Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Academy Awards, USA 1969

Winner Oscar	Best Cinematography Pasqualino De Santis
	Best Costume Design Danilo Donati
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Anthony Havelock-Allan John Brabourne
	Best Director Franco Zeffirelli

Paramount
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Paramount)

Two teenagers fall in love in medieval Italy, but happen to be from families whose longstanding feud leads to frequent street brawls. Her flirtations cause her cousin to challenge Romeo to a duel. He resists, but his friend fights instead, leading to his death, and later the death of her cousin in another duel. Romeo is banished from the town, causing Juliet much grief. Her parents, unaware they have been secretly married, try to arrange a marriage for her with a wealthy aristocrat. Unable to dissuade them, she concocts a plan with a friend of Romeo to fake her own death. More tragedy ensues. While it may be faithful to Shakespeare, the dialogue is often too confusing, if not outright unintelligible, and often yelled by its enthusiastic and youthful players. Disappointing.

The Hours (2002)

Academy Awards, USA 2003

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Nicole Kidman
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Scott Rudin Robert Fox
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role Ed Harris
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Julianne Moore
	Best Director Stephen Daldry
	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay David Hare
	Best Costume Design Ann Roth
	Best Film Editing Peter Boyle
	Best Music, Original Score Philip Glass

Paramount
Directed by Stephen Daldry
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Paramount)

Virginia Woolf is having a nervous breakdown while writing her latest book in 1920s England. Decades later, dissatisfied California housewife Julianne Moore reads the finished novel while trying to hold her own life together. In modern day New York City, a character strongly resembling the one in the novel prepares a party for a friend dying of AIDS. The stories interweave and have striking similarities, not the least of which is suicide. The second and third merge as Moore's character turns out to be the elderly mother of the dying man, revealing what happened in the long intervening gap. Occasionally moving but mostly confusing, the non-linear storytelling apparently meant to mimic the style of Woolf's writing. Mostly, though, I could not stop looking at Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose, an entirely unnecessary distraction. Soundtrack by Philip Glass is good, but also calls to much attention to itself.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Academy Awards, USA 2009

Nominee Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year John Stevenson Mark Osborne

Paramount
Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, DreamWorks)

An overweight panda and fervent kung fu fan unwittingly becomes the "Dragon Warrior" after being accidentally chosen to save a small valley in China from the revenge of a spurned student. Tasked with training the panda is a teacher and his five master students, who put him in intentionally humiliating situations in an attempt to dissuade him. He not only persists, but ultimately excels, when his teacher discovers that food can motivate him to do almost anything. His unorthodox style, and layers of fat, make him a formidable opponent when his enemy shows up, a ferocious and angry snow leopard. The animation is smooth and vibrant, the plot intelligent and humorous, making this a better-than-average animated adventure meant to appeal to a wide audience.

America America (1963)

Academy Awards, USA 1964

Winner Oscar	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Gene Callahan
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Elia Kazan
	Best Director Elia Kazan
	Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen Elia Kazan

Warner Bros.
Directed by Elia Kazan
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A Greek family living in Turkey sends their oldest son to Istanbul to make money in the family carpet business. Along the perilous journey he manages to lose all of his possessions, even his shoes, to a fast talking fellow traveler. His relative in Istanbul tries to convince him to marry the daughter of a wealthy customer, but he dreams of starting a new life in America so refuses. He ends up homeless on the streets and is almost killed when he is mistaken as a rebel by Turkish soldiers. After recovering from his wounds, he once again ends up with his relative and engaged to the same wealthy daughter. He can't go through with it and instead concocts a plan to get to America by starting an affair with an older wealthy American woman. He manages to reach New York City and fulfills his dreams. Gritty account of director Elia Kazan's family history, he provides narration at the beginning and end of the film. Young unknown actor Stathis Giallelis, with a permanent smirk on his face, makes it more difficult than it should be to sympathize with in the leading role.

The Nun's Story (1959)

Academy Awards, USA 1960

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Henry Blanke
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Audrey Hepburn
	Best Director Fred Zinnemann
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Robert Anderson
	Best Cinematography, Color Franz Planer
	Best Sound George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD)
	Best Film Editing Walter Thompson
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture Franz Waxman

Warner Bros.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Audrey Hepburn, the daughter of a prominent surgeon in Belgium, enters a convent. She undergoes years of rigorous training which teaches her to give up worldly desires. She also is trained to be a nurse in tropical medicine, for which she has a natural aptitude. Her rebellious nature often gets her in trouble with the nuns, who send her to work in a mental hospital instead of her preferred location in the Belgian Congo. She attacked by a patient and after recovering she is eventually sent to Africa. There she excels as the assistant to surgeon Peter Finch. He senses her doubts about being a nun, thought there is never a relationship. She contracts tuberculosis and has a long convalescence, after which she returns to the convent in Belgium. Dissatisfied, and feeling her medical talents are being wasted, she asks to be released from her vows. Hepburn is perfectly cast as the strong, silent nun struggling to reconcile her beliefs with her vocation. Finch is just as good as her counterpart in Africa. A tad overlong, but it is divided equally between her time in the convent and in Africa, both of which are filled with intricate details of day to day living, almost making it two films.

