Today is Frank Capra’s birthday! Capra was born 126 years ago, on this date, in Sicily.
Now, if you’ve been reading this site for a while, you should know that my favorite Capra film is It’s A Wonderful Life. However, a close second is 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. In today’s scene that I love, Sen. Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) holds the Senate floor as he denounces the corruption that he sees all around him in Washington. There’s a reason why Senator Smith is still held up as the ideal public servant. It’s just a shame that he was a fictional character.
On this date, 119 years ago, Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut. She would go one to become a cultural icon, a performer who survived being labeled box office to poison to eventually become one of our most acclaimed actresses. Hepburn was a total of four acting Oscars over the course of her career, a record that has yet to be topped.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1940’s The Philadelphia Story and it features Katharine Hepburn acting opposite another one of my favorite performers, the great James Stewart.
Airport ’77 is the one where the plane ends up underwater.
If the first two Airport movies emphasized the competence of the the crew in both the airplane and the airport, Airport ’77 takes the opposite approach. The first of the Airport films to be released after Watergate, Airport ’77 is a cynical film where no one seems to be particularly good at his or her job. Viewers should be concerned the minute they see that Jack Lemmon is playing Captain Don Gallagher, the pilot of the soon-to-be-submerged airplane. As opposed to Charlton Heston or even the first film’s Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon was always a very emotional actor. He excelled at playing characters who were frustrated with modern life. Just as with Heston and Martin, Lennon plays a pilot who is having an affair with a flight attendant. The big difference is that, this time, the pilot is the one who desperately wants to get married while the flight attendant (played by Brenda Vacarro) is the one who doesn’t want to get tied down. As an actor, Lemmon didn’t have the arrogance of a Heston or the unflappability of Dean Martin. Instead, Jack Lemmon was the epitome of midlife ennui. He’s disillusioned and he’s beaten down. He’s America at the tail end of the 70s.
Another sign that Airport ’77 is a product of the post-Watergate era is the character of co-pilot Bob Chambers (Robert Foxworth). Chambers might seem like a nice and friendly professional but actually, he’s the one who comes up with the plan to knock out all of the passengers with sleeping gas and fly the plane into the Bermuda Triangle so that his partners-in-crime can steal the valuable art works in the cargo hold. Chambers plans is to land the plane on an unchartered isle so that he and Banker (Monte Markham) can make their escape before the rest of the people on the plane even wake up. Instead, Chambers turns out to be as incompetent a pilot as he is a criminal. He crashes the plane into the ocean, where it promptly sinks to the bottom. The impact wakes up the passengers, all of whom can only watch in horror as the ocean envelopes their plane. With the water pressure threatening to crush the plane, Captain Gallagher and engineer Stan Buchek (Darren McGavin) try to figure out how to get everyone to the surface.
As usual, the passengers are played by a collection of familiar faces. Olivia de Havilland and Joseph Cotten play former lovers who are reunited on the flight. Christopher Lee is a businessman who is unhappily married to alcoholic Lee Grant. Grant is having an affair with Lee’s business partner, Gil Gerard. A young Kathleen Quinlan plays the girlfriend of blind pianist Tom Sullivan. Robert Hooks is the bartender who ends up with a severely broken leg. As the veterinarian who is called to doctor’s duty, M. Emmet Walsh gives the best performance in the film, if just because he’s one of the few characters who really gets to surprise us. Actors like George Furth, Michael Pataki, and Tom Rosqui all wander around in the background, though I dare anyone watching to actually remember the names of the characters that they’re playing. Airport ’77 has the largest number of fatalities of any of the Airport films, largely because even the good guys aren’t really sure about how to reach the surface.
George Kennedy returns as Joe Patroni, though his role is considerably smaller in this film than it was in the first two. He shares most of his scenes with James Stewart, who plays the owner of the plane. Fortunately, neither Stewart nor Kennedy were on the plane when it crashed. Instead, they spend most of the movie in a control room, getting updates about the search. They don’t get to do much in the film but it’s impossible not to smile whenever Jimmy Stewart is onscreen, even if he is noticeably frail.
Airport ’77 is the best-made of all of the Airport films. The crash is well-directed and the scenes of water dripping into the plane are properly ominous. There’s not much depth to the characters but Jack Lemmon and Darren McGavin are likable as the two main heroes and Christopher Lee seems to be enjoying himself in a change-of-pace role. Olivia de Havilland and Joseph Cotten, two old pros, are wonderful together. That said, Airport ’77 is never as much fun as the first two films. Even with the plane underwater, it can’t match the spectacle of Karen Black having to fly a plane until Charlton Heston can be lowered into the cockpit.
I love It’s A Wonderful Life and I’m looking forward to watching it many times over the upcoming week. To me, it’s the rare example of a perfect film.
Below is one of the more somber but important scenes from It’s A Wonderful Life. George (James Stewart) and Clarence (Henry Travers) go to what would have been Bailey Park if George had been born. Instead, it’s now a cemetery and buried there is George’s brother, who would have died if George hadn’t been born. And, as Clarence explains, every man that George’s brother saved would have died as well. “Each man’s life touches so many other lives,” as Clarence puts it.
