Movies

[Rusty]

21- The Naked City - 8/10 - A police noir drama that centers on the murder of a model in New York City and follows the police investigation into the murder. I thought it was pretty entertaining and well acted. The movie was adapted as a tv series a decade later.


22- One Million B.C. - 7/10 - The story of a young man who is evicted from his tribe, but finds love when another tribe allows him in. He eventually reconciles with his original tribe. Giant lizards and plenty of danger in this cave man film. I enjoyed it, even though it really isn't really that great a film.

[Rusty]

23 - The Enemy Below - 8/10 - A really good World War II game of cat and mouse between a U.S. Destroyer escort and a German submarine. Well acted and consistently entertaining.


24 - Strike Up the Band - 7.5/10 - Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland star as high school friends who form a band/orchestra to play at a school dance and later to compete in a big contest in Chicago. Lots of music and dance numbers. I thought it was a pretty good movie. This is the second of four collaborations between Garland and Rooney.

[Rusty]

25 - The Great Caruso - 7/10 - A fictionalized biography of Enrico Caruso. Mario Lanza did a pretty decent job as Caruso. The story wasn't all that interesting overall, though.


26 - Thirty Seconds over Tokyo - 8/10 - Several months after Pearl Harbor, Jimmy Doolittle led 16 B-25s launched from an aircraft carrier to drop bombs on Tokyo and other targets. This raid boosted morale in the U.S. Most of the bombers had to ditch in the water off the Chinese coast or crashed in China. With the aid of Chinese citizens, only two crews were captured by the Japanese and the rest escaped and returned home (except for one crew that landed in the Soviet Union). This movie is told from the perspective of one of the pilots who recently learned his wife was pregnant. They did a really nice job on this film and the special effects were pretty good, too.

[Rusty]

27 - Ice Station Zebra - 7.5/10 - A U.S. nuclear submarine heads to the north pole to rescue members of an expedition there and also to try and recover a Soviet spy satellite that came back to Earth there. They have to deal with Russian paratroopers and also a spy in their midst. It hasn't received the best reviews, but I enjoyed it.


28 - The Captain from Castile - 8/10 - Tyrone Power stars as a Spaniard whose family is taken by the Inquisition in 16th Century Spain. He escapes with them and then travels to the New World as a soldier with Hernan Cortes. He rises in the ranks, but is faced with old friends and old enemies along the way. I thought it was a pretty entertaining film.

[Rusty]

29 - Limelight - 9/10 - Charlie Chaplin stars in this 1952 film about an alcoholic comedian in London circa 1914 whose career has essentially ended. He discovers a young woman trying to commit suicide in a neighboring apartment and forms a platonic relationship with her after rescuing her. He serves as a mentor and helps her rediscover her career as a dancer. This is very well acted, has an excellent story and is one of Chaplin's best.


30 - The Harvey Girls - 7/10 - Judy Garland plays a mail order bride who joins up with a group of Harvey Girls (young women hired to work as waitresses in the first restaurant chain at train stops in the west). There is conflict with the ladies who provide 'entertainment' at a neighboring saloon (including Angela Lansbury) and with some of their clientele. There is one pretty good song near the beginning, but the rest are sort of mediocre. It was a decent movie, but doesn't really match up with a number of other musicals from that era.


31 - Knights of the Round Table - 6.5/10 - The story of King Arthur and his knights is told in this big production full of colorful outfits and horses and locations. Unfortunately, the story and acting seemed rather dull for the most part. There are a few good scenes, but overall the movie isn't that great. Kind of a disappointment after Ivanhoe, an earlier film with Robert Taylor.

[Rusty]

32 - The Facts of Life - 7/10 - Bob Hope and Lucille Ball star as a couple whose marriages are in the doldrums. The two families are friends and the two end up spending time with each other due to circumstances and fall for each other. Their attempt at an affair meets with a number of problems. This is a relationship comedy, but I didn't really find it to be all that funny. The relationship focus serves it better, but t is still a somewhat boring movie. Not bad, but not that interesting overall either.

[Rusty]

33 - That Hamilton Woman - 7/10 - Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier star as Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson. The movie chronicles their relationship from their first meeting through his death after Trafalgar. It wasn't a bad movie, but wasn't all that interesting for the most part, though I did like the Trafalgar sequence at the end and a few other parts here and there.

[Rusty]

34 - Mighty Joe Young (1949) - 7.5/10 - A group of adventurers in Africa come across a young woman with a giant gorilla named Joe that she raised from a baby. One of the men convinces them to come to America to join his show of exotic animals. However, it turns out not to be as much fun as the woman hoped and eventually they need to try and escape from trouble and return home. The effects were pretty good for the time and the movie is decent.


35 - Blithe Spirit - 7.5/10 - A lighthearted comedy about a married man who partakes in a seance as research for a book and then finds himself visited by the ghost of his first wife. His current wife can't see the ghost and thinks he is having mental problems, but is eventually convinced of her existence. It is a fun movie, though much of the humor is on the low key side.

[Rusty]

36 - Air Force - 8/10 - The crew of a B-17 bomber arrive in Hawaii right around the time when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. They are sent to the Philippines and later escape as the Japanese invade there. The movie came out in 1943 and was made for morale purposes, but it is still a good movie, well acted and entertaining.

[Rusty]

37 - Somebody Up There Likes Me - 8.5/10 - This biopic about Rocky Graziano stars Paul Newman as the troubled boxer who had a number of run ins with the law as a youth and had trouble when he was drafted into the army and along the way as a boxer. Newman did a really nice job as did his girlfriend/wife in the movie, Pier Angell. The movie follows his career from running with a gang through his gaining the middleweight championship.


