Elisha Cook Jr.

After his aunt dies of a heart attack while fighting the IRS, Harry Johnson decides to take up the cause. Harry Johnson's aunt is a rich eccentric with an extensive collection of military memorabilia, who also happens to be in a fight with the IRS. When she dies of a heart attack, Harry blames her death on the IRS and takes up the fight himself. As Harry's cause gains attention and supporters, the 'war' soon escalates into a full-scale seige with Harry right in the center. —Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>

At the Hialeah racetrack near Miami, Florida, former boxing champion Billy "The Champ" Flynn works as a horse trainer and lives in an apartment above the stables with his eight year-old son, T. J. Considering a comeback after seven years away from the sport, Billy returns to the Ninth Street Gym for a meeting with manager Charlie Goodman and brings along T. J., who is thrilled that his father, whom he idolizes and calls "Champ," might fight again. At the gym, Billy is still revered as a boxer, and Georgie, a training assistant, has saved Billy's old gloves. However, Billy feels disrespected when Goodman keeps him waiting, and shouts that he will return in thirty minutes, leaving his son at the gym. Later, T. J. finds his father drunk at a bar and helps him home. In the middle of the night, Billy steals $20 dollars from T. J.'s piggy bank and drives to a casino. Returning the next morning, he announces to the stable employees and T. J. that he won $6,400 and bought gifts for everyone. Just as T. J. thinks his father has forgotten him, Billy presents him with a racehorse, named "She's a Lady." T. J. becomes the center of attention as he rides around the stable, the proud owner of a filly. On race day at Hialeah, T. J. prepares his horse and jockey for the next heat. Nearby, Annie Phillips, a rich, successful fashion designer who is part of the society crowd in attendance, overhears T. J. bragging that "She's a Lady" will win. Charmed by the boy's gumption, Annie promises T. J. that she will bet $10 dollars on the horse. During the race, "She's a Lady" is on the verge of taking the lead when she falls. From the stands, Annie watches through her binoculars as T. J. runs across the track to his stricken horse. When she recognizes her ex-husband, Billy Flynn, following the boy, she realizes that T. J. is the son she left seven years before. At the stables, T. J. and Billy wait anxiously for the veterinarian to decide the fate of "She's a Lady." As soon as Billy sees Annie approaching, he yanks her aside to disclose that he explained her seven-year absence by telling T. J his mother had been killed in a car accident. Annie understands that she gave up custody during the divorce, but wants to see her son. T. J. interrupts their argument with the good news that his horse's wound is only superficial. Annie reintroduces herself to T. J., but Billy takes his son and walks away. After reconsidering, Billy allows T. J. to visit Annie one afternoon, without revealing that Annie is his mother. Dressed in a suit, T. J. spends the day on the Phillips' yacht. Afterward, he is enthusiastic about the visit, telling his father that Annie and her husband, Mike, are not snobby like most "turf clubbers." Sometime later at a casino, Billy's winning streak comes to an end and he incurs a debt of $2,000 dollars, which he must pay in forty-eight hours or the backer, Whitey, will take possession of "She's a Lady." After unsuccessfully pursuing other options, Billy borrows the money from Annie. Later, he is furious when Whitey arrives at the stables to collect T. J.'s horse, since Billy assured him that he would deliver the $2,000 dollars that afternoon. Billy pulls Whitey from the car and punches him. When security guards try to intervene, Billy attacks them until police arrive and arrest him. In jail, an attorney informs Billy that Annie wants to look after T. J. while the case is settled. Billy tells his son about the arrangement, but T. J. does not understand. To convince his devoted son that he is "a bum," Billy declares that he is tired of taking care of T. J. and slaps him. On the yacht, Annie helps T. J. unpack when she accidentally reveals that she is his mother. As she tries to explain, T. J. says that his mother is dead and screams for her to go away. After being released from jail, Billy returns to the racetrack where he sees T. J. in the stands with his suitcase. They hug, and Billy says that he will never leave again. That evening, Annie arrives at the stables to confer with Billy about T. J., since the boy will need an explanation now that he knows his mother is alive. As Billy becomes emotional about his own needs, Annie realizes that Billy still loves her. Motivated to start earning a decent living for his son, Billy commits to a boxing comeback. His former trainer, Jackie, arrives in Miami, but expresses concern about Billy's previous blows to the head and recommends a medical evaluation. However, Billy dismisses his headaches and says he has made up his mind. Jackie agrees to help, and they begin training. Meanwhile, Billy encourages T. J. to respond to his mother's letters. At her residence in New York City, Annie explains to her husband that she wants to be in Miami for Billy's fight, sensing that her presence will make a difference. On the night of the match at Miami's Forum, T. J. and Billy are excited to see Annie in the crowd. During an early round, Billy looks strong and knocks his opponent, Bowers, to the floor. In the next round, Billy receives a cut near his eye, but fights back. As the match continues, Billy is briefly knocked down and staggers to his feet, experiencing double vision. When he goes down a second time, the referee considers stopping the fight as Billy's cut continues to bleed. Jackie and T. J. also want to end the fight, but Billy assures them he is okay. All of a sudden, Billy finds a second wind and knocks out Bowers for the victory. He holds up his son as the crowd cheers, but T. J. is alarmed by his father's disorientated and swollen appearance. While leaning against Jackie on the way back to the locker room, Billy collapses. He lies on the table and tells his son that Annie is a good person and to be happy because he won the fight. As Billy dies, T. J. calls for "The Champ" and asks the other trainers to wake him, but Jackie announces Billy is gone. When she enters the room, Annie goes to her son and hugs him.

