An anthology film from 1952 based on the works of the great O. Henry (his stories usually ended w/a twist). Taking five of his stories (The Cop & the Anthem, The Clarion Call, The Last Leaf, The Ransom of Red Chief, The Gift of the Magi) adapted by different writers & different directors (including Henry Koster, Henry Hathaway, Jean Negulesco, Howard Hawks & Henry King), it becomes a good balm for those who hate picking up books so they can see the stories unfold before their eyes. W/story-lines which range from Charles Laughton as a bum hoping to get arrested so he can spend his time in a warm jail as winter approaches but fails at every turn (Marilyn Monroe pops up in a small role), another has a reporter trying to nab a murderer (played by Dale Robertson & Richard Widmark, eating all the scenery his mouth can fit) but due to an old loan, the killer thinks he can get away w/it, a woman, played by Anne Baxter, contracts pneumonia is helped by an artist neighbor to regain her will to live when things start to look dire, a pair of kidnappers, played by Oscar Levant & Fred Allen, grab a kid hoping for a big payday but when the kid turns out to be the ultimate menace, the criminals soon regret their crime & the last story, which I read once upon a time, takes place during Christmas when a struggling couple, played by Jeannie Crain & Farley Granger, each have to make sacrifices in buying their ideal gift for each other. Bookended by none other than novelist John Steinbeck (Of Mice & Men/Tortilla Flat) who intros each story w/a bookshelf prominently behind him, the stories are uniformly fine w/The Clarion Call & The Ransom of Red Chief being the best of the bunch in my humble opine.
Review of O. Henry's Full House