38 - It's Always Fair Weather - 7/10 - A trio of GI buddies just out of WW II decide to meet a decade later at a bar. When they show up for the reunion, they find that each has changed and they seem to lack the connection they once had. It eventually comes back due to a variety of circumstances. This is a musical satire and I enjoyed it at times, but didn't think it was that great overall.

[Rusty]

39 - The Naked Spur - 7/10 - This western stars Jimmy Stewart as a man who is chasing down a murderer for the bounty when he meets up with two strangers (a prospector and an ex-soldier) who help him capture his target. They then have to transport the man to town to collect the bounty, but they encounter a number of hazards along the way. The movie was okay, but was not really all that interesting for the most part.


40 - Action in the North Atlantic - 7.5/10 - Humphrey Bogart plays the first officer of a merchant marine ship that is sunk by a u-boat during World War II. The survivors are rescued after 11 days on a raft and later ship out on The Sea Witch which is part of a convoy headed to Murmansk. They get separated from the convoy and have to deal with a German u-boat and German planes. They did a pretty nice job and the movie was entertaining.


41 - A Guy Named Joe - 7/10 - Spencer Tracy plays a hotshot pilot who takes dangerous chances while on missions during World War II. After he dies, he ascends to heaven and is assigned to a young pilot trainee as a sort of guardian angel. He gives advice to the pilot who can sort of hear him on a subconscious level at times. It was a decent film, though not close to Tracy's best.


42 - My Favorite Wife - 8/10 - Irene Dunne plays a woman who was shipwrecked on an island for 7 years and was presumed dead. When she is rescued and returns home, she finds that her husband has just remarried and has left for his honeymoon. She follows him and lets him know that she is still alive and then the fun ensues. This was a pretty enjoyable screwball comedy from 1940.

[Rusty]

43 - One Way Passage - 8.5/10 - A terminally ill woman and a fugitive meet in Hong Kong, unaware of each other's situation. The fugitive is captured and is returning to the U.S. by boat when he runs into the woman again and they fall in love. I thought this pre-code comedy/drama was very well done.


44 - The Candidate - 8/10 - Robert Redford stars as Bill McKay, the son of a former Governor of California. The incumbent Republican is a huge favorite and no Democrat has stepped up to oppose him. McKay joins the race to have the opportunity to get his values across to people, even though he is likely to lose. The campaign goes well, though, and he is eventually able to narrow the gap. This was a really good look at the election process and is still relevant today.


45 - Vacation from Marriage - 7.5/10 - A married couple have a very boring marriage that leaves each unsatisfied. After World War II breaks out in Britain, they each join the navy - he serves at sea and she serves on land. They don't see each other for three years and each change quite a bit from their former selves. When they each get a 10 day leave, they meet up at the town where they have their home, but neither one really wants to reunite because they don't think they are compatible anymore after so long apart. It was a decent movie.


46 - Designing Woman - 7.5/10 - Gregory Peck is a sportswriter who becomes involved with a fashion designer (Lauren Bacall) and despite their differences, they get married. Their worlds clash somewhat and trouble arises from his investigating corruption in boxing and from her coming across a picture of a former girlfriend of his who is going to be in one of her shows. It started a bit slow, but got better as it progressed.

[Rusty]

47 - Titanic (1953) - 8/10 - A wealthy family where the husband and wife are estranged find themselves on the Titanic. I thought it was a pretty interesting movie, even if the ending was pretty easy to figure out.

[Rusty]

48 - Million Dollar Mermaid - 7/10 - Esther Williams stars as Annette Kellermann in this somewhat lackluster biopic of the Australian swimmer from the early 1900s. Kellermann made several attempts to swim the English Channel and is credited with creating and promoting the one piece bathing suit for women.


49 - The Thief of Bagdad (1940) - 8.5/10 - A king is now a blind beggar with a faithful dog. His story is told and is filled with lots of adventure for him and his friend, Abu, a young thief. There are a lot of familiar things including the scheming Jafar, a flying carpet, a genie and more. The special effects were very good and it is a very good movie. I think that the 1920s silent version is still better, but not by much.


50 - Lassie Come Home - 8/10 - The first Lassie movie takes place during the Depression. A family is forced to sell their beloved dog for money and the dog keeps escaping and returning home, even from as far away as Scotland all the way to Yorkshire. Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor are the two main children in the film and it I thought it was done very well.


51 - Annie Get Your Gun - 8/10 - This adaptation of the Broadway musical about the life of Annie Oakley was a lot of fun. Good songs and a nice performance by Betty Hutton as Annie. 15 year old Annie Oakley gets into a shooting contest with sharpshooter Frank Butler at a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and soon joins the tour.

[Rusty]

52 - Cover Girl - 7/10 - Rita Hayworth stars as a dancer in a small Brooklyn club run by Gene Kelly. She is hired as a cover girl model and becomes pretty well known which also leads to opportunities on Broadway away from her friends. There is plenty of dancing and singing as expected in a musical. Unfortunately, the movie isn't all that interesting, though it does have a few parts here and there that are good.


53 - Captains of the Clouds - 7/10 - A group of older bush pilots in Canada are inspired by Winston Churchill's speech after Dunkirk and try to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force, only to find out that they are too old to fly in combat. James Cagney and Alan Hale play two of the pilots. There is some conflict between Cagney's character and another of the pilots. The flying scenes aren't bad, but the story is a bit dull.