File:1952 Koster et al (film).jpg

{en} O. Henry's Full House [1] (USA, 1952), directed by Henry Koster, Henry Hathaway, Jean Negulesco, Howard Hawks, Henry King

• Category:1952, Top Films

An anthology film, consisting of five films, each based on a story by O. Henry.

(1) The Cop and the Anthem', directed by Henry Koster, starring Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne. -- As winter approaches, a vagrant decides it's time for his annual winter spell in prison. But no matter how hard he tries, he cannot get himself arrested.

(2) The Clarion Call, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Dale Robertson and Richard Widmark. -- A detective cannot arrest a murderer he knows from his past due to his honor involving an outstanding financial debt to the criminal. Once a newspaper offers a reward, after being mocked by the criminal, the detective arrests the criminal and collects the reward to repay the debt.

(3) The Last Leaf, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Anne Baxter, Jean Peters, and Gregory Ratoff. -- The story is set in Greenwich Village during the depths of winter. A poor old painter saves the life of a young woman, dying of pneumonia, by giving her the will to live. From her bed the patient can see an ivy vine through the window gradually losing its leaves in the intense cold. She has taken it into her head that she will die when the vine loses its last leaf. Seemingly, the last leaf never falls, and the young woman survives. In reality, the vine lost all its leaves during the cold night. The leaf she thought she had seen was just the image of a leaf painted on the wall with perfect realism, by the old artist, who died of exposure in the cold shortly after finishing the painted leaf.

(4) The Ransom of Red Chief, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Fred Allen, Oscar Levant, Lee Aaker, Irving Bacon, Kathleen Freeman, and Robert Easton. -- Two con men kidnap a child in order to collect a substantial ransom, but the child proves to be too much for them.

(5) The Gift of the Magi, directed by Henry King, starring Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger. -- On Christmas Eve, with little money, Della sells her hair to buy her husband Jim a watch fob. Jim has sold his watch to buy her a pair of ornamental combs. When they exchange these now useless gifts, they realize how deep is their love for one another.

<The episode of the Red Chief is really funny>