Cinecon 2009
James Mason, Deborah Kerr in Hatter’s Castle (top); Frances Dee, Maurice Chevalier, Stuart Erwin, Eugene Pallette in Playboy of Paris (bottom)
Cinecon 45 is currently taking place at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The (old & mostly rare) film marathon ends late Monday afternoon.
Thus far, the 2009 edition of Cinecon has already screened several rarities, including the Ludwig Berger-directed, 1930 comedy-musical Playboy of Paris, starring Maurice Chevalier and Frances Dee; the 1942 British production Hatter’s Castle, starring Robert Newton, and featuring up-and-coming players Deborah Kerr and James Mason; Norman Z. McLeod’s 1932 adaptation of The Miracle Man, starring Sylvia Sidney and Chester Morris (Lon Chaney became a star following the release of the now almost completely [...]
by Andre Soares | September 5, 2009
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Tags: Adrian Booth, Bardelys the Magnificent, Cinecon, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, De Luxe Annie, Denise Darcel, Diana Barrymore, Film Festivals, Los Angeles Screenings, Nightmare (1942), Norma Talmadge, Playboy of Paris
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Centennial
Four-time Academy Award winner screenwriter-director-producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz will be saluted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a special 50th anniversary screening of a recently restored print of Suddenly, Last Summer, starring Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor (above, and right, with Mankiewicz), and Montgomery Clift. The screening will take place on Thursday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The evening will also celebrate the recent gift of the Joseph L. Mankiewicz Papers to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library. Turner Classic Movies host and The Young Turks co-creator Ben Mankiewicz, Joseph L.’s great nephew and grandson of Citizen Kane co-screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, will host [...]
by Andre Soares | May 1, 2009
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Tags: 5 Fingers, A Letter to Three Wives, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, All About Eve, All the King's Men, Ann Sothern, Anne Baxter, Ava Gardner, Ben Mankiewicz, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Celeste Holm, Citizen Kane, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Danielle Darrieux, Dragonwyck, Edmond O'Brien, Edward G. Robinson, Elizabeth Taylor, Finlay Currie, Fritz Lang, Fury, Gay Interest, Gene Tierney, George Sanders, Herman J. Mankiewicz, House of Strangers, James Mason, Jeanne Crain, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar, Katharine Hepburn, Linda Darnell, Los Angeles Screenings, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, No Way Out, People Will Talk, Rita Hayworth, Robert Rossen, Ronald Colman, Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, Suddenly Last Summer, TCM, The Barefoot Contessa, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Late George Apley, The Philadelphia Story, The Young Turks, Thelma Ritter, Turner Classic Movies
Ken Annakin
Ken Annakin, best remembered for directing the big-budget 1965 adventure comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, died of natural causes on Wednesday, April 22, at his home in Beverly Hills. He had suffered a stroke and a heart attack in February, and had been in poor health since. Like fellow British filmmaker Jack Cardiff, who also died on April 22, Annakin was 94.
Born Kenneth Cooper Annakin in Beverley, Yorkshire, in England, on Aug. 10, 1914, Annakin began his film career working as a cameraman on training films for the Royal Air Force in World War II.
His first feature as a director was the 1947 family vacation comedy Holiday Camp, [...]
by Andre Soares | April 24, 2009
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Tags: Across the Bridge, Andrew Marton, Battle of the Bulge, Beau Bridges, Bernhard Wicki, Broken Journey, Call of the Wild, Charlton Heston, Christopher Atkins, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Dorothy McGuire, Flora Robson, Genghis Khan, Henry Fonda, Holiday Camp, Jack Cardiff, Jack Hawkins, Jack Warner, John Mills, Kathleen Harrison, Ken Annakin, Monte Carlo or Bust!, Olivia de Havilland, Outpost in Malaya, Phyllis Calvert, Raquel Welch, Richard Todd, Robert Morley, Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Swiss Family Robinson, Terry-Thomas, The Biggest Bundle of Them All, The Fifth Musketeer, The Longest Day, The Pirate Movie, The Planter's Wife, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Tony Curtis, Vittorio De Sica
Best Films – 1939
The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir
FILM
Gone with the Wind
d: Victor Fleming; scr: Sidney Howard
Le Jour se lève / Daybreak
d: Marcel Carné; scr: Jacques Viot, Jacques Prévert
Midnight
d: Mitchell Leisen; scr: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
d: Frank Capra; scr: Sidney Buchman
Ninotchka
d: Ernst Lubitsch; scr: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch
The Old Maid
d: Edmund Goulding; scr: Casey Robinson
The Rains Came
d: Clarence Brown; scr: Philip Dunne, Julien Josephson
La Règle du jeu / The Rules of the Game
d: Jean Renoir; scr: Jean Renoir, Carl Koch
The Roaring Twenties
d: Raoul Walsh; scr: Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen
The Women
d: George Cukor; scr: Anita Loos, Jane Murfin
Wuthering Heights
d: William Wyler; scr: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur
CHECK [...]
