Angela Lansbury

The Grinch, a cynical grump, lives a solitary life inside a cave on Mt. Crumpet with only his loyal dog, Max, for company. With a cave rigged with inventions and contraptions for his day-to-day needs, the Grinch only sees his neighbors in Who-ville when he runs out of food. Each year at Christmas, they disrupt his tranquil solitude with their increasingly bigger, brighter, and louder celebrations. When the Whos declare they are going to make Christmas three times bigger this year, the Grinch realizes there is only one way for him to gain some peace and quiet: he must steal Christmas. When he sets off on his mission, he has his heart changed by a young girl's generous holiday spirit. Funny, heartwarming and visually stunning, it's a universal story about the spirit of Christmas and the indomitable power of optimism.

Follow the heartwarming journey of two orphan girls whose only wish is to find a home for Christmas. With a little help from their guardian angels (Dick Van Dyke and Dame Angela Lansbury), they discover miracles can happen when you believe. Follow the heartwarming journey of two orphan girls whose only wish is to find a home for Christmas. With a little help from their guardian angels (Dick Van Dyke and Dame Angela Lansbury), they discover miracles really can happen when you believe.

After a young man leaves a band of pirates, hilarity ensues. This movie is an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta of the same name, with parts of other of their operettas stirred in. Frederic (Rex Smith) has fallen in love with sweet innocent Mabel Stanley (Linda Ronstadt). Yet his vocation is an impediment to their union. Perhaps the situation can be rectified by his old nurse, Ruth (Dame Angela Lansbury), who made a dreadful blunder years before. A highlight is the song and dance, "A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One". —Reid Gagle Fredric (Rex Smith) was meant to be an apprentice to a pilot, but his maid mistakenly makes him an apprentice to a pirate. He is ready to leave the Pirates of Penzance. When his maid pleads him to take her with him, he agrees, but shortly afterward, he meets the daughters of Major General Stanley (George Rose) and falls madly in love with them, so he rejects his maid Ruth (Dame Angela Lansbury). After they say no to loving him, for he was a pirate, the fairest of them all, Mabel Stanley (Linda Ronstadt) agrees to love him. But something stirs up in the story and he and his sense of duty as a pirate are stuck in the middle. —???? Frederic (Rex Smith), son of a wealthy nineteenth century man was to be apprenticed to a pilot, but due to a hard-of-hearing nursery maid, was instead apprenticed to a pirate. Not just any pirate, but the Pirate King (Kevin Kline), leader of the not-so-fierce "Pirates of Penzance". But now his indentures are over, Frederic's sense of duty calls him to rid the seas of these rather simple ruffians. Despite their track record, the pirates believe that they have an ace up their collective sleeves. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

