The Big Heat

THE BIG HEAT (BLACK AND WHITE, 1953)

Director: 

Fritz Lang

Cast: 

Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Lee Marvin, Alexander Scourby, Peter Whitney, Carolyn Jones, Dorothy Green, Linda Bennett and Adam Williams

Ages: 

10 and up

Plot: 

Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is a detective sergeant who takes on the case of the death of a fellow officer. The cops think it is suicide, but the cop’s mistress (Green) thinks not. When the mistress ends up dead, who could have done it? Was it Mike Lagana (Scourby), the local mob boss, Mike’s second in-command Vince Stone (Marvin) or Vince’s girlfriend Debby (Grahame)? When Dave’s wife (Brando) is killed, Dave goes seeking for revenge.

Photograph of (from left): Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford

Why it’s good: 

Violent, complex and amazing. The film-noir presents the opposite perspective from North by Northwest (1959). In the 1959 film, the attitude is ‘Does being someone bad make you good?’

Here it is ‘Does being someone good make you bad?’ Fritz Lang directed and shaped the way it was made. At first, you could see Dave Bannion as a good guy. He is the father of Joyce (Linda Bennett) and the husband of Jocelyn Brando.

But as he moves on, he completely becomes violent; when he starts to investigate the murder (or suicide). At one point, Vince’s girlfriend tells Dave after he made a comment that he would rather have killed a character. “If you did, you would be no more than Vince." Vince is the major bad guy in the film.

The famous scene, though, is the scene where Vince throws a pot of coffee at Gloria Grahame. She then throws it back. That is the most violent scene.

Parent’s guide: 

The scene where Lee Marvin throws a coffee pot at Gloria Grahame. There are also scenes of violence, killings, suicide, murder, etc.

Trivia:
Columbia originally wanted Marilyn Monroe to take on the role of Gloria Grahame. However, the price was too high for 20th Century Fox.

If you like this…: 

"Gilda" (1946), more Glenn Ford and more femme fatales like Gloria Grahame’s. Johnny Farrell (Ford) has been asked to spy on Gilda (Rita Hayworth), his ex-flame, in the film.    

James Stewart and His Wonderful Life

James Stewart was a war hero and maybe the most approachable celebrity. He is my first choice in this list for his versatile acting and real-life heroic acts.  

James Stewart was born with the middle name Maitland and was known to be a shy child. He went to Mercersburg Prep School, which he graduated from in the year 1928. His first play on stage was "The Wolves". He had a vast collection of toy airplanes.  This later inspired him to venture aviation. He was later invited to join the University Players, with Henry Fonda, who later became his best friend.

James Stewart (1908-1997)

His first important role was as David Graham in the comedy-mystery film "After the Thin Man" (1936), which put the actor in the bad guy role. Then, by 1938, he became more famous after shooting comedy films like "You Can’t Take It With You" (1938), "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940), "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) and "Pot o’ Gold" (1941).

After World War II, he came back, made ‘It’s a Wonderful Life" (1946) with Lionel Barrymore and Donna Reed. That was a Christmas classic, but it did not get him anywhere.

Two men, both film directors, saved him. The first was Alfred Hitchcock, who lured him next to Farley Granger and John Dall for "Rope" (1948), "Rear Window", "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956) and "Vertigo" (1958).

The other man was Anthony Mann, who lured him into more violent westerns. Their first collaboration was "Winchester 73" (1950) with Anthony Quinn and Dan Duryea, and when Stewart knocked those villains over the bar, it was not what the audiences had seen before.

His lessons for us are that vitality exists, whether or not we are heroes.  

Here are some of his best films:

AFTER THE THIN MAN (BLACK AND WHITE, 1936)
James Stewart isn't the lead, merely a side show, but this was the one which displayed his type of roles and the type of villain he used to play before the Mann westerns or the Hitchcock thrillers.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (BLACK AND WHITE, 1940)

Director George Cukor brings in James Stewart as cynical reporter Macaulay Connor, Liz Imbrie, played by Ruth Hussey, is his photographer. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, the two other leads pull strings from the sole, as, respectively, C.K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord, ex-marrieds who are part of the marriage plot though Tracy’s wanted to marry John Howard’s industrialist.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (BLACK AND WHITE, 1946)

My all-time favourite classic. James Stewart plays George Bailey, the best American hero there was (and is). The supporting cast is excellent – Ward Bond, Lionel Barrymore, Donna Reed, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Albertson and H.B. Warner. This is Stewart’s arguably best role.

