David Miller
1909 - 1992David Miller (November 28, 1909 – April 14, 1992) was an American film director who directed such varied films as Billy the Kid (1941) with Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy, Flying Tigers (1943) with John Wayne, and Love Happy (1949) with the Marx Brothers.
Miller directed Lonely Are the Brave (1962) with Kirk Douglas; Emanuel Levy wrote, in 2009, that it "is the most accomplished film of David Miller, who directs with eloquent feeling for landscape and attention to character." Others feel that Miller's filmic masterpiece is his 1952 Noir thriller Sudden Fear; Sudden Fear was nominated for four Academy Awards, for Best Lead Actress (Joan Crawford); Best Supporting Actor (Jack Palance); Best Costume Design (Sheila O'Brien); and Best Cinematography (Charles Lang).
Sudden Fear
David Miller
Joan Crawford, Jack Palance
Actor Lester Blaine has all but landed the lead in Myra Hudson's new play when Myra vetoes him because, to her, he doesn't look like a romantic leading man. On a train from New York to San Francisco, Blaine sets out to prove Myra wrong...by romancing her. Is he sincere, or does he have a dark ulterior motive?
Sudden Fear
The Best Place to Be
David Miller
Donna Reed, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
A widow's life is thrown into turmoil by her hippie daughter, her rebellious teenage son, and an ill-starred love affair she is having with a much younger man -- and then a former suitor comes back into the picture.
The Best Place to Be
Captain Newman, M.D.
David Miller
Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis
In 1944, Capt. Josiah J. Newman is the doctor in charge of Ward 7, the neuropsychiatric ward, at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona. The hospital is under-resourced and Newman scrounges what he needs with the help of his inventive staff, especially Cpl. Jake Leibowitz. The military in general is only just coming to accept psychiatric disorders as legitimate and Newman generally has 6 weeks to cure them or send them on to another facility. There are many patients in the ward and his latest include Colonel Norville Bliss who has dissociated from his past; Capt. Paul Winston who is nearly catatonic after spending 13 months hiding in a cellar behind enemy lines; and 20 year-old Cpl. Jim Tompkins who is severely traumatized after his aircraft was shot down. Others come and go, including Italian prisoners of war, but Newman and team all realize that their success means the men will return to their units.
Captain Newman, M.D.
Our Very Own
David Miller
Ann Blyth, Farley Granger
During a heated argument with her sister Joan, Gail discovers the shocking news that she is adopted. With the reluctant support of her adoptive parents and baby sister Penny, Gail goes in search of her biological mother and true identity.
Our Very Own
Flying Tigers
David Miller
John Wayne, John Carroll
Jim Gordon commands a unit of the famed Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group which fought the Japanese in China before America's entry into World War II. Gordon must send his outnumbered band of fighter pilots out against overwhelming odds while juggling the disparate personalities and problems of his fellow flyers.
Flying Tigers
Back Street
David Miller
Susan Hayward, John Gavin
Ambitious but thwarted, Rae Smith meets handsome Marine Paul Saxon, (of the Saxon department store chain), as he passes through Lincoln, Nebraska, on his way home from World War II. There's a definite spark between them but circumstances intervene and he leaves town without her. Later she learns he's married. Determined to make it as a fashion designer, Rae moves to New York and becomes a great success. One day she happens to meet Paul again and again there's that spark but he's still married so, as a form of escape, Rae moves to Rome to set up shop. Once again she meets Paul and finally they begin an actual affair since Paul's shrewish, drunken wife, Liz, won't give him a divorce. Time passes, the affair continues whenever time and place permit, but then, Paul's young son finds out about Rae and Rae's back-street world begins to crumble.
Back Street
Drunk Driving
David Miller
Dick Purcell, Jo Ann Sayers
In this Crime Does Not Pay series entry, John Jones is an up and coming businessman who drinks too much but denies he has a problem. One day he mixes drinking and driving, and the tragic consequences hit very close to home.
Drunk Driving
The Story of Esther Costello
David Miller
Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi
Eighteen-year-old Esther has been deaf and blind since the accident which killed her mother. Wealthy Margaret Landi, a native of Esther's village in Ireland, is talked into helping to educate and possibly heal Esther. Margaret grows to love Esther as a daughter, but finds Esther's innocence threatened by sleazy promoters and her own sleazy ex-husband. Radiant performance by Heather Sears. Based on a book that nearly had Helen Keller's co-workers suing for libel due to perceived parallels between Carlo Landi and the husband of Annie Sullivan
The Story of Esther Costello