The Divine Lady (1929)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1930	Won	Oscar	Best Director Frank Lloyd
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Corinne Griffith No official nominees had been announced this year.
			Best Cinematography John F. Seitz No official nominees had been announced this year.

First National Pictures
Directed by Frank Lloyd
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Poor English servant girl gets sent to Italy by her master and becomes a lady. She meets Horatio Nelson and falls in love. They have a doomed affair, both are married, for the next several years. There are some exciting scenes of Horatio in sea battles, complete with cannon balls and sword fights on deck. However, there is also excessive harp playing and a death scene featuring breaking waves on a seashore over flashbacks.

Two Arabian Knights (1927)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1929	Won	Oscar	Best Director, Comedy Picture Lewis Milestone

United Artists
Directed by Lewis Milestone
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Silent-era "buddy comedy" about a couple of Army soldiers who escape from a POW camp only to end up on an old set from a silent epic wooing Mary Astor. It's episodic and not very funny. Astor is pretty but doesn't have much to do other than smile through her Arab veil in an unconvincing performance. The newly recorded soundtrack by Bob Israel is relentlessly upbeat and ultimately annoying.

Street Angel (1928)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1930	Nominated	Oscar	Best Art Direction Harry Oliver No official nominees had been announced this year.
			Best Cinematography Ernest Palmer No official nominees had been announced this year.

Fox Film Corporation
Directed by Frank Borzage
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Janet Gaynor lives with her mother in a poor part of Naples. When her mother falls sick and needs medicine they can't afford, Janet considers becoming a prostitute and impulsively grabs a stack of money from someone eating spaghetti. The police are there immediately to arrest her and send her to prison, but she escapes and goes on the run. She falls in love with an equally poor painter, but before they can get married a policeman recognizes her and drags her off to prison. Years later, she is released and is soon back on the streets. She meets her old lover who has become bitter and almost homicidal. A good beginning and ending, but drags in the middle with some long, boring love scenes.

Lady for a Day (1933)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1934	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role May Robson
			Best Director Frank Capra
			Best Picture (Columbia).
			Best Writing, Adaptation Robert Riskin

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Frank Capra
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Capra and Riskin team up to adapt a Damon Runyan story about "Apple Annie", an elderly alcoholic living on the streets of New York by selling apples. One of her best customers is a wealthy mobster named "Dave the Dude", who won't finish a new deal to buy some horses without one of her lucky apples. Well, ole Annie has been fooling her daughter about her real identity, and when she shows up with her new fiance and his wealthy father Annie appeals to Dave for help. This all leads to scenes of mobsters and showgirls attempting to act "high society" to save Apple Annie and her daughter from embarrassment. It seemed to me a rather flimsy excuse for so much effort. In fact, the truth about her mother is never revealed to the daughter, who in the closing scene is departing for Europe by ship blissfully unaware of her mother's plight.

Two Women (1960)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1962	Won	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Sophia Loren

Directed by Vittorio De Sica
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Sophia Loren and her young daughter leave Rome when it is bombed towards the end of WWII. They end up at a remote country village where they eat and drink wine. Jean-Paul Belmondo is a young intellectual who rants against war and falls in love with Sophia, who is mostly uninterested. It looks like the war is over so Sophia and daughter head back to Rome by foot. They are attacked and raped by a roving band of Allied soldiers, Arabs, in a bombed out church. The brutality of war is symbolized by the lost innocence of the girl. Shock value has worn off with time, leaving a rather obvious allegory and not enough character development.

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1984	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Jack Nicholson
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Shirley MacLaine
			Best Director James L. Brooks
			Best Picture James L. Brooks
			Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium James L. Brooks
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role John Lithgow
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Debra Winger
			Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Polly Platt Harold Michelson Tom Pedigo Anthony Mondell
			Best Film Editing Richard Marks
			Best Music, Original Score Michael Gore
			Best Sound Donald O. Mitchell Rick Kline Kevin O'Connell James R. Alexander (as Jim Alexander)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by James Brooks
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Paramount)

James Brooks takes his formula for success on TV, the "dramedy", to the big screen with some deeply drawn characters and superb acting from a trio of superstars. Debra Winger is the main focus, a naive teenager who gets married to an irresponsible English professor against the wishes of her overbearing mother. We watch as all of the characters grow, and grow up, over time. Winger is devoted to her husband and children, despite his affairs, and stays close to mother Shirley MacLaine on the phone when they move to another state. Dissatisfied at home, she starts her own affair with John Lithgow. Meanwhile, mom is sleeping with next door astronaut played to the hilt by Jack Nicholson. The characters and plot are obsessed with sex and that does get a bit tiresome after awhile. For some reason the film decides to torture the viewer with 30 minutes of a depressing battle with cancer for the finale.

