Burgess Meredith

Just as John and Max resolve to save their beloved bait shop from turning into an Italian restaurant, its new female owner catches Max's attention. Things don't seem to change much in Wabasha County: Max and John are still fighting after 35 years; Grandpa still drinks, smokes, and chases women; and nobody's been able to catch the fabled "Catfish Hunter", a gigantic catfish that actually smiles at fishermen who try to snare it. Six months ago John married the new girl in town, Ariel, and people begin to suspect that Max might be missing something similar in his life. The only joy Max claims is left in his life is fishing, but that might change with the new owner of the bait shop. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

John and Max are elderly neighbors in a cold Minnesota town. They both live alone in their homes since their wives have died, and exchange stories about how their friends are now dying when they are not busy insulting each other. They have a contemptuous rivalry that goes back over 50 years. A very attractive woman named Ariel, who is a little younger than them, moves in across the street during the days before Thanksgiving. She is so adventurous that she rides a snowmobile on the streets at night. Johns daughter Melanie has a baby girl but is separating from her husband. Maxs son Jacob is running for mayor of their town. Melanie and Jacob have an ongoing flirtation with each other. John is trying to evade the IRS, to whom he owes back taxes. One night he thinks the IRS has come for him, so he jumps out his bedroom window, and Ariel surprisingly shows up, asking to use his bathroom for no particular reason. She discloses that she has been watching how John and Max both ogle her. The next day, John tries to convince Max that his visit from Ariel was amorous in intent. Their bitter bickering at each other continues apace. Chuck is another older man who runs a local bait shop. He challenges John and Max to think about how attractive they actually are to women anymore. Johns father, known as Grandpa, goes ice-fishing out on a frozen lake, where his son and Max (and many other local men) also have their own little fishing shacks. Grandpa is a blithe spirit at the age of 94, enjoying a bounty of liquor and non-filtered cigarettes. One evening Chuck goes to visit Ariel at her home, which John and Max intently spy upon. When later asked why he was with her, Chuck says they did not have sex but something more like a spiritual awakening. John and Max thus both plan visits to Ariel and spend much time making themselves presentable. As we learn, Ariel used to teach art and now teaches classics, and her tastes are revealed through her houseful of eccentric pieces. She also had a husband who died five years earlier, and keeps a life-size sculpture of him, naked, in her studio. Max is next to visit Ariel, and she is mildly bemused by his accounts of being a television repairman. Later she visits him in his ice-fishing shack and they try to pull in a legendarily enormous fish together. The sound of Max and Ariel loudly fighting and grunting to bring up the prize fish is overhead by the other men on the lake, who assume they are having wild sex. As it turns out, they actually do land the fish, but to the shocked dismay of Max, Ariel throws it back in the water. Thereafter, Ariel tells Max they will be great friends, but her chaste kiss reveals it will not be a romantic relationship. In a sincere moment, John tells Max that Chuck has died suddenly. They still end up fighting with each other again. Later, Ariel shows up at Johns house unexpected, and offers to cook dinner. John is quite charming in their conversation, telling her stories of his days as a teacher. John goes to visit his father, who tells him that after you turn 90, you begin realizing that all you have in life are experiences. He motivates John to pursue Ariel, which he soon does by joining her on a snowmobile ride to further evade an IRS agent waiting at his house. Ariel even lures John into making snow angels on the ground, and they hold hands. Over another dinner. Ariel asks John about the pictures in his house. He had a son who died in the Vietnam War, and as it turns out, he and Max were much closer friends when they were younger. He begins to tell the story of how the two of them became enemies when they fought over a woman. Somehow finding inspiration, John moves in to give Ariel a deep kiss, and she is receptive. Soon thereafter, Ariel invites John to bed. He remarks that he has not made love since October 4. 1978, so Ariel suggests that theres no need to worry about sexual diseases. The next morning, Max gives Ariel flowers to apologize for his rakish behavior before. Meanwhile, John is dancing around his house, so energized that he adds Tabasco to his eggs. John and Max return to their ice-fishing rituals, but now Max is so angry and jealous of him that he drives a truck into Johns shed and forces it out onto thin ice. This leads to a very physical yet comical fight between them, in which we learn that John had married a woman whom Max had always loved. John then confesses that he thought Maxs wife was a better woman than his wife. John goes on to say that he had the greatest sex ever with Ariel, which provokes Max to try stabbing him with a frozen fish. Of all people, Grandpa intervenes to break up these two delinquents. Downtrodden, John feels that Max should have Ariel because he stole Maxs true love when they were younger. Ariel brings John one of her paintings, but explains that they will not work as a couple. Ariel is disappointed, and tells John that the only things you regret in life are the risks you dont take. Johns daughter Melanie shows up for Christmas Eve with her estranged husband. John privately repeats to her what Ariel told him about living with regrets, and then Maxs son Jacob shows up. Jacob later pushes his dad to make peace with John. John and Max meet at a bar and John reveals that he pitied Max and gave up Ariel for him. They argue again, and on the way back from the bar, John has a heart attack. While he is in the hospital, the IRS moves to claim Johns house, although Jacob, who has been elected mayor, gets an order to save the property. We next see people gathering for what appears to be a solemn event at a church, which is not a funeral as we may expect, but actually a wedding for John and Ariel. Much time has done by, during which Jacob arranged to clear Johns IRS debt, with Maxs help. John and Max have reconciled, and their children are clearly falling in love with each other. Grandpa gives away Ariel at the ceremony, and all is joyous as the couple head off in their limo... but Max has left a fish in the back just as a little revenge.

An undercover officer rejoins Irish mob pals in Hell's Kitchen. Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.

Reluctantly retired from fighting, Rocky takes charge of Mickey's gym and agrees to train a young protégé who's hungry for success. Rocky Balboa is forced to retire after having permanent damage inflicted on him in the ring by the Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Returning home after the Drago bout, Balboa discovers that the fortune that he had acquired as heavyweight champ has been stolen and lost on the stockmarket by his accountant. His boxing days over, Rocky begins to coach an up-and-coming fighter named Tommy Gunn. Rocky cannot compete, however, with the high salaraies and glittering prizes being offered to Gunn by other managers in town. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> Having just defeated Moscow super-boxer, Ivan Drago, Rocky returns home. Rocky and Adrian discover that Paulie left power of attorney to Rocky's accountant who invested all of his money that went belly-up and lost it all. To make matters worse, they discover they have years worth of unpaid property taxes. With Rocky's status, he would just need to win a couple of more fights to help with the money. Unfortunately, they discover that Rocky has suffered irreversible brain damage that could be fatal if Rocky were to continue fighting. They sue the accountant and move back to Philly's ghetto. Rocky starts training talented young fighter, Tommy Gunn, who is a huge fan of Rocky's. As Tommy becomes more successful, Rocky distances himself from his family and a huge resentment grows toward him from his son. When Tommy is brainwashed by promoter, who has been at Rocky's throat throughout the whole movie, Tommy betrays Rocky and Rocky realizes he may not have a choice but to fight. —powermandan After gaining permanent brain damage, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is finally force to retire from the sport of boxing. But it doesn't stop him from coaching an up-and-coming boxer named Tommy Gunn (Morrison), but when Tommy decides that Rocky isn't moving him up quickly, he soon leaves Rocky and begins his new training from Duke. Tommy wins the title he wants, but still does not gain the respect he want. He wants to take out his anger in a fight with Rocky, but as Rocky is now retired from the ring, a street fight would have to do for Tommy. A street fight which could risk Rocky's life. —Film_Fan

In 1980, four years after winning the world heavyweight championship against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) has had a string of ten successful title defenses. Mickey is in Rocky's corner for all the fights, while Paulie watches from the stands and takes to drinking. James Lang follows Rocky's career. Lang is a fighter himself who continues to train himself hard, waiting for the right opportunity. Lang competes in the lower circuits and has a perfect Knock-Out record. As Lang improves his ranking, Rocky is busy with his numerous celebrity endorsements. Rocky's manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), worriedly eyes a young and powerful James "Clubber" Lang (Mr. T) rapidly rising through the ranks. Lang tells Mickey that he wants Rocky. Lang challenges Rocky for a shot at the title during a TV interview. Rocky's fame, wealth, endorsements, and celebrity profile have increased, leading him to participate in an exhibition charity event against the world wrestling champion, Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan). Thunderlips is 7 feet tall and weighs 390 pounds. Meanwhile, Rocky weighs in at a measly 202 pounds. Rocky takes it easy for the charity event, but Thunderlips takes it very seriously and proceeds to beat Rocky in the ring. Rocky is shocked and barely manages to draw with him, by removing his gloves and choking Thunderlips with a neck brace. Paulie Pennino (Burt Young), Rocky's friend and brother-in-law, is jealous of Rocky's success and confronts him that while Rocky took care of Mickey, but he never offered Paulie a job. Paulie complains that when Rocky bought a new house, he invited Mickey to move in with him, but not Paulie. Rocky calls him a lazy bum but does offer him a job as his crew and has Paulie living with him in his house. Orphaned at an early age, Lang spent most of his childhood on the streets of Chicago's South Side as well as spending time in orphanages and juvenile facilities. As an adult, Clubber was sent to prison for five years for one count of a felony and/or assault charge. While serving his sentence, he discovered his talent as a boxer. Boxing was a way for him to let out his frustration. Lang is another Southpaw. While unveiling a statue of himself at the stairway by the Philadelphia Museum of Art just prior to announcing his retirement, Rocky is publicly challenged by Lang, now the number one contender. Lang accuses Rocky of intentionally accepting challenges from lesser opponents, and goads Rocky into accepting his challenge for a championship fight. Mickey initially wants no part of it. Pressed by Rocky, Mickey confesses that he handpicked the opponents for Rocky's title defenses in order to spare him from another beating of the kind that Creed gave him in their rematch. He explains that Lang is young and powerful, and most of all he's "hungry", and that Rocky won't last three rounds because he hasn't been hungry ever since he won the title and became "civilized". Rocky, now knowing that he never really defended his title against the best opponents, convinces Mickey to work with him for one last fight. Despite his promise to Mickey to 'live in the gym', Rocky trains in a Las Vegas-style environment that is filled with distractions such as merchandise sales, women kissing him during the session, photo opportunities and the works. This time it is Rocky who does not take his training seriously. In contrast, Lang trains with ruthless determination and vigor. Lang and Rocky meet at Philadelphia's Spectrum on August 15, 1981. Mickey tells Rocky that Lang has never been 15 rounds with anyone yet and advises not to go toe-to-toe with him. Pandemonium erupts backstage, as Mickey is violently shoved by Lang, causing Mickey to suffer a heart attack due to an underlying heart condition, evidenced during Rocky's charity fight with pro wrestler Thunderlips. Distraught, Rocky wants to call the match off, but Mickey urges him on while he receives medical care in the dressing room. Rocky's lack of preparation is worsened by his concern for Mickey, preventing him from fully concentrating on the fight. The match begins with Rocky (201 pounds) pounding Lang (230 pounds) with several huge blows looking for an early knockout, but he cannot put Lang down due to his own lack of conditioning. Lang quickly recovers and takes charge, dominating Rocky and knocking him out with a hay-maker left hook in the second round, winning the world heavyweight championship. After the match, Rocky tells a dying Mickey that the match ended in a second-round knockout without saying who the victor was. Mickey expires right after he says, "I love you, kid". Rocky, lapsing into severe depression, mourns over Mickey's death. Stopping by Mickey's closed gym, the forlorn Rocky encounters his former rival, Apollo Creed, who witnessed the match as a guest analyst. Creed offers to help train Rocky for a rematch against Lang in exchange for a future favor which Rocky accepts. Creed says there is fight left in the old horses and they are not ready to retire just yet. Plus, he can make a ton of money by promoting the fight. Apollo then takes Rocky to the gym where he once trained, Tough Gym (A gym for African American boxers) in Los Angeles. Paulie is very skeptical as the place has no class, plus he is afraid that he will be shot down by some African American street thug. Apollo is infuriated with Rocky's lack of effort, which comes from being demoralized by a combination of Mickey's loss and nightmares of Clubber's knockout. However, Rocky regains his focus after Adrian (Talia Shire) helps him come to terms with Mickey's death. Rocky admits that he is scared for the first time in his life, and Adrian says that's OK. Apollo and his manager, Tony "Duke" Evers (Tony Burton) infuse Rocky's undisciplined brawling style with more of Apollo's trademark footwork, skill and speed rebuilding him into a more complete fighter. During the training process, Apollo and Rocky become close friends. After months of training, the rematch takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Apollo lends Rocky (191 pounds) the American flag trunks that he wore during their first match. At the outset of the match, Rocky sprints from his corner, battering Lang (237 pounds) with a level of skill and spirit that no one ever expected. Rocky completely dominates the first round, leaving Lang enraged and bewildered after the bell. Lang gains the upper hand in the second round, and Rocky adopts an entirely different strategy that bewilders Apollo by intentionally taking a beating from Lang, even getting knocked down twice, all the while taunting Lang that he cannot knock him out. By the third round, Lang, who is used to winning matches swiftly with knockouts in the early rounds, becomes increasingly furious over Rocky's taunts. He quickly exhausts his energy trying to finish Rocky off with repeated knockout blows, which Rocky blocks or dodges. With Lang rattled and vulnerable, Rocky out-boxes Lang with a flurry of punches, culminating in a brutal knockout to reclaim the heavyweight championship. Afterwards, Rocky fulfills Apollo's favor - a second rematch with him, but this time in the spirit of friendly competition, taking place at Mighty Mick's Gym with no audience. The film concludes without showing the result but freezes into an oil painting of two boxers simultaneously throwing the first punch, showing two equally skilled athletes.

