William Washington Beaudine was an American film director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out a remarkable 179 feature-length films in a wide variety of genres.
William Franklin Graham Jr. was an American evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring live sermons became well known in the mid- to late 20th century. Throughout his career, spanning over six decades, Graham rose to prominence as an evangelical Christian figure in the United States and abroad.
Ruth Elizabeth Warrick was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005. She made her film debut in Citizen Kane, and years later celebrated her 80th birthday by attending a special screening of the film.
Andrew Perne, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and Dean of Ely, was the son of John Perne of East Bilney, Norfolk.
The Corsican Brothers is a 1941 American historical swashbuckler film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a dual role as the titular conjoined twins who are separated at birth and raised in entirely different circumstances. Both thirst for revenge against the man who killed their parents, both fall in love with the same woman. The story is very loosely based on the 1844 novella Les frères Corses by French writer Alexandre Dumas, père.
The Miracle of the Bells is a 1948 American drama film directed by Irving Pichel, written by Quentin Reynolds and Ben Hecht, and produced by RKO. It stars Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb.
Crossroads is an American television anthology series based on the activities of clergy from different denominations. It aired from October 7, 1955, to September 27, 1957, on ABC. The show was retitled The Way of Life for syndication.
Three Wise Girls is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by William Beaudine and featuring Jean Harlow in her first starring role. The supporting cast features a young Andy Devine. This film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
The Cross and the Switchblade is a 1970 American crime film directed by Don Murray. It stars Pat Boone as David Wilkerson, a Christian evangelist, and Erik Estrada as Nicky Cruz, a teen gang member whose life was transformed by Wilkerson's ministry. The film was based on a non-fiction book of the same name, The Cross and the Switchblade.
Duke of the Navy is a 1942 comedy film that was directed by William Beaudine from a screenplay by Beaudine, Gerald Drayson Adams, and John T. Coyle. It stars Ralph Byrd as Bill "Breezy" Duke, Stubby Kruger as Dan "Cookie" Cook, and Veda Ann Borg as Maureen.
The Christmas Candle is a 2013 Christmas drama film directed by John Stephenson.
Adventures of Kitty O'Day is a 1945 American comedy mystery film directed by William Beaudine and starring Jean Parker, Peter Cookson and Tim Ryan. It was a sequel to the 1944 film Detective Kitty O'Day. The two films were an attempt to create a new detective series but no further films were made. A third film, Fashion Model, also directed by Beaudine, was made using a similar formula but with another actress playing a heroine with a different name.
Jed Buell was an American film producer, director, and screenwriter who specialized in low-budget B pictures in a variety of subjects including singing cowboy films featuring midgets and black actors.
A Wonderful Life is a 1951 black-and-white short drama film produced by the National Council of Churches of Christ and distributed by the Protestant Film Commission. It is an adaptation of Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life for the Christian film industry. Directed by William Beaudine, it stars James Dunn, Allene Roberts, and Arthur Shields. The film retells the life of an ordinary Christian family man in flashback as his family and friends remember all the good he did through his devotion to church and community. The film emphasizes the power of faith, love, and community service for living a meaningful life, together with the message that people do not realize the true worth of others until after they have died. The film was not released commercially, but was distributed to some 30,000 churches throughout the United States and Canada.
The Protestant Film Commission, also known as the Protestant Film Office, was an American film agency which promoted Protestant religious and moral values in Hollywood cinema. Representing 200,000 American Protestant churches with approximately 34 million members, the Commission was founded in 1945 as a consulting agency for Hollywood film scripts and also provided reviews and ratings for general-market Hollywood films.
Paul Frederic Heard was an American film producer, director, and scriptwriter of religious films. From 1946 to 1951 he served as executive director of the Protestant Film Commission, which produced short films for distribution to denominational churches across the United States and Canada. He then formed his own independent production house for religious films. His short film Kenji Comes Home (1949) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
My Name Is Han is a 1948 black-and-white short docudrama produced by the International Film Foundation for the Protestant Film Commission. Shot on location in China and using only native Chinese non-professional actors, the film focuses on the work of Christian missionaries in China through the depiction of a minister, a doctor, a teacher, and an agricultural specialist. The plot centers around Han, a farmer who is battered by war, destruction, poverty, and hardship, yet refuses to accept the healing power of faith. But as he sees the effect of church teachings on his wife, his children, and his neighbors, and even benefits personally from Christian doctrine, he begins to accept Christ into his life. The film was the second in a series of short films developed under the auspices of the Protestant Film Commission for noncommercial release to denominational churches across the United States and Canada.
Again Pioneers is a 1950 American black-and-white short drama film produced by Paul F. Heard for the Protestant Film Commission. Directed by William Beaudine, it stars Colleen Townsend, Tom Powers, Sarah Padden, and Regis Toomey. The story is set in the fictional town of Fairview and depicts the friction between the middle-class residents and the impoverished migrants who live on the outskirts in a shantytown called "The Patch". The film explores the meaning of the American Dream for both types of residents, and the responsibility of the church to reinstill Christian values of human dignity and freedom into American life. The film was produced at the request of the Home Missions Council of North America. It was not released commercially, but was distributed to 30,000 Protestant denominational churches in the United States.
Prejudice is a 1949 American black-and-white drama film produced by the Protestant Film Commission (PFC) and Edmund L. Dorfmann Productions. Directed by Edward L. Cahn, it stars David Bruce, Mary Marshall, Tommy Ivo, and Bruce Edwards. The story centers on an American Protestant man who believes he is tolerant of other religions and nationalities, but feels threatened by his Jewish colleague. As the film delves into the reasons for prejudice, he and other main characters realize that they are both perpetrators and victims of intolerance. The film concludes that only with faith in Christ, who loved all men equally, can prejudice be eliminated.
South of the Clouds is a 1950 black and white short documentary film produced by the Protestant Film Commission. Filmed on the campus of the Beirut College for Women, it depicts the progress made by Christian missionary education in the Near East. The story focuses on a Muslim young woman from an aristocratic family who rooms with an orphan Lebanese Christian girl at the college and broadens her personal outlook through education, Christian fellowship, and community service. The film was developed in response to a request by Protestant mission boards functioning under the Missionary Education Movement to assist in their promotion of overseas missionary education. It was distributed through the Religious Film Association for rental to denominational churches throughout the United States.
