get to meet the majestic Frightful, hear her shrill cry, appreciate her soaring beauty. It's also interesting to see the inside of Sam's tree, and to have a real face put to Bando. But, for the true experience, the book by Jean Craighead George MUST be read!!

Love of nature
I got my DVD of this film today! It is in widescreen! This has always been one of my favorite movies. After his father tells Sam that he can't take him on a trip to the mountains, he decides to run away from home to study nature. He has a pet raccon and a falcon and a few other wild critters. This movie has a lot of insight into nature.

I mean no offense to other reviewers on this site, but there are a lot of negatitive reviews of this movie. I haven't read the book, but one thing I need to mention is this: I think a lot of people who read the book expect the movie to be just like the book, no more no less. Well, It's unrealistic to expect this-the movie can not be the book and the book can not be the movie-movies are different than books. You got to take what you like about the book and write the script from that. This is done all the time in Hollywood. Sometimes what works on the printed page won't work on screen and vice versa.

I like Sam's voice over in this film because it provides insights into his thoughts or what he is writing in his journal. As a bonus you'll learn a new recpe for syrrup and pancakes!

So give this movie a try! Ignore the negative reviews until at least you have seen the movie.

My Side of theMountain
I too must say if I had never read the book, I would have enjoyed the movie. The movie was a bit disappointing, first off the movie is set in Canda. But the book is set in the Catskill Mountains in New York. Why the change? The Catskills are beautiful. Also as mentioned the bit about Frightful's death an the addition of Gus. While Gus was cute he simply didn't exist in the book. Why the changes, the book is perfectly find the way it was written. We may hope for a remake of the movie but it is highly doubtful this will come about. Hope this review was a bit helpful.

My Side of the Mountain
I really enjoyed reading the story about Sam. I don't usually like English or reading but this story was about adventure and being in the mountains. I felt Sam was a lot like me, because I enjoy being outside and fishing and stuff. Compared to some of the other books I have had to read for English this one was really pretty good. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Director Stanley Kramer's socially conscious 1961 film tackles the subject of the war crime trials arising out of World War II in an earnest and straightforward fashion, exploring the consciousness of two nations as they struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Spencer Tracy plays the American judge selected to head the tribunal that will try the suspected war criminals. As he sets about his task, he must confront the raw emotion felt by the German people, and his own notions of good and evil, right and wrong. Regarded as a classic, this stark rendering of one of the most pivotal events in the 20th century features a stellar cast including Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and Maximillian Schell, who won an Oscar for his role as counsel for the defense for those charged with crimes against humanity. Judgment at Nuremberg is important viewing not only for the history of film, but for the history of modern times. --Robert Lane ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Star-Studded Recounting of Legendary Nazi Trials
This star-studded film vividly captures the characters on all 3 sides of the spectrum: The accused, the victims, and the international tribunal judging the perpetrators of unspeakable atrocities against fellow human beings. It is shocking to see how many of the people responsible for the gruesome deaths of millions justified their actions.

After hearing witnesses who often were tortured, mamed by sadistic doctors, and had their loved ones murdered, I can not grasp the fact that the majority of those on trial were released after serving minimal prison terms. Some of them are still among us, while millions of victims lie in their graves at the hands of an evil minority!

Stellar performances by an International cast. Most noteworthy are Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland as testifying victims, Maximilian Schell as Prosecutor (Oscar Winner), Marlene Dietrich as wife of a defendant, and an elderly Spencer Tracy, trying to make sense of it all.

Effective use of B&W photography, first rate sets and costumes, along with many other production values, make this a timeless Classic. Although considerd over-long by some, I recommend this film to be shown to high school classes as a reminder that these things happened in a not so distant past.*****

SCHELL, TRACY, GARLAND, LANCASTER, CLIFT & WIDMARK GREAT!
This is a superb film by Stanley Kramer with an unbelievably great cast at the height of their craft. Each of the legendary actors were at the top of their performances in the reinactment of the Judge's Trial at Nuremberg. The world was tired of the Nuremberg trials. This one was a mopping up operation. Against a backdrop of an escalating Cold War with the Soviet Union, the selling out of justice by prominent Nazi judges serving the Third Reich is put on trial. Spencer Tracey plays Judge Dan Haywood, a retired Maine circuit court judge brought out of mothballs to serve as the chief justice. Amazingly, the usual action actor Burt Lancaster plays the top Nazi judge who at first does not recognize the Nuremberg tribunal's authority to judge him. For some mysterious reason, critics over the years failed to acknowledge the tremendous acting job he did in convincingly carrying off what was perhaps this film's most dynamic character change. However, my personal favorite was Maximillian Schell whose quintessential Germanic Hans Rolfe, the defense attorney released the full range of this incredible actor's virtuosity. For this he deservedly won an Academy Award Oscar.

One thousand words are not enough to celebrate this timeless film: Judy Garland (in perhaps her last film role) delivers a heartbreaking middle aging Irene Hoffman, reliving her experiences of Nazi cruelty on the witness stand; once again. However, not very good was the young Canadian actor, William Shatner playing Army Captain Byers, the aide de camp to Judge Haywood (Tracy). [The Starship Enterprise didn't seem to improve Shatner's skills any.] Richard Widmark (the moody, hostile prosecutor) and Montgomery Clift [who begged for the role he was willing to play without pay!] were excellent. Clift plays a slightly retarded German laborer, sterilized by Nazi doctors because of his mental slowness. This is among the very best films made by Kramer in the decade of the 1960s. Amazingly, it was released one year after INHERIT THE WIND, another Tracy-Kramer classic!

MASTERPIECE
What happens when Stanley Kramer teams Tracy, Dietrich, Garland, Schell, Clift, Lancaster and Widmark in a drama based on the trials in pos-war Nuremberg??? It`s vintage Hollywood; still 1 IF not THE BEST about the horrors from World War II ..... The film should be in every school-library across the world

MASTERPIECE
What happens when Stanley Kraner teams Tracy, Dietrich, Garland, Schell, Clift, Lancaster and Widmark in a drama based on the trials in pos-war Nuremberg??? It`s vintage Hollywood; still 1 IF not THE BEST about the horrors from World War II ..... The film should be in every school-library across the world

Wooooooooow
Ok, you`ll get Garland, Dietrich, Clift, Tracy, Widmark & Schell - the production headed by Stanley Kramer.... the result is pure Hollywood vintage combined with horrors from the 2nd World War??? But indeed; it is a masterpiece.... It should be in every school-library all over the world:-) ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

One of the most compelling tragic romances ever captured on film, Wuthering Heights is an exquisite tale of doomed love and miscalculated intentions. Though only half of Emily Bronte's classic tale of Heathcliff and Catherine was filmed by director William Wyler, it lacks for nothing.

The story begins when a Yorkshire gentleman farmer brings home a raggedy gypsy boy, Heathcliff, and raises him as his son. The boy grows to love his stepsister Catherine, with catastrophic results. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon were perfectly cast as the mismatched lovers, with Olivier brooding and despairing, Oberon ethereal and enchanting. This won cinematographer Gregg Toland a much-deserved Oscar for his haunting and evocative depiction of mid-19th century English moors. (Quite a trick, as this was shot in California!) Though nominated for seven otherOscars, it won none of them, as it was released in 1939, one of the best years in Hollywood history and the same year as Gone with the Wind. Interestingly, the script was written by Charles MacArthurand Ben Hecht, best known for their witty 1931 flick, The Front Page. --Rochelle O'Gorman ... Read more

Reviews (65)

How Can You NOT Like This Movie?!
You can never compare the movie to the book since a movie can't possibly incorporate ALL of the text from the author! William Wyler put together an excellent cast, fantastic, dark, moody scenes and beautiful music to turn out this brilliant film. The handsome and brooding Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier), the ravishing and haughty Cathy (Merle Oberon) along with the stoic, dull Edgar (David Niven)and the rebellious and pathetic Isabel (Geraldine Fitzgerald) turn this into one of the most romantic, haunting love stories ever.

