What better way to introduce a film consisting of a number of stories than to have a story writer do it. John Steinbeck is the narrator for this picture, having a few words to say as he brings each of these anthology pieces forward for the viewer. I think it would have helped if he lightened up a bit, he looked like a total curmudgeon doing it.
A handful of other reviewers here have described the individual segments so no need to rehash them here. I guess what I'd like to do is comment on my favorite episode, that being 'The Last Leaf'. I managed to figure out the ending of the story, but that didn't make it any less poignant or meaningful. The three dollar abstract painter Behrman (Gregory Ratoff) performed a hero's response to the disheartened Joanna Goodwin (Anne Baxter) after being dumped by her lover (I would have said boyfriend but the guy looked like a creep). Joanna's sister Susan (Jean Peters) said she would explain her comment about Behrman (in my summary above) at a later time when she would be better able to handle it. In a way, Susan's comment was the best statement coming out of all five stories that might have described O. Henry himself.
Overall I enjoyed all of the stories to varying degrees. I thought Richard Widmark went out of his way to build on the Tommy Udo character from "Kiss of Death', to the point of annoyance. At one point, his character Johnny Kernan makes one of the most belittling racist statements I've ever heard in a movie when he says to a black porter on a train, "There you go tar bucket". So at least the clam head got what was coming to him in a neat twist to 'The Clarion Call' segment. Actually, that was writer O. Henry's forte, providing neat twists to his stories in a way that surprised and amazed.
As far as surprises here goes, having Marilyn Monroe show up in the opening segment with Charles Laughton was a neat touch. She might have been wistfully commenting on her own status as a Fifties pin-up girl when she noted to Horace (David Wayne) that "He called me a lady". Shortly after this film her brief film career took off.
With some melancholy touches and personal flourishes, each of the guest directors did a nice job with their particular stories. Howard Hawks didn't particularly like the way "The Ransom of Red Chief" came out, but I didn't think it was all that bad. An interesting side note to the picture that wound up entirely coincidental, three of the directors happened to be named Henry!
A handful of other reviewers here have described the individual segments so no need to rehash them here. I guess what I'd like to do is comment on my favorite episode, that being 'The Last Leaf'. I managed to figure out the ending of the story, but that didn't make it any less poignant or meaningful. The three dollar abstract painter Behrman (Gregory Ratoff) performed a hero's response to the disheartened Joanna Goodwin (Anne Baxter) after being dumped by her lover (I would have said boyfriend but the guy looked like a creep). Joanna's sister Susan (Jean Peters) said she would explain her comment about Behrman (in my summary above) at a later time when she would be better able to handle it. In a way, Susan's comment was the best statement coming out of all five stories that might have described O. Henry himself.
Overall I enjoyed all of the stories to varying degrees. I thought Richard Widmark went out of his way to build on the Tommy Udo character from "Kiss of Death', to the point of annoyance. At one point, his character Johnny Kernan makes one of the most belittling racist statements I've ever heard in a movie when he says to a black porter on a train, "There you go tar bucket". So at least the clam head got what was coming to him in a neat twist to 'The Clarion Call' segment. Actually, that was writer O. Henry's forte, providing neat twists to his stories in a way that surprised and amazed.
As far as surprises here goes, having Marilyn Monroe show up in the opening segment with Charles Laughton was a neat touch. She might have been wistfully commenting on her own status as a Fifties pin-up girl when she noted to Horace (David Wayne) that "He called me a lady". Shortly after this film her brief film career took off.
With some melancholy touches and personal flourishes, each of the guest directors did a nice job with their particular stories. Howard Hawks didn't particularly like the way "The Ransom of Red Chief" came out, but I didn't think it was all that bad. An interesting side note to the picture that wound up entirely coincidental, three of the directors happened to be named Henry!