ROPE (COLOUR, 1948)

James Stewart stars as Rupert Cadell, the best schoolteacher you will ever see in a movie, though his is more of a psych in this movie confronting the two killers played by Farley Granger and John Dall.

HARVEY (BLACK AND WHITE, 1950)

Elwood P. Dowd, the lead character is played by Stewart, like the Mary Chase play. Josephine Hull plays her sister, Peggy Dow as a nurse, Virginia Horne as Stewart’s niece and Charles Drake as a doctor. The invisible rabbit is unbelievable to adults while children think that it’s half-half.

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (COLOUR, 1952)

James Stewart is not the lead, but stars in the movie’s most mellow role as a clown and killer. He was always in clown make-up, other than the photograph a cop gives Charlton Heston, as he asks whether or not he knows that man. Betty Hutton plays Holly the trapeze artist and Gloria Grahame plays ‘Angel’.

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (COLOUR, 1956)
Hitchcock made a similar film of the same name in 1934, but now he decided to direct it again. This time shooting in colour, he used the same old plot. The plot takes place in Morocco, when a doctor, Benjamin (James Stewart), and his wife (Doris Day) meet a man on a bus, they get suspicious. After he is killed and their son kidnapped, the plot begins to unravel.  Doris Day's song Que Sera Sera was made famous through this movie.

REAR WINDOW (COLOUR, 1954)

L.B. Jefferies was the photographer Stewart played in this thriller from the master director Alfred Hitchcock. Look for the director’s cameo appearance – as a clock winder. Also notice the vignettes happening in each room.

VERTIGO (COLOUR, 1958)

John Scottie Ferguson is James Stewart’s character, an acrophobic cop who investigates why Kim Novak has been acting so strangely in front of her husband, Gavin, played by Tom Helmore. A Hitchcock movie.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (BLACK AND WHITE, 1962)

Another of my favourite westerns. Director John Ford paired Stewart with actor John Wayne for the first and second-last time. James Stewart is a lawyer, now senator, who goes to the funeral of Tom Doniphan (Wayne) and he recalls the good old days when Tom and himself were fighting for the same girl (Vera Miles) while trying to stop Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) from terrorising the west.          

The Sound of Music

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (COLOUR, 1965)

Director: 

Robert Wise

Cast: 

Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmain Carr, Heather Menzies-Urich, Nicholas Hammond, Duane Chase, Angela Cartwright, Debbie Turner, Kym Karath, Daniel Truhitte, Gilchrist Stuart, Ben Wright and Norma Varden

Ages: 

4 and up

Plot: 

Maria (Andrews) is a nun in 1930’s Austria, but unfortunately failing. The mother abbess (Wood) soon sends Maria on her way to become the governess to the seven children of widower and naval captain Georg Von Trapp (Plummer). Georg is going to marry a widow Baroness (Parker), to Maria's disappointment as she herself has fallen in love with the captain. At the same time, the oldest daughter (Carr) falls in love with a young postman Rolfe (Truhitte), who visits her secretly whenever he can. Georg is an Austrian and is happy to be one, but Rolfe is a Nazi. When Maria fills the family with singing, laughter and joy, Max Detweiler (Haydn) thinks he has found the perfect troupe for his music festival.

The two-disc special edition of the film  

Why it’s good: 

Because it is tuneful and also because I remembered watching this in class during music lesson.

I later found the DVD among the old racks of videos on the shelves in my house. The DVD was faulty, but it didn’t matter and the film became a staple in our movie diet. We watched this for  many weeks before retiring the film. After we did, we would watch it occasionally when there was nothing else to watch.

The songs are well-known; well-known enough it appeared in piano examinations and a commercial advertising Cold Storage Supermarket. The evergreen songs include ‘Edelweiss’, ‘My Favourite things’, ‘Do-Re-Mi’, ‘I Have Confidence’, ‘Maria’, 'Climb Every Mountain' and the title song, ‘The Sound of Music’.

Other than the songs, watch this movie for the beautiful scenery with hills, mountains and churches.  For older children, use the movie to tell them about World War II. Although there are no war scenes, war is brewing in the background,  and Georg Von Trapp shows his children (and the audience) how patriotic he is and how much he loves his country when he sings 'Edelweiss'.

Parent’s guide: 

It is a G-rated motion picture, though there are several Nazis like Herr Zeller (Ben Wright) and Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte), who, at one point, points his gun at a character. There are some alcoholic beverages in the party scene.