This movie will forever be considered, for me, the epitome of the romantic film. When Heathcliff carries Cathy to the window to look upon the moors one last time as she's dying, my heart swells and tears fill my eyes. It's simply stunning!

An Incomparable Feat of Cinematic Storytelling
I had the good fortune of seeing this film on a big screen at a New York cinema in the early seventies. Viewing a master print in a darkened theatre was one of the all-time highlights of my movie-going experiences. Yes, this is a truncated version of the novel, which I would urge anyone who hasn't already done so to read. It is on my personal top ten list for greatest novels ever. In my opinion this film is far superior to GWTW, which took home the oscar for best-picture in '39. Basically this is due to the source material. Wuthering Heights is great literature. GWTW was a best-seller, but not what one could call great literature. Catherine and Heathcliffe belong in the same literary company as Abelarde and Heloise, Dante's Paolo and Francessa, and Romeo and Juliet. I cant think of anyone who could have been better cast as Heathcliffe than Olivier. Merle Oberon also made for a highly believable Catherine. Flora Robeson also delivers a flawless performance. This is William Wyler's masterpiece. I didn't know until reading some of these reviews that this was filmed in California. I was certain it had to have been filmed on the English moors. If you want to see genius at work, by all means buy the video or the DVD. And if you ever get the chance to see it on a big screen, seize the opportunity. I'm not ordinarily the sentimental type. I can only recall two occasions when I openly wept at the conclusion of a movie. The first was when I saw "Old Yeller" at about eight-years-of-age, the second when I saw Wuthering Heights. I have seen it about five times since and I'll be damned if it doesn't always have the same impact.

Pure movie magic
Does it really matter that this was released in 1939? What about the cheap production values, weak set construction, dated acting, primitive cinematography and low-budget sound editing? No, the fact is that it still can't be done better today. Olivier, Oberon, Niven and Wyler made a movie masterpiece that stands up remarkably well today despite numerous TV broadcasts and big budget remakes. The original is still the best. Watch for yourself. Within just a few minutes you won't be able to stop.

I am torn apart by my desire for you
"Not even you, Cathy, could keep us apart," says Heathcliff. And thus is the ill-fated romance of two childhood friends who end up with different paths in life yet are kept from true happiness because of the void left by the absence of the other. The passionate acting of the handsome Laurence Olivier is supplemented with a talented supporting cast, especially Geraldine Fitzgerald, who plays exquisitely the part of Isabella, the long-suffering wife of Heathcliff who wants her husband to love her as she is and who will never get her wish because he is consumed with passionate desire for her sister. Having read the original novel by Emily Brontë, I would consider this possibly the greatest romance I've ever seen as such passionate longing is rarely seen. "I cannot live without my life. I cannot die without my soul," says the tortured Heathcliff about his Cathy. 10/10. A+.

Olivier at his BEST.
Perhaps I'm biased...I'm absolutely in love with Laurence Olivier's performance in any given role--defintely my favourite actour. But along with Max DeWinter in Rebecca, this is his greatest role. After a string of unsuccessful Hollywood pictures, he lands as Heathcliff in Emily Bronte's classic pre-victorian novel. As I got from reading the book, the story is creepy + drawn out, yet a superb portrait of everything I believe it intended to be--the "unrequited love" between Cathy and Heathcliff. It's definetely my most favourite love story in literature, surpassing even that of Rhett + Scarlett. Olivier's performance is genius. Nothing short of that. The cinematography is a perfect capture as every frame captures the tale to perfection. I shudder to think of Vivien Leigh as Cathy...yes, Vivien would have to be my favourite actress, but I worry that it would've become trapped in the "Larry + Vivien" slot of time..tsk. No less, I enjoy Merle Oberon's performance, however it's not what makes this the grand film that it is. Watch this, if for nothing else, to see the greatest cinematic performance from the greatest actour of the century, and for haunting cinematography. The b/w photography only captures the mood moreso. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Back To The "Good Old Days"
In the late 1940's and into the 50's, there was a decency and innocence which existed that has all but disappeared today. This movie is a simple, wonderful story about innocence and blind faith, played beautifully by Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in the form of 2 French nuns. Using their charisma, they manage to get a children's hospital built in an affluent area, in which the people eventually are won over by these charming nuns. It is a "feel good" movie of the first magnitude, and, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful films ever made.

Not my usual dish of tea
Normally, a movie about a writer of popular songs discovering that what he thought was his original song actually was inspired, wouldn't really appeal to me. The character played by Loretta Young almost does the trick, though - and the scene in which Young's character asks Luigi Rossi for help always tears me up. This is a good Second List movie.

Beautiful depiction of a Nun's faith and inner soul
Loretta Young, one of Hollywood's most respected actresses had one of her greatest roles as the assured and determined Sister Margaret in Twentieth Century Fox's 1949 "Come to the Stable" a beautiful story of two women's determination and sheer belief in the rightness of what they are seeking in their work for others. Loretta Young, a staunch catholic in real life is one of those rare actresses in a league with the likes of Ingrid Bergman, Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn , that seem totally convincing as nuns whether it be in their displays of humility in portraying their characters or just by the total immersion that they undergo when taking on the nun role.

"Come to the Stable" tells a very simple but extremely moving story based on a short story by Clare Booth Luce, of the journey that two nuns, one American and one french, make to fulfill a solemn vow made during World War 2. Resulting from the fact that through prayer to St. Jude, the Patron Saint of lost causes, their hospital was spared destruction by the advancing forces the two make a vow to return to America to set up a similiar hospital for young infants in Bethlehem, Connecticut where they have learnt of a woman who paints very beautiful religious paintings. After finding the right place atop a serene hill with perfect views of the town the nuns with very little money, very few propects and with a strong unquestioning faith proceed to achieve everything that has become their lifes work. Their journey from a hopeless situation with no funds to build the hospital or obtain the land, to one that inspires others to get involved to achieve the dream of the new hospital makes for inspirational viewing and puts across the strong message of the basic good of all people if you only take the time to look for it. In their drive to fulfill their aim the nun's encounter some interesting characters who's lives they alter in very positive ways. Miss Potts played by Elsa Lancaster in a wonderful performance is a lonely spinister who loves to paint and finds her whole life turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of the nuns on her door step. She for the first time finds a real purpose to her existence as she involves herself totally in the plans of Sister Margaret and Sister Scholastica (Celeste Holm). In their search for land to build the church on the sisters find themselves travelling to New York where they encounter small time con man Luigi Rossi who after hearing their story not only gives them a sizable donation but also the deed to the land with the promise that a commerative stained glass window will be installed in memory of his son who was lost in the war not far from where the sisters nursed in Northern France. His transformation from a small time hood to a man with a conscience is only one of the miracles that the nuns work in their dealings with others. Hugh Marlowe plays the nuns new and indeed quite unhappy neighbour Robert Mason who despite being against the idea of a hospital literally in his backyard finds himself helping the nuns and in a crucial situation where the nuns find themselves short of financing for their repayments, chips in and ensures the sisters dream becomes a reality.

