[6] Greer Garson stars in this Technicolor costume melodrama about a woman who marries for money instead of love, and later regrets it. I love Garson, and its especially great to see Errol Flynn playing against type as her repressive husband. Walter Pidgeon and Robert Young play two of Garson’s illicit love interests — one is her brother-in-law and the other is her niece’s betrothed …
[7] In this romantic, seafaring adventure from director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), Errol Flynn swashbuckles as a pirate hired by Queen Elizabeth I to thwart the Spanish armada. The Sea Hawk rises above Saturday matinee standards by integrating a healthy dose of political intrigue and cinematic panache. Flynn is terrific as usual, but there are also memorable performances by Flora Robson as Queen Elizabeth and Henry …
[7] The Reluctant Dragon is an odd but interesting hybrid of anthology feature and behind-the-scenes documentary. It’s about a man whose wife convinces him to take a children’s storybook titled The Reluctant Dragon to Walt Disney so that he can make it into a new cartoon. Once the man, humorist Robert Benchley, arrives on the Disney studio lot, he continually evades his tour guide and …
[4] This short feature presentation from Disney Animation is really two short stories slammed together. Up first, we have “The Wind in the Willows,” narrated by Basil Rathbone. It’s a fast-paced story about three stuffy critters — a badger, a mole, and a river rat — who try to keep their friend Toad out of trouble. Toad is addicted to all the latest modes of …
[7] John Wayne stars in this Howard Hawks western about a tyrannical cattle farmer who invests over a decade of work into the mother of all cattle drives, only to have it threatened when his adopted son — played by Montgomery Clift — launches a mutiny against him. I always love to see Howard Hawks playing with gender roles and male archetypes, and Red River …
[4] For its racist stereotypes and sugar-coated depiction of plantation life in the post-Civil War South, Disney has locked away Song of the South from the public since its last re-release in 1986. I don’t think the film is any more offensive than countless others made before desegregation (Gone with the Wind among them). In fact, putting its social infractions in historical context is probably …
[3] When the army took over Disney Animation during WWII to make training and propaganda films, old Walt was forced to make a series of ‘package films’ to keep the studio afloat until he could afford to make another stand-alone feature story. These package films were collections of various shorts jammed together to make a feature-length program. One of these, and perhaps the worst, was …
[5] Bette Davis stars as a woman who marries a banker (Claude Rains) to protect her brother from embezzlement charges. Claude Rains’ character knows full well that she’s marrying him for his money, but hopes that in time she’ll grow to love him. Well… she doesn’t. Bette Davis is a cold-hearted bitch in this movie, so all your sympathy goes to the long-suffering Rains, whose …
[4] Bette Davis stars as a woman charged with murder. She claims it was self defense, but opposing counsel discovers a letter that threatens her verdict — a letter she wrote to the deceased on the day she shot him… four times. The Letter is directed by William Wyler and based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham. Wyler and cinematographer Tony Gaudio do their …
[6] Katharine Hepburn plays a journalist who bad-mouths sports in her widely-read column. Spencer Tracy plays a sportswriter who publishes a rebuttal. The two continue sparring publicly until they meet in person… and start to fall in love. Now don’t get me wrong — I love it when Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy spar and make up, but this (their first pairing) is not among …
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