Trivia: 

The film was to be directed by William Wyler, who toyed around the script and scouted locations, but was replaced by Robert Wise.

If you like this…: 

Director Robert Wise also directed "The Curse of the Cat People" (1944) and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951). If you can find any other Rodger and Hammerstein musicals, get them - they're an ace team.  Rodger composed the music while Hammerstein wrote the lyrics. See the Musicals chapter for more musical delights.                       

His Girl Friday

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (BLACK AND WHITE, 1940)

Director: 

Howard Hawks

Cast: 

Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Cliff Edwards, Porter Hall, Helen Mack and John Qualen

Ages: 

10 and up

Plot: 

‘Hildy’ Hildegard Johnson (Russell) was once married to Chicago newspaper editor Walter Burns (Grant), who was her boss. One day, however, she tells Walter she is retiring from the newspaper business to marry a good-hearted insurance man Bruce Baldwin (Bellamy). Burns, however, wants Hildegard to report on murderer Earl Williams (Qualen) first. Hildegard is reluctant, and Burns tries all means to get Bruce into lots of trouble, winning Hildegard’s heart in the process.

Still of (from left): Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant, and Rosalind Russell

Why it’s good: 

It is probably the most speedy screwball comedy of all time. The script was completely made to overlap each other’s rapid-fire dialogue, especially with those cronies in the background set against the dramatic case of John Qualen, the murderer.

John Qualen isn't really important, and solely communicates with Rosalind Russell’s Hildegard and Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell (played by Gene Lockhart from "Miracle on 34th Street"), and the B stands for ‘Brains’ or was it ‘Bull’?            

The answer is both, since the cronies call him the latter and Johnson the former as she says,"Peter B. Hartwell. B for Brains.”

The sheriff also isn't that important, even though the election is. It was based on a play by Ben Hecht, and it was adapted once before, but was a flop. So the light bulbs to make a good picture were a) use a new technique with rapid and overlapping dialogue and b) change the gender of one of the characters (which was Rosalind Russell’s).

So, in short, it is the battle of the sexes.  Watch this movie for its rapid-fire dialogue.  It will blow you away, being twice the speed of our normal speech.

Parent’s guide: 

Cary Grant takes off his shirt in one scene for a medical check-up. Earl Williams’ girlfriend jumps off a building to her near death. Rosalind Russell jumps onto Gene Lockhart’s back and he falls onto the ground. 

Trivia: 

Five actresses, including Ginger Rogers, were asked to play Hildegard Johnson. Ginger Rogers declined, but when Cary Grant was cast as Walter Burns, she came to regret her decision.

If you like this…: 

"The Front Page" (1974) with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau follows the play more closely without changing the gender. Directed by Billy Wilder, who also wrote the screenplay.                            

Dr. Strangelove

DR. STRANGELOVE, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (BLACK AND WHITE, 1964)

Director: 

Stanley Kubrick

Cast: 

Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, Kennan Wynn, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones and Tracy Reed

Ages: 

12 and up

Plot: 

It is the cold war. Insane general Jack D. Ripper (Hayden) has just sent the go code for several planes to go bomb Moscow. His aide, Lionel (Sellers) wants to put a stop to it, and Buck Turgidson (Scott) learns about it in the Pentagon. He tells the President (Sellers again) and an ex-scientist Dr Strangelove (Sellers once more), who both try to find the go code as  Russian Ambassador (Bull) proves that bombing Moscow would mean the end of the world. They do, with Lionel’s help, but the aircraft with Maj. "King" Kong (Pickens) and a lieutenant (Jones) are unable to get the message.

Dr Strangelove, played by Peter Sellers.

Why it’s good: 

Because it is a satire and black comedy about, of all things, nuclear war, cold war and how the communists are trying to "pollute" the Americans (as the insane Jack D. Ripper would say).

And it is also Stanley Kubrick’s least controversial movie. The screenplay was collaboration between him and Terry Southern, which is mighty priceless. The famous line is “Gentlemen, you can’t fight here, this is the war room!” It is just like the “I am your father!” from the movie Star Wars (said by James Earl Jones, who happened to be playing a lieutenant in this film).

Another thing to note is Sellers playing multiple roles. He plays Jack D. Ripper’s aide Lionel Mandrake, the President and Dr Strangelove.

But most of all, the names are all silly, Lionel’s last name is Mandrake, the President’s was Merkin Muffley, George C. Scott’s was Buck Turgidson, Sterling Hayden’s was Jack D. Ripper and Slim Pickens was ‘King’ Kong.

