Anna Karénina, 1935, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Starring Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone. Directed by Clarence Brown. B&W, 93 minutes. Anna Karénina (Greta Garbo) is bound in a financially and socially comfortable, yet deeply unsatisfying, life at home with her husband of …
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948, Warner Bros. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt. Directed by John Huston. B&W, 126 minutes. After being cheated out of their fair wages and finding themselves dead broke in a foreign country, …
Adam’s Rib
Adam’s Rib, 1949, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. Directed by George Cukor. B&W, 100 minutes. A distraught wife (Judy Holliday) seeks out her husband (Tom Ewell) as he meets with his paramour (Jean Hagen). With a great lack of …
Rebecca
Rebecca, 1940, United Artists. Starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier. Co-starring Judith Anderson, George Sanders. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. B&W, 130 minutes. A naïve young woman of lowly means (Joan Fontaine), whose lack of confidence keeps her from so much as …
To Be or Not To Be (1942)
To Be or Not To Be, 1942, United Artists. Starring Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. B&W, 99 minutes. A renowned Polish acting troupe is compelled to take on the performance of their lives with an …
You Can’t Take It With You
You Can’t Take It With You, 1938, Columbia Pictures. Starring Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold. Directed by Frank Capra. B&W, 126 minutes. Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) once was a highly successful businessman, but some 35 years before …
The Bishop’s Wife
The Bishop’s Wife, 1947, RKO Radio Pictures. Starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven. Directed by Henry Koster. B&W, 108 minutes. Staid Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) has neglected his wife and family in his quest for a new cathedral, and …
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Miracle on 34th Street, 1947, 20th Century Fox. Starring Maureen O’Hara, Natalie Wood, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn. Directed by George Seaton. B&W, 96 minutes. Justifiably one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time, this film is a joyous …
Holiday Affair (1949)
Holiday Affair, 1949, RKO Radio Pictures. Starring Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey. Directed by Don Hartman. B&W, 87 minutes. Don’t be fooled. It would be fair to expect a film noir mystery from Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, seeped …
Top Hat
Top Hat, 1935, RKO Radio Pictures. Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers. Directed by Mark Sandrich. Music by Irving Berlin. B&W, 100 minutes. A simple story told with wit and charm, a top-notch score by Irving Berlin, and of course, the …
Classic for a Reason 