Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

[8] Gary Cooper (Friendly Persuasion, Ball of Fire) stars as Longfellow Deeds, a small-town idealist who inherits twenty million dollars and moves to New York City, where he becomes increasingly frustrated with the myriad people who try to take advantage…
Alice in Wonderland (1933)

Alice in Wonderland (1933)

[3] I've never been a fan of Lewis Carroll's source material, so I'm not surprised to find this 1933 all-star studio production of Alice in Wonderland to be another tedious incarnation. You know the story: a little girl (Charlotte Henry)…
Ball of Fire (1941)

Ball of Fire (1941)

[8] Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck star in this lively screwball comedy from director Howard Hawks. Cooper is working on a new encyclopedia with seven other scholars when he realizes the group is woefully uneducated in the world of contemporary…
A Farewell to Arms (1932)

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

[7] Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper co-star in director Frank Borzage's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Cooper plays an American ambulance driver who falls in love with Hayes' British nurse in Italy during the first World War.…
Devil and the Deep (1932)

Devil and the Deep (1932)

[6] Devil and the Deep stars Tallulah Bankhead as the wife of a U.S. naval commander played by Charles Laughton (receiving 'introducing' credit here). Laughton's character is mentally ill and insanely jealous of every man Bankhead ever comes into contact…
Beau Geste (1939)

Beau Geste (1939)

[7] Three orphans grow up together as brothers under the care of a kindly benefactor. When they're old enough, they join the Foreign Legion, but their dreams of adventure are dashed when a sinister sergeant turns their first outpost into…
Wings (1927)

Wings (1927)

[8] Director William Wellman took a full year to shoot it and was nearly fired for his perfectionism, but the gamble paid off. Wings was a huge success at the box office and became the first ever Oscar-winning Best Picture.…
Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

[9]

William Wyler directs this story about an Indiana Quaker family trying hard to keep their pacifist faith while the Civil War creeps up on their doorstep. The screenplay makes the period setting completely accessible, skillfully blending comedy and drama with character and substance. I quickly invested in the family, especially Gary Cooper as the father, a man who enjoys horse racing his neighbor to church on Sunday mornings. Dorothy McGuire is beautiful and endearing as his stalwart wife, and Anthony Perkins makes a memorable turn as their oldest son.