Grace Kelly: TO CATCH A THIEF, HIGH SOCIETY, THE SWAN

Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra in High Society

Turner Classic Movies‘ Grace Kelly series comes to a close with a screening of the actress’ last three films: Alfred Hitchcock’s comedy-adventure To Catch a Thief (1955), co-starring Cary Grant; Charles Walters‘ musical High Society (1956), a remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Kelly as the woman between Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby; and Charles Vidor’s romantic drama The Swan (1956), in which Kelly has to make up her mind between plebeian Louis Jourdan or blue-blooded Alec Guinness.
I wouldn’t call any of those three films a masterpiece, but both To Catch a Thief and The Swan have their own particular charms. In the former, Grace Kelly is at her most relaxed as [...]

Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY Screening

Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster make love in From Here to Eternity(top); Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra do a little (sorta) lovemaking of their own later on in the film (bottom)

Fred Zinnemann’s 1953 Academy Award-winning drama From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, and Frank Sinatra, will be screened by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday, November 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The presentation will feature the premiere of a new digital restoration, as well as an onstage discussion with Ernest Borgnine, who has a supporting role in the film.
Adapted by Daniel Taradash from James Jones‘ bestselling [...]

Frank Sinatra on TCM

Bobby-soxer-turned-blue-haired-matron idol Frank Sinatra will have his "Summer Under the Stars" day on Friday, Aug. 28.
Turner Classic Movies will show twelve of the actor-singer films, the best of which is On the Town, a zesty musical about three sailors and their three girls (four, if you include Alice Pearce) spending a day together in New York City. The three guys — Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Jules Munshin (above) — are all likable and fine, but it’s the female quartet that does it for me: in addition to Pearce, there’s Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, and Ann Miller. In my view, those women are the ones who should have been the superstars of Hollywood musicals of the ’40s and ’50s. Anyhow, Kelly [...]

Best Films – 1955

The guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures. An unabashedly sentimental story about East meets West, a bland performance by leading man William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, Network), an awful (and awfully long) title. That’s 20th Century Fox’s Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. Yet, the film does offer gorgeous locations (Hong Kong and surrounding areas), superb color cinematography (Leon Shamroy), a rousing, romantic score (Alfred Newman), several good directorial touches (Henry King), and a beautifully modulated performance by leading lady Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette, Carrie). A huge hit at the time of its release, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is the type of movie that will either make you sick or touch you profoundly. Come to think of it, chances [...]