Set in the fictional English village of St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Jane Marple (Angela Lansbury), in 1953. The movie opens with a black-and-white scene from a movie being played at the local community house titled 'Meeting at Midnight' where a detective in the movie assembles a group of people together at a quait country mansion to root out them for the murder of the wealthy owner. The film breaks which depresses the local audience, until Miss Marple reveals, according to her natural skill of observation, who the murderer in the movie is. Meanwhile, a big Hollywood production company arrives to film a costume movie about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I with two famous movie stars, Marina Rudd (Elizabeth Taylor) and Lola Brewster (Kim Novak). Marina and Lola are old rivals who hate each other. Marina, who is making a much heralded comeback after a prolonged "illness" and retirement, when she, in reality, has had a nervous breakdown, and her husband, Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson), who is directing the movie they are making, arrive with their entourage. When she learns that Lola will be in the movie as well, she becomes enraged and vents her anger. Lola and her husband, Martin N. "Marty" Fenn (Tony Curtis), who is producing the movie they are making, then arrive at the gathering. Excitement runs high in St. Mary Mead, as the locals have been invited to a reception held by the movie company in a manor house, Gossington Hall, to meet the celebrities. Lola and Marina come face to face at the reception and exchange some potent and comical insults, nasty one-liners, as they smile and pose for the cameras. The two square off in a series of hilarious and cleverly written and performed cat-fights throughout the movie. After her initial exchange with Lola at the reception, she is cornered by a gushing, devoted fan, Heather Babcock (Maureen Bennett), who bores her with a long and detailed story about having actually met Marina in person during World War II. After recounting the meeting they had all those years ago, when she arose from her sickbed to go and meet the glamorous star, Babcock drinks a cocktail that was made for Marina and quickly dies from poisoning. The incident is unfortunate for Marina's mental state, and she is beside herself. Everyone is certain Heather was the intended murder victim. Once filming begins on the movie, Marina discovers that apart from threatening notes made up of newspaper clippings, her cup of coffee on the set has also been spiked with poison, sending her into fits of terror. A police detective from Scotland Yard arrives to investigate the case. Inspector Dermot Craddock (Bernard Fox) is baffled as he tries to uncover who is behind the attempt on the life of the actress and the subsequent murder of the innocent woman. The suspected are Ella Zielinsky (Geraldine Chaplin), Jason's production assistant who is secretly having an affair with him and would like Marina out of the way, and the hot-headed actress Lola Brewster. Inspector Craddock even suspects Marty Fenn may have have something to do with the attempt on Marina's life since he is Lola's blindly loyal husband. Inspector Craddock then meets with Marina who tells him about reciving the death threats against her in the form of two notes delivered recently and claims not to know who is behind them. When Inspector Craddock questions Jason about the notes, he clearly acts somewhat suprised as if hearing about it for the first time, and he calmly tells the inspector that he wanted to keep the threats on his wife a secret as not to bring on bad publicity for the Hollywood studio. Inspector Craddock asks his aunt, the renowned amateur detective Miss Jane Marple, who injured her foot at the reception and is confined to her home, for assistance. The main suspect, Ella Zielinsky, is later killed by a lethal nose spray after going to a pay phone in the village, where she called the murderer and threatened to expose them. At the climax, Miss Marple, now back on her feet, visits Gossington Hall, where Marina and Jason are staying, and views where Heather Babcock's death occurred. Working from information received from her cleaning woman, Cherry Baker (Wendy Morgan), who was working as a waitress the day of the murder, the determined elderly sleuth begins to piece together the events of the fatal reception and solves the mystery: Marina herself is the murderer. In the film's denouement, Miss Marple explains to Jason Rudd and Inspector Craddock about the two murders that have occurred. Heather Babcock's story was Marina's initial motive. Ten years earlier, Miss Babcock suffered from German measles; a rather harmless disease to most adults, but problematic for a pregnant woman. Heather Babcock innocently infected Marina when she met her during World War II during a stage performance. Marina was about a month pregnant at the time; the disease caused her child to be born with mental retardation. Upon hearing the unknowing Heather cheerfully tell this story, Marina was overcome with rage and poisoned Heather without thinking. She then spread the idea that she was the intended victim in order to throw off suspicion from herself, delivering death threats and poisoning her own coffee at the studio. Ella, who made phone calls to various suspects from the town's pay phone, accidentally guessed correctly, apparently prompting Marina to murder her as well. Miss Marple also deducts that Jason Rudd knew about Marina's murderous secret after Inspector Craddock told him the other day about the death threat notes that Marina received. Jason saw right through the charade as he realized that Marina fabricated everything because she never told him about the death threat notes, and thus decided to protect her. Jason, Marina's devoted husband, confesses to Miss Marple that he actually administered a dosage of poison just last night to save her from prosecution. However, when they enter Marina's room, they see that Marina is now dead. However, Marina didn't touch the hot chocolate Jason made for her and rather poisoned herself. As Marina is now dead, she will not be brought to justice. On that note, both Miss Marple and Inspector Craddock depart from Gossington Hall as the end credits role.

