1945 Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp, Lionel Barrymore 119 minutes
Mary Rafferty's (Garson) father, Pat (Barrymore), blames his former boss William Scott (Crisp), owner of Pittsburgh's Scott Mill, for the accident that left him in a wheelchair, a fact that makes Mary's accepting a job as a maid in the Scott household all the more bitter.
The same day Mary starts her new job, Paul Scott (Peck) returns home. The entire Scott family quickly and warmly accepts Mary (she becomes especially close to Mrs. Scott and the only daughter, Connie) and soon she and Paul fall in love. Mary, however, is unwilling to risk Paul's standing in the community with an inferior match. Mrs. Scott, aware of and very sympathetic to the situation, tries to help Mary by taking advantage of a sudden opportunity: Connie eloped with an English nobleman, and as a wedding present, Connie can take Mary back to England with her.
Two years later, Mr. Scott, after urging Paul to marry their neighbor Louise, finds out about Paul and Mary. He sends her a telegram to come home, and she arrives at the height of a labor strike that has shut down the mill. Just after Mary agrees to marry Paul, the strike trouble comes to a head. Mary tries to put an end to the dispute between the Scotts and the union, but can peace be achieved in time for Mary and Paul to live happily ever after?
"The Valley of Decision" is based on the novel by Marcia Davenport, who was the half-sister of Efraim Zimbalist, Jr. Greer Garson was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Mary, but lost to Joan Crawford for "Mildred Pierce." Watch for a young Jessica Tandy as Louise. Her husband, Hume Cronyn, was originally cast as one of Gregory Peck's brothers, but lost the part when the director decided the eight inch height difference between the two seemed unlikely for siblings. This movie was Dean Stockwell's feature film debut.
1949 Ronald Reagan, Richard Todd, Patricia Neal 102 minutes
Corporal Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan (Todd), serving in Burma, receives a lower-back wound in the last days of WWII. He grows increasingly bitter and suspicious as, himself fully recovered from his operation but kept for "observation," he watches his fellow Scotsmen recover and leave the British field hospital. The doctor doesn't explain to Lachie the severity of his situation, but tells head nurse Sister Parker (Neal) the truth: Lachie's wound required removal of one of his kidneys, and the remaining kidney is defective, giving him perhaps slightly more than a month before the organ gives out and he dies (in the days before kidney transplants). In order to make Lachie's final weeks happier, the doctor moves him into a ward with five other patients, including The Yank (Reagan) who's recovering from malaria. Sister Parker tells the five men Lachie's fate, asking them to befriend him.
Lachie, however, is suspicious of everyone and rejects their attempts at friendship. The men tire of trying to be nice to this rude, angry man, but Sister Parker urges them to keep trying, reminding them that he only has a short time left. Finally, the wall Lachie has put up around himself comes down, revealing how very lonely he's been. When the truth comes out that everyone has known Lachie's dying, except Lachie, how will he react to the friendships he was hesitant to accept?
"The Hasty Heart" is based on John Patrick's play of the same name. Reprising his Broadway role as Lachie, Richard Todd earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and he won a Golden Globe for Most Promising (Male) Newcomer. Todd followed Richard Baseheart in the role of Lachie in the Broadway production of "The Hasty Heart." At one point, Yank mentions "the Rock River, in Dixon, Illinois." Reagan was a lifeguard for five years along the Rock River in Dixon, where he saved seventy-seven people from drowning. This movie was remade in 1983 for TV and starred Perry King as The Yank, Cheryl Ladd as the nurse and Gregory Harrison as Lachie.
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1940 Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott 88 minutes
Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Dunne), presumed drowned after a shipwreck seven years ago, comes home the same day her husband, Nick (Grant) has her declared legally dead and remarries. Ellen flies to Yosemite, surprising Nick at the start of his honeymoon. He struggles to tell his bride, Bianca (Patrick), that his wife has come back, never quite managing to get it done. Meanwhile, back at home, Ellen isn't doing any better telling her two children, babies when she last saw them, that she's their mother. When Nick comes home with Bianca, Ellen pretends to be an old family friend from the South.
The first evening home, Nick is on the verge of telling Bianca the truth when he's interrupted once again. This time, it's an insurance man at the front door, informing Nick that Ellen was stranded on the island, not alone as Nick had assumed, but with fellow survivor Stephen Burkett (Scott). After Stephen runs into Ellen and Nick, he begins to actively court her, putting even more pressure on Nick to decide who is his favorite wife.
"My Favorite Wife" is based on Lord Tennyson's poem, "Enoch Arden," and re-teams Irene Dunne for the second time (the first was "The Awful Truth" in 1937) with Cary Grant, an actor she described as "more fun" to work with than other leading actors. She said, "I think we were a successful team because we enjoyed working together tremendously, and that pleasure must have shown through onto the screen."