A Troll in Central Park (1994)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

A troll with a green thumb is banished from his gloomy troll kingdom to New York City. However, he lands in Central Park and proceeds to fill it with flowers while living under a bridge. Two neglected kids find him and get caught up in his battle with the wicked troll witch. Another colorful entry from Don Bluth and friends, with an amazing voice cast consisting of Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman and Charles Nelson Reilly, and they sing, too.

Animalympics (1980)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Steven Lisberger
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Hen's Tooth Video)

Satire of a television network broadcast of the Olympics featuring an all-animal cast. A product of its time, the 1970s, so unless you were there many of the references will be missed. Gilda Radner is great as usual, particularly her "Barbra Warblers" character (Barbra Walters), as is Harry Shearer as "Keen Hacksaw" (Keith Jackson). It's all in good fun, quite colorful and very entertaining. 

The Prince of Tides (1991)

Academy Awards, USA 1992

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Barbra Streisand Andrew S. Karsch
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Nick Nolte
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Kate Nelligan
	Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Pat Conroy Becky Johnston
	Best Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Paul Sylbert Caryl Heller
	Best Music, Original Score James Newton Howard

Columbia Pictures
Directed by Barbra Streisand
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Columbia TriStar)

Southern football coach Nick Nolte reluctantly agrees to travel to New York City to help his sister's psychiatrist, Barbra Streisand, figure out what is behind her latest suicide attempt. He ends up being the one psychoanalyzed instead, eventually revealing the horrible family truth hidden away for so many years. Along the way he falls in love with her. The scene where he finally uncovers the truth is truly moving, the rest is just your typical romantic comedy fluff. Barbra directed herself in some truly embarrassing moments towards the end. George Carlin is terrible as Nolte's gay neighbor.

Alice Adams (1935)

Academy Awards, USA 1936

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Katharine Hepburn

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by George Stevens
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Katherine Hepburn lives in a decaying house on the poorer side of town. Her father is in ill health but continues to get paid by his long time employer while her mother constantly complains about the lack of money. Hepburn attends a party given by her socialite friend and tries too hard to impress everyone. However, she manages to charm wealthy Fred MacMurray, whom she invites home for a meal. Hilarity ensues as the family dresses up on the hottest night of the year and hires comically inept housekeeper Hattie McDaniel to cook and serve the meal. Hepburn is embarrassed by the whole ordeal and thinks she has blown her chances with MacMurray. However, there is the mandatory happy ending. Hepburn is at her most irritating: coy, precocious; while MacMurray just smiles and plays along most of the time. McDaniel as the housekeeper and Fred Stone as her father steal the show during the pivotal dinner scene. 

Loves of a Blonde (1965)

Academy Awards, USA 1967

Nominee Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film Czechoslovakia.

Filmexport (Czechoslovakia)
Directed by Milos Forman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Criterion Collection)

A teenage shoe factory worker in a bleak Czechoslovakian town attends a dance organized by her company with the members of a re-located military outfit. Unfortunately for the girls, the outfit consists mainly of middle-aged, married men. So instead she hooks up with the piano player in the band and the spend an awkward night together. He leaves the next day, but after a morality speech at the factory she heads to Prague to see him again. Instead she finds his bewildered parents at home in the middle of the night. They reluctantly let her sleep on the couch and force their son to sleep in bed with them. More hilarity follows, but the girl eventually realizes she is not wanted by any of them and goes back to work in the factory. Influential Czech New Wave film has lost a lot of punch today. There are some jabs at the mundane, lonely life under repressive Communist rule, but most of the film is just a run-of-the-mill sex comedy.

Smilin' Through (1932)

Academy Awards, USA 1934

Nominee Oscar

Best Picture

MGM
Directed by Sidney Franklin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

It's double roles for both Norma Shearer and Fredric March. In a flashback, we learn the fate of two young lovers on their wedding day. Back in the present, March is his older, single self who reluctantly agrees to adopt a young orphan girl. Norma also plays the girl, who grows up to have an uncanny resemblance to his long lost wife. But there are more coincidences. She falls in love with none other than the son of the man who killed March's wife! As a result, March refuses to bless their marriage. He goes off to war and returns severely disabled, convincing March that he might not be such a bad guy after all. If you can suspend belief long enough to buy into all of that, it is not bad entertainment. The scene between March and Shearer when he tries to hide his injury is a real stunner.

