Claude Jarman Jr.

Who shot Vinson Gowrie in the back? The jailhouse at Jefferson, Mississippi, may not hold the actual killer, but it does have the suspect an angry lynch mob wants: Lucas Beauchamp, who has long refused to exhibit the obsequious attitude expected of black people in Jefferson. Based on William Faulkner's novel and filmed in his hometown of Oxford, Intruder in the Dust is both a gripping whodunit and a milestone of social-conscience filmmaking. Claude Jarman, Jr. (reunited with director Clarence Brown of The Yearling) plays the youth whose troubled sense of right makes him a catalyst in solving the mystery. And Juano Hernandez is memorable as Lucas: proud, perceptive, strong words that also describe this superb film named one of 1949's 10 Best by the National Board of Review.

Since leaping to stardom in a 1943 MGM film, Lassie has represented all that is good about the enduring bonds between human beings and their dogs.

John Wayne stars as Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke, whose devotion to duty has cost him his marriage to his beloved Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara). Yorke gets word that his son, Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr.) -- whom he hasn't seen in 15 years -- has been dropped as a cadet from West Point, and that he lied about his age to enlist in the cavalry, in an effort to redeem himself.

Three Confederate soldiers escape from Union captivity, only to be captured by bandit Keeley -- then spared when he discovers they're fellow Southerners. Keeley forces them to help with his next planned heist: stealing gold from a wagon train led by Don Antonio Chaves. The men insinuate themselves with Chaves in preparation for the robbery, but when Will (Joel McCrea) falls in love with a widow (Arlene Dahl) traveling with Chaves, the three men must decide whether to continue the plan.

Captain Boll, a tough 19th-century merchant seaman, goes after a treasure trove of jewels on a remote island in the Dutch East Indies in Joseph Kane's rollicking adventure. Helped by native girl Bintang, he defies local laws to take them but the pair are pursued by the vengeful tribesmen. Just as escape seems impossible, the island's volcano erupts but can boll and Bintang escape its fury?