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
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