1776 (1972)

I saw maybe half of this musical in a fifth-grade classroom. While it didn't bore me, I was not eager to check out the rest. But for the 250th anniversary, I could think of no better option.

In June of the titular year, John Adams (William Daniels) has been the only one calling for debate on independence in the Continental Congress, until Ben Franklin (Howard Da Silva) advises him to let the then more popular Richard Henry Lee (Ron Holgate) make the proposal. John Dickinson (Donald Madden) persuades Congress to require a unanimous vote to secede from Britain. In light of this, Adams procures a postponement so they can write a declaration to make everything clear and hopefully persuasive. By the process of elimination, he strong-arms Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) into authoring it.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

I'd seen a fair number of movies with comedic elements lately, but it was time for an indisputable comedy-drama. It was also time for something that easily passed the Bechdel test, with six women getting top billing and the entire poster. OK, mainly I decided to watch what would soon stop streaming on Netflix.

Although partly based in truth, the story takes place entirely in a fictional small town in Louisiana. It begins on the wedding day of Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts) and Jackson Latcherie (Dylan McDermott), who narrowly avoid several fiascos, including cold feet. Alas, the event showcases Shelby's worsening health from diabetes. Her mother, Mary Lynn or "M'Lynn" (Sally Field), would rather she not endanger herself further by having a baby. When the focus is not on the Eatentons or the Latcheries, it's usually on Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), sometimes made out to be the main character. She's a struggling newcomer who gets hired at the beauty shop of gossipy Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton), falls for one Sammy DeSoto (Kevin J. O'Connor), and then finds religion more than Sammy likes.

The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Both IMDb and Wikipedia calls this a straight-up comedy. I call it a comedy-drama, because it works better that way. While more plainly joking than The King of Comedy, it feels pretty dour much of the time, as I suspected from the title.

Aged vaudevillian Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) wants to remain in show business despite having become nearly impossible to direct. His nephew, Ben (Richard Benjamin), also serves as his thankless agent. Ben finally gets him a role on a retrospective TV special, but Willy is extremely reluctant to reunite with estranged partner Al Lewis (George Burns) for even one reprisal of their classic "doctor sketch."

The Children's Hour (1961)

This adaptation of a Lillian Hellman play got mixed reviews and did not cover expenses at the box office, but when YouTube suggested it to me, I noticed the high ratings on modern boards. Besides, I was in the mood for an Audrey Hepburn piece, and this one sounded quite different from the same year's Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Karen (Hepburn) and Martha (Shirley MacLaine) run a girls' boarding school. For the first half hour, their struggles include some unruly students; Martha's annoyance at her conceited Aunt Lily (Miriam Hopkins) on staff; Karen dragging her heels about marrying the school's go-to physician, Joe (James Garner); and Martha worrying what will happen to the school when they do marry. But all those troubles get overshadowed when every student suddenly gets pulled out of the school. What rumor could be so ugly that the headmistresses take forever just to hear an explanation?

The Whale (2022)

Even before seeing the A24 logo, I knew that this would not be a fun feature. Having Darren Aronofsky at the helm wouldn't help. But it looked like one of the more intriguing offerings on my list, different enough from my recent viewings, and short enough (117 minutes) that I might not see fit to split it over two nights.

In modern Idaho, Charlie (Brendan Fraser) teaches online college literature courses with his camera off, because he'd rather hide his Class III obesity. In the first scene, he gets a heart attack but refuses to go to the hospital for financial reasons, even tho he can well afford it. The screen indicates each new day of the week, hinting that he really doesn't have long to live. Will he make peace with himself and his few acquaintances in time?

tick...tick...BOOM! (2021)

This sat on my Netflix list quite a while before I actually looked at the description. The title and poster image didn't grab me, but then I saw that it was a musical directed (not composed) by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And at about two hours, short enough for a comfortable night's viewing.

In 1990, 29-year-old Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) is a bit of a starving artist, waiting at a New York diner but failing to pay his energy bills. He badly wants the sci-fi musical he's writing to be a Broadway hit, but he's stagnating on a key song advised by Stephen Sondheim (Bradley Whitford) in a workshop. As the deadline draws near, Jonathan neglects everything else, including girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and gay best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús).

