That Lady in Ermine (1948)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1949	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Friedrich Hollaender (music) Leo Robin (lyrics) For the song "This Is the Moment"

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and Otto Preminger
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Silly romantic fantasy with Betty Grable miscast as a countess whose castle is overrun by invading Hungarians on her honeymoon. Her husband disguises himself as a gypsy while she proceeds to fall in love with the Colonel of the invaders. The plot is complicated by a duplicate Betty, who steps out of an old painting to help save the castle. At one point Betty sings a song to herself. The romance is superficial and the acting pedestrian, but it all takes place on lush sets in brilliant Technicolor. Lubitsch is credited as director, but this is mainly Otto Preminger's work, and it shows.

Footnote (2011)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2012	Nominated	Oscar	Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Israel.

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Joseph Cedar
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

A curmudgeonly professor at a Jewish university is mistakenly informed that he has won a prestigious national prize for his life-long efforts in research. The prize was supposed to go to his son, but the names were mixed up. The mistake causes friction among the faculty and at home. The overall tone is on the light side, including some unnecessary comic relief, but given the academic setting and esoteric subject matter it might have easily become boring, which thankfully is not the case. In fact, there are a couple of near-classic scenes: a  meeting in a cramped office where the mistake is revealed to the son, and the frantic search by the father when he suspects a letter has been forged. However, the ending, after a monumental build-up, is instead a let-down.

Avatar (2009)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2010	Won	Oscar	Best Achievement in Art Direction Rick Carter (production designer) Robert Stromberg (production designer) Kim Sinclair (set decorator)
			Best Achievement in Cinematography Mauro Fiore
			Best Achievement in Visual Effects Joe Letteri Stephen Rosenbaum Richard Baneham Andrew R. Jones
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Achievement in Directing James Cameron
			Best Achievement in Film Editing Stephen E. Rivkin John Refoua James Cameron
			Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score James Horner
			Best Achievement in Sound Editing Christopher Boyes Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
			Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Christopher Boyes Gary Summers Andy Nelson Tony Johnson
			Best Motion Picture of the Year James Cameron Jon Landau

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by James Cameron
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray 3D, Fox)

A handicapped Marine volunteers for duty on the planet Pandora. He becomes the "driver" of an alien "avatar" which he controls remotely with his mind. The only drawback is that when he falls asleep as the alien avatar he wakes up in his "real" body. How all this works is not adequately explained, so it's best just to accept it. Pandora has a large supply of a valuable mineral, but the indigenous life is in the way of getting it. Macho military types plan to take it by force by destroying their habitat. The driver/avatar is sent on a mission to become one of the native people. For awhile he happily supplies critical information for the impending attack like a good Marine. However, when he falls in love with one of the natives his allegiance changes. It all leads to a long, drawn out Big Action Finale between the military and the native people. The plot is rather formulaic and the characters, especially the military, are too often stereotypes. Nonetheless, even at 3 hours I was never bored, just try not to think too much.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2012	Won	Oscar	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Woody Allen Woody Allen was not present at the awards ceremony. Presenter Angelina Jolie accepted the award on his behalf.
	Nominated	Oscar	Best Achievement in Directing Woody Allen
			Best Art Direction Anne Seibel (production designer) Hélène Dubreuil (set decorator)
			Best Motion Picture of the Year Letty Aronson Stephen Tenenbaum

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Woody Allen
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

Sentimental fluff about a writer in Paris with his fiance and her parents who gets whisked away to the Paris of the 1920s by taxi each night at midnight. He meets famous literary and art figures such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, etc. He falls in love with a girl from the past, throwing light on his incompatibility with his fiance of the present. The "minor insight" of the lead character, and the film, is that the present is so unfulfilling that we look to the past for escape. The girl from the past looks to her own past for fulfillment, and so on. It's too bad that Woody is now too old to play the parts he writes, because I never quite got past the feeling that I was watching Owen Wilson doing a bad impression of Woody Allen for the entire film. If only it were 1977!