In 1948, Reverend Desmond Spellacy is a young Roman Catholic monsignor in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. His older brother Tom is a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Des is skillful at developing church projects while keeping down costs. He sometimes cuts a corner, overlooking the shady side of construction mogul Jack Amsterdam, a lay Catholic who uses his ties to Des for the congregation's benefit but mainly for his own. One day, Lois Fazenda, a young woman, is found murdered in a vacant lot, her body cut in two. Tom and his partner Frank Crotty are in charge of the case. Fazenda is labeled "the Virgin Tramp" by the press for apparently being both a Catholic and a prostitute, turning it into a sensational case. Tom's investigation leads him to Brenda Samuels, a madam. Tom was acquainted with Brenda years earlier while working as a bagman for Amsterdam, whose corruption extends to the local prostitution ring. Brenda called the police to report the death of a Catholic priest who was having sex with one of her prostitutes. While there, Brenda reproaches Tom for doing nothing for her while she was sent to prison for running one of Jack's whorehouses. Tom later believes that Fazenda appeared in a stag film and obtains a copy. He and Frank notice that a girl in the movie was at Brenda's brothel when they came to retrieve the philandering priest. Tom wants Brenda's help with tracking down the girl. Frank spots her days later when she is being taken to jail after a roundup. They learn that Fazenda was a favorite of Leland Standard, a pornographic movie director, because of her tattoo. Standard did his filming in a deserted army post in El Segundo. At lunch with his brother, Tom provokes Amsterdam with secret facts about Amsterdam's dark side, which makes Des uncomfortable. Des tells the Cardinal that the church needs to cut ties with Amsterdam for good. Des discusses "getting rid of Jack" with his cronies, who remind him that it would not be easily done. Sonny, a corrupt City Council member and mortician, proposes that they give Jack a salutation dinner. Des organizes a Catholic "layman of the year" banquet for Amsterdam as a gesture of appreciation before ending the church's relationship with him. Furious, Tom walks up to Amsterdam at the banquet and pulls off his sash while shouting, "Were you wearing this when you were banging Lois Fazenda?" Jack attacks Tom, and they scream at each other. Tom goes to Standard's "studio" and finds the floor and a bathtub covered with dried blood. He also finds Chinese food, which the medical examiner had found in her stomach. Tom and Frank look for Standard but learn that he had been killed in a car accident twelve hours after the murder. Tom wants to drag in Amsterdam for questioning to humiliate him in public, but Frank talks him out of it. Tom starts digging around and discovers that Fazenda was having sex with community leaders. Amsterdam's lawyer Dan Campion warns the Monsignor that Tom should lay off unless they want it revealed publicly that Des also knew Fazenda. She met Des only once in passing, whereas she had a sexual relationship with both Amsterdam and Campion. But the fact that Des had any kind of involvement in such a lurid case could permanently stain his reputation with the church. Tom will not be talked out of it. His determination becomes complete when Brenda is found dead, an apparent suicide. He decides to have Amsterdam picked up and taken to headquarters, which leads to Des being treated the same way. His rising career curtailed, Des asks to be relocated to a remote parish in the desert, the same place to which his mentor in the diocese, Monsignor Fargo, was exiled. Years later, in 1962, Tom visits Des, who is now dying. Tom feels that everything is his fault, but Des calls him his salvation, tells him that he is at peace, and absolves his brother of all blame. He shows Tom the plot where they will be buried together.

In the Ancient Greek world, King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) locks his daughter Danaë (Vida Taylor) away from mortal men to avoid a prophecy that he would die if his daughter had a son. While she is imprisoned, the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier) impregnates her. After discovering the pregnancy, Acrisius casts his daughter and her newborn son Perseus out to sea in a wooden coffin, hoping to kill both and avoid his fate. In retribution, Zeus orders the god of the sea, Poseidon (Jack Gwillim), to release an ancient monster known as the Kraken to destroy Argos, fulfilling the prophecy. Atop Mount Olympus, while the city is destroyed, Zeus crushes the clay figurine of Acrisius in his hand, killing the tyrant. Meanwhile, at Zeus' request, Poseidon ensures that Danaë and Perseus drift across the Aegean Sea safely, arriving on the shores of the island of Seriphos. Over the next several years, Perseus (Harry Hamlin as an adult) grows from an infant to a handsome young man. Calibos (Neil McCarthy), son of the sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), is a handsome young man destined to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Sian Phillips) and heir to the rich Greek city of Joppa. But the cruel and destructive Calibos has destroyed every living thing surrounding the Wells of the Moon, including Zeus's entire sacred herd of flying horses, save for the stallion Pegasus. As punishment for his many transgressions, Zeus transforms Calibos into a satyr-like creature who is subsequently shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps east of Joppa. Thetis, furious at her son's fate, vows that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, no other man will, either. Equally infuriated by Zeus' unquestioning devotion for his own son, Thetis magically transports Perseus from Seriphos to Joppa. Perseus, finding himself in the amphitheater of Joppa outside the city, is befriended by the elderly scholar and playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith). He learns of Andromeda and her plight: she cannot marry unless her suitor successfully answers a riddle, and any suitor who fails to answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake. Perseus also tells Ammon that he is prince and heir to Argos and hopes to return there to claim the title. Zeus realizes that his son has been sent to a dangerous region of the world and orders his gods to provide his son with a helmet that will make him invisible, a sword which can cut through material as hard as marble and a golden shield. When Perseus sneaks into Andromeda's bedchamber, using his helmet for cover, he discovers that each night a monstrous vulture arrives with a small cage and carries the princess' spirit off to the east. Perseus captures and tames Pegasus and follows Andromeda's spirit on her nightly journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos. Armed with the answer, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos in the swamp but escapes, losing the magical helmet. Perseus appears at the next ceremony for a new suitor and answers the riddle correctly, presenting Calibos's severed hand (with a pearled and gold ring on one of the fingers, which is the answer to the riddle) and winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. Perseus tells Joppa that he'd spared Calibos' life if he would lift the curse. Later, in the temple of Thetis, the wounded Calibos prays to his mother Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis tells Calibos that she cannot do so because Perseus is protected by Zeus, but, at her son's suggestion, she can take vengeance on Joppa, Andromeda and her mother. At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis herself, which angers the goddess and gives her an excuse to fulfill her son's wish. The statue of Thetis collapses and its head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a virgin sacrifice to the Kraken in 30 days or Joppa will be destroyed. Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken and leads a small group of soldiers with him with Andromeda and Ammon joining them in the quest. Ammon recommends that they consult the Stygian Witches, three old, blind women (Flora Robson, Anna Manahan, and Freda Jackson) who live to the East. At the same time, Pegasus is captured by Calibos and his men, forcing Perseus and his caravan to make the difficult and dangerous journey by land. Zeus commands Athena (Susan Fleetwood) to give Perseus her owl Bubo as a replacement for his lost helmet of invisibility. Not wishing to give up her companion, she has Hephaestus (Pat Roach) build a mechanical replica of Bubo as an aid for Perseus. Bubo finds Perseus and leads him to the Stygian Witches, who reside on a craggy mountaintop in a remote region. Perseus, with Bubo's help, manages to snatch from the three cannibalistic witches a magical glass orb which is their communal 'eye'. Perseus promises to return the eye to them if they tell him how he can defeat the Kraken. The witches tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is by using the head of another of the titans, Medusa the Gorgon. Once a beautiful woman, Medusa had been punished by the goddess Aphrodite (Ursula Andress) by being transformed into a horrible monster. Meeting Medusa's gaze will turn any living creature to stone, including the Kraken. She makes her home on the Isle of the Dead, which lies across the River Styx, at the very edge of the Underworld. Because Perseus held their eye, his cloak will be able to withstand Medusa's toxic blood should he succeed in claiming her head. Perseus tosses back the glass eye to the witches and makes his escape. That evening, Perseus tells Andromeda to return to Joppa with Ammon as he must go on alone with Cassiopeia's soldiers to the underworld to kill Medusa and claim her head. She refuses, wishing to stay with him but when she wakes in the morning, she finds Perseus and his men have left. The next day, Perseus and his men arrive at the River Styx where the skeletal ferryman, Charon is to row them to the Isle of the Dead in exchange for a silver coin. Perseus takes three of his men with him to cross the river to the island. Once there, Perseus and his men find the Temple of Medusa and soon battle Dioskilos, a two-headed dog guarding the lair. One of the soldiers is killed, but Perseus and the other two succeed in slaying Dioskilos and set forth into the underground ruins where Medusa resides. Armed with a bow and several arrows, Medusa takes on the three intruders to her domain. One of Perseus's men loses his life to one of Medusa's blood-poisoned arrows, while the last becomes caught in the stare of Medusa and is transformed into stone. Perseus eventually manages to not only deceive Medusa with the help of his shield, but also decapitate her with his sword and collects her head, losing his shield in a pool of Medusa's acidic blood. That night, as Perseus and his party set out to return to Joppa with Medusa's head wrapped in his cloak, Calibos raids the camp, drives off the group's horses and punctures the cloak carrying Medusa's head, spilling her blood and spawning three giant scorpions. The scorpions and Calibos attack the party. After the last two of his men are killed (one by a scorpion and the chief guard, Thalo, by Calibos himself), Perseus is able to slay the remaining scorpion and manages to best Calibos, whom he finally kills with Aphrodite's sword. Perseus, weakened by his struggle and running out of time, orders Bubo to find Pegasus. The mechanical owl locates Pegasus in the swamp, guarded by Calibos' men and the giant vulture. Bubo creates a chaotic melee, the camp burns when a fire-pit is overturned and Bubo frees Pegasus. Back in Joppa, Perseus arrives in Ammon's amphitheater and collapses from exhaustion. On Olympus, Thetis reminds Zeus that it is time for Andromeda to be sacrificed. The weary Zeus orders Poseidon to release the Kraken. As he walks away from the clay figurines in his collection, he revives Perseus. As Andromeda is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken, Bubo appears, trying to stall the Kraken while Perseus catches up, flying on Pegasus. Perseus approaches the Kraken, but the monster knocks him off his mount, spilling them both into the ocean. Bubo retrieves the head and delivers it to Perseus, who frees the head, turning the Kraken into stone which collapses into the bay. The task completed, Perseus throws the severed head into the ocean and frees Andromeda. Pegasus emerges from the sea to the crowd's delight. The gods discuss the outcome of the adventure: Perseus and Andromeda will live happily, rule wisely and produce good children. Zeus forbids the other gods to pursue any vengeance against them. In addition, the likenesses of Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus and Cassiopeia are set among the stars as constellations to forever remind mankind of the values of heroism and bravery.

