Top 10 Joseph L. Mankiewicz Movies


10. Julius Caesar (1953)
Brutus (James Mason) is convinced by a scheming band of Roman senators, led by Caius Cassius (John Gielgud), that his dear friend Julius Caesar (Louis Calhern) intends to dissolve the republic and install himself as monarch, and he joins a conspiracy to assassinate him. Brutus stirringly defends his actions, but when Mark Antony (Marlon Brando) responds with a speech that plays upon the crowd's love for their fallen leader, a battle between the two factions is assured.
9.House of Strangers (1949)
Gino Monetti (Edward G. Robinson) has made his fortune banking, but he hasn't done it legally. When the authorities come after him, three of his sons turn their backs on him, angry over how he treated them in the past. Max (Richard Conte), his fourth son, stands by his father during his trial and stays loyal to him even when he is sent to prison. Max plots revenge against his brothers for betraying their father, while his brothers plot their own revenge against him.
8.No Way Out (1950)
Robbers Ray Biddle (Richard Widmark) and his brother are shot and taken to the local hospital. There, the two are treated by Dr. Brooks (Sidney Poitier), the hospital's only black doctor. The brothers assault Brooks with racist slurs. And, when his brother ends up dying on the operating table, Ray accuses the doctor of murdering him. Blind with rage, Ray works to turn the white community of the city against Brooks, who finds an unlikely ally in the dead man's widow, Edie (Linda Darnell).
7.People Will Talk (1951)
The unorthodox methods of Midwestern physician and lecturer Noah Praetorious (Cary Grant) make him popular with students and patients but ruffle the pride of Professor Rodney Elwell (Hume Cronyn). When student Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain) faints in Noah's class and confides that she is pregnant and unmarried, Noah takes an interest in her. Eager to ruin Noah, Elwell uses the doctor's connection to Deborah and to a mysterious and shady friend to bring charges of unsuitability against him.
6.Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
In this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, young socialite Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) is traumatized and committed after witnessing her cousin's violent death on a trip to Europe. Her aunt, Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), wants to hide the events of her son's death and attempts to bribe young surgeon Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) to perform a lobotomy on Catherine. But John vows to find out the truth about Catherine's state before taking any action.
5.5 Fingers (1952)
Known as "Cicero" to his Nazi handlers, mercenary spy Ulysses Diello (James Mason) poses as valet to Sir Frederic (Walter Hampden), the British ambassador to Turkey. Learning that widowed Countess Anna Staviska (Danielle Darrieux) is broke and offering her services as a spy, Diello persuades her to stash his ill-gotten gains for him in exchange for putting her back into the luxury she desires. Dreaming of a gentleman's exile in Rio de Janeiro, he pushes the espionage game to the limit.
4.A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Deborah Bishop, Lora Mae Hollingsway and Rita Phipps are three friends who all receive letters from another friend, Addie Ross, telling them that she is about to leave town with one of their husbands. Deborah, Lora Mae and Rita have to find out which of their spouses, Brad, Porter and George respectively, have been unfaithful.
3.The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Defying her conventional in-laws, young widow Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) leaves London with her young daughter and moves away for a quieter life in a secluded seaside cottage. Lucy discovers the ghost of the deceased former owner, sea captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), is haunting the house, but gathers the courage to stand up to him, and woman and ghost become friends. Faced with dwindling means of support, Lucy agrees to the Captain's challenge to write his colorful life story.
2.Sleuth (1972)
Based on the renowned play by Anthony Shaffer, this mystery finds Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier), a wealthy author of detective novels and game aficionado, facing off against his wife's lover, Milo Tindle (Michael Caine), a middle-class hair salon-owner. When Wyke, who is seemingly content to split from his wife strikes an unusual deal with Tindle, it sets into motion a fierce game of one-upmanship between the two, with the stakes growing increasingly higher.
1.All About Eve (1950)
Backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington. Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing, telling a melancholy life story to Margo and her friends. Margo takes Eve under her wing, and it appears that Eve is a conniver that uses Margo.