Jeff Donnell
Also Known As: Jean Marie Donnell
Biography: Jeff Donnell (July 10, 1921 — April 11, 1988) was an American film and television actress. Born Jean Marie Donnell, she grew up in South Windham, Maine. As a child, she adopted the nickname "Jeff" after the character in her favorite comic strip, Mutt and Jeff. Donnell graduated from Towson High School, Towson, Maryland, in 1938 and attended the Leland Powers School of Drama in Boston, Massachusetts. Later, she studied at the Yale School of Drama. She was signed to a contract by Columbia Pictures in 1942 and made her film debut in My Sister Eileen. She later had roles in some RKO films. She was not a major star, but she did have a lengthy film and television career in various supporting roles, including the role of Gidget's mother, "Dorothy Lawrence", opposite Carl Reiner in the 1961 movie Gidget Goes Hawaiian. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jeff Donnell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Windham, Maine, USA
Adult: No
Birthday: July 10, 1921
Age: 103 years old
Gender: Female
Deathday: April 11, 1988
Popularity:
Known For:
Sweet Smell of Success
Overview: New York City newspaper writer J.J. Hunsecker holds considerable sway over public opinion with his Broadway column, but one thing that he can't control is his younger sister, Susan, who is in a relationship with aspiring jazz guitarist Steve Dallas. Hunsecker strongly disapproves of the romance and recruits publicist Sidney Falco to find a way to split the couple, no matter how ruthless the method.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-07-04
Popularity:
The Boogie Man Will Get You
Overview: A young divorcee tries to convert a historic house into a hotel despite its oddball inhabitants and dead bodies in the cellar.
Genres: Comedy Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-10-22
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The Blue Gardenia
Overview: Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Genres: Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-03-20
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Gidget Goes Hawaiian
Overview: Francis is desperate: her parents want to force her to come with them on vacation to Hawaii - just during the two weeks when her beloved "Moondoggy" is home from College. When he suggests her to go for it, she's even more in panic - doesn't he care to be with her? So she sets out for Hawaii in the worst mood. On the plane she meets the sociable Abby, who gives her the advice to forget about Jeff - and regrets it shortly after, when Francis follows the advice and steals her boyfriend Eddie, a famous dancer. But then Jeff discovers he's missing Francis...
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-06-02
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My Sister Eileen
Overview: Sisters Ruth and Eileen Sherwood move from Ohio to New York in the hopes of building their careers. Ruth wants to get a job as a writer, while Eileen hopes to succeed on the stage. The two end up living in a dismal basement apartment in Greenwich Village, where a parade of odd characters are constantly breezing in and out. The women also meet up with magazine editor Bob Baker, who takes a personal interest in helping both with their career plans.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-09-24
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Night Editor
Overview: A daily news editor recalls a married detective and the deadly woman behind his downfall.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-03-29
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The Power of the Whistler
Overview: A woman uses a deck of cards to predict death within 24 hours for a stranger sitting at a bar, then tries to help him remember who he is based on items in his pockets.
Genres: Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-04-19
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In a Lonely Place
Overview: A screenwriter with a violent temper is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
Genres: Drama Romance Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-05-17
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The Unknown
Overview: "The Unknown" was the final entry in Columbia’s I Love A Mystery series. A woman hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.
Genres: Mystery Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-07-04
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A Night to Remember
Overview: A woman rents a gloomy basement apartment in Greenwich Village thinking it will provide the perfect atmosphere for her mystery writer husband to create his next book. They soon find themselves in the middle of a real-life mystery when a corpse turns up in their apartment.
Genres: Comedy Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-12-10
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The Fuller Brush Girl
Overview: A daffy door-to-door saleswoman blunders into a murder investigation.