by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: Arletty, Best Films, Cedric Hardwicke, Classic Movies, Claude Rains, Claudette Colbert, Ernst Lubitsch, Gone with the Wind, Greta Garbo, Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins, Olivia de Havilland, Richard Barthelmess, The Rules of the Game, Vivien Leigh
Best Films – 1938
Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold in You Can’t Take It with You
FILM
The Adventures of Robin Hood
d: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley; scr: Seton I. Miller, Norman Reilly Raine
Bringing Up Baby
d: Howard Hawks; scr: Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
Dramatic School
d: Robert B. Sinclair; scr: Ernest Vajda, Mary McCall Jr.
L’Etrange Monsieur Victor
d: Jean Grémillon; scr: Albert Valentin, Charles Spaak, Marcel Achard
Four Daughters
d: Michael Curtiz; scr: Lenore J. Coffee, Julius J. Epstein
If I Were King
d: Frank Lloyd; scr: Preston Sturges
The Lady Vanishes
d: Alfred Hitchcock; scr: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder
Marie Antoinette
d: W. S. Van Dyke; scr: Claudine West, Donald Ogden Stewart, Ernest Vajda
Vivacious Lady
d: George Stevens; scr: P. J. Wolfson, Ernest Pagano
You Can’t Take It with You
d: Frank Capra; scr: Robert Riskin
[...]
by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: A Night in May, Abem Finkel, Akim Tamiroff, Albert Valentin, Alfred Hitchcock, Anatole Litvak, Basil Radford, Basil Rathbone, Best Films, Bette Davis, Beulah Bondi, Billy Wilder, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, Bringing Up Baby, Cameron Rogers, Cary Grant, Charles Brackett, Charles Coburn, Charles Spaak, Classic Movies, Claude Rains, Claudette Colbert, Claudine West, Clements Ripley, Dame May Whitty, Dmitri Tiomkin, Donald Ogden Stewart, Dramatic School, Dudley Nichols, Edmund Goulding, Edward Arnold, Eine Nacht in Mai, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ernest Haller, Ernest Pagano, Ernest Vajda, Ernst Lubitsch, Errol Flynn, Fay Bainter, Four Daughters, Frank Capra, Frank Launder, Frank Lloyd, Franz Waxman, Gale Sondergaard, Gary Cooper, Georg Jacoby, George Stevens, Ginger Rogers, Gladys George, Hagar Wilde, Hans Fritz Beckmann, Harry Stradling, Herbert Stothart, Howard Hawks, If I Were King, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Jean Grémillon, Jezebel, John Huston, Joseph Ruttenberg, Joseph Schildkraut, Julien Duvivier, Julius J. Epstein, Katharine Hepburn, L'Etrange Monsieur Victor, Le Quais des brumes, Lenore J. Coffee, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Luise Rainer, Madeleine Rénaud, Marcel Achard, Margaret Lockwood, Marie Antoinette, Marika Rökk, Mary Forbes, Mary McCall Jr., Max Steiner, May Robson, Michael Curtiz, Michael Redgrave, Michèle Morgan, Milton Krims, Norma Shearer, Norman Reilly Raine, Of Human Hearts, Oliver T. Marsh, P. J. Wolfson, Paul Lukas, Peverell Marley, Port of Shadows, Preston Sturges, Pygmalion, Raimu, Robert B. Sinclair, Robert Morley, Robert Riskin, Ronald Colman, Rudolph Maté, Samuel Hoffenstein, Seton I. Miller, Sidney Gilliat, Sol Polito, Spawn of the North, Spring Byington, Suez, Sweethearts, The Adventures of Marco Polo, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Citadel, The Great Waltz, The Lady Vanishes, The Sisters, Three Comrades, Tony Gaudio, Una O'Connor, Vivacious Lady, W. Howard Greene, W. S. Van Dyke, Walter Reisch, Wendy Hiller, White Banners, William H. Daniels, William Keighley, William Wyler, Willy Clever, You Can't Take It with You
Best Films – 1934
Norma Shearer in The Barretts of Wimpole Street
FILM
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
d: Sidney Franklin; scr: Ernest Vajda, Claudine West, Donald Ogden Stewart
The Count of Monte Cristo
d: Rowland V. Lee; scr: Philip Dunne, Dan Totheroh, Rowland V. Lee
The Gay Divorcee
d: Mark Sandrich; scr: George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost, Edward Kaufman
Hide-out
d: W. S. Van Dyke; scr: Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich
The Merry Widow
d: Ernst Lubitsch; scr: Samson Raphaelson, Ernest Vajda
Fredric March, Evelyn Venable in Death Takes a Holiday
CHECK THESE OUT
Broadway Bill
d: Frank Capra; scr: Robert Riskin
Death Takes a Holiday
d: Mitchell Leisen; scr: Maxwell Anderson, Gladys Lehman
Gold
d: Karl Hartl; scr: Rolf E. Vanloo
Here Comes the Navy
d: Lloyd Bacon; scr: Earl Baldwin, Ben Markson
Maskerade / Masquerade in Vienna
d: Willi Forst; scr: [...]