On New Year's Day in 1976, world heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) has successfully defended his title in a split decision against challenger Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). He and Rocky are taken to the same hospital. Because of the close outcome of the fight the general public believes that Apollo did not necessarily win. Despite their mutual agreement not to seek a rematch, Apollo challenges Rocky again, but Rocky declines and retires from professional boxing. His girlfriend, Adrian (Talia Shire), supports his choice, as do his doctors, who reveal that he will require surgery for a detached retina, a condition that could lead to permanent blindness. In a private moment, Rocky goes to see a recuperating Apollo, and wants a truthful response to his question of whether Apollo gave his all in the fight; Creed confirms that he did. After Rocky is released from the hospital, he enjoys the benefits of his life's changes: Rocky's new fame attracts an agent who sees Rocky as a potential endorsement and sponsorship goldmine, and his sudden wealth encourages him to propose to Adrian. She happily accepts, and they marry in a small ceremony. Soon after, Adrian reveals that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, fueled by hate mail claiming he fixed the fight in order to protect his reign as champ, Apollo becomes obsessed with the idea that a rematch is the only way to prove that Rocky's performance was simply a fluke. Determined to rectify his boxing career's only blemish, Apollo ignores all pleas by his friends and family to forget about the fight, and instead demands his team do whatever necessary to goad Rocky out of retirement. Rocky, at first, seems unaffected by Apollo's smear campaign, but his inexperience with money causes him to run into financial problems. Tony Gazzo (Joe Spinell), a loan shark and Rocky's former employer gets him to invest his fight money of $37K and endorsements into condominiums. He buys a new apartment, a Thunderbird, expensive coats and fancy dresses & watches for Adrian as he starts doing ads and so on. The ads don't go too well as Rocky cant read his lines properly. After several unsuccessful attempts to find employment (he cant get an office job as he is not educated. He only gets offers for manual labor and starts hauling beef for one of Paulie's (Adrian's brother) friends.. Buy even that doesn't last long as the factory has cut backs). Rocky sells his watch and car to Paulie. Rocky visits Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), his trainer and manager (a former bantamweight fighter from the 1920s and the owner of the local boxing gym), at his gym to talk about the possibility of fighting again. Mickey declines out of concern for Rocky's health (he cant see any jab coming at his face from the right side), but he soon accepts after Apollo publicly insults Rocky. Adrian confronts Rocky about the danger of returning to boxing and reminds him of the risk to his eyesight. Rocky argues that he knows nothing else, so this is the only way he can provide for them. Adrian, furious at Rocky for breaking his promise, refuses to support him. Rocky and Mickey begin training, but Rocky is unfocused due to Adrian's disapproval. Mickey tells Rocky to start training right handed as that would protect his eye and would throw Apollo off-balance in his game. Mickey has Rocky catching chickens to gain some speed and agility into his legs. he ties his left hand to force Rocky to train with his right one. Adrian's brother, Paulie (Burt Young), confronts his sister about not supporting her husband, but she faints during the confrontation and is rushed to the hospital, where she goes into labor. Despite being premature, the baby is healthy, but Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky blames himself for what happened, refusing to leave Adrian's bedside until she wakes up, and will not go to see his new baby until the baby can be together with his mother. When Adrian comes out of her coma, she finds Rocky by her bedside, and the couple are shown their new baby, a boy, which they name Robert "Rocky Jr." (Seargeoh Stallone) Adrian gives her blessing to the rematch, and Rocky quickly gets into shape for the fight. Rocky trains with the whole of Philedelphia. he works outs in the docks, parks, catches the chicken, the railway tracks, markets.. the whole crowd runs behind him.. as he climbs the stairs to the Philly square.. On Thanksgiving, the night of the match, Apollo makes a public goal of beating Rocky in no more than two rounds to prove the first match going the distance was a fluke. Rocky (202 pounds), fighting right-handed to protect his eye instead of his natural southpaw, is knocked down twice by Creed (220 pounds) in the first 2 rounds (but he manages to get back up and stays in the fight) and outclassed for much of the fight. Going into the fifteenth and final round, Creed is well ahead on points and only needs to stay away from Balboa to win the fight by decision. However, Creed, not wanting the fight to end like it did the first time, ignores his trainer's (Tony "Duke" Evers (Tony Burton)) pleas to stay back and attempts to beat Rocky by knockout. In the final round, Rocky switches back to his natural stance, and in dramatic fashion, unleashes a series of counter punches on Creed, turning the tide. Both men, exhausted, trade punches until they knock each other down. As both men struggle to regain their feet, Rocky is able to will himself up at the count of 9 while Apollo collapses from exhaustion, giving Rocky the win by knockout, making him the new heavyweight champion. Rocky then gives an impassioned speech to the crowd and holds the belt over his head with a message for his wife, who is watching the fight on TV: "Yo, Adrian, I did it!"

In northern Italy, a group of Roman Catholic clerics led by a shadowy robed figure (Jose Ferrer) meet and Monsignor Franchino (Arthur Kennedy) portends danger. Meanwhile, in New York City, elite fashion model Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) seeks her own apartment, but her boyfriend, lawyer Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon), wants to get married. In Baltimore, Maryland, Alison's father dies suddenly and she returns home, where she recalls being so traumatized from walking in on her father participating in an orgy that she attempted suicide. She collects a cross that her father tore from her neck during the incident. Alison's mother tells her she stayed with Mr. Parker because she had nowhere else to go. Back in New York City, Alison meets with real estate agent Miss Logan (Ava Gardner) who shows her a "perfect" apartment to rent. Alison rents a furnished apartment in Brooklyn Heights. On the top floor of the building lives a blind, senile priest named Father Halliran (John Carradine), who stares blankly out of his window. After fainting during a photo shoot, Alison is visited by an eccentric neighbor, Charles Chazen (Burgess Meredith), who drops by with his pet cat and bird and tells Alison about the other tenants in the building. When he leaves, she notices a photograph of Charles in her apartment. That night, at a party in the apartment, Michael again presses Alison for marriage. In the morning, Alison meets two more neighbors, the wisecracking Gerde (Sylvia Miles) and the mute Sandra (Beverly D'Angelo), who are lovers. At a commercial shoot, Alison again collapses, frustrating Jack (Jeff Goldblum) the photographer. Charles throws a birthday party for his cat and Alison meets more of her strange neighbors. Later, she has a disturbing dream and is awakened by noise from the supposedly empty apartment above her. Alison meets with Miss Logan and learns that aside from the priest, the apartment building has been empty for years and the building is owned by the Holy Diocese of New York. Meanwhile, Father Halliran is visited by Monsignor Franchino. (In some versions, Franchino meets with a group of priests who are a secret order to protecting the world from evil to give them an update them on the events unfolding.) Elsewhere, Michael Lerman asks private investigator James Brenner (Hank Garrett) to check out Alison's building. Alone the next night, Alison hears more noises and investigates. She sees Chazen's cat eating the pet bird and is pursued by an apparition of her father, whom she stabs repeatedly. Alison flees into the street, where she is found, covered in blood, by residents of nearby buildings. The next day, two police detectives, the veteran Gatz (Eli Wallach) and his rookie partner Rizzo (Christopher Walken), visit Michael and question him about his dead wife Karen's suicide and a second suicide attempt by Alison, implying that he is involved in the previous night's incident. Meanwhile, police find nothing suspicious in Alison's apartment and match the blood type on her nightgown to her own. Michael discovers that Mrs. Clark, one of the supposed guests at Chazen's cat's birthday party, was the name of a convicted murderer, who was executed in 1949. Later, Brenner, the private eye, is found stabbed to death in his car and his blood type matches Alison's. Detective Gatz connects Brenner to Michael and suspects that Michael hired the investigator to kill Karen and is now trying to drive her insane. When the detectives arrive at Michael's apartment to confront him, Alison leaves her boyfriend's home for a walk and stops by a Catholic Church. There, she confesses to Monsignor Franchino that she has committed adultery, twice attempted suicide, and is feeling suicidal again. The monsignor assures her that if she embraces Jesus and returns to the church, the feelings will vanish. When Alison returns to Michael's apartment, he suggests that she may not have imagined the events and they visit her apartment in Brooklyn Heights. There is no evidence that Alison killed anyone there, but she says that some of the things in the room, such as the carpet, are different. In a book, Alison sees the same Latin phrase on every page, but Michael only sees English. When Alison writes the text, Michael takes it to Professor Ruzinsky (Martin Balsam), who reports that it is a passage from Milton's Paradise Lost. Alison returns to the church and meets the rector, who tells her he does not know of the priest she claims to have met there earlier. Meanwhile, Michael visits Monsignor Franchino under the pretense that he has a bequest for Father Halliran. Franchino tells him that Halliran has been retired since 1952, suffers from palsy and is unable to accept visitors. Michael shows Franchino the excerpt from Milton, but the monsignor claims not to recognize it. Franchino refuses Michael's request to make a copy of Father Halliran's file. That night, Michael asks Alison's friend, Jennifer (Deborah Raffin), to stay with her while he attends to business. Michael meets a man named Perry (William Hickey), an ex-convict that he represented in the past and bribes him some cash to assist with breaking into the diocese to look at the official files on Halliran. Michael discovers that Father Halliran was originally named Daniel O'Rourke, and, after a suicide attempt, disappeared and re-emerged as Halliran. Michael finds files on several more people who attempted suicide, gained new identities and became priests or nuns and all have lived and died in the very same apartment building in Brooklyn where Alison lives. When one dies, another takes his or her place. A file for Alison states that Halliran will die the very next day and Alison will become a woman named Sister Theresa. Meanwhile, detectives Gatz and Rizzo determine that the eight people Alison claims were at the birthday party for the cat were murderers executed long ago. Michael has Alison attend a party at Jennifer's while he investigates the apartment in Brooklyn Heights. At the party, Alison faints and her friends put her to bed, but at midnight she sneaks away. In Brooklyn Heights, Michael discovers a hidden portal behind a wooden wall of the building which reads: "Through me you go into the city of grief. Through me you go into the world of pain. Through me you walk among people lost. Abandon hope all yee who enter here". Father Halliran appears and tells him that this whole building is the entrance to Hell. Michael pursues the priest upstairs and demands answers as he attempts to strangle him. Alison arrives at the building and is met by Michael, who calmly explains that the Latin they found was a warning from the angel Gabriel to the angel Uriel, stationed at the Gateway to Eden. Since that time, a series of sentinels have stood watch, guarding the world against evil. Currently, it is Father Halliran, but that night, Alison is to become the next sentinel upon his passing. The people Alison met in the building, the murderers, were actually reincarnated devils, who could only stop her from becoming the next sentinel by driving her to suicide. Michael goes on to explain that he is dead, killed by Monsignor Franchino minutes earlier for trying to strangle Halliran. He is damned to eternal hell for his sins, including hiring Brenner to murder his wife, Karen. Michael turns his head, revealing a gaping wound, and his head splits open. Alison flees downstairs where Chazen and the demons confront her. She returns upstairs and sees Gerde and Sandra feasting on Michael's dead body. Just then, all of the demons of hell come forth from behind doors and walls. Among the demons, Alison sees her father and Chazen. Cornered by the deformed and hideous demons in Halliran's apartment, Chazen approaches Alison and urges her to join them by killing herself; he gives her a dagger. Franchino and Halliran appear bearing a cross and drive back the demons. Chazen exhorts the demons to fight, but Alison takes the cross. The devils fade back into the walls and the monsignor leads Father Halliran away. The next morning, Gatz and Rizzo arrive at the apartment building where Father Halliran is carried out of the building in a body bag, with the medical examiner's report that he just died of a heart attack. A search of the building leads to no other people around. The building is later demolished. Some time later, Miss Logan, the real estate agent who is still working for the shadowy priesthood in protecting the new apartment building, shows a young couple (Tom Berenger and Nana Tucker) an apartment in the new building. They ask about the neighbors and are told that there are only two: one is a musician and the other is a reclusive blind nun who lives on the top floor. In that apartment, the blind Alison, now known as Sister Theresa, sits silently, wearing a white habit and staring blankly out the window, holding the cross... now the new sentinel and protector of the entrance to Hell.

