O. Henry's Full House

directed by Henry Hathaway and others
Category: "Drama"
Year of Release:1952
Date Added:12/29/2019
Date Watched:12/29/2019
Description:Five of O.Henry's short stories with intros by John Steinbeck.

In The Cop and the Anthem, a bum (Charles Laughton) attempts to get arrested so he can spend the winter in jail. Nothing he tries works. He stumbled into a church where he is inspired to change his ways. He goes out determined to find a job, but is immediately arrested for vagrancy and sentenced to three months in jail.

In The Clarion Call, a cop (Dale Robertson) realizes an old friend (Richard Widmark) is a murderer. When he goes to arrest him, the friend calls in an old loan of $1,000. Feeling compelled to pay his debt, the cop offers the friend all the money he can raise—$300. The murderer refuses. The cop goes to the newspaper which is offering a $1,000 reward for news leading to the arrest of the murderer. He takes the money and gives it to his friend, then arrests him.

In The Last Leaf, a young girl (Anne Baxter) is abandoned by the actor she was having an affair with. She catches pneumonia and loses the will to live. She decides she'll die when the last leaf blows off a vine outside her window. That night, there's a terrible storm, but the leaf hangs on. Except that it's really a painting by the failed artist (Gregory Ratoff) who lives upstairs. He painted the leaf in the storm, saving the girls life but losing his own.

In The Ransom of Red Chief, two con-men (Fred Allen and Oscar Levant) kidnap a boy who proves to be such a terror that they end up paying the boy's parents $250 to take him back.

In The Gift of the Magi a young couple (Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger) are poor but very much in love. He sells his one prize possession, an old watch, to buy her combs for her long hair, only to learn that she sold her hair to buy him a fob for his watch.
My Rating:7

Reviews for O. Henry's Full House

Review - O. Henry's Full House

Richard Widmark was so over-the-top annoying that he ruined his story. The Ransom of Red Chief wasn't as good as the other three. Overall, I enjoyed it. Marilyn Monroe became a big star between the filming and the release, so she got major credits even though she was only in the movie for about a minute.
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