I Found Stella Parish (1935)

Set in London, a blackmailer (Barton MacLane) shows up in the dressing room of a famous stage actress (Kay Francis) and threatens to expose her dark past. She goes into hiding with her young daughter (Sybil Jason) by fleeing to the United States, unaware a newspaper reporter (Ian Hunter) is hot on her trail. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy (QUO VADIS). A soap opera along the lines of MADAME X with Kay Francis as the mother forced to give up her daughter and reduced from being a great stage actress to working in burlesque and do LeRoy and Francis wring every teardrop they can! It's the kind of hokey kitsch that you could/should laugh at but strong enough that you can't help but get a lump in your throat! Kay Francis fans should eat this up. With Paul Lukas and Jessie Ralph.

Houdini (1953)

The life of legendary magician Harry Houdini (Tony Curtis) and his rise from a carnival performer to a world renowned magician. Based on the book HOUDINI by Harold Kellock and directed by George Marshall (DESTRY RIDES AGAIN). Who would imagine a movie about the life of Harry Houdini could be such a crashing bore? This highly fictionalized nonsense regurgitates every movie biography cliche imaginable. The film divides its time between the domestic tedium with Janet Leigh as Mrs. Houdini and Houdini's career. The film was popular with audiences (Curtis and Leigh were the "it" couple of young Hollywood at the time) but unless you're a fan of the two, the movie is a slog to sit through. With Torin Thatcher, Angela Clarke, Connie Gilchrist and Michael Pate.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)

With her life literally crashing down around her, a psychotherapist (Rose Byrne in an Oscar nominated performance) attempts to navigate her child's (Delaney Quinn) feeding disorder, her absent husband (Christian Slater), a missing person (Danielle Macdonald) and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist (Conan O'Brien). Written and directed by Mary Bronstein (YEAST). If there's a reason to see this movie, it's Rose Byrne's fierce performance. Byrne throws herself so deeply into her character that it's often hard to watch. But boy, is this movie a colossal downer. As Byrne slowly slips into a spiraling breakdown, I thought it was going to end badly but suddenly, as if giving up, Bronstein puts a small band aid put over a raw and gaping wound as an optimistic sop and that's it! The movie is over. What? The movie hints that Byrne should never have been a mother, it's not natural to her but other than the suggestion, it doesn't investigate any further. Worth seeing for Byrne's magnificent performance but after it's over, don't be surprised if you head toward the liquor cabinet. With A$AP Rocky and Ivy Wolk.

Mr. Moto Takes A Chance (1938)

On a mission to unmask the leader of a military uprising in Tong Mai, a secret agent (Peter Lorre) finds himself deep in the darkest jungles of Asia posing as an archeologist. When an aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson) crash lands on the island, he suspects the crash was intentional. Based on the character created by John P. Marquand and directed by Norman Foster (KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS). The fourth entry in the eight Mr. Moto movie franchise is one of the weaker efforts. Filmed on a 20th Century Fox soundstage jungle, it's quite pedestrian. I prefer the Moto detective murder mysteries to the action adventures like this one. I found this entry to be on the silly side but its brief running time of one hour and three minutes makes it tolerable. With Robert Kent, Chick Chandler and J. Edward Bromberg.

Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) (1955)

A small time American smuggler (Robert Arden) is hired by a mysterious millionaire (Orson Welles) to dig into his past and discover his true identity as the millionaire has amnesia and no recollection of his life prior to 1927. Written and directed by Orson Welles (CITIZEN KANE). Apparently Welles never completed the film (creative control was taken away from him) and the movie has been released in several different versions and running times. There's a Spanish language version with Katina Paxinou and Suzanne Flon replaced by Irene Lopez Heredia and Amparo Rivelles respectively. The original U.S. release removes the film's flashback structure entirely. The transfer I saw is reputedly the closest to Welles' vision and runs one hour and 46 minutes. I suppose it's unfair to make any definitive comments on the film as Welles died in 1985 and this version was assembled in 2006. What remains is supremely tantalizing but near incomprehensible. But clearly the work of a master film maker. The only negative in the film is Robert Arden, whose amateurish performance is just terrible. With Michael Redgrave, Akim Tamiroff, Patricia Medina, Peter Van Eyck, Gert Frobe, Mischa Auer, Gregoire Aslan, Tamara Shayne and Paola Mori, who would become Welles' third wife.

Woman Of The Year (1942)

Two journalists working on the same newspaper are as different as night and day. Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) is an international political pundit and Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) is a down to earth sportswriter. They fall in love and get married and that's when their differences prove an impediment to a happy marriage. Directed by George Stevens (GUNGA DIN). The first pairing of Tracy and Hepburn, who would go on to make eight more films together. The chemistry is immediately apparent and Tracy (or was it Stevens?) brings out a sexiness in Hepburn that she never had before or since. While Tracy and Hepburn are wonderful here, the movie leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The original ending proved unpopular in previews so a new ending was written and filmed and it's downright offensive. Hepburn's character is punished for being a feminist and career woman so she's humiliated in the kitchen by showing her incompetence. She can't even make toast and what was funny when Lucille Ball did it on I LOVE LUCY is derogatory here. Ball's Lucy was ditzy which made it funny, Hepburn is an intellectual feminist getting her comeuppance for being a career woman rather than a housewife. With Fay Bainter, William Bendix, Roscoe Karns, Dan Tobin and Sara Haden.