by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: Albert Hackett, Alice White, Anna May Wong, Anton Walbrook, Best Films, Broadway Bill, Buster Crabbe, Charles Laughton, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Constance Bennett, Easy to Love, Ernest Vajda, Ernst Lubitsch, Etienne Girardot, Fay Wray, Four Frightened People, Frances Goodrich, Frank Capra, Franz Planer, Genevieve Tobin, Ginger Rogers, Gold, Heinz Ruhman, Helen Lowell, Here Comes the Navy, Hide-out, Imitation of Life, James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Jeanette MacDonald, Karl Hartl, Lloyd Bacon, Louise Beavers, Marian Nixon, Mark Sandrich, Mary Astor, Mary Boland, Norma Shearer, Peter Lorre, Philip Dunne, Ramon Novarro, Ray June, Robert Montgomery, Rowland V. Lee, Samson Raphaelson, Sidney Franklin, The Affairs of Cellini, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Gay Divorcee, The Merry Widow, The Most Precious Thing in Life, Viva Villa!, W. S. Van Dyke, Wallace Beery, We're Rich Again
Best Films – 1932
Boris Karloff, Gloria Stuart in The Old Dark House
FILM
Beauty and the Boss
d: Roy del Ruth; scr: Joseph Jackson
Blessed Event
d: Roy del Ruth; scr: Howard J. Green
Jewel Robbery
d: William Dieterle; scr: Erwin S. Gelsey
The Most Dangerous Game / The Hounds of Zaroff
d: Ernest B. Schoedsack, Irving Pichel; scr: James Ashmore Creelman
The Old Dark House
d: James Whale; scr: Ben W. Levy, R.C. Sheriff
One Way Passage
d: Tay Garnett; scr: Wilson Mizner, Joseph Jackson
Tod Browning and cast on the Freaks set
CHECK THESE OUT
The Animal Kingdom
d: Edward H. Griffith; scr: Horace Jackson
Freaks
d: Tod Browning; scr: Al Boasberg, Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf
Rain
d: Lewis Milestone; scr: Maxwell Anderson
The Hatchet Man
d: William A. Wellman; scr: J. Grubb Alexander
Trouble in Paradise
d: Ernst Lubitsch; [...]
by Andre Soares | April 3, 2009
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Tags: Beauty and the Boss, Best Films, Blessed Event, Charles Laughton, Charpin, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Ernst Lubitsch, Fanny, Freaks, Guy Kibbee, Howard J. Green, James Whale, Jewel Robbery, Joseph Jackson, Kay Francis, Leslie Banks, Melvyn Douglas, One Way Passage, Que Viva Mexico!, Raimu, Roy Del Ruth, Tay Garnett, The Hatchet Man, The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Most Dangerous Game, The Old Dark House, The Sign of the Cross, Tod Browning, Trouble in Paradise, Warren William, William Dieterle, William Powell
Honorary Oscars & Women II
Walter Pidgeon, Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver (top); Don Ameche, Claudette Colbert in Midnight (middle); Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi in The Divine Lady (bottom)
Honorary Oscars Bypass Women: Part I
Among the distinguished female film professionals in Hollywood and elsewhere — some of whom dating back to the early days of cinema — who have gone to the Great Beyond without receiving the Academy’s career achievement Oscar are actresses Greer Garson, Claudette Colbert, Gloria Swanson, Audrey Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Alida Valli, Simone Signoret, Joan Crawford, Anna Magnani, Susan Hayward, Dolores del Río, Norma Talmadge, Anne Baxter, Joan Bennett, Lilli Palmer, Constance Bennett, and Kay Francis.