Directed with a sentimental but sure hand by veteran director Henry Koster who was responsible for such diverse efforts as "Harvey", "Flower Drum Song"' and "The Robe", the representation of what strong belief can do to achieve great things either big or small in ones life is always the central theme of "Come to the Stable". Loretta Young as Sister Margaret was an inspirational choice as the lead in a role originally intended for Irene Dunne. She is everything a nun should be, strong, gracious, determined, and a firm believer in the basic good in man. Her's is a superb performance which quite rightly received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress. Equally honoured is the beautifully unplayed performance of Celeste Holm in the role of French nun Sister Scholastica, Sister Margaret's helper who in a comical moment reveals herself in a past life to have been a top class French tennis player in a scene where she is forced to play in full nun's habit for high stakes, namely a large badly needed donation to the building fund!

Such beautifully put together films as "Come to the Stable" often make me wonder what Hollywood is really doing nowadays as such delicate themes as guiding faith and divine providence, would not be able to be made nowadays what with the harsh reality of most modern screenplays. I never fail to be touched by this story or by the wonderful performance by Loretta Young in the lead. It is a heart warming viewing experience for anyone who has ever had avow to fulfill or a dream to pursue. Watch this film and be inpired as I always am to try and fulfill my dreams while enjoying an terrific excursion back to movie making as it used to be.

Where are new Lorettas, Ingrids, Audreys who can play nuns?
This movie and The Bishop's Wife are my 2 favorite Loretta Young
films. I, too, saw it on TV years ago and finally found a video to buy. I watch it at Christmas time, also. The two nuns, Loretta and Celeste Holm, arrive in Bethlehem, CT. during a snowstorm. Something I noted when I saw film: my father's relatives used to live in Waterbury, CT. back in the '50s and '60s. When we visited them, up the big hill from where they lived, there was sign advertising the town of Bethlehem, a re-creation of the biblical town of Bethlehem--a local tourist attraction that presented pageants this time of year. I think of that when I watch this film. Wonder if the makers of the film knew that, because the sign in the road the nuns see says "Bethlehem, CT." Is Bethlehem, the CT. tourist attraction from my youth, still going strong? Is it located in or nearby Waterbury, CT. I never went to see it, so I don't know for sure.

Absolutely beautiful depiction of Faith and Providence..
This must truly be one of the most beautiful and heartwarming pictures to ever come from Hollywood. Clare Booth Luce's story is a wonderful portrayal of how trust in God brings not only success in good ventures, but also peace of heart as well. The Sisters are resigned to the Divine Will, even if it means that their work seems to have been for nothing. They work as if everything depended on them, but trust as if everything depended upon God. How many of us could stand to learn this lesson! The film also has many very humorous moments.

Loretta Young is totally convincing as a Religious; her bearing is gentle and kind. She utterly radiates the beauty of the Catholic Faith. The rest of the cast is totally natural in their respective parts, especially Elsa Lanchester as the nervous Miss Potts.
I would highly recommend this movie for the entire family. It is not a Christmas movie as the title suggests, but I seem to find myself watching it every year around this time! ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Fine miniseries based on the Nevil Shute novel
When a young Englishwoman, after WWII, inherits money, she soon decides to return to Malaya, where she was sheltered in a village after being captured by the Japanese, and build the villagers a well. Before winding up in the village, she, and other captive women and children, were forced to march from town to town by the Japanese, who did not know what to do with them. They meet Joe Harmon, an Australian soldier, who steals food for them, and is crucified by the Japanese and left for dead.

While in Malaya, she learns that Harmon survived, and goes to Australia to find him. Meanwhile, Harmon, who had thought she was a married woman when they met in Malaya, had learned otherwise, and gone to England to seek her out. They eventually meet up in Australia, and she determines to marry him and to make his town in the Outback into "a town like Alice"--a modern town, like Alice Springs.

Wonderful performances by all, great scenery, very faithful to the book. I should add that they added a bit of conflict near the end--Jean enters a bar, which is forbidden by the local mores, and Harmon rages at her and they nearly separate. Unneeded, to my mind. Also, when her trustee, Noel Stachan, takes her to the opera, he announces that it will be something light and in English. It is "The Pearl Fishers", which is neither.

Fine production, very watchable over and over!

WONDERFUL STORY, GREAT ACTING, POWERFUL
This has got to be the utimate love story. This movie shows that there doesn't have to be a lot of sex to show two people in love.

Based on Neville Shute's book, it is a story that encompasses four cultures and the struggles within those cultures and of a love that endures despite many hardships and time and distance.

Bryan Brown and Helen Morse are captivating in their roles as Joe Harmon and Jean Paget, two people who meet in the trying circumstances of war and are separated by fate but reunite again only to endure the hardships of the outback of Australia.

Beautiful scenery and wonderful acting make this a must see movie. Although long, it is a don't miss movie.

re Mr Greenbaum's comments
I have loved this movie for a long long time, ever since it was first shown on TV as a miniseries (in Australia). I think all the previous reviews are accurate, except Mr Greenbaum's comment that the scene where Joe Harmon chastises Jean about going into the Pub is not really necessary. I can only presume that Mr Greenbaum is not Australian; if he was, he would know only too well that even until about the late 1960's, no decent female would even think of entering the public bar of a Pub; that was forbidden; if a woman wanted to have a drink in a pub, she went to the "Ladies Lounge". I was born in 1954 and even though things have changed dramatically since then, I still am not confortable being in the public bar of a pub. So, I think that scene is very true and accurate for the times and a man would have spoken severely to his wife/girlfriend for going into that part of a pub.

Again, this is a wonderful move and I can only hope it is soon released on DVD as my VHS copy is damaged and VHS copies are no longer available in Australia.

