Thelma Ritter

Robert Reed visits his philandering friend Bernard Lawrence just as Bernard's scheme of being secretly simultaneously engaged to three flight attendants goes awry. Based on Marc Camoletti's stage play. American playboy Bernard Lawrence has cleverly designed a system using the airline timetables to keep going three affairs with flight stewardesses. However, his life soon starts to descend into a shambles after the arrival of a friend, Robert Reed, and a dreaded change to the flight order, whereby it becomes increasingly difficult to keep his three fiancées apart. —David Gibson <djg6@ukc.ac.uk> Living in Paris, journalist Bernard has devised a scheme to keep three fiancées: Lufthansa, Air France and British United. Everything works fine as long as they only come to visit him every third day. But when there's a change in their working schedule, they will be able to see him every second day instead. Bernard's carefully structured life is breaking apart. —Mattias Thuresson American Bernard Lawrence is an International Press correspondent based in Paris, where he lives with his fiancée, British national British United air hostess Vicky Hawkins. Or is it German national Lufthansa air hostess Lise Bruner? Or is it French national Air France air hostess Jacqueline Grieux? In fact, it's all three, but none of the three know about the other two. With a master airline schedule in hand, Bernard is able to schedule time separately with each of his three fiancées in the same apartment at different times - when one is in Paris, the other two are off flying around the world. Helping Bernard is his acerbic-tongued, efficient but slightly tired live-in maid, Bertha, who has to manage three sets each of photographs, clothing (two of which are always locked up) and bed linens, and has to remember that it is Vicky who eats kidneys, Lise who eats knockwurst and Jacqueline who eats soufflés. Trouble ensues when a rival reporter acquaintance, Robert Reed, comes to Paris. Upon finding out about Bernard's personal situation, Robert blackmails Bernard, the ransom for not exposing Bernard's secret to any of the three women being being able to stay at the apartment while in Paris. But Robert sees somewhat of a good thing, as when he learns that Bernard may be relocated to New York, Robert has dreams of taking over Bernard's Paris situation. But worse for Bernard is that British United, Lufthansa and Air France have all purchased new jumbo jets making air travel faster, which in turn means a whole revamp of their respective airline schedules and the schedules of the three fiancées. —Huggo

The fashion industry and Paris provide the setting for a comedy surrounding the mistaken impression that Samantha Blake is a high-priced call girl. Steve Sherman is the journalist interviewing her for insights on her profession. Having once played and lost in love, twenty-five year old Samantha Blake has immersed herself in her job as the chief ladies fashions buyer for discount J. Bergner's Fifth Avenue in New York. In other words, she scowls the high end shops at night stealing their designs which Bergner then produces and sells for a fraction of the cost. She has placed as much space between herself and romance by dressing like a man and going by the moniker Sam. Steve Sherman could be a great journalist, but his womanizing always seems to get in the way. Steve and Sam meet on the same New York to Paris flight, Sam who is travelling there with her boss Joe Bergner and her wisecracking colleague Lena O'Connor, who is secretly in love with Joe, to visit the Paris design houses under the guidance of vivacious Felicienne Corbeau, while Steve has been exiled there by his boss, International Press chief Bertram Chalmers, as Steve's iron-clad contract won't allow Chalmers to fire him until the expiry of that contract, Chalmer's hope being that Steve kills himself among the bevy of French beauties in the process. Sam and Steve immediately butt heads being the antithesis of each other when it comes to love and romance. Lena has her own romance problems as she can see that she will have to fight Felicienne for Joe, which is made all the more difficult in Felicienne being a truly nice woman. But being in the city of love opens Sam's eyes to the fact that she really wants love in her life. Making herself over to an extreme, she meets Steve, who out of circumstance doesn't recognize her as Sam and who believes she is a prostitute named Mimi. Steve's initial interest in Mimi is purely as a source for stories, he using her background to equate the French view of love and sex with sport. But as they spend more time together, they begin to fall for each other, the question then being if they can love each other as plain old Steve and Samantha. —Huggo

A true-life drama about Robert Stroud who educated himself in the science of birds while spending 53 years in prison. He became a world authority on birds. Convicted of murder twice, the second time for killing a prison guard, Robert Stroud is sentenced to life in solitary confinement. One day, after curing a sickly sparrow that lands in his cell, Stroud finds new purpose in his lonely life. He begins studying and eventually becomes an expert on birds. Through the strength of his will and the power of his intellect, Stroud is able to create a new life, and a fascinating world, in his tiny prison cell.