Flower Drum Song (1961)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1962	Nominated	Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color Alexander Golitzen Joseph C. Wright Howard Bristol
			Best Cinematography, Color Russell Metty
			Best Costume Design, Color Irene Sharaff
			Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Alfred Newman Ken Darby
			Best Sound Waldon O. Watson (Revue SSD)

Universal-International Pictures
Directed by Henry Koster
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(HDNet Movies)

A young Chinese woman and her father, stow aways on a cargo ship, arrive in San Francisco to complete an arranged marriage. The groom turns out to be a middle aged nightclub owner who has no intentions of giving up his bachelorhood. He tries to pawn the girl off to a more appropriate man, the son in a respectable family. At first he is more interested in chasing other more desirable girls, such as nightclub dancer Nancy Kwan, but he eventually falls in love with the innocent, childlike Chinese girl. The plot is rather superficial, there are no real relationships here, and more than a few clunkers among the songs, but a couple of elaborate dream pieces towards the end have some interesting ideas. I liked the cowboy and Indian who step out of the television and into the scene, retaining their black-and-white hue in the Technicolor surroundings.

The Counterfeiters (2007)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
2008	Won	Oscar	Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Austria.

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

Nazis force their Jewish prisoners inside a concentration camp to make counterfeit money. Karl Markovics is the de facto leader of the group, who get special privileges inside the camp. After they successfully duplicate the English pound, they set their sights on the dollar. However, one of them is deliberately sabotaging their work. Markovics at first bends to the will of the Nazis, but eventually comes around to the support of the resistor and is able to stall the operation all the way to the end of the war. The impact of the film is severely diminished by the use of a trendy "shaky cam" style, and frequently looks as if shot by amateurs who have never held a camera in their life.

Can-Can (1960)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1961	Nominated	Oscar	Best Costume Design, Color Irene Sharaff
			Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Nelson Riddle

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Walter Lang
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(HDNet Movies)

Paris nightclub owner Shirley MacLaine tries to stay one step ahead of the police in performing the risque "can-can" dance that is sweeping the city. She gets help from her lawyer boyfriend Frank Sinatra when she does eventually get arrested. However, she is romanced by judge Louis Jourdan, setting up the love triangle that makes up most of the plot. Sinatra is a free-wheeling bachelor who wants nothing to do with marriage, Jourdan a romantic Frenchman who proposes to her almost right away. Shirley can't really make up her mind, and frankly I think she made the wrong choice in the end. None of the characters are particularly deep or appealing. Shirley gets some good dance numbers, particularly an artsy piece towards the end based on Adam and Eve.

Paris Blues (1961)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1962	Nominated	Oscar	Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture Duke Ellington

United Artists
Directed by Martin Ritt
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(MGMHD)

Two American girls arrive in Paris for a two week vacation. Paul Newman is there to meet fellow musician Louis Armstrong, and manages to pick up the girls as well. Newman is the main attraction at a small jazz club, along with his friend and fellow musician Sidney Poitier. They romance the girls against a picaresque Paris backdrop. Newman's character is cold and selfish, and his relationship with the girl, his real-life wife Joanne Woodward, is superficial at best. Poitier falls in love with his girl and she manages to convince him to return with her to the States. Newman and Woodward's fate is less certain, but the characters are so unlikeable that I found myself uninterested in their final meeting at the train station. The soundtrack is wall-to-wall jazz, and the black-and-white photography of Paris excellent, but in the end it is nothing more than a rather routine relationship drama.

The President's Lady (1953)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1954	Nominated	Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Lyle R. Wheeler Leland Fuller Paul S. Fox
			Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Charles Le Maire Renié

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Henry Levin
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Turgid romance disguised as a biography of Andrew Jackson. The doomed couple is played by Charlton Heston and Susan Hayward. They have little if any on screen chemistry. Hayward, in particular, overacts as if in a silent melodrama. Heston isn't much better, clearly uncomfortable in his role as a Tennessee lawyer and Indian hunter who somehow becomes president. The film ends with his election, concentrating instead on the events leading up to it, or at least Hollywood's version of them.

The Crowd (1928)

Academy Awards, USA
Year	Result	Award	Category/Recipient(s)
1929	Nominated	Oscar	Best Director, Dramatic Picture King Vidor
			Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production (M-G-M).

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

John meets Mary on a blind date, they fall in love and get married. He works in a huge office, a tiny speck among endless desks. Five years pass, they have a baby named Junior, and John gets one raise. With little prospects of ever improving their situation, he wins $500 in an advertising slogan contest. Instead of transforming their lives, the money leads to tragedy. Their marriage almost ends, but they manage to come through. Landmark silent film is only so-so, getting bogged down in the boring details of a boring marriage. The characters are so broadly written, intended to represent the "average" American, that they lack any kind of personality.

