Contact me at lucyvictoriabrown@gmail.com because I'm always up for a natter about anything. Well, mostly.

Classic Film Reviews

Recently I've been watching a lot of films from the 30s/40s/50s/60s. Not unusual for me, perhaps, but I'm watching films I wasn't previously acquainted with. I thought I'd start reviewing some of them, particularly because I'm coming across some real gems that maybe other people will be interested in. My definition of 'classic' may stretch from time to time but, essentially, I'll take it as any film that has an actor in it who is best known for works in those earlier decades.

Carnival Boat (1932) - William Boyd, Ginger Rogers

Penguin Pool Murder (1932) - James Gleason, Edna May Oliver

The Half-Naked Truth (1932) - Frank Morgan, Lee Tracy, Lupe Velez

Ann Vickers (1933) - Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, Edna May Oliver

Christopher Strong (1933) - Billie Burke, Helen Chandler, Colin Clive, Katharine Hepburn

Flying Down to Rio (1933) - Fred Astaire, Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Ginger Rogers

Morning Glory (1933) - Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Katharine Hepburn, Adolphe Menjou

Of Human Bondage (1934) - Bette Davis, Frances Dee, Leslie Howard, Kay Johnson

The Gay Divorcee (1934) - Fred Astaire, Edward Everett Horton, Ginger Rogers

The Little Minister (1934) - John Beal, Alan Hale, Katharine Hepburn

Sing and Like It (1934) - Edward Everett Horton, Pert Kelton, Nat Pendleton, Zasu Pitts

Star of Midnight (1934) - Leslie Fenton, Gene Lockhart, William Powell, Ginger Rogers

Annie Oakley (1935) - Melvyn Douglas, Preston Foster, Barbara Stanwyck

Enchanted April (1935) - Ann Harding, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen

Murder on a Honeymoon (1935) - James Gleason, Edna May Oliver

Sylvia Scarlett (1935) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Brian Aherne, Edmund Gwenn

The Informer (1935) - Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Victor McLaglen

Mary Of Scotland (1936) - Florence Eldridge, Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March

Swing Time (1936) - Fred Astaire, Helen Broderick, Ginger Rogers

The Bride Walks Out (1936) - Gene Raymond, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Young

The Adventures of Michael Strogoff (1937) - Fay Bainter, Margot Grahame, Anton Walbrook

Bringing Up Baby (1938) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn

The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, May Whitty

The Mad Miss Manton (1938) - Henry Fonda, Sam Levene, Barbara Stanwyck

Vivacious Lady (1938) - Charles Coburn, Ginger Rogers, James Stewart,

Bachelor Mother (1939) - Charles Coburn, David Niven, Ginger Rogers

Love Affair (1939) - Charles Boyer, Irene Dunne

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) - Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Nanette Fabray, Errol Flynn

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) - Fred Astaire, Edna May Oliver, Ginger Rogers

Wuthering Heights (1939) - David Niven, Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier

Curtain Call (1940) - Barbara Read, Donald MacBride, Alan Mowbray

Foreign Correspondent (1940) - Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, George Sanders

Gaslight (1940) - Frank Pettingell, Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard

Irene (1940) - Billie Burke, Ray Milland, Anna Neagle, May Robson

Kitty Foyle (1940) - Gladys Cooper, James Craig, Dennis Morgan, Ginger Rogers

Lucky Partners (1940) - Spring Byington, Jack Carson, Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers

My Favourite Wife (1940) - Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott

Pride and Prejudice (1940) - Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Edna May Oliver

Primrose Path (1940) - Joel McCrea, Ginger Rogers

Rebecca (1940) - Judith Anderson, Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, George Sanders

Second Chorus (1940) - Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith

The Philadelphia Story (1940) - Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart

The Stars Look Down (1940) - Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave

They Knew What They Wanted (1940) - Harry Carey, William Gargan, Charles Laughton, Carole Lombard

Blossoms in the Dust (1941) - Felix Bressart, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon

Footlight Fever (1941) - Donald MacBride, Alan Mowbray, Elisabeth Risdon

Mrs & Mrs Smith (1941) - Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond

Suspicion (1941) - Nigel Bruce, Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) - Jean Arthur, Spring Byington, Charles Coburn

