Here Comes Mr Jordan

Joe Pendleton (Robert Montgomery) is an amiable prizefighter, whose plane crashes, and his soul is plucked out of the aircraft by a messenger from the afterlife (whose job it is to collect the souls of the dead). When Joe ends up in the afterlife, it is discovered that he has been taken there 50 years [...]

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Pride and Prejudice (minor spoilers)

For anyone who is not familiar with the story of Jane Austen’s most celebrated novel, there are far better synopses on-line than I can provide here. In essence though, the story concerns the five Bennet sisters, who are searching for love and marriage in Regency England. When second oldest sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) (played by Keira [...]

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The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit

Gregory Peck stars as Tom Rath, the ‘man in the gray flannel suit’ of the title. The title was a metaphor for the corporate culture in America post-World War 2, and Rath is just such a man. A veteran of the war which finished ten years earlier, Rath has trouble coping with his life as [...]

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Cool Hand Luke

Ah, Paul Newman. Those eyes, that smile…here he plays one of his best roles, as Luke, a man sent to prison for two years, who simply doesn’t accept the unfair authority of the guards, or indeed of the other prisoners. After refusing to back down in a boxcing match with fellow prisoner ‘Dragline’, desite being [...]

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Miss Sadie Thompson

This 1953 film was adapted from a W. Somerset Maugham story. It was the third time the story had been adapted for the screen (it was made into a silent film named Sadie Thompson in 1928, and Joan Crawford starred in Rain in 1932, which was also an adaptation of the same story). Here, the [...]

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Hello, Dolly

This film was made in 1969, some time after the golden age for Hollywood Musicals,  However, Hello Dolly is reminiscent of the flamboyant, feel-good, funny musicals of the 40s and 50s.  Barbra Streisand (too young for the role, but she gives it all she’s got) plays widow Dolly Levi, who makes a living by – [...]

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Freedom Writers

This movie is based on the real life story of Erin Gruwell, a teacher at a tough school in Los Angeles.   Her English class is filled with students who have slipped through the cracks, who have become caught up in gang culture and who are often lucky to make it through the day alive. [...]

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Indiscreet

This romantic comedy teamed up the ever charismatic Cary Grant, with the beautiful Ingrid Bergman.  Bergman is Anna Kalman, a successful actress in London.  When she meets Philip Adams (Grant), a successful diplomat, the attraction is instant and the two embark on a passionate romance.  But Philip has told Anna a big lie, and when [...]

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This 1999 movie was Hollywood’s take on one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays.  It boasts an impressive cast – Michelle Pfieffer, Rupert Everett, Anna Friel, Dominic West, Christian Bale, Calista Flockhart and Stanley Tucci among them. I have never really enjoyed reading Shakespeare’s work – it seems very ‘dry’ when written on a page (to [...]

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Mr Hobbs Takes A Vacation

In this comedy from 1962, James Stewart plays Roger Hobbs, a happily married man who is looking forward to spending a month off work getting away from it all with only his wife Peggy (Maureen O’Hara) for company.  But Peggy has other ideas, and she rents a beach house to which she invites their entire [...]

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