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Because of the Kirk Douglas blogathon, I was not able to write my «Film Friday» article on time. So, this week's «Film Friday» comes on a Sunday instead. I am honoring Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s 107th birthday, which was also on Friday, by telling you about one of the first films I ever saw with him. Directed by George Stevens, Gunga Din (1939) begins in an encampment of Her Majesty's Lancers in Colonial India, where the commanding officer, Colonel Weed (Montagu Love), learns that the telegraph wires to one of their outposts have been cut. To investigate the matter, he dispatches a detachment of 25 troops, led by his three most dependable sergeants: the calculating Archibald Cutter (Cary Grant), ever dreaming of discovering a hidden treasure; the grizzled veteran «Mac» MacChesney (Victor McLaglen); and the gentlemanly Thomas «Tommy» Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), whose sole focus is his imminent discharge and marriage to his fiancé, Emaline «Emmy» Stebbins (Joan Fontain...

Keeping with both my Oscar-themed «Film Fridays» and my James Dean-themed week, this week on «Film Friday» I bring the only James Dean film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Incidentally, this was the last film he appeared in. Directed by George Stevens, Giant (1956) begins with Texas cattle tycoon Jordan «Bick» Benedict Jr. (Rock Hudson) falling in love with Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor) while on a horse-buying trip to Maryland. They marry and return to Texas to live on the Benedict family ranch, Reata, where Leslie finds an unwelcoming sister-in-law, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge), and a handyman, Jett Rink (James Dean), who despises Bick. When Luz dies following a horse-riding accident, Jett learns that she has left him a small piece of land on the Benedict ranch, which he makes his home and names Little Reata. After refusing the Benedict family's offer to buy Little Reata, Jett discovers oil on the land, making him a rich man. Meanwhile, Leslie and Bi...

My initial plan for today was to write about a Vivien Leigh film in celebration of her 102th birthday, which was yesterday. However, since I already did that for The Vivien Leigh & Laurence Olivier Blogathon , I decided that today I would honour instead Vivien's «birthday twin,» Joel McCrea. So, this week on «Film Friday» I am going to tell you a little bit about one of Joel McCrea's most iconic films, which also happens to be the first film I ever saw with him. Directed by George Stevens, The More the Merrier (1943) concerns Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur), a young government worker who reluctantly agrees to rent out half of her apartment to an older gentleman, Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn), in order to ease the housing shortage in wartime Washington, D.C. Without Connie's knowledge, Mr. Dingle then sublets half of his half of the apartment to Sergeant Joe Carter (Joel McCrea), a handsome aircraft technician waiting to be shipped overseas. When Connie learns about t...

This week on "Film Friday" I bring you a film that had its premiere exactly 64 years ago. Apparently, Charlie Chaplin described it as "the greatest movie ever made about America." Original release poster Directed by George Stevens, A Place in the Sun (1951) tells the story of George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), an uneducated but ambitious young man who hitchhikes from Chicago to meet up with his wealthy uncle Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes), the owner of a bathing suit factory. Despite George's family relation to the Eastmans, they regard him as something of an outsider, but his uncle nevertheless gives him a position as an assembly line worker at the factory. While dating between co-workers is strictly forbidden, George soon begins a relationship with Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), a poor and inexperienced girl who never learned how to swim. Over time, George proves himself in the company and gets promoted to supervisor in the department where he b...