The story opens with Rev. J. Hollingsworth delivering a sermon from the pulpit of his church. As the view widens, we see a young girl, Jenny Hollingsworth, listening with rapt attention. As the Reverend continues, his speech begins to falter, and Jenny helps him out by continuing a quotation from scripture that he had begun. The Reverend can soon no longer continue, though, and joins Jenny in her pew. Jenny addresses him as "Grandpappy," so we understand the relationship between the two. By this point we realize that Jenny is the only member of the congregation, and the church seems to have been otherwise abandoned. Grandpappy then dies.
We next see Jenny trudging down a road through what appears to be desert. She is intermittently singing and talking to herself. We then see an airplane with one engine on fire descending through the night air, with an explosion following. Jenny refers to the fiery figure in the sky as "Beelzebub". Soon after the crash, a collie appears, and begins walking with Jenny. Along with the dog, Jenny finds a placard identifying the type of airplane that crashed, and she takes this with her. Dr. Steve Webster then appears along the road, driving his Jeep, and comes across Jenny and the dog, and invites them into his vehicle. Jenny spends the night with Dr. Webster in the home that he shares with Murph, the local pharmacist. Murph is surprised and initially somewhat upset when he discovers Jenny sleeping on the sofa the next morning, with the dog at her side. We then discover that Dr. Webster is conducting research on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and has a number of infected ticks on his porch, making his home a dangerous place for a young girl. We also learn that he has applied for a grant to teach and study at an institute in San Francisco, and that he is hoping to hear a positive response from them via the mail any day now. Murph gives Jenny a much-needed bath, during which he fills her in on some of the back stories behind the local characters in town, along with some of his folksy philosophy about men and women and marriage.
Dr. Webster takes Jenny to meet his friend Susan Moore, who is living with Mathilda. Mathilda gives Steve and Susan an earful, letting us know that she thinks Steve is a hopeless dreamer, and that Susan is silly to continue waiting for him to propose to her. Jenny, who has grown up with her great-grandfather in isolation, has learned that it is important to tell the truth, and takes most things very literally. She then tells Mathilda what she thinks of her, along with some of what Murph has shared, resulting in Mathilda becoming upset and directing Steve to remove Jenny and the dog from her sight. Steve takes Jenny to Murph's pharmacy for a sundae, but the place is crowded with local children waiting for entrance to the movie house next door, and some of the children are unkind to Jenny, making her feel ashamed of the makeshift dress she is wearing. The ringleader is the mayor's son, who is genuinely cruel to her. When Steve is talking to Murph we learn that Murph has laid in a large stock of vaccine to prevent people from getting the Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but that Steve has not been able to convince the locals to have the vaccine administered to their children. We also learn that the local mayor has influenced the town to build a new park instead of a much-needed hospital, and that the nearest hospital is fifty miles away. Steve then decides that Jenny must have some new clothes to wear, and takes her to another local store to purchase them. He doesn't have enough money to pay for them, though, but arranges to trade tonsillectomies for the three children of the proprietor for Jenny's new clothes, of which she is very proud.
Dr. Webster is called away to attend to a sick boy, Clem Perkins. We learn that Clem has contracted spotted fever. Steve tells Clem's father that they should have had the boy vaccinated earlier, but that there is no medicine now to cure the disease, and that he must simply wait and hope for the best. While Steve is away, Jenny is walking home with her dog, and the mayor's son comes across them, and threatens Jenny. The dog then growls and chases the boy away, catching him and pulling down his pants, but not damaging anything other than the boy's inflated ego. When Steve and Jenny are both back at Murph and Steve's home, the mayor shows up with a gun, saying he is going to shoot the dog. Steve forcefully evicts the mayor from his home but, in the process, the mayor stumbles and falls on the porch, freeing the infected ticks. Steve warns Jenny to stay away from the porch, while Steve tries to secure the area, but Jenny walks through the porch, and we see Jenny rubbing a sore spot on her leg, letting us (but not Steve) know that she has been bitten by one of the ticks. Sheriff Bolton comes to arrest the dog, saying that the dog will be given a fair trial, but must remain in jail until the trial. Jenny weeps, afraid that her dog will be killed. Clem Perkins dies. The parents in town now all send their children to Steve's house to be vaccinated, and a long line forms. Susan and Mathilda both come over to help, and Murph brings more vaccine from his pharmacy. Steve starts to vaccinate Jenny at some point, but is interrupted, and never completes the procedure.