This is supernatural tale of the unborn. After moving into a creepy old apartment in Manhattan with her husband Guy, Rosemary Woodhouse begins to experience odd, unpleasant things happening to her. Guy becomes enchanted with their nosy neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet, after the older couple`s ward commits suicide. Then Rosemary gets pregnant after a bad dream in which a horrible creature makes love to her. A caring Minnie keeps giving her some weird concoction for the pregnancy and Rosemary doesn`t feel at all well. The only solution is, as the tag-line says, to "pray for Rosemary`s baby

In this chilling adaptation of H.P. Lovecrafts The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward, Charles Dexter Ward (Vincent Price) travels with his wife Ann (Debra Paget) to Arkham to inspect a mansion he has inherited. The original lord of the manor was his Great Grandfather Joseph Curwen, a disciple of the devil, who placed a hideous curse on the villagers as they burned him at the stake. Slowly Ward feels the spirit of his ancestor possessing him and seeking a desperate vengeance on the descendants of those who previously thwarted his plans. Accursed mutants...evil possession...will anyone escape The Haunted Palace? In the town of Arkham, in 18th century New England, Ezra Weeden (Leo Gordon) and Micah Smith (Elisha Cook Jr.) follow a young woman named Fitch at a distance. She seems to be in a trance as she walks through a cemetery to a palace door where she knocks and is ushered in by a woman named Hester. Declaring this is the home of Satan himself, Ezra and Micah go to get help. Meanwhile, Hester takes the Fitch woman to Joseph Curwan (Vincent Price), who leads her through a secret door downstairs to a platform in an ancient dungeon cellar. He chains her between two posts on the platform and then he chants in Latin. The woman finally awakes screaming at the sound of some beast growling from below. The townspeople armed with torches arrive at the palace door and knock. Curwan opens it and produces the Fitch girl alive and well, but still in a trance. She answers yes to his claims that she came of her own free will, but when asked by Weeden for her name she cannot answer. The townspeople accuse Curwan of being a warlock and tie him to a tree. He calls out their names: Ezra Weeden, Micah Smith, Benjamin West, Priam Willet (Frank Maxwell), and Gideon Leach. He declares that he will rise from the dead and that this town and they and their families will bear his curse. Then he is set on fire and burned to death. 110 years later, a man who looks identical to Curwan, his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward, arrives in Arkham with his wife Ann (Debra Paget), looking for the palace that he has inherited. They are warned that the village is cursed to which Charles scoffs. They enter a tavern called the Burning Man Tavern and tell the people theyre looking for the Curwen family house. Edgar Weeden (a dead ringer for his own ancestor, as are all the other main characters) warns them it is a palace of unknown origin brought stone by stone from some European country. Mr. Willet, a doctor, gives them directions there and shows them where the palace is on the side of a cliff. After they leave, Edgar warns the townspeople that Joseph Curwan has come back to Arkham. The Wards enter the palace and note that the portrait of Joseph Curwan looks just like Charles. Charles seems momentarily possessed by it. As they explore other rooms in the house, a caretaker named Simon (Lon Chaney Jr.) greets them. The attorney had contacted him and he was preparing it for their arrival. Not wishing to stay in a town with such unfriendly people, they tell him they plan to leave at once. But he encourages them to at least spend the night, since there is no place else to go. In his home, Edgar feeds some creature that is behind his locked and barred attic door. It grabs his hand through the bars and Edgar has to use a candle to chase it off. He tells his wife that "it" knows Curwan has come back to Arkham. At the palace, the more Ward looks at the painting, the more it seems to possess him. The next morning, Charles tells his wife that he is now planning to stay, just for a few weeks to get the place ready to be sold. She doesn't like it, but agrees to remain. As Charles and Ann walk through town early on a foggy morning, they find the tavern door locked. Then a series of mutated people - a young girl with no eyes, and four other similarly blind, half-blind or otherwise deformed men slowly approach the Wards menacingly until they are surrounded. But the sound of a bell tolling in the distance causes them to disperse and walk away. Later, Dr. Willet tells them all those people were born mutated. Weeden had gathered them together to try and chase the newcomers away. He tells the story of Joseph Curwan, who came to town 150 years ago. His first wife died in childbirth so he took the most beautiful woman in town, Hester, as his mistress a woman who had been promised to Ezra Weeden. Over the years, terrible noises were heard from the castle, and young girls often disappeared at night then were returned with no memory. They concluded he was a warlock a conjurer of the dead. He was thought to have found a legendary book, the Necronomicon, which gave him formulas to summon dark gods from beyond, who had once ruled the world, and now were waiting to take it back again. He was trying to mate the gods with humans to create a new race through which the gods could gain control. The townspeople