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Here it is, folks: my final DVD from Netflix. I made a point to pick a reputed classic and also to wait until after October, but perhaps I should have waited for late December, because my hunch that the story would take place around Christmas was correct. Perhaps I dimly remembered something similar from She Loves Me, a musical adapted from it. I know it wasn't the case in the modernized remake, You've Got Mail.

In keeping with the source material, Miklós László's play Parfumerie, the setting is Budapest, albeit with mostly American-accented English. Despite long being the best salesman at a gift shop, Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) has begun to lock horns with boss Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan), for reasons not immediately clear. He locks horns considerably more with new hire Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan). But he and a pseudonymous pen pal he discovered through a newspaper ad have become smitten with each other. Less than halfway through the picture, he realizes that Klara is that pen pal. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a comedy if he told her right away....

One, Two, Three (1961)

It took me a while to understand the reason for this movie's title. The story is based pretty loosely on a Ferenc Molnár play by the same title in Hungarian. Both use the counting briefly in dialog to indicate a hurry, which befits a His Girl Friday-like pace. In light of that, I would have omitted the commas and possibly added a comedic exclamation point, but too late now.

In West Berlin shortly before the wall construction, "Mac" McNamara (James Cagney) leads business operations and hopes to get promoted further, which would explain why he agrees to host Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), freewheeling 17-year-old daughter of his boss (Howard St. John), at his home for two weeks. Most of the plot takes place two months later, when Scarlett is still there -- and has just eloped with avid communist Otto (Horst Buchholz). Fearing a blacklisting when her father finds out in the near future, Mac tries to get Otto put away for the long haul. Then he learns that Scarlett is pregnant, so it would be better to give Otto a Pygmalion treatment in a matter of hours....

Battling Butler (1926)

I hadn't seen Buster Keaton in more than five years. BB was actually his personal favorite and his second biggest box office hit, greatly eclipsing the same year's The General when they were new. (Perhaps people weren't ready for a Civil War comedy.) So why had I learned next to nothing about BB before?

The protagonist is not a butler, but he may well have one: Alfred Butler is a spoiled aristocrat, albeit sometimes ordered around by his father, who sends him to the wilderness to man up. There he meets someone identified only as "the mountain girl," who finds him annoying at first, but they quickly fall for each other. Alas, her father and brother won't approve a marriage to an apparent wimp, so Alfred's valet (yes, there with him) claims that Alfred is lightweight champion "Battling Butler," who happens to look similar in addition to having the same first and last names. The ruse works, but Alfred must actually travel to the training camp and then the arena, all the while trying to persuade his bride not to watch because she wouldn't like that side of him. To make matters worse, the real Battling Butler is none too fond of this imposter, especially after a mix-up of their similar-looking ladies....

West Side Story (2021)

You can guess why I was in no hurry to see this. I had rewatched the original movie only a few years ago, plus a stage production a few years before that. And although All Quiet on the Western Front taught me that even a remake of a fine Best Picture can be worthwhile, musicals don't seem to lend themselves to quite as much flexibility. Still, my parents were intrigued, and a majority of critics and viewers dug it. As long as I was on a recent Oscar nod kick, why not?

In the off chance you don't know the story, it's Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York. The Romeo is Tony (Ansel Elgort), semi-reformed co-founder of a non-Hispanic White gang called the Jets, who would have nothing more to do with them if not for the urging of old pal and current Jet leader Riff (Mike Faist). The Juliet is Maria (Rachel Zegler), younger sister of Bernardo (David Alvarez), the latter leading a Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks. Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James) has been doing his best to temper the turf war, but the Jets and Sharks are already on the verge of a scheduled rumble when a mixer brings Tony and Maria together, and their fiery love enhances the fiery hate in others....

The Father (2020)

Continuing to catch up on recent Oscar nominees. If Nomadland had been as I feared, I'd make a point not to watch this one next, because it promised to be a bit drearier than most of the competition, in a year with only dramas up for Best Picture.

In what might be the present era, elderly Brit Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) feels sure he can take care of himself. He doesn't welcome any assistants hired by his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). At his most hostile and paranoid, he accuses them of theft and her of looking for an excuse to move him into a nursing home so she can claim his property. I'm a little surprised he doesn't accuse Anne of gaslighting, because he becomes increasingly confused about the apartment, whom to expect there, and what people have and have not told him. Anne also grows in stress, almost to the point of insanity, and her husband (Rufus Sewell) is less patient still.

