Robert Donat won an Oscar for his portrayal of the humble British don in the 1939 film Goodbye, Mr. Chips–and Peter O’Toole was nominated for his version of the role in this lackluster musical (he, along with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight of Midnight Cowboy, lost to John Wayne in True Grit). O’Toole is affecting as the shy English schoolteacher at a private boys’ school who is brought out of his shell by the love of a good woman, then goes on to become a teaching legend after her tragic death. But the idea of turning this touching tale into a musical (with totally forgettable songs by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse) was almost as wrong-headed as having O’Toole do his own singing–or as casting singer Petula Clark as his wife. –Marshall Fine

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Warner Bros. Films of Faith Collection (DVD) (3-Pack)

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A Kubrick masterpiece that spans from the dawn of man to it’s title year when an alien artifact is found on the moon. An expedition is launched to Jupiter to track it’s origins.

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MOST (Czech for The Bridge ) is a visually enthralling, 21st-century parable about a loving father, his young son, and the fateful day when they attempt to head off an impending rail disaster. Hundreds of passengers aboard an oncoming steam train are completely unaware of the danger that looms as they head toward an open drawbridge. A desperate young woman witnesses an act of mercy beyond imagination, changing her life forever and the lives of all who see this story. Both heart wrenching and glorious, MOST vividly portrays the greatest offering of love, sacrifice, hope, and forgiveness known to man.

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A fading comedian and a suicidally despondent ballet dancer must look to each other to find meaning and hope in their lives.

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The story goes like this…. Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) are the best of buds in college. Tina (Rani Mukherjeei) is the Principal s London-return  beti . Rahul falls in love with Tina and vice versa. Unaware of this, Anjali has also fallen for her best friend. When she finds out that Rahul is not in love with her, Anjali leaves. Rahul and Tina get married; have a baby girl and Tina dies. Eight years later Tina retells the love story to her daughter through a letter written during her last days. Tina urges the daughter to find Anjali and unite her with Rahul.

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Classy MGM was not the studio most likely to make a horror movie in 1941, and in fact its production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ended up looking more like a glossy costume drama than a B-movie frightfest. The mood of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of a divided doctor is ably captured in Joseph Ruttenberg’s Oscar-nominated cinematography–more so, perhaps, than in Spencer Tracy’s lead performance. Tracy wasn’t especially happy about playing the role, although his transformations from good Dr. Jekyll to evil Dr. Hyde are convincing enough. One of the main reasons to see this version of the story is the young, impossibly beautiful Ingrid Bergman, then still a year shy of Casablanca. Bergman was cast in the good-girl part, but proved a shrewd judge of material, even this early in her Hollywood career; she finagled her way into playing the floozy instead, thus securing a more colorful acting platform than Lana Turner, who ended up in the more respectable role. Director Victor Fleming’s previous movie was a little number called Gone with the Wind, and the Big Picture approach to that project may have influenced his work here–this Dr. Jekyll is just a bit too stately, too polished to really engage. The picture is so dignified it never cuts loose with the kind of wild invention that marked the 1932 version of the story, which won Fredric March an Oscar. It’s the tale as imagined by Jekyll, rather than Hyde. –Robert Horton

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