Mother Wore Tights (1947)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1948	Won	Oscar	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Alfred Newman
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Cinematography, Color Harry Jackson
			Best Music, Original Song Josef Myrow (music) Mack Gordon (lyrics) For the song "You Do".

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Walter Lang
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Betty Grable sings and dances her way from a small high school in Oakland to the vaudeville halls of San Francisco and New York in this colorful slice of Americana. Betty marries her on-stage partner Dan Dailey, then abruptly quits to raise their children. It becomes a little too plot-heavy at this point, as the story turns to her daughter's teenage romance and clashes with wealthy socialites who don't approve of their lifestyle. It all gets worked out, with songs and dancing, of course.

Coney Island (1943)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1944	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Alfred Newman

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Walter Lang
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Betty Grable vehicle set in the venerable New York amusement park at the turn of the century. Betty is a showgirl with aspirations for Broadway. She's the main attraction at a Coney Island saloon with an elaborate stage show and gets numerous opportunities to sing and dance. Cesar Romero and George Montgomery are old pals who like to double cross each other whenever given the chance. They compete for business and for Betty.

Love Affair (1939)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1940	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Irene Dunne
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Maria Ouspenskaya
			Best Art Direction Van Nest Polglase Alfred Herman
			Best Music, Original Song Buddy G. DeSylva For the song "Wishing"
			Best Picture (RKO Radio).
			Best Writing, Original Story Mildred Cram Leo McCarey

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Leo McCarey
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer fall in love on a cruise ship. After docking in New York, they agree to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building. Boyer makes it but Dunne is run over in the street on the way and is no longer able to walk. During her long recovery she takes up teaching music at an orphanage and he becomes a successful painter. Their reunion is bittersweet. Admittedly Boyer and Dunne have great chemistry, but simply too cloying and melodramatic, especially those singing orphans.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1932	Won	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Helen Hayes

MGM
Directed by Edgar Selwyn
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Single mom Helen Hayes is abandoned by her boyfriend, marries a rich man who turns out to be a thief, goes to prison for something she did not do, becomes a streetwalker and eventually ends up old and destitute. Robert Young is her grown son in an early role. Melodramatic soaper's lone asset is watching Hayes adapt to her various roles and grow old (with the help of some expert makeup).

The Hanging Tree (1959)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1960	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Jerry Livingston (music) Mack David (lyrics) For the song "The Hanging Tree"

Warner Bros.
Directed by Delmer Daves
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Atypical western has Gary Cooper playing a caring but flawed doctor of a wild mining town experiencing gold rush fever. Maria Schell is a patient, the victim of a stagecoach robbery and subsequent exposure in the burning sun. Temporarily blinded by the incident, the relationship between Cooper and Schell gradually undergoes a transformation from professional to personal. The townsfolk do not trust Cooper, mainly due to a shady incident in his past, and are quick to judge his relationship with Schell. Things come to a head when a gold strike is found and the town erupts into violence. The supporting cast is excellent, including George C. Scott as a religious fanatic inciting a riot and Karl Malden as a lecherous miner.

Mrs. Parkington (1944)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1945	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Greer Garson
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Agnes Moorehead

MGM
Directed by Tay Garnett
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Greer Garson is the matriarch of a wealthy New York City family. In her old age, her children and grandchildren bicker over money and other affairs. Through flashbacks, she tells the story of her marriage to Walter Pidgeon. She meets him in her western home town when he is running a silver mine. He sweeps her off her feet and introduces her to New York society. More flashbacks reveal that they have marital problems, mostly due to Pidgeon being a hot-tempered, womanizing scoundrel. More flashbacks show glimpses of their children and chronicle her relationship with friend Agnes Moorehead. In the end, it's an overlong, episodic soap opera with poorly developed characters, particularly those in the "present time".

