Singin' in the Rain (1952)

- December Musical Selection


The all time classic movie musical. Gene Kelly stars as Don Lockwood. Together with Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) he is the biggest movie star of the silent era. Lockwood and Lamont are so popular that the media writes erroneous reports that they are to be engaged. Their lives are going along wonderfully until the invention of the talking picture. When their movie studio, Monument, decides to go into the talkie business Lockwood and Lamont do not come across well on the screen. Lina does not have the voice for talking pictures and can not talk into her microphone to save her life. In the meantime Don meets and falls in love with Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) - an aspiring actress. Kathy has a beautiful voice and Don's best friend, Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) comes up with the idea to dub Kathy's voice for Lina's. Of course Lina is not happy with the new arrangement and even more upset with the romance between Don and Kathy. She attempts to keep Kathy behind the scenes as her voice to kill Kathy's career but will she be successful?

I loved every minute of this movie. It was a fun satirical look at the movie business. Kelly, Reynolds and O'Connor are all wonderful but the star is Jean Hagen. She steals the show as the ditsy Lina who begins to believe her own good press. The musical numbers are fun to watch and the dancing is wonderful. If you love old time musicals you have to see this film - you will not be disappointed.

Funny Face (1957)

- December Musical Selection


A delightful musical romance. Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) is the photographer for the most popular fashion magazine in the country, Quality. On one of his shoots he and the editor, Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), walk into a small used bookstore in Greenwich Village. The young girl working in the store, Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn),is an intellectual who looks down on the fashion industry. However, she catches Dick's eye. When the magazine decides to run a contest where a regular woman is picked to be the next fashion model - the "Quality Woman" - Dick persuades Maggie that Jo is perfect. However, convincing Jo is more difficult until she realizes the shoot will be in Paris. She takes this as her chance to meet her hero Professor Emile Flostre - the founder of "empathicalism" which implores you to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Once she is in Paris Jo is torn between her new world and the old one. To make things even more complicated she and Dick start falling in love but can their different views ever come together?

I love this movie even though I found the relationship between Jo and Dick a bit creepy since Astaire was 30 years older than Hepburn. The musical numbers were light and fun like they should be in a musical. I was very impressed with Audrey Hepburn's performance and was surprised by her voice. All in all it was a nice movie to watch on a lazy day in.

White Christmas (1954)

- December Musical Selection


One of my favorite movies for sentimental reasons. It starts on Christmas Eve 1944. Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) are performing a show for their fellow solders. When the group is attacked Phil saves Bob's life. Back at the hospital Phil convinces Bob to perform together once the war is over. A few years later they are the hottest duo in America. They travel all over the country and are extremely popular. They receive a letter from a platoon mate saying they need to see his sisters perform. They go to see the performance of Betty and Judy Haynes (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) and Phil wants them to join their show. They follow the girls to the Vermont where they are next scheduled to perform. When they arrive in Vermont it is unseasonably warm and the inn is deserted. They also learn that the inn is owned by their former commander, General Thomas Waverly. The group comes up with a great plan to put on their show and bring in all the men who also served under the General to save the inn. However, as they are rehearsing love rears its head and threatens to break up the group. Can the performance be saved?

This movie means a lot to me. My mom loved old movie musicals and White Christmas was my grandma's favorite Christmas song. The song and dance numbers are very well done and we are treated to Bing's velvety voice many times. Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen were both wonderful as the Haynes sisters and Danny Kaye is funny as always. It is a movie that needs to be watched every Christmas season.

Gaslight (1944)

- October Film Noir Selection


This is a superb film. Ingrid Bergman stars as Paula Alquist, a young woman who finds her aunt, a famous singer, murdered one night. She is sent to Italy to live and work with her aunt's mentor. There she meets and falls in love with Gregory Anton. After a whirlwind courtship they marry and move back to her Aunt's home in London. Once they are settled into the home where her aunt was murdered Paula begins to have problems. She is forgetting and losing things and Gregory seems to have to hide her away from the world. She is also hearing footsteps in the attic above her - the only problem being that the attic has been closed off and no one can be up there. Paula begins to wonder if she is going mad and her husband has lost all trust in her. However, a detective from Scotland Yard who is working on the aunt's unsolved murder begins to wonder if all is as it seems in the Anton home.

Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar for this role and she was more than deserving. You can read so much through her facial expressions that she does not need to say much. Charles Boyer is also wonderful as her mysterious husband. This movie was also the film debut of a 17 year old Angela Lansbury as Nancy the maid.

There have been several versions of this movie. The original British version was made in 1940. There were versions made in 1939, 1946, 1947 and 1977. According to IMDB there is also a remake scheduled for release in 2007.

High Wall (1947)

- October Film Noir Selection


This is the story of a man who returns from two years in Burma to find his wife in another man's apartment. When he wakes up he is in an asylum having confessed to murdering his wife. While in the care of the county he undergoes an operation to help with his debilitating headaches. After the surgery he realizes that he did not kill his wife and must try to clear his name so his son will know he is not a murderer. With the help of his doctor he searches for the real murderer and tries to clear his name. I was somewhat disappointed in the film. It could have been a wonderful film noir but it became very hokey with the use, twice, of truth serum. The extremely happy ending was also cheesy. What started off promising ended up a let down

The Window (1949)

October Film Noir Selection


This is a retelling of the boy who cried wolf fable. Tommy Woodry is a 9 year old boy who loves to tell stories. When the movie opens he tells some other boys that his family is about to move from NYC to a ranch out west. This tale gets to the landlord who decides to show the apartment. Tommy's parents are fed up and make him promise to never tell lies again. That night, the heat is stifling so Tommy goes out on the fire escape to sleep when he notices there is a nicer breeze one floor up. While he is on the fire escape of the Kellerson's he sees the husband and wife kill a man through the gap in the blinds. When he tells his parents they obviously don't believe him. After he goes to the police, who also don't believe him, his mother makes him go upstairs and apologize to the neighbors. Once they know that their secret is in danger they decide to get rid of Tommy by any means necessary. This is a wonderful film and I am surprised that it is not better known. Bobby Driscoll is wonderful as the young Tommy. The film will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. A definite do not miss when it comes on TCM.

This was remade as:
The Boy Who Cried Murder (1866)
Eyewitness (1970)
Cloak & Dagger (1984 - a personal fave from my childhood)