feel that the mutations were failed experiments. Willet himself can't explain the mutations and advises them to flee the village as if a madman with a knife was chasing them. That night, Charles hears the sound of voices outside but there is no one there. He goes outside to look and Simon finds him and suggests he "ask Mr. Curwan." He takes him to the portrait room. After Ward has stared at the portrait for a time, Simon addresses him as Joseph. Ward begins to speak in a different sinister tone of voice. Curwan is now possessing Ward's body, but he tells Simon he feels Ward is still fighting him and he will lose possession of him shortly. He tells Simon and another old friend Jabez to keep Ward there so that he can soon possess him completely. They present him with the Necronomicon. Ann comes downstairs hearing them talk, but when she arrives they are all gone except Ward, who is back to his normal self for now. A week passes, and Ward is still there. The townspeople discuss putting a stop to him. Meanwhile, late one night, he digs up the grave of Hester Tellinghast and he and his crew bring the body into his palace down to the secret cellar. When Ann asks where hes been, he cruelly scolds her and sends her back to her room alone. Joseph's voice calls to him declaring he will never leave him alone and that his will is too strong to fight. When Ann comes back to confront him, he tells her she must leave tomorrow. Ann goes downstairs later looking for Charles but finds Simon instead and faints. Meanwhile, Joseph is chanting in Latin for Hester to return to life, which she finally does, but she is too weak to stay alive. Joseph weakens from the effort and is taken back upstairs where Charles has no memory of what happened. He fears he is going mad, and tells Ann they must both leave in the morning. The next morning they try to leave quickly, but Simon says he must make out a receipt for the week's expenses first. Ann goes ahead to the cab, but Charles stays and falls under Joseph's spell again. Dr. Willet tells Ann about the grave robbery, and says Charles may have done it. Charles emerges from the house, acting like Joseph and blaming the others for trying to frame him and scare him away. He declares he has decided to stay. Ann tells Willet how her husband changes personalities more and more since the first night he arrived. Inside, Joseph declares that Charles is dead and he now has full control. But before he does his work, he must get his revenge against the descendants of the ones who burned him alive. At the bar, Weeden talks about the grave robbery and tries to stir the townspeople into fighting back against Ward, saying if they do nothing to save themselves they deserve whatever they get. Meanwhile, the possessed Ward unbolts the door to Weeden's locked attic, releasing the creature. Weeden returns home to be attacked by the thing, and both die when they fall into the fireplace. Ward tears the name Ezra Weeden off his revenge list. Peter Smith is appalled when Ward later attends Weeden's funeral from a distance. Night falls, and while Peter Smith is out walking alone, Ward tosses gasoline on him and sets him on fire. Micah Smith's name is removed from the list. Simon warns him to stop feasting on revenge, but Curwan insists on continuing his task. He goes to make love to Ann, but she scratches him and makes him leave. She then summons Dr. Willet for help, telling him Joseph Curwan is killing her husband. Ward arrives suddenly in mid-conversation and tells the doctor the house is affecting his wife. He pretends he is unchanged, asking the doctor to take her to Boston. She reluctantly agrees, and leaves at once with the doctor. As they pass through the town, the townspeople show Willet and Ann the burned body of Smith and declare that her husband killed him. Willet decides they must get Ward out of the palace before the townspeople kill him. Alone with Simon and Jabez, Charles succeeds in bringing Hester completely back from the dead. Ann and Willet go back to the palace but can't find Ward. Willet remembers how Ward just appeared when they were talking by the picture. They look at the nearby wall and find the secret door to the cellar. In the cellar, they find the empty coffin of Hester and the Necronomicon. Charles, Simon, Hester and Jabez confront them. Joseph tells of a project - the most important ever attempted by humans - that they were working on "a few years ago". They don't fully understand it, they just obey. Simon takes Willet away while Ann is chained to the posts. Ward chants in Latin. Jabez tell Willet they are "honoring" her. The grate below the posts is opened, and an unearthly creature begins to rise from the depths below. The townspeople charge to the palace and open the door calling for Joseph Curwan and setting the place on fire. They toss the portrait of Curwan in the fire. When they do, Ward is freed of Joseph's possession. He runs to his wife and unchains her before the creature arrives. Simeon and Jabez attack him, calling him a traitor. He pleads for Willet to take Ann to safety. The doctor gets her outside safely and then goes back for Charles. He finds him alone and collapsed in the cellar, and barely manages to get him out the front door before the flames consume the palace. Leaning against a tree, Ward tells them he is all right now, thanks to Ann and Dr. Willet and that he looks forward to repaying their kindness. But the sinister tone of his voice and the half smile on his face as he turns back around indicate that he is once again possessed by Joseph.