The Questor Tapes (1974)

Universal TV
Directed by Richard A. Colla
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal Vault Collection)

Another post Star Trek TV pilot from Gene Roddenberry. A group of scientists in a secret university lab awaken Questor, the world's first android. Questor immediately escapes to "find his creator", and takes along his new friend Mike Farrell. There are the usual problems explored in seemingly hundreds of movies/TV shows about robots adapting to life with humans. Robert Foxworth as Questor speaks in a robotic voice, has superhuman strength, can read entire books in minutes, etc.; in other words, he is Data from Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Next Generation. Questor's search for his creator leads him to Mt. Ararat of all places, where he discovers an old man dying in a cave. It gets a bit murky, but apparently this old man is actually an android as well and has a god-like role in the lives of us poor humans, which he is passing on to Questor. The ending is abrupt and open-ended, in preparation for the TV series that never materialized.

You Were Meant for Me (1948)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Jeanne Crain takes another step towards maturity in what is almost a sequel to her previous film, Margie. Here she plays a teenager who falls in love with popular band leader Dan Dailey. She flirts with him a little too much at the big concert. She follows him alone to the next town on the tour, and you have to wonder just how far she is willing to go. They end up getting married on a whim. However, life on the road is not all it's cracked up to be, and when the stock market crash cancels the tour they have to live at home with her folks. They almost break up when Dailey refuses to get a real job, even turning down a gig because it doesn't pay what he expects. You can sense that Crain is tired of these juvenile parts: she is too old for the role, bursting with a beauty that belies her character's age.

The Phantom of Crestwood (1932)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by J. Walter Ruben
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Creaky mystery with a couple of good scares involving someone wearing a death mask. However, the mystery is impossible to guess beforehand since critical clues are withheld until the end. The suspect pool is also very large, over ten, further complicating matters. The familiar plot involves a group of people called together to a remote house for a party where murder is then committed. Any number of attendees have a motive to kill their hostess, a no-good blackmailer, played to perfection by a slithery Karen Morley. Based on a popular radio program.

Margie (1946)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Henry King
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Jeanne Crain plays an awkward teenager going through growing pains in high school. She develops a crush on her French teacher, is jealous of her best friend's boyfriend, doesn't really like her own boyfriend, tries to find a date to the prom, etc. Despite the rather shallow plot line, it does provide an immersive experience of small town America circa 1928. Crain, 21 at the time of filming, is too old for the role, but is pleasant enough.

A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)

Shooting Gallery
Directed by Bahman Ghobadi
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Starz)

One of the most depressing films in years. A family of orphaned children scrape by a living in a remote village near the Iraq-Iran border. The oldest brother, himself probably not even a teenager, hustles "loads" in which he carries, on his back and across mountain terrain, smuggled goods. Another family member is a 15-year-old manchild trapped in a crippled, deformed body. A doctor occasionally visits to give him injections and implore the children to get him an operation or else he will die within months. First, hope comes from an arranged marriage for one of the sisters, with the promise that the sick child will get the needed operation. However, the new "mother" rejects the child on sight and leaves him sitting in the snow. Instead, they get a mule. The new plan is to sell the mule, if they can get it across the border. Filled with scenes of animal cruelty, human trafficking, pain and suffering, watch at your own risk.

Some Kind of a Nut (1969)

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

Dick Van Dyke is stung by a bee on his chin. Unable to shave, he grows a beard. He gets fired from his job at a conservative bank for refusing to cut it. He becomes the hero of hippies everywhere, who picket his bank for their right to wear long hair. He starts having problems with his girlfriend who also wants him to shave it. However, his ex-wife is more understanding and it eventually leads to their reconciliation. A somewhat interesting glimpse of the late 60s cultural atmosphere from a purely superficial point of view. However, Van Dyke tries too hard and the comedy is strained: just try to find something funny in Van Dyke hopped up on drugs, with half a beard, wearing blue underwear, swinging a golf club at two policemen in a public fountain.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Universal Pictures
Directed by Mike Hodges
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

