Week 9. Captains Courageous (1937)

5 STARS - A FAMILY FAVE!!!


“I loved it, though I cried myself to sleep.”--Syd

The Film:  A spoiled rich kid, Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) gets kicked out of school and must accompany his father (Melvyn Douglas), a distant, preoccupied tycoon, on a steamer to Europe.  He falls overboard off the coast of New England only to be rescued by Manuel (Spencer Tracy), a likeable fisherman who becomes his mentor and protector.

Week 8. My Man Godfrey (1936)

4 STARS - REEEALLY GOOD!!

“I liked him as a butler.  Irene has a huge crush on him and he just ignored her blabbering.”--Sydney

The Film:  Godfrey (William Powell), the disillusioned scion of a wealthy family, lives anonymously in a dump with the humble, but goodhearted downtrodden in this Depression era comedy.  Things change when sisters Irene (Carole Lombard) and Cornelia Bullock, compete to grab him as a specimen “forgotten man" to win a tasteless scavenger hunt played with their idle rich friends.  When this leads to a job as the family butler, he must constantly spur Irene's compromising advances and dodge Cornelia's vengeful sabotages, all the while

Week 7. It’s a Gift (1935)

3½ STARS - GOOD SHOW!

“I felt sorry for him, and no wonder why he seemed to drink in many scenes.”--Kenz

The Film:  A classic W. C. Fields’ sight gag comedy.  A henpecked shopkeeper dreams of chucking it all, moving to California and buying an orange grove.  Each scene is a mini-comedy unto itself, rivaling many an SNL skit.  Several are painfully funny classics--the shaving scene, blind man crossing the street, sleeping on the porch, picnic on the mansion lawn.  Do you have QUMQUATS?!!!

Week 6. It Happened One Night (1934)

4 ¾ STARS - TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

“I kinda forgot how high that skirt got hitched!”--Ladd

The Film:  Heiress to a famously wealthy family, poor little rich girl Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), dives off her father’s yacht to escape his decree she shall not marry a business rival he despises.  Now penniless and on the run, she must somehow get from California to New York, dodging a hungry press and alert travelers anxious to score daddy’s hefty reward.  Grudgingly, she accepts the help of a cynical, street-smart fellow traveler