Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer

Around the turn of the 20th century, during a harsh northern California winter, members of a ranching family are squabbling among themselves while the two oldest sons go hunting for a panther that is killing their livestock. A family saga: In a stunning mountain valley ranch setting near Aspen, complex and dangerous family dynamics play out against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter and an enormous panther with seemingly mythical qualities which is killing cattle. An arrogant, pitiless son (Robert Mitchum) and a rigid pharisaic mother side against a moral eldest son and and a defeated alcoholic father while the youngest son tries to lay low, hoping against hope to persuade his family to allow him to marry a girl he has brought to visit. The girl however draws venomous condemnation and the two elder brothers set out in the midst of a violent snowstorm on a dangerous mission to kill the deadly panther. —Jasha While Curt Bridges tracks down the panther that killed his brother Arthur, his family argues and bickers over whether younger brother Harold should marry a much-despised neighbor girl. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

In wartime 1944 in California, defense plant workers Rosalind "Rosie" Warren and her friend Vera Watson must share, on a rotating schedule, the town's last available rental room with Charlie Doran and Kelly Kennedy, who work the other shift at the plant. The landlady, Grandma Quill, also has her grandchildren, Buzz Prouty and Mabel Prouty, and her daughter Stella Prouty --- who is on the outs with her husband Clem --- living with her. Rosie doesn't tell her fiancé, Wayne Calhoun, about the living arrangements and is also plotting with Vera to re-unite the Proutys. Rosie pawns the engagement ring Wayne gave her for money for Clem and Stella. Rosie and Charlie fall in love and get their picture in the paper. Wayne huffily breaks the engagement and wants his ring returned. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Pappy, the manager of the Farmdale orphanage, appropriates five thousand dollars of the taxpayers' money to enroll his charges in a 4-H project that could make the orphanage self-sufficient. This infuriates Hiram Crabtree and Sam Spitz, who profit from selling supplies to the orphanage and therefore have no desire to see it become self-sufficient. Consequently, Crabtree and Spitz charge Pappy with misappropriation of funds and demand that he repay the money immediately. Just when things look bad for Pappy, he learns that he has inherited a nightclub and goes to the city to investigate. There he finds that the club is insolvent and that the performers are demanding their salaries. Pappy suggests that they come to Farmdale to work for their wages, and when the performers learn of the plight of the orphanage, they offer to stage a show to recoup the shortage in funds. Crabtree and Spitz, still trying to retain control of the orphanage, invoke a fire ordinance to prevent the show from being staged in a barn. To invalidate the ordinance, the orphans set fire to a haystack, and as the fire engines speed toward the fire, the youngsters chop down the bridge, stranding the trucks at the barn. The presence of the fire trucks offsets the fire hazard, and the show goes on. After Mrs. Uppington, a local dowager, exposes the motives of Spitz and Crabtree, the orphans continue to work on their 4-H project with the promise that they will be self-sufficient by the fall.