Test Pilot (1938)

Academy Awards, USA 1939

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Writing, Original Story Frank Wead
	Best Film Editing Tom Held

MGM
Directed by Victor Fleming
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Test pilot Clark Gable crash lands on a Kansas farm. He is found by farm girl Myrna Loy and the two decide to paint the town in nearby Wichita. His best friend and mechanic Spencer Tracy soon arrives and breaks up the happy romance.  Myrna decides to get married to her long time sweetheart to get back at Clark. Her ploy works and he soon returns to whisk her away. They show up in California as husband, where he resumes his job as a test pilot, much to the dissatisfaction and worry of Myrna. After a flight results in a crash and unexpected death, he quits and begins teaching other pilots. Standard melodramatic plot spiced up a bit by the aerial angle, but the frequent use of models and back projection spoils much of it. 

The Country Girl (1954)

Academy Awards, USA 1955

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Grace Kelly
	Best Writing, Screenplay George Seaton
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture William Perlberg
	Best Actor in a Leading Role Bing Crosby
	Best Director George Seaton
	Best Cinematography, Black-and-White John F. Warren
	Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White Hal Pereira Roland Anderson Sam Comer Grace Gregory

Paramount
Directed by George Seaton
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Paramount)

Bing plays a middle-aged actor on the down and outs who gets an audition that could revive his career thanks to admiring director William Holden. The audition in front of a skeptical producer goes well for Bing, but he walks to the nearest bar before finding out he got the part. Holden later confronts him at home in front of his wife, Grace Kelly, whom he believes is responsible for Bing's behavior. However, the alcoholic turns out not not to be Grace but Bing, whom she is protecting. After a tense opening night, the play is a success. Bing gets his confidence back, and an apology from the producer, but still must deal with the fact the his wife and Holden may be falling in love. Bing and Grace dress down from their usual roles, to mixed results. Bing is fine and gives one of the best performances of his long career. Grace's performance, though, seems forced, especially in her scenes with Holden, who at times seems over-the-top in his performance. 

Captain Blood (1935)

Academy Awards, USA 1936

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Director Michael Curtiz This was a write-in candidate, who came in second on the final ballots. It was not an official ... More This was a write-in candidate, who came in second on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.
	Best Writing, Screenplay Casey Robinson This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official ... More This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.
	Best Sound, Recording Nathan Levinson (sound director)
	Best Music, Score Leo F. Forbstein (head of department) Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ... More Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This was a write-in candidate, who came in third on the final ballots. It was not an official nomination.

Warner Bros.
Directed by Michael Curtiz
My rating: 2.5 star out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Erroll Flynn is an Irish doctor accused of treason for treating a wounded enemy soldier. Sentenced to death, he is spared by the King and sent to the Caribbean to be a slave instead. He is bought by Olivia de Haviland, the sympathetic daughter of the island's military commander. He reluctantly becomes the personal physician of the governor, but once again finds himself arrested for his rebellious nature. This time he is saved by the arrival of pirates, and he seizes the opportunity to steal their ship while they are looting the town. His crew consists of other escaped slaves, and together they defeat the pirates and go on to lead the jolly life of pirates themselves. He joins forces with another buccaneer but they eventually have a falling out over none other than Olivia, who was captured on a raid of her ship. He eventually wins her hand, and the trust of the British rulers, by defeating the French. Undeniably entertaining, but Flynn's transformation from doctor to pirate is unconvincing. 

One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)

Academy Awards, USA 1938

Winner Oscar	Best Music, Score Charles Previn (head of department) No composer credit.
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Writing, Original Story Hanns Kräly
	Best Sound, Recording Homer G. Tasker (Universal SSD)
	Best Film Editing Bernard W. Burton

Universal
Directed by Henry Koster
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Universal Vault Collection)

An unemployed trombonist stalks symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski at one of his concerts hoping to get a job. Instead, he gets thrown out on his ear. He finds a purse full of money on the sidewalk, but is unable to find the owner. He uses the money to pay his rent. He tells his teenage daughter Deanna Durbin he earned the money by working for Stokowski. She eventually learns the truth and returns the money to a wealthy patron of the arts, whom she talks into sponsoring a new orchestra consisting entirely of unemployed musicians. The patron flees to Europe, leaving her husband to deal with the problem. Deanna tries and fails to recruit Stokowski to conduct the new orchestra, so breaks into his mansion with the entire orchestra! Stokowski is inspired by their performance, unable to control his arms and breaks into frenzied conduction. Hilarious. Durbin is sickly sweet. Unbearable.

