The Maltese Falcon, 1941, Warner Bros. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre. Directed by John Huston. B&W, 100 minutes. In foggy San Francisco, world-weary private detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) has taken on a new case from beauty Ruth Wonderly (Mary Astor). Spade’s partner, Miles Archer (Jerome …
Pillow Talk
Pillow Talk, 1959, Universal International. Starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall. Directed by Michael Gordon. Technicolor, 102 minutes. Jan Morrow (Doris Day), a proper and dignified interior designer, and Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a womanizing songwriter, share both a telephone party line and and an antagonistic relationship. Both have …
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Nothing Sacred, 1937, United Artists. Starring Carole Lombard, Fredric March. Directed by William A. Wellman. Technicolor, 74 minutes. Wally Cook (Fredric March) is a reporter who needs to prove he isn’t a fraud — and fast. He learns of a woman with six months to live after a diagnosis of …
Too Many Husbands
Too Many Husbands, 1940, Columbia Pictures. Starring Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, Melvyn Douglas. Directed by Wesley Ruggles. B&W, 84 minutes. Left alone and lonely after her husband, Bill Cardew (Fred MacMurray), is lost at sea, Vicki Lowndes (Jean Arthur) has remarried, this time to Bill’s best friend and business partner, …
Angel Face (1953)
Angel Face, 1953, RKO Radio Pictures. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons. Directed by Otto Preminger. B&W, 91 minutes. An emergency call late one night brings ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) to the Treymaine mansion, where the worst seems to be over for the lady of the home. On his …
Old Acquaintance
Old Acquaintance, 1943, Warner Bros. Starring Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins. Directed by Vincent Sherman. B&W, 110 minutes. Kit Marlowe (Bette Davis), a critically successful author, has returned to her hometown to see her closest childhood friend, Millie Drake (Miriam Hopkins). Millie has big news: she and her husband Preston (John …
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Mildred Pierce, 1945, Warner Bros. Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth. Directed by Michael Curtiz. B&W, 111 minutes. A sharp psychological drama that has had feminists debating the nature of its leading lady’s motivations and decisions from the day it was released, Mildred Pierce is as provocative …
People Will Talk (1951)
People Will Talk, 1951, 20th Century Fox. Starring Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Hume Cronyn. Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. B&W, 110 minutes. A movie best enjoyed when you understand the politics of the time, People Will Talk is a meandering film with a fine cast. There are multiple story lines competing …
