The 20th Century Fox Hour

The 20th Century Fox Hour

1955
The 20th Century Fox Hour
The 20th Century Fox Hour

The 20th Century Fox Hour

7.3 | en | Drama

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.

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Seasons & Episodes

2
1
EP19  The Marriage Broker
Jun. 12,1957
The Marriage Broker

A mischievous, well meaning, meddling busy body opens up an agency to bring couples together. After years of being a scorned woman Mae decides to turn the tables on her nemisis after her ex-husbands death. A variation of Hello Dolly!

EP18  Threat to a Happy Ending
May. 29,1957
Threat to a Happy Ending

Police captain's daughter is threatened when a gangster resolves to make sure that the Captain and his family are held responsible.

EP17  The Great American Hoax
May. 15,1957
The Great American Hoax

John Hodges has been a printer devoted to his work. Now, at 65, he is automatically retired by his firm. But Hodges isn't ready for retirement -he feels he has many years of productivve employment ahead. Furthermore,life without a job becomes tedious. He feels unwanted in the house and finally flees to the park where he sits, contemplates the injustice of his retirement, and plots ways to be reinstated. Finally he hits on a daring maneuver. Knowing that the president of the parent company is a mysteriously remote figure, Hodges decides to impersonate him, change some of the rules and get his job back. Excited, he starts to compose an interesting letter!

EP16  Deep Water
May. 01,1957
Deep Water

The ruthless head of an underwater demolition team, aka the frogmen, is unpopular with his men when he comes head to head with his chief petty officer just as an enemy torpedo lodges, unexploded, in a section of the ship's sick bay.

EP15  Men in Her Life
Apr. 17,1957
Men in Her Life

Retired schoolteacher pays a visit to a former pupil she taught many years ago. He is a candidate running for governor. She tells him about how difficult he was as a boy and her attempts to help him interfered with the man she loved and accusations concerning that man.

EP14  The Still Trumpet
Apr. 03,1957
The Still Trumpet

During the Civil War, imprisoned Confederate soldiers are paroled to help protect pioneers from Indians.

EP13  Deadline Decision
Mar. 20,1957
Deadline Decision

Ben Macready son of John Macready owner and editor of the ""Hollisfield Herald"" has been asked by Police Chief Swanson to keep a lid on a kidnapping of Jimmie Elgin son of the Bank Manager George Elgin under wraps for 18 hours. Ben agrees, however his father doesnt and goes ahead with the story. The townspeople turn on Macready when it is learned that the river was dragged and a body was found. Fearing the worst, Macready embarks on a mission to capture the kidnapper. Offering him money for the story and trapping him only to discover that little Jimmie is alive and is exchanged for the reward. The police are able to arrest the kidnapper.

EP12  City in Flames
Mar. 06,1957
City in Flames

During the time of the great Chicago fire, the two O'Leary brothers become bitter political and romantic rivals for the beautiful stage actress, one brother is a notorious gambler and the other a pious reformer. After Mrs. O'Leary's cow knocks over the fabled lantern, we are treated to generous stock footage from In Old Chicago's climatic conclusion.

EP11  Man of the Law
Feb. 20,1957
Man of the Law

In Vaquero County at the Wells Fargo Office, Anse Trumbull is shot and killed in a bank hold up. This endangers the only witness to the crime, the sheriff's stepson. The sheriff is faced with a difficult decision whether to protect the boy and possibly lose his respect or risk the boys life.

EP10  Springfield Incident
Feb. 06,1957
Springfield Incident

A young Abe takes on a case where the only witness to the crime is the mother of two young men who are wrongfully accused in the stabbing death of the town deputy.

EP9  False Witness
Jan. 23,1957
False Witness

A mother places an ad in the newspaper claiming the innocence of her son. A reporter checks out the story.

EP8  End of a Gun
Jan. 09,1957
End of a Gun

Jimmy Ringo an ex-gunfighter tries to settle down to a normal life but is constantly challenged to gun fights. As he tries to reconnect with his wife and son in Cayenne, his life is in danger when several attempts are made on his life. Distraught he tells the sheriff his friend not to pursue the attempts, to let the gunnies find out themselves what kind of life it is to be an outlaw.

EP7  Operation Cicero
Dec. 26,1956
Operation Cicero

Based on the true story of a World War II spy with access to top secret information in the British embassy in Turkey, this episode follows the brief but bright career of an English valet, code-named Cicero, who seized his chance to sell expensive secrets to the Germans, including details about D-Day's Operation Overlord. The Nazi government, the British ambassador, and a Polish countess all dance on strings even as British counteragents close in.

EP6  Men Against Speed
Dec. 12,1956
Men Against Speed

A family auto-racing team, father and two sons, intent upon proving that their American vehicle is the superior to any foreign job. The trio enters an important Italian road competition. A press agent upsets things, when she can't choose between brothers.

EP5  The Last Patriarch
Nov. 28,1956
The Last Patriarch

Emil Markheim employs the same ruthless authority in running the bank he founded that he imposes on his own family. His sons hate him enough to want to destroy him. The son who loves him ends up in jail for trying to bride a juror after his father winds up on the bank examiners wrong side. After doing 5 years in Sing Sing upon his release the other brothers try to destroy him.

