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The years immediately after World War Two did not turn on a dime into the long decade of postwar prosperity in America and the West. There were labour problems, political battles, the problem of turning soldiers back into civilians and a war economy back into a peacetime one. And there was the vast social unease and trauma after a war that confirmed that we were capable of anything, including the worst things imaginable. My previous Christmas movie columns have been romances alternating with comedy or drama – pictures like Holiday Affair (1949) and Remember the Night (1940), where the holidays...

Whether you're cozied up with your sweetheart or enjoying a girls' night, grab some popcorn (and chocolate) and treat yourself to the classics.Picking a movie is always a daunting task in my family. My mom and I have had to sit through our fair share of war movies with no discernible plot, while my dad and brother have patiently suffered through “Gone With The Wind.” The beauty of a good rom-com is having enough “rom” to satisfy more sentimental audiences and enough “com” to keep less romantic viewers interested. As a connoisseur of the “rom,” I can’t guarantee all the...

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of North by Northwest. Here's what Mark had to say about this classic film a few years ago: Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest contains what I think of as the all-time great strangers-on-a-train scene, and one I always recall if I'm in the dining car of an at least potentially exotic choo-choo - the Eurostar, say - and a glamorous femme comes sashaying down the aisle, even if she does park herself at some other guy's table. In a lifetime's travel, everyone should have a North by Northwest moment: on a...

George (Cary Grant) and Marion (Constance Bennett) Kerby are as rich as they are irresponsible. When George wrecks their classy sports car, they wake up from the accident as ghosts. Realizing they aren’t in heaven or hell because they’ve never been responsible enough to do good deeds or bad ones, they decide that freeing their old friend Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) from his regimented lifestyle will be their ticket into heaven. (wikipedia) Co-starring Billie Burke.

Richard Warren recalls the heyday when celebrities such as Cary Grant, Lucille Ball and Fred Astaire would linger in the box seats, but on Saturday the buzz will be a bit restrained, even for the $750,000 CashCall Futurity... With the track's final day, Dec. 22, looming, he has become, for the thousands who know him, a sort of symbol of past joy and current sadness...

TCM is continuing its weekend of great movies by following their present airing on "Ben-Hur" with MGM's other big hit of 1959: Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest"- One of my 2 favorite Hitchcock films("Vertigo" is the other) and my favorite of his 4 with Mr. Grant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXRyZe-vsJ8&list=PL9pRcaYn5Sdw8eyH6C0ZjQD1vG_E-jtGl&index=1&feature=plpp_video This week's feature is Howard Hawks' excellent 1939 classic adventure about courageous mail pilots in South America and the women who love them. Cary Grant exceeds in a John Wayne/Humphrey Bogart-type role as their leader and the beautiful Rita Hayworth impresses in one of her earliest performances as his ex-flame. Definitely one of Hawks' best and the finest of his 5 films starring Mr. Grant.

A team of flyers risks their lives to deliver the mail in a mountainous South American country.

Roman Catholic, Anti-Communist Republican classic movie director Leo McCarey's "Once Upon A Honeymoon"(1942) with Republican movie superstars Ginger Rogers & Cary Grant. is airing on TCM on Monday morning. From its title, stars & director one might think it's a light romantic comedy like Grant's "The Awful Truth" and Miss Rogers' "It Had to Be You." And while it's partly in that genre, it's also a WII spy adveture. It's loads of fun to watch if you're a fan of Ginger, Cary, Walter Slezak(as Ginger's villainous Nazi husband), McCarey or 1940s WWII propaganda films. It also provides evidence that there...

Warner Bros. today will launch a service giving the public the opportunity to custom-order DVDs of films never before released via the medium. The move is seen as a response to dwindling DVD sales and also to customer demand for titles that while not totally obscure, didn't necessarily generate enough heat to merit a full-on DVD release. The Warner Archive Collection, available at WarnerArchive.com, includes films dating back to the silent age and for $19.95 per disc Warners will burn, package and ship for receipt within an estimated five days. Currently there are 150 titles available with for a total...

President and Mrs. Bush left the White House this morning for a two day good will trip to Canada. The President and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin gave a joint press conference, and the President met with members of Parliament, and with opposition leader, Stephen Harper, and toured the National Archives Preservation Center in Ottawa. This evening, the President and First Lady attended an Official Dinner at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Grand Hall. They will travel to Halifax tomorrow. The President is leading with strength and certainty, so it’s a good time to be a Bushbot! ENJOY your trip...