In The Left Hand of God, at a Catholic mission in China, long-awaited “Father O’Shea” proves to be a tough guy, disturbingly attractive to mission nurse Anne.
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One of the greatest Broadway musicals comes to the screen in this tale of music, racial bigotry and enduring love as outsized as the American heartland set aboard a Mississippi River Show Boat. Magnolia Brown has grown up onboard a sailing theater, plying the river from town to town to entertain people, and she has always dreamed of a life on stage. When the star’s, Julie LaVerne part African American ancestry is revealed and she is forced to leave, Magnolia steps in to take Julie’s place on stage.
Magnolia soon falls in love with her leading man, the handsome gambler and rogue, Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel—Kiss Me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), and the two marry, have a daughter and live happily–for a while. But Ravenal’s gambling debts force Magnolia to find a job, and Julie LaVerne again leaves her starring role–this time voluntarily–to give Magnolia the break she needs, an opportunity that leads to stardom.
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In The Big Street, a Broadway nightclub waiter falls in love with a crippled singer who selfishly accepts his help without loving him in return.
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All That Heaven Allows – Friends and family want a rich widow to end her romance with a tree farmer about 15 years her junior.
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An endearing and quietly rhapsodic slice of Americana about a single year among the Norwegian immigrants in a Wisconsin farm town, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes enthralled 1945 audiences and critics with its timeless joys. Told from the viewpoint of little Selma (Margaret O’Brien), the film explores grand childhood adventures: making friends, a pet calf, Christmas, a terrifying trip down a flood-swollen river, a barn fire and a ride on a circus elephant’s trunk. In a change-of-pace role, Edward G. Robinson is a revelation of wisdom and compassion as Selma’s father, leading a fine cast that illuminates the profound power of everyday triumphs and sorrows.
I have to admit, I recently enjoyed Bachelor in Paradise on TCM, and found myself enjoying it very much. Bob Hope plays Adam J. Niles, author of a series of books detailing the romantic life of the bachelor in a variety of foreign locales. As the movie begins, he’s working on his latest volume in Italy. When he’s unexpectedly brought home, to deal with the issue of back taxes to the IRS.
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DVD review of Citizen Kane, one of the great movies of the 20th Century, starring, produced and written by Orson Welles
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