Made during WW2 this interesting example of the media as a propaganda device is another Irving Berlin rah-rah the U.S.A. "Remember WW1? Well, we got through that one and so we'll get through this one the very same way...SINGING!" The assorted parties line up on either side of the stage for their entrance, do their bit, and promptly exit stage. It's a barn-burner. It's obvious hard sell dates the work and gives the piece the unpleasant aftertaste of hucksterism.

Another in the line of Hollywood "long live the colonial empire!" movies, this one takes aging George Raft as a "company man who likes the ladies", only the company here is the French Foreign Legion in north Africa working to quell the insurgent rebels - Arabs - and keep them in line for their own good. Luckily the rebel leader's daughter (Marie Windsor) fills in errant downtime nicely. There's a calvary charge that's rousing at the last but it's too little.

In the tradition of two-faced, double-dealing, backstabbing this testosterone fueled motor revving only pretends to be "one for the girls" but in reality is another greasy exploitation that panders to the fantasies of underage nerd boys.

Zowie. One great looking film. And that's about it. That's everything in fact. Lump this one with all the other great looking films that ignore character, plot, story, arc, etc. In point of fact, it seemed to me to be an all-too-common money grab of a movie, selling the explosions, setting up the sequel, and screwing the fans.

A nice documentary about a once prosperous American town on a serious economic downturn that finds solace in the adventures of their local hockey team. The team, the Detroit RedWings, takes a chance in the drafting of 5 Russian players (in a time when Russians were viewed suspiciously) that eventually manages to turn the doldrums of the team around. Interestingly enough, for a movie that roots itself in hockey, that hockey itself is not the particular focus of the piece, but rather how the playing of the game effects the lives of the players themselves and the town they work in. Truly heartwarming, especially in that it does not actually try too hard to do so.