The inspiration for the Star Wars original trilogy was the old matinee serials from yesteryear, and Flash Gordon, released the same year as The Empire Strikes Back, explicitly draws from the same source. The production design pays homage to its origins, but also manages to compete with its more famous sci-fi peers. Unfortunately, the lead character is written as basically a dumb jock, and Sam Jones does nothing to overcome the associated stereotypes. Melody Anderson is slightly better as his girlfriend, but some of their dialogue is excruciatingly bad. However, the supporting cast is great all around. Max von Sydow is an appropriately menacing Ming the Merciless. His daughter the princess is a very sexy Ornella Muti. I really liked Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan, the leader of the Hawkmen. The best, though, is that Queen soundtrack, especially when Brian May's guitars let loose during the Hawkmen attack on the spaceship. Great fun.

The Evil Within (1970)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Lamberto V. Avellana
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Two Interpol agents are assigned to infiltrate an opium ring. After some initial false starts, they make their way to a remote castle where a princess runs her "family business". Supposedly  filmed in the Philippines, this looks more Middle Eastern than Far Eastern: a dry desert landscape populated with camels, the local signs in Arabic. Indeed the locations are the best part of the film, in particular the beautiful palace. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down in palace melodrama for long stretches. Leading man Dev Anand, born in India, makes the argument that this might be an Indian production. Here he plays a debonair James Bond-ish spy, completely out of place in his modern suits in the ethnic locations. Perhaps even more out of place is African-American Rod Perry as the other spy, at one point donning an Arabic head wrap. Finally, there is the intriguing Kieu Chinh, a Vietnamese beauty who plays the princess. The plot makes no secret of her lesbianism, though she also ends up sleeping with Dev.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Danny Kaye is a henpecked mama's boy working as an editor at a large NYC comic book publisher. He spends his time having elaborate daydreams to escape his pathetic life. He becomes involved in a real-life adventure involving Virginia Mayo and a spy ring, who are after a little black book full of names. Filmed in eye-popping Technicolor, the daydream segments range from silly to almost surreal, my favorite being the stark western set towards the end. However, it fails as a comedy, having strayed far from the James Thurber source material, who said it should have been titled: "The Public Life of Danny Kaye", which is funnier than anything in the movie.

Fingers at the Window (1942)

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

An axe murder terrorizing Chicago shuts down Lew Ayres' play. He escorts a girl home when he notices she is being followed, and turns amateur detective to find the killer. The trail leads to none other than Basil Rathbone, a demented doctor trying to knock off eyewitnesses. Unfortunately, this is more fluff than mystery or horror, the budding romance between Ayers and Laraine Day as the girl is front and center, laced with tiresome physical comedy.

Cry Danger (1951)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Robert Parrish
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Dick Powell rolls into LA, recently released from prison for a crime he didn't commit. He befriends the soldier who provided him with an alibi, albeit a false one, and who wants a piece of the large pile of cash still hidden somewhere from the crime. Powell looks up William Conrad, the man he believes framed him and still has the money. They have a series of tense confrontations and double crosses. Rhonda Fleming is the wife of his friend still in jail, and they have a slow burning attraction that Powell is having a difficult time resisting. It all takes place in a run down trailer park in old LA. It starts off slowly, but gets better in the second half, including a wallop of a plot twist.

The Breaking Point (1950)

Warner Bros.-First National Pictures
Directed by Michael Curtiz
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Small-time boat captain John Garfield is having a hard time meeting his payments. When a charter to Mexico skips on his payment, he resorts to smuggling Chinese illegals across the border, but ends up killing a man in the botched deal. Back home in California, his wife takes odd jobs to help pay the bills while he looks for whatever work he can find. When his boat is threatened to be taken away again, he makes another shady deal for some fast cash. There is a romantic triangle involving Patricia Neal that sometimes takes over the plot and threatens to send it spiraling into melodrama, but a gritty, violent ending saves it.