May, 1937. Kathie Rauch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin sends a letter to the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. claiming the Hindenburg zeppelin will explode after flying over New York. In the meantime, Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott) boards with the intention of protecting the Hindenburg as various threats have been made to down the airship, which some see as a symbol of Nazi Germany. Ritter is assisted by a Nazi government official, SS/Gestapo Hauptsturmführer Martin Vogel (Roy Thinnes), who poses as official photographer. However, both operate independently in investigating the background of all passengers and crew on the voyage. Ritter has reason to suspect everyone, even his old friend and former mistress, Countess Ursula von Reugen (Anne Bancroft), who vehemently opposes the Nazi regime. Other prime suspects include card sharks Emilio Pajetta (Burgess Meredith) and Major Napier (Rene Auberjonois), Edward Douglas (Gig Young), a suspicious German-American ad executive, as well as several crew members and even the Hindenburg captains Pruss (Charles Durning) and Lehmann (Richard A. Dysart). As the Hindenburg makes its way to Lakehurst Air Field, events conspire against Ritter and Vogel. They soon suspect the rigger Karl Boerth (William Atherton), a former Hitler Youth leader who has become disillusioned with the Nazis. Ritter attempts to arrest him. Boerth resists. He requests help from Ritter, whose son was killed a year before. Boerth's girlfriend, Freda Halle, was killed while trying to escape arrest as the Hindenburg crossed the Atlantic. Boerth, upon hearing the news of Halle's death, plans to commit suicide by staying aboard the airship as the bomb goes off. Ritter eventually agrees with Boerth to set the bomb to detonate at 7:30 p.m., when the airship should have landed and passengers disembarked. While setting up the bomb (a small C-4 plastic explosive), Boerth drops a knife, which was later revealed to have been stolen from Rigger Ludwig Knorr. Vogel starts to work behind Ritter's back, arresting Boerth and confiscating the Countess's passport. As the airship approaches Lakehurst Naval Air Station at 7:00, Ritter now realizes the landing has been delayed and searches for Boerth to ask where the bomb is. Vogel is caught by Ritter torturing Boerth and gets into a fight with Ritter and is knocked unconscious. An injured Boerth tells Ritter the bomb is in the repair patch of gas cell 4. Ritter attempts to defuse the bomb, but is unable to do so in time and is spotted at the last few seconds by a now awakened Vogel. The bomb explodes, killing Ritter instantly and sending Vogel flying down the walkway. Vogel survives, being carried by ground crewmen, while Boerth dies of his burns. At this point the film changes to monochrome in order to match up with the actual newsreel footage of the disaster. Passengers and crew struggle to survive the fire. The disaster scene ends when the camera pans over wreckage, towards a strip of burning fabric that says "Hindenburg" on it. The following day, with the fire cleared, a list of passengers who died or survived is described briefly, while the wreckage is examined for the inquiry before being cleaned up. The film ends with a tribute to Herbert Morrison's radio commentary, with the memorable quotation, "Oh the humanity," as the Hindenburg flies once again, only to disappear again in the clouds.

Young artist Tod Hackett (William Atherton) looks over an apartment in the new Depression Era Hollywoodland as a place to set up residence as he makes his way into the film industry. Hackett is like many other young men of the time seeking a career at one of the studios that make silent films in the 30s. Across from his bungalow lives Faye Greener (Karen Black) a young blonde who works as a film extra and very attractive to Hackett whose attempts to initiate a romantic relationship with the woman is rebuffed. Hackett aspires to great art as a painter visualizing his major work "Burning of Hollywood" but working as a set designer for a second rate producer Claude Estee (Richard A. Dysart) who was a graduate from Yale College as Hackett was. As Hackett gets involved deeper into the world of Faye and her former Vaudeville performer father Harry Greener (Burgess Meredith) who makes money selling elixir door-to-door he becomes more disillusioned over the mythic value of Hollywood. When Harry collapses at the home of unassuming accountant Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), Faye pulls Homer into the fringe world of film performers using him to live on while she pursues her career. As Hackett is exposed to more of the lifestyle in the film world of Los Angeles his vision of Mankind takes on bolder, grander imagery when an event at a film premier develops into mayhem.

While awaiting the outcome of her husband's surgery, Julie Messinger discovers he has been having affairs. Julie Messinger has it made. She is a New York housewife whose husband, Richard, is an editor for a prominent photography magazine. They have a small circle of friends, including well-meaning, but inept Dr. Timothy Spector, photographer Cal Whiting and Cal's live-in girlfriend Miranda. Julie's mother spends her days getting pedicures and manicures, applying make-up and fake eye-lashes and buying expensive clothes, all the while criticizing her daughter for her looks and behavior. When Richard goes into the hospital for a minor mole-removal surgery, Julie gets more than she bargained for. Richard suffers from complications and goes into a coma, supposedly caused by a rare surgical factor, and she gathers friends and family together, culminating in a hilarious "quasi-cocktail-party" scene in the blood donation center of the hospital. While dealing with red tape, hospital bureaucracy and clueless doctors, Julie discovers her husband's "little black book," which contains the names of her friends. She confirms that her husband had been sleeping around and proceeds to make a fool out of him by getting it on with his male friends. When the complications get more ominous, guilt opens the door to her liberation as a woman. A scathingly funny examination of the dirty rich partying while one of their number lies on the brink of death. —thustlebird

When a dying Apache chief gives him a map to a valley of gold, Marshal Sam Mackenna is forced to guide a gang of bandits across the Arizona deserts to the treasure.

Drama of a ruthless Southern opportunist who tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones. Following World War II, a northern cannery negotiates for the purchase of a large tract of uncultivated Georgia farmland. The major portion of the land is owned by Julie Warren, and has already been optioned by her unscrupulous husband Henry. Now the combine must also obtain two smaller plots; one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell, the other by Reeve Scott, a young black man whose mother had been Julie's childhood mammy. But neither Rad nor Reeve is interested in selling, and they form a partnership to improve their land. Although infuriated by the events, Henry remains determined to push through the big land deal. —alfiehitchie

