7.5

The Big Combo

1955, USA

• Actors: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Jean Wallace, Robert Middleton, Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman, Helen Walker, Jay Adler, John Hoyt, Ted de Corsia, Helene Stanton, Roy Gordon, Whit Bissell, Steve Mitchell, Baynes Barron, James McCallion, Tony Michaels, Brian O'Hara, Rita Gould, Bruce Sharpe, Michael Mark, Philip Van Zandt, Donna Drew, Eve Bernhardt, Jack Chefe, James Conaty, Jakob Gimpel, Herbert Lytton
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
• Director(s): Joseph H. Lewis
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Police Lt. Diamond is told to close his surveillance of suspected mob boss Mr. Brown because it's costing the department too much money with no results. Diamond makes one last attempt to uncover evidence against Brown by going to Brown's girlfriend, Susan Lowell.

  6.7

Daddy Long Legs

1954, USA

• Actors: Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Thelma Ritter, Fred Clark, Charlotte Austin, Larry Keating, Kathryn Givney, Kelly Brown, Ray Anthony, Robert Adler, Gertrude Astor, Paul Bradley, Tim Cagney, Kathryn Card, John Carlyle, Janice Carroll, Barrie Chase, Ann Codee, James Conaty, James Cromwell, Lillian Culver, Sayre Dearing, Guy Des Rochers, Shirley Doble, Ralph Dumke, George Dunn, Pat Ferguson, Steven Geray, Kelly Gordon
• Genre: Musical, Romance
• Director(s): Jean Negulesco
• Available languages:
  • English English.

On a trip to France, millionaire Jervis Pendelton sees an 18 year old girl in an orphanage. Enchanted with her, but mindful of the difference in their ages, he sponsors her to college in New England. She writes him letters, which he doesn't read. After 3 years, he goes to visit her at a dance, not telling her that he is her benefactor. They fall in love, but the usual movie-type difficulties get in the way before they can get together at the end.

  7.1

The War of the Worlds

1952, USA

• Actors: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio, Lewis Martin, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Paul Frees, William Phipps, Vernon Rich, Henry Brandon, Jack Kruschen, Cedric Hardwicke, Cliff Clark, Rudy Lee, Peter Adams, Eric Alden, Hugh Allen, Ruth Barnell, Edgar Barrier, Russ Bender, Paul Birch, Hazel Boyne, Tony Butala, Mushy Callahan, Ann Codee, Edward Colmans, James Conaty, Russ Conway, Martin Coulter
• Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
• Director(s): Byron Haskin
• Available languages:
  • English English.

H.G. Well's classic novel is brought to life is this tale of alien invasion. The residents of a small town in California are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills. Their joy is tempered somewhat when they discover that it has passengers who are not very friendly. The movie itself is understood better when you consider that it was made at the height of the Cold War--just replace Martian with Russian....

  8.0

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1951, USA

• Actors: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin, Patrick Aherne, Holly Bane, Oscar Blanke, Marshall Bradford, John Brown, John Burton, Wheaton Chambers, Jean Charney, Beulah Christian, John Close, Louise Colombet, James Conaty, Frank Conroy, Eric Corrie, John Costello, James Craven, Marjorie Crossland, Jack Daly, Elmer Davis, Lawrence Dobkin, Jim Doyle, Roy Engel, Charles Evans
• Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
• Director(s): Robert Wise
• Available languages:
  • English English.

An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. They bring an important message to the planet that Klaatu wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, communication turns out to be difficult, so, after learning something about the natives, Klaatu decides on an alternative approach.

  8.4

All About Eve

1950, USA

• Actors: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Gregory Ratoff, Barbara Bates, Marilyn Monroe, Thelma Ritter, Walter Hampden, Randy Stuart, Craig Hill, Leland Harris, Barbara White, Eddie Fisher, William Pullen, Claude Stroud, Eugene Borden, Helen Mowery, Steven Geray, Gertrude Astor, Ralph Brooks, Jack Chefe, James Conaty, Franklyn Farnum, Bess Flowers, Thomas Martin, Harold Miller, Stanley Orr
• Genre: Drama
• Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Aspiring actress Eve Harrington maneuvers her way into the lives of Broadway star Margo Channing, playwright Lloyd Richards and director Bill Sampson. This classic story of ambition and betrayal has become part of American folklore. Bette Davis claims to have based her character on the persona of film actress Talullah Bankhead. Davis' line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night" is legendary, but, in fact, all of the film's dialog sparkles with equal brilliance.