a town like alice
brilliant in all aspects. Please bring it out on DVD

One of my all-time faves
Joe Harmon (played by Bryan Brown) rocks! And so does this whole movie, based on Nevil Shute's superb novel of the same name. It starts well, picks up speed, and gets better and better. During WWII, Jean (who is her family's only survivor) is force marched back and forth across Malaysia by the Japanese, who don't know what to do with a bunch of English women and children. As their group dwindles from starvation, fatigue, malaria and dystntery, Jean becomes the leader of the little group, and she negotiates a deal with the headman of a small village whose men have been taken off to fight in the war: if the village will shelter them, the surviving English will work in the rice fields.
But it was during the months of wandering that Jean met Joe Harmon, an Austrailian prisoner of war who steals food for her, is crucified and left for dead by the Japanese.
After the war, when Jean is back in England, she comes into her family's money, and she has a dream: to return to Malaya to build a well for the village women. To her amazement, she learns that Harmon actually survived: when the Japanese could not grant him his last wish, they were honor bound to save his life. Jean goes back to find him at the same time he, having just discovered that she wasn't married when he met her (a deception she fostered for her own protection), flies to England to look for her. The two planes cross.
But, as with most good love stories, they meet - and things are awkward and stilted. When he knew her, her hair was loose and tangled, she was barefoot and wearing a sarong, and she had an orphan child balanced on her hip. Now when he sees her, she's an English lady - and he's still just a bloke from the outback.
Oh, I'm telling too much. Suffice to say that Jean's attempt to resume their former easy and relaxed relationship while in Australia's Great Barrier Reef is spectacularly successful, and she's faced with spending the rest of her life in the desolate and lonely outback. Alice Springs, the nearest thing to 'civilization,' is too far to go, so Jean determines to spend her small fortune turning her little nowhere town into a place from which the young people will no longer flee in frustration. In short, she creates the world in which she wants to live and raise Joe's and her children.
It's so, so, so, so good, one of those videos you'll have to buy. Trust me on that. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Unlike the fly in the 1958 horror classic, they never really explainwhat happens to the neighbor's sheepdog when young Wilby Daniels trades places with it. The dog just vanishes, or is subsumed or assumed or something, leaving Wilby (Tommy Kirk) to explain to his dog-hating, allergic, mailman father (Fred MacMurray) that he's turned into a canine.The Shaggy Dog seems like the first instance of Disney packaging, as most of the principals were either Mouseketeers or had been in the short Disney segmentSpin and Marty or a previous Disney film. As successful as The Absent Minded Professor for humor, Dog follows Wilby and a rival as they vie for the hand of the new French girl in school, and the girlnext door (Annette Funicello). The exchanges with Wilby's younger brother, Moochie (Kevin Corcoran), who always wanted a family dog, are alone worth the price ofthe tape. Indeed the most successful element of this overall endearing film is the re-pairing of the two actors as brothers (they had done so before in 1957's Old Yeller). This is family fare that's diverting without pandering, a feat that the later Disney regime would have a difficult time re-creating. --Keith Simanton ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Sweet, nostalgic Fun
This movie may seem a pretty dated to today's kids and teens, but adults will enjoy this family film about a boy (Tommy Kirk) who can shape-shift into a big, shaggy dog. The wonderful Fred MacMurray plays his allergic-to-dogs father.It is funny and innocent, set in a more carefree time. I highly recommend this movie. 5 Stars!

Hot diggetty Dog!
I hadn't seen this black and white Disney classic since I was knee-high to a sheepdog! It's a fun reunion with old friends and an enjoyable treat for the whole family. Fred MacMurray is a mail man. He hates dogs. His older son, Wilby (Tommy Kirk) is a geeky teenager. Younger son Moochie, (Kevin Corcoran) wants a dog. Annette Funicello (after the Mickey Mouse Club but before the Beach) is the girl next door whose hold on Wilby and his friend Buzz (later to be the eldest of MacMurray's Four - there were 3, and then he left and Ernie - Chip's real-life brother- came and there were still Three - TV Sons ) is threatened by an exotic new girl on the block, Francesca. Francesca has a very large Bratislavian (Shaggy) Sheepdog and a father with lots of unsavory friends and associates, including Struther Martin who will later have a "failure to communicate" with Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke."

It is 1959. It is the height of the Cold War with the USSR and its Eastern Bloc. Wilby has stumbled (literally) into possession of an accursed ring of Lucretia Borgia's - which, at unpredictable times and places "shape shifts" him into the Shaggy Dog or back into Wilby. In his various incarnations, Wilby overhears a plot to destroy America. He and his family and friends must save Democracy! Along the way we see a pajama clad Dog gargling and brushing his teeth at the sink before bedtime, chatting with confounded policemen, and leading them on a merry high speed car chase. A Bratislavian Sheepdog driving a convertible at a rapid rate is quite a sight to see! My favorite line is Buzz (an Eddie Haskell type of adolescent) hitting up Wilby for some money. "I'll need some gas. You wouldn't happen to have a buck on you?" Things have changed.

Disney gets big laughs with new comedy formula
This movie has kids and teens, animals, fun music, a magic ring that changes a person into a dog, spies, fumbling police, mixed up identities, fast cars, action and chase scenes, and a suffering dad who has to take the brunt of his boys antics including an attempt to prove he is crazy by a psychologist. This is an important film as the first live action comedy made by Disney introducing a popular series of formula Disney comedies through the sixties. The best parts of this film were mimicked in so many others.

It is also the first Disney film to feature Fred MacMurray. This was a comeback vehicle for the actor who was languishing without much work since the type of film he was known for was no longer produced. But after this film he went on to do many films for Disney, the "Absent Minded Professor" and its sequal "Son of Flubber","Bon Voyage", "The Happiest Millionaire", "Charley and the Angel", and "Follow Me Boys", a non-comedy sentimental film Dinsey made about a boy scout leader.

Tommy Kirk is also in this film as Freds son "Wilby" and the hero, of sorts. After all, he is the one turns into a dog with the accidental help of a magic ring. Juvenile Disney star Moochie (Kevin Corcoran)plays his younger brother, and is outright hilareous with his show stealing antics. The ever charming Annete Funicello is here, along with a couple of other Mouseketeers in bit parts. But mouseketeer Roberta Shore plays the sweet Franceska, the new neighbor that Wilby falls for. Her dog looks just like the dog that Wilby turns into when he is enchanted, so Wilby takes his place to find out how good a dog's life really is. But Wilby soon finds out that her villainous father is a dangerous foreign spy.

While it was filmed as a low budget piece, it was very succesful comercially raking in $8 million in its first theatrical release. That was very big in 1959. The movie concept was first offered to a TV network as an idea for a new series, and they gruffly turned it down as "a stupid idea that no one would want to watch". Walt made it anyway, turning it into a theatrical release. When the crowds poured in to the theatre the studio boss called Walt to admit his mistake. Walt laughed all the way to the bank, and created a whole series of movies based on some ideas from this movies formula. This includes the police officer scratching his head, and other character actors that seemed to crop up in the next dozen comedies.

A great Disney advertising campaign aimed at teenagers capitalized on the then-current fad for "I was a teenage ____" movies. The film starts with some great animated titles done expertly by veteran Dinsey animators X. Atencio, T. Hee, and Bill Justice. Released in 1959, written and produced by Disney Studio man Bill Walsh. Directed by Charles Barton. Disney veteran Bill Koehler did the animal training with the sheepdog that is used in some scenes as he did on at least half of the Disney films. (read his rare book "The Wonderful World of Disney Animals" if you can find it.)

Look out for famous Disney voice talent Paul Frees in this, he is the narrator and is seen as the psychiatrist (a rare on-screen appearance for the voice actor). His famous voice is featured throughout Disneyland ride attractions, especially in the Haunted Mansion (ghost host)and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The plot has a touch of 50's paranoia about the cold war, but spoofs it rather than warning of the dangers. Kids just love this film and so do parents and teens.
A sequal called "The Shaggy DA" was made after this. This movie was also remade recently for television by Disney with more modern effects.

Just hilarious.
This is one of the funniest Disney movies they ever made. The adults are goofy, the kids adorable, and the exchanges between the two brothers....priceless. I'd forgotten how much I love it.

Funny
this is a funny movie about a teenager who finds this magic ring and reads what it says on the ring, he sometimes (you never now when) will turn into a dog, and worse the dog that he turns into belongs to a girl he likes. very funny good family movie ... Read more

Reviews (72)

Doris and Rock's best movie
Without a doubt, this film is the apex of the Rock and Doris screen collaboration. It's an absolute delight from the opening scenes until the credits roll. It's also a wonderful time machine of the 1950's, and even though I was born after this film was made, it always make me feel as if I experienced this decade first-hand. Doris Day had a charisma on screen that is indescribable and it's never been put to better use than here. You just want to hug her to bits, she's simply adorable and her character makes the film. Rock gives one of his best peformances and he was always better when Doris was around. They screen chemistry is fabulous, exceeded only by Tracy and Hepburn. It's obvious these were two people who liked each other and felt comfortable in each other's company. Thelma Ritter and Tony Randall give superb supporting performances.