A carnival sideshow, Dr. Diablo's Torture Garden, pulls people in for the admission price of 2'6. The barker cries, "All in fun; no harm done". A group of five people are drawn in and fill beneath a chandelier with purple cloth festoons and shown the usual array of waxwork horrors - a prisoner in a spiked cage, a condemned person getting her head chopped off by an executioner, two styles of torture racks. Dr. Diablo tells his audience, "There is no end to man's humanity to man. Now I am going to show you death. Thousands of volts will sear every nerve in his body." The grand finale is an alleged murderer executed via the electric chair. Dr. Diablo indicates this is the conclusion of the regular sideshow but continues with an offer to see some real Torture Garden horrors. It will cost an additional 5 pounds. All five customers opt to continue. They are taken to a chamber occupied a figure of Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate and destiny. She holds in one hand strands of the Skein of Life. Each colored thread is a human life. In the other hand are the Shears of Fate. Atropos has the ability to reveal to each of them the ultimate horror that is hidden inside them. The primordial monstrosities that lurk beneath the surface of the mind. Diablo invites his guests to approach and concentrate on the Shears. Tale 1 - Enoch: The first participant to do so is Colin Williams. He has come to visit his dying Uncle Roger, already anticipating his inheritance to cover a few thousand pounds of financial obligations. He is met at the door by the somber nurse Nora Tucker. She indicates that his uncle advised her of his expected arrival but cautions him that Roger's heart is very weak. If there is trouble, he is to contact Dr. Silversmith. She then climbs on her bicycle and rides off. Colin greets his uncle who remarks that it has been three years since his last visit. He predicts that his time is short and that Colin is his only living relative. Colin admits to currently being in a fix financially. Roger scolds that he was not invited to visit about money. He admonishes him to mend his ways, find a job. A life based on these principles is the greatest legacy that he can leave with him. Colin assures him that he has learned his lessons. He has a job promised to him as soon as he clears up a few thousand pounds of obligations. Roger tells him that's out of the question. Colin queries him about his fortune. He reminds Roger that he has been on his own for 30 years without any visible source of income. He asks how he pays his bills. Roger replies that it's none of his business. Colin reveals that he has asked about Roger in the village. They told him that payment is always in cash - gold coins to be exact. He reminds Roger that the cottage was derelict until he renovated it. Did it belong to a witch? Roger says it belonged to a harmless, old, eccentric woman. Colin asks if she was a miser with a hidden hoard of gold that you discovered. He wants to know where the money is hidden. He begins to choke his uncle to underscore his desperation. Uncle Roger starts coughing, having trouble catching his breath. He requests Colin bring his medicine quickly. Colin grabs it off the mantle but withholds it, just out of grasp. "Tell me where the gold coins are," he repeats. When his uncle reaches for the glass, Colin rudely pushes the wheelchair away with his foot. Roger tries in vain to stand. The medicine glass is knocked away. Roger falls and quits breathing. Colin is upset that he can no longer force his uncle to reveal the coin's location. He calls the doctor who pronounces him dead. The body is removed in a coffin. Dr. Silversmith queries Colin as to the time-line of his uncle's death. He politely asks if Colin will mind spending the night alone in his uncle's cottage. Colin begins searching everywhere. (The camera angle reveals a trap door hidden by the bed.) He spots the trap door when he pulls up the mattress on the bed. Upon opening it, he sees a steep stairway with cobwebs hanging from the floor beams. At the bottom of it is a dirt floor with a shovel nearby. He immediately sets to digging, eventually unearthing a wooden box. Colin pries the box open with the shovel. A cat scurries out. Still remaining in the box is a skeleton with a smoldering spot at the top of the spine where there is no skull. Colin reburies the box. The cat sits atop the mantle as Colin tries to sleep on the couch. It hops to the wheelchair and stares at Colin who says, "Yes, I can hear you. Your name is Balthazar." The cat answers in Colin's mind, "You've come to stay with me, to serve me as did your uncle. I will reward you for things you must do for me. Your uncle grew ungrateful, buried me away in darkness. Now I'm free and I'm hungry." The outside door opens and the cat exits. Colin follows him and finds a man sleeping in the hay of the barn. Balthazar tells him to use the handy pitchfork on the man. Colin protests briefly, but complies. Colin awakes in the morning and examines the trap door again. He goes down the stairs on the cat's prompting and digs up a small chest of gold coins. He has some dreadful thoughts about being led to the coins. He rushes to the barn and finds the bloody remains of the tramp whose head is missing. He returns to bury the chest in guilt. The cat drops some coins on the stair as his reward. Next, the cat tells Colin he must kill nurse Tucker when she returns. Colin refuses at first but then says he'll do it. She comes in, alarmed at finding the body in the barn. He approaches her with the shovel. Colin is outside getting ready to load a chest bearing both the tramp's and the nurse's headless bodies. The constable arrives to ask about a tramp that was reported in the area. Colin disavows any knowledge of it. Unfortunately, the constable notices blood leaking from the trunk. The doctor visits Colin in his jail cell to ask why the two murders. Colin responds with, "Balthazar. He's inside my head. I've got to obey him or he starts scratching and clawing. Both bodies in the trunk have no heads. It's what he feeds on when hungry. Don't leave me. He'll come back!" The doctor leaves and Colin spots the cat up on the cell's window sill. He calls the guard for help. The guard finds nothing there and leaves. Shortly, a scream is heard. Colin's headless body is in the cell with the cat at the door. The Shears snip as Colin returns from his trance. He is surprised that so much time passed during his vision. Dr. Diablo delivers a theory that the past, the present, and the future are all but different aspects of the same memory. Tale 2 - Terror over Hollywood: Aspiring actress Carla Hayes shares an apartment with her friend Millie. Millie is getting ready for an important date with Mike Charles, a producer with connections into Hollywood's A-listers. Carla, being self-motivated, offers to iron Millie's dress while she showers. While Millie is in the shower, she intentionally leaves the iron sitting on Millie's fancy dress, ruining it. Millie is crestfallen when she discovers the "accident". She moans that she went without lunches for a month to buy the ruined dress. Carla conveniently offers to greet Mike and relay the news that she has the flu. Thus, she has maneuvers herself into going out for a fancy dinner. At the restaurant, she notices leading man Bruce Benton sitting at a table with producer Eddie Storm. Bruce quietly hopes that Mike has not seen him - no such luck. Mike approaches Bruce to see if he has any positive news on his proposal. The answer is no. Eddie takes Mike off to discuss the issue while Bruce orders a drink for Carla who has seated herself at the table. Carla expresses how big a fan she is of Bruce's work, gushing forth about several titles. In response to her enthusiasm, he offers her a second-lead role as a sister in his current production. Meanwhile, Mike is getting as drunk as he is angry. He swears to get even with the "finks". Carla mentions that the Top 10 stars never seem to age. She also notes that he is not eating his dinner as she works through her own. He makes a light-hearted excuse. The bartender tells Eddie that Mike is threatening to reveal their secret. Eddie has the bartender drive Mike home, use some knock-out drops, and leave him unconscious in the car as it idles in a closed garage. The next morning, Millie reads Carla a news article about Mike's death from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carla tells Millie about her potential movie role. When Carla meets up with Bruce the next time, he says he has had an extra scene written for her. Carla presents him with a fancy watch. He insists she can't afford presents like this. At the end of the day's shooting, Carla exclaims, "I'm beat. Where do you get all your energy?" She hopes he will take her to dinner, but he begs off. Carla is trying on a hat as Eddie Storm comes in to tell her that Bruce is not right for her. She goes with Bruce where two of the worst hoodlums in town accost them. She watches as Bruce takes a bullet in the forehead and falls to the ground. Eddie reassures her that he will be okay. At the Sunset Rest Sanatorium, Doc Heim emerges from the operating room and confirms that Bruce is doing fine. Carla is positive that she saw him dead. She tells Eddie that she needs to talk to him. When she queries him for the truth, he indicates that Bruce had some gambling debts that got him in trouble. The person she saw shot dead was a double. Carla counters this explanation with some information she has dug up on her own from the newspaper morgue. She read clippings about Eddie's terrible boating accident in 1944 at Newport Beach in which his skull and chest were crushed. He answers that he was rushed to the clinic where Dr. Heim saved him. Carla tells him she is seeing Bruce tonight. Later, Bruce calls the studio gate and request that Dr. Heim be sent to Stage G when he arrives. On set, she sees he is wearing the watch that was supposedly on the double that was shot. In shock, she grabs Bruce's face affectionately to declare she is in love with him. Bruce pulls back. Some of his facial skin has pulled off revealing an underlying layer of metal. Suddenly, Carla understands. The Top 10 immortals of the screen never age. Their brains have been encased in synthetic bodies. They are cyborgs! Bruce indicates that he lives on applause and fame. He also confides in her that Mike wanted to be one of us, but he lost his temper and threatened to reveal their secret, so he was eliminated. Bruce then indicates that Carla could be one of them, a member of the Top 10. He asks Dr. Heim how soon could he operate. Carla is seen at an event with a crowd of fans pushing and shoving to see her, a major star, up close. One of the fans remarks that Carla is a living doll. Carla's trance is broken and Dr. Diablo chortles that this is a warning to can-be's. Tale 3 - Mr. Steinway: As Dorothy Endicott focuses on the shears, she begins to hear Beethoven's Für Elise being played. She is at the door of Leo Winston's apartment. When she rings the bell, the door is answered by Maxine Chambers, his manager. Maxine insists that Leo must rehearse today and won't have much time to spare for the interview she has planned. Dorothy enters the room where Leo is practicing. She gushes over his playing. Interpreting her reactions as a deep love for music, he suggests that she had better meet Euterpe, his piano that was named for the Greek muse of music. He adds that the piano was a gift from his mother. Leo sits down and begins to play Schumann's Traumerei for her. He invites her to have dinner with him. At dinner, he confesses that he is attracted to her. His piano, however, has picked up on this and is jealous, making him commit too many mistakes while he is playing. Manager Maxine tells Dorothy that she needs to stop pursuing a relationship with Leo, that it will ruin his career. Leo, however, claims, "I love her and she loves me. For the first time in my life, I am truly happy." Later, Leo, struggling with the piano, slumps over the keyboard. Dorothy, who has been listening at the door, enters. She presents him with a framed photo of herself. Leo tells her they have been invited to an 8 o'clock party. Dorothy sits at the piano and puts her hands on the keys. The piano slams the cover down in an attempt to injure her. She suggests they have a drink to relax. Dorothy asks Leo, acting like he is in a trance, what is wrong. When he says nothing is the matter, she presses for the truth. He reluctantly announces that Euterpe resents her. "She is trying to protect me from you interference." The piano has smashed the framed photo of Dorothy on the floor. She tells Leo he needs to cancel his upcoming tour. Maxine rebuts with, "You're smothering him." She accuses her of just wanting to be the wife of a famous pianist. The next time Dorothy arrives at the apartment, she hears music coming from the piano. Leo opens the door. Dorothy realizes he could not move that fast from the piano to the door. When she says she heard music, Leo replies that he was not play, that it was Euterpe herself. Dorothy is getting panicky. She insists that Euterpe is just a piano, not something with a life of its own. She entreats Leo to go away together with her to clear his mind. He says he asked Maxine to cancel his tour. They agree that they will leave tonight and kiss. Dorothy leaves to pack. Upon Dorothy's return, Euterpe starts playing Chopin's Funeral March. When she tries to exit the studio, the piano chases her. As she stands in front of the window, the piano charges, pushing her out. She falls to the sidewalk far below. Euterpe is now playing a sweet melody. Dorothy's trance ends. Tale 4 - The Man Who Collected Poe: Pipe smoking Ronald Wyatt enters his trance at an exhibit of rare books. What he is most interested in are early American editions of works by Edgar Allen Poe. They are from the collection of Lancelot Canning, Esq. One of the volumes is a first edition for which only six copies are known to exist. Wyatt is introduced to Canning and asks if it is for sale, indicating that he would be willing to pay a handsome price. The answer is no. Canning gives Wyatt a card with an invitation to visit him when back in the U.S. Wyatt does just that, coming to see Canning's collection at his museum-like home in Maryland. He is shown, for example, the cravat that Poe wore for his last lecture and his flute in a glass bell jar. He offers Wyatt a drink as he tells of his grandfather and father before him being avid Poe fans. He mentions that collecting can become a mania. Wyatt encourages Canning to drink more so that he might take advantage of him. Canning invites Wyatt to see the collectibles in his basement, mentioning that what he is about to see must remain a secret. He indicates no one has been down there since his father died. With lighted candles, the two start down. Wyatt is astonished to find unpublished Poe manuscripts! He begs Canning to part with one for his collection. The answer is again, "No." Wyatt spots a decorative box. As he tries to open it, Canning stops him, promising to tell him about it when they return upstairs. Wyatt holds one of the unpublished works to the light and is mystified to find it written on watermarked paper that is dated 1966. He insists Canning explain how that can be, vowing to break his promise of silence if he is not told. Canning opens the box saying it held Poe's ashes. The box, however, is empty. Canning continues by saying that his grandfather was an occultist who reanimated the dust. Thus, Poe is still alive. Canning suggests they go back upstairs, but Wyatt wants to know what another key opens. He snatches the key and heads for a door. Canning interferes, but Wyatt clobbers him with a candlestick. When Wyatt opens the door, he finds a chamber with a pentagram on the floor with a goat's head design in the middle. As he enters, the door closes on its own behind him. There, in a chair, is the figure of Edgar Allen Poe, himself. Poe says, "Want to help me release my new works? I made a deal with the Devil. I can only be released by replacing me with another living soul. Another way is by subjecting the other soul to fire. You must tell me about the unknown beyond death. You are trapped. You'll be the best subject for my last Poe story." Wyatt wakes from his trance. "Who are you?" he asks. Dr. Diablo says that he simply provides excursions into the mind. Gordon Roberts, the fifth member of the spectator party, accuses Dr. Diablo of being demented. He grabs the Shears of Fate and stabs Dr. Diablo in the chest. The others rush away in horror. When they are gone, Gordon and Dr. Diablo start chuckling, congratulating each other on their performance. It was all a ruse to get the others to leave quickly. But Wyatt has stayed hidden just around the corner. He reappears and also commends their performance. He asks Dr. Diabolo if he wants to make a deal between the two of them. It seems like the right time. Before leaving, he reaches forward to light a cigarette for the doctor using the same lighter he borrowed in his vision. Dr. Diablo, whose back has been turned, faces the camera. He has horns sprouting from his forehead, revealing himself to indeed be Satan.

