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Crusty man's daughter falls in love and marries son of steel-mill owner in 'Valley of Decision'
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Thursday, Nov 19, 2009
If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag, and people are puzzling about movie and TV titles. . . .
Q: This has been driving me crazy. I'm pretty sure I've seen a movie before with Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara and Lionel Barrymore. Stewart's family owns a factory of some sort and O'Hara's family works in the factory. Barrymore is the crusty old father of O'Hara's family. O'Hara and Stewart fall in love and marry. Labor troubles ensue and Barrymore pretty much disowns O'Hara because of her marriage to Stewart. I'm sure I've seen this movie but am unable to locate the name of it anywhere.
A: I do not know of a movie you describe with that cast. I think you are remembering 1945's The Valley of Decision, with Lionel Barrymore as the father of a woman who falls in love with the son of a steel-mill owner. But the woman was played by Greer Garson, and the mill owner's son by Gregory Peck.
Q: In grammar school, we were shown a black and white movie about a boy in New York City, who was tricked into thinking he had shot his brother with a rifle. The boy spent the day wandering around New York and Coney Island, before returning home that evening, to find out his brother was OK. Do you know the title? I wonder if it is available?
A: That would be the film Little Fugitive (1953). It had a following that goes beyond your grammar-school class. Director Francois Truffaut reportedly said that the French New Wave of filmmaking ''would never have come into being if it hadn't been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with his fine movie The Little Fugitive.'' There was a remake of it in 2006, but the original has been released on DVD.
Q: In the '60s, the three TV networks used to use British TV programs for summer replacements. ''The Prisoner'' was one of those shows. Another show that I remember was about a group of people who are on a plane that crashes in the Himalayas and are saved by a secret group of people. These people give these survivors special powers. One of these powers was to communicate over long distances. I think the show was called ''The Incredibles.'' Is this correct and is the show available on DVD?
A: The name of the show was The Champions, and it aired on NBC in the summer of 1968. (CBS was airing The Prisoner then, too, but in a different time slot.) With a cast including Stuart Damon, it involved people using their special powers for an international agency. The complete series has been released on DVD overseas, but in a format that may not work in your DVD player. The Champions: Set 1 — with the first 15 episodes — was released several years ago in the U.S.-compatible format, and I have seen it offered by online retailers if your video store cannot order it.
Q: For quite some time, I have attempted to find out the name of a movie that starred Marilu Henner. She played a chief of police in a town where men were being murdered at a strip club. One of her police officers (which actually was one that she was involved with) offered to act as bait to catch the killer. I only saw the movie one time on television and cannot remember the name. It was an excellent murder/mystery.
A: That would be Ladykillers, a 1988 made-for-TV movie with the Taxi co-star as a police detective investigating a murder at a male-stripper club. Thomas Calabro (Melrose Place) also starred. The movie was released on VHS, but I do not know of an authorized DVD. (And when searching, be careful, because several other movies have similar titles.)
•
Do you have a question or comment about movies, TV and other popular culture? Write to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com or the Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44309. mark the note for Mailbag and do not phone in questions. Letters may be edited. Individual replies cannot be guaranteed.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter.
If it's Thursday, this must be the mailbag, and people are puzzling about movie and TV titles. . . .
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