Final Holiday films, plus a great TV Series---

NEW TO ME:

Silkwood (1983) Meryl Streep, Cher, Kurt Russell, Craig T. Nelson.  Based on a true story of Karen Silkwood and the plutonium plant where she worked and was contaminated and her union work.  She was killed in a car accident - or was it?  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093409/combined

Just Like Heaven (2005) Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo.  A charming fable for the season. She is a driven doctor.  He is a heartbroken landscape architect who moves into  her apartment after she has been hit in a horrible accident.  Her spirit appears to him and how they fall in love and connect is a lovely story for this time of year.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425123/combined

White Collar (2013/TV series) Matt Bomer, Tom DeKay, Tiffany Thiessen, Willie Garson, Sharif Atkins, Bridget Regan.  All six episodes from this year (season 5) downloaded from ONDemand to rewatch.   Bomer is Neal, the art thief, counterfeiter and charming con man.   He is recruited by Peter, FBI agent in the "white collar" division, to help catch the bad guys.  This season has Regan as Rebecca, a lovely redhead, and smart rare books scholar, who becomes involved in a case.  Neal and Rebecca are attracted to each other and start a little romance.  My favorite characters on TV.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1358522/combined

ENCORES:  

A Christmas Carol (1951) Alistair Sim, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley.  Lovely version of the Dickens classic story.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044008/combined

Christmas Vacation (1989) Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Diane Ladd, E. G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, Randy Quaid.  Still funny and has meaning for those who have tried to have "and old-fashioned family Christmas".  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097958/combined

Lethal Weapon (1987) Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey.  Riggs and Murtaugh, policemen who hate working with a partner, are teamed and have to work it out.  First of 4  in the series, and it is entertaining.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093409/combined

You've Got Mail (1998) Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear.  A modern day remake of  "The Shop Around The Corner".  Great music and has real charm with the two leads.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/combined 

Parental Guidance (2012) Billy Crystal, Bette Midlar, Marisa Tomei.  Grandparents are recruited to stay with kids while parents have a holiday.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047540/combined

All Favorites but one new, one disappointment---

NEW TO ME:

Period Of Adjustment {1962) Jane Fonda, Anthony Franciosa, Jim Hutton, Lois Nettleton. Thought I had seen this before but really only a few scenes.  Newly weds arrive on doorstep of quarreling buddy and his wife or six years.  It is December 23rd and not a happy group.  Funniest are the carolers in the neighborhood who start out sober and singing well, but at each house they are invited in for some cheer.  By the last scenes, they are all drunk and sounding like it.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056341/combined

ENCORES:

Joy Of Living (1938) Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Alice Brady, Guy Kibbee, Lucille Ball.
Unfunny musical comedy.  Stars save it. 7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030293/combined

Remember The Night (1940) Barbara Stanwyke, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson, Sterling Holloway.  The prosecution takes a shoplifter in his charge home to the folks for the holidays.  The character actors are superb.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032981/combined

The Shop Around The Corner (1940) Margaret Sullivan, James Stewart, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Morgan.  Perennial holiday favorite.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033045/combined

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell.
A fable with dark undertones done perfectly by cast.  10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/combined

Christmas Eve (1947) Ann Harding, George Brent, George Raft, Randolph Scott, Joan Blondell, 
Reginald Denny.   Charming story of an old lady who adopted 3 boys who must come to her rescue on by Christmas Eve.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039266/combined

The Three Musketeers (1948) Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Frank Morgan, Angela Lansbury.  A favorite from my youth, but now was mostly annoying.  Lana at her most beautiful.   Angela is a stunner.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040876/combined

In The Good Old Summertime (1949) Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S. Z, Sakall, Spring Byington, Buster Keaton.  Musical version of Shop Around The Corner.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041507/combined

Titanic (1952) Barbara Stanwyke, Clifton Webb, Robert Wagner, Thelma Ritter, Richard Basehart.  One of the best stories about the passengers on the doomed ship.  9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046435/combined

An Affair To Remember (1957) Deborah Kerr, Cary Grant. Remake of Love Affair, without the charm.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050105/combined

Gigi (1958) Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Maurice Chevalier.  Just perfect.   MGM and Vincent Minelli and the last really great musical.  10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051658/combined

NCIS Christmas shows. (2003-2013) Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Parrette, David McCallum, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo.  Marvelous cast in their holiday shows, all run in one day.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364845/combined

Holiday favorites week---

ALL ENCORES THIS WEEK:

Love Affair (1939) Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Lee Bowman.  A romantic dream.  10/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031593/combined

You'll Never Get Rich (1941) Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire.  Wonderful dancing and light-hearted fun.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034409/combined

Weekend In Havana (1941) Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, John Payne, Cesar Romero.  Romero was an elegant dancer and made his co-stars look good.  Gorgeous scenery and technicolor.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034379/combined

I'll Be Seeing You (1944) Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotton, Shirley Temple, Spring Byington. Romance between a traumatize soldier and a furloughed convict.  Lovely title song.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036940/combined

Christmas In Connecticutt (1945) Barbara Stanwyke, Dennis Morgan, S. Z. Sakall, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardner, Una O'Conner.  Great cast spends a snowy holiday in one of the best houses ever in films.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037595/combined

The Bishops Wife (1947) Loretta Young, Cary Grant, David Niven, Elsa Lancaster, Gladys Cooper, Monty Wooley, James Gleason.  The angel envys the bishop.  Perfect film for Christmas. 10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039190/combined

Come To The Stable (1949) Loretta Young, Celeste Holm, Elsa Lancaster, Hugh Marlowe.  Heart warming story of two French nuns who come to a snowy New England town to build a childrens hospital.  Faith can move the hardest heart.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041257/combined

Holiday Affair (1949) Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum.  Charming romance.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041473/combined

We're No Angels (1955) Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, Peter Ustinov, Joan Bennett.  
Three convicts put all to rights.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048801/combined

Blonde Venus (1932) Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Cary Grant, Dickie Moore.  She is a nightclub singer who marries a scientist, and has a son.  Hubby gets sick and has to have expensive treatment in another country.  Wife goes back to singing to pay for it but eventually becomes the mistress of a millionaire in exchange for the money.  When husband is cured and returns he discovers her infidelity and tries to take son and divorce her.  She takes child and runs away sinking lower and lower in singing in worse and worse dives.  Eventually husband finds them again and in an improbable end to the story they are reunited.  6/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022698/combined

My Dream Is Yours (1949)  Doris Day, Jack Carson, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden.  One of the few films where Jack gets the girl in the end.  He plays his usual brash character but with a sweet side. Doris is Doris - sunny and bright.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041671/combined

The Egyptian (1954) Edmund Purdom, Jean Simmons, Gene Tierney, Victor Mature.  In ancient Egypt the story of the physician Sinuhe, Pharoah Akhnaton and warrior Horemheb.  Rather sloiw and plodding, but production values are first rate.  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046949/combined

ENCORES:

Flying Down To Rio (1933) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Raymund, Delores del Rio.  First pairing of the dancing stars.  "Orchids In The Moonlight" and 'The Carioca" are dance highlights.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024025/combined

The Gay Divorcee (1934) Second pairing of Astaire and Rogers.  The Continental and Night And Day the big numbers.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025164/combined

Miracle On 34th St. (1947) Edmund Guenn, Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood.  Great annual Christmas fantasy.  10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039628/combined

Key Largo (1948)  Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, Clair Trevor.  Last pairing of Bogie and Bacall.  Trevor won Oscar for support for her performance.  Great atmosphere as a hurricane sweeps in on the hotel where gangsters are holed up holding the owner and others hostage while they await money to take to Cuba.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040506/combined