Comedy western in which a traveler bets more money than he can afford in a poker game, and unusual events follow. A naive couple and a child arrive to the town on the way to San Antonio, Texas to buy a farm there. There is a poker game between the richest men in the region. The man cannot resist it and though he is a very bad poker player, enters the game betting all the money of his family. In the climax of the game he suffers a heart-attack. His wife then takes his place in the table. That's the only way of recovering their savings. But there is a little problem. Can anybody explain to her how to play poker? —Miguel A. Andrade <andrade@gredos.cnb.uam.es> A couple with a young son arrive in the town of Laredo, just as the five richest men of the area are settling down to play the biggest game of poker of the year. When the wife disappears, the husband, after watching a few hands, joins in the game only to lose most of the families savings. As the wife returns, he finds that he has dealt himself a winning hand, but does not have the cash to continue. In the following argument he collapses, and his wife has no choice but to continue with his hand in order to win back their money, the only problem being she can't play poker. —MIKE.WILSON6@BTINTERNET.COM

** CONTAINS SPOILERS When HOLLY PARKER, a San Francisco shop girl, marries wealthy CLAYTON ANDERSON, it seems like a fairy tale, especially when he drives her up to the family mansion, complete with staff. Claytons domineering, possessive mother, ESTELLE, affects happiness for her son, but shes jealous and suspicious of Holly, suspecting that shell damage her ambitious sons rise in politics. The first few years of the marriage pass with relative success, and they have a child, CLAY JR., and although there are moments of joy, Holly begins to resent the large amounts of time that her husband spends away on business. Subtly manipulated by Estelle, Holly keeps up her social obligations, soon drifting into an affair with PHIL BENTON. When she tries to break it off with Benton, he becomes violent, accidentally falling down his apartment stairs to his death. Panicking, Holly flees the scene, leaving behind evidence that she was there. At home, Holly runs into Estelle, whose private detective knows of Hollys presence at the scene of Bentons death. Holly wants to tell the truth to Clay, whos out of town, but Estelle warns that it will destroy his career if Holly is accused of murder. Offering an alternative, Estelle demands that Holly fake her death in a boating accident and disappear to Europe, where a bank account will be set up for the rest of her life. Holly agrees reluctantly, says a tearful farewell to both husband and child, then goes ahead with the plan. In Europe, Holly tries to start a new life with a pseudonym and new hair-do, but the pain of separation follows her everywhere, and she soon collapses in the snow, found by pianist CHRISTIAN, who takes her to his villa. Holly convalesces, and although a warm relationship grows between her and Christian, she knows she can never marry him. Indeed, she eventually leaves him, referring to herself as "dead." Holly becomes an alcoholic, eventually landing in a cheap Mexican motel. There, she meets DAN SULLIVAN, a con man, who soon suspects the truth of her past. When he tries to manipulate her into a blackmail scheme against Clayton Anderson û now a New York gubernatorial candidate û a horrified Holly refuses. When Dan insists, Holly shoots him fatally. Arrested for murder, Holly slips into catatonia, refusing to speak, booked under the name "Madame X." Her case is turned over to a young public defender, who she does not realize is her son, Clay Jr., grown up! Clay Jr. feels an unaccountable love for this mysterious woman, and he tries her case. Meanwhile, Clay Sr. and Estelle watch from the courtroom, gradually suspecting that Madame X might be Holly. Holly/Madame X, meanwhile, addicted to absinthe, is gravely ill, barely able to endure the arduous trial. Holly soon finds out who Clay Jr. is, feels proud of what he has become, but doesnt divulge it to him, preferring to keep alive his memory of a fine, upstanding mother. She talks of a son she has abandoned, never telling Clay Jr. that hes the one. Meanwhile, Clay Sr. and Estelle also realize who Madame X is, but keep silent. Collapsing in court and carried to a back room, Holly tells Clay Jr. that she loves him just like a son, then dies in his arms. A devastated Clay Jr., uncertain why he feels such love for a virtual stranger, feels theres no use going on with the trial, but Clay Sr., knowing the truth but keeping Hollys secret, tells him its more important than hell ever know û indeed, without

