---I have watched recently:
Across To Singapore (1928 silent) Joan Crawford, Ramon Navarro. Star crossed lovers. Two brothers love the same young woman. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018618/
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart. Shirley is spunky and sets all aright, as usual. Good cast. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028118/
What A Woman! (1943) Rosalind Russell, Brian Ahern, Willard Parker. Story of a book agent and her new find, author Parker. Ahern is a reporter who hangs around. Very disappointing with this cast. Should have been funnier, but it just isn't. 5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036526/
The Captains Paradise (1950) Alec Guinness, Yvonne deCarlo, Celia Johnson. Naughty man has a wife in two ports across the sea from each other. He thinks he has it made - but does he? Smug and self-satisfied, the Captain is admired by his second in command, who wants to follow his lead with women. But his prim and proper wife in Gibraltar really wants to kick up her heals; and his gorgeous showgirl wife in Morocco wants to cook! Good heavens! Droll and clever take on the battle of the sexes. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045607/
Last Holiday (1950) Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh. The original. More poignant than the later version. Man in for routine checkup, get the bad news that his x-rays show he has Lambkin's disease and has only a few months to live. Dr. advises him to use his time enjoying himself. He cashes out his retirement and his savings and goes to the posh resort by the seaside. There he is befriended by the no-nonsense housekeeper, who tells him the best way to treat these toffs is by telling them the truth instead of buttering them up. Which he does, with astonishing results. Everything he does offers him more and more opportunities for wealth and/or power. Finally the old Dr. who discovered his disease comes for his annual visit and when he hears of the man who has Lambkin's looks him over and tells him he definitely does not. The final scenes are very shocking and sad. When I saw it the first time back in 1950, it was a real shocker. Wonderful film. Guinness is superb, as always. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042665/
A Letter For Evie (1946) Marsha Hunt, John Carroll, Hume Cronyn, Pamela Britton. Jules Dassin directed this programmer for MGM, and the actors do their roles with sincerity. When I was in high school, I had a mad crush on John Carroll. I wrote him and he wrote back a sweet letter to a crazy teenager. In this film, he is a scoundrel and does it well. Are we pulling for Johnnie (the nerdy nice guy) or "Wolf" to win Evie? In a sort of Cyrano deBergerac plot, Johnnie has answered a letter Evie put in a shirt pocket at the factory where she works. Only he used Wolfs picture. When the men get a leave before being shipped out, trouble ensues. A light romantic comedy made a little more interesting by the actors and the director. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037870/
The Harvey Girls (1946) Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Angela Lansbury, Ray Bolger. The rest of the cast seems like the honor role of greats at MGM at the time. Judy looks great and has one of the funniest scenes from any of her films, when she retrieves the meat from the saloon after it has been stolen. The guy clearing the way is perfect in his amusement at this nice girl with 2 six shooters. All the lead females are shown at their best. Makeup and costumes are perfect. To see how MGM did it, making a film with nothing but stars from their roster, this is one for the books. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038589/
The Best Years Of Our Lives (1947) Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews. Rewatch. Great film. Comments on blog. 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/
A Foreign Affair (1948) Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund. Rewatch. Comments on blog. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040367/
The Black Stallion (1979) Kelly Reno, Teri Garr, Mickey Rooney. Beautiful black stallion is the star of this show. For some reason I had never sat and watched the whole film, but this windy day I did. The boy and horse, up through the rescue, are great. Scenes of them bonding and racing with the wind on the beach are magical. The rest of the story is routine. We know the horse will be a winner. Cinematography is superb. 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078872/
Eyewitness (1981) Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, James Woods, Christopher Plummer. Vietnam vet, Daryll, works as a janitor in a large building and in the evening watches the newscasts he has taped of his favorite commentator, Tony, (Weaver). When there is a murder in his building, Tony covers for her station. Daryll intimates he knows something, and she tries to get him to reveal what he knows. Meanwhile the real killer/s watch and wait. A cat and mouse game continues until it gets very dangerous. Keeps you guessing, but the real fun is Hurt and Weaver playing with each other. Woods does his usual crazed character. 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082353/
Random Hearts (1999) Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas. Cop Dutch (Ford) and candidate Kay Chandler (Thomas) are just going through there daily routine, when they are both informed by an airline that their spouses are presumed dead in the crash that day of a Florida bound flight. Both are sure there is a mistake, because their spouses so convincingly led other lives together. After the two realize it is true and they are dead, they meet because Dutch can't or won't let go. Kay is pragmatic, numb and angry and wants to forget it all. Interesting take on what would happen if the moment you are living is suddenly your last. What would those closest to you find out? 8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156934/
The Deep End (2001) Tilda Swinton. Beautiful cinematography around Lake Tahoe, CA. Story covers a murder most foul. A remake of Max Ophuls "The Reckless Moment" (1950), the story of a young girl pushing her older lover in a fight in a boathouse where he falls onto an anchor and is killed. The mother in the Ophuls is the marvelous Joan Bennett in her best role, and the blackmailer is James Mason, at his charming best being a bad man. In this version, the lovers are gay, one the son of Swinton. The body of the man the son is involved with is found by Swinton the morning after, and she takes it across the lake and ties it to the anchor and pushes it off. From there both versions get into blackmail and the one who contacts the mother. In both versions he is charming and falls in love with this woman who is protecting her child. Mason makes his villain achingly real, and Bennett is perfect holding onto herself as a faithful wife and mother. Swinton is good, but the script and director let her down. The original was one of my favorites of both leads for years. This version I rate: 6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250323/
October almost over. We are having our Indian summer. Cool, frosty mornings, warm sunny afternoons. My last five days of the month I'll spend as much time as possible sitting on the patio or porch or walking on the new trail if they get it finished while it is still nice out. Progress is being made, but it is slow when we are waiting.
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