The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 25, 2010

Europe is on the brink of war and all the usual reporters can get out of politicians are tired and dry ways to say nothing, so armature Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is appointed to become a foreign correspondent in Europe for a New York newspaper.  Fresh, naive and constantly losing...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 24, 2010

Stand back everyone, here comes the chick flick for 1940.  Ever known a girl who believed in fairy tales, dreamed of going to fancy balls and couldn’t decide on one guy?  Well that’s Kitty Foyle. You see, she’s just been proposed to by two men on the same night.  One,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 23, 2010

First off, I’d like to apologize for the Netflix.  If you decide to rent All This, and Heaven Too from them, do not read their summery on the envelope, unless you want the surprises spoiled for you.  It was poor judgment on their part to put such a pivotal moment,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 23, 2010

This film is the most welcoming breath of fresh air to open the 1940’s.  Based on the play by Thornton Wilder, it’s so charming that the narrator even welcomes you in and shows you around town. The film is broken into three parts: The Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 22, 2010

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.  This movie is officially classified as a Suspense Thriller.  From mouths I don’t like to listen to, I’ve heard Stupid and Boring.  For me, the words Witty and Masterpiece come to mind. Before the movie even starts, a little...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 21, 2010

Everyone knows the one word big enough to describe Mary Poppins.  It’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!  From the moment she arrives, the Banks household, which once worked like a Swiss watch, is turned on its head.  The lovable nanny brings a magical world to her children, where they can jump in   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 20, 2010

While waiting for a ship to Crete, uptight Englishman, Basil, meets a strange man, Zorba, and before they know more than each other’s names, Zorba wants to go with Basil to work for him.  Like most people, Basil is hesitant to make a stranger his new business partner.  He tells...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 19, 2010

If you absolutely love the classic musical, My Fair Lady, I’m sorry, but we do not share that common interest.  The annoying voice and exaggerated dialect of Miss Eliza drove me to scratching my ears off in the first act and by the ending act I was in bored agony,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 19, 2010

This is the story of King Henry II and his friend Thomas Becket.  When we first meet them, they are thick as thieves drinking and finding new women every night.  It isn’t long before we see that the partying is all Henry’s idea, and Becket tags along to keep him...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 18, 2010

Oh no!  I hate to do this so early, but I have not been able to find Room at the Top.  It’s not available on Netflix, hasn’t been on TCM or BBC (it’s a British film) since I started this project.  I’ll keep looking and once it’s found I’ll post...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 18, 2010

In a word: Epic.  This is about as big as a movie can get.  With three hundred sets, over one million props, full scale ships on water, the chariot race and Jesus, Ben Hur set the bar for all epics. The story is about Judah Ben Hur (Charlton Heston), a...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 17, 2010

This is a very eye opening movie about the lives nuns lead.  It begins with Gabrielle (Audrey Hepburn) leaving her family (and possible fiancé) to become a nun.  Within the convent she is a nurse, and one day hopes to go to a mission in the Congo.  We bear witness...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 16, 2010

Anatomy of a Murder is a courtroom drama staring James Stewart as lawyer Paul Biegler.  He’s defending Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara) who killed a local bar tender who raped his wife.  They decide to use a plea innocent with a reasoning of temporary insanity.  When court opens, Biegler is up...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 16, 2010

Anne Frank’s diary has become one of the most influential books of all time, and it was written by a teenager girl.  Since it’s publication in 1947, it has become a beacon of hope as well as a testimony to the horrors of WWII. The film opens looking over the...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 15, 2010

Rack ‘em up.  The Hustler is a story about pool.  The players got talent and the stakes are high. Paul Newman stars as “Fast” Eddie Felson, a man looking to take on Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in a high stakes pool game.  Fats takes him on for forty straight hours,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 14, 2010

Three years after WWII, an American court put four Nazi judges on trial for their war crimes under the Third Reich.  Through eight months in a small courtroom, the decision became more than a judgment on right and wrong, but a moral authority for the entire world. The bulk of...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 13, 2010

For nearly fifty years, this is what all musicals strive to live up to.  West Side Story brings the theater on screen without missing a beat. It’s a classic twist on Romeo and Juliet.  Two gangs, Jets and Sharks rival each other for control of their west side New York...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 12, 2010

On to 1961… Based on a Broadway musical, Fanny is the story of young love conflicting with dreams of adventure.  Fanny and Marius have always loved each other, but Marius snuffs Fanny’s affections because he plans on sailing the seas.  As Fanny turns 18, she grows weary of Marius always...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 12, 2010

Action and adventure await six men on a dangerous mission to destroy the two powerful guns on German occupied Navarone.  These guns control the fate of the seas and nearby Greek islands, including one full of trapped British troops.  No one can get to or leave the island, not even...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 11, 2010

Sadly, before this I had never seen Gladiator entirely.  I had only caught pieces or came in late on cable and it was always broken by editing for the violence and too many commercials.  Now that I’ve finally seen it all, unedited from beginning to end, I can have a...   read more