The story opens on the night of December 6, 1941, at a dance in the Officers' Club at Pearl Harbor. We are at first introduced to Lieutenant (j.g.) William 'Mac' McConnel (Tom Tryon) and his wife Beverly (Paula Prentiss), who can't help but notice a visibly inebriated Liz Eddington (Barbara Bouchet) dancing with an Army Air Corps major (Hugh O'Brian) - spiting her husband who is at sea on gunnery practice. When the band launches into an upbeat swing tune, Liz engages in an exotic dance that for better or for worse draws the attention of every person in the club. Mac finally asks the band to make an end and play something else, which is heeded to Liz's disappointment. Her lover escorts her from the premises and takes her to spend the rest of the night on a beach near the base. Morning breaks over the unnamed heavy cruiser commanded by Captain Rockwell 'Rock' Torrey (John Wayne), who is nonplussed to find that his executive officer, Liz's husband Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), has overslept reveille, the latest of a number of blemishes on his record that (along with his mounting alcoholism) can be laid to his unhappy marriage. He tells Eddington to 'fish or cut bait' and gives him one last chance to pull himself together. Eddington apologizes for his conduct, but is left wondering what Liz has gotten herself into in recent hours. In Pearl Harbor, Mac reports for duty as Officer of the Day on his destroyer, the U.S.S. Cassiday. With some consternation, he reads a radio dispatch from the destroyer U.S.S. Ward, which has depth-charged an unidentified submarine contact much too close to Pearl for comfort. Torrey's ship has received the same message; he orders alert status, then general quarters when one of his lookouts sights several large formations of planes flying over Oahu. The Japanese surprise attack is only minutes away. One formation flies over and strafes the beach where Liz Eddington and her lover are awakening, and they make a hasty escape back towards Pearl. As they hurtle around a curve, a truck barrels toward them in the wrong lane from the opposite direction, and the head-on collision sends them both plunging in flames off a cliff to their deaths. As nearly 350 Japanese aircraft descend on Pearl Harbor, an emergency sortie signal is sent to all ships; Mac, without waiting for his C.O. or further instructions, orders the Cassiday with cool-headed authority to get underway at once. The captain and executive officer give chase aboard a torpedo retriever, but Mac, knowing any attempt to stop and bring them aboard will render the Cassiday a sitting duck, ignores their shouts and plows out of the harbor at high speed. The Cassiday is one of not a dozen cruisers and destroyers to escape the harbor as the battleships and aircraft are decimated by the Japanese planes, much to the dismay of Admiral Kimmel (Franchot Tone), once he receives a situation report from his flag lieutenant. Torrey, meanwhile, gives orders for all outbreaking ships to group with his cruiser and reports his force strength to headquarters. It is a woefully small squadron of four cruisers and eight destroyers, a sneeze at a typhoon. Vice Admiral B.T. Broderick (Dana Andrews) urges Kimmel to position the force against a possible invasion, but Kimmel decides instead to have Torrey seek out and engage the Japanese. The orders are met with surprise and some anticipation by Torrey and his officers, who request underway refueling the following day. The morning of December 8 brings them nothing but an empty fleet oiler heading for home, leaving the task group without enough fuel to last half the day. Weighing his options, Torrey decides to cease zigzagging despite the known submarine threat. Not long thereafter, the American force is stalked by a Japanese submarine which is detected by the Cassiday as it approaches. Mac orders pursuit and depth-charging while Torrey orders zigzagging resumed. But the submarine gets into firing position and puts two torpedoes into the cruiser, causing severe damage in the engineering section and breaking Torrey's arm when he is thrown off his feet. Eddington goes below to take charge of damage control and finds the engineering deck a shambles of fire and out-of-control flooding. As DC parties scramble to save the ship, the Cassiday continues depth-charging, reporting a positive kill. Torrey orders all ships except the Cassiday back to Pearl Harbor, and conferring with Mac by megaphone, remembers him well from his days at the Naval Academy. Eddington reports the main damage under control as Mac complies with Torrey's request for a tow. A few days later, Torrey, his arm set and casted, reports to Admiral Kimmel's office where he is relieved of command for jeopardizing his force. He is reassigned to a desk to route convoys over his contention that the admiral's orders rendered the group 'expendable'. In the meantime, Eddington has learned of Liz's death and identifies her and her belongings at the Honolulu morgue, also learning of her companion's attachment to the Army Air Corps. In a rut of shock, he goes to a bar where he is offered a drink by another AAC officer who unwittingly rubs salt in the wound. The resulting brawl lands Eddington in the brig, where Torrey later arrives to have him released. They part ways in the sight of a new cruiser going to sea to replace their drydocked vessel - a baleful metaphor for the drydocking they both face. Three months later, Torrey's arm is pronounced healed by the X-rays of a nurse lieutenant named Maggie Haynes (Patricia Neal). His roommate, Commander Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a reserve intelligence officer, offers to celebrate at a social gathering in the Oahu hills. There, Torrey has a chance encounter with Maggie, who startles him with news of his estranged son - Jeremiah Torrey (Brandon De Wilde), now a reserve ensign who has been dating Maggie's roommate, Annalee Dorne (Jill Haworth). Torrey confesses that he has been divorced and not seen Jere in eighteen years. By the time Maggie drives him home and advises him that she's on temporary assignment, they have taken an obvious liking to each other. Torrey discovers that Jere is attached to a PT boat squadron in Pearl and goes to visit him, where they have a strained reunion; Jere lets it slip that he is about to be reassigned to Admiral Broderick's staff in preparation for an upcoming offensive called 'Skyhook'. Jere will be assistant to former Congressman Neal Owynn (Patrick O'Neal), serving in the Naval Reserve as Broderick's public-affairs officer. After a couple of weeks, a cheerful Powell arrives at Torrey's office, quietly letting on that he has been in Washington for the past ten days. Torrey takes him to lunch, and seeing Jere and Owynn sitting at a nearby table, takes the opportunity to ask Powell about Skyhook. Powell immediately puts a top-secret lid on it but is not surprised to discover that Owynn has been doing too much talking on Broderick's behalf. That evening, Torrey and Jere run into each other at Maggie and Annalee's apartment; there Maggie and Torrey remain while Jere and Annalee go to dinner at Owynn's house. As the evening wears on, Maggie and Torrey open up about each other's past of failed marriages and occupations chosen or unchosen. In the meantime, Owynn, obliging Jere's wishes, slips silently away to allow Jere a subtle run to second base. Annalee, wary of Owynn's disappearance and Jere's advances, puts the date - and their relationship - to an abrupt end. Torrey returns to his office after several days to find Powell waiting with a 'private little job': the routing of three hot and heavy convoys to a former Free French naval base on the island of Toulebonne in the South Pacific. Torrey figures out the Skyhook strategy, and explains to Powell that Broderick could use one of three nearby islands as a staging base to hit at a large island named Levu-Vana, whose central plain would make an ideal roost for B-17 squadrons. Powell wordlessly covers up the charts and leaves. Torrey arrives home that night to find Maggie sitting on his front steps; he invites her inside, where she regretfully tells him that her unit is being shipped out. Torrey, knowing where she's headed, calls on Powell to bunk out for the night, whereupon Maggie slips her shoes off in a classic 'fade to black' scene. Three weeks find the convoys safe and sound at Toulebonne, where Paul Eddington has been stationed since January overseeing piers and warehouses. Pursuant to a written request from Torrey, he boards the nurses' transport and asks to speak to Maggie, and welcomes her and several other nurses with flower chains, a basket of bananas and a hidden bottle of liquor. Maggie introduces him to Annalee and he immediately takes a shine to her. He gives Maggie the unexpected news that the convoy is due to shove off again that night for Broderick's advance base on Gavabutu, as 'that's where they're gonna need nurses'. Back in Hawaii, Torrey visits Beverly McConnel at her civil air defense post to give her the unpleasant news that Mac is MIA. She tearfully reads him a letter from Mac, written with his morale at a critical low, describing incessant air attacks on the Cassiday and the overall poor quality of Broderick's command, which has stalled the Skyhook advance and riddled the morale of the troops. Not long afterward, Torrey is summoned to a dinner party at Admiral Nimitz's quarters - and is shocked but pleased to find that the party is in honor of his promotion to rear admiral. Admiral Nimitz (Henry Fonda) tells him that he was correct in his guess at the Skyhook strategy, and awards tactical command of the operation to Torrey, effectively displacing Broderick from the action (or lack thereof). Broderick is incensed, and agrees with Owynn's suggestion to place a 'liaison officer' on Torrey's staff to keep him discreetly informed on Torrey's intentions, naming Owynn as that officer. Eddington arrives at Broderick's headquarters (having spent the past few hours at a whorehouse), and himself receives a surprise promotion to captain and an appointment as Torrey's chief of staff. Torrey and Eddington reunite on Gavabutu three days later and meet the rest of the staff, along with Australian coastwatcher Clayton Canfil (Stanley Holloway) and a ready and willing battalion of Marine paratroops. Their base almost immediately comes under a Japanese air raid and they make a mad dash for the command shelter, where Torrey outlines his plan to divide and conquer Gavabutu in three sections. At the all-clear, the staff scatter to their duties, and Eddington surreptitiously dismisses Owynn and Jere to prevent them from listening in on a scheme to procure additional transport planes. Torrey goes to the base hospital to visit Maggie, promising her that they'll make time for each other out here. The following Sunday, the Marines parachute into an open meadow on the north side of the island as an amphibious force lands on a northwestern beach, and a battalion of Marines, led by Canfil, crosses the mountains on foot. Torrey accompanies the paramarines aloft, ordering his plane's commander on a 'sightseeing trip' to overfly the mountains and deliver a change of orders to the foot battalion. Back at his HQ, Broderick, having arrived in the company of a group of war correspondents from Toulebonne, demonstrates a too-concise knowledge of the details, leading Eddington to suspect that Owynn has been quietly feeding him information. When Torrey returns, he is informed by his operations officer that the operation is well ahead of schedule - the Japanese garrison abandoned Gavabutu the previous night, presumably to reinforce Levu-Vana. He reports as much to Broderick and the correspondents, who are frustrated with the limited information Torrey gives them. Jere, earlier confronted by Eddington about his role in ratting on his father, renounces it in his newfound respect for him. Eddington later confronts Owynn as well, coercing him through harsh physical contact into returning to Toulebonne with Broderick. Owynn threatens a court-martial, but Jere, the only witness, refuses to bear him out, choosing instead to be transferred back to PT boats and remain under his father's command. Canfil returns to HQ from his guidance of the Marine battalion, and is promptly asked by Torrey and Eddington to reconnoiter the Japanese positions on Levu-Vana. He volunteers to go ashore alone with his intimate knowledge of the island and map the enemy emplacements. He is put ashore by a submarine under cover of darkness, sneaking into a Japanese camp and eavesdropping on a sake party. The next morning, Jere, back on duty with the PT squadron, is delivering mail to the hospital when he meets Maggie and Annalee; the latter shows him to the mail room, and old flames between them are rekindled, leading to an engagement to marriage after the war. Elsewhere in the world, other flames are fanned - Mac McConnel and the survivors of the Cassiday have been rescued and returned to the States for a month of survivors' leave. Beverly meets him in a passionate reunion at the pier in San Francisco, where he announces his promotion to lieutenant commander and his post-leave assignment as Torrey's flag secretary. Back on Gavabutu, Annalee, who is accompanying Eddington and a group of other personnel to a beach party, is warned by Maggie to be cautious around him, but insists on having a little fun. Maggie's warning is well warranted, for when Annalee separates from the group to go for a swim, Eddington follows her and watches from the beach. When she emerges from the water and tells him she's engaged, his reaction is less than rational - he flings her clothes out of her reach and rapes her, out of sight of the others. In her desperate attempt to fight back, she leaves her mark on his face, and it is noticed by Powell a couple of days later when Torrey and his staff put out to the harbor to meet his old ship, which along with several other cruisers and destroyers has just anchored at Gavabutu. Eddington dismisses the mark as 'just a friendly wound.' Aboard their old cruiser, Torrey and Eddington brief the senior officers of the task group on the planned invasion of Levu-Vana when they are interrupted by Canfil, just returned from his recon mission. He has painted a grim picture of the stronghold under construction, from tanks and troops to pillboxes and a nearly-completed airfield. Then he delivers the grimmest report of all - the Japanese are assembling a task force of their own at their nearby Cape Titan base. Torrey discusses options with his staff, deciding eventually that their best choice is to try and get a long-range recon plane from Pearl Harbor. In San Francisco, Mac McConnel returns from fleet HQ with ill tidings for him and Beverly: he has orders to proceed immediately to his new assignment on Gavabutu, despite having spent less than half of his leave. Beverly bursts into tears, lamenting that she may not get him back this time, and asks him to leave her with a baby. The rains are hammering Gavabutu and vicinity when Maggie returns to her barracks to find a note addressed to her. It is from Annalee - who has overdosed on sleeping pills, fearing pregnancy from the rape and being disbelieved by Eddington. Maggie desperately attempts to rouse Annalee, but finding that it's too late, she calls Torrey, who is discussing with Eddington and Powell the failure to secure a recon plane from Pearl. At Eddington's query, Torrey somberly tells him what has happened, leaving Eddington guilt-stricken as he heads for the nurse barracks. Maggie, boiling with anger, tells him the gist of the note, and Torrey promises to tell Jere personally before telling Maggie that Skyhook is starting very soon. She flings a farewell embrace on him and rushes away, as Torrey returns to HQ with his personal matters now weighing almost as much on his mind as his command responsibilities. First thing the next morning, Eddington dashes to the airfield and orders a long-range naval bomber prepared for him; he lifts off without telling a soul. Meanwhile, Torrey heads over to the PT boat base on the other side of the island, where he tells a grief-stricken Jere about Annalee and bids him farewell. He then repairs to HQ, where Mac has just arrived from Toulebonne, and sends Powell in search of Eddington before taking in a weather forecast. At the airfield, Powell finds out about Eddington's flight and summons Torrey and company, who arrive just as the radio operator makes contact. Eddington reports his position southwest of Cape Titan, but stops short as he sees a large task force heading south away from the cape. Ignoring a group of nearby Zero fighters, he drops out of the clouds for a closer look, counting twelve destroyers, four cruisers, and one gigantic battleship which he soon identifies as the Yamato - the largest and most heavily armed warship in the world. The Zeroes pounce on him again, and he has no time for evasive maneuvers before he and the bomber are destroyed. With the death of his best friend now compounding his concerns, Torrey dampens all optimism by concluding that the task force is headed straight for Levu-Vana to reinforce the land garrison. He decides to proceed with the invasion and then put back to sea with his own task group to try and stop the Japanese force at all costs. McConnel asks about a recommendation for a posthumous award to Eddington, but Torrey declines it, knowing that Eddington was trying to atone for his part in Annalee's death. Following the invasion, Torrey's cruisers and destroyers head for open sea to search and engage. They are unable at first to locate the enemy until they determine that the enemy is running through the narrow passage between Levu-Vana and neighboring Toko-Rota. Torrey orders the passage mined and the PT boats put in position. While waiting for a first report, he has a quiet conversation with Powell about battles at sea and the fear experienced by all men who take part in them - even admirals. All too soon, the Japanese reach the mine field, where several escorts are hit and disabled, prompting the PT boats to go in with guns blazing. The Japanese fight tooth and nail, and Jere, whose skipper is hit and killed by shrapnel, takes over command of his boat and manages to hit a heavy cruiser with two torpedoes before his boat is rammed and sunk by an enemy destroyer. The Yamato emerges from this stage of the battle unscathed. In the morning, amidst an unnervingly silent lull, Torrey receives the casualty report and is visibly devastated by the news of Jere's death in action. He is quiet but intent as he orders the destroyers to lay a smoke screen and prepare for the final engagement. The destroyers lay the screen as the cruisers turn broadside, lock and load, taking the first shots against the Japanese force. Many of the enemy escorts are hit hard; even the Yamato is lightly damaged, but presses on through the attack. Torrey orders evasive maneuvers as the Yamato opens fire. In spite of a number of hard course changes and pitched counterfire, the Americans are hopelessly outgunned, and the Yamato ultimately wrecks seven of their ships - Torrey's included. With the captain and bridge officers of his flagship killed, he attempts to take command but is hit and severely wounded by shell fragments from a magazine explosion. Mac, however, has stuck with him and gives the order to abandon ship, getting him into the water and onto a life raft. Torrey is in a coma for almost three weeks before he awakes aboard a hospital ship a day away from Pearl Harbor. His attending nurse summons Maggie, who rushes to his room to help him come around. She tells him all that transpired after he was knocked out - that he has lost his left leg and Mac is the only survivor of his staff. Torrey is all but traumatized, believing that he survived while the rest of his command was decimated to no good purpose. The next morning, with the hospital ship moored, Mac visits Torrey, telling him that the Japanese force turned tail and rushed back to Cape Titan for no fathomable reason. Admiral Nimitz comes aboard, and Torrey believes a court-martial is imminent until Nimitz sets him straight: he successfully turned back the Japanese task force and allowed Skyhook to take off, and the Japanese troops on Levu-Vana are now cornered. He further informs Torrey that he will be back in the Pacific theater on an artificial leg and commanding a new task force. Enlightened, Torrey drifts back to a well-earned sleep with Maggie watching over him.