  7.6

All the King's Men

1949, USA

• Actors: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek, Mercedes McCambridge, Shepperd Strudwick, Ralph Dumke, Anne Seymour, Katherine Warren, Raymond Greenleaf, Walter Burke, Will Wright, Grandon Rhodes, Beau Anderson, Sam Ash, Richard Bartell, Mary Bear, Helena Benda, Stanley Blystone, Marshall Bradford, William Bruce, Wheaton Chambers, Edwin Chandler, Alden 'Stephen' Chase, James Conaty, William Cottrell, Kenneth Cutler, Roy Darmour, Earle S. Dewey, King Donovan
• Genre: Drama
• Director(s): Robert Rossen
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Jack Burden is a newspaper reporter who first hears of Willie Stark when his editor sends him to Kanoma County to cover the man. What's special about this nobody running for county treasurer? He's supposedly an honest man. Burden discovers this to be true when he sees Stark delivering a speech and having his son pass out handbills, while the local politicians do their best to intimidate him. Willie Stark is honest and brave. He's also a know-nothing hick whose schoolteacher wife has given him what little education he has. Stark loses the race for treasurer, but later makes his way through law school, becoming an idealistic attorney who fights for what is good. Someone in the governor's employ remembers Stark when the governor needs a patsy to run against him and split the vote of his rival. The fat cats underestimate Stark; but Jack Burden, Stark's biggest supporter, overestimates the man's idealism. To get where he wants to go, Willie Stark is willing to crack a few eggs - which include his tough-talking assistant, Sadie Burke; Jack's poised and elegant fiancée, Anne Stanton; and even Jack Burden himself.

  8.3

The Best Years of Our Lives

1946, USA

• Actors: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Donnell, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Russell, Gladys George, Roman Bohnen, Ray Collins, Minna Gombell, Walter Baldwin, Steve Cochran, Dorothy Adams, Don Beddoe, Marlene Aames, Charles Halton, Ray Teal, Howland Chamberlain, Dean White, Erskine Sanford, Michael Hall, Victor Cutler, Gene Krupa, James Ames, Carol Andrews, Mary Arden, Al Bridge, Harry Cheshire
• Genre: Drama, Romance, War
• Director(s): William Wyler
• Available languages:
  • English English.

The story concentrates on the social re-adjustment of three World War II servicemen, each from a different station of society. Al Stephenson returns to an influential banking position, but finds it hard to reconcile his loyalties to ex-servicemen with new commercial realities. Fred Derry is an ordinary working man who finds it difficult to hold down a job or pick up the threads of his marriage. Having had both hands burnt off during the war, Homer Parrish is unsure that his fiancée's feelings are still those of love and not those of pity. Each of the veterans faces a crisis upon his arrival, and each crisis is a microcosm of the experiences of many American warriors who found an alien world awaiting them when they came marching home.

  8.1

The Lost Weekend

1945, USA

• Actors: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Frank Faylen, Mary Young, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Lillian Fontaine, Frank Orth, Lewis L. Russell, Andy Andrews, Gene Ashley, Walter Baldwin, Harry Barris, Ian Begg, Jess Lee Brooks, Jack Clifford, David Clyde, James Conaty, Willa Pearl Curtis, John Deauville, Helen Dickson, Clark Eggleston, Franklyn Farnum, Byron Foulger, John Garris, Jayne Hazard, Ted Hecht, Ernest Hilliard
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Director(s): Billy Wilder
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Don Birnam, long-time alcoholic, has been "on the wagon" for ten days and seems to be over the worst; but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother Wick and girlfriend Helen, he begins a four-day bender. In flashbacks we see past events, all gone wrong because of the bottle. But this bout looks like being his last...one way or the other.