Genres: Comedy Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-09-15
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The Phantom Thief
Overview: Boston Blackie, in the 11th film of the Columbia series, indulges in some wit-trading with a squirmy spiritualist who deals in blackmail, murder and the occult. "Blackie" out to help his pal, "Runt," recover some jewels, finds himself involved in the homicides, and also finds himself as the prime suspect, and now has to find the real culprit in order to clear himself. So "Blackie,", a man of many talents and already a proved magician from cases past, shows he knows a little bit about dancing skeletons, walking phantoms and spiritualism himself, and holds a séance to unmask the murderer.
Genres: Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-05-02
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Walk Softly, Stranger
Overview: A petty crook moves to an Ohio town and courts a factory owner's disabled daughter.
Genres: Crime Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-10-14
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Over 21
Overview: A woman screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow in order to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the army.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-08-08
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Easy Living
Overview: A football halfback has a heart condition, a nagging wife and a team secretary who loves him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-10-08
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The Iron Maiden
Overview: The film follows Jack Hopkins, an aircraft designer with a passion for traction engines. His boss is eager to sell a new supersonic jet plane that Jack has designed to American millionaire Paul Fisher. The first encounter between Fisher and Jack goes badly, and tensions only heighten after Fisher's daughter Kathy damages Jack's prize traction engine "The Iron Maiden", rendering it impossible to drive solo. Jack is desperate to enter the annual Woburn Abbey steam rally with the machine, but his fireman is injured and unable to participate. When all seems lost the millionaire himself is won over by Jack's plight and joins him in driving the engine; the two soon become firm friends.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-06-07
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Roughshod
Overview: Rancher Clay and his brother, Steve, head out across the Sonora mountain pass, followed by Lednov, an ex-con seeking revenge on Clay for putting him behind bars. Clay and Steve unexpectedly cross paths with a group of dance hall girls -- including Mary, Marcia and Helen -- whose stagecoach has broken down, and help them get to the nearest ranch, where Lednov unfortunately catches up to Clay.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-05-11
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Rendezvous Hotel
Overview: A madcap family caters to assorted unpredictable guests availing themselves of the title resort's advertised bliss in this pilot to a prospective series.
Genres: Comedy TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-07-11
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Three Guys Named Mike
Overview: A stewardess becomes romantically involved with an airline pilot, a college professor, and a successful businessman...all of whom are named Mike. When the three find out about each other, she has to decide which one she loves the most.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-03-01
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Mr. District Attorney
Overview: An assistant district attorney gets mixed-up with a woman who is working for the group that he is investigating.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-02-20
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Post Office Investigator
Overview: A mailman leads PO-men to a pistol-packing stamp thief and her gang.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-09-01
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Song of the Prairie
Overview: Joan Wingate's wealthy father doesn't want his daughter to go into show business. As they vacation in the west she gets a job with Dan Tyler's show and uses Wingate money to keep him afloat. Sandwiched in between the numerous musical numbers they try to keep her father away from the show. But he eventually finds out and decides they will return east
Genres: Western Action Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-27
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Thief of Damascus
Overview: A young man assembles a band of adventurers to take on an evil sultan.
Genres: Adventure Fantasy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-04-01
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Carolina Blues
Overview: When he loses his lead singer, bandleader Kay Kyser can't find a replacement he likes.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-20
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The First Time
Overview: A married couple welcomes their first child.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-01-31
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So This Is Love
Overview: Film biography of opera star Grace Moore, released in 1953.
Genres: Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-07-15
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There's Something About a Soldier
Overview: Five officer candidates fight to prove their mettle during training.
Genres: Drama Action Romance War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-11-30
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Flight Nurse
Overview: In this war drama, set during the Korean War, an Air Force nurse gets involved in a love triangle on the front lines.