Another wonderful thing about Pillow Talk is that it's still extremely funny. There are many scenes where you will laugh out loud. The entire interplay between Doris and Rock (when he's Rex Stetson) is hilarious and holds up beautifully. Another favorite scene is when Rock is confronted with his re-designed apartment, all at the hands of the scheming Doris.

They don't make 'em like this anymore. People of all ages should love this film. I watch it every few years and always find something new to admire or laugh about. A highly recommended and enjoyable movie. One word about the DVD version: I was disappointed in the quality, it's a little grainy. There are also not many extras, excepting the theatrical trailer.

A Comic Inspiration...To Me!
Of all the classic comedies that starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson, or the two stars with other co-stars, this remains my favorite.The legendary late Rock Hudson was at his peak in this romantic comedy, and who better to showcase his charms against, than quintessential girl-next-door, Doris Day. Hudson thrives on his ability to charm indeed, as a songwriter named Brad Allen. Brad is a love-em and leave-em kind of guy, who entertains a seemingly endless array of lovesick females at his well equipped bachelor pad. He also sings to them over the phone for hours on end, tying up the telephone party-line he shares with Jan Morrow, interior designer, enter a perturbed Doris Day. Every time Jan picks up the phone, she hears Brad sing "You're My Inspiration...", and always with a new girls' name attached to the end. Flabbergasted at his womanizing, she sends a phone company rep to have a word with Mr. Allen, only to find that she TOO has fallen for the tall dark and handsome playboy. .............. Jan tells her boyfriend of sorts played by the wonderful veteran comedy legend Tony Randall, about her dialing dilemma. Randall, as always, plays himself. He's neat, dapper and proper, as not only Jan's boyfriend, but Brad Allen's friend and boss as well. After extoling the virtues of Jan to Brad, and mentioning that she shares a party-line with "some nut", describing the singing phone routine, Brad is too curious to find out what Randall is so wild about. After Brad Allen finally glimpses Jan Morrow dancing at a club, and sees the other end of his party line is not the shrew he expected, he sets out for his sweetest conquest of all................ "Pillow Talk" is a timeless gem of classic comedy. Amazingly, it was considered quite risque in it's time. This only goes to show just how jaded the world and cinema has become since 1959. Rock Hudson was actually embarrassed, and nearly declined the role. We can speculate in retrospect why he felt that way, but no one could've been a better cad than Rock as Brad! The one and only Doris Day is sweet as sunshine, until the duped decorator delighfully disarms Mr. Allen's charms, leaving him, for the first time, really in love with someone other than himself. Thelma Ritter is amusing as Jan's perpetually hung-over housekeeper. It's a truly comic moment when Ritter counsels Brad over a few too many drinks on how to win Jan over, and Hudsons' head hits the table with a thud, while Ritter babbles on oblivous to her companions condition. Tony Randall is his classic prim self, and laugh out loud funny, as he storms into his own place to rescue Jan from the smug seducer huffing the line "At least you could have had the DECENCY...to bring your OWN champagne!" .............. There are too many wonderful moments in this film to cover them all. If you somehow haven't, it's far better for you to enjoy watching this long lost genre of the innocent, fun, fresh feel-good romantic comedy, and experience first hand, the pure delight it has to offer in abundance.

Wonderful comedy of 3 Hollywood Stars with amazing chemistry
I grew up knowing about Doris Day because my mother was/is a big fan of her comedies. When I first saw "Pillow Talk" I was a mere child (the film was made the same year I was born). Over the years I have watched it frequently, and now have it also on DVD. The film continues to entertain and delight me, even as my impressions have changed with time.

Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony Randall had a wonderfully delightful chemistry amongst them! From the opening where Doris is humming "Pillow Talk" after the intro is completed, to the far-fetched but humourous end when Brad Allen (Rock) is trying to tell his friend Jonathan that he is going to be a father, the film is simply splendidly performed throughout! Credit must also be given to the script writers Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin, director Michael Gordon & Producer Ross Hunter.

Even though I was born the year "Pillow Talk" was made, I didn't even know party lines existed until I visited a great-aunt in Northern Minnesota. I remember picking up the phone and hearing people talk. WHAT A DISCOVERY! It put the film in a new context for me when I saw it later (I am not sure if I had seen it before). I suspect that the younger generation might not understand even the notion of party lines in our age of cellular phones and internet. In this regard, the film takes us back to a less techonologically advanced time, but a time where life seemed somehow more relaxed.

I delight in seeing New York City, Central Park, and the American automobiles in the 1959 frame of context. One question that pops into my mind: did people in NYC really have such big apartments with a single woman living alone, and still affording a maid to come in each day??? Was the maid really paid enough to make a living from it? Did NYC really have that sort of "everyone knows everyone" feel such as when Kelly the police officer congratulates Brad Allen as he carries Jan Morrow from her apartment to his? I doubt it, but the fantasy is lovely!

Rock Hudson did a really fun impression of a Texan rancher up in New York. Tony Randall was extremely funny as the self-deprecating multi-millionaire in love with Jan, and Doris simply glowed from beginning to end. The last few times I have watched it, which has been recently, I have been struck by the sexual frankness it explored. Brad the playboy, always luring in the beautiful women, Jan the wonderfully moral interior decorator, who shakes her tush in a very sexy manner at a nightclub when Brad first spots her, and the budding romance that develops between the two when he becomes "Rex Stetson", a cowboy from Texas. "Rex" playing the moral companion who would do nothing to offend the proper Miss Morrow, while inside he is sizing her up and biting at the bit to ... well bite at her bits? When the gig is almost up, "Rex" innocently suggests that Jan join him for a weekend in Connecticut. While there was no actual sex occuring, it is made clear that it was about to happen when Jan figures out the ruse Brad Allen has played on her. Hollywood, perhaps afraid of the extent of this sexual frankness, has Miss Morrow crying at the diner where she and Jonathan stop for coffee, saying "I thought we were going to get married." Good girl image preserved!

Later, when Brad Allen conspires with Jan's boss to have her redecorate his apartment, the scene of the music beginning to play and the double bed automatically folding out with sheets in place left no doubt what sort of life Brad led prior to falling in love with Jan. He was a playboy through and through and measured success by the quantity of women he successfully "entertained" at home. Growing up believing that promiscuous sexuality was a by-product of the late 60's counter culture movement and "summer of love", it struck me how direct and unambigious this scene was. However, in a very moral and virginal way, Jan's virtues are protected until she hears that Brad wants to marry her and in fact, loves her very deeply.

I am particularly fond of stories where romance changes a person for the good. Being an adult and a male, however, I wonder if such a womanizing playboy could and would remain ever faithful to the woman he loves for all eternity and never feel the need to stray again. It is fun, however, to believe that love was the true redemptor and that Brad and Jan lived happily ever after. Isn't this the great promise of romance AND fairy tales.
In both genres, Pillow Talk succeeds beyond measure and I love it more each time I see it.

P.S. The music is great too. Love "Roly Poly", "Possess Me" and of course, the theme song!

funny!
This is truely one of the funnier Doris Day movies. I enjoy watching it. The first time I saw it was on tv and I just loved it. It's funny and it has a storyline that isn't tired and boring. I would reccomend this movie to anybody who likes musical comedies. The only thing I disliked a bout this movie was that Rock Hudson had to sing. He wasn't too great!

