Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Awful Truth (1937), Remember the Night (1940), The Patsy (1928), Sons and Lovers (1960), Paradise Lagoon (1957), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), My Reputation (1946) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Smother Mother movies.
Storyline: It's 1928 in oil rich southeast Kansas. High school seniors Bud Stamper and Deanie Loomis are in love with each other. Bud, the popular football captain, and Deanie, the sensitive soul, are "good" kids who have only gone as far as kissing. Unspoken to each other, they expect to get married to each other one day. But both face pressures within the relationship, Bud who has the urges to go farther despite knowing in his heart that if they do that Deanie will end up with a reputation like his own sister, Ginny Stamper, known as the loose, immoral party girl, and Deanie who will do anything to hold onto Bud regardless of the consequences. They also face pressures from their parents who have their own expectation for their offspring. Bud's overbearing father, Ace Stamper, the local oil baron, does not believe Bud can do wrong and expects him to go to Yale after graduation, which does not fit within Bud's own expectations for himself. And the money and image conscious Mrs. Loomis just wants...
Plot Keywords: melodrama, breakup, brother sister relationship, church, connecticut, doctor, face slap ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Before their divorce becomes final, Jerry and Lucy Warriner both do their best to ruin each other's plans for remarriage, Jerry to haughty socialite Barbara Vance, she to oil-rich bumpkin Daniel Leeson. Among their strategies: Jerry's court-decreed visitation rights with Mr. Smith, their pet fox terrier, and Lucy doing her most flamboyant Dixie Belle Lee impersonation as Jerry's brassy "sister" before his prospective bride's scandalized family.
Plot Keywords: divorce, piano, infidelity, based on play, screwball comedy, recital, racetrack ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Just before Christmas, Lee Leander is caught shoplifting. It is her third offense. She is prosecuted by John Sargent. He postpones the trial because it is hard to get a conviction at Christmas time. However, he feels sorry for her and arranges for her bail; he also ends up taking her home to his mother for Christmas. Surrounded by a loving family (in stark contrast to Lee's own family background), they fall in love. This creates a new problem: how do they handle the upcoming trial?—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Plot Keywords: morality, christmas present, gift, perfume, corset, dance, wedding dress ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her elder sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice her.
Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, sibling rivalry, motorboat, impersonation, harbor, flapper, etiquette ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: It's the early twentieth century. The Morel family lives in the coal mining community of Bestwood, England, just outside of Nottingham. There is little connection now between husband and wife, Walter and Gertrude, due to their differences, while each quietly or not so quietly is able to manipulate emotionally their now adult sons. While eldest son William has escaped the clutches of his parents by moving to London, each of the two remaining sons have ended up having a natural alliance or connection to one parent. Arthur, like brusque Walter, works in the mines, something that Walter believes is their duty and legacy. Artistically inclined Paul, who is self-taught in his art, instead has a lower paying office job, in Gertrude's mind it a longer path but to greater financial gain, Paul who is never to work in the mines. Paul, arguably, would live as a painter if he was able. Paul's relationship with two women is shown in light of the influence Gertrude has had in his life, he who has separated the concepts of love, sex and marriage in his mind. The first is childhood friend, farm girl Miriam Leivers, who Paul has also instilled a romantic notion of the arts and literature. Their relationship is also affected by Mrs. Leivers, who has taught Miriam to have an ugly view of physical sex, it purely a means to procreation. The second is work colleague Clara Dawes, an emancipated woman separated from her laborer husband, Baxter Dawes.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: london england, male objectification, bare chested male, manipulative wife, manipulative female, manipulative mother, romantic rivalry ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Lord Loam has modern ideas about his household; he believes in treating his servants as his equals - at least sometimes. His butler, Crichton, still believes that members of the serving class should know their place and be happy there. But when the Loam family are shipwrecked on a desert island with the self-reliant Crichton and between maid Tweeny, the class system is put to the test.—George S. Davis <mgeorges@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: bare chested male, rescue, equality, shipwreck, sea voyage, nobleman, snob ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Magazine publisher Van Stanhope is a hard-working, dynamic executive very happily married to his beautiful wife Linda. Although their relationship is is built on unconditional trust, friends caution her about the dangers of allowing Whitey, her husband's extremely sexy secretary, to continue to have access to him. Even Van's mother warns Linda that Van's father philandered during their marriage, and Van, like all men, will eventually succumb to opportunity and temptation. Although Whitey has a faithful boyfriend, she secretly harbors unrequited feelings for her boss. When they take business trip to Havana, circumstantial evidence convinces Linda that the rumors she's heard may have a basis in fact.—Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)