Parent’s guide: 

One of the character’s, assisted by Mandrake, shoots some of his own soldiers who are marching from base to base. There are several scenes where they use nuclear weapons on accident. One character fights with Peter Bull’s insisting he is a Soviet spy.

Trivia: 

Peter Sellers was originally supposed to play the Major, too, but had trouble developing the accent for the character. Thus they had to choose someone else, and they chanced on Slim Pickens, who was never shown the entire script.

If you like this…: 

"Fail-Safe" (1964) is not really a comedy, but a rather dramatic Cold War suspense film with Henry Fonda playing the President. By today’s standards, it is too slow and confusing. I watched only half of it for the reasons above.              

12 Angry Men

12 ANGRY MEN (BLACK AND WHITE, 1957)

Director: 

Sidney Lumet

Cast: 

Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, Lee J. Cobb, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, Robert Webber and George Voskovec

Ages: 

7 and up

Plot:

Twelve jurors, led by juror #1 (Balsam), go into a jury room one hot day to reach a verdict on the case in which a teenage boy, a black, has been charged for stabbing his father. 11 of the jurors rule the son guilty; the one who does not is juror #8 (Fonda) as he thinks there is room for doubt. He then tries to convince the rest of the jurors that the suspect is not guilty.

The 12 Angry Men, stuck in the jury room. They can't leave until they have reached a unanimous decision on this case.

Why it’s good: 

Because it is the best movie in this bunch; it seems real time. There is only one room and then there are 12 men – angry ones. All eager to head home.

Maybe just from the snippet above you would think that kids would get bored with 1 hour and thirty minutes of that as all the action takes place in just one room, the jury room. But it is highly watchable, and you would appreciate the personalities of all the jurors. More importantly, it teaches us to be human and not discriminate others by skin colour. 

Lee J. Cobb has a son in this movie, though never shown, but kept being talked about. Robert Webber keeps jumping around the guilty-not guilty camps. Then there is the lead, Henry Fonda, who acts here wonderfully, and proves that he could play roles other than cowboys.

Not surprisingly, it lost the Best Picture Oscar to 1957’s "The Bridge Over River Kwai". The message, here, though, is very easy to convey and take in. It is not only a good movie, it is also good for you.   

After seeing this movie, I asked some people about the American judicial system, and they told me to go figure. I looked for more courtroom dramas, and I found no other movie like this. Most of the other courtroom drama had the action outside the jury room. So you could say this is more special than the rest.

                   

Parent’s guide: 

In re-enacting how the jury think the murder is committed, they use a knife, and it looks as if they are going to kill each other but the man holding the knife puts it in one of the juror’s ties.

Trivia: 

Henry Fonda was both actor and producer in this film. He was, however, very frustrated being producer and decided never to be one again. Juror #8, as portrayed by Fonda, has been voted one of the American Film Institute's top heroes.

If you like this…: 

The TV movie remake of the same name in 1997 bears much resemblance. It has George C. Scott and Jack Lemmon as two of the many jurors, with the accused being played by Douglas Spain.  "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) is another courtroom drama that explores the theme of racial discrimination in America.   

Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock’s movies are all relatively similar.  There’s not much of a difference between "Strangers on a Train" (1951) and "Rebecca" (1940), is there? So I would write them in a brief overview, an outline, which you can trace further.  Also, try looking for Hitchcock’s random cameos. It is part of the fun of watching his movies.

Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense.

Hitchcock started out in the United Kingdom, a place of mystical air. He used quite a number of locations there for filming, like in "The Pleasure Garden" (1925). He then directed "Blackmail" (1927), with Anny Ondra as Alice White, the girlfriend of a master detective named Frank Webber.

During the 1930s, his films developed a more imagination and make-belief aura. In "The Lady Vanishes" (1939), Margaret Lockwood stars as Iris, a playgirl travelling in continental Europe. Who would have suspected Dame May Whitty’s Miss Froy would disappear and who would have suspected conspiracy? I would have searched the train instead.

Anyways, it is a half-comedy, so you can skip the suspense if you want. The rest of the films he made at this time were "Sabotage" (1936), "The 39 Steps" (1935), "Secret Agent" (1936), "East Of Shanghai" (1931) and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934).

Later, the Americans snatched him for American studios. "Rebecca" (1940) was his first film there. Laurence Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, while Joan Foantine plays the nameless new Mrs de Winter who said, “When I searched the dictionary for Companion, it said ‘Friend of a bosom’.” That quote is excellent one, and you enter a girl’s mystical wonderland.... 

