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Clara Bow and Lawrence Gray in a promotional photo, circa 1925.  Marie Wilson in a promotional photo, circa 1948.      Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr at a New Year's Eve party in Hollywood in 1939.   Debbie Reynolds in a promotional portrait (1952).    Bette Davis in a promotional photo, circa 1935.    James Cagney and his wife, Billie, at a New Year's Eve party in New York City, in 1939.   Cyd Charisse in a promotional photo (1949).      Mae West in a promotional photo for Paramount Pictures (1936).

In honour of Joan Fontaine's 99th birthday, which is tomorrow, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you what she described as her favourite of all of her films. Directed by Edmund Goulding, The Constant Nymph (1943) begins when composer Lewis Dodd (Charles Boyer) travels to Switzerland after his latest symphony is badly received in London. He stays at the home of his old friend and fellow musician Albert Sanger (Montagu Love), causing great excitement among his four daughters: Kate (Jean Muir), Toni (Brenda Marshall), Tessa (Joan Fontaine) and Paula (Joyce Reynolds). Despite the fact that she is only a teenager, Tessa is in love with Lewis and dreams of helping him reach his full promise as a composer. Worrying about his sheltered daughters' future, the ailing Sanger instructs Lewis to contact his wealthy brother-in-law, Charles Creighton (Charles Coburn), when he dies. Charles Boyer, Alexis Smith, Peter Lorre and Joan Fontaine in The Constant Nymph . Upon Sanger's death, ...

To celebrate Robert Redford's 79th birthday, wh ich was on Tuesday, this week on "Film Friday" I bring you the film that made the blue-eyed, blonde-haired "Sundance Kid" a star. Theatrical release poster Directed by Gene Saks, Barefoot in the Park (1967) tells the story of Corie (Jane Fonda) and Paul Bratter (Robert Redford), a recently married couple who move into a fifth floor apartment in Greenwich Village, after spending their entire six-day honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel. A n optimistic and free-spirited young woman , Cor ie i s determined to turn the small, cold and leaky apartment, one that everyone ha s to climb several flights of stairs to get to, into the perfect little home for the two of them. The "stuffed-shirt" Paul, however, is utterly dismayed by the inconvenience and general drabness of the place. One of their many oddball neighbors is Victor Velasco (Charles Boyer), an eccentric, self-admitted libertine who has been livin...