Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Dolly Levi (Barbra Steisand), an elderly widow who for some reason looks twenty-five and stunning, decides to give up her matchmaking career and find herself a match. Her target is wealthy Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). On her path to getting him, she fixes up the relationships of his niece Ermengarde (Joyce Ames), who she sends

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Sir John Falstaff (Orson Welles) carouses with Prince Hal (Keith Baxter) and several unscrupulous characters, often in the bawdy house of Mistress Quickly (Margaret Rutherford), much to the displeasure of King Henry IV (John Gielgud). However a civil war and the king’s failing health will change the prince and his relationship with Falstaff. The idea

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

In 1873, the Amberson’s are at the height of society. Nearly undefined daughter Isabel (Dolores Costello) is wooed by the young men of the town, in particular bland (though we’re not supposed to think he’s bland) Eugene (Joseph Cotton). Though we are told she loves him, sticking with the old ways, she marries some guy

Sweet Charity (1969)

Sweet Charity (1969)

Charity Hope Valentine (Shirley MacLaine) is a naïve (really, really naïve…like pathologically…) dance hall girl who is seeking love. Her co-workers Helene and Nickie (Paula Kelly, Chita Rivera) are more realistic, dreaming only of rising a step on the economic ladder. Charity is robbed by a supposed boyfriend, and then forced to spend the night

Battleground (1949)

Battleground (1949)

During the Battle of the Bulge—December 1944—the 101st Airborne Division is moved to Bastogne. We follow a number of soldiers (Van Johnson, James Whitmore, Douglas Fowley, George Murphy, Herbert Anderson, Ricardo Montalban, Don Taylor, John Hodiak, Marshall Thompson) as they fight, suffer, die, and try to survive in the days they are trapped, surrounded by

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)

Lester and Orville (Bud Abbott & Lou Costello) accidentally take off in an experimental spaceship and land in New Orleans during Marti Gras, thinking they are on Mars. A string of unlikely events put them back in the spaceship with a pair of bank robbers (Jack Kruschen and Horace McMahon) and headed toward Venus which

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

An account of the “Doolittle Raid” in which the US bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities, undertaken to raise US morale and damage Japanese morale instead of for the physical damage that could be done. We follow the crew of “The Ruptured Duck,” captained by Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and including gunner David Thatcher (Robert

Black Narcissus (1947)

Black Narcissus (1947)

Five nuns are sent into the Himalayas to turn an ex-pleasure palace into a nunnery. A previous attempt to make it a monastery had failed for unstated reasons. Youthful and arrogant Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is made mother superior. She is given: Sister Philippa (Flora Robson), to run the garden; Sister Honey (Jenny Laird), because

Johnny Belinda (1948)

Johnny Belinda (1948)

We are in the far off dark land of post-war Canada, where a deaf-mute is assumed to be unable to think and feel by the primitives that live there. Enter Doctor Noble Dogoodery (Lew Ayres). He wanders about, doing good, until he meets virginal deaf-mute Belinda (Jane Wyman). She has never been taught anything in

The Lure {Córki dancingu} (2015)

The Lure {Córki dancingu} (2015)

Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszanska), a pair of mermaids, seduce the members of a band to introduce them to human culture. Getting legs when they are dry helps them move around. With their stunning singing voices and their reappearing tails when they get wet, the two win over crowds as part of a

12 Days of Christmas Eve (2004)

12 Days of Christmas Eve (2004)

A businessman (Steven Weber) must re-live Christmas Eve twelve times to learn the true meaning of the season. Quick Review: Was there a need to combine It’s a Wonderful Life with Groundhog Day?  The first has been copied far too many times and the second pretty much covered the reliving-a-day genre.  This isn’t an artistic

An American in Paris (1951)

An American in Paris (1951)

American expatriate painter Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) is picked up by a wealthy divorcée (Nina Foch).  She becomes his patron, with an eye to becoming his lover, but he falls for Lise (Leslie Caron), an anonymous young shop girl. However, she has a secret: She’s engaged to a successful singer (Georges Guétary) who also happens to