Laura is a 1944 American film noir produced and directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb along with Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel Laura by Vera Caspary. Laura received five nominations for the Academy Awards, including for Best Director, winning for Best Black and White Cinematography. In 1999, Laura was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best mystery films of all time, and it also appears on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" series.
The Razor's Edge is a 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. Maugham is the narrator whose narration takes the form of relating his conversations and reactions to the characters. He finds Larry both mystifying and compelling. The story begins through the eyes of Larry's friends and acquaintances as they witness his personality change after the war. His rejection of conventional life and search for meaningful experience allows him to thrive while the more materialistic characters suffer reversals of fortune.
A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 American romantic drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern. The film was adapted by Vera Caspary and written for the screen by Mankiewicz from A Letter to Five Wives, a story by John Klempner that appeared in Cosmopolitan, based on Klempner's 1945 novel.
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck, known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, including Blithe Spirit, as well as appearances on Broadway in a number of successful musical revues. As a film actor, he was nominated for three Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor for Laura (1944) and The Razor's Edge (1946), and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sitting Pretty (1948).
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. She was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).
Leave Her to Heaven is a 1945 American psychological thriller film noir melodrama directed by John M. Stahl and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, and Vincent Price. It follows a socialite who marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her. It is based on the 1944 novel of the same name by Ben Ames Williams, adapted by screenwriter Jo Swerling.
Anne Baxter was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy.
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors. He produced three films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture during his tenure at 20th Century Fox.
Tyrone Edmund Power III was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include Jesse James, The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, Witness for the Prosecution, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile. Power's own favorite film among those in which he starred was Nightmare Alley.
Born to Kill is a 1947 RKO Pictures American film noir starring Lawrence Tierney, Claire Trevor and Walter Slezak with Esther Howard, Elisha Cook Jr., and Audrey Long in supporting roles. The film was director Robert Wise's first film noir production, preceding his later work on The Set-Up (1949) and The Captive City (1952).
John Byrum is an American film director and writer known for The Razor's Edge, Heart Beat, Duets and Inserts.
My Gal Sal is a 1942 American musical film distributed by 20th Century Fox and starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s German-American composer / songwriter Paul Dresser and singer Sally Elliot. It was based on a biographical essay, sometimes erroneously referred to as a book, by Dresser's younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser. Some of the songs portrayed as Dresser's work were actually written by him, but several others were created in the 1890s style for the film by the Hollywood songwriting team of Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin.
The Razor's Edge is a 1984 American historical drama film directed and co-written by John Byrum starring Bill Murray, Theresa Russell, Catherine Hicks, Denholm Elliott, Brian Doyle-Murray, and James Keach. The film is an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel The Razor's Edge.
Dragonwyck is a 1946 American period drama film made by Twentieth Century-Fox. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Ernst Lubitsch (uncredited), from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the novel Dragonwyck by Anya Seton. The music score was by Alfred Newman, and the cinematography by Arthur C. Miller. The film stars Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, and Vincent Price.
Suez is an American romantic drama film released on October 28, 1938, by 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck in charge of production, directed by Allan Dwan and starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Annabella. It is very loosely based on events surrounding the construction, between 1859 and 1869, of the Suez Canal, planned and supervised by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. The screenplay is so highly fictionalized that, upon the film's release in France, de Lesseps' descendants sued (unsuccessfully) for libel.
Thunder Birds is a 1942 Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton. It features aerial photography and location filming at an actual Arizona training base of the United States Army Air Forces named Thunderbird Field No. 1 during World War II.
Diamond Horseshoe is a 1945 American musical film starring Betty Grable, Dick Haymes and William Gaxton, directed and co-written by George Seaton, and released by 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in Technicolor in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub located in the basement of the Paramount Hotel. The film's original score is by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, introducing the pop and jazz standard "The More I See You".
Moss Rose is a 1947 American film noir mystery film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Peggy Cummins, Victor Mature and Ethel Barrymore. It is an adaptation of the 1934 novel Moss Rose by Marjorie Bowen based on a real-life Victorian murder case.
The Rise of Jennie Cushing is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur, produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and distributed by Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount Pictures. The story based upon the novel The Rise of Jennie Cushing by Mary Watts and stars Broadway's Elsie Ferguson. The film marked Ferguson's second motion picture. It is a lost film.
Anne Baxter (1923–1985) was an American actress who had an extensive career in film, television, and on stage. She made her acting debut at the age of 13 on stage in the Broadway play Seen, But Not Heard in 1936. Four years later, Baxter starred in her first feature film, the western 20 Mule Team (1940). She appeared in Orson Welles' period drama The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), with Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello, and followed this with a lead role in Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943). In 1946, she starred as a young woman suffering from alcoholism in the drama The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, Baxter appeared with Gregory Peck in the western Yellow Sky.
