Best Films – 1940

Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath
FILM
The Blue Bird
d: Walter Lang; scr: Ernest Pascal
The Grapes of Wrath
d: John Ford; scr: Nunnally Johnson
Kitty Foyle
d: Sam Wood; scr: Dalton Trumbo
The Letter
d: William Wyler; scr: Howard Koch
The Mark of Zorro
d: Rouben Mamoulian; scr: John Tainton Foote, Garrett Fort, Bess Meredyth
Pinocchio
d: Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen; scr: Ted Sears, Otto Englander and others
Pride and Prejudice
d: Robert Z. Leonard; scr: Aldous Huxley, Jane Murfin
Rebecca
d: Alfred Hitchcock; scr: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison
Waterloo Bridge
d: Mervyn LeRoy; scr: S.N. Behrman, Hans Rameau, George Froeschel
 

Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday
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Busman’s Honeymoon / Haunted Honeymoon
d: Arthur B. Woods; scr: Monckton Hoffe, Angus MacPhail, Harold Goldman
His Girl Friday
d: Howard Hawks; scr: Charles Lederer
The Long Voyage Home
d: John [...]

Best Films – 1935

Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Clark Gable in China Seas
FILM
Alice Adams
d: George Stevens; scr: Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner
China Seas
d: Tay Garnett; scr: Jules Furthman, James K. McGuinness
The Gay Deception
d: William Wyler; scr: Stephen Avery, Don Hartman
A Tale of Two Cities
d: Jack Conway; scr: W. P. Lipscomb, S. N. Behrman
The Whole Town’s Talking
d: John Ford; scr: Jo Swerling, Robert Riskin
 

Chico Marx, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Allan Jones in A Night at the Opera
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Broadway Melody of 1936
d: Roy Del Ruth; scr: Jack McGowan, Sid Silvers
Lives of a Bengal Lancer
d: Henry Hathaway; scr: Waldemar Young, John L. Balderston, Achmed Abdullah
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
d: Max Reinhardt, William Dieterle; scr: Charles Kenyon, Mary C. McCall Jr.
A Night at the Opera
d: Sam [...]

Golden Globes’ Firsts and Mosts

Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada (top); Helen Mirren in The Queen (bottom)

Tom O’Neil in the Gold Derby:
"No, no, no, no — contrary to some wrongheaded sources over the past few days, Helen Mirren did not make Golden Globe history by becoming the first star to win kudos for acting on film and TV in the same year. Joan Plowright did so back in 1992, winning best supporting actress in [the] film Enchanted April and best supporting TV actress for Stalin.
"In addition to tying Rosalind Russell as the biggest winner of film awards by a woman (five), Meryl Streep tied another Globe record, too. Back in 2003, remember, she won a trophy for appearing on [...]

THE WOMEN Remake in the Works

According to Variety, Clare Boothe Luce’s mordant comedy The Women may be headed for the big screen for the third time in 65 years. With New Line as the potential distributor, the new remake would be the feature-film début (as writer-director) of Diane English, best known as the creator and writer of the TV series Murphy Brown.
Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Sandra Bullock, and Ashley Judd are currently in negotiations to appear in the film, while Uma Thurman has been mentioned as a possible addition to the stellar cast. (Bening is supposed to take over the old Norma Shearer role, all sweetness and light — which would mean that Meg Ryan would be playing against type, as a scheming husband [...]

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 [...]