The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Writing, Original Story. 1962's "Something's Got to Give," Marilyn Monroe's final, unfinished movie, was a remake of "My Favorite Wife" with Dean Martin as Nick. Monroe was fired from the film, then later rehired. Martin refused to finish the movie with anyone but Monroe so the project was never finished after her sudden death. The material, including some sets, were eventually turned into "Move Over, Darling" in 1963, with Doris Day and James Garner.
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1942 Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Ann Sheridan, Claude Raines 127 minutes
"A Good Town. A Good Clean Town. A Good Town to Live In and a Good Place to Raise Your Children." So proclaims the billboard on the edge of King's Row, a small Midwest town in the late nineteenth century. We quickly find out, however, that, as is often the case, things are definitely not what they appear.
Serious Parris Mitchell (Cummings), orphaned and reared by his grandmother, wants to be a doctor, while his best friend, Drake McHugh (Reagan) just wants to have fun living off his trust fund. Reclusive Dr. Tower (Raines), father of Parris's childhood friend Cassie, agrees to let Parris study under him, and opens Parris's eyes to the still-new practice of psychiatry. Drake, meanwhile, is busily courting Louise Gordon, daughter of King's Row's other, more revered doctor. Dr. Gordon doesn't think Drake is good enough for his daughter, however, and will not let her marry him. Drake quickly moves on, and starts seeing old friend Randy Monaghan (Sheridan), a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
With Parris away in Vienna studying medicine, Drake, alone except for Randy, has to deal with many personal tragedies that some of the "better" people in town think he deserves as punishment for his carefree lifestyle. When one townsman goes so far as to decide how severe that punishment should be, Drake has to face up to what kind of man he really is. Can Parris, a fledgling psychiatrist, make it back to King's Row in time to help his best friend through the toughest challenge either one of them has had to deal with?
The story of King's Row and its inhabitants were inspired by author Henry Bellamann's hometown of Fulton, Missouri, where the book is still considered scandalous by some. Ronald Reagan rarely gets the recognition he deserved as an actor, and this role, widely considered his best (even by Reagan himself) showcases his talent at its finest. Drake's cry of "Where's the rest of me?" is one of Reagan's most well-known movie quotes and the title of his 1965 autobiography. "King's Row" was nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Director, Picture and Black-and-White Cinematography), but in a tough year up against the likes of "Wake Island," "Pride of the Yankees," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and "Mrs. Miniver," lost in all three categories to "Mrs. Miniver."
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1960 Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Jean Stapleton, Eddie Foy, Jr., Frank Gorshin 2 hours, 7 min.
Ella Peterson (Holliday) works as a switchboard operator for her cousin Sue's (Stapleton) answering service, Susanswerphone. Ella takes an active interest in the lives of her customers, going so far as to adopt different characters for different clients. One such customer is Jeffrey Moss (Martin), a playwright with writers' block who thinks she's an old woman and calls her "Mom." Sue warns Ella to stay out of the customers' lives, but when she finds out Jeff is in danger of missing a meeting with an important producer, Ella, who's in love with his voice, rushes to his apartment to help. The mysterious, seemingly psychic, Melisande Scott (the name Ella gives him) is just the inspiration Jeff needs to finish his play in time for his meeting. In her off hours, Ella tips off two other clients, a dentist who composes on the air hose, and a beatnik actor (Gorshin), to the opportunities open to them with Jeff's play. Jeff quickly falls in love with "Melisande" but she disappears from a party he takes her to, convinced that as soon as she tells him she lied about herself, "The Party's Over." But will Jeff, without her real name or address, be able to find her before she leaves town?
Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote this play especially for Judy Holliday in 1956 to cheer her up during a rough personal time, and they based the character of Ella on Judy herself. She played the part on Broadway for two years (924 performances) and won a Tony award. This was Judy's last movie; she died of cancer in 1965 at the age of 43.
Watch for Hal Linden (TV's Barney Miller) singing "The Midas Touch" in his first movie role. Donna Douglas ("The Beverly Hillbillies") is one of the party guests, and Ella's blind date at the beginning of the movie was Gerry Mulligan, a jazz musician and infrequent actor, and Judy's new real-life boyfriend.
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1948 Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp, William Demarest 88 minutes
Trying to solve a rash of train robberies, railroad detective Luke "Whispering" Smith (Ladd) finds himself back in town with his best friend, Murray Sinclair (Preston) and his old girlfriend, Marian (Marshall), now Murray's wife. Before long, Luke sees that Murray has developed questionable taste in friends, especially Barney Rebstock (Crisp). When Murray is fired from his job with the railroad, he goes to work for Rebstock robbing trains. Luke, loyal to his best friend, tries to help Murray, but his help is unwelcome, making Luke choose between his loyalty to Murray and what he knows is right.
The novel this movie is based on was written by Frank Spearman, who loosely based the title character on Joe Lefors, a real-life lawman. Some speculate that the character of Murray is also based on another real person, Butch Cassidy. "Whispering Smith" was Ladd's first starring role in both a western (he'd been in small parts in "B" westerns early in his career) and a Technicolor movie (he had a bit part in the Disney sepiatone/color movie "The Reluctant Dragon" in 1941). The "Whispering Smith" set would later be seen in the "Bonanza" TV series, as well as other series and movies.
