Movies from the Past
Ernest Bliss is a rich young man with too little to do. Not realizing the depression he’s in is due to boredom, Ernest consults a doctor. Sir James Aldroyd gives Ernest a prescription that he doesn’t think Ernest can fill: Ernest must earn his own living for one year using none of his current wealth. Ernest bets him 50,000 English pounds that he can. IMDB
In the years following the Civil War, the town of Abilene, Kansas is poised on the brink of an explosive confrontation. A line has been drawn down the center of the town where the homesteaders and the cattlemen have come to a very uneasy truce. The delicate peace is inadvertantly shattered when a group of new homesteaders lay down their stakes on the cattlemen’s side of town, upsetting the delicate balance that had existed thus far and sparking an all-out war between the farmers, who want the land tamed and property lines drawn, and the cowboys, who want the prairies to be open for their cattle to roam. IMDB
An actress is murdered by her estranged husband, who is jealous of all of her young boyfriends. The next day, writer Robert Tisdall (who happens to be one such boyfriend) discovers her body on the beach. He runs to call the police, however, two witnesses think that he is the escaping murderer. Robert is arrested, but owing to a mix-up at the courthouse, he escapes and goes on the run with a Police Constable’s daughter Erica, determined to prove his innocence. IMDB
Set during World War II, journalist Joan Kenwood (Jane Russell), whose Air Corps photographer husband was killed on an air mission, returns to New York City from England. The managing editor of the newspaper for which she worked, Peter Waring (Kent Taylor), offers Joan work, but she despondently rejects it and instead stays with two aunts on their farm in Virginia. Unable to stop thinking about the death, however, she decides to return to New York.
On the train, young bomber pilot Lt. Jim Cameron (Louis Hayward) persistently tries to charm her, but Joan rebuffs him. In New York, both are unable to find vacant hotel rooms, but Joan calls her friend, Peg Martin (Penny Singleton), whose baseball player husband is serving on a submarine, for a place to stay. Peg shares her apartment with Mac (Marie Wilson), a show girl who has just returned from entertaining the troops. A number of military men drop in on the apartment as Joan arrives, all invited by the scatter-brained Mac. Jim learns where Joan is staying, shows up too, and sees opportunity in the situation. Later, everyone goes out to a café. While Jim and Joan are dancing, her husband’s favorite song is played, and a distraught Joan leaves. Jim follows and takes her home. When he bluntly suggests that she get over the man she is in love with, Joan explains that the man is her husband, who was killed over Berlin. Ashamed, Jim returns to his base at Mitchel Field on Long Island, where he is awaiting orders for the Pacific ….Wiki
Our Town is a 1940 American drama romance film adaptation of a play of the same name by Thornton Wilder starring Martha Scott as Emily Webb, and William Holden as George Gibbs. The cast also included Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Frank Craven. It was adapted by Harry Chandlee, Craven and Wilder, and directed by Sam Wood.
The residents of the small town of Grover’s Corners in New Hampshire live peacefully and in harmony. Dr. Gibbs, his wife Julie, and their two children George and Rebecca are the neighbors of the Webbs, who have a lovely daughter, Emily. George and Emily fall in love and after three years of advertising they get married. Time goes by and Emily becomes very sick with the birth of her second child. While she is dying, she meets all the people who have left this world in the years before. Emily, who remains in a kind of in-between world, remembers her previous life, but in the end the young woman decides to live and she wakes up from her dream. Wiki
Eddie Tayloe’s grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she’s a nice girl, named Perry, running away from a job at a gasoline station. Soon they’re off to New York together, but part ways once they arrive. Time passes and Eddie is failing to sell his play; Perry is failing to find a job. Odd circumstances, involving an old pickpocket named Mandy, bring them together again. Three starchy sisters renting a room, a bartender named Mike, and a sleepy old immigrant running a mechanical menagerie all play parts in this romantic comedy. IMDB
Owen Waterbury, bestselling novelist, recruits aspiring writer Stephanie ‘Steve’ Gaylord as his latest of many secretaries. The stars in her eyes fade when she finds she is to work in his apartment, with a constant parade of eccentric visitors and slapstick provided by klutzy roommate Ronnie. Moreover, Waterbury’s idea of work looks a lot like play, his interest less in books than in blondes. She leaves; to get her back, he swallows his playboy principles and marries her. Can the leopard change his spots? Can Stephanie turn the tables? IMDB
In this sequel to Father of the Bride (1950), Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) learns that his daughter Kay (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) is going to have a baby. When they get the news everyone except Stanley is overjoyed. His wife and grandmother-to-be Ellie (Joan Bennett) broadcasts it everywhere and all Stan can do is worry about the practical things like how his son-in-law Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor) can afford it. Well, having not long ago paid for the wedding, Stanley has no intention of bearing any of the expenses involved. Buckley’s parents and Ellie are overjoyed at the news and virtually take over redecorating the young couple’s new house. Crisis and false alarms take over their lives and when the child is born, the only person he doesn’t seem to like is Stanley. A walk in the park – and absolute panic when Stanley misplaces his grandson – seems to resolve the situation. IMDB
Western legends Pat Garrett, Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid are played against each other over the law and the attentions of vivacious country vixen Rio McDonald. IMDB