Lesser Samuels

Ace in the Hole -- When a man is trapped alive in a mine collapse, a self-interested reporter and the townspeople cynically create what we now call a 'media circus'.

A cave collapse in New Mexico traps a man, and all eyes turn toward the tragedy... including those of Charles "Chuck" Tatum (Kirk Douglas), a washed-up newspaper reporter who sees the incident as a ticket back to his former days at the top of the journalism heap. As the media circus begins to swirl around the trapped man's plight, Tatum takes command of the situation, embellishing the unfolding drama and prolonging the rescue effort … while feeding stories to the nation's reporters clamoring to cover the event. He's become the self-anointed mastermind behind what soon becomes a national media sensation - and he's desperately determined to milk it for all it is work. Celebrated director Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, The Apartment) mixes gritty cynicism with a superb cast - Douglas, Jan Sterling (The High and the Mighty), Robert Arthur (Just For You), Frank Cady (The Bad Seed) - in this powerful, fascinating study of the dark side of the human soul.

Paul Newman - in his screen debut - plays a 1st century Greek sculptor who is sold into slavery. He escapes harm when his talent is discovered and he is commissioned to create a replica of the chalice Jesus drank from at the Last Supper.

Based on a J.M. Barrie play, this genial comedy follows physician Robert Grey (John Lund) and his wife, Alice (Joan Fontaine), as they return to New York City after a long absence and are reunited with their children, Amy (Mona Freeman) and Cosmo (David Stollery). But the reunion goes hilariously awry when Amy becomes convinced that her mother is having an affair with another doctor (Peter Hansen) and schemes to protect Alice's virtue.