A screen adaption of the blistering best-seller which examines the story of platinum blonde bombshell Jean Harlow (Carroll Baker) who rose to fame in the reckless Hollywood of the 1930s. In this story, Jean Harlow (Carroll Baker) starts in the movies as set dressing, the pretty girl who is used for the glamor shots. Refusing to descend to the casting couch for work, she finds that she is soon blacklisted from the industry. But an agent named Arthur Landau (Red Buttons) sees something in Jean and begins representing her. For a long time, the jobs are scarce and consist mostly of receiving the pie in the face in low budget comedies. But Arthur's belief in Jean never wavers and when she finally graduates to featured roles, the critics say that she cannot act, but she is unforgettable. Polishing the image as the girl next door, but with some fire, she begins her climb to the top and becomes the girl every woman wants to look like and every man wants to have. But her own life is a disaster - unlike her screen life. —Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

A bawdy story of how a poor damsel surrenders her virtue again and again to get to the top of society. Based on Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel of the famed English adventuress Moll Flanders (Kim Novak). Moll is first engaged as a maid by an eighteenth-century English family chiefly composed of sex-starved males. She marries the imbecilic second son, who prefers booze to copulation. Too embarrassed to speak the truth of him, she demurely tells friends, "Modesty forbids me to reveal the secrets of the marriage bed." She then meets a rich banker (George Sanders), becomes maid-companion to a Count (Vittorio De Sica) and his Lady, and finally weds the banker, but leaves him on their first night together. She then joins a group of thieves, falls in love with James "Jemmy" Seagrave (Richard Johnson), and becomes their number one asset before she is sent to prison. After she is released, she finds Jemmy, and, in the end, everyone is on an America-bound boat except the banker, who fortuitously dies of a heart attack before he has had an opportunity to alter his will. —alfiehitchie

In 1952 during the Korean War, the Soviets capture an American platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. After the war, the soldiers return to the United States, and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor for his supposed actions. In addition, when asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know something is wrong. As Marco puts it: "It isn't as if Raymond is hard to like. He's impossible to like!" Marco who has since been promoted to Major suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw strangles one of his fellow soldiers, and shoots another, killing both before the assembled military brass of communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a brainwashing technique. (Raymond and his platoon have been hypnotized into believing that the Korean military brass are a bunch of harmless old American ladies from a garden club.) Marco wants to investigate, but receives no support from Army Intelligence as he has no proof. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin (James Edwards), has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence decides that this is too much of a coincidence and agrees to help Marco investigate. Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), is the driving force behind her husband, Shaw's step-father, Senator John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), a bombastic demagogue in the style of Joseph McCarthy, who is dismissed by most people as a fool. Shaw hates them both, especially his domineering mother. Senator Iselin's political stature is established when (per his wife's orders) he interrupts a televised press conference given by the Secretary of Defense, accusing him of knowing that some 207 Defense Department employees are "card carrying" Communists. This provokes the expected chaos and shock among journalists and an enraged reaction from the Secretary. Unknown to everyone including Raymond, the Iselins (or possibly only Mrs. Iselin) are actually Stalinist agents with a plan intended to take them all the way to the White House. His mother is actually the American "operative" for whom Raymond is to effect the operation's final step. Raymond was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will obey the next suggestion or order given to him by anyone. When given instructions to kill selected targets, he must also kill any witnesses and never remember his actions, making him the perfect assassin as he can never feel fear or guilt. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon by the Communists in Manchuria, and that they were covertly returned to the American lines only after their conditioning was completed. The actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver), one of his stepfather's political rivals. Raymond had previously courted Jocelyn in order to get at his parents in a Romeo and Juliet-style romance, but they then genuinely fell in love, both she and her father being the nearest thing Raymond has ever had to having friends. Mrs. Iselin broke up the relationship for obvious political reasons, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner the support of Senator Jordan for her husband's own sudden vice presidential bid. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume outfit, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party thrown by the Iselins at their Long Island home and the couple elopes. Although tolerant of the match, Senator Jordan makes it clear to Mrs. Iselin that he will move for her husband's impeachment if he makes any attempt to seek the vice-presidential nomination. Raymond's conditioning is then triggered by his mother and he is sent to assassinate Jordan. Jocelyn happens upon the scene and is also shot dead as a witness to the event. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions and is genuinely grief-stricken when he learns of the murders. In the course of Marco's investigation, he discovers the role of the Queen of Diamonds card in putting Raymond into the hypnotic state for his assignments. Marco meets Raymond and, using a deck composed entirely of Queen of Diamonds, gets the full story and orders Raymond to break the linkages between himself and the card forever and to disobey any further subsequent orders from his controllers. Unaware of this, Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential candidate at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the presidential candidate by default and give an inflammatory anti-Communist speech (actually written by the Communists themselves). This will cause mass hysteria that will get Iselin, the real "Manchurian candidate", elected and justify such emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy". She condescendingly tells her son that, although he may never fully understand, she did not know it would be her son whom the Communists selected as the assassin, apparently because they believed it would solidify their own hold over her. Furious, she vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt". She proceeds to give the ostensibly "hypnotized" Raymond a decidedly non-maternal kiss. Marco's attempt to free Raymond appears to have failed. Raymond enters the convention hall disguised as a Catholic priest and takes up a position to carry out the assassination as he was instructed, using a rifle with a scope. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt (Douglas Henderson), arrive at the convention to stop him. As the Presidential nominee (Robert Riordan) makes his speech, Raymond instead shoots his stepfather and mother dead. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his undeserved Medal of Honor.

