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In movieland, the month of February is almost entirely dedicated to the Academy Awards, the industry's oldest and most prestigious awards ceremony. In anticipation to the 89th Oscars on February 26, every «Film Friday» this month will be about a Best Picture winner or nominee. This particular one also serves to honour Ronald Reagan's 116th birthday, which is next Monday. According to most critics, this is the best of his films. Directed by Sam Wood, Kings Row (1942) tells the story of five young people living in the small Midwestern town of Kings Row in the late 19th century. They are: Parris Mitchell (Robert Cummings), a medical student who lives with his grandmother; Cassandra Tower (Betty Field), the misunderstood daughter of Dr. Alexander Tower (Claude Rains); Drake McHugh (Ronald Reagan), a wealthy and fun-loving orphan; Louise Gordon (Nancy Coleman), the daughter of the sadistic town physician, Dr. Henry Gordon (Charles Coburn); and Randy Monaghan (Ann Sheridan), a tombo...

In honor of Ginger Rogers' 105th birthday, which is tomorrow, this week on "Film Friday" I though t I would bring y ou one of my favorite films of hers . This is also the picture that gave her the only Academy Award for Best Actress of her career.   Theatrical release poster Directed by Sam Wood, Kitty Foyle (1940) open s with Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers) , a cosmetic saleswoman in a New York bouti que owned by Delphine Detaille (Odette Myr til), trying to deci de whether she should marry Dr. Mark Eisen (James Cra ig) and be respectable or sail away with the already-married Wyn Straff ord (Dennis Morgan), whom she has loved for many years and ha s just re-entered her life. As s he wrestles with her cons cience, Kitty th inks back to her youth in Philadelphia , where she lived with her Irish father, Tom (Ernest Cossart). Teenage Kitty is o b sessed with the city's elite "Main Liners" and dreams of marrying a rich man, despite her father's...