The Iceman Cometh (1973)

At 239 minutes, spread across two discs each with an intermission, this is probably the longest movie I've ever seen. (Don't you believe any list that claims Gone with the Wind is longest.) Add in the basis on a nonmusical play for adults, which usually means mostly talking in a single room, and you know you're gonna need patience. The fame of the title, the unlikelihood of me reading or watching the play, and the desire to challenge myself gave me the courage to sit through it across two nights.

In 1912 New York, the ironically named Harry Hope (Fredric March in his final role) owns a seedy bar/boarding house whose regular patrons/residents are a miserable bunch I wouldn't care to meet. Apparently the first out-of-the-ordinary event on screen is the arrival of a new guy (young Jeff Bridges), who's run into trouble and wants help from a former comrade in the anarchist movement with a death wish, Larry Slade (Robert Ryan, who did die before the film's release). Regardless, bartender Rocky Pioggi (Tom Pedi) and the other patrons look forward to Harry's 60th birthday party that evening, not least for the semiannual visit of their pal Theodore "Hickey" Hickman (Lee Marvin), whose past purportedly funny story about his wife's infidelity with an iceman partly explains the title. But Hickey's not the same man when he arrives. He'll still buy everyone drinks, yet he doesn't feel a need for any himself. He says he's found peace and wants everyone to do the same, by giving up their pipe dreams.

Old Acquaintance (1943)

Had I realized that the title evoked "Auld Lang Syne," I would have saved this viewing for New Year's. But while the song is played at the beginning and ending, no part of the film takes place at that time of year. We are to think of its actual meaning, not its holiday association.

The story begins in 1924 small-town America, when Kit (Bette Davis) has become a celebrity for her first published novel. Her long-time friend Millie (Miriam Hopkins, not dissuaded by previous experience with Davis) takes inspiration and becomes a novelist in her own right, far less favored by critics but far more prolific and financially successful. Alas, by 1932, Millie's husband Preston (John Loder) feels neglected enough to leave her and daughter Deirdre (Francine Rufo, later Dolores Moran). He courts Kit, but she declines for the sake of Millie's friendship. Most of the rest happens in 1942, when Kit and Preston meet again through the war effort, by which time Kit is finally if tentatively dating someone, the younger Rudd (Gig Young).

At the Circus (1939)/Room Service (1938)

These aren't among the most popular Marx Brothers movies, but it's hard for me to picture them ever completely failing to amuse me. Not sure I'd have time for both sides of the disc (165 minutes total), I gave priority to AtC, partly because it's a little more highly rated and partly because I had already seen the Flying Karamazov Brothers version of RS.

As befits the '30s, both comedies are about financial desperation. In AtC, a circus owner (Kenny Baker -- not that one) is secretly robbed by the guy he owes money (James Burke), who plans to use the "unpaid" debt as an excuse to take over the circus. Luckily, a circus employee (Chico) had already invited an attorney associate (Groucho), who could serve as a detective in a pinch. If they can't find the loot, they can try to make up the difference by selling entertainment to the owner's estranged rich aunt (Margaret Dumont). In RS, a struggling play producer (Groucho) and his troupe and friends have been freeloading at a hotel managed by his brother-in-law (Cliff Dunstan), but the irascible director (Donald MacBride) is about to kick them out. They persuade a newly arriving playwright (Frank Albertson) to feign illness, delaying the eviction until they hopefully make money from his play.

Hamilton (2020)

For all the popularity of the Broadway musical, I was reluctant to check it out. Anachronistic music and blatant racial/ethnic inaccuracy in a story based on true events seemed like punchlines, yet it was clearly not played primarily for laughs. Weirdness without humor is often off-putting. Then I remembered liking Jesus Christ Superstar and decided I had no excuse.

This is not really an adaptation of the play but a screening of a 2016 production thereof, complete with the sounds of a then-live audience. It covers a period roughly from the first time Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote and composed it) met Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.) to, well, the last time. You should already know what that means. If you badly need an early U.S. history lesson, let's just say for now that he helped George Washington (Christopher Jackson) in the Revolutionary War and became Secretary of the Treasury.