Act of Vengeance (1974)

American International Pictures
Directed by Bob Kelljan
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM Limited Edition Collection)

Jo Ann Harris is raped by a man in an orange jumpsuit and hockey mask. She immediately goes to the police, who ask her sensitive questions in plain view, then further humiliated by a doctor. At a police line up, she meets other women raped by the same man. Frustrated by the lack of progress by the police, they form the "rape squad" and take matters into their own hands. They take karate lessons and post flyers asking other women to call. They visit the apartment of one former rapist, destroying his apartment and pouring dye on him, marking him as a rapist. Later they corner a middle aged man who makes obscene phone calls. They eventually catch up with their rapist for a final confrontation in an abandoned zoo. It almost works as a serious drama, but there is one problem: the camera lingers too long on the naked bodies of the women during the rapes, making this an obvious exploitation film, though one with a message.

The Detective (1954)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Robert Hamer
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Disappointing adaptation of the British mystery stories of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton. Alec Guinness plays the priest and amateur sleuth whose priceless cross is stolen by international art burglar Peter Finch. He tracks the thief to Paris where he corners him in the underground catacombs. However, rather than recover the cross he attempts to reform him with religion. Finch naturally finds that easy to resist, but guilt eventually catches up to him. I was not at all impressed with Guinness' characterization of Father Brown, a rather smug fellow with a constant grin on his face. The frequent attempts at comedy failed more often than not, and the film as a whole was poorly paced and mystery uninvolving. A definite step down from Guinness' far more successful Ealing comedies of prior years.

Manpower (1941)

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

Hollywood hokum about a group of middle-aged men who risk their lives to bring us electricity by repairing transmission lines in bad weather. They lead incredibly immature lives chasing women, drinking themselves into oblivion and just being plain dumb. Edward G. Robinson is the pudgy foreman with a limp, who somehow convinces "clip joint" hustler Marlene Dietrich to marry him. He gets wasted on his honeymoon, only to wake up to find Marlene in a dress, apron and high heels cooking him biscuits. She eventually falls in love with his best friend and coworker George Raft, and they duke it out high on a transmission tower during a thunderstorm. It might qualify as "so bad it's good" entertainment.

A Dangerous Profession (1949)

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

An ex-girlfriend of bail bondsman George Raft shows up asking for help to bail her husband out of jail. Short on cash, he ends up using the firm's to make up the difference, which doesn't sit well with his partner. Her husband soon jumps bail but ends up dead in the Hollywood hills. Raft's search for the killer almost ends the same way for himself. Ella Raines is good as the femme fatale. Another solid noir mystery from RKO and Raft.

Nocturne (1946)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Edwin L. Marin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Police detective George Raft has a hunch that the suicide of a music composer might be murder. He follows up leads on his days off, and becomes so absorbed with finding the killer that he loses his job. The suspects are the musician's pretty girlfriend who he recently dumped, her even prettier younger sister and several people who hang out at a nightclub. After another body turns up, Raft is sure he has found the killer, but there are more plot twists ahead. Entertaining if not entirely believable noirish mystery.

Johnny Angel (1945)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Edwin L. Marin
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Solid thriller/mystery/noir with George Raft as a sea captain who finds an abandoned ship on a foggy night. The crew is missing, including his father, who was the captain. He tows it back to port in New Orleans, where he attempts to unravel the mystery. Clues aboard ship leads him to a young French girl, a stowaway on the ship. At first she is reluctant to talk, but when an attempt is made on her life she begins to trust Raft. Hoagy Carmichael is a helpful taxi driver who has a knack for being in the right places. Good New Orleans atmosphere, perfectly cast all around, a neglected gem.

End of the Game (1975)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Maximilian Schell
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Slow moving murder-mystery with Martin Ritt as an aging police detective teamed up with young stud Jon Voight to investigate the murder of a policeman in Switzerland. All clues point to Robert Shaw, a professional killer living in a nearby mansion. Other suspects include Jacqueline Bisset, the policeman's girlfriend who is also sleeping with both Voight and Shaw. There are some murky references to fascist politicians. It all takes place in a cloudy, foggy Bern during a cold November.

The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966)

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

Cowpoke Robert Horton stumbles upon a dying sheriff and his two prisoners. He gets deputized on the spot and reluctantly agrees to help take them cross country to be legally hanged for their crimes. On the trek he must deal with bounty hunters, Indians, the elements, the prisoners, relatives of victims of the prisoners out for revenge, the hangman and let's not forget the lonely pioneer woman. It actually turns out to be fairly entertaining, belying its made-for-TV origins. Sal Mineo shines as one of the prisoners, as does Diane Baker as the stern, practical woman who saves Horton's life more than once.