Documentary film depicting the attack by Allied forces on the Japanese strong-holds of Arawe Beach and Cape Gloucester, New Britain, in the South Pacific theatre of the Second World War in 1943. Actual scenes filmed by the United States Signal Corps of the landing and attack on Arawe Beach, Cape Glouster, New Britain island in 1943 in the South Pacific theatre of World War Two, and the handicaps of the wild jungle in addition to the Japanese snipers and pill-box emplacements. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Opening title-card: Men have been rightly called the masters of the world. Men have subdued the wild animals. Men have penetrated deep into the jungle, and have been able to look at the moon and the planets. But there is still one place on Earth where no man has ever set foot nor has been even permitted to glimpse. We open inside a ladies lounge where Jill Baker (Merle Oberon) drinks a full glass of water. Her friends ask her about her problem, which is not clear yet. Jill powders her nose. Margie Stallings (Olive Blakeney) finally convinces her to go see Dr. Vengard (Alan Mowbray). Jill enters Dr. Vengards office, where he takes down her information. She tries to lie about her age, which he sees right and asks again. This age he writes down with a question mark next to it. Jill then claims to not have a problem, to which the Doctor replies that she is just not in-tune with herself. She tells him that her problem comes and goes. He asks What comes and goes? To which she says Hiccups. Dr. Vengard believes the hiccups are caused by a nervous condition, so he wants to run some tests. They step into another room. Time has passed, and Dr. Vengard has questioned Jill about her past, and now begins asking about her marriage and husband. After asking about her sleeping habits and making a comparison to being on a vegetable diet while the person next to you eats a steak, Jill relates this to her husband and starts hiccupping. Margie comes over to Visit Jill. They talk about Dr. Vengard, quickly moving to problems in her marriage. Jill tells Margie of the other morning when she had finally fallen asleep, only to be woken up by a gargle. Larry Baker (Melvyn Douglas) then comes home, exchanges a quick conversation of how are you, and then leaves again. Larry pops his head back in to ask if the Coopers are coming to dinner, so he knows whether to shave or not. This prompts the girls to discuss martial issues again, causing Jill to start hiccupping again. Larry reads the paper in his office. Jill comes in and tells him her hiccups are back. Thinking shes kidding, he pocks her in the stomach teasingly and goes back to the paper. Jill tries to talk to him again, this time Larry tells her about Mr. Kafka (Sig Ruman) coming to dinner next week. He tells her to make it have Hungarian influence for Kafka, and then practices a Hungarian toast. He pokes her in the stomach again. She questions him about it, and asks him not to keek her anymore as she leaves the room. Inter-card: And so the keeks was gone out of another marriage. Jill paces in the bedroom, while Larry sleeps. She climbs into bed and makes a bark like noise. Larry, in a half sleep, gets out of bed and lets the dog outside. She tells him it was her who made the noise. Just then the dog barks outside to which Larry shhs her. Jill enters Dr. Vengards office, who is out, so she waits with another man. He goes back and forth about wanting a cigarette. They begin talking, to which he speaks his mind and is touchy by what she says. He seems to hate everything. He thumbs through a magazine till he comes across an article entitled: The Happy Bakers. He asks her how she is so happy. After seeing she is uncomfortable, he goes to leave. She stops him asking him why he hates a certain painting. He compares it to the her article saying its misrepresentation. Jill and the man enter an art gallery. He finally introduces himself as Alexander Sebastian (Burgess Meredith). They both criticize the pieces of art, until they come across one that is suppose to be a portrait of Sebastian, but is just a bunch of different things. He describes what the different items mean. A line in the paining stands for his inhibition, for which he has gone to see Dr. Vengard about, as a musician he cant play in front of a crowd of people. Inter-card: There was a smell of Goulash at 685 park avenue when Universal Mattress and United Furniture were about to invade the Baker home. The Butler (Richard Carle) and Maid (Mary Currier) place the name cards on the dining table. Larry arrives at home and rushes into the living room, passing by Sebastian on the couch. He enters the bedroom where Jill is putting on makeup. The maid delivers a package to Larry, it is a record: Night in Budapest. Larry walks out into the living and plays the record. After a few seconds he is startled by Sebastian. Larry asks him what he thinks of Universal Mattress and United Furnitures merger, as well as Mr. Kafka. Sebastian, blowing past the questions, puts away a vase he finds ugly and orders scrambled eggs instead of Goulash. Larry returns to the bedroom, where his wife tells him about Sebastian and his piano playing. They begin arguing over the importance of tonights dinner. Larry notices a copy of the portrait of Sebastian on the bed. He asks what it is. After feeling his intelligence has been assaulted, he grabs a framed photo of himself and asks Jill what this is. He storms out. The guests have arrived and take their seats at the dining table. Larry gets Jill to say the Hungarian toast. The whole table is a buzz with laughter and smiles. Sebastian shows off his skills with the Hungarian language. This ignites the whole table into side conversations in Hungarian. The guests, finished with dinner, move into the living room. Larry locks the piano and turns on the record player and his new record. After a few seconds the record starts skipping, Sebastian grins at Larry, who turns off the player. Larry, urged by his attorney, Jones (Harry Davenport), of time running out, walks over to Kafka to make a proposition with him, but is cut off by Sebastian about to play the piano. Everyone sits down. A woman sits close to the piano, which makes Sebastian nervous. Jill asks the woman to move. Finding the piano locked, Jill searches for the key as Larry makes another move on Kafka, but is again cut off by Sebastian breaking the lid off the keys. Sebastian notices Jill has taken the ugly vase out while searching for the key, he asks her to put it away again. Sebastian mentions what he will play. Hearing how long it will be, Larry pulls Jones out of the room. The party is over, Sebastian plays the piano for Jill alone. He gets up and holds her in an embrace about to kiss her, Jill pulls away. Camera stays on the piano, silence as they are off screen. Suddenly, Sebastian comes back and plays the piano loudly and happily. She asks him to stop playing, he doesnt. Finally she leaves. He sits on the couch alone. Larry and Jones walk down the street talking about how things turned out fine with Kafka. Larry spots the portrait of Sebastian in a store window. He enters the store, and finds out what the painting is of: Sebastian. Larry leaves. Larry comes home to Jill practicing the piano. She tells him that she is sleeping better and the hiccups have disappeared. Larry sees Sebastians portrait on the wall. He comments how he thinks it looks like a man, to which Jill denies and makes up different meanings for it. Larry Paces in Jones office complaining about Sebastian. Jones brings in his secretary (Eve Arden) to get a womans point of view about the situation. Jones asks her about the problem, all the while not doing a very good job of disguising Larry as Mr. Brown. She tells him to kick Mrs. Brown out. The secretary leaves. Jones tells Larry to sell his wife on their marriage again, by using a new slant. Larry sneaks up behind Jill and puts her hands over her eyes. She thinks it is Sebastian playing around. She faints finding out it is Larry. He carries her over to the couch, as Sebastian bursts in singing. Larry leaves to get smelling salts, Sebastian puts the ugly vase away again. Larry hands Sebastian the smelling salts to wake up Jill. She wakes up laughing seeing Sebastian, but faints again seeing Larry. Larry this time carries her into the bedroom and closes the door. Larry steps out of the bedroom and talks to Sebastian about insuring his hands. Sebastian doesnt want to fight, claiming his hands are his life. Larry leads him into his office to talk more. Larry pulls out a gun, pointing it at Sebastian who pleads he doesnt love Jill. Larry punches Sebastian out, Larry wakes him up. Larry calls a hotel to reserve a room, then leaves his office, Sebastian follows. Larry pretends to forfeit, and tells Sebastian if Jill ever gets in a bad mood to just keeks her. Larry, Jill and Sebastian sit in Jones office discussing the grounds for the Bakers divorce. Larry wants to leave everything to Jill. Sebastian and Jones leave the office, allowing the Bakers to have a sentimental exchange about how their relationship has changed. Sebastian comes in, and upon seeing Jill in a mood, keeks her. Jones comes in saying the divorce is settled. Jill storms out with Sebastian after her. Larry and Jones have a drink over how well Larrys plan is going. Jill and Sebastian return, ready to go thru with the divorce once more. Sebastian keeks Larry in the stomach, Larry punches him to the floor. Now both Bakers upset again, Jones describes the plan to stage the grounds for divorce. After rehearsing, Jones calls his secretary in to be the witness, unbeknownst to her. They start their plan. The Bakers get into an argument, but come across like nervous actors. The secretary leaves the office, Jones calls her back in. They start the argument again, but when it comes time for Larry to slap Jill, he cant do it. Larry takes a drink, Sebastian gives him a pep talk. The argument begins again. Time for the slap, another drink and pep talk instead. Larry comes back, and in one motion slaps Jill then leaves. Jill and Sebastian soon follow. The Carlton Plaza: the butler visits Larry in his hotel room. He tells Larry that the entire staff, besides one, has left on the account of Sebastian. Jill paces in her bedroom, annoyed by Sebastian piano playing. Margie enters the house and makes her way into the bedroom. Her and Jill exchange pleasantries. Jill leaves and returns a few seconds later, the piano playing has stopped. Sebastian enters, accuses Margie of not liking his music, and then leaves. Sebastian calls Jill out to the living room to say he is leaving. Jill returns to the bedroom. Margie tells Jill of Larry spending time with another woman, which makes her hiccups return. Jill comes to visit Larry at his hotel room. She gives him some photos of when they were together. He looks thru them quickly, pretending not to care about them. He tries to get her to leave, she walks around the hotel room and then dashes towards the bedroom. Larry stops her from opening the door. She apologizes for everything, but he doesnt except it easily. Larry pulls out the photos again, they start laughing and remembering the photos events. Jill insists that she talks with the other woman in the bedroom. Larry agrees, but goes in first to set it up. Inside the bedroom, Larry lays on the bed smiling. This is no other girl. Larry wails in the bedroom, Jill listens nervously. Jones secretary then enters the hotel room. Jill hands her the handbag and quickly gets rid of her. Jill laughs knowing what Larry is up to. Larry runs out and grabs a glass of water, then runs back into the bedroom trying to keep up the scheme. Larry comes out again claiming it is hopeless. They say goodbye. Larry gives Jill a kiss and embrace, then says hell try and talk to the other woman again. Late at night, Sebastian enters the house and calls out to Jill. No answer. He begins to play the piano, when Larry exits the bedroom and tells him to play quieter. Sebastian now upset, grabs all the photos of himself and storms out of the house. Larry locks the door behind him and turns off all the lights going back into the bedroom. Inter-card: And the hiccups never came back. The End.

An arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden. Egotistical criminal Tommy Gordan believes that he is both above the law, and entitled special privilege in any situation just because of who he is. This view is supported in that his unethical lawyer, Ed Crowley, has been able to get him off time and time again no matter what the charge. Tommy's criminal activity does not sit well with his straight-laced girlfriend, Kay Manners, who loves him regardless. Even when he is caught, charged, and convicted of robbery, and subsequently sentenced to five to thirty years to be served at Sing Sing, Tommy expects that Crowley will not only get him out immediately, but that he will arrange for him to get those special privileges for his short stint inside, including not needing to do anything he doesn't want to do, and being able to continue to wear his expensive clothes to look the part of being important. Tommy is in for a shock to his lifestyle when Crowley is not able to arrange for either with Warden Walter Long, whose primary goal with any inmate is true rehabilitation. Over the early course of his sentence, Tommy, stemming partly from his superstition and partly from seeing the fate of other "smart" inmates who tried to skirt the system, does begin to be rehabilitated in Warden Long's estimation. So when he learns that Kay has been critically injured in an accident, Warden Long, as he has done successfully with other inmates previously, allows Tommy unescorted day leave to visit Kay on the promise that he returns to prison after the visit. While Tommy has every intention to return as instructed, he may have other thoughts when he learns that Kay's predicament was in an altercation with Crowley, Kay and his own well-being which would take a back seat to revenge if given the opportunity.

Immigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella. Immigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>