Jezebel (1938)

Academy Awards, USA 1939

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Bette Davis On 19 July 2001 Steven Spielberg purchased Davis' Oscar statuette at a Christie's auction and returned it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This was the second time in five years Spielberg did so to protect an Oscar from further commercial exploitation.
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Fay Bainter
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Cinematography Ernest Haller
	Best Music, Scoring Max Steiner

Warner Bros.
Directed by William Wyler
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Headstrong Bette Davis defies convention by wearing a red dress to a ball in New Orleans. The fallout includes her fiance, Henry Fonda, leaving her. A year passes and Bette has had time to reflect and regrets her decision. However, when Fonda visits with his new wife she is silently enraged. Her plan to get revenge by goading Fonda into a duel goes awry and results in the death of her new admirer. When Fonda comes down with yellow fever, she drops everything to take care of him, even going with him to an island where he is quarantined, and presumably she may die as well. Another triumph for Bette, who excels in her role as the southern aristocrat with an attitude, though her change of heart at the end doesn't really work. 

The Little Foxes (1941)

Academy Awards, USA 1942

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Samuel Goldwyn Productions
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Bette Davis
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Patricia Collinge
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Teresa Wright
	Best Director William Wyler
	Best Writing, Screenplay Lillian Hellman
	Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White Stephen Goosson Howard Bristol
	Best Film Editing Daniel Mandell
	Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture Meredith Willson

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by William Wyler
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, MGM)

Bette Davis is improbably cast as a southern aristocrat living on a plantation near New Orleans. She is unhappily married to Herbert Marshall, who has a heart condition and may only live a few months. Her brothers need her help to build a cotton mill, but Marshall refuses to give her any money. One of her brothers convinces his son, Dan Duryea, to steal valuable railroad stock from the Marshall's bank deposit box. Davis finds out and tries to blackmail her brothers. Marshall has a heart attack and Davis refuses to help him, leading to his death. Their daughter finds out and decides to leave home, leaving Bette wealthy, but alone, in the plantation. Bette gets everything she can from her role as the domineering, selfish, backstabbing matriarch, even if her southern accent tends to come and go. Some scenes with the African-American slaves are cringe-worthy now, but it is still very watchable, and entertaining, high melodrama. William Wyler's camera floats through many scenes. 

Thumbelina (1994)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Don Bluth
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

A lonely widower is given a thumb-sized daughter by a friendly witch. Craving companionship with someone her own size, a fairy prince is drawn to her singing. On a memorable bumble bee flight, she also enchants a family of performing frogs in the nearby swamp, who kidnap her the next day. She is rescued by a swallow who leaves her with some of his bug friends. She is soon kidnapped once again, this time by an amorous beetle who also wants the to sing in his show. The beetle and frog conspire to set a trap for the fairy prince and win her outright once and for all. He gets frozen in ice, while Thumbelina escapes and finds shelter in the burrow of a field mice. A neighbor mole sets his sites on marrying Thumbelina. It is up to the fairy prince and his friends to rescue her. Of course there is a happy ending. A very imaginative, and underrated, Don Bluth production, with some great songs, including the Razzie-winning "Marry the Mole", which I thought was quite catchy. 

Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Academy Awards, USA 1944

Winner Oscar	Best Actor in a Leading Role Paul Lukas
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Lucile Watson
	Best Writing, Screenplay Dashiell Hammett

Warner Bros.
Directed by Herman Shumlin
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

German Paul Lukas and his American wife Bette Davis seek refuge from the Nazis at her sister's house in Washington, DC. Lukas, a self-proclaimed anti-fascist, clashes with a Romanian count also staying in the house and working for the Nazis. Soon blackmail turns into murder, and Lukas must flee back to Germany. Stilted political drama, with Bette wasted and Lukas one-dimensional 

Stage Door (1937)

Academy Awards, USA 1938

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role Andrea Leeds
	Best Director Gregory La Cava
	Best Writing, Screenplay Morrie Ryskind Anthony Veiller

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Gregory La Cava
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

The setting is a New York boarding house for aspiring actresses. Newcomer Katherine Hepburn clashes with the others due to her fancy clothes and manners, especially her roommate Ginger Rogers. Influential producer Adolphe Menjou picks Rogers as his latest infatuation and  offers her a part in a new production. Meanwhile, Hepburn's wealthy father secretly finances the production and coerces Menjou into hiring her, despite having no talent. Menjou takes the opportunity to try to seduce Hepburn, leading to an awkward confrontation with Rogers. Another boarding house resident, one with actual talent, gets spurned in the process and causes her to commit suicide. Hepburn subsequently gives an inspired performance in the play. Entertaining if contrived, with unrealistic portrayals and Hepburn at her most irritating. 