Plot Keywords: based on novel, unrequited love, art deco, butler, cleaning woman, fiancee, fidelity ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Tongues begin to wag when a lonely widow becomes romantically involved with a military man. Problems arise when the gossip is filtered down to her own children.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: title spoken by character, train station, red cross, divorce, scandal, christmas carol, martini ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Since childhood, spinster Alma Winemiller has loved handsome young Dr. John Buchanan, Jr.. But John has fallen hard for Rosa Zacharias, the town's sultry vamp, and descends into a seamy nightlife while ignoring Alma's dreams of romance and possible marriage.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: rural setting, based on play, loneliness, mississippi, small town, repression, seduction ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The Hunter family has long owned a mansion on Pine Island, a summer resort located off the Maine coast. Bart Hunter's now deceased father was able to open the mansion for free when Bart was younger, but current owner Bart, a drunkard and weak man, must now live there year round for financial survival with his wife Sylvia and their late teen-aged son Johnny, the family which is barely able to eke out a living with the mansion now as a year-round inn which is in an extreme state of disrepair. Bart and Sylvia are in a quietly unhappy marriage due largely to Bart's drinking. The Buffalo-based Jorgensons - husband Ken Jorgenson, his wife Helen Jorgenson and their late teen-aged daughter Molly Jorgenson - have rented rooms at the inn for the summer, while Ken looks for a summer house on the island. Ken lived on the island twenty years ago, he actually a working class lifeguard for Bart's father at that time. Ken is now a self-made millionaire as a research scientist, who had never been back to the island until now. Ken and Helen too are in an unsatisfying marriage, Helen, a shrew and prude, who seems to hate and mistrust anything and everything, including her husband and daughter. Helen only seems concerned with public perception that their lives are perfect. Upon first meeting, Johnny and Molly fall in love. Meanwhile, Ken and Sylvia rekindle a romance from twenty years earlier, they uncertain if Bart knew at the time of their relationship, which did not last because of the differences in their social background. The two romances have a rocky road to potential happiness. Helen does not trust either Johnny or Molly to be morally proper. Ken and Sylvia know that their respective spouses will never consent to divorce, and if they do will do whatever they can so that they will never get to see their children again. And despite knowing that their respective parents are unhappy in their marriages, Johnny and Molly do not approve of a liaison between his mother and her father. Regardless, Ken and Sylvia want to provide their children with as much love and guidance as possible, including encouraging them to follow their hearts while not getting into trouble, a message which may not be heard if only because of Johnny and Molly believing that what they are doing is disgusting, and because of Johnny and Molly's own raging hormones.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: adultery, pregnancy, domineering mother, dysfunctional family, dysfunctional marriage, boathouse, infidelity ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: brother brother relationship, miracle, chariot, exodus, desert, dancing, throne ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A veteran comes home from the Korean War to the mountains and takes over the family moonshining business. He has to battle big-city gangsters who are trying to take over the business and the police who are trying to put him in prison.
Plot Keywords: independent film, mobster, moonshine, murder attempt, murder, nightclub singer, revenge ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Diana is outwardly the hit of the party but inwardly virtuous and idealistic. Her friend Ann is thoroughly selfish and amoral. Both are attracted to Ben Blaine, soon-to-be millionaire. He takes Diana's flirtations with other boys as a sign of disinterest in him and marries Ann. Big mistake.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: romantic rivalry, seashore, jazz age, horse riding, friendship, accidental death, courtship ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: There is no way to write a "spoiler"---is there actually somebody somewhere who, ten minutes into this 1950's film, wouldn't know where it is going and will end up---since it is a strictly written-by-the-numbers corruption and redemption meller that finds: number 1, a doctor returns from the Korean War to his Pennsylvania mining hometown, (and 2) must choose between dedicating himself to treating the suffering poor (or 3) build himself a swank office and get rich by flattering wealthy women with imaginary ailments. Throw in elements no. 5,Lizabeth Scott as a rich, spoiled, twice-divorced woman with a lip stiffer than his, and number 6, Dianne Foster as a nurse bent on helping all mankind, and there are no surprises left, especially if one take note of the name of Irving Wallace among the writers, the title and Scott billed above Foster. The only surprise here is that this film wasn't from Universal-International and directed by Douglas Sirk.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: male female relationship, dead brother, doctor patient relationship, romantic relationship, jealous woman, possessive female, male objectification ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Lally is a rich girl whose father writes books and plays Polo. After 23 years of marriage, he decides to divorce his wife, and marry Mrs. Chevers. This sours Lally on all men, while on vacation she meets Jack, who succeeds in stealing her heart. The trouble begins when Lally discovers that Jack is the son of Beth Chevers, her father's illicit lover.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Plot Keywords: father daughter relationship, storm, heart disease, prayer, mistress, infidelity, michigan ...
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