Pillow Talk
Rock Hudson and Doris Day always been one of my favorite classic couples of the 1950s films. Pillow Talk is one of my top titles for their team up. When an uptight decorator share a party line with a carefree playboy who would know that when they meet it would end up love at almost first sight. The late Tony Randall always seem to play the man stuck in the middle of the two in so many of their films that he's a terrfic straight man comic addition. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Less is always more.
After seeing all the overstuffed bio-musicals which are paying homage to Kern, Rodgers, Hart, Gershwin, and the like, this one is a breath of fresh air because it is much simpler and more basic in its construction. Its two main leads (Fred Astaire and Red Skelton) do not take the material over-the-top; instead they underplay, and in Skelton's case, he is so subdued that he reveals a wonderful, sensitive, acting talent. The musical numbers, of course ("So Long Oolong," "I Wanna Be Loved By You," "Three Little Words"), speak for themselves. And Astaire and Vera-Ellen are sublime in the shipboard dance of "Thinking of You," as they dance around and over pieces of furniture in a stateroom large enough to accomodate a piano. Arlene Dahl and Gloria DeHaven are fine as well. And, of course, you have a pre-'Singin' In The Rain' Debbie Reynolds performing as the 'boop-boop-a-doop' girl Helen Kane- with voice provided by Kane herself!!

This is the greatest songwriting/dancing musical ever made!
I am only 12 years old, and my little sister is only 9, but "Nevertheless" (one of the songs in the movie) we're in love with it! Fred Astaire and Red Skelton play the roles of fabulous songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. The story is marvelous, the score beautiful, and the dancing performed by talented Astaire and Vera-Ellen tops many other teams! I highly request it if you have good taste in movies! And I guarantee you'll be singing yourself asleep with songs like "Three Little Words", "So-long Oo-Long", "Thinking of You", etc. Enjoy, cause I know I did!

Arlene Dahl IS GREAT, but underused
This is one of Astaire`s lesser known vehicles, but in my opinion - 1 of his very best. It was his own favorite movie. He is a delight co-starring with Red Skelton(his intense comic style is toned down here) and has a wonderful chemistry with the great dancer Vera-Ellen. The film is full of good songs and memorable supporting players including Gloria DeHaven(as her own mother Mrs Carter DeHaven), Debbie Reynolds(dubbed by Helen Kane) and Carleton Carpenter. Debbie and Carleton was reteamed in the Jane Powell film TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE and indeed stopped the show with "Aba-Daba Honeymoon".

But when the Norwegian actress Arlene Dahl enters the film; she brings the film a step further. Her beauty and charm makes u go wild and her "I Love You So Much"-number good and simply staged. Unfortunately her role as Eileen Percy - the silent movie star - is a minor 1, but she glows every time she`s in front of the camera.

Miss Dahl has visited her homeland many times and has done wonders for the Norwegian community in the States. She is also the mother of Lorenzo Lamas of Falcon Crest and Renegade fame.

Wish there were more dancing!
I absolutly love Fred Astaire, and I also like Vera-Ellen when I first saw her in White Christmas. WHen I found a movie with the two of them I was so excited to see two wonderful dancers together. But, unfortunatly they dance together only in the beginning when he hurts himself and then gives it up for song writing. Nevertheless, the movie was good and I enjoyed it, but if you want to see it because you look forward to lots and lots of good dancing with Fred and Vera-Ellen then you might be slighty dissapointed like I was.

Another fine Fred Astaire film...!
A brisk, enjoyable Fred Astaire flick, which features Fred and Red Skelton as the prolific Depression-era songwriting team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, who wrote standards such as "Whose Sorry Now," "Nevertheless," and "I Wanna Be Loved By You," known for its "boop-oop-a-doop" refrain, sung by squeeky-voiced Helen Kane. Astaire and Skelton play things pretty low-key in this straightforward potboiler; Skelton is particularly likeable with his big-lug interpretation of Ruby's personality and Astaire... Well, he's just Astaire, which is to say he's great -- wish maybe he'd danced a bit more in this one. The music is nice too, especially when they sing as a duet; the movie's only downside is the drab female leads, Arlene Dahl and Vera-Ellen, both of whom are a bit dull, and don't sing that well. All in all, though, an entertaining, pleasantly nostalgic film, well worth checking out. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Vivian leigh romances Warren Beatty.
Vivian Leigh (Gone With The Wind [1939]) plays a Broadway star, Mrs. Karen Stone. She is 48 years of age. Her husband suddenly dies on an airplane trip. She retreats to Rome. She is mouring, miserable and lonely. She meets a Contessa (Lotte Lenya) who arranges a young french man, Paolo (Warren Beatty) to be "company" to her. Paolo is an "escort", a "gigolo" if you will. Mrs. Stone and Paolo begin to date on a professional level. It is nothing but cordial. After weeks of courting and Mrs. Stone keeping this "arrangement" at a discreet level, she finally relaxes with Paolo and recites the memorable line, "When the time comes when nobody desires me for myself, I'd rather not be desired at all." Mrs. Stone awaits in the bed. Paolo catches the hint and takes the lead and they make love for the first time. A wild romance begins. It is love springs eternal for mrs. Stone. But can this may-December romance last? The very surprise end of this film will have your mouth dropped wide open. If your jaws are not sore already. Very provocative and sexy film for 1961 and even for 48 year old Vivian Leigh. Also in the cast: Jill St. John, Jean Marsh and Coral Browne. Sadly, Vivian Leigh died six years later after this film in 1967.
Lotte Lenya was in From Russia With Love (1963). Jill St. John was in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Both are "James Bond 007" films.
Showtime cable network presented a 2002 version of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stome", starring Helen Mirren and Olivier Martinez with Anne Bancroft. This 2002 version is a much better version in adult storytelling and is jaw-dropping and erotic as well. "(...). Available on DVD.

reading between the lines....
As usual,in the day, Hollywood manages to turn a Tenessee Williams into a Barbara Cartland. not so much a "bodice-ripper", more of a "feel-copper"
Karen Stone is the quintessential woman on the verge and Paolo is the tart that will keep her teetering there.
Warren Beatty (with an accent equal only to Dick Van Dyke's "chimernee" sweep) looks the part, all low rent in high fashion.
Miss Leigh about to lose her marbles at any moment, wondering whether this is scripted or the real world.

Coral Browne as butch as ever and a great performance by Lotte Lenya, doing an early rehearsal for "Rosa Klebb".
4 stars for cinematic camp, especially the sets, (the villa party set is tragic!), but it needs Sir Ian McKellan in a modern remake... (as "Darren Stone".)

"FLEETING CONSUMMATIONS"
Yet, one more study of intense loneliness captured by Vivien Leigh as the freshly widowed actress - alone, affluent, and so bored in the Eternal City,

It's that vacuous 'la dolce vita' climate for her until a rather 'shady' madame [a scary Lotte Lenya] procures a companion - Warren Beatty, with obligatory accent, he defines "boy- toy" in this one!

This premise is vaguely dated, and everyone seems to be having a real bad hair day [ugh! those ugly wigs!], and our Karen is suitably disillusioned as the evenings churn on and on ....

