Ivanhoe (1952)

In the interest of narrowing my many choices, I usually avoid movies with IMDb overall ratings less than 7, barring unusual circumstances like a vacation. Adaptations from classic literature are an exception. This version seemed like the best way to get the gist of the story in less than 2 hours, tho I read up on key divergences. Besides, it did well at the box office and garnered some Academy Award nominations.

In 1194, Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) has discovered that the missing King Richard (aptly named Norman Wooland) is being held for ransom. Rather than taking the prison by storm, Ivanhoe runs around seeking money from people who prefer him to regent Prince John (Guy Rolfe). During this endeavor, he re-encounters his crush, Rowena (Joan Fontaine), and two John-aligned nemeses from the Crusades, Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders) and de Bracy (Robert Douglas). In surprisingly large roles, both financially and plotwise, are a pair of Jews: patriarch Isaac (Felix Aylmer) and his daughter, Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor, no relation to Robert), the latter earning the jealous eye of Rowena and the lustful eye of Bois-Guilbert.

The Women (1939)

Possibly the most popular '39 film I hadn't seen yet, it stands out for having an all-female cast of more than 130. This includes the servants, the children, and even allegedly the animals (except for the roaring logo lion). Every contemporary major MGM actress except Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo participated. No wonder it's been remade a couple times, albeit less successfully and once with men.

If you want something that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors, however, keep looking: The trailer's parenthetical subtitle aptly notes, "...and it's all about men!" Must've been the best way to sell tickets. Oh, the ladies talk about other things once in a while, especially each other, but the plot mainly concerns a mother (Norma Shearer) learning about a shameless gold digger (perhaps Joan Crawford's nastiest role) wrecking her home, so to speak. Everyone else will eagerly share an opinion on it, leaving us to wonder what they'd do without men in their lives.

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

I had a few reasons for giving this AFI showing priority. First, it's not available on Netflix even to save, so I wouldn't get much chance otherwise. Second, it's very highly rated on IMDb, Metacritic, and especially Rotten Tomatoes. Third, I'd never seen a Max Ophüls film before (tho the credits list him as "Opuls" for some reason). Fourth, male lead Louis Jourdan recently died, and I wanted to know him from something other than Gigi and Three Coins in the Fountain. Other factors that would have reinforced my decision include a Howard Koch screenplay, Joan Fontaine calling it her favorite film among those she's been in, and Ringu director Hideo Nakata calling it the best film ever.

Unfortunately, there was also a big reason to brace myself: the genre. Romantic dramas rarely do it for me, at least in terms of warming the heart. They tend to run low on originality and/or credibility; running less than 90 minutes doesn't help in that regard. Characters often let their passions override their logic, so I hardly feel sorry for them when their choices don't pay off. Granted, the same could be said of many an action flick, so maybe I'm biased, but it seems to me that that genre relies less on storytelling to begin with.