Also, Ann Sheridan, Constance Talmadge, Irene Dunne, Colleen Moore, Betty Grable, Gene Tierney, Jean Arthur, [...]
by Andre Soares | February 13, 2007
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Tags: Academy Awards, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, Constance Talmadge, Corinne Griffith, Film Awards, Greer Garson, Honorary Oscar, Lauren Bacall, Lois Weber, Norma Talmadge, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward
Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Mae West, Cecil B. DeMille DVD Sets
Universal (owner of the Paramount films of the studio era) has announced the release of the following box sets:
On April 4, three "Glamour Collection" sets:
The Carole Lombard Glamour Collection:
Man of the World (1931), We’re Not Dressing (1934), Hands Across the Table (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), Love Before Breakfast (1936), and True Confession (1937).
The Mae West Glamour Collection:
Night After Night (1932), I’m No Angel (1933), Goin’ to Town (1935), Go West Young Man (1936), and My Little Chickadee (1940, above).
The Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection:
Morocco (1930), Blonde Venus (1932), The Devil Is a Woman (1935), The Flame of New Orleans (1941), and Golden Earrings (1947).
On May 23:
The Cecil B. DeMille Collection:
The Sign of the [...]
by Andre Soares | January 25, 2006
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Tags: Carole Lombard, Cecil B. DeMille, Classic Movies, Claudette Colbert, DVDs, Gary Cooper, Josef von Sternberg, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Pre-Code Hollywood
Best Films – 1947
Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, David Farrar in Black Narcissus
FILM
Black Narcissus
d, scr: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Cheyenne
d: Raoul Walsh; scr: Alan Le May, Thames Williamson
Crossfire
d: Edward Dmytryk; scr: John Paxton
Down to Earth
d: Alexander Hall; scr: Edwin Blum, Don Hartman
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
d: Joseph L. Mankiewicz; scr: Philip Dunne
Life with Father
d: Michael Curtiz; scr: Donald Ogden Stewart
Miracle on 34th Street
d, scr: George Seaton
Monsieur Vincent
d: Maurice Cloche; scr: Jean Bernard Luc, Jean Anouilh
Mourning Becomes Electra
d, scr: Dudley Nichols
Nicholas Nickleby
d: Alberto Cavalcanti; scr: John Dighton
The Perils of Pauline
d: George Marshall; scr: P. J. Wolfson, Frank Butler
CHECK THESE OUT
Body and Soul
d: Robert Rossen; scr: Abraham Polonsky
A Double Life
d: George Cukor; [...]
by Andre Soares | August 31, 2004
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Tags: A Double Life, Abraham Polonsky, Alan Le May, Alberto Cavalcanti, Alexander Hall, Allen Rivkin, Anne Revere, Aubrey Woods, Audrey Totter, Bernard Herrmann, Betty Hutton, Black Narcissus, Body and Soul, Brian Easdale, Carol Reed, Cedric Hardwicke, Charles B. Lang, Charles Bickford, Charles Chaplin, Cheyenne, Claudette Colbert, Crossfire, Curtis Bernhardt, David Farrar, Deborah Kerr, Dolores del Rio, Don Hartman, Donald Ogden Stewart, Down to Earth, Dudley Nichols, Edmund Gwenn, Edward Dmytryk, Edwin Blum, Elwood Bredell, Emeric Pressburger, Ethel Barrymore, F. L. Green, Frank Butler, Frank Davis, Gabriel Figueroa, Garson Kanin, Gene Tierney, Geoffrey Homes, George Barnes, George Cukor, George Marshall, George Seaton, Ginger Rogers, H. C. Potter, Harry Stradling, Heinz Roemheld, Henry Fonda, Irene Dunne, It Had to Be You, Jack Cardiff, Jacques Tourneur, James Mason, James Wong Howe, Jean Anouilh, Jean Bernard Luc, Jean Renoir, Joan Crawford, John Dighton, John Ford, John Paxton, Joseph A. Valentine, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lady in the Lake, Laura Kerr, Life with Father, Lilli