Jack changes neighbors' house colors, buys shops, and a circus to please family. When his daughter Amberlyn time-travels to 1900s Texarkana during her father's mayoral campaign, Jack follows with the circus. If Jack Griffith's wife doesn't like the color of a neighbor's house, he'll arrange for it to be a house of a different color. If the owner of the ice cream parlor doesn't believe in selling triple banana splits for a penny, Jack will buy the establishment. And if Jack's little girl wants the pony in the circus parade, why not buy the entire circus! This last prank sends Amberlyn Griffith back to Texarkana c. 1900, where her father is running for his third term as mayor. Jack follows, bringing the entire circus. —Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

Aging gunslinger Jacob Wade hopes to settle down with his estranged son, but his old enemies have other plans for him. Gunslinger Jacob Wade finds his long-abandoned son Riley, now a young man who hates his father but has nowhere else to go. Hoping to settle down, Jacob finds no town will have him. They end at Monolith, the ranch of Jacob's former girlfriend Ada, to whom he had no intention of returning. A mustang hunt finds Riley himself attracted to the shapely Ada...and Jacob having trouble with his eyesight. And his visions of a quiet life are doomed by the re-appearance of enemies from his past... —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Police detective Roy Hargis falls for night club singer Ilona Vance, but his partner Sgt. Lackey is convinced she fatally shot mob lawyer Frank Hobart. Hargis has his doubts, until he learns that Ilona once owned the murder weapon. After gangland lawyer Frank Hobart is murdered there are two suspects - Ilona Vance , beautiful nightclub singer, and a hood named Stan, who had been hired by underworld boss Chad Bayliss to kill Hobart. Attracted to Ilona, Lt. Detective Roy Hargis tries to protect her in spite of the growing evidence against her and the pressure put on him by his assistant, Sergeant Lackey. Hargis thinks the case has broken when a dance hall girl, Sandra Lamoreaux, who saw Stan at the scene of the murder, tries to use this information to blackmail him, and is badly beaten. She manages to talk to Hargis, and her story brings about Stan's capture and conviction for murder. But he didn't do it. It is now up to Hargis to either clear or convict Ilona. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