Mr, 880 (1950) Edmund Guenn, Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire. Based on a real case of the Secret Service about a old man who prints dollar bills and the many years it takes to find him. Charming feel good story for the holidays.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042742/combined

Desk Set (1957) Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Joan Blondell, Gig Young.  The threat of a computer taking over the reseaarch department at a broadcasting company, leads to the women being very unhappy.  The company Christmas party is the fun part of the film.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050307/combined

Advise And Consent (1962) Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pigeon, Gene Tierney.  Based on a Best Selling novel, the story of getting the nominee for Secretary Of State confirmed, is not as innovative as it was back then. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055728/combined

Donovans Reef (1963) John Wayne, Elizabeth Allen, Lee Marvin, Dorothy Lamour, Cesar Ramero, Jack Warden.  Directed by John Ford.  A tropical island at Christmastime. Filmed at Kaua'a, Hawaii, the cinematography is spectacular.  Lamour singing Silent Night in her low contralto at the islanders Christmas play, as a rainstorm descends, and the church has holes in the roof, is a highlight. Poor Father Cluzeot. And Marvin playing with his present of a choo-choo train. like a little kid, is delightful.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057007/combined

Die Hard (1988) Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman.  First of the series.   NYC cop John McClane is visiting California and his wife, at her office during a holiday party, when very bad guys show up to rob the place.  Yipeekiyay, Mother f----rs.  As the limo driver says "if this is the way they celebrate Christmas, I GOTTA be here for New Years!"   9/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/combined

All told - a good movie week---

FIRST WATCHES:

Die Another Day (2002) Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike.  Swore after I saw Dr. No at the drive-in back when it came out, that I would never watch another Bond film.  Silliness abounds.  This one is no different, but was interested to see Stephens as a villain. The sword fight is the only interesting thing about this mess.  Brosnan looks uninterested in the whole thing.  The gals are both gorgeous, and so is Toby.  Story is ridiculous.  6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246460/combined  

Fever Pitch (2005) Drew Barrymoore, Jimmy Fallon.  Obsession with the Boston Red Sox almost kills romance between teacher(Fallon) and workaholic(Barrymore).  Cute film based around the miracle year the Red Sox came from waaaay behind and won it all.  7/10 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332047/combined

We Own The Night (2007) One brother is a night club owner/manager.  The other is a cop as is the father.  The bad guys are the Russian Mafia that has taken over the clubs and drug trade.  After good cop brother gets gunned down, other brother decides to help get the guys who did it, ending up becoming a cop himself.  Pretty good drama.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498399/combined

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) Mathew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, Laurence Mason.[/b]  Really interesting story of a defense lawyer, who spends a lot of time being driven around in his Lincoln by Mason.  His latest client has been accused of killing a woman after raping her.  A web of threads connecting previous clients with this case, and the danger our lawyer finds himself in, makes a riveting last hour.  Interaction between lawyer and his driver is one of best parts of film.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189340/combined

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Jessica Chastain.  The story of the 10 year pursuit of Osama Ben Laden and the woman who was obsessed with finding and bringing him down.  Naval special warfare development group (DEVGRU), or SEAL Team 6, and the operation to go in and get him is the most emotional part of the film.  The matter-of-fact way the men get ready and load up and go in and find and kill the terrorist, made me sob.  Can't help it - they were so young and so well trained.  No heroics - just another job to do.  Bigelow, the director, has done another marvelous job showing our men in action. We may not agree with the politics, but the guys doing the job are great.  Me?  I'm glad they got the SOB.  The torture scenes are made to seem like just another day at the office.  Which is probably about what it is like after the decision was made to do it.  Age-old question - does the end justify the means?   8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/combined

ENCORES:

The Secret Garden (1949) Margaret O'Brien, Dean Stockwell, Herbert Marshall.  Great film of the childrens book.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041855/combined

Bullitt (1968) Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Don Gorden.  The car chase.  Period!  Oh! And San Francisco.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062765/combined

Foul Play (1978) Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Burgess Merideth, Dudley Moore.  Screw-ball comedy Goldie style.  Moore's scene in his lair is still hilarious.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077578/combined

Excalibur (1981) Nicol Williamson, Nigel Terry, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi.  King Arthur and his knights.  Beautiful cinematography and score.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082348/combined

Good Will Hunting (1997)  Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgard, Minney Driver. Boston, Harvard and a near genius blue collar guy and his problems.  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/combined

Transsiberian (2008) Emily Mortimer, Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley.  Trouble on a Russian train.  American couple go from China to Moscow on a harrowing journey.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800241/combined

The Social Network (2010)  The story of Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook.  What a dog he was and is he still this unfeeling?  Well done film but subject is a complete monster.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/combined

The ladies have it this time---

NEW TO ME:

Twentieth Century (1934) Carole Lombard, John Barrymore.  Tedious 'comedy' about a director and actress fighting on a cross country train.  She is his discovery who after fame comes, has left his theater company and gone to greater fame in Hollywood.  Now he is on the skids, and wants her back.  I have tried to get through the whole thing before, but it is shrill and the over acting grates so much, I never made it.  So by gritting of teeth and head slapping I managed to watch the whole thing.  I was underwhelmed.  5/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025919/combined

ENCORES:

Gold Diggers Of 1933  Joan Blondell, Warren William, Aline MacMahon, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler.  The great Busby Berkeley directed numbers "Shadow  Waltz" with violins outlined in neon, and the opening Rogers number "We're In The Money", plus the final "My Forgotten Man" make the film iconic.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024069/combined

The New Moon (1940) Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland.  Operetta by Sigmund Romberg with songs "Wanting You", "Stouthearted Men", and "One Kiss" performed flawlessly by leads.  Old fashioned and lovely.   9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032840/combined

The More The Merrier (1943) Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn.  Back in 1943, as a girl of 11, I thought this was the greatest, but now it was tedious.  Really only a few chuckles.   All about the housing shortage in Washington D.C. during WWII.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036172/combined

Jane Eyre (2006) TV Mini-Series.  Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens.  Best of all the versions. Rewatched part of the latest with Fassbender as Rochester, and it was so passionless compared to this one, I could barely stand it.  This will do as the best of the many versions.  A true Masterpiece.  9/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780362/combined  

Three for the week---

NEW TO ME:

Photographing Fairies (1997) Toby Stephens,  Emily Woof, Ben Kingsley, Frances Barber.  In the early 1900s England, a newly married photographer and wife are in Switzerland on their honeymoon and go out walking on the mountain.  A fissure opens up and the wife falls in and though he grabs her hand he cannot pull her to safety and she is lost.  He eventually goes back to work and a woman comes to ask him to come to her town and see if he can get a picture of what ever it is her daughter has seen.  They tell all that it is fairies.  He becomes obsessed with getting a picture and sets us his equipment.   Fantasy film is unusual and interesting.  Good cast.  7/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119893/combined

ENCORES:

Courage Under Fire (1996)  Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips. Investigation of a woman chopper commander for a Medal Of Honor.  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115956/combined

Jane Eyre (2006) TV mini-series.  Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens.  Wonderful version of the story. Superb cast.  9/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780362/combined

Mystery, murder, a laugh or two and an awful DUD:

NEW TO ME:

Cornered (1946) Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel.  Powell is a relentless SOB going after who killed his French war bride. 7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/combined

Holiday For Sinners (1952) Gig Young, Keenan Wynn, Janice Rule.  Neat B-movie with Wynn as a washed up boxer in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044715/combined