Genres: War Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-11-15
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My Man Godfrey
Overview: The eccentric Bullock household again need a new butler. Daughter Irene encounters bedraggled Godfrey Godfrey at the docks and, fancying him and noticing his obviously good manners, gets him the job. He proves a great success, but keeps his past to himself. When an old flame turns up Irene's sister Cordelia starts making waves.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-10-11
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Massacre Canyon
Overview: A band of renegade Apaches attempts to steal a shipment of rifles being transported to Fort Collins.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-05-01
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Redwood Forest Trail
Overview: Forest Ranger and singing cowboy, Rex Allen, attempts to save a camp for underprivileged boys with the help of "Alfalfa " Switzer who plays one of the boys.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-09-18
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That Texas Jamboree
Overview: With the backing of the Mayor, Brady is running a crooked gambling operation. When Sheriff Curt shuts him down, he reopens when the Mayor charters his place as a private club. When Curt decides to run for Mayor, he is made to shut down the popular Warren medicine show. With Curt now out of favor the Warrens decide to run their daughter for Mayor and Brady has a plan to stop her also.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-05-16
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Hoedown
Overview: A movie cowboy scrambles to salvage his career after his latest movie turns out to be a flop.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-06-01
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Portrait of a Stripper
Overview: A young widow, supporting herself and her pre-teen son by performing as a nightclub dancer, finds the place turned into a strip joint and learns that her father-in-law is trying to prove her an unfit mother.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-10-02
Popularity:
Singing on the Trail
Overview: In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.
Genres: Music Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-09-01
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Throw a Saddle on a Star
Overview: The "star" in the title of this low-budget singing Western was Dynamite, a wild stallion captured by cowboy Curt Walker to ride in the Big Rodeo. Unscrupulous John Burton has bet against Curt and does his best to sabotage the event. When lovely Barbara Allen, Curt's new girlfriend, leaves town because of Burton's schemes, Curt loses the first couple of events. The big Bronco Busting contest is coming up, and Pop Walker stalls the proceedings with a series of singing acts while the girl's brothers attempt to locate her. Barbara arrives just in time to spur Curt on to victory.
Genres: Music Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-03-14
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The Guns of Fort Petticoat
Overview: Opposing his commanding officer's decision to attack a group of innocent Indians and wipe them out, Lt. Frank Hewitt leaves his post and heads home to Texas. He knows that the attack will send all of the tribes on the warpath and he wants to forewarn everyone. He gets a chilly reception back home however. With most of the men away having enlisted in the Confederate army Frank, a Union officer, is seen by the local women as a traitor. He convinces them of the danger that lies ahead and trains them to repel the attack that will eventually come.
Genres: Western Action War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-04-01
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Destination 60,000
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: pt
Release Date: 1957-05-12
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3 Is a Family
Overview: Based on a play by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, "3 Is a Family" is a 1940s farce. Charlie Ruggles plays a hubby whose bungled business schemes force his wife, Fay Bainter, to enter the workplace. The couple's daughter, Marjorie Reynolds, shows up with her twin babies in tow. Son Arthur Lake arrives with his pregnant wife (Jeff Donnell). And overbearing maiden aunt Helen Broderick also decides to move in. Because his wife is away at work, poor old Charlie Ruggles is not only housekeeper, but nursemaid and servant as well.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-11-23
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Dancing in Manhattan
Overview: In this comedy, a garbage truck driver stumbles across $5,000. He decides to use the money for a wild night on the town. He and his girlfriend do not know that the money represents the spoils of a blackmailer's scheme.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-14
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She's a Soldier Too
Overview: Wartime workers deal with homefront dramatics.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-06-29
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Doughboys in Ireland
Overview: According to Doughboys in Ireland, there were those who sang their way through WW2. Radio tenor Kenny Baker plays Manhattan orchestra leading Danny O'Keefe, who is drafted into the army along with a Ritz Brothers-like quartet called The Jesters. Stationed in Ireland, Danny believes that his New York sweetheart Gloria (Lynn Merrick) has forgotten about him, thus he inaugurates a romance with Irish colleen Molly Callahan (Jeff Donnell).