EP4  Smoke Jumpers
Nov. 14,1956
Smoke Jumpers

Only the leader of a firefighter unit survives a forest fire and is accused of saving himself at his men's expense. After his recovery he goes out again this time to prove everyone wrong.

EP3  The Money Maker
Oct. 31,1956
The Money Maker

Mrs. Miller is elderly with no money, she makes a living by counterfeiting one dollar bills. This leads to trouble with the US government who can't believe it.

EP2  Stranger in the Night
Oct. 17,1956
Stranger in the Night

A sensitive widow of delicate constitution falls in love with a cottage by the sea previously owned by Captain Robert Wilton who commited suicide. Feeling a ghostly prescence she becomes enchanted with him and he helps her to overcome her fears.

EP1  Child of the Regiment
Oct. 03,1956
Child of the Regiment

After his wife suffers a miscarriage during an earthquake in Japan, he finds that a young Japanese girl is parentless and homeless and decides to take her in. Hoping of course that his wife will overcome her grief over the loss of their own child. He is reassigned to Honolulu and there he encounters problems with his superior who is extremely racist against his daughter and causes trouble for him and his outfit.

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7.3 | en | Drama | More Info
Released: 1955-10-05 | Released Producted By: TCF Television Productions , Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.

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Reviews

harry-76 This made-for-TV episode on the "Fox Hour of Stars" (re-telecast August 2005) is a shot-for-shot, word-for-word retelling of the fox film classic, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." In Gene Tierney's place as Mrs. Muir is Joan Fontaine, giving a heartfelt performance. As the ghost sea captain is Michael Wilding, "replacing" Rex Harrison. As Mrs. Muir's bogus suitor, Tom Conway is cast--in the same role previously played by his brother, George Sanders. (And I must say the resemblance between the two brothers is at times uncanny). Elsa Lancaster is the trusting maid.This is an excellent hour-long adaptation, with strong production values and fine acting. In fact, it is remarkably successful, rivaling the high standards set by the film. Interestingly, no mention is made in the credits of the source material, as though the intent is to evade acknowledging the original. Whatever the case, this episode is an outstanding adaptation of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir."
marbleann I love this show. Robert Wagner starts the show off as the host. He mentions that these TV shows were made to combat TV back in the 50's. And instead of going to the movies, the movies came to us at home. These are remakes of very famous movies such as Laura, Miracle at 34th St, All My Sons, the Ox Bow Incident. Some IMO are better then the movies because they are not as long as the originals. The remake of Laura was on par with the original because of its length. Laura was a movie which was very good but it only really needed 45 minutes to tell. Even though no one can replace Clifton Webb, it was still very good. Same with the Last Patriach, which is a remake of Broken Lance and All My Sons. John Cassavettes played the angry young son who served 5 years n prison only to have his 2 brothers turn on him when he comes home. No one can play the angry young man like him, no one. Also the remake was 47 minute, all I think was needed to tell this much duplicated story. Take a look at this show. You see a lot of future big names doing some of them. Or a lot of older established actors. The sets are not as lavish as the original movies and the shows are at the most 50 minutes longs. But in this case less is better
andycharity instead of showing these 47 minute tv remakes again and again. it is nice that they restored them, and they seem very proud of them, but the original films most of them are based on have better casts, are twice as long, and some of them are never shown at all on the fox movie channel, like christopher bean (1933) with lionel barrymore and at least 2 members of the broadway cast (george coulouris + beulah bondi), while the hour of stars remake is in heavy rotation lately. same situation with the late george apley with ronald colman and its hour of stars remake, and i'm sure several other cases as well.
Albert Sanchez Moreno This long-lost series has been remastered and restored, and is currently being shown on the Fox Movie Channel under the new title "Hour of Stars". It is a fascinating curio made up of one-hour condensations of 20th Century-Fox's biggest hit films, with entirely different casts. (There are unproduced scripts featured on this series as well.) The scripts, photography, and camera angles on these hour-long shows are virtually identical to those in the films they are based on. Although this is part of what makes this series so fascinating, and although it raises the level of writing and photography far above that in the average TV series, this is unfortunately where the resemblance ends, at least judging from the episode I caught last night.The episode was entitled "Operation Cicero", and was adapted from the hit 1952 spy film "5 Fingers". It had one advantage over the original in that the main supporting role of Moisewitch, Cicero's contact man, was played by none other than Peter Lorre, who naturally walked away with the acting honors. But the episode was compromised by the fatal miscasting of Ricardo Montalban (of all people) in the role of Diello, the traitorous valet played so memorably in the film by James Mason. Montalban may be a great Khan in "Star Trek", but he is the last person one would ever imagine playing a dryly cynical spy who is willing to betray the Allied cause in WWII just for money and his own amusement. He brings almost none of the nuances that Mason brought to his portrayal.The other actors in this episode are not miscast, but strictly unmemorable in comparison to those in "5 Fingers". The only other actor who can stand comparison with his movie counterpart is Alan Napier (Alfred the butler in TV's "Batman"), who plays Travers, the British intelligence agent played in "5 Fingers" by Michael Rennie.There will be more episodes in this series, and they will certainly be of interest as early TV artifacts, but if you expect the same experience that you had in seeing the original films they are based on, you might be disappointed. The impression this series gives is similar to that of watching a touring company of a Broadway show when you have already seen the original Broadway production.