Clips from assorted television programs, B-movies, commercials, music performances, newsreels, bloopers, satirical short films and promotional and government films of the 1950s and 1960s are intercut together to tell a single story of various creatures and societal ills attacking American cities.
Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".
Successful and well-liked, Dr. Noah Praetorius becomes the victim of a witchhunt at the hands of Professor Elwell, who disdains Praetorius's unorthodox medical views and also questions his relationship with the mysterious, ever-present Mr. Shunderson.
Whenever it becomes known how good he is with guns, ex-gunman George and his wife Dora have to flee the town, in fear of all the gunmen who might want to challenge him. Unfortunately he again spills his secret when he's drunk. All citizens swear to keep his secret and support him to give up his guns forever -- but a boy tells the story to a gang of wanted criminals. Their leader threatens to burn down the whole town, if he doesn't duel him.
During their annual visit to the Iowa State Fair, the Frake family enjoy many adventures. Proud patriarch Abel has high hopes for his champion swine Blueboy; and his wife Melissa enters the mincemeat and pickles contest...with hilarious results.
"Cheaper by the Dozen", based on the real-life story of the Gilbreth family, follows them from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey, and details the amusing anecdotes found in large families.
While on a business trip, Tom Phillips is in a car accident caused by a reckless driver. Tom survives the accident with a severe chronic back injury which results in him not being able to continue with his current business. The Phillips' buy a motel in the California desert and Tom with his wife Peg and their two children, Tina and Jamie make the long road trip to their new home. As they approach their destination they are terrorized by reckless teenage hot-rodders looking for kicks.
A honeymoon aboard an ocean liner is cut short when the bride finds herself suddenly alone, and unable to convince anyone of her husband’s existence.
Adaptation of the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald for "Playhouse 90." A Midwesterner becomes fascinated with his wealthy neighbor, who obsesses over his lost love.
A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.
A supermodel gets murdered. While investigating the case the story of a waitress turned glamor girl is revealed.
Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her grandmother that she has been "passing" for white while at school in the North. In addition, she has fallen in love with a young white doctor, who knows nothing about her black heritage.
A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income, while Anne, Martha, and even Ernestine find romance.
An adman and an adwoman put a dangerous milk tycoon in line for the White House.
Two Broadway showgirls, who are also sisters, are sick and tired of New York as well as not getting nowhere. Quitting Broadway, the sisters decided to travel to Paris to become famous.
A famous movie star's fan club secretary has been brutally murdered. She has in her office old newspaper clippings regarding a missing heiress. Did the secretary know something about the mystery of the heiress?
Chronicles the rise and fall of the woman who eventually became known as Queen Nefertiti.
After a wild night, wealthy Michael Reston's adulterous wife Charleen comes home with her ripe young body barely concealed by a dress in rags; murder results. Top New York defense lawyer J.G. Blane, whose own marriage exists in name only, arrives in Desert View, Nevada to find the townsfolk and politically powerful Sheriff Hoak distinctly hostile to the Restons. In due course, Blane discovers he's been "taken for a ride," and that quiet desert communities can be deadly.
A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 and demands to be taken to Russia.
A woman reminisces about her teenage years in the 1920s, when she fell in love with her teacher.
A marriage broker can't resist meddling in the life of a model, with disastrous results.
A Prohibition-era nightclub crooner has his career is cut short when his throat is slashed by a mob boss.
A woman is persecuted by Jesus freaks after they've crucified her preacher husband.
A young bride who comes from a rich family has a hard time adjusting to life in a boarding house with other soldiers and their wives. Her spoiled ways cause resentment from the other wives and problems with her husband.
Lord Windermere appears to all – including his young wife Margaret – to be the perfect husband. The couple's happy marriage is placed at risk when he starts paying visits to a mysterious beautiful newcomer, Mrs. Erylnne, who is determined to make her entry into London's high society. Worse, the secret gets back to Margaret that Windermere has been giving Mrs. Erylnne large sums of money.
