Frank Borzage

This delightfully sentimental movie documents (via a fictional tale) the real-life story of New York City’s Stage Door Canteen, an east coast version of the Hollywood Canteen, where soldiers were entertained by stage and screen stars of the era.

Stage Door Canteen -- A war time romance bloomes in WWII between canteen hostess Eileen and visiting soldier Dakota at New York's famous Stage Door Canteen. Their story provides the backdrop for showing the greatest film, stage, comedy, and musical actors of the day performing multiple plays, acts, and musical numbers, or serving drinks and food to U.S. servicemen at this famous non-profit establishment. See the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Helen Hayes, Kenny Baker, Ralph Bellamy, Charlie McCarthy, Ray Bolger, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Hersholt, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harpo Marx, Johnny Weissmuller, and many more in this star-studded production. At the time, profits for this film were entirely donated to various wartime fundraising efforts.

(1961 aka L'ATLANTIDE) George Riviere, Jean Louis Tritignant. Next to last film by the great cult director, Edgar Ulmer. This sci-fi fantasy concerns three lost aviators who discover the entrance to Atlantis at a nuclear blast site in the desert. They face many perils and find themselves pitted against an evil Queen. Some stunning visual effects.

(1961 aka L'ATLANTIDE) George Riviere, Jean Louis Tritignant. Next to last film by the great cult director, Edgar Ulmer. This sci-fi fantasy concerns three lost aviators who discover the entrance to Atlantis at a nuclear blast site in the desert. They face many perils and find themselves pitted against an evil Queen. Some stunning visual effects.

Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark), who lives in angst because his father was put to death for murder, accidentally kills Jerry Sykes (Lloyd Bridges) in a fight over Gilly Johnson (Gail Russell). Gilly loves Danny, but when she tries to persuade him to admit his guilt to authorities, he runs off. Told through a series of flashbacks, this Frank Borzage-helmed gem delves into themes of faults, guilt and redemption.

Director Frank Borzage's romantic melodrama stars Philip Dorn as imperious conductor Leopold Goronoff, who grooms promising young pianist Myra Hassman (Catherine McLeod) for greatness, then proceeds to sabotage her career before it even gets off the ground. The passion between maestro and protégé is masterfully conveyed through the classical music passages they play, compositions actually recorded by legendary pianist Artur Rubinstein.

During World War II, New York's Stage Door Canteen served as a friendly stop for off-duty soldiers. This star-studded romance tells the tale of Eileen (Cheryl Walker), a Canteen hostess who defies policy and falls for soldier Dakota Smith (William Terry). As the love affair unfolds, dozens of Hollywood's brightest stars appear as themselves, including Katharine Hepburn, Ed Wynn, Johnny Weissmuller, Ethel Merman, Harpo Marx and Gypsy Rose Lee.

A war time romance bloomes in WWII between canteen hostess Eileen and visiting soldier Dakota at New York's famous Stage Door Canteen. Their story provides the backdrop for showing the greatest film, stage, comedy, and musical actors of the day performing multiple plays, acts, and musical numbers, or serving drinks and food to U.S. servicemen at this famous non-profit establishment. See the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Helen Hayes, Kenny Baker, Ralph Bellamy, Charlie McCarthy, Ray Bolger, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Hersholt, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harpo Marx, Johnny Weissmuller, and many more in this star-studded production. At the time, profits for this film were entirely donated to various wartime fundraising efforts.

A war time romance bloomes in WWII between canteen hostess Eileen and visiting soldier Dakota at New York's famous Stage Door Canteen. Their story provides the backdrop for showing the greatest film, stage, comedy, and musical actors of the day performing multiple plays, acts, and musical numbers, or serving drinks and food to U.S. servicemen at this famous non-profit establishment. See the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Helen Hayes, Kenny Baker, Ralph Bellamy, Charlie McCarthy, Ray Bolger, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Hersholt, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harpo Marx, Johnny Weissmuller, and many more in this star-studded production. At the time, profits for this film were entirely donated to various wartime fundraising efforts.

A soldier on leave in New York goes to the Stage Door Canteen where they put on a show for servicemen during the War. He meets a pretty hostess and they enjoy the acts together.

Stage Door Canteen -- A soldier on leave in New York goes to the Stage Door Canteen where they put on a show for servicemen during the War. He meets a pretty hostess and they enjoy the acts together.

When Joan Crawford saw The Shining Hour on stage, she pleaded with the studio to let her spread her acting wings in the film version. She got her wish, playing a New York siren who marries a prosperous farmer (Melvyn Douglas) and moves to Wisconsin. There she is drawn to his handsome brother (Robert Young), even as she befriends the brother's selfless wife (Margaret Sullavan, Crawford's choice for the role). The passionate triangle plays out in the best tradition of classic screen melodrama: glossy and chic, but resonant with honest emotion. And the movie's heart-stopping climax with Crawford battling flames to rescue Sullavan from certain death in a house fire is, both literally and figuratively, incendiary filmmaking.