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1947 June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Joan McCracken, Patricia Marshall 93 min.
Connie Lane (Allyson) is a student and librarian at fictional Tait College in the Roaring Twenties. She, like all the girls, has a crush on football captain Tommy Marlowe. Tommy, however, only has eyes for Connie's new sorority sister, Pat McClellan (Marshall). Unimpressed with Tommy's clowning at a sorority party, Pat sets her sights on someone with more wealth--of culture, that is. Pat's insult, in French, sends Tommy to the school library in search of the definition, where he meets Connie and gets an impromptu French lesson. All of Tommy's subsequent efforts to woo Pat with his French fail, so he asks Connie to go to the prom with him.
Things get complicated when Connie's friend Babe Doolittle (McCracken) steps in. Babe, in order to improve Tommy's state of mind in time for the big football game, convinces Pat that he's richer than her current boyfriend. Gold-digger Pat wheedles a prom invitation from Tommy, who has temporarily forgotten about Connie. Meanwhile, Babe finds out too late that Connie has fallen hard for the football star.
Tommy's grades slip after he begins dating Pat, and soon, a failing grade in French threatens his spot on the team. Connie is pressed into service as his tutor, knowing that when he passes his exam, and helps Tait win the next football game, he and Pat will announce their engagement.
June Allyson and Peter Lawford didn't have the singing or dancing chops of Judy Garland and Howard Keel, Vera-Ellen or Donald O'Connor, but they do a good job, and stay on key. This movie is a happy, light-hearted escape from real life; it's unfair to expect much more from that in any musical. The score is filled with catchy songs, and "Pass that Peace Pipe" was nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar. The screenplay is by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, probably best known for 1952's Singin' In the Rain.
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1939 Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson 81 minutes
Polly Parrish (Rogers), employed at the toy department of John Merlin & Son department store, receives a pink slip right before Christmas. While job hunting on her lunch hour, she sees a woman leave a baby on the steps of a foundling home. Polly picks up the baby just as the doors open, giving the impression that the baby is hers. Polly explains what happens, but when the orphanage employees won't believe her, she leaves the baby and runs. The situation is brought to the attention of her boss, David Merlin (Niven), who gives her back her job so that she can care for her baby. Polly finally admits defeat and takes care of him. David tries to help on several occasions, leading to hilarious confusion. Soon, of course, David falls in love with Polly, but the baby he insisted was hers begins to stand in the way of his spending time with her.
David's father, John B. Merlin (Coburn), is given an anonymous note telling him he's a grandfather. He follows David to a park where he meets Polly and his "grandson." David tells his father the baby isn't his, but, like Polly, his protests aren't believed, either.
This movie is a delightful comedy of errors, with a wonderful cast. Remade as Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher's lackluster "Bundle of Joy" (1956), "Bachelor Mother" is by far the better of the two.
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1944 Starring Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Richard Conte, Sam Levene 99 minutes
"The Purple Heart" tells the story of eight downed U.S. bomber crew members captured by the Japanese in China after a bombing run over Japan in the early days of WWII. The Americans are given a mock trial, where they are wrongly accused, and found guilty, of bombing churches and schools and machine gunning children. The men are tortured, one by one, when they refuse to name where they launched their planes from. When they are given the chance of a lighter sentence if they talk, will the men who haven't yet been tortured be able to resist the temptation?
This movie is based on the real life exploits of eight members of Jimmy Doolittle's April 1942 raid on Japan, America's answer to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. "The Purple Heart" is almost entirely fictionalized, because the details of the raid were not made public until long after it took place. The last of an unofficial trilogy of movies about the Doolittle Raid, it follows, chronologically, "Destination Tokyo" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." "The Purple Heart" is a very good movie, with usual amounts of war-time patriotism. Definitely worth watching.
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1995 Starring Ciaran Hinds, Amanda Root, and Sophie Thompson, 107 minutes
In 1806 England, Anne Eliot was persuaded, by family and friend, to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a naval officer with no fortune. Eight years later, Anne, at age 27 destined for spinsterhood, again encounters Wentworth, now a wealthy captain, when his sister and brother-in-law, Admiral & Mrs. Croft, lease the Eliot estate from Anne's father, Sir Walter. Captain Wentworth, still bitter about Anne's refusal, befriends her brother-in-law, Charles Musgrove, and is soon assumed to be contemplating marriage to one of Charles' sisters. The financial problems of Sir Walter; Mrs. Clay, Anne's sister Elizabeth's widowed friend, scheming to marry Sir Walter; and the arrival of Mr. Eliot, Sir Walter's estranged heir, make up the important subplots. Can Anne and Wentworth overcome the past, or is it too late?
Originally broadcast by the BBC before its theatrical release for the rest of the world, this is by far the best version of the three I've seen of Jane Austen's last finished novel. While it leaves out some important parts from the book, these characters are the most memorable.
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