Screenplay: Melville Shavelson

Top movies, series, and documentaries with a screenplay by Melville Shavelson. Explore the titles that showcase an exceptional writing.


6.5

204 votes

Wonder Man

1945 · Movie · 98 min. · United States

Direction H. Bruce Humberstone

Cast Danny Kaye · Virginia Mayo · Vera-Ellen · Donald Woods

Synopsis Boisterous nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew was the witness to a murder committed by gangster Ten Grand Jackson. One night, two of Jackson's thugs kill Buzzy and dump his body in the lake at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Buzzy comes back...

6.4

309 votes

6.4

309 votes

The Five Pennies

1959 · Movie · 117 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Danny Kaye · Barbara Bel Geddes · Louis Armstrong · Harry Guardino

Synopsis Loring "Red" Nichols is a cornet-playing country boy who goes to New York in the 1920s full of musical ambition and principles. He gets a job playing in Wil Paradise's band, but quits to pursue his dream of playing Dixieland...

6.2

119 votes

6.2

119 votes

Ike (TV Miniseries)

1979 · Series · 291 min. · United States

Direction Boris Sagal · Melville Shavelson

Cast Robert Duvall · Lee Remick · Dana Andrews · Stephen Roberts

Synopsis Made-for-TV biography of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

6.2

122 votes

6.2

122 votes

Room for One More

1952 · Movie · 98 min. · United States

Direction Norman Taurog

Cast Cary Grant · Betsy Drake · Lurene Tuttle · Randy Stuart

Synopsis Anne and "Poppy" Rose are the average American family, with three quirky kids. Anne has a good heart and gives lost cats and dogs a home - and one day also the orphan Jane, a problem child who already tried...

6.1

95 votes

6.1

95 votes

Living It Up

1954 · Movie · 95 min. · United States

6.0

173 votes

6.0

173 votes

On the Double

1961 · Movie · 92 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Danny Kaye · Dana Wynter · Wilfrid Hyde-White · Margaret Rutherford

Synopsis American GI Ernie Williams, admittedly weak-kneed, has an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie. Williams, also a master of imitation and disguise, is asked to impersonate the Colonel, ostensibly to allow the Colonel to make a secret trip East. What...

6.0

75 votes

6.0

75 votes

Houseboat

1958 · Movie · 105 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Cary Grant · Sophia Loren · Martha Hyer · Harry Guardino

Synopsis Tom Winston, a widower, is trying to understand and raise three precocious children alone. He gets a little unexpected help from Cinzia, when the children decide she is be the new maid. She is actually an Italian socialite who is...

5.9

664 votes

5.9

664 votes

The Princess and the Pirate

1944 · Movie · 94 min. · United States

Direction David Butler · Sidney Lanfield

Cast Bob Hope · Virginia Mayo · Walter Brennan · Walter Slezak

Synopsis Princess Margaret is travelling incognito to elope with her true love instead of marrying the man her father has betrothed her to. On the high seas, her ship is attacked by pirates who know her identity and plan to kidnap...

5.9

350 votes

5.9

350 votes

It Started in Naples

1960 · Movie · 100 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Clark Gable · Sophia Loren · Vittorio De Sica · Paolo Carlini

Synopsis Michael Hamilton (Clark Gable) is an American lawyer who travels to Naples to settle the estate of his recently deceased expatriate brother. When he arrives, he discovers that his sister-in-law was also killed in the accident, leaving their son Marrietto...

5.7

607 votes

5.7

607 votes

Yours, Mine and Ours

1968 · Movie · 110 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Lucille Ball · Henry Fonda · Van Johnson · Jennifer Leak

Synopsis When a widower with 10 children marries a widow with 8, can the 20 of them ever come together as one big happy family? From finding a house big enough for all of them and learning to make 18 school...

5.7

1K votes

5.7

1K votes

The War Between Men and Women

1972 · Movie · 110 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Jack Lemmon · Barbara Harris · Jason Robards · Herb Edelman

Synopsis Two quirky Manhattanites crash into each other cute at an ophthalmologist's office. Peter is a grouchy cartoonist/author whose vision is failing, divorced mother Theresa is also reluctant to plunge into a relationship right now. It's not love at first sight...

5.7

100 votes

5.7

100 votes

Cast a Giant Shadow

1966 · Movie · 146 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Kirk Douglas · Senta Berger · Angie Dickinson · James Donald

Synopsis After WWII an American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his jewish roots. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade...

5.6

509 votes

5.6

509 votes

Double Dynamite

1951 · Movie · 80 min. · United States

Direction Irving Cummings

Cast Jane Russell · Groucho Marx · Frank Sinatra · Don McGuire

Synopsis Bank teller Johnny Dalton, too poor to marry his sweetheart 'Mibs' Goodhug, saves a big-time bookie from a beating and receives a munificent reward...which just happens to match a mysterious shortage at the bank! Will Johnny's pal, eccentric waiter Emile,...

5.5

97 votes

5.5

97 votes

A New Kind of Love

1963 · Movie · 109 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Paul Newman · Joanne Woodward · Thelma Ritter · Eva Gabor

Synopsis The fashion industry and Paris provide the setting for a comedy surrounding the mistaken impression that Joanne Woodward is a high-priced call girl. Paul Newman is the journalist interviewing her for insights on her profession.

5.5

196 votes

5.5

196 votes

On Moonlight Bay

1951 · Movie · 95 min. · United States

Direction Roy Del Ruth

Cast Doris Day · Gordon MacRae · Jack Smith · Leon Ames

Synopsis The Winfield family moves into a new house in a small town in Indiana. Tomboy Marjorie Winfield begins a romance with William Sherman who lives across the street. Marjorie has to learn how to dance and act like a proper...

5.5

25 votes

5.5

25 votes

It's a Great Feeling

1949 · Movie · 85 min. · United States

Direction David Butler

Cast Doris Day · Dennis Morgan · Jack Carson · Mazzone-Abbott Dancers

Synopsis A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break may have arrived when actors Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan agree to help her.

5.4

60 votes

5.4

60 votes

Trouble Along the Way

1953 · Movie · 110 min. · United States

Direction Michael Curtiz

Cast John Wayne · Donna Reed · Charles Coburn · Tom Tully

Synopsis Struggling to retain custody of his daughter following his divorce, football coach Steve Williams finds himself embroiled in a recruiting scandal at the tiny Catholic college he is trying to bring back to football respectability.

5.4

50 votes

5.4

50 votes

The Pigeon That Took Rome

1962 · Movie · 103 min. · United States

Direction Melville Shavelson

Cast Charlton Heston · Elsa Martinelli · Harry Guardino · Salvatore Baccaloni

Synopsis Charlton Heston stars as an American soldier behind Italian lines in World War II. In order to communicate German movements to the Allies, he uses carrier pigeons fitted with messages. As he grows more and more in love with the...

5.3

51 votes

5.3

51 votes

April in Paris

1952 · Movie · 96 min. · United States

Direction David Butler

Cast Doris Day · Ray Bolger · Paul Harvey · George Givot

Synopsis Miss Ethel 'Dynamite' Jackson is a chorus girl who mistakingly receives an invitation from the State Department to represent the American theatre at an arts exposition in Paris, France. There's only one problem, the invitation was meant for Miss Ethel...

5.3

66 votes

5.3

66 votes