Palmer, Lloyd Gough, Lord Berners, Loretta Young, Marjorie Main, Martha Raye, Mary Merrall, Maureen O'Hara, Maurice Cloche, Max Steiner, May Hallatt, Michael Curtiz, Michael Hogan, Michael Powell, Miracle on 34th Street, Monsieur Vincent, Mourning Becomes Electra, Nicholas Nickleby, Odd Man Out, Out of the Past, P. J. Wolfson, Peverell Marley, Philip Dunne, Pierre Fresnay, Possessed, Pursued, R. C. Sheriff, Ranald MacDougall, Raoul Walsh, Rex Harrison, Richard Hageman, Ride the Pink Horse, Rita Hayworth, Robert Krasker, Robert Montgomery, Robert Rossen, Robert Ryan, Roland Culver, Ronald Colman, Ruth Gordon, Signe Hasso, Silvia Richards, Thames Williamson, The Egg and I, The Farmer's Daughter, The Fugitive, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Perils of Pauline, The Sea of Grass, The Unsuspected, The Woman on the Beach, Van Heflin, Vida Hope, William Alwyn, William Conrad, William Powell, William V. Skall
Best Films – 1944
John Hodiak, Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat
FILM
I Bambini ci guardano / The Children Are Watching Us
d: Vittorio De Sica; scr: Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica, Cesare Giulio Viola, Adolfo Franci, Margherita Maglione, Gherardo Gherardi
Crime by Night
d: William Clemens; scr: Joel Malone, Richard Weil
Dragon Seed
d: Harold S. Bucquet, Jack Conway; scr: Jane Murfin, Marguerite Roberts
Laura
d: Otto Preminger; scr: Jay Dratter, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty Reinhardt
Lifeboat
d: Alfred Hitchcock; scr: Jo Swerling
Mr. Skeffington
d: Vincent Sherman; scr: Julius J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein
This Happy Breed
d: David Lean; scr: Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean, Ronald Neame
The Uninvited
d: Lewis Allen; scr: Dodie Smith
Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker, Joseph Cotten in Since You Went Away
CHECK THESE OUT
Arsenic and Old Lace
d: Frank Capra; scr: Julius J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein
Home in [...]
by Andre Soares | August 31, 2004
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Tags: Adolfo Franci, Alfred Hitchcock, Alison Leggart, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Arsenic and Old Lace, Barry Fitzgerald, Best Films, Bette Davis, Betty Reinhardt, Carmen Miranda, Celia Johnson, Cesare Giulio Viola, Cesare Zavattini, Claire Trevor, Classic Movies, Claude Rains, Claudette Colbert, Crime by Night, Dame May Whitty, David Lean, David Raksin, Dodie Smith, Double Indemnity, Dragon Seed, Edward G. Robinson, Emilio Fernandez, Ernest Haller, Faye Emerson, Francisco Dominguez, Gabriel Figueroa, Gary Cooper, Gaslight, Gene Tierney, George Barnes, George J. Folsey, Gherardo Gherardi, Going My Way, Henry Daniell, Henry Hathaway, Home in Indiana, I Bambini ci guardano, Irving Brecher, Jane Eyre, Jane Murfin, Jay Dratter, Jean Adair, Jeanne Crain, Jerome Cowan, Jo Swerling, John Cromwell, Joseph LaShelle, Joseph Ruttenberg, Josephine Hull, Judy Garland, Julius J. Epstein, Laird Cregar, Laura, Lee Garmes, Leon Ames, Lewis Allen, Lifeboat, Lucien Ballard, Maria Candelaria, Marjorie Main, Meet Me in St. Louis, Mr. Skeffington, Mrs. Parkington, Murder My Sweet, Otto Preminger, Peter Lorre, Phantom Lady, Phillip G. Epstein, Portrait of Maria, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Renzo Rossellini, Robert Siodmak, Samuel Hoffenstein, Since You Went Away, Something for the Boys, Stanley Cortez, Tallulah Bankhead, The Children Are Watching Us, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Lodger, The Suspect, The Uninvited, The White Cliffs of Dover, This Happy Breed, Victor Young, Vincent Sherman, Vincente Minnelli, Vittorio De Sica, Vivian Blaine, Walter Slezak, Winston Miller