I Married a Witch (1942) - Veronica Lake, Fredic March

Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) - Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Walter Slezak

The Big Street (1942) - Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Agnes Moorehead

The First of the Few (1942) - Leslie Howard, Rosamund John, David Niven

Went The Day Well? (1942) - David Farrar, Muriel George, Frank Lawton

Flight for Freedom (1943) - Fred MacMurray, Herbert Marshall, Rosalind Russell

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) - Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, Katina Paxinou

Government Girl (1943) - Olivia de Havilland, Sonny Tufts

Higher and Higher (1943) - Jack Haley, Michele Morgan, Frank Sinatra, Mary Wickes

Jane Eyre (1943) - Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, Orson Welles

Millions Like Us (1943) - Anne Crawford, Gordon Jackson, Basil Radford, Patricia Roc

Mr Lucky (1943) - Gladys Cooper, Laraine Day, Cary Grant

Tender Comrade (1943) - Ruth Hussey, Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan

The Gentle Sex (1943) - Joan Greenwood, Rosamund John, Lilli Palmer, Barbara Waring

The Outlaw (1943) - Jack Buetel, Walter Huston, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell

The Sky's the Limit (1943) - Fred Astaire, Robert Benchley, Joan Leslie

Double Indemnity (1944) - Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck

Experiment Perilous (1944) - Olive Blakeney, George Brent, Hedy Lamarr, Paul Lukas

Hotel Reserve (1944) - Herbet Lom, James Mason, Lucie Mannheim

Lifeboat (1944) - Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak

None But the Lonely Heart (1944) - Ethel Barrymore, Cary Grant, Jane Wyatt

This Happy Breed (1944) - Stanley Holloway, Celia Johnson, Robert Newton, John Mills

Brief Encounter (1945) - Stanley Holloway, Trevor Howard, Celia Johnson

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) - Pamela Brown, Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey

Lady on a Train (1945) - David Bruce, Deanna Durbin, Edward Everett Horton

Spellbound (1945) - Ingrid Bergman, Michael Chekov, Gregory Peck

The House on 92nd Street (1945) - William Eythe, Signe Hasso, Lloyd Nolan

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - Kim Hunter, David Niven

Bedlam (1946) - Billy House, Boris Karloff, Anna Lee

Cloak and Dagger (1946) - Robert Alda, Gary Cooper, Lilli Palmer

From This Day Forward (1946) - Rosemary DeCamp, Joan Fontaine, Harry Morgan, Mark Stevens

Notorious (1946) - Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains

Sister Kenny (1946) - Dean Jagger, Alexander Knox, Rosalind Russell

The Captive Heart (1946) - Gordon Jackson, Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave

The Dark Mirror (1946) - Lew Ayres, Olivia de Havilland

A Double Life (1947) - Ronald Colman, Edmond O'Brien, Shelley Winters

Black Narcissus (1947) - Kathleen Byron, David Farrar, Deborah Kerr

Hue and Cry (1947) - Harry Fowler, Alastair Sim, Jack Warner

The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer (1947) - Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple

The Bishop's Wife (1947) - Gladys Cooper, Cary Grant, David Niven, Loretta Young

The Fabulous Dorseys (1947) - Janet Blair, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey

The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947) - Felix Aylmer, Robert Morley

The Lost Moment (1947) - Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) - Boris Karloff, Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo

They Won't Believe Me (1947) - Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, Rita Johnson, Robert Young

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) - Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan

Macbeth (1948) - Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Orson Welles

Scott of the Antarctic (1948) - Derek Bond, John Mills, Kenneth More

The Velvet Touch (1948) - Sydney Greenstreet, Rosalind Russell, Claire Trevor

Holiday Affair (1949) - Wendell Corey, Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Dennis Price

The History of Mr Polly (1949) - Megs Jenkins, John Mills

The Red Pony (1949) - Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum

All About Eve (1950) - Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, George Sanders

Born to Be Bad (1950) - Joan Fontaine, Joan Leslie, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott

Father of the Bride (1950) - Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy

Odette (1950) - Trevor Howard, Anna Neagle, Peter Ustinov

Never a Dull Moment (1950) - Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray, Natalie Wood

