John Houseman

American: An Odyssey to 1947 (2022)

In the early 1930s, Orson Welles ascends to unprecedented stardom while President Franklin Delano Roosevelt navigates a nation in crisis. As WWII begins, an American boy visits abroad, and an American soldier enlists in the army. ...

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)

The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick ...

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. ...

Scrooged (1988)

Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing a staff member on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-e ...

Another Woman (1988)

Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his office. Wh ...

Bright Lights, Big City (1988)

A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife. ...

The Cradle Will Rock (1985)

A filmed version of the 1985 revival of the Marc Blitzstein musical. This revival was filmed at the Old Vic, with former members of The Acting Company. ...

The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (1984)

This documentary examines the experiences of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, using interviews with survivors more than 50 years later. First, the film sets the context with the rise of Fascism. Then, in 1936, Spain's military revolts against the elected gover ...

A Rose for Emily (1983)

Townsfolk discover a warped secret while clearing out the house of a recently deceased, aristocratic spinster. ...

The Skin of Our Teeth (1983)

Production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer-winning play "The Skin of Our Teeth," the story of Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and their maid Sabina. They are simultaneously a typical American family living in a present-day New Jersey ...

Murder by Phone (1982)

A disgruntled phone company employee develops a device whereby those answering a phone can be murdered, and it's up to Nat Bridger to stop the killer. ...

Ghost Story (1981)

Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year-old secret. When one of Edward Wanderley's twin sons dies in a bizarre accident, the group begins to see a pattern of frightening events developing. ...

Writing: Plain & Fancy (1981)

A documentary about calligraphy. ...

The New Deal for Artists (1981)

The Arts Project of the Work Projects Administration (1935-1942) was a USA government agency established to support writers, theater people, painters, sculptors, and photographers. ...

A Christmas Without Snow (1980)

Leaving her son behind at her parents' home in Omaha, Nebraska, recent divorcée Zoe attempts to start her life anew by moving to San Francisco. Seeking something to fill her lonely hours, she begins singing with a church choir. When new choirmaster Ephrai ...

The Babysitter (1980)

Overprotective mother Liz Benedict meets 18-year-old orphan Joanna Redwine and hires her as house help and live-in companion to rambunctious daughter Tara. Liz's husband Jeff isn't too thrilled with the arrangement, and his fears soon prove justified when ...

My Bodyguard (1980)

Clifford Peache, an easygoing teenager, is finding less than easy to fit in at his new high school, where a tough-talking bully terrorizes his classmates and extorts their lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Clifford enlist the aid of an overgrown misfit whos ...

Wholly Moses (1980)

Harvey and Zoey, two tourists in Israel, discover an ancient scroll about Herschel, the man who was almost Moses. Herschel receives the command from God to free his people from slavery, but Moses keeps getting all the credit. ...

Gideon's Trumpet (1980)

True story of Clarence Gideon's fight to be appointed counsel at the expense of the state. This landmark case led to the Supreme Court's decision which extended this right to all criminal defendants. ...

The Fog (1980)

Strange things begin to occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical f ...

Old Boyfriends (1979)

When her marriage falls apart, a psychiatrist seeks out those of her former boyfriends who left the biggest impact on her life, mostly in a bad way. ...

The Cheap Detective (1978)

A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife. ...

The Displaced Person (1977)

A conscientious but driven Polish refugee disrupts the hierarchy of power on a Georgia farm in the 1940s. ...

Six Characters in Search of An Author (1976)

A rehearsal is disrupted when six figures mysteriously appear on the stage, claiming to be fictional characters from an unfinished play searching for an author to tell their tragic story. An adaptation of the classic Luigi Pirandello play, updated to take ...

St. Ives (1976)

A dabbler-in-crime and his assistant hire an ex-police reporter to recover some stolen papers. ...

Fear on Trial (1975)

The story of John Henry Faulk, a radio/TV personality of the 1950s, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Faulk sued the organization that was behind the blacklisting, and the resultant trial, and Faulk's victory, helped to put an end to the blackli ...

