89% (2)  Body and Soul  104 min,  Approved,  [Drama, Film-Noir, Sport]  [Robert Rossen]  [09 Nov 1947]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 78%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.
Actors:  Anne Revere, Hazel Brooks, John Garfield, Lilli Palmer
Writer:  Abraham Polonsky (original screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Charley Davis wins an amateur boxing match and is taken on by promoter Quinn. Charley's mother doesn't want him to fight, but when Charley's father is accidentally killed, Charley sets up a fight for money. His career blooms as he wins fight after fight, but soon an unethical promoter named Roberts begins to show an interest in Charley, and Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Considered one of the greatest boxing film ever made, Body and Soul features the late-great John Garfield playing pugilist Joe Devlin in his desperate bid to become the world's greatest fighter. Unfortunately, the battle to the top causes him to leave his values and principles behind and though it leads him to success, ultimately it takes him on a tragic dive from which he never recovers. The story is pretty standard for the genre. What makes this tale stand tall above the others is Garfield's riveting performance and the realistic portrayal of the gritty world of professional boxing. The cinematography is also exceptional.
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87% (2)  National Velvet  123 min,  G,  [Drama, Family, Sport]  [Clarence Brown]  [26 Jan 1945]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 74%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors:  Anne Revere, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney
Writer:  Enid Bagnold (novel), Theodore Reeves (screen play), Helen Deutsch (screen play)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  Mi Taylor was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him "all the roads in the Kingdom" to travel. One of the roads, and a notation in his father's journal, leads him to the quiet English country-side home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse for the Grand National - England's greatest racing event.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Although National Velvet was the first starring role for 11-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, the early part of the film belongs to Mickey Rooney in the showier role of Mike Taylor, a headstrong English ex-jockey. Soured on life by a serious accident, Mike plans to steal from the country family that has taken him in, but his resolve is weakened by the kindness of young Velvet (Taylor). The two find a common bond in their love of horses. Velvet wins an "unbreakable" horse in a raffle, and enters the animal in the Grand National Sweepstakes. Though Mike is unable to ride the horse, he aids Velvet in her plan to disguise herself as a jockey; she wins the race...but the story isn't over quite yet. Co-starring as Velvet's mother is Anne Revere, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance. National Velvet is based on the novel by Enid Bagnold. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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76% (2)  A Place in the Sun  122 min,  Passed,  [Drama, Romance]  [George Stevens]  [11 Oct 1951]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 78%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 75%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 6 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 10 nominations.
Actors:  Anne Revere, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters
Writer:  Theodore Dreiser (novel), Patrick Kearney (play), Michael Wilson (screenplay), Harry Brown (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  The young and poor George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) leaves his religious mother and Chicago and arrives in California expecting to find a better job in the business of his wealthy uncle Charles Eastman. His cousin Earl Eastman advises him that there are many women in the factory and the basic rule is that he must not hang around with any of them. George meets the worker of the assembly line, Alice Tripp, in the movie theater and they date. Meanwhile, the outcast George is promoted and he meets the gorgeous Angela Vickers at a party thrown at his uncle's house. Angela introduces him to the local high society and they fall in love with each other. However, Alice is pregnant and she wants to get married with George. During a dinner party at Angela's lake house with parents, relatives, and friends, Alice calls George from the bus station and gives him thirty minutes to meet her; otherwise she will crash the party and tell what has happened. George is pressed by the situation which ends in a tragedy.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In this film, handsome young George Eastman goes to work in a relative's factory. He has a brief rendezvous with assembly-line worker Alice Tripp, but he forgets all about her when he falls for dazzling socialite Angela Vickers. Alice can't forget about him, though: she is pregnant with his child.
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72% (1)  Sunday Dinner for a Soldier  85 min,  UNRATED,  [Drama, War]  [Lloyd Bacon]  [08 Dec 1944]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 72%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Anne Baxter, Anne Revere, Charles Winninger, John Hodiak
Writer:  Martha Cheavens (story), Melvin Levy, Wanda Tuchock
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  A poor family in Florida saves all the money they can in order to plan something special for the soldier they've invited to Sunday dinner. They don't realize that their request to invite ...
Rotten Tomatoes:   Charles Winninger plays an old seaman who rules the roost in his family, which resides on a Florida houseboat. His oldest granddaughter (Anne Baxter) draws up plans to invite a serviceman for Sunday dinner, just before the boy will be shipped out. Because of their ramshackle lifestyle, Winninger's brood has trouble getting a soldier to accept their hospitality until lonely, defensive GI John Hodiak comes along. Nothing much happens thereafter that isn't totally expected, including Hodiak's changing his outlook on life and falling in love with the granddaughter. Sunday Dinner for a Soldier is the sort of laid-back, anecdotal film that was indigenous to Hollywood's "feel-good" brand of wartime entertainment.
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64% (1)  The Shocking Miss Pilgrim  85 min,  APPROVED,  [Comedy, Musical, Romance]  [George Seaton, Edmund Goulding, John M. Stahl]  [04 Jan 1947]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 64%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Allyn Joslyn, Anne Revere, Betty Grable, Dick Haymes
Writer:  George Seaton (written for the screen by), Ernest Maas (from a story by), Frederica Sagor Maas (from a story by)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  In the late 1800s, Miss Pilgrim, a young stenographer, or typewriter, becomes the first female employee at a Boston shipping office. Although the men object to her at first, she soon charms them all, especially the handsome young head of the company. Their romance gets sidetracked when she becomes involved in the Women's Suffrage movement.
Rotten Tomatoes:   In this musical set in late 19th-century Boston, a suffragette secretary finds that her political beliefs are standing in the way of her romantic bliss with her beloved boss. Back then the notion of women's rights was considered scandalous and her lover will not stand for such nonsense in his office. Mayhem and music ensue until he is eventually convinced. Some of the tunes were composed by the late George Gershwin to which lyricists Kay Swift and Ira Gershwin added new words. These songs include: "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Aren't You Glad We Did?," "Stand up and Fight," and "Waltz Me No Waltzes." Other songs include: "Changing My Tune," "Back Bay Polka," "One, Two, Three," "But Not in Boston," "Sweet Packard," "Waltzing Is Better Sitting Down," and "Demon Rum."
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63% (1)  You're My Everything  94 min,  [Comedy, Musical]  [Walter Lang]  [01 Aug 1949]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 63%,   External Reviews
Awards:  1 nomination.
Actors:  Anne Baxter, Anne Revere, Dan Dailey, Stanley Ridges
Writer:  Will H. Hays Jr., George Jessel (story), Lamar Trotti
External Links:  Wikipedia  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  In 1924, stage-struck Boston blueblood Hannah Adams picks up musical star Tim O'Connor and takes him home for dinner. One thing leads to another, and when Tim's show rolls on to Chicago a new Mrs. O'Connor comes along as incompetent chorus girl. Hollywood beckons, and we follow the star careers of the O'Connor family in silents and talkies. Includes good imitation "silents" with classic cameo by Buster Keaton.
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