Sunset Boulevard (1950) - William Holden, Gloria Swanson

The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) - Joyce Grenfell, Margaret Rutherford, Alastair Sim

Double Dynamite (1951) - Groucho Marx, Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra

His Kind of Woman (1951) - Robert Mitchum, Vincent Price, Jane Russell

The African Queen (1951) - Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn

The Great Caruso (1951) - Ann Blyth, Mario Lanza

Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) - Eddie Bracken, Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Ann Miller

Angel Face (1952) - Leon Ames, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons

Hindle Wakes (1952) - Lisa Daniely, Leslie Dwyer, Joan Hickson

Monkey Business (1952) - Charles Coburn, Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers

Son of Paleface (1952) - Bob Hope, Roy Rogers, Jane Russell

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) - Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Brad Sullivan, Lana Turner

The Big Trees (1952) - Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) - Gloria Grahame, Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, James Stewart, Cornel Wilde

The Las Vegas Story (1952) - Hoagy Carmichael, Brad Dexter, Victor Mature, Vincent Price, Jane Russell

From Here to Eternity (1953) - Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra

Genevieve (1953) - John Gregson, Kay Kendall, Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan

I Confess (1953) - Brian Aherne, Anne Baxter, Montgomery Clift, Karl Malden

Mogambo (1953) - Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly

Roman Holiday (1953)

The French Line (1953) - Arthur Hunnicutt, Gilbert Roland, Jane Russell

An Inspector Calls (1954) - Alastair Sim, Brian Worth, Arthur Young

Beau Brummell (1954)

Doctor in the House (1954)

Hobson's Choice (1954) - Brenda de Banzie, Charles Laughton, John Mills

On the Waterfront (1954) - Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint

River of No Return (1954)

Sabrina (1954)

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) - Tony Curtis, David Farrar, Janet Leigh, Barbara Rush

The Glenn Miller Story (1954) - June Allyson, James Stewart

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Kismet (1955) - Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, Howard Keel

Picnic (1955)

The Constant Husband (1955) - Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Cecil Parker

The Ladykillers (1955)

The Virgin Queen (1955)

To Catch a Thief (1955) - Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis

Anastasia (1956)

Bhowani Junction (1956)

Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)

Kiss Them For Me (1957)

Saint Joan (1957) - John Gielgud, Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark

The Admirable Crichton (1957)

Silk Stockings (1957) - Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jules Munshin, Janis Paige

The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

Town on Trial (1957) - Barbara Bates, Charles Coburn, John Mills

A Night To Remember (1958)

A Tale of Two Cities (1958) - Dirk Bogarde, Cecil Parker, Dorothy Tutin

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) - Burl Ives, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor

Indiscreet (1958)

Party Girl (1958)

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) - Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, Curd Jurgens

The Vikings (1958)

Tom Thumb (1958) - Peter Sellers, Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

The Nun's Story (1959) - Peter Finch, Audrey Hepburn, Dean Jagger

They Came to Cordura (1959) - Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin

Conspiracy of Hearts (1960)

School for Scoundrels (1960) - Ian Carmichael, Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas

Flower Drum Song (1961) - Juanita Hall, Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta

Lover Come Back (1961)

Victim (1961)

Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)

How the West Was Won (1962) - Walter Brennan, James Stewart, Debbie Reynolds

In Search of the Castaways (1962) - Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, George Sanders

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) - Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra

Charade (1963) - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau

Heavens Above! (1963) - Isabel Jeans, Cecil Parker, Peter Sellers

Summer Magic (1963) - Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire, Hayley Mills

Becket (1964) - Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole

Do Not Disturb (1965)

That Darn Cat! (1965) - Dean Jones, Hayley Mills, Roddy McDowall

A Man For All Seasons (1966)

The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) - Doris Day, Paul Lynde, Rod Taylor

The Trouble With Angels (1966)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy

Murphy's War (1971)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Funny Lady (1975) - James Caan, Barbra Streisand

Rooster Cogburn (1975) - Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne

The Hindenburg (1975)

Death on the Nile (1978)

The Lady Vanishes (1979)

The Mirror Crack'd (1980)