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust. ...

Beyond the Horizon (1975)

On a Connecticut farm, James Mayo's two sons both love Ruth Atkins. Robert, the younger son, is sickly and dreams of escaping to a romantic life somewhere "beyond the horizon." Andy is hard-working and steadfast and loves his brother deeply. When Ruth reve ...

Rollerball (1975)

In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game. ...

I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1975)

A portrait of legendary filmmaker Nicholas Ray while he is working as a film professor at a college in upstate New York. ...

The Paper Chase (1973)

A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor. ...

Seven Days in May (1964)

A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him. ...

Van Gogh: Darkness into Light (1957)

Too Much Johnson (1938)

This film was not intended to stand by itself, but was designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles' Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy about a New York playboy who flees from the violent husband of his mistress and borrows ...

Choices of the Heart (1983)

Jeannie Donovan, a party-girl searching for that something missing in her life, finds it in El Salvador, hooking up with three nuns and a heartful of ache, love, and horror in the midst of a civil war. This is a true story of the four American churchwomen ...

Gideon's Trumpet (1980)

True story of Clarence Gideon's fight to be appointed counsel at the expense of the state. This landmark case led to the Supreme Court's decision which extended this right to all criminal defendants. ...

Evening Primrose (1966)

A man becomes part of a secret society of people who live in a department store and quickly falls in love with their leader's young maid. ...

This Property Is Condemned (1966)

Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr. ...

In the Cool of the Day (1963)

After he mends a marital rift between a vacationing young couple, the bored, fragile wife falls hopelessly in love with the husband's ex-colleague who is married to a long-suffering and emotionally and physically scarred woman. The couple soon runs off to ...

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

After spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption. ...

All Fall Down (1962)

Ralph and Annabell Willart are a feuding couple who are constantly bickering over their worthless, good-for-nothing son Berry-Berry. When Berry-Berry begins yet another meaningless love affair, this time with an older woman named Echo O'Brien, he really ge ...

The Nutcracker (1958)

Christmas presentation of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90, featuring Tchaikovsky's ballet performed by the New York City Ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine, and conducted by Robert Irving. ...

Lust for Life (1956)

An intense and imaginative artist, revered Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh possesses undeniable talent, but he is plagued by mental problems and frustrations with failure. Supported by his brother, Theo, the tormented Van Gogh eventually leaves Holland for ...

Moonfleet (1955)

Set in the eighteenth century, Moonfleet is about John Mohune, a young orphan who is sent to the Dorset village of Moonfleet to stay with an old friend of his mother's, Jeremy Fox. Fox is a morally ambiguous character, an elegant gentleman involved with sm ...

The Cobweb (1955)

Patients and staff at a posh psychiatric clinic clash over who chooses the clinic's new drapes – but drapes are the least of their problems. ...

Her Twelve Men (1954)

An inexperienced female teacher is hired at a private elite school for boys where she raises a few eyebrows among the all-male faculty. ...

Executive Suite (1954)

When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to see who will replace him. ...

Julius Caesar (1953)

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but both have sorely underestimated Mark Antony. ...

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred A ...

Holiday for Sinners (1952)

Three old friends reunite during Mardi Gras and try to forget their problems. ...

On Dangerous Ground (1951)

A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer. ...

The Company She Keeps (1951)

A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer's fiance. ...

They Live by Night (1949)

An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning. ...

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past. ...

The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Soon after a veteran returns from war, his cheating wife is found dead. He evades police in an attempt to find the real murderer. ...

Miss Susie Slagle's (1946)

A student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease. ...

The Unseen (1945)

David Fielding, who has recently lost his wife, moves into a new neighborhood under a cloud of suspicion. Many feel that his wife's death in a car crash was no accident. Elizabeth Howard, the governess he hires to look after his children, makes it her miss ...

Jane Eyre (1943)

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in f ...

Too Much Johnson (1938)

This film was not intended to stand by itself, but was designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles' Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy about a New York playboy who flees from the violent husband of his mistress and borrows ...