Premonition (2007/I) Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon.  Mixed up story of a woman who keeps having dreams and strange out of body experiences.  Muddled.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477071/combined

             
The Lovely Bones (2009) Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci,  Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon.  Told by a young girl who has died at the hands of a neighbor, who is never found out. Pretty pictures of the imagined afterlife.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/combined          

Kit Kittredge, American Girl (20) Abigail Breslin, Julia Ormond, Chris O'Donnell.  Adventures of a depression era girl who writes and tries to get the newspaper to publish her stories of her family and neighbors as they struggle with growing proverty.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0846308/combined

Cloud Atlas (2013) Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent.  So awful I could not finish and quit after an hour. 2/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111/combined

ENCORES:

One In A Million (1936) Sonja Heini, Don Ameche, Jean Hersholt, Adolph Menjou.  Story is indifferent but the skating of Olympic Champion is fine.  She could not win in today competitions, but back when doing the figures counted for most of the score, she won 3 times.  7/10   
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028063/combined

My Bill (1939) Kay Francis, Bonita Granville, Dickie Moore, Anita Louise, John Litel.  When Pop dies, Bill has to take over to save Mom from wicked Aunt who comes and turns them out of their house.  Sisters go with Aunt because they like the good life.  But Bill and Mom win the day. 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030479/combined

Two Girls And A Sailor (1944) June Allyson, Van Johnson, Gloria DeHaven, Jimmy Durante.  The first movie of the three leads.  Durante does some of his famous routines.  Harry James and his orchestra provide the music and he does his trumpet solos and is so good.  Lots of music and Lena Horne sings too.   8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037408/combined

It Should Happen To You (1954) Judy Holiday, Jack Lemmon, Peter Lawford.  Mild comedy of a girl who uses all her money to put her name on a giant billboard, causing her to become a sensation, for nothing.  Like today being famous for being famous.     6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047123/combined

U.S. Marshals (1998) Tommie Lee Jones,  Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr., Joe Pantoliano.  The same team of Marshals from The Fugitive are after a guy accused of murder who was being transfered in a prisoners airplane that crashes because another prisoner tries to excape.  Good action and the Marshals banter is fun.  8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120873/combined

Maid In Manhattan (2002) Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Natasha Richardson. Cinderella story of a hotel maid and the big politician who meet and sparks fly.  She goes to the ball but then has to disappear.  Do they end up together?  Are you kidding?  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252076/combined

Last Holiday (2006) Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, Gerard Depardieu.  Updating of the wonderful Alex Guinness film from the 1950's.  She is a lowly employee of a department store who is misdianosed with a brain tumor and given 3 weeks to live.  She quits her job, cashes out her retirement and bond money and goes for a perfect holiday at a swank European mountain retreat.  She sets all the rich guests straight and does all the exciting things she was too scared to try.  All's well that ends well.     8/10              http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408985/combined

Bride Wars (2009) Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Candice Bergen.  Two best friends from childhood get engaged at the same time and both want to have the perfect wedding.  When scheduling gets messed up and they end up having the same day, all hell breaks out.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901476/combined

Taking Chance (2009) TV Movie. Kevin Bacon.  I start crying at the beginning and just keep tearing up all the way through.  Story of the escort for the body and casket of a soldier from the return from the battlefield to the burial in his hometown.  All along the way the escort honors the fallen hero at each tranfer and others do as well.  Heartbreaking.   9/10  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019454/combined

Crime, cops, Jane Austin, Maisie and all the rest---

NEW TO ME:

Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) Edmund O'Brien, Mark Stevens, Gale Storm, Donald Buka. Prowl car cops meet police secretary and both vie for her affections while fighting gangsters.  B-movie that is nicely done.  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042242/combined

Scandal Sheet (1952) Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek, Rosemary DeCamp. Newspaper story about the editor, murder and reporters who figure it out.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045124/combined

The Brothers Rico (1952) Richard Conte, James Darren, Kathryn Grant, Dianne Foster.  You can't get away from the mob.  Three brothers try, but pay a price.  8/10
http://www.imdbh.com/title/tt0050213/combined

Promised Land (2012) Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski, Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook.  Little farming towns in the USA are slowly dying as their industries close, so when a big oil company sends salesmen in to buy drilling rights on their and, it seems a godsend.  A story about the fracking industry and the dilemma it imposes on desperate citizens.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2091473/combined

Broken City {2013) Mark Wahlberg,  Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Cops, politics, and murder.   Confused story, but does hold your interest.  6/10     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235522/combined

Muhammed Ali's Greatest Fight (2013) HBO film starring Christopher Plummer, Frank Langella, Benjamin Walker.  The Supreme Court case ruling on Ali's refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam war based on religious grounds.  Leads as Justice's Harlan and Burger, and a law clerk, are great. I remember the case and the fights.  Clips of Ali in the ring are icing on the cake.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2061756/combined

Gangster Squad (2013) Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte,  Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi.  1949 Los Angeles, the mobster Mickey Cohen, and the squad of cops that bring him down.  Which is fiction.  Cohen died in his sleep in 1976.  The film is very violent and while using Cohen as the villain, is all fiction and nonstop action.  6/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321870/combined

ENCORES:

Maisie (1939) Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Ian Hunter, Ruth Hussey.  The beginning of the series, with Maisie stranded in Wyoming and her misadventures on a ranch.  Cast is great and it is a lot of fun.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031608/combined

Arsenic And Old Lace (1944) Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Priscella Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre.  My Halloween movie.  Watch it every year.     9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036613/combined

Pride And Prejudice (1995 TV mini-series) Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle.  Jane Austin characters played by a great cast.    A favorite. 9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/combined

Never Been Kissed (1999) Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, John C. Reilly, Octavia Spencer. She's 25. a copy editor who wants to be a reporter, and gets an assignment to go undercover to find out about contemporary  high school students.  Okay rom/com.  7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151738/combined

Sense And Sensibility (2008 TV mini-series) of the Jane Austin story.  Fine cast of British actors.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847150/combined

Argo (2012) Ben Afflect, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Brian Cranston.  Favorite; playing on HBO now. Won 3 Oscars including Best Picture.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/combined

One new and lots of encores---

NEW TO ME:

Highly Dangerous (1950) Margaret Lockwood, Dane Clark, Marius Goring.  Germ warfare, lady scientists, and a brash American reporter.  Recruited to spy on secret facility in an European country, she is supposed to be investigating tourist sites for her company.   She gets a knock on the head and when she comes to, thinks she is a gal in a radio serial she has been listening to.  Her reporter tracker thinks she is okay and just foolhardy, but goes along on her scheme to infiltrate the germ lab.  Interesting and fun look at 1950's ideas about the subject.   Dane Clark is engaging and better than ever as he flirts and then tries to help her.  Lockwood is very pretty and charming.  But Goring, in a horrible mustache, is laughable.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042553/combined

ENCORES:

The Lady Vanishes (1938) Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lucas, Dame May Whitty.  Early Hitchcock and delightful.  Has a great train and intrigue and mystery.  Redgrave starts as an ass but turns into a prince helping the ladies in distress.  9/10 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030341/combined

Bachelor Mother (1939) Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn.  Charming story of a shop girl who discovers a woman leaving a baby on the doorstep of an adoption agency and is mistaken for it's mother.  Department store owner gets involved and the mix-up continues until
Coburn has the great line "I don't care who is the father, I'm the grandfather."  Also has a great New Years Eve in Times Square scene.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031067/combined


