Cobb, Lee J. 1911-1976

12 angry men by Sidney Lumet ( Visual )
74 editions published between 1956 and 2013 in 5 languages and held by 4,577 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
Depicts a jury of men who must decide the fate of a teenage boy who has murdered his abusive father. The jurors are from all walks of life, and bring with them their own opinions, prejudices, fears, and personal demons

On the waterfront by Elia Kazan ( Visual )
95 editions published between 1954 and 2013 in 6 languages and held by 3,927 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
Terry Malloy is a washed-up ex-prize fighter corrupted along with brother Charley at an early age by a ruthless Mob-connected union boss named Johnny Friendly, who runs the waterfront. Malloy is now an errand-boy for the union, while Charley (in return for a college education) is now a lawyer for them. Malloy assists in the killing of a longshoreman who was talking to the crime commission investigating the union. He soon meets the dead man's agonized sister, Edie Doyle, and has a change of mind. Activist priest Father Barry argues with Malloy about morality, responsibility, and doing the right thing. Malloy's guilt, his romantic feelings for Edie, and an assault on Father Barry overwhelm him and he turns informer. Malloy's defiant testimony before the commission leads to a climactic bloody battle that wrests the union from the boss' tenacious grasp

The exorcist by William Friedkin ( Visual )
50 editions published between 1973 and 2010 in 5 languages and held by 2,215 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
Actress Chris MacNeil becomes increasingly disturbed by the inexplicable behavior of her 12-year-old daughter Regan--mouthing obscenities, predicting the murder of one of Chris's friends, and urinating in public. Doctors and psychologists have no explanation and as a last option, Chris consults a priest. Father Damian Karras, a Jesuit who is having doubts about his own faith following his mother's death, investigates. Karras comes to no other conclusion that Regan is possessed by a demon. Father Merrin, an older Jesuit, helps Father Karras perform an exorcism, battling the demons inside the child. As much a film about Catholicism and the crisis of faith in the modern world as possession, the Exorcist remains a brilliant horror film, one with an archetypal ability to reach and disturb viewers

Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller ( Visual )
22 editions published between 1965 and 2010 in English and No Linguistic content and held by 1,569 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
An abbreviated television adaptation of Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a middle-aged man's emotional turmoil

Double indemnity by Billy Wilder ( Visual )
2 editions published in 2006 in English and held by 1,504 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
"A calculating wife encourages her wealthy husband to sign a double indemnity policy proposed by smitten insurance agent Walter Neff. As the would-be lovers plot the unsuspecting husband's murder, they are pursued by a suspicious claims manager. It's a race against time to get away with the perfect crime in this heart-pounding Academy Award-nominated masterpiece"--Container

The three faces of Eve ( Visual )
16 editions published between 1957 and 2013 in English and held by 1,492 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
This is a fact-based story about a young Georgia housewife named Eve, who suffers from multiple personalities. Eve's husband, confused by his wife's aberrant behavior when assuming her two "other selves" seeks out help from a psychiatrist. Carefully probing Eve's subconscious via hypnosis, the doctor finds out that, though each of Eve's personalities is aware of the other's existance, none are related. After months of therapy, Eve is purged of her negative selves and is totally cured

How the West was won by Henry Hathaway ( Visual )
24 editions published between 1961 and 2011 in 3 languages and held by 1,246 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
This saga follows a family's move west through generations

Exodus by Otto Preminger ( Visual )
15 editions published between 1200 and 2012 in English and German and held by 1,231 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
This film dramatizes part of the Israeli independence moment, dealing with various factions involved in the internecine struggle between the moderate Haganah and the radical terrorist Irgun Zvai Leumi. Interspersed throughout are segments showing the migration of European Jews to the new land, paying special attention to the ragged survivors of Nazi death camps on board the vessel Exodus, blockaded in a Cyprus harbor by British warships. The film also depicts the struggle of the Jews in Palestine to gain partition, then profiles the main characters after the partition, fighting to continue as the nation of Israel

Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller ( Recording )
36 editions published between 1950 and 2002 in 3 languages and held by 1,009 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
"A milestone of the American theater. In the person of Willy Loman, the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. He has given us a figure whose name has become a symbol for a kind of majestic grandiosity-- and a play that compresses epic extremee of humor and anguish, promise and loss, between the four walls of an American living room"--Penguin Books

The man in the gray flannel suit by Nunnally Johnson ( Visual )
5 editions published between 1956 and 2011 in English and held by 808 WorldCat member libraries worldwide
A veteran of World War II, still haunted by memories of the war, gets a job in a public relations firm. He attracts the attention the firm's lonely CEO, and his career takes off. But his marriage suffers. Finally he must choose between career and family