After arriving back in Hawaii from the Army, Chad Gates defies his parents' wishes for him to work at the family business and instead goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency. Chad Gates (Elvis Presley) has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surfboard, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. His father wants him to go to work at the Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, but he is reluctant. So he goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency.

Princess Olympia (Sophia Loren), despite her life status cannot resist the urge to satisfy her sexual appetites. Exiled to the countryside, Olympia falls in love with American millionaire Charlie Foster (John Gavin).

Marshal Calem Ware must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town. Marshal Calem Ware (Randolph Scott) of Medicine Bend is tired and alone. Tired of killing to keep himself from being killed, and alone because of an unspoken past disappointment. The realization that someone in town is paying to have him killed, and the arrival with a show troupe of the special someone from the past, coincide to force more than one type of showdown. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

During the main titles, Danny Kaye, dressed as a jester, sings the clever song, Life Could Not Better Be, with lyrics that are apropos to the actors or technicians who are being introduced. A narrator introduces the film while the audience sees a cadre of horsemen riding along the English coastline: "This is the story of how the destiny of a nation was changed by a birthmark, a royal birthmark, on the royal posterior of a royal infant child." Roderick the Tyrant had killed all of the royal family except for a baby boy who survived and has been cared for by a group in the forest. This band of loyalists to the throne is lead by a Robin Hood-type outlaw, the Black Fox (Edward Ashley). The scene changes to the castle where King Roderick (Cecil Parker) is considering an alliance with Griswold of McElwaine in which the King would offer his daughter, Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury), as Griswold's bride. Gwendolyn is completely opposed to this arrangement. Back in the forest, the audience is led to believe the Black Fox is singing "(You'll Never) Outfox the Fox." He is assisted by a band of midgets, all in Black Fox outfits. However, soon the real Black Fox arrives and we learn that the person who was impersonating the Black Fox is Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye), a former carnival entertainer, and the midgets are his pals from the carnival. When the Black Fox reprimands Hawkins for wearing his clothes, he responds that he is only trying to improve the morale of the troops. Maid Jean (Glynis Johns), who is a Captain in the Black Fox's band of outlaws, enters to announce that a group of recruits is arriving. The Black Fox orders Hawkins to get the child - the royal child. Hawkins retrieves the infant and holds the baby on his shoulder to reveal the royal birthmark - the purple pimpernel - for the recruits to see so they will know the Black Fox and his gang are fighting to restore the rightful heir to the throne. The Black Fox orders Hawkins and the Captain to transport the baby to the Abbey in Dover for safekeeping. Hawkins disguises himself as an old man, while Jean transforms from the Captain into a lovely young maiden. They conceal the baby in a fake wine cask. When the King's men stop them on the road, Hawkins claims he is Foutzingdale, the wine merchant, and Jean is his granddaughter. After safely eluding the King's forces, a thunderstorm forces Hawkins and Jean to spend the night in a woodman's hut. Hawkins sings "Baby, Let Me Take You Dreaming," as a lullaby for the baby. Since there is only one straw bed, Hawkins and Captain Jean share it. Hawkins has always been attracted to Jean and she now warms to him. They kiss, but Jean resists. She says, "We daren't think of ourselves until our fight is won." Jean reveals to Hawkins the existence of a secret tunnel leading from the forest to the castle. The problem is it is locked at both ends and the key is in the King's possession. However, if they could get someone inside the castle that could access the King's chambers and retrieve the key, it could be opened so the Black Fox's forces could launch a surprise attack against King Roderick. Suddenly, their planning is interrupted by a stranger entering the hut seeking shelter. He introduces