Three Little Words (1950) Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera-Ellen, Arlene Dahl, Keenan Wynn.  One of my favorite musicals.  Story of the songwriting team of Bert Kalmer and Harry Ruby is given the Hollywood treatment and it is very entertaining.  One of the best for all the cast.  9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043044/combined

Murder By Death (1976) All star cast spoofing all the great detectives of films.  My favorite bit is Alec Guinness as blind Bensenmum giving orders to deaf cook Nancy Walker as Yetta.  Always go into gales of laughter.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074937/combined

Lethal Weapon (1987) Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey.  Entertaining cops and bad guys story.  Too bad Gibson turned out to be even crazier than his cop role here.  Glover is fine as the adult in the room.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093409/combined

Moon Over Parador (1988) Richard Dreyfuss, Sonia Braga, Raul Julia, Jonathan Winters. Funny spoof of mistaken identity films.  The last scene with Braga in her white evening gown and long scarf blowing in the wind of the plane with the huge moon behind her is marvelous.  As character Jack Noah says "what a moment - straight out of Casablanca."  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095654/combined

Tombstone (1993) Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Booth.  The four Earp brothers just want to retire to Tombstone and run their saloon in peace.  But there are always bad guys shooting off their mouths and guns and what is a fella to do?  Good western.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108358/combined

Evita (1996) Madonna, Anthonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce.  Musical version of the Perons' of Argentina.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116250/combined

Gosford Park (2001) Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Kelly Macdonald, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Bob Balaban.  Murder at the mansion among the Lords and Ladies and their servants and upstart guests from 'over the pond'.  Lots of fun.  Maggie Smith is too too- and great as usual.   9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280707/combined

Spy Game (2001) Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack.  Title says it all.  Redford is fine as the retiring C.I.A. team leader who has to manipulate the headquarters dumb guys in order to get his operative out of a Chinese prison.  I liked it even more this time so upped it a point.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266987/combined

The Bourne Identity (2002) Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Clive Owen.  The one that started it all.  Great character who has amnesia and has to fight his agency along with all the bad guys.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/combined

The Bourne Legacy (2012) Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton.  The latest in the series with a new guy instead of Bourne.  We are introduced to Aaron Cross.  The opening scenes, filmed in a western Canadian National Park subbing for Alaska, are spectacular in HDTV on a 55 inch screen.  Must have been blinding in a theater.  Watch it often just for that and the new team of Renner and Weisz.   9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194173/combined

Week Of New & Old

NEW TO ME:

The Long Night (1947) Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak.  Great cast in a murder story and why he done it.   7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039581/combined

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack.  Showing on IFC this month, I decided to give it a try.  Really quite boring.  But does have the two stars at their most gorgeous.  See he is a doctor and she is an art something or other.  They go to parties all dressed up and she gets hit on by dancing partner and then he goes to see patients and then they have an argument or something and he walks the streets and gets involved with a costume whatever, and then he returns the costume he rented and then he goes home and he and wife talk and go shopping and and and, Jaysus in a handbasket!  I guess the nudity and sex scenes are what every one gets off on, but it is sooooooooo boring.  Really??   4/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120663/combined  

The Beach (2000/I) Leonardo DiCaprio. Tilda Swinton.  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163978/combined

Somewhere (2010) Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning.  Sofia Coppola directs a film about a successful actor in Hollywood who suddenly is visited by his young daughter.  They do stuff together.  The eat ice cream in the middle of the night.  They visit Italy where he is getting an award.  But she goes off to camp and he is sooooo bored that he takes his great car and parks it beside the highway in the desert and goes walking off into ------?  5/10  ww.imdb.com/title/tt1421051/combined

This Means War (2012) Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Chelsea Handler.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596350/combined

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert Di Nero, Jackie Weaver.   Lawrence won Best Actress Oscar, and practically everyone and every other thing was nominated.  My question is why?  I sat a waited for the good stuff and waited and waited.  A film about mental illness should at least be real and interesting.   Pat (Cooper} has been in an institution for eight months and diagnosed bipolar, and having an episode in which he almost beats a guy to death.  Like a lot of mental illness patients, he stops taking his meds as soon as he is released.  We see his manic side at the beginning of the film.  Just as suddenly he is into a relationship with a strange woman (Tiffany-Lawrence) he meets at a dinner with his best friends family.  She  is also a mental wreck and she agrees to act as a go-between and deliver a letter to his ex-wife in exchange for him acting as her partner in a dance contest.  They have practice sessions and then are at the contest and do quite well.  The End.  Mental illness looks like fun and it is not.  It is devastating to families.   My score - 6/10.  Ordinary and untruthful, in every way.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045658/combined

ENCORES:

The Littlest Rebel (1935) Shirley Temple, John Boles, Bill Robinson, Karen Morley, Jack Holt.  Shirley and Bill dance up and down the stairs and win our hearts.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026641/combined

Confession (1937) Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, Basil Rathbone, Jane Bryan.  The great Kay suffers wonderfully and goes to prison for her child.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028737/combined

Die Hard 2 (1990) Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia.  John McClane is at it again, this time at the air port in a snow storm.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099423/combined

Pride And Prejudice (1995) Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth.  Four part mini-series on TV.  Great version of this classic story.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/combined

Gladiator (2000) Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Neilsen, Oliver Reed.  Great film and great score.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/combined

The Ugly Truth (2009) Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler.  Enjoyable battle of the sexes comedy.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1142988/combined

4 New; 13 Encores:

NEW TO ME:

Bitter Tea Of General Yen (1933) Barbara Stanwyke, Nils Asher, Walter Connelly, Toshia Mori. A young woman comes to Shanghai during a civil war, to marry her fiancee who is a missionary. Before they can be married, they are separated while rescuing children from a school.  She is captured by General Yen and taken to his palace.  He becomes more and more taken with the naive young woman and she falls under his spell.  His mistress becomes jealous and betrays him to the rebels.  Before the palace falls to the rebels, the General drinks his bitter tea and dies.  Early Stanwyke and she is good, but it is Asher who takes the acting honors.  He is mesmerizing.   Strange tale directed by Frank Capra.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023814/combined

Loss Of Innocence (1961) Susannah York, Kenneth More, Danielle, Darrieux.  On a trip to France with their mother, who becomes ill and hospitalized, the four children end up in an elegant hotel run by a hard, elegant woman and her lover.  The man becomes smitten with the teenage girl (York) who falls for him.  But he is illusive and she becomes suspicious of his trips to Paris.  York is very good, as is More.  Beautiful scenery.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055098/combined

The Seventh Dawn (1964) William Holden, Susannah York, Capucine, Tetsuro Tanba.  Story begins and the end of WWII as three fighters in Malaya's underground part ways.  The American Ferris and his mistress, Dhana, stay together.  He becomes a large land owner and she a teacher. The British are about to turn over governing to the Malayans, but rebels begin a guerilla war, with their former friend, Ng, as a leader.  The British commander's young daughter becomes involved with Ferris and is eventually captured by the rebels and Ferris hacks his way through the jungle to try save her.   He and Ng eventually fight to the death.  Meanwhile, Dhana has been arrested for a bombing in the city, for which she is innocent.  Powerful story and stunning scenery of Malaya.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057813/combined

Beautiful Girls (1996) Timothy Hutton, Natalie Portman, Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, Rosie O'Donnell, Mira Sorvino, Uma Thurman.  Pianist returns to his hometown for a class reunion. Reconnects with all his old friends and becomes smitten with his folks 13 year old neighbor girl played by Portman.  She is an "old  soul" and the best thing in the film.  His girlfriend arrives to visit also, and he sadly decides he must move on.   7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115639/combined

ENCORES:

