Giant 1956 - From rigid conservatism to mindless materialism

IMDB Link
IMDB Rating: 7,7

Director: George Stevens
Main Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor

"George Stevens' sprawling adaptation of Edna Ferber's best-selling novel successfully walks a fine line between potboiler and serious drama for its 210-minute running time, making it one of the few epics of its era that continues to hold up as engrossing entertainment across the decades. Even if it hadn't starred three of the most iconic screen figures of the 1950s, George Stevens's Giant would still be an emotionally powerful and visually striking film; adding Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean (in his final performance) to the mix was just the icing on the cake. Dean contributes the highest-caliber fireworks, though his Method style sometimes blends uncomfortably with the more traditional performances of the other actors, but Stevens also drew atypically strong performances from Taylor and Hudson, who delivers perhaps his best performance on screen next to Seconds (1966). The story is a glorified soap opera, but Stevens's epic production strengthens the narrative rather than drowning it, providing a visual metaphor for the intimidating vastness of the Texas landscape. The image of the vast Benedict mansion slowly appearing as a tiny dot on the horizon is only the most memorable of the film's many indelible images. Giant is as big and sprawling as Texas itself; it's the tininess of the larger-than-life characters in the oilfields of the Southwest that keeps them human, and makes them all the more fascinating.
The talented supporting cast includes Mercedes McCambridge as Bick’s frustrated sister, put out by the new woman of the house, and with Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper as the Benedict’s rebellious children.
Giant was nominated for 10 Academy Awards with director George Stevens winning his second Oscar for this ambitious, grandly realized epic of the changing socio-economic (and physical) landscape of modern Texas." - www.allmovie.com

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Cimarron 1931 - Lavishly produced but a little bit dated Western

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021746/?ref_=nv_sr_3
IMDB rating: 6,1

Director: Wesley Ruggles
Main Cast: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil, William Collier Jr., Roscoe Ates, Edna May Oliver

"Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture - and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990 - the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him - until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire.
Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. The famous Oklahoma Land Rush sequence was filmed near Bakersfield, CA, and included 47 camera operators and 5,000 dress extras. The scene, which to a modern viewer suggests some heavy borrowing from William S. Hart's similar sequence in the silent Tumbleweeds (1925), remains Cimarron's centerpiece and tends to dwarf the empire building sweep of Edna Ferber's original novel. And, to be frank, the remaining hour or so of political intrigue is rather ponderous and dull in comparison. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/cimarron-v9640/

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Stage door 1937 - A superb, realistic, behind-the-scenes film about show business

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029604/
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Gregory La Cava
Main Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Lucille Ball

"Stage door is notable for its predominantly female cast, predating George Cukor's The women by two years. Adapted from the Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman stage hit, the sparkling dialogue comes at the audience rapid-fire as each stellar performer steps forward. The film shifts easily between comedy and drama, with Ginger Rogers in particular showcasing her versatility. Director Gregory La Cava successfully pulls together a strong-willed cast that includes Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller. He puts the boarding house setting to good use, keeping the interplay brisk and the story lines moving quickly. Ironically, the film's only Oscar nomination for acting went to the lesser-known Andrea Leeds, who, unlike her character in the movie, would later marry a rich man and retire from the screen. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/stage-door-v46386/

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Dinner at eight 1933 - A movie with romance, glamour, wit, charm and intrigue

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023948/
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: George Cukor
Main Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Madge Evans

"Based on the Broadway hit by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, Dinner at Eight is a near-flawless comedy/drama with an all-star cast at the peak of their talents. Social butterfly Mrs. Oliver Jordan (Billie Burke) arranges a dinner party that will benefit the busines of her husband (Lionel Barrymore). Among the invited are a crooked executive (Wallace Beery), who is in the process of ruining Jordan; his wife (Jean Harlow), who is carrying on an affair with a doctor (Edmund Lowe); a fading matinee idol (John Barrymore), who has squandered his fortune on liquor and is romantically involved with the Jordan daughter (Madge Evans); and a venerable stage actress (Marie Dressler), who since losing all her money has become a 'professional guest'. Nothing goes as planned, due to various suicides, double-crosses, compromises, fatal illness, and servant problems. But dinner is served precisely at eight.
Dinner at Eight is, above all else, about changes: changes in society where graceful old money is about to be supplanted by the new and crass; changes in the motion picture business where talkies turn silent stars into alcoholic has-beens; and changes in industry, where, according to Jean Harlow's brassy Kitty Packard, 'machines are taking the place of every profession'. After which observation, of course, Marie Dressler, as the grand Mrs. Patrick Campbell-like stage diva, delivers one of the screen's most memorable closing lines, 'That my dear', she intones, giving the bleach blonde the once-over, 'is something you never need to worry about!' It is a delicious moment in a film positively giddy with such bon mots and brimming with performances as fresh today as they were in 1933. Were Dressler, Harlow, Billie Burke, or the Barrymore brothers ever better? Although director George Cukor and producer David O. Selznick deserved much of the credit, they were, of course, heavily indebted to a sparkling screenplay penned by Frances Marion, Herman J. Mankiewicz, and Donald Ogden Stewart. It is to the credit of all these talented professionals that Dinner at Eight manages to amuse and delight even the jaded audiences of today, in contrast, perhaps, to its equally famous predecessor, the rather overstuffed and decidedly dated Grand Hotel (1932)." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/dinner-at-eight-v13816

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