THE LADY EVE (1941)
It's hi-jinks on the high seas as Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn play a pair of father and daughter card sharks out to swindle millionaire Henry Fonda out of his millions in Preston Sturges' classic romantic comedy 'The Lady Eve." Filled with a stellar collection of character actors including Sturges regulars: William Demarest, Eric Blore and Eugene Pallette, with brilliant dialogue, fast pacing and masterful direction, "The Lady Eve" is one of the classic comedies of the Golden Age. Stanwyck proves she was a master at subtle comedy and Fonda the king of the prat falls as she pulls switcheroo after switcheroo in order to land her man. It's Sturges, Stanwyck and Fonda at their very best and one of the comedies that every director has borrowed something from at sometime or other...if they're smart.
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In "Auntie Mame", Rosalind Russell stars as the most delightfully eccentric aunt any boy was ever turned over to. Written for film by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and for stage by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, both versions were based on the novel by Patrick Dennis.
Reprising her Broadway triumph, Roz paints an unforgettable portrait of a true eccentric, who weaves a spell over everyone she comes in contact with. This includes a bevy of the wildest supporting players ever assembled, among them; Coral Browne as Vera Charles, Broadway legend, best friend, confidante and resident dipsomaniac and Peggy Cass as Agnes Gooch, the unloved secretary who becomes an unwed mother when she follows Mame's philosophy a little too closely. As Auntie Mame puts it: "You've got to live, live, live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"
Patrick Dennis: Is the English lady sick, Auntie Mame?
Auntie Mame: She's not English, darling... she's from Pittsburgh.
Patrick Dennis: She sounded English.
Auntie Mame: Well, when you're from Pittsburgh, you have to do something.
A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
Monty and Liz, the two hottest stars in Hollywood in the early fifties come together hot and heavy for George Steven's re-make of Theodore Dresier's "An American Tragedy." The ultimate story of the guy from "the wrong side of the tracks" who longs for the rich man's daughter. Montgomery Clift shows why he was the subtlest of all the new breed of Method Actors to descend on Hollywood after the war.
Elizabeth Taylor comes into her own as the the most beautiful girl-next-door any adolescent ever had a wet dream over, while Shelly Winters makes her mark and earns an Oscar nomination as the pathetic pregnant girl Clift abandons. With this role, Winters created a niche for herself as "the girl most men wanted to murder."
Shot by Stevens at his most romantic, it got him an Oscar for direction as well as a second one for Franz Waxman's haunting jazz score, which stays in the back of your mind long after the show is over.
TAG LINE: Young people asking so much of Life... taking so much of Love!
THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)
Director Vincente Minnelli's take on making movies. Three people talk about Kirk Douglas, as a ruthless Hollywood mogul and show why so many people want to work with him and love to hate him at the same time. It's Hollywood on Hollywood and also stars Lana Turner dressed in white and Gloria Grahame in one of the shortest Oscar winning roles as a Southern sex-a-holic.
This movie holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a film not nominated for Best Picture, with five.
THE LETTER (1940)
Director William Wyler sits on her mannerisms and squeezes out of Bette Davis what may be the ultimate depiction of sexual repression gone haywire. Set in the jungles of Malaysia with a thundering score by Max Steiner and strong support by James Stephenson as her lawyer and sinister Gale Sondergaard as the wife of the man shes murdered, its high melodrama at its steamy best.
"The Letter" was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best actress, and best director.