The dog's trial takes place. Steve is unavailable to act as defense attorney, and so Murph takes over. The mayor and his counsel insist that the dog bit the mayor's son. Jenny testifies, but is unable to persuade the judge on her own that the dog is innocent. The judge initially rules that the dog must be put down. However, Steve then shows up, and insists that the Mayor's son receive a medical examination to determine the extent of his alleged injuries. Murph, Steve and the judge them summarily subject the boy to a visual examination, with all three agreeing that he shows no sign of injuries to his posterior. The judge then reverses his decision, but declares that the dog must be kept under observation at the jail, to ensure that he is not diseased. Jenny now falls ill, and Steve confirms that she has spotted fever. Her fever begins to grow. Steve says there is nothing to do but hope for the best. Some of the other characters, however, insist that when nothing else can be done, prayer may work.
At this point Steve learns of the news of the plane crash, and discovers that the plane was carrying a dog to Colorado for use in creating a serum to cure Rocky Mountain spotted fever, since the dog had been sick but had recovered, and so had developed powerful antibodies to the disease. They then conclude that Jenny's dog is actually the dog from the airplane, and that Steve and Murph can make a serum from the dog's blood. They don't know how much of the serum to give her, though, so they try to contact the institute responsible for the dog and the serum—the same institute to which Steve had applied. However the Institute tells them that Dr. Nicholas Adams is the only person who can answer their question, and he can't be reached, since he is driving to Colorado. Steve asks the local radio station to broadcast an emergency alert, and Dr. Adams hears it, and calls, and they found out the correct dosage just in time to administer the serum and cure Jenny.
Dr. Adams then arrives on the scene. At breakfast the next day, he awards Steve with a $5,000 grant to continue his studies of spotted fever. Steve announces that he will stay in town, will marry Susan, and will adopt Jenny. Dr. Adams says that they have drawn enough blood from the dog to serve their purposes, and so relinquish their claim on him, leaving him to round out the happy home forming with Steve, Susan and Jenny. Murph and Mathilda even seem on the verge of getting hitched, and so all ends happily.
On February 1, 2018, Richard Brody of The New Yorker praised Driftwood as an "electrifying, eccentric masterwork" from director Allan Dwan, a film that has a "near-journalistic devotion to detail" and "both typifies and expands Dwan’s core inspiration: his dramatization of a thick tangle of social connections and conflicting lines of power and passion that seemingly bring the town itself to life along with its individual characters." Brody also commented that the character of Jenny Hollingsworth is "one of the most idiosyncratic and original child characters I’ve seen in a Hollywood movie".[1]
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a bacterial disease spread by ticks. It typically begins with a fever and headache, which is followed a few days later with the development of a rash. The rash is generally made up of small spots of bleeding and starts on the wrists and ankles. Other symptoms may include muscle pains and vomiting. Long-term complications following recovery may include hearing loss or loss of part of an arm or leg.
Drowning Mona is a 2000 American crime comedy film starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly, a spiteful, hard-drinking, loud-mouthed, abusive woman, hated by all who knew her, who drove her son's car off a cliff and drowned in a river. The film received negative reviews from critics.
Parley Edward Baer was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Chester" in the radio version of Gunsmoke, and as the Mayor of Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show.
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their third adaptation of the story after The Ugly Duckling and The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. The film is notable for showing Jekyll transform into a female Hyde; it also incorporates into the plot aspects of the historical Jack the Ripper and Burke and Hare cases. The title characters were played by the film's stars, Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick.
Calendar Girl is a 1947 American historical romantic musical film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Jane Frazee, William Marshall and Gail Patrick. The movie was written by Lee Loeb, Mary Loos, and Richard Sale, The supporting cast featured Kenny Baker, Victor McLaglen and Irene Rich. This was Patrick's last film before retiring from acting in the wake of her marriage. It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures. It was later reissued under the alternative title Star Dust and Sweet Music.
Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is a 1997 American science fiction comedy film, and the third installment in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series. The film marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Dean Cundey, who previously served as director of photographer for a 4D ride known as Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! which debuted in 1994.
