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For my last Oscar-themed «Film Friday» I decided to bring you the Best Picture winner of 1947. This was the second Gregory Peck film I saw — the first was Designing Woman (1957) — and my first time seeing both John Garfield and Dorothy McGuire on screen. Directed by Elia Kazan, Gentleman's Agreement (1947) tells the story of Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck), a widowed journalist who moves to New York City with his son Tommy (Dean Stockwell) and mother (Anne Revere) to work for a magazine called Smith's Weekly . His publisher, John Minify (Albert Dekker), wants him to write a series of articles on the subject of anti-Semitism. The project was suggested by Minify's divorced niece Kathy Lacey (Dorothy McGuire), with whom Phil soon falls in love. In order to get genuine insight into the matter, Phil, a gentile, decides to adopt a Jewish identity («Phil Greenberg») and write about his first-hand experiences in an article entitled «I Was Jewish For Six Months.»  As Phil ...

To celebrate Mickey Rooney's 95th birthday, this week on "Film Friday" I bring you one of his best-remembered films, wherein he gave one of the most endearing performances of his career. Incidentally, this is also the film that made Elizabeth Taylor a star.   Original release poster Directed by Clarence Brown, National Velvet (1944) tells the story of Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor), a 12-year-old girl living in a small 1920s English town with her parents (Donald Crisp and Anne Revere) and her three siblings, Edwina (Angela Lansbury), Malvolia (Juanita Quigley) and Donald (Jackie Jenkins). While walking home from school one day, Velvet meets a mysterious young drifter named Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney), who has come to town in search of the Brown family after finding Mrs. Brown name and address in one of his deceased father's notebooks. As Velvet is talking to Mi, she sees a rambunctious horse being chased by its owner, Mr. Ede (Reginald Owen), and immediately...