Week 13. Sergeant York (1941)

Post pending.

Week 12. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Post pending.

Week 11. Destry Rides Again (1939)

3.7 STARS - GOOD SHOW!

“I liked it a lot, but I thought that Frenchy was too dramatic…wait…who am I to talk?”  --Syd

“You gotta love Jimmy Stewart--so cute when he was young..” --Stacy

The Film:  The Western town of Bottleneck is run by saloon owner, Kent, with the help of his heavy-handed henchmen.  He runs a crooked card game, cheating a local rancher out of his land, aided by the saloon chanteuse, Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich).  When the town sheriff goes to investigate, he’s apparently killed.  But Kent puts out the story that sheriff suddenly had to leave town.  The corrupt, tobacco-chewing mayor, appoints the town drunk, “Wash” Dimsdale,” sheriff, hoping not
to have any trouble out of him. 

But Dimsdale sobers up and sends for Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Destry, Jr. (James Stewart) to be his deputy and help him clean up the town.  Destry is the son of a much-respected former sheriff, but trouble is, he doesn’t believe in carrying a gun.  Worse yet, on stepping out of the stage to town, he's holding a parasol and parakeet cage.  The rough townspeople attempt to humiliate him, but Destry handles their attacks--verbal and physical--with calm and wit.  Then he starts wondering what happened to the recently departed sheriff….

Week 10. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

4.6 STARS - REEEALLY GOOD!!

“It’s way different than the Disney one.  It does not include animals.” --Sydney

The Film:  A familiar tale done up in the still-new Technicolor process that uses three layers of different colored film.  The conniving Prince John (Basil Rathbone) tries to usurp King Richard the Lion-Heart’s (Ian Hunter) throne while he’s away Crusading.  John, a Norman, oppresses the Saxon underclass with heavy taxes and heavier-handed law enforcement.  Earl Robin of Locksley, himself a knight, wages a guerilla war to overthrow John’s rule and improve the lot of his fellow Saxons.  Errol Flynn (as Robin Hood) also fills the screen with his own color--his acting irrepressibly joyful and his swashbuckling ever light-footed.  Another treat is Claude Rains as the evil, yet playfully mischievous, Prince John.  Rains is better known as the aging father to Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946).