Casablanca (1942)
Directed By: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre
Rated: PG
Run Time: 1h 42m
TMM Score: 5 Stars
Strengths: Cinematography, Acting, Lighting
Weakness: Nothing
When Rick, the owner of a club in Casablanca, is given travel papers for safe keeping, he is unwittingly placed at the center of a love triangle, refugee escape plan, and Nazi manhunt.
Read More
Notorious (1946)
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin
Rated: NR (Suggested PG for Thematic Material)
Running Time: 1 h 42 m
TMM Score: 5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Directing, Acting, Writing, Story, Pacing, Classic Hollywood Charm
WEAKNESSES: -
An American agent recruits a woman with ties to Nazis in South America. After they find themselves falling in love, he finds out her mission is to seduce a man with possible ties to future Nazi plots.
Read More
The Invisible Man (1933)
Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan
Rated: NR (Suggested PG for Mild Violence)
Running Time: 1 h 11 m
TMM Score: 4 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Cinematography, Special Effects, Fun, Story, Old Hollywood Charm
WEAKNESSES: Unsympathetic Protagonist/ Villain
A scientist is driven to insanity after he becomes invisible, and he spends his days terrorizing a town.
Read More
The Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Directed by: Arthur Lubin
Starring: Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier
Rated: Approved
Running Time: 1 h 32 m
TMM Score: 4.5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Production Design, Music, Directing, Cinematography, Excitement
WEAKNESSES: Some Lengthy Songs
A disfigured violinist stalks a young operetta.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Directed by: George Waggner
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Warren William, Bela Lugosi
Rated: NR (Suggested PG for Some Scary Moments and Mild Violence)
Running Time: 1 h 10 m
TMM Score: 4 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Moral Dilemma, Production Design, Old Hollywood Charm, Pacing
WEAKNESSES: Theatricality and Melodrama
A man returns to his family estate for his brother’s funeral only to be attacked by a wolf and possibly turned into a creature of legend.
Read More