The Young Don't Cry (1957)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Alfred L. Werker
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Sal Mineo is a teenager in a boy's orphanage trying to figure out what kind of man he wants to be. He fights with an older boy with no character and who will do anything for a buck. A millionaire former resident is presented as a role model, but he's really just a grown bully. Then there is the killer on the chain gang who just wants his freedom. Sal sees a lot of himself in the man, who assumes a kind of fatherly role. When he escapes, he seeks help from Sal and his sailboat. J. Carrol Naish steals every scene he is in as the brutal prison warden Plug.

On the Sunny Side (1942)

Twentieth Century-Fox Films
Directed by Harold D. Schuster
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

English kid Roddy McDowall is sent to America during WWII for safety. He stays with an All-American family with a boy of a similar age. Roddy impresses everyone with his command of the English language, fighting skills, knowledge of chemistry, etc. The American kid begins to feel neglected and runs away, but they get together to fight a couple of bullies and make-up. Simple, predictable juvenile drama, further hampered by feel-good wartime propaganda meant to promote American-English relations.

The Hatchet Man (1932)

First National Pictures
Directed by William A. Wellman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Edward G. Robinson plays a Chinese assassin who uses a hatchet to do his dirty work. He marries Loretta Young, the daughter of his best friend, and one of his victims, although she is much younger. At first they are happy, but she soon strays with a younger Chinese gangster. Robinson lets her go for the sake of her happiness, but she ends up destitute in China. Robinson goes to rescue her, and get some revenge. Watch out for that ending!

The Devil's Mask (1946)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by  Henry Levin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Fun, but unfocused, mystery programmer with shrunken heads, a weird taxidermist, a psychiatrist who uses hypnotism, a pet panther, poisoned blow guns and a missing big game hunter. The ex-wife of the hunter suspects she is being followed and hires a couple of wisecracking detectives. Meanwhile the hunter's daughter is also being followed, and a poisoned blow dart meant for her kills her butler instead. The police, the private dicks and her boyfriend all try to find the killer, whose identity is rather obvious.

The Great Meadow (1931)

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

Virginia pioneers led by Johnny Mack Brown make the long, treacherous journey to "Kentuck". They battle the elements, hunger and each other, but mostly Indians. Once in the promised land, they find more misery. Indians randomly attack, one of them scalping Brown's mother in front of his wife. He vows revenge and sets off to kill the Indian. Gone for years and thought dead, his wife remarries, but he shows up alive and she must decide between the two husbands. The inspiring story and good photography are spoiled by inane, juvenile dialogue.

Kaleidoscope (1966)

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

Warren Beatty goes to extreme lengths to win at casinos: he breaks into a card manufacturer and marks the plates. He then travels around Europe raking in millions reading marked cards. His new girlfriend Susannah York also happens to be the daughter of a Scotland Yard inspector. When his scam is discovered, instead of being arrested the Yard uses him to capture a super-rich narcotics kingpin. The finale features one of the best poker games on film! Sure there are some implausibilities, and Beatty and York lack chemistry, but I found it to be quite an enjoyable romp with fine location photography across Europe.

Alphabet City (1984)

Atlantic Releasing Corporation
Directed by Amos Poe
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Amos Poe gets a chance to make a real movie. It all takes place one night on the streets of New York City. Vincent Spano runs a drug operation for the mafia. In one run down building, junkies gather to purchase and use, complete with candles. Spano escapes a police bust but begins to have thoughts of getting out. He's got problems collecting cash from one of his dealers, leading to a gunfight. The mafia catches on to his plan and sends two assassins to his house. Their gunfight in an elevator is a highlight. Unfortunately, there is also a very dated soundtrack, excessive break dancing, a trendy car and other pop culture references that may have seemed a good idea at the time but take away any edge to what could have been a good movie.