Here is a scene from a wonderful movie called It’s A Wonderful Life.
Jimmy Stewart is one of the great actors of all-time, and he’s personally one of my very favorites. I did not realize a movie had been made about him until I stumbled across this trailer today. Check it out!
Set in Budapest, Hungary, we meet Alfred Kralik (James Stewart), the dependable head clerk at a retail establishment named Matuschek and Company. In walks Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan), an attractive young lady who’s desperately in need of a job, so Mr. Matuschek (Frank Morgan) hires her as a new salesgirl. Alfred and Klara immediately take a disliking to each other and give each other quite a hard time at work. As we get to know Alfred and Klara, we find out that each of them is involved in a treasured “pen-pal” relationship with a mysterious someone who truly seems to understand their heart and soul. Wouldn’t you know it, even though they get on each other’s last nerves at the shop, Alfred and Klara are each other’s secret pen-pal! While navigating unexpected drama at work, mainly involving Mr. Matuschek, his wife, and a duplicitous employee, Alfred eventually discovers that Klara is his mystery correspondent without her knowing it. As he tries to reconcile the actions of the lady he knows from work with the heart of the person who wrote those letters, Alfred decides to show Klara who he really is to see if they can fall in love in real life!
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER is one of my very favorite romantic comedies, and I’d guess the lead performance of James Stewart is probably the main reason. He’s just perfect in the role of Alfred Kralik… earnest, proud, awkward, vulnerable, and above all else, decent. Stewart’s ability to portray characters with believable decency separate him as one of the all-time greats and that quality is well on display here. Margaret Sullavan, as Klara Novak, matches him perfectly. Known to have a good relationship off screen as well, the chemistry between Stewart and Sullavan is off the charts and their scenes together are quite powerful. Mostly known by me for his performance as the Wizard of Oz, Frank Morgan is also incredible as Mr. Matuschek, at times jealous, volatile, and ultimately benevolent.
Director Ernst Lubitsch, known for his “Lubitsch touch,” has made a movie that has stood the test of time because of its core of emotional truth. Even though it was made well before the days of social media or online dating, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER understands just how differently we present ourselves when writing (or online, or on social media), compared to how we actually behave in person. Maybe it’s because THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER was made in 1940, but I love the way its time-tested story idea is used for comedy and sweet romance, without becoming cynical. That lack of cynicism leaves room not only for comedy and romance but also a genuine compassion for its characters as they deal with the very real emotions of loneliness, pride, jealousy, and fear.
All in all, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER may be 85 years old, but its tender and romantic payoff set on Christmas Eve still gets me every time. As far as I’m concerned, this is about as close to perfect as a romantic comedy can get!
(Author’s note: I’m also a fan of the 1998 remake, YOU’VE GOT MAIL, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, but I rate it below Lubitsch’s film.)
Since today is Otto Preminger’s birthday, I figured that this would be a good time to share a scene that I love from one of my favorite movies, Preminger’s 1959 film, Anatomy of a Murder.
In this scene, prosecutor Claude Dancer (played, in one of his first screen roles, by George C. Scott) cross-examined Laura Manion (Lee Remick), the wife of a man who has been accused of murder. Playing the role of the defense attorney is James Stewart. This scene is a master-class in great acting. Preminger could be a bit of an inconsistent director but his willingness to take on controversial subjects set him apart from many of his contemporaries. When he had the right material, as he did here, he could create the perfect mix of melodrama and art. Preminger’s best films, like Anatomy of a Murder, stand the test of time.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
One of the all-time great directors in the history of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock, was born on this day in 1899. Today, I celebrate this master filmmaker with some images from some of his best films. Enjoy!
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)Strangers on a Train (1951)The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)Frenzy (1972)
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.
I noticed that today, July 11th, 2025, is actor Thomas Mitchell’s 133rd birthday in cinema heaven! I can guarantee that I, along with most of you, watch him every year around Christmas time. I also found out today that he worked with my movie hero Charles Bronson on THE O. HENRY PLAYHOUSE TV series back in 1957. That combination of appearances makes Mitchell about as close to a cinematic immortal as a person can get!
Enjoy 4 shots from 4 films, with Thomas Mitchell!
Stagecoach (1939)Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)The O. Henry Playhouse: Two Renegades (1957)
There are people in this world who only know Jimmy Stewart from his performances in movies like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) and REAR WINDOW (1958). Those are both great movies to be sure, but I contend that Stewart was also one of the great “cowboys,” with his string of excellent westerns with director Anthony Mann, as well as his work with other great directors like John Ford and Delmer Daves.
Stewart’s performance in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is one of my personal favorites. In this scene, his hand is shot from point blank range by a crazy man who’s never had to pay the consequences for his actions. That changes when the man from Laramie comes to town. I couldn’t imagine a more powerful performance than Stewart’s work here. He’s incredible and truly one of the great actors of all time!
Through the Shattered Lens 