Eythe, William

The Song of Bernadette

Jennifer Jones plays the legendary French peasant who claimed to have dialogues with the Virgin Mary at a Lourdes grotto in 1858. The script handles the visitations as an article of truth (Linda Darnell plays the Virgin), which helps move the drama forward, though much of the story concerns the conflicts that arise in the community after Jones is told the grotto contains healing waters. Made by Henry King (The Snows of Kilimanjaro), the film is gorgeous to look at and sensitively directed; and Jones (who won an Oscar for Best Actress) is radiant in the lead. Whatever one's religious persuasion, this is a strikingly handsome Hollywood production to be enjoyed. The film also earned Academy Awards for cinematography and score. --Tom Keogh

The story of a peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, a poverty-stricken, pure hearted adolescent, who saw a vision, of a "Beautiful Lady" near her home town of Lourdes in 1858. The wondrous news spreads rapidly throughout France, leaving in its wake a variety of consequences: adoration, suspicion and greed among the people of Lourdes skepticism from the town doctor (Lee J. Cobb) charges of insanity from the town prosecutor (Vincent Price) threats of physical punishment, then support and guidance from the Dean of Lourdes (Charles Bickford), who finally becomes convinced that the miracle has, indeed, taken place. Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Actress and Best Score, this true story is both first-rate filmmaking and an inspiring tribute to faith, courage and the human spirit.

The Ox-Bow Incident

The Ox-Bow Incident is one of the essential Westerns, directed by William Wellman. A study of the effects--and aftereffects--of mob violence, this film (based on a true story) begins with the murder of a popular rancher. Angry townspeople form a posse, find suspects, and, without waiting for a trial, summarily hang them in an expression of biblically tinged frontier justice. But the one cowboy who tried to turn the mob aside ultimately proves that they executed innocent men. Made in 1943, the film features stunning black-and-white cinematography and a solid dramatic sense about what a deadly combination ignorance and self-righteousness can be. Fonda made this film between The Grapes of Wrath and My Darling Clementine, at a point when he was at the peak of his powers as a young actor. --Marshall Fine

Two drifters are passing through a Western town, when news comes in that a local farmer has been murdered and his cattle stolen. The townspeople, joined by the drifters, form a posse to catch the perpetrators. They find three men in possession of the cattle, and are determined to see justice done on the spot.

The House on 92nd Street (Fox Film Noir)

The House on 92nd Street has solid claims to a place in film history, and not just as an engrossing true-life counter-espionage movie. Its working title was "Now It Can Be Told," and its story--about the F.B.I. smashing a Nazi spy ring in New York--involved the stealing of atomic secrets. That surely upped the topical ante for 1945 audiences (who, we may assume, had a lot less ambivalent feelings about the F.B.I. than latterday viewers).

Of more lasting significance, the movie pioneered a salutary postwar trend in American filmmaking: forsaking the Hollywood soundstages and back lot to tap the freshness and palpable authenticity of real-world locations. Shot mostly in New York City, House was a collaboration between 20th Century-Fox and Louis de Rochement, the documentary producer renowned for his "March of Time" newsreels. The working formula of House and its successors was to fully incorporate documentary techniques into the storytelling, and to "film where it actually happened." That included using some nonprofessional performers, sometimes people who had been involved in the case. Fox went on to embrace this aesthetic in not only the de Rochement-produced 13 Rue Madeleine and Boomerang! but also the gangster movie Kiss of Death, the journalistic detective story Call Northside 777, and another F.B.I. case history, Street With No Name. Even the storybook fantasy of the studio's 1947 Miracle on 34th Street was charmingly validated by setting Kris Kringle down amid real New Yorkers and real Gotham grittiness.

Noiristes should stand advised that House on 92nd Street, a key influence on film noir, is not quite a true noir itself (whereas Anthony Mann's T-Men is noir to the max). Even as a German-American double agent, hero William Eythe is unburdened by neurosis or doubt, and the stylistic keynote is documentary gray, not black--though a murder in a railroad yard and the final showdown are memorably stark and dark. --Richard T. Jameson

A stentorian narrator tells us that the USA was flooded with Nazi spies in 1939-41. One such tries to recruit college grad Bill Dietrich, who becomes a double agent for the FBI. While Bill trains in Hamburg, a street-accident victim proves to have been spying on atom-bomb secrets; conveniently, Dietrich is assigned to the New York spy ring stealing these secrets. Can he track down the mysterious "Christopher" before his ruthless associates unmask and kill him?

Wing and a Prayer

Don Ameche, Dana Andrews, William Eythe and Richard Jaeckel star in this acclaimed film about newly-trained pilots assigned to an aircraft carrier immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Anticipating the battle of Midway, which will determine th

A Wing and a Prayer

Don Ameche, Dana Andrews, William Eythe and Richard Jaeckel star in this acclaimed film about newly-trained pilots assigned to an aircraft carrier immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Anticipating the battle of Midway, which will determine the future of the war in the Pacific, U.S. naval leaders attempt to lull the Japanese into a false sense of security by making it look like the American military is afraid to engage the enemy. Eager to fight, the young airmen aboard the carrier are not only confused and angered by their orders, but must also cope with a by-the-book officer (Ameche) who puts discipline and regulations above all else.

Colonel Effingham's Raid

Special Agent

A Royal Scandal

Colonel Effingham's Raid

Wing and a Prayer [Region 2]