Charles Dingle

Magazine writer copes with modern life in the suburbs, stressing about the expenses. Then his editor assigns an article calling the suburbs the slums of tomorrow. His research yields interesting conclusions. Audiences always roared with delight when Red Skelton went one-on-one with post-war life in The Yellow Cab Man, The Fuller Brush Man and other films. In Half a Hero, the legendary comic took on a slice of 20th-century Americana that still resonates today: the suburbs. Red plays Ben Dobson, a magazine writer whose boss approves of Ben because he lives in a cramped Manhattan apartment instead of "the slums of tomorrow": the 'burbs. So, of course, when Ben movies his family to a sprawling housing development, he struggles (hilariously_ to keep the fact a secret. Jean Hagen, a year after her iconic portrayal of the itsy-voiced screen siren in Singin' in the Rain, plays Ben's long-suffering wife, and singer Polly Bergen makes a guest appearance with a torrid nightclub-scene rendition of "Love." —Anonymous

In October 1942, a Nazi plane spots a Norwegian flag flying over the German-occupied fishing village of Trollness. On investigation, the Nazis discover that the entire Nazi garrison has been killed and the commander, Captain Koenig, is discovered in his office, shot through the head. The streets, which are filled with bodies, are apparently empty. The only living person found is insane and the Nazis quickly execute him. The rest of the film is told in flashback: Before the deaths, the villagers quietly resisted their Nazi occupiers: The resistance movement is led by a group of people including Gerd Bjarnesen, the owner of the local hotel, whose father was killed by the Nazis; Gunnar Brogge, the head of the fishermen's union; and his fiancee, Karen Stensgard, the daughter of the town's doctor, Martin. Gunnar is planning to escape to England to join the resistance there, but before he can leave, a wounded man from a nearby village brings news that the English are delivering guns to the Norwegian underground in preparation for a unified revolt against the Nazis. The following day, Karen learns that her brother Johann, a Nazi collaborator, is coming home, and she begs her father to keep him away. Later, there is a meeting in the church to decide if those sympathetic to the resistance movement will join in fighting the Germans. Pastor Aalesen is opposed to the plan, believing that murder is wrong no matter why it is done. Stensgard is also unsure about the planned action, but the villagers vote to accept the guns and attack the Germans. Karen, Gerd and Gunnar take turns waiting for the British to deliver the weapons. After they arrive, Karen warns the other resistance workers that her brother may betray them if they are not careful. While they are hiding the weapons, someone accidentally drops an English flashlight. Koenig's men find it and, suspecting that the village is up to something, Koenig confiscates all the fishing boats, hoping this will prevent the villagers from earning a living and force them to divulge their plans. Johann's uncle, Kaspar Togersen, the owner of a fish canning factory, pressures Johann to betray the plotters, and somewhat reluctantly, Johann questions the simple-minded shopkeeper, only to receive false information. The Nazis increase pressure on the townspeople, who have been asked not to take action until the British can arm the entire Norwegian coast. When Koenig tries to confiscate the home of Sixtus Andresen, the schoolteacher, Andresen resists and is beaten by the soldiers, who also burn his belongings. Although the townspeople are extremely angry, they refrain from attacking, but when Karen is raped by a German soldier, Stensgard is driven to murder. In revenge, Koenig decides to execute all the leaders of the resistance. The Germans force the group to dig their own graves, but before they can carry out the executions, the villagers finally can take no more and march on the square. Even the pastor opens fire from the church. The villagers fight through to the harbor and load the women and children on boats headed for England. They continue to battle the Germans at great cost to themselves. Finally cornered in the last remaining German stronghold, Koenig writes a note and kills himself. In the present day, even as the Nazi soldier reports that no one is left alive, another soldier is shot while lowering the Norwegian flag. Karen, Gunnar and the surviving villagers decide to stay to defend their town.

An escaped prisoner must prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with help from a spirited schoolteacher. In suburban Lochester, New England, three people end up living together in high-school teacher Nora Shelley's rental house. The first is her new tenant, renowned Harvard law professor Michael Lightcap, who has rented the house for the summer while he writes his new book. The second is Nora herself. After an auspicious first meeting, Lightcap hires Nora to be his live-in cook and secretary for a week until his manservant Tilney arrives. The third is Joseph, the property's gardener, who is currently laid up with a sprained ankle. In reality, Joseph is Nora's childhood friend Leopold Dilg, who has just escaped from prison. Leopold was being tried for the arson of the factory where he worked, and for murder for the death of the factory foreman Clyde Bracken, whose body was never recovered but who is assumed to have died in the fire. Despite the danger to herself, Nora hides Leopold since she believes his story that although he, as an activist, did speak out about the dangerous conditions at the factory, he did not set the fire, which he assumes was done by the factory's owner, Andrew Holmes, to collect the insurance money, while having Leopold as a scapegoat. Nora campaigned to get the job with Lightcap to be able to better hide Leopold in the house. Leopold escaped because he knew he would not get a fair trial because of the rabble-rousing Holmes conducted against him. Lightcap and who he knows as Joseph end up getting along famously, although activist Leopold believes Lightcap's view of the law is too clinical for him to truly be a great lawyer or great judge. Nora and Leopold learn clandestinely that Lightcap is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Nora, Leopold, and Sam Yates, Leopold's lawyer, try to get Lightcap involved in helping Leopold by showing him that Leopold indeed will not get a fair trial. In the process, Lightcap might show Leopold and Nora that his current way of thinking has much merit. —Huggo When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson (and murder; one man was lost). Escaping, Leopold hides out in the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley--which she has just rented to unsuspecting law professor Michael Lightcap. As Lightcap's unwelcome guests, Nora and Leopold drag the professor willy-nilly from theory to practice. The story blends comedy, thriller, philosophy, mystery and romance. —billaknz@gmail.com When accused arsonist Leopold Dilg escapes jail, he hides out in the home of old friend and sweetheart Nora, who happens to be renting a farmhouse to Supreme Court candidate Michael Lightcap, but she lets Dilg hide in the attic while Lightcap gets settled. The next day, she introduces Dilg as the gardener. In conversation, though, Lightcap realizes that the gardener has a lot to say about the law. Nora and Dilg team up to convince him that Dilg was framed. The three dodge the cops, try to capture the real crooks, and discover that both men have fallen for Nora. Two different endings were filmed, one in which Nora gives her heart to Dilg, the other in which she leaves with Lightcap. Guess which one remains at the classic comic conclusion. —Fiona Kelleghan <fkelleghan@aol.com>