Kitty Foyle (1940)

Academy Awards, USA 1941

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Ginger Rogers
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Director Sam Wood
	Best Writing, Screenplay Dalton Trumbo
	Best Sound, Recording John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD)

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Sam Wood
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

After a confusing beginning, we learn through flashbacks the life story of one Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers), a struggling clerk in Philadelphia. One day she meets by chance wealthy entrepreneur Dennis Morgan, who hires her to work on his magazine. They fall in love, but their different social standings prove difficult to overcome. They get married anyway, but when she is brought home to meet his stodgy family they demand he work in the family banking business or be disinherited. She walks out on him and takes a job in a New York City department store. Years pass, and she begrudgingly starts up a new romance with an eager young doctor. She strings him along until he eventually proposes, but she changes her mind at the last minute when her old love shows up. Or does she? Contrived mess borrows structurally from Citizen Kane, but with not nearly as much success. It apparently started a fashion trend known as the "Kitty Foyle dress". 

Home (2015)

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Tim Johnson
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, DreamWorks)

A race of small, dimwitted, but technologically advanced, aliens pick Earth as the latest planet to hide from their mortal enemies the Gorg. They quickly re-locate all the humans to Australia, but miss a teenage girl and her cat. Determined to reunite with her mother, the girl befriends one of the aliens and enlists his help in finding her. Along the way, the alien learns a lot about humans, and the shortcomings of his own race. Fast-paced, intelligent and beautifully animated in eye-popping colors, it's like the Jetsons on acid. I could have lived without the dancing, and most of the songs by Rihanna (who also voiced the girl), but I was able to put all of that aside and had a great time. 

An Unmarried Woman (1978)

Academy Awards, USA 1979

Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Paul Mazursky Anthony Ray
	Best Actress in a Leading Role Jill Clayburgh
	Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Paul Mazursky

Twentieth Century-Fox Film
Directed by Paul Mazursky
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Fox)

Sex obsessed middle class New Yorkers Michael Murphy and Jill Clayburgh live a seemingly normal life, until his tearful confession in the middle of the street that he is in love with another woman. She walks away, vomits and spends the rest of the movie figuring out how to deal with it. She gets support from a circle of similarly male-hating girlfriends and a female therapist who encourages her to start dating again. She hooks up with a couple of artists, eventually settling for Alan Bates. Woody Allen made a career out of these kind of movies, but at least he was funny.

Little Women (1933)

Academy Awards, USA 1934

Winner Oscar	Best Writing, Adaptation Victor Heerman Sarah Y. Mason
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture
	Best Director George Cukor

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by George Cukor
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Four girls live with their mother in a somewhat rundown, New England country mansion in the days of the Civil War. The girls bide their time waiting for the return of their father by pursuing various pursuits, including the boy next door. One of the contracts scarlet fever but survives. Another falls in love with the boy next door's tutor, leading to marriage. Another spurns the boy so heads off to New York to pursue her writing career. She finds success, and an unlikely husband herself. Episodic film has not aged well. Episodic and melodramatic, with an annoying, pretentious performance by Hepburn. 

A Touch of Class (1973)

Academy Awards, USA 1974

Winner Oscar	Best Actress in a Leading Role Glenda Jackson Glenda Jackson was not present at the awards ceremony. The film's writer-director-producer Melvin Frank accepted the award on her behalf.
Nominee Oscar	Best Picture Melvin Frank
	Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced Melvin Frank Jack Rose
	Best Music, Original Song George Barrie (music) Sammy Cahn (lyrics) For the song "All That Love Went to Waste".
	Best Music, Original Dramatic Score John Cameron

Avco Embassy Pictures
Directed by Melvin Frank
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Warner Bros.)

Recent divorcee Glenda Jackson keeps meeting businessman Geoge Segal in a series of contrived coincidences. She agrees to his not-so-subtle suggestions to begin an affair despite being married. After an aborted comical attempt in a run down London hotel, she demands more swank surroundings. He makes reservations for a week in sunny Spain, but his nosy coworker keeps getting in the way. Eventually they arrive at their new hotel and overcome their differences. A week later, they are back in London and decide to rent an apartment to keep the affair going. More comical situations ensue, but eventually she wants more and becomes jealous of his wife. Dated fluff, with good performance by Jackson, so-so by Segal.