Libeled Lady (1936) Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy.  Favorite screw ball comedy.  Funniest fishing scene ever filmed.   Nominated for Best Picture Oscar.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027884/combined

Singing In The Rain (1952) Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Conner, Jean Hagen.  Great musical, perfect in every way.  Hagen as Lina Lamont saying "I ain't just anybody!  I'm a shining star in the firmament.  It say's so - right here!", as she taps the newspaper, is so delicious it is a joy to watch her.  10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/combined

Mister Roberts (1955) Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon.  Filmed version of Fonda's stage hit.  About a tub of a ship in WWII with a crazed captain and his first officer who shows no respect but tries to make life tolerable for his crew.  Lemmon won Best Supporting Actor Oscar.   9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048380/combined

While The City Sleeps (1956) Dana Andrews, Sally Forrest, George Sanders, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price, Howard Duff, Thomas Mitchell.  Great cast in a newspaper story about covering,  and helping to catch, a serial killer loose in the city.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049949/combined  

On Dangerous Ground (1952) Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Ed Begley.  Intense police officer beats up one to many suspects and his commanding officer sends him to a remote town to help them with a murder investigation.  There he meets a lonely woman. who is blind, living in an isolated farmhouse.  It is her brother the local authoritives and the murdered girls father want to question.  Very atmospheric with cold snowy landscapes to match the big city cops feelings.  But as he becomes more involved the widow, he regains some of his humanity.  Nicholas Ray directs. 7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043879/combined

All That Heaven Allows (1955) Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead.  
Drama of a widow with grown children falling for her much younger gardener, to the dismay of her country club friends and children.  Beautifully shot film, but to todays audience, very old fashioned. Even to me, who first saw it in 1955, some of the dialog is laughable.  Still I watch and enjoy.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047811/combined

Legal Eagles, (1986) Robert Redford, Debra Winger, Daryl Hannah, Brian Dennehy.  Muddled drama about lawyers, artists, and crime.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091396/combined

From The Hip (1987) Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, John Hurt, Darrin McGavin, Nancy Marchand.  Young attorney gets a client of his law firm what he wants and is sought out by other clients, much to the dismay of the partners in the firm.  So they assign him a no-win murder case with an awful man as the client.  Nelson and Perkins are great and funny as a couple, and John Hurt is chilling in his cold-blooded psychotic peacock role.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093051/combined 

Apollo 13 (1996) Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton, Kathleen Quinlan.  Marvelous story of an explosion on the space craft, and mission controls efforts to get them safely back to earth.  Cast is great.   Sinise is marvelous as Ken Mattingly, who goes to work getting a way worked out to use just what the guys up there have to use so they can make it back.  Tense and real every time I watch.  9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/combined

Persuasion (2007) Watched again on Ovation TV.  Very good and I have upgraded my score to 7/10.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844330/combined

The Hurt Locker (2008) Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty.  Won 6 Oscars, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow, and best picture.  Renner was nominated for best actor.  Story of a bomb squad's daily missions to disarm and defuse bombs in Iraq.  Tense and riveting look at a group of men who just want to get through their last month or so and are not happy with their newest member who just arrived to take the place of a soldier who was killed.
He seems reckless to them.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/combined

True Grit (2010) Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin.  Remake of the original by the Coen Brothers.  I'm sorry, it is not nearly as entertaining as the John Wayne version.  And Hailee is no Kim Darby, the original Matty.  The charm is just not there.  The Coens may be favorites of some film buffs, but I think they gloomed up a really good story of frontier life.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/combined

Trouble With The Curve (2012) Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake.  Favorite of 2012.  Baseball minor league scouts getting ready for the major league draft.  A daughter hot shot lawyer comes to visit her father who's eyes are failing.  She meets a former pitcher who wants to become the voice of his former team.  Charming film.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2083383/combined

A General, a Prince, girls, guys and train robbers---

NEW: 

The Bitter Tea Of General Yen (1933) Barbara Stanwyke, Nils Asher, Walter Connolly, Toshia Mori.  American girl comes to China to marry her missionary fiancee, but in the confusion of war they are separated and she is rescued by General Yen.  Taken by train to his palace she is treated well and meets his American financial advisor.  A strange story of two worlds and relationships colliding.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023814/combined

Beautiful Girls (1996) Timothy Hutton, Natalie Portman, Matt Dillon, Mira Sorvino, Uma Thurman.  A small town's high school reunion is the sorting out of the lives of friends.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115639/combined

ENCORES:

The Prince And The Pauper (1939) Errol Flynn, Mauch Twins(Billie and Bobby), Clude Rains. Charming Mark Twain story of the pauper boy and the son of Henry VIII, who look just alike. One dark night, the poor urchin falls asleep under a bench on the palace grounds and is found by the prince, who takes him into the palace.  They change clothes and the prince goes out and is thrown of the grounds.  Eventually he is befriended by Miles Hendon(Flynn) and alls well that ends well.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029440/combined

About Last Night (1986) Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Jim Belushi, Elizabeth Perkins.   Young  people in Chicago, their loves and lives.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090583/combined 

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007)  Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Sam Rockwell, Mary Louise Parker.  Slow, moody version of the outlaws last years with his relationship to the Ford brothers as the focal point.     6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443680/combined#comment

Bette. Gwyneth, Tomei, Mirren. Arthur, Loy, Liz,---

---the ladies rule.

New:

Payment On Demand (1951) Bette Davis, Barry Sullivan, Betty Lynn, Peggie Castle.   A Bette Davis film I had missed all these years.  She is very good as an ambitious woman who marries a nice guy in the depression years and through manipulation manages to help him rise to successful corporate lawyer. When he at last learns how she has deceived him and hurt friends and his first partner, he leaves and they are divorced.  Good old fashioned "woman's" movie.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043910/combined

Great Expectations (1998) Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Chris Cooper, Robert DeNiro.  Modernized version of the Charles Dickens story.  Beautiful cinematography and interesting relocation of the decaying mansion to New Orleans.  But rather boring during middle.  6/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119223/combined

The Watcher (2000/I) James Spader, Marisa Tomei, Keanu Reeves.  FBI agent at L.A. office resigns and moves to Chicago because of a serial killer case he could not solve.  His lady psychiatrist tries to help him, but soon he starts getting messages from his former foe who has followed him and is taunting him with new killings.  Starts off good but soon is mired in chases and gorey killings.  5/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204626/combined

Elizabeth I (2005/TV Miniseries) Helen Mirren, Hugh Dancy, Jeremy Irons.  Mirren is marvelous as usual, and the rest of the cast, costumes and locations are great.  Won many awards.  The story is known to anyone who loves history.  9/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465326/combined

W. (2008/I) Josh Brolin, Toby Jones, Richard Dreyfus, Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Jeffrey Wright.  Oliver Stone's take on the Bush's life and Presidency, and the run up to the Iraq war.  Held my attention and all the actors are great, Brolin especially.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1175491/combined

Parental Guidance (2012) Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei.   Hyper daughter and her husband, enlist her folks to come take care of the three kids while both are away on business.  Clash of  new parenting ideas with old fashioned views of her parents.  Crystal is outstanding as lovable clueless grandpa. 7/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047540/combined

Joyful Noise (2012) Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton.  Lots of music and singing.  About a choir competition.  Parton is a caricature of her old self.  Too much work on her lips.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1710396/combined

Encores:

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, Lionel Stander.  He inherits a fortune from an uncle and goes to NYC.  She is hot shot reporter who tricks him into believing she is a "damsel in distress" so he can rescue her.  Stander is the guy hired to watch out for him in big city.  The hearing at the last part of film to see if he is sane, after he starts giving his money away, is best part of film and the two sisters from Mandrake Falls, Vermont, who testify he has always been "pixilated" are priceless.  One of the best of Directer Frank Capra's-corn. 8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027996/combined

