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This week on «Film Friday,» I'm celebrating Peter Lawford's 93th birthday, which was on Wednesday, by telling you a little bit about one of my favourite films of his. Directed by Charles Walters, Good News (1947) open in 1927 as the pretentious Pat McLellan (Patricia Marshall) arrives at Tait College to begin her studies. Her arrival causes quite a stir on campus and she wins the immediate adoration of all the male students, including Tommy Marlowe (Peter Lawford), the captain of the school's football team. Instantly smitten, Tommy tries to win her heart, but Pat deliberately resists his advances, pursuing instead Peter Van Dyne III (Robert Strickland) simply because he comes from a wealthy family. Undeterred, Tommy resolves to learn French to be able to converse with Pat in her preferred language. In order to achieve his goal, he enlists the help of fellow student and part-time school librarian Connie Lane (June Allyson), who despises Pat and is secretly in love with Tom...

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...

Since Easter is two days away, I thought it was only appropriate if this wee k on "Film Friday" I told you about an Easter film. Well, it has "Easter" in the title anyway . Theatrical release poster Directed by Charles Walters, Easter Parade (1948) opens on a spring day in 1912, when dancer Don Hewes (Fred Astaire ) learns that his partner , Na din e Ga le (Ann Miller), wants to break up the act t o star in a Broadway show as a sol o ist . Don, who is in love with Nadine , gets angry and heads to a bar to drown his sorro ws. At the height of his drunken ess, he brags that he can make a star out of any common girl and selects Hannah Brown (Judy Garland), a girl at the bar, to be his new dancing partner. The following day, they meet for rehearsal, but Don struggles to teach Hannah his dance moves. Moreover, he tries to turn her into a copy of Nadine and even changes her stage name to "Juanita" to make her seem more exotic.  After they have a d...