An ex-gunfighter defends homesteaders in 1889 Wyoming. Shane rides into a conflict between cattleman Ryker and a bunch of settlers, like Joe Starrett and his family, whose land Ryker wants. When Shane beats up Ryker's man Chris, Ryker tries to buy him. Then Shane and Joe take on the whole Ryker crew. Ryker sends to Cheyenne for truly evil gunslinger Wilson. Shane must clear out all the guns from the valley. —Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu> Enigmatic gunslinger Shane rides into a small Wyoming town with hopes of quietly settling down as a farmhand. Taking a job on homesteader Joe Starrett's farm, Shane is drawn into a battle between the townsfolk and ruthless cattle baron Rufus Ryker. Shane's growing attraction to Starrett's wife, Marian, and his fondness for their son Joey, who idolizes Shane, force Shane to realize that he must thwart Ryker's plan. —Jwelch5742

DILLINGER Newsreels are being shown to an audience in a theater. At the end of the film, a master of ceremonies introduces to the crowd the person you have been wanting to see. An older man of countrified appearance and manner introduces himself as the father of John Dillinger. He says that John had a normal childhood and adolescence, but soon after he left his small town to seek fortune elsewhere. In a manner reminiscent of Orson Welles Citizen Kane, the rest of the film shows crucial scenes in the life of John Dillinger. A young man, John Dillinger and his date are having drinks at a booth in a bar. The girl says she wants two more drinks. The waiter insists that the drinks must be paid for in advance. John evidently does not have the money, tries to pay by check, is refused, and angrily wants to drag the girl somewhere else. The girl refuses to leave. John walks out of the bar and holds up a candy shop, pretending to have a gun in his pocket, and takes the cash from the till. In his room, later, he counts the money to be seven dollars and twenty cents. In the next sequence, John goes to see a movie. On the way in he is attracted to the girl at the box office, who returns his glances with interest. On his way out, he sees the girl counting money. Once again pretending to have a gun, he takes all the cash. He is caught by police but the box office girl does not want to finger him from the police lineup, despite the fact that she had identified him from a photograph. John is taken to a jail, where an older man is his cell mate. After initial friction, they strike up a relationship, and the older man, also a holdup robber, introduces him to four others of his gang. They become pals of sorts. Johns jail sentence is relatively short, and he promises to spring the others free after he first comes out of jail. In a sequence of economically filmed scenes, John frees his friends, they become bank robbers, and pull a long series of robberies, each more daring than the rest. In the course of time, he replaces the older robber Specs Green who had been his cell mate as the leader and brain of the operations. When things get too hot, they hole up in a remote country inn where one of the gang had grown up, raised by a kindly couple. At one point, flush with money, John goes back to find the girl that he liked from the movie house, seduces her with expensive gifts, such as a diamond bracelet priced at eight thousand dollars, and brings her to the farm hideout as an additional member of the gang. John is caught and sent to jail. While in prison, he buys from a man in the next cell a piece of wood and a whittling knife, with which he fashions a wooden replica of a hand gun. Using the replica hand gun, he manages to escape by tricking the guard. Some time later, the gang is so well known that they decide it is too risky to keep holding up banks, so they hold up a train that is carrying a load of money instead. Eventually the police authorities sniff out where they are hiding and are about to surround and storm the farm hideout. The tremendous pressure turns the gang members against each other. John shoots and kills Specs Green, and also the kindly couple who have been hiding them, when John finds them trying to phone for help. When the girl plans to leave the farm in the car with a younger gang member, John intercepts the gang member and axes him to death, successfully escaping from the inn with the girl. Because posters offering 15000 dollar reward for his capture are everywhere, John and the girl remain in hiding for months. The girl gets very tired of their existence, says she wants to have fun. John has grown a mustache so she says he will not be recognized. But they are running out of money. The girl decides she has no future, contacts the police and eventually gets John to take her to a movie. She is wearing a red dress so the police will recognize her. As they leave the movie house, she says she wants to buy some candy and leaves John alone. The police move in, and John is killed in a shootout. The policemen examine his pockets as he lies dead, and find seven dollars and twenty cents in his pocket.

