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It’s easy to see why Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for her first leading roll. She’s absolutely the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen and a great actor. I think I’m in love.

She plays Princess Anne who’s on a tour of European cities when she gets tired of her demanding schedule and escapes her minders in the city of Rome. She happens to meet an American newspaper man by the name of Joe Bradley who is played by Gregory Peck. Joe figures out who she is and secretly tries to get an exclusive story out of her while they both lie to each other, in as far as their identities are concerned, in order to spend a day sight seeing together. Inevitably the day has to come to an end but their time spent together changes both their lives.

I found the last scene particularly interesting and moving. Not the whole 5 minutes but the very last 30 seconds before the credits role. It’s slow and painful and yet passes all too quickly and you feel good about the characters. All in all a very nice wholesome movie at 7/10.

Roman Holiday (1953)

Classic.

An engaging look at a couple and their problems which sustain their relationship. Set in one drink fueled night George and Martha air out their problems in front of their guests, Nick and Honey.

It’s all about the dialogue and it’s absolutely fantastic. The performances by all 4 actors is superb and I’m finding it hard to believe that A Man for All Seasons (1966) took out the best picture over this masterpiece. What a joke.

If you appreciate films this one will surely entertain you at 9/10.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf (1966)

So what do you get when you mix 3 huge stars in one movie? Usually something bland which is what I saw in The Philadelphia Story. An unbelievable tale of self discovery of a young girl played by an old woman mixed in with a dash of revenge and naturally no melting pot will be complete without an ultimate ending wrapped in love.

I was utterly disappointed with the cast and even annoyed at times. Maybe it was my mood at the time but this one deserves nothing more than a 4/10.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

I put off watching this movie for far too long. It put the brakes on my little project to watch the top IMDb 250 films. I got a little sick of watching all these old movies despite most of them being fantastic. I needed a little change and so I watched some popcorn movies this past week. All out of my system and back to the list now.

Bride of Frankenstein was better than I imagined it would be. The visual effects were surprisingly good for the thirties and the mood was just right for a horror flick. Lots of nice dark scenes with hard shadows. Some good stuff there. The plot wasn’t the strongest and the acting a bit over the top which was to be expected. All in all a good fun watch that doesn”t take up too much time at under an hour and twenty minutes. For pleasantly surprising me I gave it a 7/10.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Network is a memorable film with some fantastic speeches. It spoke to the audience of its time with great passion and it’s easy to see why it won 4 Oscars and numerous other awards.

It is the story of the unscrupulous acts carried out by a rating hungry network in America at a time when terrorism is common place and the audience at home fed with murder, war, corruption, hunger and death in a steady diet of nightly news. Sounds just like today. There are 3 key characters each screwed up more than the other. The only salvation is that one of them truly does save himself.

The performances by Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch are fantastic but in my mind the more subtle role played by William Holden of the only sane person in the movie is a stand out. It’s a real shame Holden didn’t win his Oscar nomination where the other two did. This is the type of movie I’m glad I get to see as part of this year long project. A solid 8/10.

Network (1976)