himself as Giacomo (David Carradine; Giacomo is pronounced "Jockamo"), "King of Jesters and Jester of Kings." He is headed for King Roderick's court to become his jester. Jean knocks out Giacomo so Hawkins can become the jester. The wicked Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) has hired Giacomo as jester because he is also an assassin. So Hawkins assumes the identity of Giacomo and heads for the castle, while Jean and the infant king continue their journey to the Abbey. However, Giacomo's wagon loses a wheel, so he is delayed on the road and Jean runs afoul of the King's men who are scouring the countryside for the fairest wenches in the land. Therefore, Jean and the wine cart with the precious baby hidden inside arrive at the castle before the new Giacomo has finished repairing his cart. Once at the castle, Jean whistles a secret signal. A blacksmith responds to the signal and takes the child to safety. When Giacomo finally arrives, he sings "My Heart Knows a Lovely Song," which includes the whistle signal. When Giacomo hears the signal returned, he thinks it came from Lord Ravenhurst. Meanwhile, Princess Gwendolyn is fretting to the witch, Griselda (Mildred Natwick), about being forced to marry Griswold. Griselda reassures her that she is destined to wed someone else. When Griselda witnesses the arrival of Giacomo, she tells Gwendolyn he is her intended. Ravenhurst introduces Giacomo to the King. Their conversation about the Italian court is a classic Danny Kaye tongue-twister that ends with, "Yes! The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn't. So the Duke got the Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke!" The King is on his way to select a wench from those who have been recently rounded up by his men. Ravenhurst convinces the King to allow Giacomo to make the appropriate selection. During all of this, the blacksmith is desperately trying to identify himself to Hawkins as his contact. Shortly after Giacomo is shown to his room, the blacksmith comes there, but is interrupted by the arrival of Griselda. Using her evil eye, she hypnotizes Giacomo. He can be brought in and out of this trance by the snap of a finger. She sends him to make love to the Princess. The blacksmith, who has been hiding behind a curtain, has overheard everything. Meanwhile, Jean has made her way to the King's chamber and has found the key to the secret tunnel. As she is leaving, she runs into Giacomo, who is under Griselda's spell. Jean, unaware of the trance, gives the key to Giacomo. When the King arrives, he thinks Jean is Giacomo's choice from the wenches and immediately takes a fancy to her. Giacomo continues to the Princess' chamber. Gwendolyn discovers the key and assumes he has secured it for their escape from the castle. She keeps the key and gives him her silk handkerchief. In several instances, finger snaps bring Giacomo in and out of the trance with comic results. When he leaves Gwendolyn, Giacomo goes to Ravenhurst's chamber, where again finger snaps cause hilarious results. At one instant he is Ravenhurst's assassin-for-hire, at another he is in Griselda's trance as the super confident romancer, and at another he is Hawkins, the scared former carnival performer. When he leaves Ravenhurst, he returns to his room where Griselda puts him to sleep. Meanwhile, Jean is being dressed by ladies-in-waiting for her presentation to the King. She sends the attendants away when she hears the whistle signal from the blacksmith. She tells him to take the baby to the jester. Once Giacomo awakens, he is the jester again. When he arrives at the King's banquet room, he sees Jean seated next to the King. During this sequence, there is great deal of confusion: the blacksmith delivers the baby to Giacomo in a basket, Ravenhurst confuses Giacomo by talking about Plan 1 and Plan 2 in the assassination attempt, and Gwendolyn tells him to meet her at midnight at the north gate. When he finally realizes that the infant king is in the basket, he diverts everyone's attention away from the basket by singing "The Maladjusted Jester." During his performance, Griselda puts poison pellets in three flagons. Just as Jean retrieves the basket and is stopped by some guards, Giacomo proposes a toast to the King. As the guards turn to participate in the toast, Jean gets away. Sirs Brockhurst, Finsdale and Pertwee fall over dead when they drink from the poisoned flagons. Ravenhurst is very impressed by Giacomo's tactics. A page announces the arrival of Sir Griswold (Robert