After a fight with his wife on their anniversary, Scott Henderson, a 32-year-old engineer, picks up an equally unhappy woman at Anselmo's Bar in Manhattan and they take a taxi to see a stage show. The woman refuses to tell him anything about herself. The star of the show they are watching, Estela Monteiro, becomes furious when she notices that she and the mystery woman are wearing the same unusual hat. When Henderson returns home, he finds Police Inspector Burgess and two of his men waiting to question him; his wife has been strangled with one of his neckties. Henderson has a solid alibi, but the bartender, taxi driver and Monteiro deny seeing the phantom lady. Henderson cannot even clearly describe the woman. He is tried and sentenced to death. Carol Richman, Henderson's loyal secretary, who is secretly in love with him, sets out to prove his innocence. She starts with the bartender. She sits in the bar night after night, staring at and unnerving him. Finally, she follows him home one night. When he confronts her on the street, some bystanders step in to restrain him. He breaks free, runs into the street and is run over. Later, Burgess offers to help (unofficially); he has become convinced that only a fool or an innocent man would have stuck to such a weak alibi. Burgess provides her with information about the drummer at the show, Cliff, who had tried to make eye contact with the mystery lady. Carol dresses provocatively and goes to another of Cliff's shows, hoping to glean more information. By making intense eye contact with Cliff during the performance, she manages to capture his attention. Afterward, Cliff approaches her, and she returns to his apartment with him. Somewhat drunk, Cliff brags that he was paid $500 for his false testimony. However, he becomes suspicious when he accidentally knocks over her purse and among the spilled contents finds a piece of paper with details about him. Richman manages to escape, leaving her purse behind. After she has gone, the real murderer, Henderson's best friend Jack Marlow, shows up at the apartment and strangles Cliff to death. Marlow has put aside business in South America to come home, ostensibly to help Richman save Henderson; secretly he works to frustrate her efforts, while hiding his own deteriorating mental state. Richman tracks down Monteiro's hat maker, Kettisha . One of her employees admits to copying the hat for a regular customer and provides her name and address. With Burgess away on another case, Richman and Marlow go to see Ann Terry. They discover her under the care of Dr. Chase; the man she was to marry had died suddenly, leaving her emotionally devastated. Richman is unable to get any information from her, but does find the hat. Marlow suggests they wait for Burgess at Marlow's apartment. However, while she is freshening up, Richman finds her purse and the paper with Cliff's particulars in a dresser drawer. Marlow admits he became enraged when Henderson's wife refused to run away with him; she was only toying with him. Burgess arrives just in time. Marlow throws himself out the window to his death. With Henderson freed, things appear to return to normal. However, Richman is delighted to learn (from a Dictaphone message) that her boss returns her love.

A wildcatter, broke but slick, manages to acquire a lease for oil-rich land but ruthless competitors sabotage his oil company any way they can. Wildcatter Johnny Maverick and his pal, Chicopee Nevins are speeding toward Antril Bend, a small town in the oil region, that has offered $25,000 to the person bringing in the first oil well.They accidentally find oil on the town's outskirts, and Johnny writes a $4000 hot check for the property. He covers that by having Chicopee sell his half interest to oil promoter Gus Sloane for $7000. Sloane hires a crew to start drilling on his half of the property, with Johnny's old enemy, Mile Rawlins as his foreman. Rawlins sabotages Johnny's rig, causing Chicopee's death. Confidence man Oliver Westbrook and his confederate, Nan Dearing hatch a plan to swindle Johnny by having Nan pose as Chicopee's sister. It works and Johnny makes Nan his partner. Another accident staged by Rawlins forces Johnny to sign a note to get money for repair. Nan falls in love with Johnny and abandons her plan to swindle him. As the note deadline approaches, Johnny learns that Sloane has purchased it as a means of taking over the well.

Private detective Sam Spade gets involved with a band of international thieves who lie, double cross and commit murder for a jewel-encrusted statue known as The Maltese Falcon.