Genres: War Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-10-07
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Stagecoach Kid
Overview: Crooked ranch foreman Thatcher sends his two henchmen, Parnell and Clint, out to murder his boss, wealthy Peter Arnold who has just arrived to retire on his ranch, bringing in tow his daughter, tomboy Jessie, who despises western life and can't wait to run off back to San Francisco. Stagecoach line owner Dave Collins and his sidekick Chito show up just in time to deter the attackers. Collins isn't done yet, though, as a gold shipment sent on one of his stages is stolen by Parnell and Clint, one of whom is recognized by Jessie, attempting to escape back to the west coast. Collins has his hands full trying to retrieve the stolen gold, and dealing with Jessie, who's fallen head-over-heels in love with him.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-06-02
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Skirts Ahoy!
Overview: Three young ladies sign up for some kind of training at a naval base. However, their greatest trouble isn't long marches or several weeks in a small boat, but their love life.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-05-28
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Stars on Parade
Overview: In this musical showcase, two aspiring stars attempt to wow a pair of talent scouts with their stellar abilities. Songs include "My Heart Isn't in It" (Jack Lawrence), "It's Love, Love, Love" (Mack David, Joan Whitney, Alex Kramer), "When They Ask about You" (Sammy Stept), "Jumpin' at the Jubilee" (Ben Carter, Mayes Marshall), "Taking Care of You" (Lou Brown, Harry Akst), "Where Am I Without You?" (Don Raye, Gene De Paul), "Two Hearts in the Dark" (Dave Franklin), "Somewhere This Side of Heaven," "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel."
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-05-25
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Cowboy Blues
Overview: Starring Ken Curtis and the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots, this musical Western is really Lady for a Day with a switch in gender. Rotund Guy Kibbee is Dusty Nelson, the handyman at the Bar B dude ranch, whose daughter Susan is arriving with her socialite fiancee, Jerome Winston. Susan believes her father owns the ranch, and to spare Dusty any embarrassment, the Hot Shots, ranch manager Curt Durant and sidekick Big Boy Stover agree to continue the deception.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-07-18
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Outcasts of the Trail
Overview: Legendary lawman Pat Garrett wins the Fourth of July buckboard race in a small Nevada town against the unscrupulous Fred Smith and pretty Lavinia White. Lavinia blames Garrett for sending her father Ivory White to jail for robbing 100,000 dollars. White, who has stashed the loot away someplace, is about to be released and plans to return the money to the express office for the sake of his children, Lavinia and Chad. Nasty Jim Judd forces Lavinia to help him rob the coach carrying Ivory and the money, counting on the fact that White will keep quiet for his daughter's sake.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-06-08
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Eadie Was a Lady
Overview: In this amiable Columbia B musical, society girl Ann Miller escapes her Back Bay family by performing in the chorus line in a burlesque house. But trouble starts when her boss (William Wright) decides to build her up as a star. One of the many bread-and-butter Columbia productions graced by the contributions of Cole’s in-house dance studio. Cole dances behind Miller in “I’m Gonna See My Baby.” --Museum of Modern Art
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-01-24
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Force of Impulse
Overview: A high-school football player is in love with a beautiful blonde classmate from a very wealthy family. He doesn't have the money to take her out, so in his desperation he robs his own father's grocery store. Things go downhill from there.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-11-01
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Nine Girls
Overview: One of the members of a sorority is found murdered. Although the police are called in to investigate, some of the girls decide to do some sleuthing on their own to unmask the killer.
