Forbidden planet 1956 - The ultimate predecessor of cinematic space voyages

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IMDB Rating: 7,7

Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Main Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman, Robby the Robot

"At the time Forbidden Planet came along, science fiction hadn't existed for all that long as a movie genre, having really only established itself after World War II as distinct from horror films and movie serials. And there had been some serious science fiction films made up to that time - most notably, Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). But science fiction was still considered primarily a genre that appealed to children, centered on action and adventure, without undue plot complexities or character relationships. Forbidden Planet changed all that, without sacrificing a genuine sense of wonder and other elements that juvenile audiences could enjoy. At the time, people mostly noticed the special effects, perhaps the best ever done up to that time and for many years beyond; it was the first movie that could convince viewers, moment to moment, that they were out in space or on some alien planet. Forbidden Planet's real importance, however, lay in respecting its audience, including the kids, enough to steep its plot in psychology and to make some statements about human nature that were pretty strong stuff in the midst of the Cold War, with both sides detonating H-bomb tests on a regular basis. The movie walks an even more precarious tightrope with its subplot about nubile Anne Francis' relationship with her father and the officers of the starship that has just landed in their two-person paradise. The plot was adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest, which flabbergasted (and distressed) some critics but helped draw a new, more serious viewer to this kind of movie. Forbidden Planet was so good, in fact, that it proved an impossible act to follow, and no one tried for almost a decade. But its influence trails out for a half-century beyond: Gene Roddenberry drew most of his ideas about the crew, officers (and their personal relationships), and setting of Star Trek from Forbidden Planet's script and set designs, and George Lucas' funny androids (not to mention Lost in Space's helpful robot servant) have their origins in Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot. And one can only guess at what luck Stanley Kubrick might've had getting financing for 2001: A Space Odyssey, especially out of MGM, had it not been for the precedent of Forbidden Planet." - www.allmovie.com

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Mrs. Miniver 1942 - A little dated, but still impressive war-time propaganda movie

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: William Wyler
Main Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon

"As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class British home front during World War II sometimes seems over-calculated and contrived when seen today. In particular, Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance in the title role often comes off as artificial, especially when she nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband (Walter Pidgeon) participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. However, even if the film has lost a good portion of its ability to move and inspire audiences, it is easy to see why it was so popular in 1942 - and why Winston Churchill was moved to comment that its propaganda value was worth a dozen battleships. Everyone in the audience - even English audiences, closer to the events depicted in the film than American filmgoers - liked to believe that he or she was capable of behaving with as much grace under pressure as the Miniver family. The film's setpieces-the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, an annual flower show being staged despite the exigencies of bombing raids, cleric Henry Wilcoxon's climactic call to arms from the pulpit of his ruined church-are masterfully staged and acted, allowing one to ever so briefly forget that this is, after all, slick propagandizing.
In addition to Best Picture and Best Actress, Mrs. Miniver garnered Oscars for best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), best director (William Wyler), best script (Arthur Wimperis, George Froschel, James Hilton, Claudine West), best cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg). Garson's Oscar win and lengthy acceptance speech became a long-running joke in Hollywood - for example, the claims that she stayed at the podium for 45 minutes or more. (Her actual acceptance remarks took around 5 minutes, still the longest-ever Oscar acceptance speech.)
Richard Ney, who plays Greer Garson's son, later married the actress and still later became a successful Wall Street financier. Mrs. Miniver was followed by a 1951 sequel, The Miniver Story, but without the wartime setting the bloom was off the rose." - www.allmovie.com

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How green was my valley 1941 - The classic masterpiece of John Ford

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: John Ford
Main Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, John Loder, Sarah Allgood, Barry Fitzgerald

"How Green Was My Valley is fondly remembered by fans of director John Ford for its loving recreation of a Welsh coal mining village. Spanning some fifty years in the life of its protagonist, the film presents an often poignant portrait of the good and bad of small town life. At the center of the story is the dehumanization brought by increasing technology; the scenes in which more efficient machinery makes some of the mines' best workers unneeded and unemployed remain relevant to today's audiences and our environment of shifting corporations and uncertain security. Ford scholars differ on where to rank How Green Was My Valley - indeed there is no clear consensus on what film critics and historians consider to be Ford's greatest - but it was a popular choice as the best film of 1941. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley won five Academy Awards in 1941, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Crisp), Best Art Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Picture (beating Citizen Kane). The book was later adapted into a 1975 BBC miniseries." - www.allmovie.com

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Viennese nights 1930 - "You will remember Vienna"

Vivienne Segal in Viennese Nights (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Alan Crosland
Main Cast: Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Jean Hersholt, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Bela Lugosi

"This sentimental Romberg-Hammerstein operetta was made late in the first cycle of movie musicals, and the glut of product at the time crowded it out at the box office. Which is too bad, because it's excellent of its kind - well-crafted, well-cast, and in handsome two-tone Technicolor.
The authors steal from all over the place: The two-generation love affairs (one happy, one unhappy) recall Romberg's own 'Maytime', and the poor musician and wealthy officer fighting for the fraulein are right out of 'Bitter Sweet'. But the story matters less than the songs ('You Will Remember Vienna', 'I Bring a Love Song', etc.) and the authors' sincerity. It's an unusually full score for a movie musical, with comic numbers, ensembles, and even a show-within-a-show - one senses that Hammerstein and Romberg wanted their screen work to be as good as their stage work.
Vivienne Segal, a prized stage comedienne/soprano, doesn't really get to demonstrate the dry wit and winking innuendo that made her a theater favorite, but she's sweet and direct (at times, she looks like Bette Midler!). Her leading man - Alexander Gray, also from the stage - is stiff in the Nelson Eddy mode, but like Eddy, he gives his all when he sings.
Walter Pidgeon and Bela Lugosi have minor roles."

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(the title is wrong, but it is the right movie)