is about an East African veterinary hospital. The director, an animal behavioral researcher, captures an oddly placid lion, who turns out to be cross-eyed and thus cannot hunt. The director’s daughter names the lion Clarence. When a mercenary tries to capture gorillas and sell them for profit, Clarence traps the mercenary and saves the animals in a slapstick scene.
is a cinematic collage comprised of eight unrelated episodes by some of MGM’s best directors, screenwriters and actors. A university professor’s lecture frames the stories. In one anecdote, a Boston woman angrily recounts how a census taker forgets to record her presence; another sketch pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.
Cast and Crew of “Hole in the Head,” Eddie at lower left corner.
is about an impractical widower and single father on the verge of losing his Miami Hotel to bankruptcy. The widower tries to raise money by betting on dog races and lying to his brother about a gravely ill son. The brother and sister-in-law consider taking the son home with them, then decide to introduce the single father to a lovely widow, who might instill responsibility in the free-spirited bohemian.
is about a Union colonel and his second-in-command, who lead an inept cavalry unit during the Civil War. The unit of misfits and rejects are sent to the Western Territory where they can do minimal damage to their compatriots. The men steal horses from the Indians, capture a beautiful Confederate spy and save a shipment of gold.
is about a cattle baron, who anxiously awaits his daughter’s return from college, who is blindsided by the reappearance of his estranged wife, and who butts heads with a land-grabbing bureaucrat trying to remove the local Comanche Indians. The cattle baron tries to keep the peace and do right by everyone.
is about a workingman who moonlights as a bootlegger. Police raid his property while he’s distilling moonshine, and a federal officer dies in the shootout. The workingman goes to jail for second-degree murder, then spends his time in the prison’s tool shop. He can repair anything with pieces of scrap metal. Eventually, he invents a repeating rifle with a short piston, the foundation of the M1 Carbine used during WWII.
is about a group of American female missionaries living in China circa 1935. The women take in Britons fleeing a cholera epidemic, and they ward off a Mongol warlord and his cut-throat gang of warriors. Enter a female doctor, who smokes, wears pants and disdains religion. The doctor offers herself to the warload in exchange for letting the other ladies go free.
Hold On! is a musical comedy that begins with American school children voting to name the next Gemini space capsule after the British rock band, “Herman’s Hermits.” NASA sends a bumbling scientist to follow the band’s tour and determine whether the musicians are worthy of such an honor. An aspiring actress chases the band, and bandmates bemoan the lack of normalcy in their lives.
Teahouse of the August Moon
is set in post-WWII Okinawa, shows American soldiers bringing democracy to a small village. The captain entrusted with teaching Okinawans democracy urges the villagers to build a school in the shape of a pentagon. But the villagers want a teahouse and eventually outwit their American overseers.
is about three WWII Navy buddies who have retreated from the post-war world to live on a French Polynesian island. One fellow’s daughter arrives from Boston to disinherit her father from majority shares of the family’s shipping business. She presumes she’ll find evidence to prove his lack of character. But instead, she learns that her father is a good man and that money is a small part of happiness.