The Rains Came (1939) Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, Marie Ouspenskaya.  Lavish story of a terrible earthquake and flood caused by dam giving way during monsoon rains in Ranchipur, India.  Marvelous special effects for it's time.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031835/combined

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa, William Holden, Jack Hawkins.  Director David Leans still marvelous film of a prisoner of war camp and the clash of wills between the commandant and British officer about working on a bridge.  Seven Oscars, including for Best Director, Actor, Music score, Cinematography and Writing..  Writers Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted and received no screen credit.  The were posthumously awarded Oscars in 1984.   A tarnish on the times.  Great film on the madness of war.  10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050212/combined

Butterfield 8 (1960) Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field.  Taylor's first Oscar, deserved or not.  It's all Liz and she is stunning in the fashions by Helen Rose.  Harvey and Fisher are cyphers.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053622/combined

The Americanization Of Emily (1964) Julie Andrews, James Garner, Melvin Douglas, James Coburn.  Droll comedy on the madness of war and a guy who is decidedly unheroic, who ends up being the first "dead" man on Omaha Beach.  A scheme concocted by his crazed Admiral for publicity for the navy. Garner is priceless.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057840/combined

16 Candles (1984) Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall.   Everyone forgot her birthday!  Favorite teen comedy from the '80's.  8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088128/combined

Con Air (1997) Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack.  Prisoners on a plane take over.  Pretty good suspense film.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118880/combined

Also 2 series made for TV:  Bleak House 4 episodes; and Sense  & Sensibility.  Both rewatches.

Also my favorites I watch over and over:  Taken, The Big Year, Argo and Chasing Mavericks.

One More

A Good Year (2006) Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard, Albert Finney.
An investment banker shark inherites a run down chateau and vineyard in France from his uncle who dies intestate.  As a young boy, Max spent some summer holidays with his Uncle Henry, and as he goes about getting the property ready for sale, he remembers the many things his uncle taught him while playing chess. He also meets a beautiful restaurant owner, and a woman who arrives claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of his uncle.  This was better and I enjoyed the story more this time.  Leisurely, with lovely scenery and charm. 8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401445/combined

All Encores this week---

ENCORES:

The Foxes Of Harrow (1947) Maureen O'Hara, Rex Harrison, Richard Hadyn, Vanessa Brown, Victor McLauglen, Patricia Madina, Gene Lockhart.  Irish man born out of wedlock, to a noble father and peasant mother, comes to America and makes his fortune gambling and winning a great plantation in Louisiana.  He woos a haughty aristocrat and wins her but they have a stormy relationship.  Melodrama with a great cast and fine cinematography.  Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. 8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039394/combined

St. Elmo's Fire (1985) Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Mare Winninham, Judd Nelson, Andie MacDowell.   A group of recent College graduates groups their way through romances, sexual dalliances, and various problems getting started in life.  Their main problems stem from not wanting to grow up and be responsible.  A look at the 80's with the actors eventually called "the brat pack:" who were in a series of films together in twos and threes.   7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090060/combined

Doc Hollywood (1991) Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, David Ogden Stiers, Woody Harrelson, Bridget Fonda.  Young doc Stone is rushing to California from D.C. and gets lost and causes an accident where he tears down a brand new fence.  Brought before the towns judge and fence owner, he is sentenced to community service at the towns hospital.  Delightful film about the comeuppance of a city slicker by the charm and real need of a small town.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101745/combined

A Few Good Men (1992) Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak.  Nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Supporting Actor for Nicholson, this is a favorite courtroom drama.  About 2 Marines accused of murder, the case is assigned to a young lawyer who has never tried a case in a courtroom.  Cast is uniformly good, and Cruise and Nicholson's final courtroom encounter is riveting.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/combined

L.A. Confidential (1997) Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger.  Nominated for 8 Oscars, with a win for Basinger as Best Supporting Actress.  Corruption in the police department has never been depicted better.  Good cops eventually become compromised by the need to bring down the worst among them.  9/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/combined

Michael Clayton (2007) George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack.   Lawyer, who is his firms "fixer" is sent to find and fix their lead attorney and partner in the firm who has had a mental breakdown.  But he has problems of his own.  Great cast.  Swinton won Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and there were 7 other nominations in various fields.     8/10  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465538/combined

Final watch list for August

FIRST WATCHES:

Cain & Mabel (1936) Marion Davies, Clark Gable, Allen Jenkins, Roscoe Karns.   Uh-uh.  A silly bore.  He's a boxer; she's a stage star.  For publicity they get together - and guess what?       4/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027413/combined

Made For Each Other (1939) Carol Lombard, James Stewart, Charles Coburn, Lucille Watson.   Weepy, bore.     5/10       http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031602/combined     

The Fan (1949) Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carol, George Sanders, Richard Greene.   Lord Windermere and his beautiful wife Margaret seem to be an ideal married couple.  But a adventurous woman appears and throws a monkey wrench into the works.     7/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041346/combined

Possession (2002) Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle.      7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256276/combined

Jane Eyre (TV 4 Parts) Ruth Wilson, Toby Stephens.   Good version of the story.  Stephens is very good as Rochester.                        8/10     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780362/combined

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Made it through all of 15 minutes.  Nononono.

Life Of Pi (2012)  Well, I like tigers and Ang Li does beautiful films.  8/10

ENCORES:

Love Affair (1939) Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer               9/10

Together Again (1944) Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Mona Freeman, Charles Coburn.       8/10

The Desert Song (1953) Kathryn Grayson                                   7/10

Ride The High Country (1962) Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley.   Okay western.    7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056412/combined

Anna & The King (1999) Jodie Foster, Chow Yun-Fat.  Gorgeous color cinematography and l love the music score.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Matt Damon.  Final of the Triology.  Shakey cam and all, it is still good.

The Town (2010) Ben Afleck, Jeremy Renner.  Mobsters in Boston rob banks.  One falls in love.  Good.

Trouble With The Curve (2012) Amy Adams, Clint Eastwood.  Favorite of 2012.  Watch it often.

The Bourne Legacy (2013) Jeremy Renner.  Favorite action film.  Opening hour of snowy mountains in Alaska is beautifully filmed.

Ladd, Law, Davis, Blondell, Stanwyke, Dietrich---

The good, bad, etc---

FIRST WATCHES:

Boy On A Dolphin (1957) Alan Ladd, Sophia Loren.  Nice scenery but awful acting and the story is a bore.  Ladd seems to be sleep walkng through the film.   4/10
http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0050208/combined

Anna Karenina (2012) Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.   Gorgeous cinamatography and costumes.  Disjointed way to tell the story.  A stage play is the set up for the scenes.  Taylor-Johnson is a toad.   Knightly and Law are fine.   7/10  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1781769/combined

ENCORES:

Satan  Met A Lady (1936) Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, Marie Wilson.   Second version of Hammett's story.  Fun but not memorable.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028219/combined

The King & The Chorus Girl (1938) Joan Blondell, Fernand Gravet, Edward Everett Horton, Mary Nash.  Favorite Blondell film.  A major theme of 1930's film - deposed royalty living in Paris and their foibles.  He's a drunk that the duchess and count take care of and hire a chorus girl to pretend to be uninterested in their charge.  The doctor has said he is suffering from "melancholia" and needs a challenge.  Joan is the American girl who teaches the ex-King a lesson.  Better than most of its' type.  9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029082/combined

