Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

Maggie McNarmara, Dorothy McGuire, and Jean Peters star in this Academy Award nominated film about three American secretaries working abroad in Rome, Italy.

Charade (1963)

Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this delightful romantic comedy involving spies and missing money. Set in Paris. Walter Matthau also makes an appearance as a CIA agent.

The Best of Everything (1959)

Original tagline: "These are the girls who want the best of everything...but often settle for a lot less!" Mid-century drama following the lives of three young career women living in New York City.

High Society (1956)

Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra star in this delightful musical comedy remake of the beloved classic The Philadelphia Story (1940).

Far From Heaven (2002)

Set against a spectacular autumn palette, Juilanne Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Dennis Haysbert star in this compelling drama which grapples with issues of race and homosexuality in conservative 1950s Connecticut.

Death In Venice (1971)

An aging German music composer sojourns to Venice in hopes of improving his health and finds himself enraptured by the beauty of a young adolescent boy. A visually mesmerizing film.

Cracks (2009)

Based on the novel of the same name, Eva Green stars as a young, charismatic teacher at an all-girls English boarding school.

Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

Based on the true story of the Windmill Theatre in London, Judi Dench stars as a wealthy, eccentric widow who purchases a theatre and turns it into a somewhat Moulin Rouge-esque venue that featured nude performers.

Desk Set (1957)

The introduction of computer technology renders the reference jobs of three women potentially useless. Stars Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.

Sylvia (2003)

A biopic of writer Sylvia Plath set in the 1950s starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig.

Howard's End (1992)

Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter star in this E.M. Forster classic set in turn-of-the-century England.

September 16, 2011

The Long Hot Summer (1958)


The Long Hot Summer was inspired by the short stories of William Faulkner, namely The Hamlet. Paul Newman stars as down-and-out wanderer Ben Quick with a contentious reputation as a fire-starter who chances upon two lovely young women, Clara Varner (Joanne Woodward) and her sister-in-law Eula (Lee Remick), and hitches a ride with them into the next town where he was hoping to find some work. It turns out that Clara's father Will Varner (Orson Welles) just happens to be the wealthiest man in that town and owns practically all the businesses in it. Ben manages to get in his good graces and ends up working on his plantation, much to the distrust of the shrewd Clara who is wary of strangers and suspects that Ben possesses ulterior motives. Inevitably, a tense romance blossoms between the devastatingly attractive stranger with a questionable past and the straight-laced Miss Goody-two-shoes. Oh, and Angela Lansbury is in this! As Will Varner's mistress! Marvelous.

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