CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date December 01, 2003
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date November 28, 2005
Forget the caricature, this film involves disappointment, loss, failure and at one point even shows a man on the edge of suicide.

It sketches out the life of one man- a normal man, an unimportant man, whose actions facilitate the success of other men, whose kindness enables other men and women to thrive, and ultimately he is rewarded for those acts of kindness with love and respect. It is unusual in that the film is quite dark- the man who does all this is left fairly bereft for a lot of the film, we see his sacrafice at its most poignant- though we also see how it has brought him the love of a woman- we see him think that there is no point to his life lived for others. The film also offers no punishment but significantly no redemption ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

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The Glenn Miller Story [1953]

starring: James Stewart, June Allyson, Harry Morgan, Charles Drake, George Tobias
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date July 01, 1999
I first saw this film on TV 20 years ago and am very pleased that it has come out in a crisp DVD version. James Stewart gives a very watchable portrayal of the struggle and triumph of the famous American musician, while June Allyson gives a moving performance that shows that her star on the Walk of Fame is richly merited. The film contains some of Miller's most famous compositions like In the Mood - the climax of this in the film against the background of a German air raid is heartening as well as causing the audience within the film to cheer and applaud. A very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon (or later).
Highly recommended.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date September 11, 1995
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

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Always Remember I Love You [1990]

starring: Patty Duke, Stephen Dorff, David Birney, Sam Wanamaker, Jarred Blancard
directed by: Michael Miller

Release Date May 10, 1993
My absolut favourite movie. Fantastic story about a boy that tries to find his biological family

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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The Prisoner Of Zenda [1952]

starring: Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, Louis Calhern, Jane Greer, Lewis Stone
directed by: Richard Thorpe

Release Date February 19, 2001
Remember this pair (Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr) from King Solomon's Mines (1950)? Well they did it again with The Prisoner of Zenda (1952). There is all of the sward play and loyalty of the first version, plus the interaction and reaction of Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr to add to this.
For those of you who may have missed the story King Rudolf V, who is not the nicest of guys is gets drugged out of the way. Because all Kings named Rudolf look like Stewart Granger, a vacationing Englishman, who happens to be a long lost cousin, he gets to substitute for the stability of the country and to foil the bad guys (his half-brother Michael, Duke of Strelsau (Robert Douglas) form taking over. So the question is what happened to the king? Do the bad ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

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The Man From Laramie [1955]

starring: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp, Cathy O'Donnell, Alex Nicol
directed by: Anthony Mann

Release Date June 02, 1997
The last of the collaborations between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann, The Man From Laramie is the most ambitious even if it isn't always completely successful. On one level it's a standard revenge Western, with Stewart looking for the gunrunners who caused his brother's death, but his hunt takes in rancher Donald Crisp's powerful but dysfunctional dynasty and its divisions as well, and its through them that the film moves into almost mythically tragic territory. With foreman and almost adopted son Arthur Kennedy devotedly but thanklessly running the ranch for him and constantly trying to protect the old man from the feckless stupidity and sadism of his natural son Alex Nicol it soon becomes clear that not all the bad guys are that bad. Indeed, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

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How The West Was Won

starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Carroll Baker
directed by: George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, John Ford, Richard Thorpe

Release Date April 03, 2000
How the West Was Won seems to become more of an endurance task every year. While it throws in everything - injun attacks, shooting the rapids, stampedes, train wrecks, the Civil War, wagon trains - except a good old fashioned gunfight, the characterization and linking narrative wrapped around Richard Talmadge's impressive action scenes are a long way from the best of the West. Whether it's Karl Malden, Carol Baker, Robert Preston or Gregory Peck hamming it up or Debbie Reynolds raising yet another ruckus in another painfully gratuitous musical number, the squirm factor is high. Although John Ford's Civil War section (aided by plentiful stock footage from Raintree County) is the best remembered, the film doesn't really pick up until Reynolds is sidelined out ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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The Prince Of Egypt [1998]

starring: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum
directed by: Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, Steve Hickner

Release Date February 16, 2000
I'm not religious in any sense of the word, so my review will be based purely on the film placed in front of me, and not on any historical innacuracies and deviances from the actual story, or any religious implications in the film.

I was blown away by this film to be honest. The story, the voice acting, the animation, it was all faultless, and though the songs took a bit of getting used to (they didn't seem to have that sweet, flowing quality I was used to seeing in most cartoon musicals) the soundtrack fits the film incredibly well, with the obvious standout song of 'there can be miracles' made famous by Mariah carey and whitney Houston. One fault I did have however was the script, which at times felt slightly awkward, but the voice actors did ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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American Film Institute Salutes FRED ASTAIRE

starring: ELEANOR POWELL, CYD CHARISSE, AUDREY HEPBURN, LESLIE CARON, GINGER ROGERS

Release Date
I'm not religious in any sense of the word, so my review will be based purely on the film placed in front of me, and not on any historical innacuracies and deviances from the actual story, or any religious implications in the film.

I was blown away by this film to be honest. The story, the voice acting, the animation, it was all faultless, and though the songs took a bit of getting used to (they didn't seem to have that sweet, flowing quality I was used to seeing in most cartoon musicals) the soundtrack fits the film incredibly well, with the obvious standout song of 'there can be miracles' made famous by Mariah carey and whitney Houston. One fault I did have however was the script, which at times felt slightly awkward, but the voice actors did ... Read More: