Back to Golden Days

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...

Esther Pressman, Kay Gordon, Bonita Parker, Dorothy Thompson and Dene Myles (Paramount press release, 1935) Sandra Dee Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum (publicity still for Holiday Affair , 1949) Shirley Jones Buster Keaton and his sons Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard at Christmas time (1953)

In honour of Deborah Kerr's 95th birthday, which is today, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you what is perhaps one of her best remembered pictures. This is one of my personal favourites of hers, and also the film that made me a Robert Mitchum fan.  Directed by John Huston, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) begins when United States Marine Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) finds himself stranded on a deserted South Pacific island in 1944. He finds an abandoned settlement and a chapel with one occupant, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), an Irish Catholic novice nun who has not yet taken her final vows. She herself has only landed there a few days before with Father Philips, who has since died. Despite their extreme differences in backgrounds and outlooks, their are respectful of each other's vocation and soon form a close bond. For a while, Allison and Sister Angela have the bountiful island completely to themselves, but then a detachment of Japanese troops arrives to set up a wea...

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed a formal surrender that effectively brought an end to World War II. In honour of the 71st anniversary of «V-J Day,» as the occasion became known, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you a picture that documents the events that marked the beginning of the end of six long years of devastating conflict. Directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton and Bernhard Wicki, The Longest Day (1962) opens in June 1944 in England, where the Allied troops are preparing to invade France through the coast of Normandy. Despite threats of poor weather that might ruin their chances of succeeding in their mission, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Henry Grace) decides that the assault will take place in the early hours of June 6. On the other side of the Channel, the German High Command — expecting the invasion to happen at Pas-de-Calais, and assuming it will not happen anyway due to the current bad weather — is caught completely unaware. Because Adolf Hitler has taken a sleeping p...