In Reno, Nevada, Roslyn Tabor (Marilyn Monroe), 30-year-old beautiful woman files for a quickie six-week residency divorce from her inattentive husband, Raymond (Kevin McCarthy). Roslyn says that is she is going to be alone; she wants to be by herself. Raymond had gifted a car to Roslyn as part of the divorce settlement, which she tries to sell with the help of her landlady Isabelle. The car was broken down and a tow truck service was called to repair it and give an estimate on the price. The person who arrived was Guido, who was smitten with Roslyn. Afterward, Isabelle takes her to a cocktail lounge at Harrah's for drinks. Roslyn loves animals and is always kind to them. She is a very sensitive woman, emotionally. Rosyln meets aging cowboy Gay Langland (Clark Gable). Guido (Eli Wallach) and Gay invite Roslyn and her friend Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter) to Guido's place in the country to help her forget about the divorce. Guido is a tow truck driver and Gay's best friend. The friendly Guido tells Roslyn and Isabelle about his unfinished house in the country. Roslyn and Isabelle follow Gay and Guido in Roslyn's car out to countryside. Isabelle tells Roslyn not to believe anything that a cowboy says as she is too believing. They arrive at the half-finished house Guido built for his wife, who had died during childbirth. They drink and dance. Roslyn has too much to drink, so Gay drives her home. Eventually, the two move into Guido's half-finished house and start to work on it. One day after breakfast, Gay tells Roslyn how he wishes he were more of a father to his own children, whom he has not seen for some years. Later that afternoon, Roslyn and Gay have a fight when he decides to kill a rabbit that is eating from the vegetable garden they have planted. When Guido and Isabelle show up, Gay suggests rounding up wild mustangs to sell. They go to a local rodeo in Dayton, NV to hire a third man for the job. Along the way, they meet Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift), a friend of Gay's who is on his way to the rodeo to compete. Gay offers to pay for the broke Perce's $10.00 entry fee if he helps them with the mustangs afterward. In a bar Roslyn wins $145 on hitting a Paddle ball continually, she later gives some of the money to the church Lady. Guido, Perce, Roslyn and Gaylord go to a bar and nearly get into a fistfight when a drunk spanks Roslyn's bottom. Outside the bar, Isabelle sees her ex-husband Charles (Philip Mitchell) and his wife of 19 years Clara, she decides to invite them to her home instead of going in a mustang with Roslyn and the others. At the rodeo, Roslyn becomes upset when Guido tells her how the horses are made to buck with an irritating flank strap. She declares that all rodeos should be banned. Later, after Perce is thrown by a horse, Roslyn begs him to go to a hospital, but he insists on riding a bull. He gets thrown again, resulting in a head injury. Later, after Roslyn dances with Perce, he passes out in a back alley. When he regains consciousness, he sees her crying over him. He says that he never had anyone cry for him before and that he wished he had a friend to talk to. He tells her how his mother changed after his father died. She gave his stepfather the ranch his father wanted to leave to Perce. A drunken Gay then fetches Roslyn, telling her that he wants her to meet his kids, whom he unexpectedly ran into. But Gay causes a public scene when he discovers his children have not waited around. Later on, during the drive home, a drunken Guido asks if Roslyn has left Gay and offers to take his place. Back at Guido's house, Perce comes to and nearly tears his bandages off, forgetting about his recent injury. Roslyn puts him to bed. She then sits down with Gay. He asks her if a woman like her would ever want to have a child with him. She avoids the issue, and Gay goes to bed. The next day, Gay, Guido and Perce prepare to go after the mustangs. Roslyn reluctantly tags along. After they catch a stallion and four mares, she screams that she hates the men when she learns that the mustangs will be sold for dog food. She then tells Gay she did not know she was falling in love with a killer. He tells her that he did things for her that he never did for any other woman, such as making the house a home and planting the garden. She begs Gay to release the horses. He considers doing it, but when she offers to pay $200, it angers him. Guido tells Roslyn that he would let them go if she would leave Gay for him. She rebuffs him coldly. Perce also asks her if she wants him to set the horses free, but she declines because she thinks it would only start a fight. He frees the stallion anyway. After Gay chases down and subdues the horse all by himself, he lets it go and says he just did not want anybody making up his mind for him. They get into Gay's truck. As they're driving Roslyn tells Gay: "I'll leave tomorrow, OK". The truck stops to pick up Gay's dog. Roslyn gets out and Gay, his heart melting watches as Roslyn joyfully removes the tether from the dog. Roslyn gets into the truck and Gay says: "I bless you girl" He and Roslyn drive off under the starry night sky.

