O. Henry's Full House

"A dozen top stars - five famed directors bring you the best stories of O. Henry!"

1952 1h 57m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 48

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".

“A dozen top stars - five famed directors bring you the best stories of O. Henry!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Charles Laughton
Soapy (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
Marilyn Monroe
Streetwalker (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
David Wayne
Horace (segment "The Cop and the Anthem")
Dale Robertson
Barney Woods (segment "The Clarion Call")
Richard Widmark
Johnny Kernan (segment "The Clarion Call")
Anne Baxter
Joanna Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")
Jean Peters
Susan Goodwin (segment "The Last Leaf")
Gregory Ratoff
Behrman (segment "The Last Leaf")

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Henry King
Writers: Ben Roberts, Ivan Goff, Richard L. Breen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

74 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Henry King, shot by Lloyd Ahern Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A dozen top stars - five famed directors bring you the best stories of O. Henry!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0044981 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 48 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Henry King directs. Lloyd Ahern Sr. behind the camera. Alfred Newman scores. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

174 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Henry King, shot by Lloyd Ahern Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Alfred Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "A dozen top stars - five famed directors bring you the best stories of O. Henry!".
6IMDB entry: tt0044981 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 48 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
8Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lloyd Ahern Sr.
Original score: Alfred Newman
Runtime: 117 min · 1h 57m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: O. Henry's Full House (1952)

Also by

Henry King

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-11-03
★ 7/10
A compendium of five stories from the acclaimed US writer that are all quite entertaining. It starts off with a story about "Soapy" - a wily vagrant who decides that with winter coming, it's time to get himself snuggly incarcerated for the harsh weather. Who else but Charles Laughton could get that character up and running with an avuncular amiability and mischief to him, especially when he alights on the down on her luck lady of the night (Marilyn Monroe). Sadly for him, though, it seems it wasn't just Sam Goldwyn who couldn't get arrested in Hollywood. Next the "Clarion Call" sees a detective (Dale Robertson) attempt to prove whether or not his childhood friend (Richard Widmark) is guilty of killing a man when a robbery goes wrong. "The Last Leaf" has a rather sad premiss to it as a young girl (Anne Baxter) is saddened by a break-up and wanders out into the snow where she promptly catches pneumonia. Despite the best care of her sister (Jean Peters) it looks like her dwindling life-force is attached to the leaves on a tree that are gradually being blown away by a violent storm. Perhaps only the painter who lives upstairs (Gregory Ratoff) and earns a meagre living selling his paintings for a few dollars here and there might be able to help? The fourth short story was my favourite. Two hustlers - Oscar Levant and Peter Allan are trying to flog some dodgy goldmine share certificates, but decide they have to scrape together some cash to buy some actual gold that can plausibly have been dug up in the mine. To that end, they decide to kidnap the ten year old "J.B." (Lee Aaker) and ransom him to his folks. Little do they realise that this youngster is way more than a match for these two bumpkins, and soon the tables are well and truly turned. Finally, there is a festive theme as a young couple, expecting a baby, struggle with balancing the books and getting something nice for the other for Christmas. Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger deliver quite a sensitive story about the sacrifices that both are prepared to make to give the other just that little extra joy as they anticipate their dinner of meatloaf and milk that's chilled in box on the window sill. Each of these stories have simple morals underpinning them, but they are presented in a fashion that allows the characters to tell us the story without labouring any message. Laughton is in his element, so too is the understated Ratoff and there's plenty of fun to be had at the hands of the young Aaker too. A soupçon of human nature, faith and buffoonery that I rather enjoyed.

Production companies