In 1876 Philadelphia, two sisters vie for the affections of a Frenchman who's come to town to prepare the French pavilion for the Centennial exposition.
Pinky Scariano, Allan Ross, and Frankie Davis all join the Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots. In training, they meet and become pals with Bobby Grills and Irving Miller, and the five struggle through the rigid training and grueling tests involved in becoming pilots. Not all of them succeed, and tragedy awaits for some.
The events that culminated with the Passion of Christ seen from the perspective of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator of Judea who unwillingly condemned Christ to death. Based on the biblical Gospel of John.
A young woman enters college and learns some hard truths about sorority life, including snobbery and the cruelty of hazing.
'Sparke' Thorton, a lad with a penchant for trouble, is sent to live with his Uncle and Aunt Bolt in Indiana after his Aunt Henrietta Bolt dies. Though he's not happy about the arrangement at first, his love of horses and his affection for a young filly that he plans to race make life bearable. He also finds romance with tomboyish 'Char' Bruce who shares his love for horses.
A bandleader falls in love and marries a small town girl.
Professor Henry Barnes decides he's lived long enough and contemplates suicide. His attitude is changed by Peggy Taylor, a chipper young mother-to-be who charms him into renting out his attic as an apartment for her and her husband Jason, a former GI struggling to finish college.
Outlaws plan a robbery to take place during a championship prizefight in Carson City, Nevada.
Logger Jim Hadley and his lumberjack crew are looking for new forest to cut. They locate a prime prospect outside the town of Deep Wells. The residents of Deep Wells led by Laura Riley are opposed to the felling of the trees, believing that losing them would cause mudslides during the heavy rains. Conflict between the town's residents and the loggers is inevitable.
Set in 18th-century Eastern Europe, the film concerns the star-crossed romance between a Polish military officer and a gorgeous Slavic princess. The princess' vengeful lover cuts a path of death and destruction throughout the land.
In 1880, Osawkie, Kansas is feuding with rival town Mandaroon over which will be county seat, keeping the town's men away from home most of the time. The last straw is when Matt Davis feels compelled to go on a new foray on his wedding night; his bride Liza (just call her Lysistrata) takes teacher Cassie's advice and organizes a marital strike to make the men-folk stop their nonsense.
An American insurance investigator is sent to Rhodesia to investigate the mysterious death of a diamond broker who drowned whilst diving off the coast. The broker was insured for $1 million so the insurers are suspicious.
In the 1950s, a small group of artists monopolized the attention of the cameras and the public. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford together form the "rat pack": they sing the most popular hits of the moment, star in the most profitable Hollywood films and are already making a splash on television . This documentary, produced by a recognized specialist in the history of Hollywood, recounts the exceptional destiny of this informal group which flirted with the greats of this world, notably through Sinatra, personal friend of American President Kennedy.
A soldier falls for a chorus girl and then experiences trouble when he is posted to the Pacific.
A year in the life of a turn-of-the-century middle class family, leading up to the opening of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
I'll Get By is an updated remake of the 1940 20th Century-Fox musical Tin Pan Alley. William Lundigan and Dennis Day play William Spencer and Freddie Lee respectively, successful song publishers who make hits out of such numbers as "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", "Deep in the Heart of Texas", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "There Will Never Be Another You", and other favorites (the rights to all of these songs were conveniently held by 20th Century-Fox). The partnership has some hard times, especially during the feud between ASCAP and the radio networks, when only public-domain songs like "I Dream of Jeannie" were permitted to be broadcast.
Inspirational documentary short film featuring Hollywood stars promoting the sales of War Bonds through songs and skits. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
This documentary stars Vincent Price and Jeanne Crain. It shows William Mortensen and George Dunham as well as Grey Silva in Mortensen's studio. It features most of Mortensen's famous pictures and chronicles his life.