Here are some of Hitchcock’s best films among his long filmography.  They are ranked in  alphabetical order:

DIAL M FOR MURDER (COLOUR, 1952)

From left: John Williams, Grace Kelly & 
Ray Milland in Dial M for Murder 

All it takes is Ray Milland as an ex-tennis pro, Grace Kelly as his wife Margot and Robert Cummings as her lover to whip up a murder attempt story. John Williams’ Inspector Hubbard comes in much later, and Anthony Dawson’s Swann aka Captain Lesgate is dead before the unnecessary interval.

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (COLOUR, 1956)

Dr Benjamin McKenna (Stewart) and his wife
Jo Conway (Day) were worried sick when
they discovered their son had been kidnapped. 

Hitchcock made a similar film of the same name in 1934, but now he decided to direct it again. This time shooting in colour, he used the same old plot. The plot takes place in Morocco, when a doctor, Benjamin (James Stewart), and his wife (Doris Day) meet a man on a bus, they get suspicious. After he is killed and their son kidnapped, the plot begins to unravel.  Doris Day's song Que Sera Sera was made famous through this movie.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (COLOUR, 1959) 

Cary Grant running from 
a crop-duster plane

This should be a child’s introduction to Hitchcock, since it asks viewers a deep question: Does being someone bad make you good? It’s a moral question, and Roger O. Thornhill is played by the aging Cary Grant (running from a crop-dusting plane, driving a car when drunk) and becomes a good guy. Who is the bad guy, then? It is played by James Manson, whose character’s name is Phillip Vandamm. And then there is Eve Kendall, two-timing as Eve Kendall, a femme fatale type character torn over the two male leads and her job (as a White House spy).

NOTORIOUS (BLACK AND WHITE, 1946)

Claude Rains and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious

Set in the Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro, this film is more of a drama than a mystery. It is not even a mystery at all, but the way it thrills the viewer is really unique. Ingrid Bergman is Alicia Huberman, and asked by Devlin (Cary Grant) to spy on a ring of Nazis led by Claude Rains’ Alexander Sebastian. Then there is Louis Calhern as Captain Paul Prescott. But then the title makes not much sense, and, like Dial M for Murder, focuses on a really special key.

PSYCHO (BLACK AND WHITE,1960)    

See the horror section of this blog.

REAR WINDOW (COLOUR, 1954)

James Stewart in the movie

James Stewart stars as the handicapped Jefferies, a photographer, and Grace Kelly as that girl, Lisa Carol Fremont. Plus the mystery – a murder in the window next door. The rest of the windows, amazingly, share different stories within each view. That includes Judith Evelyn as Miss Lonely-hearts “juggling wolves”, Ross Bagdasarian as the songwriter, Georgina Darcy as Miss Torso, Jesslyn Fax as Miss Hearing Aid and Rand Harper and Havis Davenport as two newlyweds. In addition, there is Wendell Corey as a detective on the case and the amazing Thelma Ritter as Stella, Jefferies’ nurse.

REBECCA (BLACK AND WHITE, 1940)

Laurence Olivier and Joan Foantine   

The only Alfred Hitchcock film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It certainly deserves it. Laurence Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, the ex-husband of the title character. Another character appears, Joan Foantine, as, a nameless woman, just like in the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name. She becomes Olivier’s new wife, and then goes to Maxim’s mansion. Judith Anderson plays a female servant and Jack Favell, Rebecca’s cousin, is played wonderfully by on-screen (and off-screen) cynic George Sanders. Then follows a courtroom case – “I don’t want to go to no asylum”, shouted one character – and then the secret is revealed. A terrible one I did not believe. But if you have read the novel, it is no mystery. It might be more of a romance film. 

ROPE (COLOUR, 1948)

Farley Granger, James Stewart and John Dall 

This is a family relationship movie for older kids. Rupert Cadell is played by James Stewart, the main character of this adaptation from the highly-successful play. He was invited to a party hosted by John Dall as Brandon and Farley Granger as Phillip. The casts are: Dick Hogan as the victim of Brandon and Phillip’s murder, Joan Chandler as Janet, his girl, Douglas Dick as his rival, and Cedric Hardwicke and Constance Collier as his parents. If kids notice that this movie is seemingly done in one take, there are bonus points.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (BLACK AND WHITE, 1941)   

