"1945"

In the days before films relied on computers to entertain us, Billy Wilder used a movie camera to tell us stories. His stories might be funny or sad, but all held some grain of human insight, with even hard observations tempered by an underlying affection for his fellow man. At the closing titles, this made his many fans feel not only satisfied, but edified.

It is mystifying but true that when Alfred Hitchcock first visited Hollywood in the late thirties, none of the major studios was willing to offer him a contract — that is, until independent producer David O. Selznick stepped up.

Personally, I rate Melvyn Douglas as one of the finest stage and screen actors of the twentieth century. Not only was he awarded two Oscars over his career, but he is one of just nine individuals to attain the fabled Triple Crown of acting, winning an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony.

When producer Ross Hunter decided to make “Pillow Talk” early in 1959, many industry insiders doubted his judgment. After all, the golden era of romantic comedy was long past. William Powell had already retired, and Cary Grant had only a few films left, most of which were not romantic comedies.

Over the past eight decades, numerous screen dramas have explored the treatment of mental or emotional disturbances, with a strong psychiatrist character front and center. 

If you don’t remember the face of this peerless British player, whose film career spanned from the forties through the eighties, his silky, mellifluous voice will surely be familiar.

Today, the name Jennifer Jones is largely lost to history, but in her prime, this raven-haired beauty was one of Hollywood’s most bankable female stars. And her personal story may be more dramatic than any of her movies.