Good moments from Corale Brown and Jill St. John in supporting roles BUT it's that wonderful free-spirited, is it[?] conclusion [similar to 'Summer and Smoke'] that stays! Another Great view from the Terrace! AND just what is it with these lone American ladies abroad??

Good companion to Hepburn's "Summertime" - possibly "Death In Venice" [just a shade darker though.........]

made me cry
Vivian Leigh is an incredible actress. She has made me cry in Gone With the Wind, Waterloo Bridge, and Anna Karinina (sp?). In this film, she plays a middle aged woman who's husbnd dies on their way to Italy. She decides to stay in Italy and falls in love with a young Italian (Beatty with an accent). He is basically a gigalo and she knows it yet she loves him. The end is so powerful and there's great cinamatography (a dying art). I cried and cried and cannot wait to see it again. See this and Waterloo Bridge and be wowwed by Leigh!

VIVIEN`S FOURTH AND LAST COLOR FILM
They speak of Garbo, Davis and Hepburn. But no one could touch the great Vivien Leigh. Each role; another interpretation. She was a stunning actress with gorgeous looks. In THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE she is supported by newcomer Warren Beatty. Leigh dismissed Alain Delon as a choice for Paulo since she felt he was too beautiful... ... Read more

Amazon.com

Talk about cultural curios. That's exactly how Tickle Me wasregarded when it was released in 1965, the same year as the Beatles'Help! There was a musical revolution going on, but you wouldn't have known it from this would-be comedy, in which the King plays a rodeo championforced to take a job on a combination dude ranch/fat farm. Naturally, all of the women tumble at his feet; even when he's pitching hay, he's liable to burst intohip-swiveling song. What little plot there is deals with his romance with the ranch's exercise instructor (Jocelyn Lane), who happens to hold the key to afortune in gold hidden in a nearby ghost town. Nary a recognizable Elvis hit isto be heard in the score, and as for his acting, well, Elvis looks as though hehappened to be wandering past the set and was pressed into service at the last minute. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Pure Elvis delight!
"Tickle Me" might be underrated by movie censors, but it's funny, full of good songs, beautiful women, and some good fight scenes. Elvis is singing rodeo rider Lonnie Beale who, until the next rodeo season starts, is hired by Vera Radford (Julie Adams) who owns a spa/dude ranch called "Circle 'Z'". Lonnie takes an interest in the aerobics instructor Pam (Jocelyn Lane). Pam has a will that thugs are looking for because it is linked to $100,000 in gold left to her by her grandfather that is stored in a nearby ghost town. Lonnie is caught kissing the boss which upsets Pam. The next rodeo season begins. Lonnie can't keep it straight. After a long rodeo season, she still isn't speaking to him. Lonnie, Stanley (Jack Mullaney), and Pam end up at the ghost town and have to spen the night in the hotel. All night guys in goon masks, beast masks, a ghost in a rocker try to frighten away the hapless trio. They soon take down these thugs and learn they were from the ranch and were the suspicious ones. They find the money, and take down the sheriff who was behind it all. Lonnie and Pam marry in the end...with Stanley accidentally getting a free ride in the back of the jeep in the washtub. Elvis looks handsome and tough in "Tickle Me" and something you should see at least once. Go for more if you enjoy it!

Elvis Presley works at a ranch in Tickle Me
The company of this movie is Allied Artists. During the 60's, Allied Artists was in the red. And they figured if they could make thier own Elvis Presley movie, they might get out of the red, and keep making movies.

Lonnie Beale (Elvis Presley) is a rodeo cowboy. He hits a town and gets a job at a dude ranch. He was disovered by a woman named Vera Radford (Julie Adams). She puts him in with a man named Stanley Potter (Jack Mullaney). Lonnie falls for another worker named Pam Merritt (Jocelyn Lane).

The staff complains to Vera when Lonnie starts singing and takes away the girls away from working with them. But when Pam catchs Lonnie kissing his boss, she gets mad with him. Turning the rodeo season, Lonnie calls Pam and hangs up on him. When Stanley shows up, he asks Lonnie why he hasn't been writing her, and Lonnie says "What is this a ham sandwich?" The letter got marked Return to Sender. But when Lonnie and Stanley find Pam they check into a hotel. The late Gene Siskel aways loved to ask, "Is this movie better of a documentary of the same actors having lunch?" Watch out if somebody askes you what you are watching, and if you say Tickle Me, you might get tickled. I recommend this film if you have resevations.

The `Butt' of the Elvis Filmography
If you want the primest footage of the posterior of the lovely Merry Anders, who appears in tight hot pants [about 7 years before such pants got into vogue} then get this film. Her plush, plumeflous backside is the only reason for the one star! Otherwise, this is one the dorks on Mystery Science Theater 3000 will never get a hold of, even thought it's perfect for them, because Priscilla will never, ever let them!

Tickle Me...Usual Elvis Fare with a Slight Twist.
To paraphrase an Elvis quote about his movies..."I'm sick of singing to the guys I beat up...." A mindless, forgettable Elvis flick with forgettable songs. The title itself is mindless! However, it is entertaining nontheless. The Pelvis plays a rodeo star(Lonnie Beale) who is hired as a part-time ranch hand/entertainer at a western health resort with lots of women running around in tight half-tops and skimpy shorts. He befriends one of the health instructors, Pam Merritt (Austrian actress,Jocelyn Lane) who is involved in a search for hidden treasure at a nearby ghost town. Her great-grandfather has left her a letter/treasure map and certain baddies want that letter. There are the usual Elvis-movie type fistfights and the usual segues into song with girls oggling Elvis and guys green with envy. The plot is atypical Elvis boy-gets-girl, gets-her-mad, and has-to-win-her-back storytelling. However, the last part of the movie which involves the search for treasure at the ghost town could have been the inspiration for the all the plots of the SCOOBY-DOO cartoons. Overall, a fun forgettable Elvis movie, with good comedic moments, lots of pretty girls,fisticuffs, decent songs, and the usual Elvis charm.

Presley and "Tickle Me" Stink
I know not why Elvis Presley is big star. He look silly with big sideburns and very tall hair on head. He sings very stupid songs. This movie "tickle me" is very ridiculous. Me from Japan and I dont understand why Presley so popular. He is what Americans call hick. Me think he stinks very large. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A little-known gem, No Highway in the Sky is an interesting hybrid of U.S. and British film production. Most of the cast is British, as are the look and feel of the film, but the lead actor and the budget are both American. James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline. Marlene Dietrich costars with Stewart, while the balance of the cast comprises British stars, notably Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins. Stewart is excellent, while a young Janette Scott steals her scenes as Honey's precocious daughter. --Mark Savary ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A film where intelligence, integrity and courage triumph.
I'm writing this review only becuase other reivews have not yet given credit for this suberb story to its author - Nevil Shute. Aviation buffs will appreciate this movie as Shute was an aeronautical engineer, so knows the technical aspects well. But, he was also a great author of novels about human dignity and courage. A Town Like Alice, and On the Beach are classics of his that most people will recognize.

Shute had an uncanny ability to create characters who are so human in their frailty, passion, and courage, that one can immediately realate to them and empathize in their situations. Of course, those are the perfect kinds characters to be portrayed by the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Marlene Dietrich and and Glynis Johns in this film. They play very believable ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And don't overlook Janette Scott as Jimmy Stewart's daughter in the movie. A talent in her own right, she went on to star on stage and in many other British films like Helen of Troy and Day of the Triffids.

Great story, drama, action and acting, add up to a great film. You will want this one for your video library.