The Mad Miss Manton (1938) Barbara Stanwyke, Henry Fonda.  Miss Manton and her crew of ditsy friends solve a murder.  I forget what Fonda does.  7/10  
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030396/combined

The Lady Is Willing (1942) Marlene Dietrich Fred MacMurray, Aline McMahone.  She is a star on Broadway.  He is a doctor.  She finds a baby and brings it home and gets the nearby doctor to come see if it is alright.  Cute comedy that shows a different side of Marlene.  But not a funny as it should be.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034961/combined

Old & New---

I watched these films this week:

FIRST WATCHES

Firecreek (1968) James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Dean Jagger.  Part time sheriff takes on a gang of vicious outlaws who blow into town.  Only for fans of the main stars or die hard western fans.  I found it forgettable.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062975/combined

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2009) Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Michael Douglas.  Remake of a 1956 film noir with Dana Andrews.  About a writer who is trying to expose corruption and the district attorney.  It goes terribly wrong when he is charged and convicted of a murder and is on death row.  Not as tension filled as the original.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183251/combined

Edge Of Darkness (2010) Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone.  A homicide detectives daughter is killed and he wants to find out why.  Was the bullet meant for him?  Gibson is looking his age and is very stocky and short. Story moves along at a fairly good pace.  Violent and there isn't much mystery or suspense.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226273/combined

ENCORES:

I Met My Love Again (1938) Joan Bennett, Henry Fonda, Dame May Whitty, Dorothy Stickney, Tim Holt. Teen sweethearts plan to marry as soon as he gets out of college, but she gets tired of waiting and marries a dashing author she meets one night.  Years later after she has had a child and is living in Paris with her ne'er do well husband, who only wants to party and hasn't written a thing in years, he is killed and she comes back to her home town.  Will they meet again?  Fair little romance for the shop girls and house wives of 1938. Bennett is luminous.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030256/combined

Spellbound (1945) Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll.  Hitchcock directed, and it has the famous scene of the gun turning and shooting directly into the camera.  Story of mental institution and the doctors that care for the patients.  But the new head of the institution arrives and things go wrong.  The instant rapport of the young female doctor and this new guy and what they do when she discovers he is an amnesiac, is the story.  The Dali inspired cinematography is interesting but not necessary.  Performances are all fine and the score is haunting.  9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038109/combined

Lili (1953)  Leslie Caron, Mel Farrar, Jean Pierre Aumont.   As a young woman, I was enchanted with this film and the sweet story.   A young girl from the country arrives at a town thinking she will be able to work at a family friends store, but finds it shut down and she is stranded with no one to help her.  As she starts  climbing a ladder at the fair to jump, a puppet starts talking to her and she is so enchanted she talks to him and his other puppet friends.  The other fair employees gather and watch and they end up giving her a place to stay and a job doing the same every performance.  Caron is perfect and Farrar has never been so romantic in another film.  Aumont is a charming rogue.  7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046000/combined

WALL-E (2008) Pixar animation.   The only animation film I have ever watched all the way through and loved.  It is charming and the little robot in the future America of waste, who is cleaning things up but gets taken to outer space and the ship where the remaining earthlings live, is just wonderful.  His adventures are magical and how he gets back to the one roach that is left of earth - and home - is a sweet story.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/combined

North Country (2005) Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Woody Harrelson, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean.  Story of the first successful case won against sexual harassment in 1984.  The film shows the way an abused woman, who needs a good job so she can provide for her children, and goes to work in a mine.  They have to hire women but the men think it is their right to have those jobs so they mistreat and harass all the women workers.  One finally is fed up and hires a lawyer who takes the case to court and asks the judge to declare it a class action suit.  Judge says if lawyer can get a total of 3 in the case he will declare a class.  It is shown in the courtroom that others do stand up and they do win their case and the company does have to have rules against harassment posted at the mine.  Because of this case, around the world the same thing happened at other companies.  Theron and all the actors are spot on.  Not a fun subject, or film, to watch but an important milestone in human rights.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395972/combined

The Big Year (2011), The Bourne Legacy (2012) and The Bodyguard (1992) - all films I watch over and over and watched this week.  Legacy a new favorite and I watch parts of it whenever I get bored.  Renner a new favorite actor.

Disappointing new films; the classics rule!---

FIRST WATCHES

Persuasion (2007) Sally Hawkins, Rupert Perry-Jones.  Jane Austin's novel done by excellent actors.  The story is not as engaging as other films of Austin stories.  6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025164/combined

Chasing Mavericks (2012) Gerard Butler, Jonny Weston, Elizabeth Shue.  Story of surfing legend Jay Moriarity who conquered Mavericks off the California coast near his home in Santa Cruz.  He is 15 when he discovers the awesome surf breaks at Mavericks and enlists the local great Frosty Hesson to teach him how to survive the huge waves.  Gorgeous cinematography but the story is sort of all over the place without cohesion.   But the surf and waves are awesome.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1629757/combined

Taken 2 (2012) Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Framke Janssen.  Not up to the first film at all.  The family is in Istanbul where Brian is working, and the father of the guy who kidnapped daughter Kim, is out to get him and the women he loves, for revenge.  Lots of action but not as much story this time out.  Disappointing.  6/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1397280/combined        

ENCORES:

The Gay Divorcee (1934) Rogers & Astaire, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore.  First film starring the dancers and with a great cast of supporting players, it is a gem.  9/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025164/combined

June Bride (1948) Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, Faye Bainter, Mary Wickes, Tom Tully.  A woman's magazine editor and her staff head to a small town to do a feature on a wedding.  Along for the ride is her former lover, a war correspondent being punished by the publisher for misdeeds.   A look at mid-century America which I usually watch every summer.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040499/combined

The Woman In White (1948) Eleanor Parker, Alexis Smith, Gig Young, Sydney Greenstreet, Agnes Moorhead, John Emery, John Abbott.  Based on Wilkey Collins mystery of 1859 and widely considered to be the first true mystery novel.  Leisurely paced, great cinematography, and a marvelous cast, make it a must see for classic movie fans.  Abbott as the extremely nervous Frederick Fairlie, master of the house, almost steals the film.  The tutor arrives at the old dark mansion after a walk through the foggy woods at night and an encounter with a woman in a white cape.  There he meets the mysterious Count Fosco, guest of the master of the house, and the lovely niece of Mr. Fairlie, and her cousin who is to be his student.  He is startled by her resemblance to the "woman in white" he has just encountered.  One of my favorite films and the novel on which it is based.         8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040974/combined

Borderline (1950) Claire Trevor, Fred MacMurray, Raymond Burr.  Two undercover agents (she with the LAPD and he with the Feds) are   after the same drug smuggling gangster in Mexico and don't realize they are both in disguise.  Nice taut little film with the leads as good as ever.  Burr in a white suit is even larger than usual.  7/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042274/combined

The Bad & The Beautiful (1952) Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Barry Sullivan, Dick Powell, Walter Pigeon, Gloria Graham.  Marvelous cast and great story of the rise of a Hollywood producer.  He is a cad and treats everyone badly on his way to the top of the heap.  One of the best films about the studio system and the people who work in films.  Lana as beautiful as she ever was filmed; and Douglas as nasty/charming  as he ever was in a film.  9/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044391/combined

The Ugly Truth (2009) Gerard Butler, Kathryn Heigl.  She's the producer; he's the new star of the news show; they battle, then he decides to help her get the guy she wants who lives next door.  How does that work out?  8/10     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1142988/combined

Annette Benning & Tommie Lee Jones in 2 each;

The rewatches we the best this week.