Tales of Manhattan (1942)

Twentieth Century-Fox Films
Directed by Julien Duvivier
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Stories of various Manhattan residents are linked by a coat of tails, each owner putting it to a different use. Actor Charles Boyer saves his best performance for his girlfriend and her jealous husband, who may or may not have shot him. Charles Laughton directs his first symphony orchestra with hilarious results, in perhaps the movie's best scene. Edward G. Robinson fools his classmates at their class reunion, but only for so long. Even W. C. Fields owns it for a little while, but can only get drunk on cocoanut milk. The final owner is Paul Robeson in a black shanty town down South, nowhere close to Manhattan. The stereotyping in the last episode is so offensive it was denounced by Robinson and caused Paul Robeson to quit making pictures in Hollywood forever.

The Dragon Painter (1919)

Superior Pictures
Directed by William Worthington
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Sessue Hayakawa is a painter living in the mountain wilderness of Japan. He paints nothing but dragons, which represent his lost love from many years ago. An aging artist looking for a disciple discovers him and has him brought to his house. Hayakawa falls in love with his daughter and they get married. However, he loses his interest in painting, angering his wife and her father. She decides to fake her death and he picks up painting again. A rather simple story, but beautifully told, with many great scenes in the mountains and in and around the artist's Japanese house. A soundtrack by Mark Izu added in 1995 perfectly complements the film.

The Whistler (1944)

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

The first and probably best of The Whistler series. Richard Dix is despondent after his wife's death and hires an anonymous hit man to kill himself. For awhile, he looks around corners and suspects every person he meets to be the assassin. One day he gets a telegram telling him his wife is alive but a Japanese prisoner of war. However, when he tries to call off the hit, his only connection to the man has been killed. He eventually confronts the man in person hoping to convince him of the truth. It plays like an episode of the Twilight Zone, and Dix is a terrible actor, but the script is just clever enough to overcome those deficiencies. It also helps to have J. Carrol Naish as the killer.

The Life of Oharu (1952)

Shintoho (Japan)
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Kinuyo Tanaka recalls her life of misery from the perspective of an aging prostitute. She falls in love at a young age with a man below her social standing, leading to his death and her, and her family's, banishment. She is then picked to bear the child of a local warlord and promised riches, but is thrown out after giving birth and once again left with nothing. The pattern is repeated throughout her life. It was a bit episodic for my tastes, and tended to wallow in self pity, but with a near-continuous soundtrack of haunting classical Japanese music and Mizoguchi's eye for period detail, one of the more bearable Japanese melodramas.

The Cheat (1915)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

A wealthy socialite steals the Red Cross fund to invest in a shaky stock. When she loses it all, she turns to an Asian ivory dealer to repay the money, but it comes with a price. Sessue Hayakawa tries but fails to seduce her, so settles for branding her with his hot wood poker. She manages to shoot him in the process, but he survives. Her husband discovers the truth and takes the rap for her. In the sensationalist trial that follows he is convicted, but his wife reveals her tattoo in a crowded court room leading to a riot. There is some interesting shadowy cinematography, but the melodrama and Asian stereotyping sink it.

Square Shooter (1935)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by David Selman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore)

Tim McCoy and his ten gallon hat are released from prison after doing time for a murder he did not commit. He starts up a gang to rob from the people who set him up, and help the locals who are being terrorized by the gang. Tim needs to get a will to prove his innocence. He's also got his eye on a local waitress, but she's in love with his friend, and soon jealousy leads to betrayal of a hideout. There is too much plot and not enough action for a B western.

The Foreigner (1978)

Directed by Amos Poe
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

"No Wave" film from New York City attempts to recreate the attitude of the more famous French "New Wave" films of the 1960s by tapping into the early punk scene, but is only partially successful. Writer, producer and director Poe does occasionally luck into some striking imagery of the city, which combined with heavily manipulated sound and music can create a menacing scenario for its cast of characters. However, as soon as dialogue or acting is required, amateurism runs rampant, ruining the mood. The thin plot revolves around "Menace", some kind of European secret agent, and "Harlow", a punk girl hired to follow him by people unknown. Menace is hassled by some punk thugs, played by the band The Cramps, and ultimately chased down and killed in view of the Statue of Liberty. There is lots of running through city streets, some concert footage of The Erasers playing at CBGBs, a cameo by Deborah Harry who's first line is, "Hey Blondie, got a cigarette?", endless shots of people talking on telephones and dirty feet, quotes of Herman Hesse, but little, if any, point to it all.

