Movies by George Schaefer
Meet Me in St. Louis
This adaptation of the classic 1944 film musical explores the lives of the close-knit Smith family -- mother, father, grandfather, and five children -- who live in St. Louis in the year 1903.
Right of Way
Miniature Dwyer is named after her mother, who was making miniature doll houses when Minnie was born. Minnie, too, has built doll houses for years, and when she learns that she is terminally ill, she and her husband Teddy begin planning their joint suicide. She makes sure that her dolls are placed with people who will appreciate and cherish them. The couple refuse to allow their grief-stricken daughter or the solicitous social worker or anyone else to forestall the death they are determined is right for them
Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure
In 1620, the Assembly of the Pilgrims decides to emigrate to the young America because of the persecution they suffer by the English crown. The film tells the adventurous journey of the Pilgrims to an unknown land and future.
The Gift of the Magi
A musical version of O. Henry's famous Christmas story.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Peter Schermann is angry at the world after his children move him into a nursing home. Still physically and mentally strong, he searches for a meaning to his life in a new and uncompromising world.
One Touch of Venus
While touring a museum, Rodney Hatch, an unremarkable barber, places an engagement ring intended for his girlfriend on the hand of a statue of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. From Mount Olympus, Venus witnesses the event and decides to visit Rodney on Earth by magically inhabiting the statue. Hilarity ensues when she starts to fall in love with Rodney and competes with his girlfriend for his attentions. This television version of Kurt Weill's successful Broadway musical is much more faithful to the stage version than the 1948 Ava Gar...
Harvey
An unlikely hero, Elwood P. Dowd. This mild-mannered-but-eccentric bachelor has, for several years, happily kept company with Harvey, a six-foot-tall rabbit that only he can see. All's well until Elwood's social-climbing sister, Veta, and her teenage daughter, Myrtle Mae, come to live with him and fear his odd behavior will undermine their ambitions. When Elwood disrupts the ladies' first afternoon tea party by introducing wealthy Aunt Ethel Chauvenet to Harvey, Veta sees that something must be done right away. She takes compliant Elwood to ...
The Fantasticks
Widowers Amos and Ben plot to romantically unite Amos' daughter Luiss and Ben's son Matt by pretending to feud and forbidding the teens to associate, knowing they will resist their fathers' interference. As the two youngsters fall in love, the fathers plot to end the 'feud' by hiring a traveling showman to fake an abduction and allow Matt to 'rescue' Luisa.
Pendulum
On the evening of his decoration for bringing a murderer to justice, Washington DC Police Captain Frank Matthews' wife, and her lover are murdered in bed. Jailed as the prime suspect, with the aforementioned murderer released on a technicality Matthews escapes in search of the man he believes to be the real killer.
Gideon
The Angel of God and an ordinary shepherd named Gideon debate obedience versus disobedience to God.
Macbeth
Hallmark Hall of Fame's second version of Shakespeare's classic play, with the same two stars and the same director as its first version, but a different supporting cast.
Inherit the Wind
A young man, Bert Cates, is arrested in a small Bible Belt town for teaching the theory of Evolution in the public school. Two of the finest legal minds in the U.S. are called to the trial: Henry Drummond for the defense, and Matthew Harrison Brady for the prosecution. The trial proceeds on three levels, the guilt or innocence of Cates, the issue of the Bible vs. Darwin, and finally, the personal confrontation between Drummond and Brady.
The Tempest
Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, who lives in exile on a remote island as a sorcerer, uses his powers to shipwreck his usurper brother on the island.
Amelia Earhart
Biography follows the life of famed woman pilot Amelia Earhart, including her marriage to a famous publisher and her disappearance during a flight in 1937.
The Lark
Adaptation of Jean Anouilh's 1952 play about Joan of Arc, the young girl who led the French to victory against the English in the Hundred Years' War.
Barefoot in Athens
The last few days in the life of Socrates, including his trial.
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln depicts the final seventeen years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following her husband's assassination.
A Doll's House
A wealthy woman's attempts to help her financially troubled husband go unrewarded.
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
An elderly widow must find meaning and activity in her life when her son suggests she is no longer capable of handling her own affairs.
First, You Cry
The story of television news correspondent Betty Rollin and her battle with breast cancer, and how her subsequent mastectomy changed her marriage, her philosophy and her entire life.