Design for Living (1933)

This disc came with Peter Ibbetson, which I skipped because I hadn't allotted enough time, it isn't the more popular of the two, and chasing a comedy immediately with a drama didn't feel right. Having a "double feature" on one DVD seems unpromising for the quality of both movies, but DfL is pretty highly rated and has several famous names attached, including director-producer Ernst Lubitsch.

George (Gary Cooper) and Tom (Fredric March) are friends and struggling artists -- a painter and playwright, respectively -- who nevertheless take a trip to Paris, where they happen to make the acquaintance of fellow American Gilda (Miriam Hopkins), an advertising artist with ideas to improve both men's works. Before long from the perspective of a 91-minute runtime, each man finds out that the other has been seeing Gilda on the sly. Neither wants to let her go, and she doesn't want to let either go, so the trio makes a "gentleman's agreement" to be a circle of platonic friends. This agreement becomes harder to keep when Tom finds enough success to take him out of the city....

In the Heights (2021)

That's right: For the first time in 16 months, I went to a movie theater. My parents went with me, making a point to pick the local theater most in need of support. They had already seen the play; I haven't.

The title refers to Washington Heights, a Manhattan neighborhood that's home to many from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and especially the Dominican Republic. The narrating protagonist is Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), a struggling late-20s shopkeeper who, despite encouragement from teen cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) and friend Benny (Corey Hawkins), can hardly work up the nerve to ask out frequent customer Vanessa (Melissa Barrera). Others have their own considerable troubles: Benny's employer, Kevin (Jimmy Smits), will do anything to pay Stanford tuition for his daughter Nina (Leslie Grace), but Nina would rather drop out; and Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) has to move her salon for lower rent. Indeed, a recurring theme is that the block's culture is fading away as businesses close and people move out. And we viewers get plenty of advance warning of a multiday Heights-wide power outage, which sure won't alleviate anyone's stress during a heat wave.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

I realize it hadn't been long since the last movie I saw to include heavy focus on a British royal -- indeed, Queen Elizabeth I in particular. But this one is 32 years older, so I figured it would feel rather different.

Robert Deveraux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn), has had a victory in the Anglo-Spanish War, but not enough to satisfy Her Majesty (Bette Davis). Insulted and sensing support only from Sir Francis Bacon (Donald Crisp), he leaves the court and doesn't return until ordered back for more military expertise in the Nine Years' War. In truth, that's largely an excuse for Elizabeth to be close to the man she craves. But Sir Robert Cecil (Henry Daniell), Sir Walter Raleigh (Vincent Price), and Lord Burghley (Henry Stephenson) see an opportunity to get him out of the way of her favor once again.

Waterloo Bridge (1931)

This does not come up in searches as readily as its 1940 remake, which enjoys slightly higher ratings on average. Either I selected it by mistake, or I was more curious about the older version for being scandalous enough to call for a tamer telling under the Hays Code. That and I'd never seen a non-horror directed by James Whale.

While this is a war film in part, the titular bridge in London is not being guarded or taken by a focal platoon as I had assumed. Instead, it's where Roy (Douglass Montgomery), a young American soldier oddly in the Canadian Army, meets out-of-work chorus girl Myra (Mae Clarke) as they both help a stubborn old lady (Rita Carlyle) get to safety during a WWI air raid. The two spend time at Myra's run-down apartment until the all-clear signal. Roy falls in love with Myra and, concerned about his military assignment, proposes before long. She's rather fond of him, too, but tries to dissuade him from pursuing her because of her, well, more reliable source of income that she'd rather not divulge....

The Prisoner (1955)

This has nothing to do with the hit '67 TV series of the same title. That said, it is another British program in which nobody has a given name and the setting is ambiguous. All we know for sure is that the nation used to be under Nazi rule and is now under communist rule.

A cardinal (Alec Guinness) gets arrested on the dubious charge of treason against the regime, which, of course, will put him on trial only when he's almost certain to confess. He is not subjected to physical torture, whether because his captors want to be more civil than that, couldn't hope to break someone the Nazis couldn't that way, or really don't want to risk martyring him in the public eye. Instead, his interrogator (Jack Hawkins) takes a faux-friendly approach, made all the more possible by their past acquaintance. It takes longer than the superiors like, but the interrogator is determined to find a chink in the emotional armor.