FIRST WATCHES:

The Young Doctors (1961) Ben Gazzara, Fredrick March, Eddie Albert, Ina Balin.  Usual hospital melodrama, with conflict between staid older doctor and the modern new guy on staff.  6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055632/combined

Volcano (1997) Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffman, Don Cheadle.  Los Angeles is in peril as a volcano erupts and all hell breaks loose.   The volcano wins!   7/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120461/combined
Being Julia (2004) Annette Benning, Shaun Evans, Jeremy Irons, Michael Gabon.  About stage people with Benning overacting and being a bitch.  And an annoying young guy who becomes her lover.  6/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340012/combined

A Mighty Heart (2007)  Angelina Jolie.  Based on fact story of a reporter who goes missing and the wife who frantically tries to find out if he is still alive.  Mariane Pearl embarks on a  search to locate her journalist husband, Daniel, in Pakistan.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829459/combined

Dream House (2011)  Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts.  A few days after seeing this on HBO, I have already forgotten most of what it is about.  An old dark house and murder, I think.  5/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462041/combined

Ruby Sparks (2012) Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina, Annette Benning, Anthony Bandaras.   Oh! dear.  He's a novelist with writers block who creates a character that then appears and becomes his annoying girlfriend.  Quirky.  6/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839492/combined

Contraband (2012)  Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi.  Low life and scum drug smugglers and a guy who was trying to have the good life after leaving the life of crime.  Plugs along but in the end is just kinda boring.  5/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524137/combined

ENCORES:

Kings Row (1942) Robert Cummings, Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, Charles Coburn.  Watched many times.  Still find it very good.  8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524137/combined

Kismet (1944) Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Joy Page, James Craig, Edward Arnold.   Surprised by how much I enjoyed this Arabian Knights film again after so many years.   Dietrich painted all in gold is a sight to behold!    7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036984/combined

Great Expectations (1946) John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Martita Hunt, Jean Simmons, Finnley Curie, Alec Guinness.  I didn't enjoy it as much this time.  But great cast does the story justice.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038574/combined

In The Valley Of Elah (2007) Tommie Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon.  The consequesces of the Iraq war of choice on a family.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478134/combined

Beery, Blondell, Goddard, Turner, Baxter---

A guy and four dames!  All seen the last week of July.

FIRST WATCHES:

The Big House (1930) Wallace Beery, Chester Morris, Robert Montgomery, Lewis Stone.  Still marvelous film about prison life and the men who are there.  Beery is the hardened criminal; Morris the humane and intellectual one; Montgomery the scared newby who by the end is the stoolie; Stone the warden.  Plotting breakouts and those who just wait for parole, and the life behind the big wall, with double crosses and snitches.  Still as timely as ever, only this is about an all white world, and as bad as it is, probably was worse for any minority.  Cast is wonderful.  Shown on TCM this week, it was a good print of the film, crisp and the sound was first rate.  8/10      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020686/combined

Dames (1934) Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Zazu Pitts.  Busby Berkeleystaged the musical numbers and the song "I Only Have Eyes For YOu, Dear" is high lighted a number of times.  Powell is in great voice; Keeler is Keeler and cutere than usual.  Story about show biz and the rich guy who wants to do away with shows altogether is as silly as usual, but there is the music and great cinematography to carry us through.   8/10           http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025028/combined

Pot o' Gold (1941) Paulette Goddard, James Stewart, Horace Heidt, Charles Winninger.  Pitiful musical with cast that can't sing doing songs that are forgettable.  Fake from beginning to end.  Stewart is as bad as I have ever seen him and Paulette too.  But at least she is pretty and cute.   So bad I finally was fast forwarding through whole musical numbers.  I'm generous giving this ---- 5/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034055/combined

Slightly Dangerous (1943) Lana Turner, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Dame May Whitty.   Cute silliness about a small town girl working in a store who wins an award of a few dollars for being on time for 1000 days.  She gets mad and decides to fake her death and run away to the big city.  There she is conked on the head and fakes losing her memory.  Her picture in the paper with clues make a rich man and the nanny for the guys long lost daughter believe she is the one.  Meanwhile the guy who was fired from his management position because she was supposedly killed is searching for her and finds her.  Lana is cute as can be and Brennan and Whitty are fine, but Young is as bad as I have ever seen him.  Not charming or funny at all.  Just annoying.       7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036365/combined

Chase A Crooked Shadow (1958) Anne Baxter, Richard Todd, Herbert Lom, Alexander Knox.  A young woman whose brother has died in a car crash is suddenly confronted with a guy who looks like him who says he is her brother.  A cat and mouse tale with the sister trying to convince various people that he is an imposter and the guy trying to prove she is losing her grip.  Even the uncle she counts on to back her up, says it is her brother.  Detective Lom is confused as a local policeman who doesn't know who to believe.   What is going on?   Holds the interest until near the end but sort of fizzles out.  Cast is good at putting doubt in your mind.    I watched this on TCM and they invluced the announcement by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. at the close about the audience keeping mum about the ending so others coud enjoy the suspence.  8/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050246/combined

Summer doldrums have arrived.

Ginger, Jean, Claudette & Nic, Jeremy, Vic---

---perfect films and dogs.

FIRST WATCHES:

Lucky Partners (1940) Ginger Rogers, Ronald Colman, Jack Carson, Spring Byington.  They share a winning sweepstakes ticket and things happen.  Screwy and unfunny comedy that did not make me laugh once.  4/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032733/combined

The Family Man (2000) Nicolas Cage, Tea Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven.  Rich, high powered investment broker, wakes up one morning in a suburban house with his former girlfriend as his wife and has two kids.  Fish out of water , but he gets the hang of dirty diapers etc.  Will he ever get his life back?  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218967/combined

The Bourne Legacy (2012)Jeremy Renner stars as Aaron Cross and is very good as the action hero.  Rachel Weisz is Dr. Marta Shearing, the scientist who gets caught up in the chase adventure.  Ed Norton is the villian and various characters from the other Bourne films are also in this one.  I miss Jason but it was a satisfiying sequel.  8/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194173/combined

ENCORES:

History Is Made At Night (1937) Jean Arthur, Charles Boyer, Leo Carillo, Colin Clive.  Romance, obsession and murder.  7/10   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029002/combined

The Palm Beach Story (1942) Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee.  Perfectly wonderful Preston Sturges comedy.  10/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035169/combined

Kiss Of Death (1947) Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray.  Perfect film-noir with great performance of crazy by Widmark.  10/10    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039536/combined

Rosalind Russell tops this week---

FIRST WATCHES:

Hide-Out (1934) Robert Montgomery, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold, Elizabeth Patterson.  Gangster on the run is reformed by country girl and her family.   7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025251/combined

Winchester73 (1950) James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Dailey, Stephen McNally.   Western I thought for years I had seen, but dicovered I had it mixed up with another Stewart western.  Manhunt theme.  Interesting because of the future stars in minor roles, like Tony Curtis as an infantry soldier and Rock Hudson as an Indian!.  7/10     http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043137/combined

ENCORES:

Hired Wife (1940) Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley, John Carroll.  Comedy about an excutive and his secretary who marry because of business needing to be put in some one elses name for a while.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032596/combined

The Feminine Touch (1941) Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Van Heflin, Kay Francis.  Great cast has fun with battle of the sexes.  8/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033596/combined

Presumed Innocent (1990) Harrison Ford, Raul Julia, Brian Dennehy, Bonnie Bedelia, Greta Scacchi, Paul Winfield.  7/10  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100404/combined