Genres: Mystery Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-02-17
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Stand Up and Be Counted
Overview: Sheila is a newspaper reporter who returns to her home town in order to write an article about the progress of the liberation of the women. Arriving at the town she is very surprised to see that her sister and also her mother agree very much with the feministic arguments.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-05-01
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Tars and Spars
Overview: Howard Young is a coast guardsman who has been on shore duty for three years despite his efforts to be sent into action. His nearest approach to sea duty was on a harbor-moored life raft for 21 days as part of an experiment with a new type of vitamin gum for the government. He meets Christine Bradley, a SPAR, sent to take over his communications job and, by things he leaves unsaid, she thinks his life-raft experience was the result of a ship-wreck at sea.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-01-10
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Gidget Goes to Rome
Overview: Francis, now 17, is still in love with Moondoggy. She can persuade her parents to allow them a journey to Rome, together with two of her and two of his friends. However they have to take an adult with them, so they choose Peter's eccentric aunt. In Rome they get the beautiful guide Daniela, who's fascinating the guys and making especially Gidget jealous. She starts looking elsewhere herself.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-08-07
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Big Timber
Overview: A young man goes to work in a logging camp to fulfill a boyhood ambition and a jealous loggers rigs things to make him appear to be an incompetent bungler. But he proves himself successfully conveying an injured workman to the hospital in a careening truck, whose brakes have been tampered with, down a mountainside.
Genres: Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-09-10
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Bristle Face
Overview: In the rolling, wooded hills of Tennessee in the 1920s, a 14-year-old orphan, Jace, comes to town with his hound dog and tries to teach him to hunt. Bristle Face is unskilled, but he shows remarkable ability in tracking down foxes. Jace stays with a kindly shopkeeper who defends the boy and Bristle Face against the sheriff whom they have angered.
Genres: Drama Family TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1964-01-26
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Murder by Natural Causes
Overview: An elaborate mystery involving a famous mentalist, his unfaithful wife who is trying to literally scare him to death, the best friend of the family, and the wife's ham-actor lover -- not only an intriguing who- (or whether) dunit, but also a literate, adult dramatic puzzle with an endless series of twists.
Genres: Mystery Crime TV Movie Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-02-17
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Tora! Tora! Tora!
Overview: In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Genres: War History Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-01-26
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Spider-Man
Overview: When an extortionist threatens to force a multi-suicide unless a huge ransom is paid, only Peter Parker can stop him with his new powers as Spider-Man.
Genres: Science Fiction Action Crime TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1977-09-14
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A Thousand and One Nights
Overview: On the run after being found sweet-talking the Sultan's daughter, Aladdin comes upon a lamp which, when rubbed, summons up Babs the genie. He uses it to return as a visiting prince asking for the princess's hand. Unfortunately for him, the sultan's wicked twin brother has secretly usurped the throne, someone else is after the lamp for his own ends, and Babs has taken a shine to Aladdin herself and is bent on wrecking his endeavours.
Genres: Adventure Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-07-20
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It's Great to Be Young
Overview: Ricky Malone, Spud Winters and some other returning G.I.'s are trying to break into show business by the old summer resort. Terry, a runaway daughter of a big producer who is trying to stifle her show-biz career, hires on as the (dubbed) singer.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-09-12
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The Comic
Overview: An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitter tone about his fate, and takes us through his fame, as he ruins it with womanizing and drink, and his fall, as a lonely, bitter old man unable to reconcile his life's disappointments. The movie is based loosely on the life of Buster Keaton.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-11-19
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Magnificent Roughnecks
Overview: Two oilmen coax a cook, an oilwoman and a gusher in South America.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-07-22
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Love Hate Love
Overview: Ryan O'Neal plays Russ Emery, a glib engineer who steals the heart of a fashion model named Sheila Blunden. She in turn leaves her jet setter fiance who turns out to be a psychotic who will not let go of Sheila that easily.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-02-09
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Because You're Mine
Overview: A famous opera singer falls for his sergeant's sister at boot camp.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-10-01
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Congratulations, It's a Boy!
Overview: A bachelor's life is interrupted by the appearance of a teenager who claims to be his son.
Genres: Comedy TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-09-21
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A Gift of Terror
Overview: Young woman starts having premonitions of her friends dying. Once her friends begin to die, she starts having premonitions of her own death.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-04-05
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