It's Jimmy Stewart! So You Know It's Good!
James Stewart gives yet another fine performance in "No Highway In The Sky" (FOX / 1951 / B&W / 98 minutes). Stewart's character here (a scientist by the name of Theodore Honey) is very well-written. Many facets of Mr. Honey's personality come to light during the film, including his tender association with a fellow airline passenger (Marlene Dietrich). Mr. Honey is determined to convince everyone around him that the newest commercial airliner (the "Reindeer") is in grave danger of cracking up due to metal fatigue after a certain amount of time.

This is one of those motion pictures that, after watching it for the first time, makes you say to yourself ..... "Hmmm, I wonder where this flick's been hiding all these years!"

Saturday Night Movie
That's how I first saw it, back when this was still considered a major movie for TV. It is still the best time to watch it (other than on a big theater screen, of course).
Something in it for the whole family. Great characters played by a magnificent cast. One of those movies that manages to capture the book exactly. Having navigated airplanes when I grew up, "the point of no return" always had a special ring to it after having seen this movie in my youth.
Make some fresh popcorn, pour some cola drinks, get comfortable, dim the room lights, and enjoy.

An underappreciated gem ¿ with a perennial message!
This work really deserves 3.5-4 stars, not just the meager 3 awarded it by the respected Martin & Porter. It is one of the better, more humanly and socially interesting, and philosophically more important of the 83 films in which Stewart acted, although its aeronautical engineering focus, and British understatement or civility, must understandably account for its neglect by the public and presumably by critics. Stewart's acting style or personality in this film was unusual even for him, or in the extreme to which it took one of his many canonical roles and manners, say that of a charming eccentric (but who in this case is also a brilliant scientist). The film is ultimately a celebration of conscience and integrity, differentiated from what at first appears to be merely idiosyncrasy or dangerous insanity.

Unforgettable Scene
The scene in which James Stewart retracts the airplane's landing gear while it's parked on the ground is absolutely classic -- brief but memorably stunning. It must have been astounding on the big screen in 1951. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

After Elvis Presley got out of the army in 1960, he was instantly ushered into this Paramount movie about an Oklahoma singer who (surprise) gets out of the army and wants to open a club. Making a potentially lucrative bet that he can seduce a cabaret singer (Juliet Prowse), Elvis instead falls in love. Refurbished from his rockabilly roots into a slicker model for early-'60s pop, the Elvis of this movie is the one who made almost 30 more just like it. The songs include the title track, plus "It's Not Good Enough for You," "Tonight Is So Right for Love," and "Wooden Heart." Directed by Norman Taurog, a studio veteran who made his first film in 1928 and worked numerous times with Presley as well as Jerry Lewis. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A very entertaining, feel good comedy/musical starring Elvis
This is one of Elvis's earlier films and it was filmed just right after his honorable discharge from the Army and believe me...it's one of his best work in Hollywood! The soundtrack is equally special as Elvis and the rest of the cast deliver excellent performances. Sure it's another love story of how Elvis's character falls for Juliet Prowse's character but having the story involve the U.S.Army and Germany as the backdrops add a special touch to this "Elvis Flick". It's a great ensemble cast as other characters are well written in the plot. The music is of Elvis at his best in Hollywood and the songs flow perfectly with the story (not cheesy or korny as in many musicals!). Note a special moment in the movie is when Elvis sings "Wooden Heart" to a puppet at a puppet show. Anyways, I've watched G.I.Blues many many times and it definately is an entertaining movie for the whole family. I'm in the military and this is a top 10 favorite movie of all time in my list!!!

Elvis Presley's first film after the army
G.I. Blues has to be the only Elvis Presley film that his name appears more than the opening and end credits (if there are any). And that happens when a man who during Elvis Presley's 2nd song in the movie decides to play an Elvis Presley song on the jukebox. Tulsa McCauley (Elvis Presley) dreams of opening his own nightclub in America with his two army buddies Cookey (Robert Ivers) and Rick (James Douglas). The songs that Elvis Presley sings include G.I. Blues, Tonight is So Right For Love, Wooden Heart, and Blue Suede Shoes. Even though, he got out of the army, a few months before filming this movie. And he had to get back into an army uniform. This was the first of 9 movies that Elvis was directed by

G. I Blues
Fantastic movie if you are an Elvis fan.
If you are not an Elvis fan, why bother?
I'm not really sure why so many people insist on giving a synopsis of the film since we all know the plot, we just want to know what people think of it.
I think the female role could have gone to someone else, as I never rated Juliet Prowse, no sparks there at all (the woman could dance, though, I'll give her that!) Ann Margret and Elvis were wonderful together, for obvious reasons and were a joy to watch. Nevertheless, GI Blues remains my favourite Elvis film, nonsense though it may be!

G.I. King
I enjoyed this film. Sure Elvis sings a number of songs, some good, some just plan silly. He plays the same good-hearted character after the girl. His buddies help him along the way. He gets the girl. If you love Elvis it's worth the rent, if you only want to watch a story with fewer songs I would recommend Change of Habit.

First post-Army film was a box-office smash!
"G.I. Blues" was #2 on the top grossing films at the box office when it was released. The storyline is Elvis plays Tulsa MacLean. Him and his Army buddies are about to get out of the army and look forward to opening up their own nightclub back in Oklahoma. Along the way, Tulsa is caught up in a bet that sees if he can date the enticing and cold-as-ice Cafe Europa dancer Lili (Juliet Prowse). Tulsa and Lili go further than that: they take a modest cruise to across the river to a puppet show where Tulsa sings "Wooden Heart". They both ride above a vineyard in a cablecar where again he breaks into "Pocketful of Rainbows." Then Tulsa is asked to baby-sit for a buddy who ran away to get married, and he's caught in a tight situation. Him and Lili reunite and spend the night with each other baby-sitting "Tiger". The bet is easily won. When Lili finds out, she's steamed! Little does she know that Tulsa really was Marla and Rick's baby-sitter. Tulsa and Lili come back together after an unexpected proposal, and following is an all-American Armed Forces Show finale where Tulsa and the rest of the memebers of the armed forces sing "Did'ja Ever?". ... Read more

Reviews (14)

TARZAN AND HIS MATE is SPECTACULAR!
Johnny Weissmuller was the king of movie Tarzans to the generation of the 30's who wore the loincloth for nearly 2 decades. In my opinion he's one of the best but the ultimate Tarzan is MIKE HENRY the last of the classic movie Tarzans in the late 60's though he only did 3 movies before not wanting the role any longer, only one of Henry's movies is really good, another fair, his last the weakest. THIS Weissmuller Tarzan movie is one of the only GREAT films in the whole run since the silent films up to the present! TONS OF ACTION to satisfy by today's standards. One of only two or 3 Weissmuller movies where Tarzan and Jane sport the more true to the books skimpy animal skins. In an age when seeing wild animals on theatre screens was thrilling, this movie SOCKS IT TO YOU! Weissmuller shows you why he was the lord of the jungle. If you're an adventure movie buff or like super heroes, you hav'nt seen it all without seeing this movie!

Good Tarzan movie with adult overtones.
This film is considered by many to be the finest of the Johnny Weissmuller MGM Tarzan movies. It's a crackling good adventure story that is a real roller coaster ride. The African jungle, considering the B&W photography and primitive special effects, is vividly portrayed as a savage place indeed. Wild animals abound: charging rhinos, stampeding elephants