Jan Morrow (Doris Day) is an interior decorator in New York City. She lives alone and claims to be happy when questioned on that subject by her drunken housekeeper, Alma (Thelma Ritter). The only irritant in her life is the party line that she shares with Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a Broadway composer and playboy who lives in a nearby apartment building. She cannot obtain a private phone line for her business, which she runs from home, because the telephone company has been overwhelmed by recent demand for new phone lines. Jan and Brad, who have only ever "met" on the telephone, develop a feud over the use of the party line. Brad constantly uses the phone to chat with one young woman after another, singing to each of them an "original" love song supposedly written just for her, though he only changes the name or language he sings in. Jan needs the line for work and tries to make him more considerate. Brad suggests that the single Jan is jealous of his popularity and has a problem in 'the bedroom department.' He charms the telephone inspector who is sent to investigate Jan's complaint. Later, Brad and Jan agree to share the phone line on alternate half hours. One of Jan's clients is millionaire Jonathan Forbes (Tony Randall), who repeatedly asks her to marry him. She refuses. Unknown to Jan, Jonathan is also Brad's old college buddy and his current Broadway financier. Jonathan makes Brad aware of his latest love interest and Brad realizes this must be his feuding partner. He is intrigued. One evening in a nightclub, Brad sees Jan dancing and learns who she is. Attracted to her, he fakes a Texas accent and invents a new persona: Rex Stetson, a wealthy Texan rancher. He succeeds in wooing Jan, in part because he has Brad make insinuations that he can then work to Rex's favor. For example, Brad suggests Rex will stop by his hotel room on their date and try to seduce her; when Rex does this but only shows Jan the view, she thinks he is a perfect gentleman. When Jan brags to Brad about this, he suggests Rex may be gay. This leads Jan to question Rex about his attraction to her, thereby allowing him to kiss her. Jonathan uses a private eye to find out who Jan is dating. After discovering the truth about Brad's masquerade, he forces Brad to put Jan in a taxi and send her home. Brad is to leave New York and go to Jonathan's cabin in Connecticut to complete his new songs. However, Brad double crosses him by inviting Jan to join him. Once there, kissing ensues until Rex leaves to fetch logs for the fire and Jan stumbles upon a copy of Rex's sheet music. She plunks the melody on the nearby piano and recognizes Brad's 'inspiration' song. She confronts Brad and asks to be taken home by Jonathan, who has just arrived at the cabin to break up his thieving friend. In New York, Jonathan is less in love with Jan because she cries so much over Brad. He is pleased to learn that the playboy has fallen in love, while conversely Jan will have nothing to do with Brad. Brad turns to Alma for advice. Alma, pleased to meet Brad after listening in on the party line for so long, suggests he hire Jan to decorate his apartment so they will be forced to collaborate while drinking Brad under the table in the meantime. Jan only concedes so that her employer will not lose the commission. Brad leaves all the design decisions up to Jan, telling her only to design a place that she would want to live in herself. Still resentful, Jan decorates Brad's apartment in the most gaudy decor she can muster. Horrified by what he finds, Brad storms into Jan's apartment and carries her in her pajamas through the street back to his gaudy apartment to explain herself. Brad mentions all the changes he has made to end his bachelor lifestyle because he thought they were getting married. Her face lights up and, as he leaves in anger, she uses one of his "playboy" remote control switches to lock the door. She flips another switch and the player piano pounds out a honky-tonk version of Brad's standard love song. He turns around, their eyes meet, and they embrace. Some time later, Brad goes to tell Jonathan that he is going to be a father, only to be pulled by Dr. Maxwell (an obstetrician) and Nurse Resnick into their office for an examination, when he says that he is going to have a baby.

L.B. Jeffries is an injured photojournalist with nothing to do but look out on his unsuspecting neighbors. It`s all harmless fun till one night he witnesses a man murder his wife.