The House of Rothschild (1934)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1935	Nominated	Oscar	Best Picture (20th Century Pictures).

20th Century Pictures
Directed by Alfred L. Werker
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

A historical financial drama starring George Arliss as a money lender in Europe dealing with antisemitism and Napoleon. Sounds dull, but actually a quite involving story with a good period feel. Arliss is superb as the head of the banking Rothschild family, relentless in his pursuit of profit but generous when his country is threatened. Boris Karloff has a good supporting role as a racist banker. Loretta Young is the love interest.

A Damsel in Distress (1937)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1938	Won	Oscar	Best Dance Direction Hermes Pan For "Fun House"
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Art Direction Carroll Clark

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by George Stevens
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Breezy Fred Astaire vehicle where he basically plays himself in England and falls in love with the lovely Joan Fontaine. Mostly it's an excuse for songs and dancing, and both are very good. The George and Ira Gershwin soundtrack includes the classic "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and others. Some clever dance sequences including a fun house with mirrors and moving sidewalks, and my favorite: Astaire tap dancing with a drum kit at the end.

Edward, My Son (1949)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1950	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Deborah Kerr

MGM
Directed by George Cukor
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Dreary account of morally bankrupt man who amasses wealth by crushing everyone around him. Spencer Tracy plays against type as Sir Arnold Boult, whose first act on his way to becoming a gentleman is to burn his furniture store for the insurance. His business partner is sent to prison, but he could care less. When his bratty son is threatened with expulsion, he buys the school's mortgage and threatens to shut them down. Later, he has an affair with his secretary, sending his wife spiraling into alcoholism. It never lets up, and there is no happy ending.

The Guardsman (1931)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1932	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Alfred Lunt
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Lynn Fontanne

MGM
Directed by Sidney Franklin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Entertaining fluff with Alfred Lunt a jealous thespian who dons the disguise of a Russian soldier to test his wife's faithfulness. Lynn Fontanne stutters her way through a lackluster performance as the wife, but Lunt's over-the-top Russian is often hilarious. Based on a Ferenc Molnar play, the film retains a stage bound feel.

West Side Story (1961)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1962	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role George Chakiris
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Rita Moreno
			Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Boris Leven Victor A. Gangelin
			Best Cinematography, Color Daniel L. Fapp
			Best Costume Design, Color Irene Sharaff
			Best Director Robert Wise Jerome Robbins
			Best Film Editing Thomas Stanford
			Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Saul Chaplin Johnny Green Sid Ramin Irwin Kostal
			Best Picture Robert Wise
			Best Sound Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Ernest Lehman

United Artists
Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

The Romeo and Juliet story is given a New York City gang setting, Broadway-style music and intense choreography with ballet influences. Richard Beymer is Tony, retired leader of the Jets, who falls in love at first sight with Maria, played by Natalie Wood, the sister of the leader of the rival Sharks gang. Beymer and Wood lack charisma, a nearly fatal flaw given the pivotal nature of their relationship to the plot, though it must be admitted the plot is secondary to just about everything else. The songs are timeless, "Maria" and "America" in particular are Sondheim and Bernstein gems. The stylized choreography influenced countless films. However, the dialogue is frequently punctuated with popular slang and feels dated. Characters are poorly developed stereotypes more than anything else and the ending melodramatic. As a Broadway play, this is nearly perfect, however, as is so often the case, suffers in the translation to the big screen.

The Moon Is Blue (1953)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1954	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Maggie McNamara
			Best Film Editing Otto Ludwig
			Best Music, Original Song Herschel Burke Gilbert (music) Sylvia Fine (lyrics) For the song "The Moon Is Blue".

United Artists
Directed by Otto Preminger
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Dated sex comedy has William Holden picking up "professional virgin" Maggie McNamara at the Empire State Building. They end up back at his bachelor pad where she spars with both Holden and upstairs neighbor David Niven. The dialogue is snappy, but instead of shocking is unintentionally hilarious. McNamara is a precocious prude who never stops talking. Holden and Niven are lecherous old men flirting with a girl half their age, drinking cocktails nonstop in the process. The soundtrack is annoying, more suited to a Looney Toon than a romantic comedy.

