Leonard Michael Maltin is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is best known for his eponymous annual book of movie capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014.
The Shaggy Dog is a 1959 American comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1923 novel The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten. Directed by Charles Barton from a screenplay by Lillie Hayward and Bill Walsh, the film stars Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk, Jean Hagen, Kevin Corcoran, Tim Considine, Roberta Shore, and Annette Funicello. The film follows a teenage boy named Wilby Daniels who, by the power of an enchanted ring of the Borgias, is transformed into a shaggy Old English Sheepdog.
Star classification is a type of rating scale utilizing a star glyph or similar typographical symbol. It is used by reviewers for ranking things such as films, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, a system of one to five stars is commonly used in hotel ratings, with five stars being the highest rating.
The Maze is a 1953 3-D horror film starring Richard Carlson, Veronica Hurst and Hillary Brooke. It was directed by William Cameron Menzies and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures. It was to be the second 3-D film designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies, known for his very "dimensional" style. It was his final film as production designer and director.
The Sleeping City is a 1950 American film noir crime film in semidocumentary style that was set in and filmed at New York's Bellevue Hospital. Directed by George Sherman, it stars Richard Conte and Coleen Gray.
Southside 1-1000 is a 1950 semidocumentary-style film noir directed by Boris Ingster featuring Don DeFore, Andrea King, George Tobias and Gerald Mohr as the off-screen narrator. It is about a Secret Service agent who goes undercover and moves into a hotel run by a beautiful female manager, so that he can investigate a counterfeiting ring. The agent is up against hardened felons such as the gang member played by George Tobias, an unusual example of casting against type for the typically comic actor. It is one of Ingster's two film noirs, the other being Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), which is considered the first noir film.
Caprice is a 1967 DeLuxe Color comedy-thriller film directed by Frank Tashlin starring Doris Day and Richard Harris. It was Day's second and last film with Tashlin, after the previous year's The Glass Bottom Boat. This film and In Like Flint (1967) were the last movies made in CinemaScope, with most studios moving to Panavision and other widescreen processes.
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally called TV Movies, which became Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide, and then Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide, before arriving at its final title. Film critic Leonard Maltin edited it and contributed a large portion of its reviews.
The Babe Ruth Story is a 1948 biographical film of Babe Ruth, the famed New York Yankees slugger. It stars William Bendix as the ballplayer and Claire Trevor as his wife Claire Merritt Hodgson. Critics faulted the film's heavy-handedness and direction, and it is said by many to be one of the worst films ever made.
Stagecoach is a 1966 American Western film, directed by Gordon Douglas between July and September 1965, as a color remake of the Academy Award-winning John Ford 1939 classic black-and-white western Stagecoach. Unlike the original version which listed its ten leading players in order of importance, the major stars are billed in alphabetical order.
East Side, West Side is a 1949 American melodramatic crime film, starring Barbara Stanwyck as a wronged wife, along with James Mason, Van Heflin and Ava Gardner in one of her early roles. Based on the 1947 novel of the same title by Marcia Davenport and a screenplay by Isobel Lennart, the film was produced by Voldemar Vetluguin, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Borderline is a 1980 American action crime drama film directed by Jerrold Freedman and starring Charles Bronson, Ed Harris and Bruno Kirby.
Cairo Road is a 1950 British crime film directed by David MacDonald and starring Eric Portman, Laurence Harvey, Maria Mauban, Harold Lang and John Gregson.
The Long Haul is a 1957 British drama film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Victor Mature, Patrick Allen and Diana Dors.
The True Story of Lynn Stuart is a 1958 American biographical crime drama film starring Betsy Palmer, Jack Lord, Barry Atwater and released by Columbia Pictures.
Singapore is a 1947 American film noir crime romance film directed by John Brahm and starring Fred MacMurray and Ava Gardner. The film was remade as Istanbul (1957) with the location moved to Turkey, and Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers in the starring roles.
Steven Henry Scheuer was a film and television historian and critic. He edited all seventeen editions of Movies on TV published between 1958 and 1993 and wrote The Movie Book (1974), subtitled A Comprehensive, Authoritative, Omnibus Volume on Motion Pictures and the Cinema World. He was moderator of the syndicated television series All About TV from 1969 to 1990. In 2002, he hosted and produced a 13-program series for public television, Television in America: An Autobiography.
The Crowded Sky is a 1960 Technicolor drama film distributed by Warner Bros., produced by Michael Garrison, directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. The film is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Hank Searls.
Blue is a 1968 American Western film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Terence Stamp, Joanna Pettet, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalbán, and Stathis Giallelis. The film was made in Panavision anamorphic and released by Paramount Pictures on May 10, 1968.
The Young Lovers is a 1964 black-and-white American romantic drama film. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in November 1964. The sole directorial effort of its producer, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., it stars Peter Fonda and Sharon Hugueny, with second leads Nick Adams and Deborah Walley. Scripted by George Garrett from a 1955 novel by Julian Halevy, the film was shot in September–October 1963 and released a year later.