Middleton) at the castle. Jean hands the baby off to the blacksmith again. Griswold enters and accepts the terms of the alliance, but Gwendolyn tells her father she loves someone else and refuses to marry Griswold. She has presented her loved one with her silk handkerchief. Giacomo is arrested and they find Gwendolyn's silk handkerchief stuffed in his blouse. The King throws Giacomo, or whoever he is, in jail. When Ravenhurst learns that Giacomo is an impostor, he suspects he is the Black Fox. He recommends the King knight the jester so he can legitimately joust Sir Griswold. The winner, which should be Griswold, would marry Gwendolyn. The King quickly agrees. It usually takes years to attain knighthood, but Giacomo is rushed through the tests with comic ease. Jean approaches the King in his chamber while his dressers are grooming him. She gets him to dismiss his attendants and while she combs his hair, she retreives the key to the secret tunnel. The King also reveals to her the plans to knight the jester so he can be killed in the fight with Griswold. As soon as she gets away from the King, Jean gives the key to the blacksmith to get it to the Black Fox so he can attack. Just before the knighting ceremony, Jean warns Giacomo/Hawkins about the plot and urges him to run. He doesn't get away, however, and the ceremony begins. It is speeded up with hilarious results to allow the tournament to commence before it can be delayed by a storm that is brewing. Immediately upon being knighted, Hawkins is challenged to a duel to the death by Griswold. Gwendolyn expects Giacomo to be killed, so she warns the witch that if he dies, she dies. Therefore, Griselda puts poisonous pellets in the vessel with the pestle. One of Griswold's men overhears the plot and informs his master. In a scene full of tongue-twisting confusion, the "Vessel with the Pestle (or The Pellet with the Poison)" routine begins. Lightning hits Giacomo's suit of armor making it magnetic. During the hilarious joust, Griswold's weapon sticks to Hawkins' shield, so Hawkins pulls him off his horse and wins the joust. When he is proclaimed the winner, Ravenhurst accuses him of being the Black Fox and Jean as being his accomplice. They are arrested and taken to the castle for judgement. In the forest, the Black Fox and his men prepare to sneak inside the castle, but the secret passage collapses. The Black Fox immediately summons Hawkins' midget friends to infiltrate the castle first. As Hawkins and Jean stand trial, the midgets attack. Jean runs to raise the drawbridge so the Black Fox and his men can attack. Hawkins engages Ravenhurst in a sword fight. Griselda hypnotizes him again into believing he is a great swordsman. In the hilarious scene that follows, finger snaps cause him to alternate between a cowardly carnival performer and a master swordsman. Eventually, with the help of Jean, Hawkins bests Ravenhurst. Once the usurpers of the throne are defeated by the Black Fox and the army of midgets, the rightful King is revealed by the distinctive birthmark - the purple pimpernel. Hawkins embraces Jean and sings a reprise of "Life Could Not Better Be." As the film ends, Gwendolyn and Griswold can be seen in the crowd holding hands.

When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret. Though his people, the Israelites, are enslaved by the Philistines, Samson (Victor Mature), strongest man of the tribe of Dan, falls in love with the Philistine Semadar (Dame Angela Lansbury), whom he wins by virtue of a contest of strength. But Semadar betrays him, and Samson engages in a fight with her real love, Ahtur (Henry Wilcoxon), and his soldiers. Semadar is killed, and her sister Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), who had loved Samson in silence, now vows vengeance against him. She plans to seduce Samson into revealing the secret of his strength and then to betray him to the Philistine leader, The Saran of Gaza (George Sanders). —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net> Samson (Victor Mature), the hero of the Israelites, wins the hand of a Philistine woman, Semadar (Dame Angela Lansbury), in a contest of strength. When she is killed during a conflict on her wedding night, however, Samson becomes a hunted man, whom the Philistines, including Semadar's sister, Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), want to punish. This becomes complicated, however, when Samson suddenly acquires God-given strength, and Delilah's true feelings for Samson surface. —Jwelch5742