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Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) begins in early 1942, when Lt. Col. James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) calls for volunteers for a top-secret Army Air Force mission, following the surprise Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. One of the many men to offer his services is pilot Lt. Ted Lawson (Van Johnson), who is sent for training at Eglin Field in Florida, along with his B-25 Mitchell crew, including gunner Cpl. David Thatcher (Robert Walker) and navigator Lt. Charles McClure (Don DeFore). Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson as James Doolittle and Ted Lawson in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo .   During the first of many briefings, Doolittle informs the men that the mission they are about to undertake will be tough and dangerous, and encourages anyone with doubts to drop out. Ted's friend and fellow pilot, Lt. Bob Gray (Robert Mitchum), suggests that he withdraw from the mission, since he recently got married, but Ted remains determined to go thro...

In honour of Ginger Rogers' 105th birthday, which is tomorrow, this week on «Film Friday» I thought I would bring you one of my favourite films of hers. This is also the picture that gave her the only Academy Award for Best Actress of her career. Directed by Sam Wood, Kitty Foyle (1940) opens with Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers), a cosmetic saleswoman in a New York boutique owned by Delphine Detaille (Odette Myrtil), trying to decide whether she should marry Dr. Mark Eisen (James Craig) and be respectable, or sail away with the already-married Wyn Strafford (Dennis Morgan), whom she has loved for many years and has just re-entered her life. As she wrestles with her conscience, Kitty thinks back to her youth in Philadelphia, where she lived with her Irish father, Tom (Ernest Cossart). Teenage Kitty is obsessed with the city's elite «Main Liners» and dreams of marrying a rich man, despite her father's warnings against getting carried away with her fantasies.   Ginger Rogers, Ja...

Directed by William Wyler, Roman Holiday (1953) tells the story of Ann (Audrey Hepburn), the crown princess of an unspecified European country, who has just embarked on a multi-city goodwill tour. In Rome, she becomes frustrated with her endless schedule, to the point of throwing a fit. Her doctor gives her a sedative to calm her down, but she manages to escape the embassy. The drug eventually makes her fall asleep on a bench, where Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a reporter for the American News Service, finds her. Unaware of her identity, Joe assists Ann to his apartment and lets her spend the night there. The next morning, Joe, having already slept through the interview Princess Ann was scheduled to give, rushes out to work, leaving her behind still asleep. After his editor, Mr. Hennessy (Hartley Power), scolds him for missing the interview with the princess, Joe sees a photograph of Ann in the newspaper and realizes who is in his apartment. Seeing his opportunity to make good money ...