Casablanc
Starring - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson.
Release Date - January 1, 1942.
Synopsis - The time: World War II. The place: Morocco. The film: Casablanca, perhaps the most legendary achievement in cinematic history. Suspenseful, gloriously romantic and filled with unforgettable dialog, this winner of three Oscars continues to top critics' lists of all-time favorite films, for as Roger Ebert so aptly put it: “Casablanca is the movie!” Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman light up the screen as Rick and Ilsa, former lovers briefly reunited in the chaos of war. He is a world-weary nightclub owner who “sticks his neck out for nobody” and she, a beautiful woman fleeing the Nazis with her Resistance-hero husband. Only Rick can help the pair escape... and only if Ilsa can reawaken the idealism she killed in him when she left him long ago. Bogie and Bergman are incomparable as the star-crossed lovers who'll “always have Paris” - and Casablanca is the quintessential, eminently quotable film you'll watch again and again “as time goes by”
Gone With the Wind
Starring - Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel.
Release Date - December 15, 1939.
Synopsis - Hot-tempered, self-centered, part-Irish Southern beauty Scarlett O?Hara, played to the teeth by Vivien Leigh, loves the gentlemanly Ashley Wilkes. Smug, rebellious, honest blockade-running profiteer Rhett Butler, portrayed gracefully and naturally by Clark Gable, loves Scarlett. Ashley, who is also in love with Scarlett, marries his genteel cousin Melanie because he believes that their quiet similarities will create a better marriage than Scarlett?s passion. Meanwhile, sparks fly between Rhett and Scarlett at their first encounter and continue throughout Scarlett?s first two marriages. Scarlett and Rhett finally wed, but Scarlett continues to pine for her beloved Ashley. Set against the Civil War and Southern Reconstruction, this tragic love quadrangle offers the burning of Atlanta and fields of wounded Confederates as part of its lush scenery. Meticulous backdrops, glorious sunsets, numerous silhouettes, and the ultrasaturated Technicolor film create a hyperreal vision. The romantic score is every bit as lush and dramatic as the photography, borrowing folk melodies from the Old South to make the tragic war concrete. Heavy nostalgic tones pervade the often witty dialogue and larger-than-life charms and faults of the leads. GONE WITH THE WIND stands among the greatest epic dramas ever filmed.
Roman Holiday
Starring - Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, Hartley power, Harcourt Williams, Margaret Rawlings, Tullio Carminati.
Release Date - January 1, 1953.
Synopsis - Roman Holiday was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and Audrey Hepburn captured an Oscar for her portrayal of a modern-day princess, rebelling against the royal obligations, who explores Rome on her own. She meets Gregory Peck, an American newspaperman who, seeking an exclusive story, pretends ignorance of her true identity. But his plan falters as they fall in love. Eddie Albert contributes to the fun as Peck's carefree cameraman pal. Stylishly directed by William Wyler, this romantic comedy ranks as one of the most enjoyable films of all times.
An Affair to Remember
Starring - Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Louis Mercier, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt, Robert Q. Lewis, Charles Watts, Fortunio Bonanova, Matt Moore..
Release Date - July 11th, 1957.
Synopsis - Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), the world's most eligible bachelor, is set to marry a young heiress worth $600 million. While the news is flashed around the world, Nickie's traveling alone on a luxury liner bound for New York. Unfortunately for his bride-to-be, a shipboard romance with a beautiful nightclub singer, Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), makes Nickie realize he is engaged to the wrong woman.
The Way We Were
Starring - Barbara Steisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman, Lous Chiles, Patrick O'Neil, Viveca Lindfors, Murray Hamilton, Sally Kirkland, Susan Blakely.
Release Date - October 17th, 1973.
Synopsis - The story begins on a college campus where Hubbell Gardiner (Redford) is the popular star athlete while Katie Morosky (Streisand) is the abrasive defender of radical causes. It is only by chance that eight years later they meet in a bar and fall in love. Their marriage is strained by their inevitable conflicts and reaches a painful end when Hubbell, now a screenwriter in Hollywood, is threatened by McCarthy's communist hunters and takes the easy way out, while Katie is determined to fight them. Nominated for six Academy Awards, The Way We Were is a love story of rare poignancy.
Doctor Zhivag
Starring - Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Gunness, Tom Courtenay.
Release Date - December 22, 1965.
Synopsis - Lara inspires lechery in Komarovsky (her mother's lover who is a master at surviving whoever runs Russia) and can't compete with passion for the revolution of the man she marries, Pasha. Her true love is Zhivago who also loves his wife. Lara is the one who inspires poetry. The story is narrated by Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf, who has made his career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long lost daughter of Lara and Zhivago.
It's A Wonderful Life
Starring - James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, H.B.Warner, Frank Albertson, Todd Karns, Samuel S. Hinds, Virginia Patton, Charles Williams, Sarah Edwards, William Edmunds.
Release Date - December 25, 1946..
Synopsis - George Bailey is a small-town man whose life seems so desperate he contemplates suicide. He had always wanted to leave Bedford Falls to see the world, but circumstances and his own good heart have led him to stay. He sacrficed his education for his brother's, kept the family-run savings and loan afloat, protected the town from the avarice of the greedy banker Mr. Potter, and married his childhood sweetheart. As he prepares to jump from a bridge, his guardian angel intercedes, showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls is he had never lived.
City Lights
Starring - Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Allan Garcia, Hank Mann.
Release Date - January 1, 1931.
Synopsis - With City Lights, Charlie Chaplin gambled that the power of good storytelling and the appeal of The Little Tramp could overcome any perceived advantages of the captivating but still primitive technology of sound. His gamble paid off as critics and fans alike raved about this touching and simple story of a young blind woman who believes The Little Tramp is a wealthy duke. In a series of comic adventures that only Chaplin could pull off, The Tramp sets out to earn the money that will pay for an operation to restore the young woman's sight. While he succeeds, his efforts land him in jail, but the girl still has a successful operation and yearns to meet her benefactor. The closing scene in which she discovers that he is not a wealthy duke but only The Little Tramp was described by critic James Agee as "the highest moment in movies" and brought the audience to tears.
King Kong
Starring - Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange, Charles Grodin, John Randolph, Rene Auberjonois.
Release Date - 1976.
Synopsis - The Big Apple is again besieged by the monstrous King Kong. Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange star in the ambitious remake of the original, which adds a great deal of camp and good fun to the story. Again, the gargantuan ape battles attacking aircraft high above the streets of New York, this time plunging from the top of the World Trade Canter to his death amidst thousands of horrified onlookers. King Kong won an Oscar for special effects, and the horror and the thrills are brought anew to another generation in this classic and classy production.
When Harry Met Sally...
Starring - Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford.
Release Date - July 12th, 1989.
Synopsis - Does sex make it impossible for men and women to be true friends? This romantic comedy chronicles this dilemma through the eleven year relationship between Harry and Sally who meet in college, then pursue their own lives until they reconnect ten years later.