Marty (1955)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1956	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Ernest Borgnine
			Best Director Delbert Mann
			Best Picture Harold Hecht
			Best Writing, Screenplay Paddy Chayefsky
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Joe Mantell
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Betsy Blair
			Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Ted Haworth Walter M. Simonds Robert Priestley
			Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Joseph LaShelle

MGM
Directed by Delbert Mann
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Ernest Borgnine is a butcher in New York City. At 34, he lives with his mother, hangs out with losers at bars and wonders why he can't find a wife. One night he meets his soul mate at the Stardust Ballroom, a homely schoolteacher played by Betsy Blair. After some awkward moments between the socially-impaired couple, they spend most of the night walking the streets and talking. Amazed that they have found each other, they desperately make another date for the next night. Feeling threatened, Borgnine's mother and "friends" ridicule the girl the next day. They almost convince him not to call her again, but he soon realizes his mistake, saving the girl from a night in front of the TV crying. Sentimental to a fault, and dated, but hard to dislike characters that are this real if a bit naive.

The Great Waltz (1938)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1939	Won	Oscar	Best Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Miliza Korjus
			Best Film Editing Tom Held

MGM
Directed by Julien Duvivier
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

The life of Johann Strauss is presented not based on facts, but rather in the "spirit of his music", so it reads in the opening credits. Too much of the film is riddled with German/Austrian stereotypes. However, somewhere in the last half of the story, the plot takes a dark turn. Strauss falls in love with his leading lady, and when his wife discovers the affair she stuffs a gun in her purse and heads for the opera house. We never see the gun again, but it does provide some tense scenes in the dressing room confrontation. Mostly though, it's those stereotypes and the music that leave a lasting impression.

On the Waterfront (1954)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1955	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Marlon Brando
			Best Actress in a Supporting Role Eva Marie Saint
			Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Richard Day
			Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Boris Kaufman
			Best Director Elia Kazan
			Best Film Editing Gene Milford
			Best Picture Sam Spiegel
			Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Budd Schulberg
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Lee J. Cobb
			Best Actor in a Supporting Role Karl Malden
			Best Actor in a Supporting Role Rod Steiger
			Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Leonard Bernstein

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Elia Kazan
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Columbia Tri Star)

Marlon Brando, in perhaps his best performance, is a former boxer who reluctantly becomes an informer on the mob. Lee J. Cobb is the brutal boss, controlling every aspect of the New York City docks through a corrupt union. Brando's brother is his right-hand man, and through that relationship involves Brando in murder. Struggling with guilt, Brando reaches out to the sister of the man who was killed and an idealistic priest played by Karl Malden. They must convince him to turn informer on not only the mob, but his brother. Strong characters, brilliant performances, moody black-and-white photography by Boris Kaufman and a memorable Leonard Bernstein soundtrack make this one of the most powerful films of the 1950s.

Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1935	Won	Oscar	Best Writing, Original Story Arthur Caesar

MGM
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Mickey Rooney grows up to be gangster Clark Gable. His best friend William Powell grows up to be the governor. They remain best friends despite being on opposite sides of the law, even sharing girlfriend Myrna Loy. Gable commits murder to help Powell get elected. He is arrested and put on trial, with Powell giving the concluding arguments for the state against him. Sentenced to death, Powell must decide between his friend and his duty to the people on whether to save him. Predictable and preachy, mostly due to strict adherence to the newly enacted Production Code.

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1946	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Ray Milland
			Best Director Billy Wilder
			Best Picture (Paramount).
			Best Writing, Screenplay Charles Brackett Billy Wilder
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White John F. Seitz
			Best Film Editing Doane Harrison
			Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Miklós Rózsa

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Billy Wilder
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

A weekend getaway to the country, and away from the bottle, unexpectedly turns into Milland's last stand against a long battle with alcoholism. We learn of his past through a couple of long flashbacks, including meeting sympathetic girlfriend Jane Wyman at the opera. Out of money and out of drinks, Milland wanders around New York City in search of an open pawn shop, goes to a nightclub where he gets thrown out for purse snatching and ends up in the alcoholic ward after falling down a flight of stairs. He escapes but faces suicide straight in the face. The theremin-driven soundtrack is occasionally inappropriate, and the encounter between a bat-on-a-string and mouse-in-the-wall a bit silly, but otherwise a classic and by far Ray Milland's best role.

Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1948	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Michael Redgrave
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Rosalind Russell

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Dudley Nichols
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

American playwright Eugene O'Neill's play based on a Greek tragedy is set in New England at the end of the Civil War, with mostly British actors. It's basically a soap opera disguised as a tragedy. The triumphant General returns home only to find out his wife may have had an affair with the Captain of a local sailing boat. His daughter, with whom he has an unhealthy affectionate relationship, is more hurt than he his about the revelation. Mom, who also dotes on her son, wants out of the marriage, so poisons the General. Daughter is devastated and cooks up a plan for revenge. Mom kills herself before she can take action. Son is heartbroken, goes insane, and eventually kills himself. Daughter is left alone to drown in her guilt. Overwrought, overlong and overacted.

Here Comes the Navy (1934)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1935	Nominated	Oscar	Best Picture (Warner Bros.).

Warner Bros.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

James Cagney and Pat O'Brien are grown men who hold a long-standing grudge against one another for petty reasons. Cagney joins the Navy just to get back at O'Brien, a Navy officer. They constantly harass each other even on duty. When Cagney falls for O'Brien's sister, the lovely Gloria Stuart, the rivalry escalates. It's only when Cagney saves O'Brien in a military exercise that they can put aside their differences and act their age. Other than some documentary-like footage of the doomed USS Arizona and a Navy zeppelin, a complete waste of time.

It Happened One Night (1934)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1935	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Clark Gable
			Best Actress in a Leading Role Claudette Colbert
			Best Director Frank Capra
			Best Picture (Columbia).
			Best Writing, Adaptation Robert Riskin

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Frank Capra
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony)

Classic comedy starring Clark Gable (and his ears) as a newspaper reporter who stumbles on the story of his life, missing heiress Claudette Colbert (and her eyebrows) on an overnight bus trip. She's a spoiled brat and he's a gruff reporter, but with time his romantic side is revealed and the Walls of Jericho come down. The dialogue is snappy, the chemistry between the leads sizzling, but it tends to drag a bit in the middle and the Wall of Jericho gag is overplayed.

Lonelyhearts (1958)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1959	Nominated	Oscar	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Maureen Stapleton

United Artists
Directed by Vincent J. Donehue
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Montgomery Clift gets his first newspaper job as the lonely hearts editor at a small town newspaper. Robert Ryan, his editor, criticizes him at every opportunity, apparently jealous over his wife's affections towards the young writer. Clift has problems of his own, including a father in jail for murdering his mother and her lover. Well, ole Monty, being a sensitive soul, gets a little too involved in the letters from his readers. He agrees to meet one of them and is seduced by her. Guilt gets the best of him and he quits his job and leaves his lovely girlfriend. It's all depressing, very, very depressing. Most of the characters speak in a poetic prose, especially Ryan, who sounds more like a jilted Shakespeare than a newspaper editor in the 1950s. It's impossible to take what he says seriously, and the film simply falls apart under it's own weight.

Disraeli (1929)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1930	Won	Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role George Arliss
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Picture (Warner Bros.).
			Best Writing, Achievement Julien Josephson

Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfred E. Green
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

George Arliss is English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in this creaky early talkie. It's virtually a one-man show, with Arliss in front of a nearly static camera for long stretches of time. The delivery is in an overly dramatic manner more suitable to silent films and stage plays. The best part is laughing at Arliss' crazy hair-do.

Hide-Out (1934)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1935	Nominated	Oscar	Best Writing, Original Story Mauri Grashin

MGM
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Robert Montgomery is a despicable New York gangster. When he's not putting the squeeze on businesses in a protection racket, he's chasing every nightclub singer and actress in town. One night he is wounded in a shoot-out with the police and forced to hide-out in the country. He ends up crashing his car but is saved by a local farming family. They take him in and nurse him back to health, unaware of his past. He falls in love with their pretty daughter Maureen O'Sullivan and she with him. Over time, the love of the girl and innocent trust given to him by the family turn the hardened gangster's life around. It may sound all sentimental and mushy, but Montgomery and O'Sullivan have the chops and chemistry to make it work, with excellent supporting work including a not-too-irritating young Mickey Rooney.