Spin A Dark Web (aka Soho Incident) (1956)

A Canadian (Lee Patterson) living in London is trying to make a career as a prizefighter without much success. A chance encounter with an army buddy (Robert Arden) gets him a job with a local mobster (Martin Benson). But it's the mobster's deadly sister (Faith Domergue) who will lead him into a web of murder. Based on the novel WIDE BOYS NEVER WORK by Robert Westerby and directed by Vernon Sewell (CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR). An example of low budget British noir, efficient but routine. Domergue makes for a deliciously wicked femme fatale but the rest of the cast don't make much of an impression. To his credit, director Sewell manages to imbue the movie with a strong sense of place (London's Soho district), aided by Basil Emmott's (THE LONG HAUL) excellent B&W lensing. With Rona Anderson and Joss Ambler.

Spring In Park Lane (1948)

The niece and secretary (Anna Neagle) of a wealthy art collector (Tom Walls) finds the new footman (Michael Wilding) anything but a lowly servant. He arouses her suspicions and she is determined to find out his true identity. Based on the novel COME OUT OF THE KITCHEN by Alice Duer Miller and directed by Herbert Wilcox (NO NO NANETTE). A huge success in Great Britain (it was the highest grossing British film of 1948), this is a modestly charming romantic comedy. So popular that Wilcox reunited Neagle and Wilding the following year in MAYTIME IN MAYFAIR and it was another big hit for the trio. PARK LANE's popularity wasn't repeated in the U.S. But it has a certain "quaint" appeal and I found Neagle more appealing than usual and one can see why Wilding was a box office favorite among the Brits. Wilding would soon move to Hollywood where his British success wasn't duplicated (but he did marry Elizabeth Taylor). With Marjorie Fielding and Nigel Patrick.

L'Armee De Ombres (aka Army Of Shadows) (1969)

Set in 1942 France during WWII, a small group of resistance fighters move between safe houses, work with the Allied militaries, kill informers and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate. Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel (BELLE DU JOUR) and directed by Jean Pierre Melville (LE SAMOURAI). Inexplicably, this 1969 French film was not released in the United States until 2006 when it was critically acclaimed by U.S. critics. It's a complex look at the inner workings of the French resistance during WWII and the intense conflict between loyalty, friendship and the distressing decisions that had to be made and feelings set aside. Jean Pierre Melville creates a perception of location and atmosphere that gives an authenticity to the proceedings. Featuring excellent ensemble work by Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Jean Pierre Cassel, Serge Reggiani, Paul Meurisse and Claude Mann.

Swing High, Swing Low (1937)

Set in Panama, a singer (Carole Lombard) falls in love with a trumpet player (Fred MacMurray) who has no ambition. He's happy the way things are but she pushes him toward success. Based on the play BURLESQUE by George Manker Watters and Arthur Hopkins and directed by Mitchell Leisen (TO EACH HIS OWN). This was the third of the four movies Lombard and MacMurray made together. One doesn't think of them as a team but they had a nice rapport and the chemistry was there. That harmony is the only successful thing about this hokey romantic comedy. It was probably hokey in 1927 when the play was first produced. Lombard's character is rather unpleasant here. MacMurray's trumpeter is happy in Panama with his modest success and his marriage but she pushes him into going to New York for fame and fortune even though she knows there's another woman (Dorothy Lamour) waiting to get her hands on him. Remade in 1948 as WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME with Betty Grable and Dan Dailey. With Charles Butterworth, Jean Dixon and Cecil Cunningham.

Troy (2004)

When Paris (Orlando Bloom), a prince of Troy, runs of with Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of Menelaus the King of Sparta (Brendan Gleeson), the King's brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) uses it as an excuse to start a war with Troy. Loosely, very loosely based on THE ILIAD by Homer and directed by Wolfgang Petersen (DAS BOOT). An atrocity that makes a travesty of Homer's epic. Where does one start? The movie has Hector (Eric Bana) kill Menelaus early in the movie when in THE ILIAD, Menelaus survives and takes Helen back to Greece. Here, Helen and Paris live happily ever after. Here, Agamemnon is killed by a Trojan high priestess (Rose Byrne) while he survived the war and was murdered by his wife when he returned to Greece. The Trojan War lasted ten years, Petersen has it last months. There are many more but I'll leave it at that. As Achilles, Brad Pitt is given a blonde dye job and he looks more like a Malibu surfer than a Greek warrior. As Helen, Diane Kruger is cute as a button but she couldn't launch a canoe much less a thousand ships and as Paris, the scrawny Orlando Bloom exhibits zero magnetism. In BEN-HUR (1959), when you saw that cast of thousands, they were real people, here they're obvious computer generated images which makes the battle sequences unimpressive. In THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), when you saw the awesome Roman Forum, those were real buildings built for the film. Here, they're CGI background and look it. At three and a half hours, this is a real slog and badly acted (as Agamemnon, Brian Cox acts as if he were in a pirate movie and he's playing Blackbeard The Pirate). Unclean! With Peter O'Toole, Julie Christie, Sean Bean and Saffron Burrows.

The Kiss (1929)

A young boy (Lew Ayres) is infatuated with an older married woman (Greta Garbo). When he gives her an innocent kiss, her jealous husband (Anders Randolf) goes into a rage and begins beating the boy mercilessly. A shot rings out and the husband is dead. But by whose hands? Based on a short story by George M. Saville and directed by Jacques Feyder (KNIGHT WITHOUT HONOR). MGM was making the transition from silent films to talkies and THE KISS was one of their last silent movies. It was Garbo's last silent film and one of her biggest hits. However, it's not one of her better films. She is glorious, of course, and her presence elevates the film but it's a tired cliche ridden romance of an unhappily married woman staying in a loveless marriage to avoid scandal but it comes anyway. For Garbo fans only. With Conrad Nagel and Holmes Herbert.