Joseph Cotton as Charlie Oakley 

This was Hitchcock’s favourite movie, and there is no doubt why. It is based on a true story, but really, it acts like a play. Joseph Cotton stars as Charlie Oakley, also known as Spencer, and his character hangs there till he drops when one of his nieces (Teresa Wright) finds out his terrible secret. The secret is a crime, and then there are two spies following him, who later go into the house disguised as photographers. Charlie’s charm cannot be duplicated by any other actor besides Joseph Cotton.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (BLACK AND WHITE, 1951)

Farley Granger and Robert Walker 

Farley Granger as a boring, dull and handsome good guy, stuck in a marriage with Miriam Joyce Haines (played by Laura Elliot), but in love with a senator’s daughter. Into his life comes the George Sanders-like cynic/psycho who is a scary, spooky man. He is Robert Walker, some sort guy who is interested in murders and makes a proposal which is pretty smart (or pretty risky), where you will exchange murders and murderers. Pretty amazing, too, and wonderfully suspenseful broken down by even more suspenseful tennis matches.


TO CATCH A THIEF (COLOUR, 1955)

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly 

Shot beautifully on location in the south coast of France, this mystery is probably a little bit too gentle. There isn’t a ruthless psych like Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster in Vertigo or Norman Bates played by Anthony Perkins in Psycho. But then there is aging Cary Grant in the movie as an ex-jewel thief who has struck again – or hasn’t he? It was shot in Cinemascope frames and there is the beautiful Grace Kelly. Jesse Royce Landis plays her mother, who owns a lot of jewellery. There are hints of seduction between the two leads.


VERTIGO (COLOUR, 1958)

James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo 

James Stewart – again – as a detective this time, John Ferguson, known to some as Scottie. There are two of his college friends – Midge Wood (Barbara Del Geddes), of whom he once was engaged to, and Tom Helmore’s Gavin Elster, the "psycho" of the film who asks Ferguson to spy on his wife Madeline. Ferguson finds that Madeline frequently visits a graveyard and stands in front of a tombstone. Then she goes to a museum, and stares at one particular painting. Then she contemplates suicide. But Ferguson saves her, and they fall in love, but she later falls off a clock tower to her death. Was it suicide? Maybe. Murder? Maybe. Or was it an accident? Later, Ferguson meets Judy Barton (Kim Novak) and makes her look like Madeline (he loves her, you see). But then she falls to her death. This is probably the best James Stewart and Hitchcock pairing.

For further study, look out for: "Marnie" (1964, Sean Connery confronting a woman’s mental problems), "The Trouble with Harry" (1955, Harry’s dead, but what to do about his corpse?), "The Wrong Man" (1956, Henry Fonda being the wrong man), "Spellbound" (1945, amnesia-suffering Gregory Peck accused of murder), "The Lady Vanishes" (1939, Dame May Whitty vanishing from Margaret Lockwood) or any Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode you can find. Click here for his full filmography.                                       

Gigi

GIGI (COLOUR, 1958)

Director: 

Vicente Minnelli

Cast: 

Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor, Isabel Jeans and John Abbott

Ages: 

7 and up

Plot: 

Gigi (Caron) is a tomboy in 1900 Paris. Her grandmother (Gingold), though, wants her to be a lady and marry a wealthy man, so she sends Gigi to her sister (Jeans) to learn to be a courtesan. However, Gigi is already in love with playboy Gaston (Jourdan), whose uncle, Honore (Chevalier) had an affair with Gigi’s aunt way back. However, Gaston has a girl named Liane d'Exelmans (Gabor).  Will Gaston fall for Gigi?

Why it’s good: 

Maybe the plot is dated; no one now wants to raise girls just so that they can marry rich men. But the songs are nice, maybe provocative and sometimes even catchy and addictive.

This is considered Maurice Chevalier’s best film in his post-war years, after making Ernst Lubitsch comedy-musicals two decades before for swanky Paramount Pictures. The lyrics for Frederick Loewe’s music are written by Alan Jay Lerner. The Broadway play, originally written by Collette, is also quite good (with Audrey Hepburn as Gigi).

Leslie Caron’s Gigi is a strong personality, especially when she embarrasses Gaston.

Parent’s guide: 

There are scenes of drinking; one song is called "The Night We Invented Champagne".

Trivia: 

This film ended up winning nine Oscars, including one for Best Picture. The day after, MGM telephone operators were given the order to answer all phone calls with "M-Gigi-M".

If you like this…: 
Leslie Caron’s other good MGM musical, "An American in Paris" (1951), set in the same location four or five decades later.