Underdog is a 2007 American superhero comedy film based on W. Watts Biggers, Chet Stover, and Joe Harris‘ 1960s animated television series of the same name, which in turn is a spoof on the DC Comics character Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Directed by Frederik Du Chau and written by Joe Piscatella, Adam Rifkin, and Craig A. Williams, the film stars Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, and Patrick Warburton with the voice talents of Jason Lee, Amy Adams, and Brad Garrett. Unlike the TV series, the Underdog character is portrayed as a regular dog rather than an anthropomorphic one. Underdog, voiced by Jason Lee, was played by a lemon beagle named Shoeshine sporting a red sweater and a blue cape. The film grossed $65.3 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics.
The Mother of Us All is a two-act opera composed by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Thomson and Stein met in 1945 to begin the writing process, almost twenty years after their first collaborative project, the opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Stein wrote the libretto in the winter of 1945–46 before sending it to Thomson in March. After Stein's death in July, Thomson began working on the score, which he finished within just a few months. The opera centers around Susan B. Anthony, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States, with a supporting cast of characters both fictional and based on other historical figures. Thomson famously described the work as a "pageant".
They Only Kill Their Masters is a 1972 American mystery film directed by James Goldstone, written by Lane Slate, and starring James Garner and Katharine Ross, with a supporting cast featuring Hal Holbrook, June Allyson, Tom Ewell, Peter Lawford, Edmond O'Brien, and Arthur O'Connell. The title refers to Doberman dogs that might have been responsible for a woman's murder currently under investigation by the local police chief (Garner).
John Grant Mitchell Jr. was an American actor. He appeared on Broadway from 1902 to 1939 and appeared in more than 125 films between 1930 and 1948.
During the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia, 5,000 or more people were listed in the official register of deaths between August 1 and November 9. The vast majority of them died of yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 50,000 people one of the most severe in United States history. By the end of September, 20,000 people had fled the city, including congressional and executive officials of the federal government. Most did not return until after the epidemic had abated in late November. The mortality rate peaked in October before frost finally killed the mosquitoes and brought an end to the outbreak. Doctors tried a variety of treatments but knew neither the origin of the fever nor that the disease was transmitted by mosquitoes.
Doctor and the Healer is a 1957 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli.
His Brother's Wife is a 1936 American romantic drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor. Written by Leon Gordon and John Meehan, based on a story by George Auerbach, the film is about a scientist preparing to leave for the jungles of South America to work on a cure for spotted fever. Wanting to have some fun before his trip, he goes to a gambling club where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful model while falling deep into debt. When he turns to his brother for help, his brother agrees to cover the debt, but only if he leaves without her. While the scientist is away, his brother and the model get married.
Woman They Almost Lynched is a 1953 American Western film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Steve Fisher. The film stars John Lund, Brian Donlevy, Audrey Totter, Joan Leslie, Ben Cooper, James Brown, and Nina Varela. The film was released on March 20, 1953, by Republic Pictures.
Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise is a 2015 American made-for-television crime drama film directed by Robert Harmon and starring Tom Selleck, Mackenzie Foy, William Devane, and Luke Perry. Written by Selleck and Michael Brandman, the film is about a police chief of the (fictional) small town of Paradise, Massachusetts, who investigates the murder of the apparent fourth victim of a brutal serial killer. Filmed on location in Lunenburg and Halifax, Nova Scotia,
The Yellow Birds is a 2017 American war film directed by Alexandre Moors and based on the novel The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich, Toni Collette, Jason Patric, Jack Huston, and Jennifer Aniston.
XX is a 2017 American horror anthology film directed by Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin, and Karyn Kusama. It stars Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool, and Christina Kirk. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017, and was released in the United States in select theaters and through video on demand on February 17, 2017, by Magnet Releasing.
Blue Monkey is a 1987 Canadian horror film directed by William Fruet and starring Steve Railsback, Gwynyth Walsh, Susan Anspach, Don Lake, Sandy Webster, Helen Slayton-Hughes, and John Vernon. The film centers on a group of doctors trapped in a quarantined hospital as a giant insect-like creature begins to spread a deadly infection. The film was released on VHS by March 31, 1988. It received mostly negative reviews upon its release. It was released in some foreign markets as "Insect".
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