O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE (1952) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, Henry King,
Henry Koster, Jean Negulesco
Charles Laughton, David Wayne, Marilyn Monroe,
Dale Robertson, Richard Widmark, Gregory Ratoff,
Anne Baxter, Jean Peters, Fred Allen,
Jeanne Crain, Farley Granger, Oscar Levant
Five short films based on O. Henry stories, introduced by John Steinbeck. In "The Cop and the Anthem", Charles Laughton tries to get himself arrested, hoping to spend a comfortable three months in jail. In "The Clarion Call", Richard Widmark's a hoodlum and Dale Robertson's a straight-arrow cop. (Widmark's nasal laugh signals his presence before you even see him.) In "The Last Leaf", an avant-garde painter (Gregory Ratoff) switches to realism, inspired by a girl who appears to be dying. In "The Ransom of Red Chief", Fred Allen and Oscar Levant play con men whose hare-brained kidnapping scheme goes wrong at every turn. In "The Gift of the Magi", Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger exchange Christmas presents. You might guess where most of the stories are going before they get there, but that's part of the fun. Irony was O. Henry's stock in trade. He was a master at it.
