Henry V. 1944 - An inspiring classic for later Shakespeare adaptations

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IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Laurence Olivier
Main Cast: Lairence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Robert Helpmann

"Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Henry V is one of the finest Shakespeare films ever made, full of rousing action, beautiful colors, and passionate performances. In contrast to previous Shakespeare adaptations, it was fresh and lively - even challenging and daring - in its presentation and structure; it had fun with its subject, while other versions had been reverent and respectful; and it delighted audiences, scholars, and critics alike, becoming the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play to receive mostly enthusiastic reviews and turn a profit. Olivier made his movie in the middle of World War II, convincing the British government of the morale-boosting potential and propaganda uses of a good adaptation of the original play, about an English invasion of France in the 15th century; he then took off for the neutral wide-open spaces of Ireland with the best cast he could assemble from actors too old to be in uniform, a handful of actors borrowed from the armed services, highly sought-after Technicolor cameras, and a script that kept intact the core of Shakespeare's play. The movie earned him a special Academy Award. Equally important in broader historical terms, Henry V paved the way for all other Shakespeare films, from Olivier's versions of Hamlet, Richard III, and Othello through to Kenneth Branagh's more contemporary adaptations." - www.allmovie.com

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The pride of the Yankees 1942 - An entertaining and inspiring baseball biography of a legendary player

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IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Sam Wood
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Teeresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan, Dan Duryea

"Historically, only a few baseball movies have done well at the box office, mostly because audiences are lukewarm to portrayals of heroes of the diamond. Sam Wood's The Pride of the Yankees, however, is an exception, and an improbable one: neither producer Samuel Goldwyn nor star Gary Cooper knew anything about baseball, and it seemed unlikely that anyone was going to pay money to see a story in which everyone knew the outcome. Goldwyn may not have understood the sport (he thought players got promoted up through the bases, from first base to third, and couldn't understand why Gehrig was such a great player if he was 'only' a first baseman), but he understood the public better than almost any other producer. The poignancy of Lou Gehrig's story - he became a sports hero out of a modest upbringing only to see fate strike him down, and then accepted that fate with heroic stoicism - might've played well at any time, but the fact that America was heading into a war in which people with would be sacrificing themselves made the material even more topical. Cooper portrayed Gehrig with perhaps even more dignity than the real man possessed, and his romantic scenes with Teresa Wright as Gehrig's wife were warm and honest. Director Wood's understated, unpretentious telling of the tale captured the subject of baseball but also provided a snapshot of Americans in general." - www.allmovie.com

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Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 - A classic biography showcasing Cagney's talents

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IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Michael Curtiz
Main Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston

"Yankee Doodle Dandy was one of the best World War II-era patriotic propaganda films, and it has proven itself enduringly popular in the decades following its release. The film succeeds almost entirely on the performance of James Cagney as legendary song-and-dance performer George M. Cohan, although significant credit should also be given to director Michael Curtiz, who expertly stages each scene to display the talents of his star. The film features an over-the-top framing device in which Cohan tells his life's story in flashback to President Franklin Roosevelt. The story is effectively fiction, using only the outline of Cohan's life and some of his songs as reference points. The musical sequences are among the best in any film of the era. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, including Best Actor for Cagney. The real-life Cohan died shortly after the film's release, living long enough to see it and like it despite, or perhaps because of, its lack of accuracy about his life." - www.allmovie.com

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Young Mr. Lincoln 1939 - Great Ford, great Fonda, authentic American film-making

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: John Ford
Main Cast: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, Eddie Collins, Pauline Moore

"More hagiography than biography, Young Mr. Lincoln took such outrageous liberties with historical fact that its value as a portrait of the nation's sixteenth president remains questionable. Nevertheless, the performance of Henry Fonda and the assured, fully engaged direction of John Ford placed Young Mr. Lincoln among both men's best work. Indeed, 1939 came to be regarded as Ford's annus mirabilis, the year in which he began his ascent to legend status, directing not only Young Mr. Lincoln but also Drums Along the Mohawk and Stagecoach. It is ironic that Young Mr. Lincoln came to be so well regarded, since neither Ford nor Fonda initially wanted to do the picture. A pair of plays about Lincoln's younger years had just enjoyed success on Broadway, so a reluctant Ford was pressured by Fox producer Darryl F. Zanuck to tackle what was essentially a studio assignment. On reading the script by Lamar Trotti, however, the zealously patriotic Ford became more enthusiastic about the film's all-American subject matter, even persuading a reluctant Fonda to take the lead role. Intimidated by playing such an august historical figure, Fonda at first rejected the part, but he changed his mind during a meeting in which Ford reportedly told the skittish star that he would be playing not 'the Great Emancipator' but 'a jack-legged lawyer from Springfield, Illinois - a gawky kid still wet behind the ears who rides a mule because he can't afford a horse'. When Ford clashed with Zanuck over the film's slow pace and grew fearful that the studio would ruin his film in post-production, he destroyed the negatives of every take he disliked and did in-camera editing. The studio disappointed Ford anyway, excising a scene in which Lincoln and a young John Wilkes Booth have a friendly encounter. Like that scene, most of Young Mr. Lincoln is pure Hollywood balderdash, resting on only the slimmest tissue of truth. For instance, the real murder trial depicted in the film was based not on one tried by Lincoln but on a real-life courtroom drama witnessed by Trotti, who had covered it as a reporter. Though it was not in any way an authoritative view of its subject, Young Mr. Lincoln was a masterpiece of cinema, showcasing a writer, director, and star at the top of their games. In a supreme irony, Young Mr. Lincoln was a major inspiration for master Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein in the creation of his propagandistic classic, Ivan the Terrible (1944)." - www.allmovie.com

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Mata Hari 1931 - One legend portrays another

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023196/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: George Fitzmaurice
Main Cast: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley

"Mata Hari is the kind of experience that one can get only from motion pictures. Which isn't to say that it is a great film, mind you. The script is a lot of claptrap, for example. As expected, it is totally inaccurate as biography, but it is also excessively melodramatic and filled with dialogue that makes modern day viewers wince when they don't laugh. But it does provide a showcase for the one and only Greta Garbo, and only a motion picture could do justice to this unique talent. The filmmakers dispense with concessions to reality, creating a visual wonderland that exists solely to point up the beauty and allure of their star. William Daniels' stunningly lit cinematography, Adrian's plethora of gowns, capes and furs, and Cedric Gibbons' fanciful sets are all icing on Garbo's cake, as is leading man Ramon Novarro. His performance is perfunctory, but that's almost beside the point: he looks like the kind of man Garbo should be exchanging passionate kisses with. And Garbo makes all the trouble well worth while. She exudes that strange, indefinable attraction in every frame, somehow making even the sappiest scenes (of which there are several) palatable - and occasionally genuinely moving. As for the rest of the cast, Lionel Barrymore is decidedly over-the-top, but that's in keeping with the general 'film-ic' quality of the piece; C. Gordon Henry has some good moments; and Karen Morley is memorably feisty in her brief appearance." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mata-hari-v31795/

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