I Ought to Be in Pictures (1982)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Herbert Ross
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Terrific, underrated film based on a Neil Simon play. Walter Matthau gives an understated performance as a curmudgeony writer in Hollywood who literally wakes up one afternoon to find his teenage daughter, who he hasn't seen since she was a young child, in his living room.  Dinah Manoff is the Brooklynite who hitches cross country to supposedly start a career in pictures, but really just wants to get to know her father. Ann-Margret is perfect as Matthau's girlfriend, saying just the right things at just the right time, with a bit of a dry wit. Father and daughter slowly, cautiously get to know each other, their relationship filled with false starts and pent up emotions, but in the end I think it is Matthau who learns the most. My favorite scene: the phone conversation between Matthau and his ex-wife, just watch the expression on his face. I'm not sure Matthau ever had a better performance in the later stages of his career.

Bachelor Flat (1962)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Frank Tashlin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Terry-Thomas is an archaeology professor at a southern California college. He lives in a beach house and can't keep the women away. A law student who lives in a trailer next door has similar problems. Young Tuesday Weld shows up and moves in under the pretense of recently escaping jail, but she is really the daughter of Thomas' fiance. Weld adopts a "dumb" persona to throw him off track, which really makes her character unbearable. The slapstick comedy never really works, but there might be a chuckle or two from a dachshund who has a fondness for dinosaur bones. 

Two Rode Together (1961)

Columbia Pictures
Directed by John Ford
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Sony Movie Channel)

This dreary John Ford western pairs Jimmy Stewart and Richard Widmark as old friends reunited to barter with the Indians for the return of white captives. The "friends" don't really like each other, Stewart spends too much time drunk on whiskey or running off at the mouth and the "white captives" are grown Comanche children who don't want to be reunited with their former families. However, watching both Stewart and Widmark romance two girls half their age may be the most unbearable part of the movie.

Jack of Diamonds (1967)

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

George Hamilton is a debonair cat burglar, making night calls through windows to steal jewelry from noted personalities such as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Carroll Baker and Lilli Palmer, who appear as themselves. The film gets off to a rocky start thanks to the unnecessary cameo distractions, but gets better when Hamilton teams up with his old teacher Joseph Cotten for a big heist. Pretty Marie Laforet is his partner in crime, and they use their acrobatic skills to gain access to a heavily guarded vault. They almost get away with it, almost, but in a twist they have to return their stash of stolen jewels to escape jail time. Dated, lightweight, but enjoyable little escape with European locations and gentlemen criminals.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

United Artists
Directed by Ken Hughes
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)

Eccentric inventor Dick Van Dyke is a bachelor with two young kids living in an old house in the English countryside. His inventions, while imaginative, are failures, so when the kids beg him to buy a beat-up old car headed for the compactor he can't come up with the money. An impromptu dance performance at the local carnival changes all of that, and after several days in his magical garage chitty chitty bang bang is born. He's also got the attention of local socialite Sally Ann Howes, whose father is a candy magnate. One day while on a picnic at the beach, he spins a wild story that takes up the second half of the film. They end up in a fictional country where kids are outlawed and his own are captured and put away. The "child catcher", played by Robert Helpmann, has given me nightmares for the better part of the last 40 years. Well, the kids are rescued, the child catcher strung up in the castle and the story-within-a-story ends, while the other story has a predictable happy ending, albeit with a twist. Filled with wonderful songs by the Sherman brothers, "Toot Sweets", "Hushabye Mountain", "Truly Scrumptious", just to name a few. One of the best children's-fantasy musicals ever, right up there with The Wizard of Oz, Willie Wonka and the Sherman brothers other movie, Mary Poppins.

The Boys in the Band (1970)

National General Pictures
Directed by William Friedkin
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Paramount)

A circle of gay friends gather at a NYC apartment to celebrate the birthday of one of their members. They tell jokes and dance, until the unexpected arrival of a straight man threatens the fun. The party's host urges them not to let on that they are all gay, but the flaming effeminate friend can't hold back and soon there is a fight. Things calm down after awhile, but after they start drinking and smoking they unwisely decide to play a "party game". They are to call the one person in their life they really love on the phone and tell them so, which leads to much soul searching, hurt feelings and surprise revelations. Sensationally acted by an ensemble cast of virtual unknowns, but somewhat limited by a stage bound feel and some histrionics in the second half.