Irving Pichel

After their service in the Civil War, four brothers go their separate ways, but later find themselves on opposite sides of a final showdown. After the Civil War four brothers who fought for the South head west. Yanks are building the Santa Fe Railroad and one of the brothers joins them. The other three still hold their hatred of the North and join up with those trying to stop the railroad's completion. The one brother unsuccessfully tries to keep the other brothers out of trouble but eventually has to join the posse that is after them. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net> After the end of the US Civil War, former Confederate soldier Britt Canfield gets a job building the Santa Fe railroad. He's good at his job and soon finds himself the number two man. His urges his three brothers - Terry, Tom and Clint - to join him, but they still can't quite accept that the South was defeated. Britt also meets the very attractive Judith Chandler whose husband was killed while serving in the Union army. When his brothers take to robbing trains, Britt finds himself opposing them. —garykmcd Following the Civil War, Confederate-veteran Britt Canfield (Randolph Scott) becomes assistant to Santa Fe Railroad construction chief Dave Baxter (Warner Anderson) and falls in love with Judith Chandler ('Janis Carter), the railroad paymaster. Despite his request they go to work for the railroad, Britt's brothers Terry (Jerome Courtland), Tom (Peter M. Thompson) and Clint (John Archer), still fighting for a lost cause, join an outlaw gang robbing trains. Britt is soon forced to lead a posse against his brothers. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

A little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles. With Christmas Eve just around the corner, fading song-and-dance performer Joe Mahoney finds himself forced to part ways with his extraordinary, indispensable, kilt-wearing companion Rupert, the squirrel. In the meantime, another struggling vaudevillian, Louie Amendola, moves into the cold flat of miserly landlord Frank Dingle with his family, unbeknownst to them that an unexpected Christmas miracle is about to take place. However, as the underemployed Amendolas have a taste of the good life thanks to the godsent gift, the police start to suspect foul play. Does stealthy Rupert have something to do with their newfound happiness? —Nick Riganas A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a New York family (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel, not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever. The film is enlivened with the warmth and sweetness of an unforgettable love story between Terry Moore (of Mighty Joe Young) and Tom Drake (of Meet Me in St. Louis). Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal's Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and other well-loved Christmas carols in the evocative voice that made him one of America's recording legends. —Anonymous

A grandson of a recently deceased millionaire mistakes a beautiful female disc jockey for her aunt, who once dated the grandfather.

When Countess Marya Zaleska appears in London, mysterious events occur that lead Dr. Von Helsing to believe that the Countess must be a vampire. Prof. Van Helsing is in danger of prosecution for the murder of Dracula...until a hypnotic woman steals the Count's body and cremates it. Bloodless corpses start appearing in London again, and Hungarian countess Marya Zaleska seeks the aid of Jeffrey Garth, psychiatrist, in freeing herself of a mysterious evil influence. The scene changes from foggy London back to that eerie road to the Borgo Pass... —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu> Professor Von Helsing has done the world a favor by driving a stake through the heart of Count Dracula and thus destroying him. For his trouble, Scotland Yard charges him with murder. Dr. Jeffrey Garth, a psychiatrist, may be able to act as an attorney and defend him in court. But Garth finds he has his own troubles when the Countess Marya Zaleska seeks his help. She wants to be released from her desire to drink the blood of the living. She steals the corpse of her father, Count Dracula, and burns it ritually; but she still wants blood. She'll do anything to free herself of this curse, including kidnapping the baron's daughter who is Dr. Garth's assistant, and thwarting the hopes of her sinister manservant, Sandor. —J. Spurlin In London, two policemen find the body of a man, Renfield, with the neck broken, and Dracula with a stake through his heart. They arrest Prof. Von Helsing, who tells them he did it, and take him to Scotland Yard. The inspector Sir Basil Humphrey asks Von Helsing who might defend him and the professor asks for the psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Garth. Meanwhile, the mysterious Countess Marya Zeleska, Dracula's daughter, compels the policeman that is in charge to take care of the bodies and takes Dracula's body with her to bury him with her assistant Sandor before dawn, expecting to be released from the family's curse. In Edinburgh, Jeffrey is hunting with friends and his assistant Janet Blake comes to tell him that he has an appointment with Scotland Yard to help his friend Von Helsing. When Von Helsing tells him about Dracula, Jeffrey believes that he is obsessed with the vampire and promises to help him. During the night, he goes to a party where he meets the Hungarian Countess and he tells his theories about the vampire blood thirsty that he believes is an obsession. Now, Countess Zeleska believes that Jeffrey can heal her and release her from her blood thirst and she wants to bring him to her castle to spend eternal life with her in Transylvania. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Picking up where Dracula (1931) left off, Dr. Von Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), thinking he has rid London of all vampires, is instead arrested for murder. Meanwhile, the beautiful and mysterious Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) appears in London seeking the understanding Dr. Garth (Otto Kruger), Von Helsing's psychiatrist. A mysterious sequence of events leads Von Helsing and Garth to head to Transylvania after the elusive countess and to rescue Garth's beautiful fiancee (Marguerite Churchill) in this classic thriller. —Anonymous